With their muscles in recovery and their feet bandaged up, their voices diminished and their brains packed to the extreme, the six candidates made their way to school earnest to discover which of them had overcome the tasks that lay behind them. Not only had they apprehensively been awaiting the results of their grueling conquests, but the loyal subjects of the band had waited as well, for they wished to know who their new drum major would be. As they shoved through the crowd of mindless pupils on their way off the bus they had only one thing on their mind.
As the homeroom bell rang, four of the candidates exchanged looks of bewilderment across the band room. For on this utterly important morning two of their competitors were missing. The door of the band room swung open and they each held their breath, they tried in vain not to show their disappointment as their returning drum major entered the room and settled into a seat near to them. It was at this moment that they heard a 'click' of the door handle. A 'click' they had come to know quite well. They each began to panic within when suddenly He Who Judged emerged from his office. The four regained their composure and silently hoped that He Who Judged would not take notice that a pair of them were missing, this thought was absurd however considering how quickly each of them had realized it.
Four pairs of eyes greedily became glued to the sheet of paper that He Who Judged held firmly within his grasp as he walked nearer and nearer to them. They gazed on as he looked about the room almost definitely in search of the missing two. He met each pair of eyes and nodded to each candidate after a moment or two. It seemed to pass in slow motion as he took the paper he held in his hand and turned it about to face them. When finally they could see what was facing them on the other side they gasped in horror! For the sheet of paper was blank. He Who Judged reached for the pencil stowed atop his ear and told them that they were to create a four-digit code for themselves and to write it on this piece of paper.
He left without another word and the four candidates could not find words. They silently passed about the paper and created codes for themselves as they had been instructed. When they had finished, the returning drum major took the paper from them and looked at them with knowing eyes for one short year ago he had waited in their position. At last he took the paper to the office of He Who Judged and returned it. The bell rang signaling that homeroom had come to a close. The four candidates gathered their belongings and without a word they made their way to their first period class.
Throughout the entire school day they could not concentrate on their task at hand. During fifth period, a couple of the candidates, including the mornings missing male, had no class and sat down together in the middle of the sacred band room to formulate a plan. They had to know who it was. With a start they realized that the morning's missing female candidate was in study hall at the very same moment they were sitting there pondering how they should figure out who'd conquered.
Now at this point I hope you're all keeping in mind the personalities of the candidates, particularly He of the Flailing Arms for he is rather clumsy. As they snuck through the band room, He of Flailing Arms chose to descend the ramp rather than the stairs like the rest of them. He received looks of scorn as he tromped along with steps comparable to those of an elephant. To himself, he giggled and upon receiving more looks of contempt quickly brought his feet and vocal chords to silence.
They snuck through the foyer and peered into the study hall window, immediately spotting their target. By using the powers of bandies they summoned her attention to the window and successfully smuggled her away into the depths of the band room. They coerced her into legibly writing a four-digit code on the paper as the rest of them had earlier in the morning and snuck her back through the doors from whence she came. Since the mornings missing male was with them and had also given them his number, they now successfully had acquired all six of the candidates' numbers on this piece of paper.
She of Quiet Voice and She of Inexperience decided to trek across the treacherous parking lot to the other half of the building in which He Who Judged normally taught class, bringing He of Flailing Arms along for male companionship. As they made this journey they began to wonder if perhaps it would pester He Who Judged, but as they reached a conclusion on this thought, they found themselves face-to-face with the threshold of his classroom. Gazing cautiously through the window, they found He Who Judged in his back office, so they nervously opened the door and stepped inside. Bravely they crossed the empty classroom and approached the office. Upon inching closer they found him in deep conversation with another adult of importance.
Rather than interrupting, they decided to take up temporary residence in nearby chairs and patiently wait for the termination of the conversation. After waiting for what felt like a millennium, he finally emerged and spotted the threesome. Just as he was about to open his mouth and utter words in their direction, the bell to end class rang and he hustled out of the room. Flabbergasted, the three exchanged looks of astonishment and followed in hot pursuit. As they reached the end of the hallway they looked right… nothing. They looked left and caught a fleeting glimpse of He Who Judged scurrying out of the doors towards the end of the school from which the trio had just come!
They scampered down the hall and burst through the doors to find that he had already made his way across the parking lot. Yelling out to him was of no use, so they continued their pursuit. Out of breath they reached the doors leading to the school and scuttled down the hall towards the band room. As they reached the entrance and were about to go in and present the numbers to him, they realized they did not have the paper. They had lost it in the madness of their frenzy.
