(Another chapter, another explanation for my weirdness…andalitebandit-6, like I said, it's a band thing, I'm a drummer, I don't do that shit. Yes, Kat was protecting Dib and you're jealous of her how? Oo; I only mentioned ZADR in my journal, I never said it would be. Go back and read the low down of the story, it says nothing about ZADR…..Besides, if there will be any love goin' on, it will span over the four years this story takes place….You will get more Zim! Trust me on this. Aw, please don't cry, everything will be ok….I'll find something to work in there for you……On with the story!)
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"Ok, it looks like we have 16 counts to get from here to here…." said Beth, looking at the drill. "Um….crap….look's like we have to haul ass again…"
"How come we never get enough time to get to where we need to be?" complained Mike.
"Because they don't take into account our equipment…" said Kat, "Plus this drill sucks…"
"Ok! From the beginning! Get there!" called Mr. Burk from his almighty pedestal. "Start!"
"One, two, ready, go!" said both drum majors at the same time. Phantom of the Opera started. Everything was going very well. They got past the slow section and the fast section, no problems. They finished the song.
"Go on." said Mr. Burk. The Drum Majors counted off again and Jelical Ball from Cats began. It went smoothly until…
"I want to see you moving, drummers!" shouted Mr. Helm, "More movement!" The drummers complied and did more lunging and rocking movements (To the music). (Em….I'll see if I can find some old video from then, maybe I can post it on DA….Oo;)
"Ok! Quick review of the next couple of sets, then we'll practice without instruments." said Mr. Burk.
"Keep your sticks!" called Chuck as all the drummers ran to put their drums down. Then everyone gathered around their captains.
"Ok, these sets aren't too bad. All we have to do is move from a strait line to a triangle in 36 counts. Then we jam there for another 84, then go back to the line in 36. Crab really, really slow for four counts, then do the oompa loompa thing for the rest of the song…" said Kat going over the drill.
"What about the drum break?" asked Dib.
"Mr. Helm is still working on putting that in…Until we get the ok from Mr. Burk, there is no drum break." said Beth, Dib nodded.
"Ok, I think we're good." said Kat, "Everyone has their music memorized, and most of the drill. All of it we've gone over at least…"
Chuck smiled, "Do you hear pizza party?"
"We can't have parties, remember?" said Kat, "A cultural event to celebrate Italy is in order!"
"Why pizza?" asked Dib, you could almost hear the gasps from all the drummers/
"It's just always been pizza, it's kinda like our life-blood if you will…" said Kat, "Hell, I don't know!"
"Start! Get there!" shouted David (Drum Major)
"The quicker you do this, the quicker you can go eat lunch!" shouted Connie (Other Drum Major)
"Move it! I'm hungry!" shouted Kat and all of the drummers got into place.
"Let's go! Get 'em started!" said Mr. Burk over the speakers. Well, the set was a success and they broke for their hour lunch.
"EVERYBODY IN THE SHANIN' WAGON!" shouted Beth and everybody piled in. The Shaggin' Wagon was a large, burgundy, box van from the 60's that Beth owned….her and her twin sister Anna. Fitting 12 kids in the Shaggin' Wagon was nothing…..but 25? Could it be done? Yes! It could! Though everyone was in someone else's face no less….
Luckily, they were only going up the street a little bit to the small shopping center. To Subway, no less, another drummer favorite (accept for me, I can't stand the place, but my character is going to eat there just for the sake of the story.) Everyone ordered their food and pretty much filled up the entire restaurant. Dib started picking at his food, a lot on his mind.
"What's eatin' ya Dib?" asked Kat.
"Mmm, just some stuff…" said Dib.
"It's that green kid, isn't it?" said Kat, taking a bite out of her sandwich.
Dib looked up in amazement, "How did you know?"
Kat finished chewing, "Woman's intuition? Mother sense? Whatever, just tell me about the green kid."
Dib went through the whole alien explanation, Kat and the line listening closely. "And I just get lost in thought like that sometimes…"
"Well, if I was some average Joe (no pun intended) off the street, I might think you were crazy." said Kat, Dib's spirits fell. "But I have to take into account what happened earlier today. That was freakishly weird…"
"Yeah, Kat's right. Normal people, even those with skin conditions aren't green, nor does water burn them," said Liz, "And if you were allergic to water, you would be allergic to yourself and die…"
"Yeah, nothing about this kid adds up…" said Beth, "Unexplained coming here…odd name calling…not to mention his hands…"
"Hands?" asked Jeff, "What do you mean?"
"You know, his hands," said Beth, "Normal people have five fingers on each hand, this kid only had three on each of his hands…"
"Weird…" said David.
"Abnormally weird…" said Kat. She turned her attention back to Dib. "Tell us everything about this kid. Tell me everything you know…"
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Meanwhile, back at Zim's base, Zim was busy trying to figure out the whole…band aspect…
"It doesn't make any since, why would anyone put themselves though that? Walking out in the hot earth sun, walking across grass over and over again? It doesn't make any since! And why would that earth girl protect the Dib! I thought he was hated among his people! WHY?" he slammed his fists on the monitor keyboard. "Computer! Analyze this Marching Band thing!" No response. "COMPUTER!"
"Whaaaaaaaaat?" said the computer lazily.
"Analyze this Marching Band thing!"
"Whyyyyyyyy?" said the computer sounding pained by Zim's annoyance.
"BECAUSE I AM YOUR MASTER AND I COMMAND YOU TO!" shouted Zim.
The computer grumbled and groaned, then pulled up some various video footage from marching band competitions.
"Hmm…" mumbled Zim, intrigued by what he saw.
"Happy now?" whined the computer.
