Monday was the day I learned that Joe and Martin ate lunch in the library. Every day.

Believe me was THAT infuriating to find out. I had just finished my English class, having gone to my locker, and was heading towards this spiral staircase that connected the first floor to the second floor. It was also quite near to the library.

"Little Emo Sasukura" and I were passing the vending machines across from the entrance to the library when I saw Joe and Martin heading towards the door looking as small as ever.

(Here's an explanation for Little Emo Sasukura: she's kinda small, and she acts all emo-ish, though she's really not, and it sort of became a name for her. Sasukura's her nickname, and her real name is Shawna, but no one really close to her calls her that.)

I called them over, being a nice person.

They sort of shuffled over.

"Want to walk with us to lunch?" I asked them.

The two looked at each other. Joe spoke up: "actually, Martin and I are eating at the library today. We've got a project, you see, and-"

"No need to explain." I told them. "But you are little procrastinators!"

That was kind of hypocritical, seeing as I ALWAYS wait until the last minute to get my projects done.

"You know they go in there every day, right?" asked Sasukura as we were heading down the staircase.

"Really?"

"Yeah, do you ever see them eat lunch in the caf?"

It was enough fro me to go back up those stairs and head into that library, and drag them to the cafeteria with me. I'm not even kidding.

Sasukura and I parted ways at the doors that accessed the cafeteria and I walked over to my table and put my books down. There were like, ten girls who sat there, and it was supposed to only hold six. But no one actually paid attention to that rule. Not even the teachers themselves, so why bother?

"Did you know that Joe and Martin eat lunch in the library every day?"

Of the ten girls that sat at that table, only one other person was a band geek: Piper. She looked up from the salad she was pouring dressing on.

"Ellie, who cares?"

"I do! This is injustice for bandgeek-manity everywhere!"

Piper rolled her eyes. "They're only getting picked on because they're giving off that sort of nerd vibe. Even if they weren't bandgeeks they'd still probably get picked on."

"Well, since they are bandgeeks, shouldn't we help them?"

Piper sighed and put down the dressing. "Elle, you can't mess up the system. The weak ones get picked on, the jocks have their moment to shine during their high school years, and then the nerds become billionaires and the jocks work for them."

I rolled my eyes."The abuse people think they have to take!"

"Stop being dramatic, Elle..." said Piper, putting a forkful of dressed leave into her mouth.

I mock-glared at her. "Why don't you care? These kids they're picking on are our kind! They're bandgeeks! Don't the bandgeeks stick together?"

"You just don't listen, do you? Do what you want, start an uprising. Just don't drag me into this. I'm still eligible for a homecoming date and I don't want you creating this big drama while I'm flaunting it."

I had to laugh at that. "You've already gotten, like, three invites! Can't you just accept one of those?"

"Not Chase. NOT Mikey, but Allen I could live with..."

Despite the fact that he's taller than you? Well, whatever floats your boat.

This week was an away game. We didn't get to march in, one of my favorite parts, but away games were pretty exciting in its own right.

Especially the rides to them.

Half the kids have to pee about half-way into the ride, but Mr. T. never has us stop so they have to hold it. I laugh at those kids. In fact, Peter, a clarinet and also Piper's basic eighth grade boyfriend had to pee and I laughed at him. He got annoyed at me, which was just as well. I was used to it. I always teased him when he and Piper were going out; I wasn't ABOUT to stop now.

We had to rush to get our uniforms on. It takes a bit of time because we have gauntlets and gloves. We managed to get into the stands in time to play a chorus of "Hail to the Cavaliers" while our football team ran through the field.

I had an AWFUL cough during the entire game. I'd scream, then cough. Talk, then cough. Play, then cough. No matter what I did I always coughed afterwards. And they were painful, hacking coughs.

Timmy was pretty worried about me, to say the least. I wasn't screaming much because I knew I'd have to cough afterwards. When the game was ending, I was hacking out all that I had eaten that day over the bleacher wall and pretty close to Sasukura. Our team won, but I missed the playing of "Hail to the Cavaliers" because I was coughing out my insides. It's just as well, anyways, because I've yet to memorize that song and it was kind of hard to play anyways. The flute part was really embellished with all of these sixteenth notes and I could barely play it with the band, even WHEN I was looking at the music.

I slept on the way back, with no Kioshi to keep me warm, which was just as well, because he was turning into this one Junior trumpet whom he idolized and I didn't particular like that junior trumpet. Also the fact that he was kind of completely ignoring me because he started hang out with TJ, which is said Junior trumpet's name.

So we got home at about eleven that night, then came to the school at nine the next morning to leave for our first competition. It was held at Hendersonville High School, and it was EXTREMELY competitive. We came home with just a participation eagle, I'm embarrassed to admit. But that one band that won the overall sweepstakes was the best I'd ever seen. Up there with the college band they had lined up to perform for exhibition before awards.

