Chapter 2: It's Been Awhile

A/N: Hey everyone, here's the next chapter of Alone, I really hope you enjoy it! I have a little warning. I'm going to be introducing a lot of people, and most of the names that you don't recognize won't be super important, but there are a few characters that aren't from A&O that will be important, and you'll find out who's important later. Please review and give me your feedback, thanks!

P.S.- I'm going to be throwing a lot of drumline terminology and instruments, so if anything is unclear, P.M. me or send a review and I'll let you know what's what.

MLW22

Humphrey's POV:

I pulled in to Jasper Pioneer High feeling good. Our mascot: the Lobos. It's a good campus, a lot better than a lot of the others in this area. I parked and ignored the dumbstruck looks of the upperclassmen jocks who were wondering why a little sophomore had his licence and why his car is so cool. I started walking with my stuff towards the fine arts building for practice. We had just got off of summer break and the drumline was having to practice for the upcoming football game on Friday. We were all acquainted with each other since we all had band camp during the last third of summer. I opened the doors to the fine arts building, already feeling at home.

I walked in, soaking in the muted blast of the drums coming from the band rehearsal room. I went in to my percussion instructor Mr. Holt's office to put up my stuff and get out what I need. I saw Mr. Holt at his desk checking his emails. "Morning, Humphrey," he said. "Mornin' sir, hope you slept well," I kindly replied. "Go on ahead and start warming up, I'll be out in a few minutes," He ordered. I replied with a nod, grabbed my sticks and went into the practice hall.

I was instantly greeted on the spot. "Humphrey! Long time no see!" they all shouted. Everyone dropped their sticks and ran to give me hugs and friendly pats on the back. I missed the last week of band camp because I got a really bad bug, and for some odd reason everyone missed me. "Guys, I know you love me but please keep the hands to a minimum, it's only the first week of school!" I joked around. Everyone started to laugh, except our section leader…. No one liked him, and he didn't like us.

In total there are fifteen people in our drumline. Five snare drums, five bass drums, two tenor players, and three cymbal players. For the most part last year, all the freshmen were in the front ensemble for marching band except for me and Lily. In my freshman year I played snare drum and Lily was on fourth bass. Now, it's awesome because all of my really good friends made the drumline. On the cymbal line, there's Shakey, Noe, and John. On the bass drums, we have Steven who's plays fifth bass, Stella is on fourth bass, Mooch is on third bass, Tyler is on second bass and is the leader of the basses, and Lily managed to snatch first bass. For the awesome tenors, there is myself, and Alec, or as we like to call him, Wags. And last but definitely not least, there are the snares. On snare, there's Josh, Sam, Andy, Salty, and the center snare and entire drumline leader, Garth.

Many of us don't like Garth. He's pushes the underclassmen around and makes us feel inferior whenever he gets the chance to. When it comes to who is the best percussionist overall, it's between myself, Garth, and Andy. Garth transferred to this school because he was kicked out of boarding school for horrible behavior. According to our "agents", his ex-girlfriend who also was at that boarding school (and is in band now) left the boarding school because Garth became too obsessed with her and she was stressed from all the work and frustration and wanted to actually have time to pursue music more, so now she has to deal with Garth again. I feel sorry for her, whoever she is. Now, when he came this summer to camp, he was very cocky because he was the section leader back at his old school, so he thought we were all nothing and he could become the alpha again. We don't know for sure, but we think that Garth "influenced" Mr. Holt's decision, because when we tried out for drumline, Andy clearly was the best out of all of us that day, but Mr. Holt oddly and mechanically announced Garth, and everyone could see through Mr. Holt's ruse.

After catching up with everyone I took out my tenors and started warming up with Wags. We were only two people, but Wags and I like to refer ourselves as the "Quad Squad". We joke all the time about it. After a good five minutes, Mr. Holt came in and shouted, "Ok guys, another day, another diddle, let's get to work on that show music! But before that, let's build up our chops, shall we? Eight sixteen, full extension, let's go! Tap it off Garth!"

And thus, a gruesome hour and a half of working hard on our show music ensued. By the end, we were all tired and our wrists were very sore. "Ok, guys, take a quick water break and come back. We still need to work out the kinks in the third movement, and it's awesome cause the first period bell for band hasn't rung yet! Let em go Garth." And with that, Garth clicked his drum rim twice, and we all replied with one more click, signaling the end of a session.

Another day, another diddle…. It sure has been awhile…

A/N: Hope you liked it guys. Be sure to give me your feedback, I appreciate all of your commentary. Have a good one!

MLW22