At lunch, Mo and Hannah told Kevin they had succeeded and had not been spotted. The next day, he decided to go with them. They would have made it, too, had not Kimberly looked up from her book at that exact moment. "Where are you going?" she innocently asked.
They had no choice but to tell her, and divulged the secret. Half-expecting her to tattle to Mr. Wales, instead she admiringly complemented her classmates. "That's really brave."
"You can come with us," Mo offered.
"Ah, no thanks."
"Okay then, let's go before someone sees us," Kevin worried. They quickly left.
Kimberly picked up a piece of paper on the floor. "You dropped this!" she whispered, running after them. "Hey, who's writing their own music?"
"Mo," Kevin quietly replied.
"Was that what you guys were talking about earlier?" realized Hannah.
"It's not that great," Mo sheepishly apologized.
"I'll be the judge of that." Kimberly followed them down to the band room, where, producing her instrument, she began to play the beginning trumpet part. "Not bad! Can I see the other parts?"
"Sure. Maybe you can help."
As Hannah set up her mouthpiece and introduced Kevin and Gabrielle, Kimberly and Mo continued their work.
Five minutes later, three more kids came walking through. "What the heck are you doing here?" Kimberly asked.
Eric and Dana looked to Simon for guidance. "We missed our auditions, so after much pressure Ms. Larson said if we practiced once a week-extra-in here she'd let us pass."
"Come every day like us," Kevin invited them. "We're practicing Persevere."
"And Mo's writing his own piece," an excited Kimberly added.
"I'm in." Eric shrugged.
"Sounds cool to me," Simon dittoed.
"I…don't want to be the only one left out," Dana agreed.
Gabrielle beamed. "We've got ourselves an ensemble."