It was an all-out bandgeek convention at the competition, I'm not even kidding. They were selling shirts and tapes of the show, as well as daiquiris(alcohol free, of course) and EXTREMELY expensive foodstuffs.

We arrived and waited for the competition workers to stamp our hands to allow us passage to and fro the field. Once that task had been completed we donned our uniforms and headed to our warm-up spot.

After our stretches and warm-ups and tunings, Mr. Talbot huddled us up and gave us a mini-speech to encourage us to do our best.

When we finally marched to the field, I was HOT, and nervous. It must've been AT LEAST eighty-five degrees out there, and our uniforms didn't allow us to breathe much. PLUS, the sun was in our eyes.

When in set, waiting for the field commanders to salute, I realized I had COMPLETELY forgotten the music to all of our songs.

I relayed this information(without moving my lips) to Layla, the flute in the spot right next to mine, who just laughed.

"Put your horn up at the regular spots, follow Carrie(the flute in front of me), and for God's sake, STAY IN STEP!"

I couldn't nod to show that I heard her because of our hats. They were like a blessing and a curse. They were different from the other hats, which was one-up on all the other bands for us, but they were a curse because even the slightest head movement was noticeable.

I DID put my horn-up when everyone else did, and when the song started, I remembered it all. It was just a really bad case of nerves, I realized when I continued with the show.

We did pretty well for our first competition and for starting so early, but considering that we had JUST added the last bit of our show the week before, it was a bit shaky. Especially considering that the last three sets of the show are completely straight lines, and our band isn't so great at lines...

After our performance, we were then filed into the gym where they told us to sit and we watched our performance(yes, the one we had JUST done).

The band director for the university from our home town was the one who critiqued us. He pointed out our faults and our strong points, but he had no say in our score, unfortunately.

We were finally able to shed off our uniforms after that. I felt a bit gross, considering my shirt was damp when I shed off the coat, but it dried out pretty quickly.

Piper and I ate dinner together. Allen joined us once he found us, which was only fitting since he was to be Piper's homecoming date.

I also had one, too. A homecoming date, that is. His name was Page. He wasn't in band, but he could play the piano exceptionally.

We had to hang around and wait for the final division to perform their shows, in which we pointed out every single little meticulous mistake of the show to anyone who would listen.

Come awards time we were all pretty restless. We only ended up with a participation eagle(as I had said earlier), with nothing exceptionally special about our performance insofar to get a trophy for something.

coughcough our guard sucks coughcough

Now maybe my cough is just a tad bit harsh. But hey, they're our scapegoat. May not be fair, but there's more of us then there are them, so we can get away with it.

The ride home was the beginning of "Shingibitty(shin-ji-buhtee)." That was the word made up by Alex for whenever Larry and Natalie were doing something particularly gross. Someone would yell out shingibitty and that would signal you to cover your eyes and not look up. It was a very helpful invention, for the ride home was quite long and the lights inside the bus were broken so it was kind of dark.

We got home at about one in the morning. I was SO tired I was a bit wacky. Someone would say something and I would just laugh. Like someone said the word blanket and that kept me sniggering for two minutes straight. For no particular reason, either. I was just tired. And that's how I act when I'm tired.

I went home and slept til two in the afternoon, which was unusual for me, since I usually wake up quite early.

When I woke up, my mom asked me if I wanted to go dress shopping with her and Piper, and of course I answered yes.

We went to the mall and found a nice dress store. The first dress that Piper tried on she liked, but I went through like, five before my mother gave me a red version of Piper's dress(which was black). I liked the dress, so we bought the matching dresses as well as some HIGH heels for the both of us. Even though we didn't really need them. The heels, I mean. Piper was ALREADY taller than her date, and the heels will just make it even worse.

I knew already that the heels would make me taller than my date, but only by a couple of centimeters so I didn't really pay much heed.

Despite the fact that I had to perform in the game before the homecoming dance and that I'd be all sweaty, I was looking forward to the homecoming dance. I know that Kioshi never asked me, but I think I'm fine with that. He is kind of annoying me now. He isn't exactly turning out to be all the perfectness that I had thought him to be.

Hey. I'm only fourteen. Expect me to have a crush and keep it for all eternity? HA! I laugh at you. Just like I laugh at the people who have to pee during rides to away games and competitions.

I had let my guard down over the weekend because the competition was so obviously like a bandgeek convention that I hadn't thought to remember how much I'd need it on Monday...

If only I hadn't let my guard down. Would it have changed anything? Maybe.

But would I have wanted it to turn out any differently?

My honest answer?

I have no clue.


Okay kids, did I leave you confused at the ending?

Don't worry. It'll all make sense in the next chapter.

Till then:

Lady Epur