It's a Clarinet

Ellie

Third Cohort, Offense

2 - CLARINET - "So, you play the oboe?" "It's a clarinet, dumb*ss."

1,012 words

I'm super late...here are some words on a fanfiction website.

Leo squinted at the music, putting his reed back between his lips. A ...G...that F is a two-oo...many thoughts ran through his mind as he tried to play the annoying Broadway music the annoying band was into. It wasn't that he didn't like it - it's just that they were a little too enthusiastic sometimes. Sometimes Leo wished he was in orchestra - but then he would have had to deal with that kid, the 'prodigy,' everyone said.

His name was Jason Grace, and he played the violin. As far as Leo was concerned, Jason was the type of person to fight for first chair and then never stop going, as if to make sure no one would ever catch up. Orchestra was more for the more...how would he say it...vigorous students, who had been playing since they were five (but apparently Jason had started when he was two, according to the rumors going around) and knew it, while band was for people who thought they were good at something but weren't actually.

Leo didn't consider himself to be in either group - he started in fourth grade, like everyone else - and he knew he wasn't very good. He was the outsider, always watching, but never inside the circle of instruments.

"Okay," the band director - Mrs. Enarshi - announced, finally, "Next time we'll work on the fortieth measures of Away we Came, I think we need to work on a few of those phrases." Nearly everyone moved to start packing away their instruments, but Leo knew that Mrs. Enarshi wasn't done talking yet. "BUT, since our winter concert is coming up in a few weeks, I also want to talk to you about proper concert etiquette." The person next to Leo - a girl named Clarisse - rolled her eyes. Leo usually hated Clarisse - rumor had it that she had tried to flush Leo's friend Percy down the toilet - but for once he had to agree with her. Every semester, Mrs. Enarshi tried to teach them about concert etiquette, and every semester, she failed.

"This time I know we can do it!" she said brightly, but her eyes were trying too hard. "Remember, instruments on your lap until I walk up onto the podium, and then get in ready position. Let's practice!" she stepped off the platform, then waited for the talking to die down (there was always talking) and got on it again.

It wasn't until fifteen minutes after the bell rang that Leo got out of band class. He rolled his eyes in sync with Clarisse, and went to go find Percy in the cafeteria. Percy was the type of person that everyone immediately hated, except somehow became super popular because of something that happened and everyone liked them. In Leo's friend's case, Percy was not only incredibly nice and talked to everyone like they were the most interesting person in the world, apparently his dad was the drummer in that band, the one called Ancient Gods. Not that Percy hung out with his father - Percy's mom, Sally, and his dad were divorced.

"Hey!" Leo exclaimed to Percy, as he sat down next to him. The two had been friends ever since Percy had come to Whitewater High, and Leo had told him all about the teachers to avoid and the best lunch spots.

"Did Mrs. Enarshi hold you back or were you making out with Calypso?" Percy asked, his mouth full of ham sandwich.

"Yeah, she was talking on and on about 'concert etiquette. Also, Calypso is out of town, remember?" Before Percy had a chance to respond, Thalia, the self-crowned coolest girl in school plopped herself down across from Percy and Leo.

"Oh my gods, you will not believe what happened in bio," Thalia announced, ending Percy and Leo's conversation, "That girl, Drew what's-her-face, said she couldn't dissect the pig fetus because it would ruin her manicure - like, what the hell?" and off went Thalia, complaining about how they knew they were going to cut the pig open two weeks earlier and that Drew shouldn't have been in AP Biology if she was worried about her nails. And they were wearing gloves, anyways - it probably wouldn't even touch her! "Ugh, I so wish I had a better lab partner...maybe that Mike guy."

Leo just shrugged and poked at his pie. "Oh, there's the bell...gotta run, guys!" off Thalia went, to statistics or something. Leo sighed and stood up, too, with Percy.

"C'mon, I know a shortcut to get to history," his friend said, starting towards the door.

Percy's 'shortcut' involved going through the library, cutting through the sociology teacher's classroom, and running through the gym, which, strangely, the history class was on the other side of.

They were the first ones, something that was quite odd for Leo. Only Jason Grace was also in the classroom, not surprising Leo in the slightest. Jason always got on Leo's nerves...and he never even talked to Leo.

"Uh, hi, Jason, right?" Leo asked, watching Percy play on his phone in the corner. Even the teacher wasn't there, which made Leo a little fidgety.

"Yeah, you play the oboe, right?" Of course the first thing Jason would ever say to Leo was that - the only defining feature of him. And he didn't even play the oboe. Barely anyone played the oboe.

"It's a clarinet, dumbass." Leo said instead, crossing his arms.

"Oh, sorry." Jason actually looked like he was sorry, which annoyed Leo even more. "I'm not in band - I barely know anything about band instruments. You should talk to my sister, Thalia, she's cool."

"Wait, Thalia Grace? She's your sister?" Leo was officially weirded out. Thalia was Percy's cousin, which meant Jason was Percy's cousin, too.

"Uh, yeah, why?" Leo shook his head in disbelief.

"No reason." And that's exactly when Percy noticed Jason, smiling and waving at him.

"Hey, you should come sit at our lunch table sometime, you know?"

That was the start of a forever friendship between Jason and Leo.