"No, give me more. I must know more!" said Zim, striking an 'important thing' pose. The computer groaned and pulled up article after article, database after database, every bit of information that you could possibly find on bands, marching bands, drumlines, and drum corpse. "Yes…" hissed Zim coolly, "This is exactly what I need…"
Gir popped out from one of the many ducts. He was dirty, dusty and covered in some sort of grime. He ran around the room, squealing all the way. Zim didn't seem to notice, or he didn't care. He was too occupied with his research. (If he was this determined about everything, me might have really taken over earth…)
"Mini Moose!" beckoned Zim, "I need you to find a way for me to fit in better with the humans. Find any differences and report back to me!" Mini Moose squeaked and went off to do Zim's bidding. Zim grinned a wicked grin. "He'll never know what happened…"
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The band and drumline were finishing up drill for their show. It was still early in the morning, but at least it was Thursday, and there was a pool party after the long grueling day…and there would be pizza!
They were on the last couple of sets, Kat was trying to direct the drumline on what they should do.
"Uh…ok, this is really simple. All we do is move this way, then turn around and march the other way…Really easy."
"Excuse me, could you direct me to the drumline director?"
"Huh?" Kat turned to see a boy with messy black hair and blue eyes. "Yeah, sure" she pointed him over to Mr. Helm. "He's the really scary blonde guy over there."
"Thank you." Said the boy and he walked over to Mr. Helm.
"Hm…Wonder if he wants to audition. It's almost too late for that." commented Beth.
"Yeah…" said Kat, "Anyway, back to the drill…"
Mr. Helm was reviewing his drummer's drill when the boy walked up to him. "Excuse me, sir…" said the boy.
"Hm?" Mr. Helm's concentration was broken by the speaking boy. "Do you want something?"
"I would like to audition for your drumline." said the boy.
Mr. Helm looked the boy over. Black hair, blue eyes. Nothing special about him. He was fair skinned and short. Probably a freshman. He wore a red Tee-shirt and baggy black shorts with a pair of sticks on one of the many pockets. "You have a name?"
"It's Zack, nice to meet you." said the boy, offering a hand, a five fingered hand.
"Dan Helm." said Mr. Helm. "Hold on a second, I'll get the drum captains to review your playing. KAT! CHUCK! BETH! Come over here!" he shouted. They came like obedient dogs.
"What is it, Mr. Helm?" asked Beth. She smiled at the boy next to him.
"I want you to review Zack was it?" the boy nodded and Mr. Helm continued. "I want you to review Zack's playing. Beth, you'll do the audition piece, Chuck, marching, and Kat, rudiments and diddles.
"Hut!" they all said.
"Ok, come with us." said Chuck.
"Who will we leave in charge?" asked Beth.
"I got it." said Kat, "I'll catch up with you guys in the band room." She ran over to the line. "Dib!"
Dib ran over to Kat. "Yeah?"
"I'm leaving you in charge until we come back. We have a late audition. Don't let everything go to hell!" she ran off to catch up with Beth, Chuck and Zack.
"So, Zack, what grade ore you going into?" asked Beth, trying to break the ice a little.
"I'll be going into 9th." he said, "What about you guys?"
"We'll all be seniors." said Chuck, "Most of the line will…"
"Yeah, after this year, you're going to loose a lot of piers, granted you make the line." said Kat, "Then you'll have the junior of his year to look to."
"I see…" said Zack. They got to the band room and the pit was there, rehearsing…for once…
"Don't mind us," said Beth, "We'll be in the practice rooms."
"I'll see you first, Zack." said Kat, she then turned to the pit. "I'll deal with you guys when I'm done with him…" she shoed Zack into one of the practice rooms and closed the door behind her. "Ok, I want to hear your diddles, you do know them, right?"
"Yeah…" said Zack, "Most of them anyway."
"Then play. I'm just going to listen to your form." He started to play with clean precision. She looked to see if he was playing matched grip. Traditional. 'Where are all these freshman comin' from?' she thought. He was as good, if not better, than Dib. "Ok, thank you, I've heard enough. Go on to Chuck, for marching…"
Zack stopped and exited the practice room. He went to the next room over. Chuck pulled him in.
"Ok, I want you to play the first three warm ups and mark time them." he said. "Start."
Zack did as he said and when he was finished, he was told to go to Beth for the audition piece. Flying colors at that as well.
"Are you like biogenetically engineered or something?" asked Beth.
He was very tempted to say yes, but decided against it, "Nah, just talented, I guess…"
"Uh, huh…Ok, well, wait here with the pit while we go talk to the director. We'll be back to give you a verdict."
The three of them left to go talk to Mr. Helm. Which left Zack with the pit…
"So, it seems we have another superstar in the line this year…" said David.
"I foresee very bad…stuff happening this year…" commented B.J.
"Yes…this will be fun…" said Tommy.
Then the door burst open, revealing the three section captains. They walked over to Zack.
"Hope they didn't bug you too much…" said Kat, glaring at David and Tommy
"No, not really." said Zack.
"Good, welcome to the line, section leader Zack!" said Beth happily.
"You'll be playing snare under my guidance." said Chuck, "Good luck from here on out."
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(Looking back, I realized he would never say that. He'd probably say something more like, 'Welcome to hell, you're screwed!' or 'Prepare to work your ass or suffer the consequences.' I have no idea. He probably wouldn't say anything. Probably just marvel at how short he is…Anyway, moving on, I have no idea where this is going…..I'll figure it out when I'm done with Alter Universe. But yeah, any idea's who Zack might be? Huh? HUH? I'll have to keep everyone in character. To Keef or not to Keef, that is the question….)