Uncertain of what to do next, they sat down in the hallway and pondered their next action. If the paper was not found then there was no way any of them would find out who had captured supremacy in their battle for drum major. Suddenly one of them declared that they should retrace their footsteps and begin a search for the paper. Worried that they would lose track of He Who Judged, and that they may have expended so much energy for nothing, they volunteered She of Inexperience to stay behind as a lookout. The remaining two set off in search of this valuable piece of paper.
As they re-crossed the parking lot they kept their eyes peeled. They roamed the two hallways that they had indubitably passed through before. They rummaged through the classroom that all of their troubles had begun within. Finding nothing, they became sadly dismayed and felt it in their hearts to weep. They looked at each other, eyes full of tears, and shared a glance of sorrow. They both knew that in trying to benefit the entire group, they alone had let every single candidate down. Slowly they began to make their way yet again across the parking lot to tell She of Inexperience about their discovery – or rather, lack thereof.
Meanwhile as She of Inexperience had been standing guard, He of Wounded Knee had just bounced his way out of the band room to head to his sixth period class when he spotted her. Seeing the troubled look on her face he asked what seemed to be the matter. Not wanting to upset him by telling him of what she and the others had done, she simply said she was nervous and simply could not seem to peel herself away from the door of the band room. He found this rather bizarre, but chose not to question it for this was just how she acted sometimes. Without a backwards glance he continued to class while She of Inexperience let out an exasperated sigh.
He of Flailing Arms and She of Quiet Voice entered once again the end of the school that the band room was in. They ducked behind lockers as they saw He of Wounded Knee making his way to class for they did not with to explain themselves to him. While passing the doors of the cafeteria, He of Flailing Arms spotted a disheveled piece of paper wedged between the hinges. He carefully dislodged it and his eyes became wild with excitement for there before his eyes was the ticket to the lottery in which he'd just heard the winning number to on the radio the night before! (Gotcha). No, in his hands he held the paper that all the candidates had written their numbers on. He stood up and turned to victoriously show the paper to She of Quiet Voice, but she had continued on down the hall to return the news of grief to She of Inexperience.
Trying to prevent the inevitable despair and anguish that would undoubtedly preside between the two girls, he darted down the hall madly waving the piece of paper. When he turned the corner however it was too late, the two were sobbing hysterically over their loss. He placed the paper in his pocket and padded towards them trying to explain that it was okay, but their cries drowned him out. Worried that He Who Judged would hear their wailing he stood firmly before them and presented the paper to them. Immediately their cries of dismay turned to cries of joy.
The girls regained their composure and the three entered the band room once more. They found the band room desolate, as there was no band class this period. The only light emitted anywhere in the room was from the small crevice beneath the door to the office of He Who Judged. Slowly they crept up to the window in his office door, keeping their backs pressed flat against the wall as they went. Once they were able to peek into his office the found him infuriated with his computer, he was pacing back and forth yelling obscenities that do not bear repeating. Having never witnessed their director in such rage the three cast about worried looks and inched away from the door.
They backed away into the shadows of the flute lockers when suddenly She of Quiet Voice stepped on something that felt like a foot! Hearing a little yelp behind them they quickly turned around with wide-eyed fear only to find She of Future Voyage standing there in the corner. They glanced around to be sure the scene had not disrupted He Who Judged, when they were satisfied that it had not, they began to question their companion. She explained that she was waiting for the number to be posted; greedily she had wanted to be the first to know, as did they all. Together they began to decide how they would get the list to He Who Judged without disrupting him.
Between the four of them, they decided to sacrifice She of Future Voyage to the wrath of He Who Judged (actually it was just by majority rule). She was to crawl over the to door and push the paper underneath the door and then scoot away unnoticed. She folded up the paper and placed it in her pocket then slowly she began making her way over to his door. Casting nervous glances behind her and receiving gestures of encouragement she carried on. Behind her the other candidates were exchanging looks of concern.
As she reached the door she withdrew the paper and with a deep breath she unfolded it so she could slip it through the crack in the door. Everything seemed to be running smoothly until all a sudden the door opened with a great gust and He Who Judged loomed over her!
(Check back for the next installment to see what becomes of the candidates in the band room.)