Two months later (two months till the band concert)…

Kevin stood at the door to the band room. He spun around clockwise. He spun around counterclockwise.

Then he went in and sat down.

The ritual had grown unnecessary seven weeks ago, when the other's testimony had finally assured him, there were no teachers. There would not be any teachers. It was just a silly routine for old times' sake.

Inside, Gabrielle was complimenting Hannah on mastering the sixteenth notes. Dana was practicing her breath endurance. And Mo was still doing his stupid project. Kevin had become bored of it not long after the ensemble began to meet.

"Nice job! That's twelve beats! But you'll need sixteen for that long stretch at the end," Eric informed Dana.

"Oh, good grief. Just sneak a breath. I can't hold sixteen beats and I'm still the first chair…which is more than any of you can say," Kimberly teased.

"Nice one," Simon admitted.

"Can I see that oboe for a second?" Mo asked Hannah. "Hmm…"

He scribbled a few things down and then exulted, "Done. Done! D-U-N Done!"

"Er, it's D-O-N-E," Kevin corrected.

"That, too."

Kimberly played her part straight through. "Dang, Mo, this's better than Persevere!"

"Of course," she hinted darkly to herself, "anything would be better than Persevere, considering…"

"Considering what?" Simon pressed her.

"Well, check it out." She pulled her copy from the folder and laid it on the ground. "Check this out. In memory of Theodore Flit. I was talking to Ms. Larson about this…he's a kid from this Springfield High who died. I just don't want to play something full of gloom and despair."

"But it isn't!" Gabrielle argued. "It's fun!"

"It would have been fun, if it hadn't been written for that purpose," conceded Kimberly.

"Kimberly, you're insane. Music is music, and this music is not full of gloom and despair. Tell you what. Let's say this hadn't said it was in memory of Theodore Flit and you'd never heard of him. Would you still think it was full of gloom and despair?" hypothesized Eric.

"No, but I would be wrong."

"You know Kimberly, I'm kinda hooked on your idea," Simon admitted. "Mo, how long is that piece?"

"91 measures in 4/4 time, that's 364 beats SO THERE."

"Er, thanks. Kimberly, you honestly have a point and so I propose…what if we all played Mo's piece instead of Persevere at the band concert?"

Shouts filled the room. "Are you crazy?"

"We'd get in trouble," Kevin yelped.

"It's not that good," Mo said modestly.

"We couldn't learn it," guessed Hannah.

"We could-but it would be a waste of time," Dana predicted.

"I like Persevere," Eric defensively stated.

"No one would hear us…the rest of the band would be playing Persevere," Gabrielle realized.

Simon shrugged it off. "Get them to join, too!"