"So what are your weekend plans?" asked Jesse. Alice smiled at him.
"Well, nothing really. Tonight I was thinking about maybe catching a ride to the away game, but I can't find anyone whose going."
"I'm going. Want a ride?"
"Really? That'd be cool."
"Yeah. I think Kyle was going, too. Yo, Kyle!" Jesse turned and shouted across the science room. The school day was almost over, and everyone was just sort of hanging out. The way curriculum was set up here was different then in Illinois, so Alice had ended up in a science class full of juniors. Luckily, Jesse, the beanpole drummer, was also in that class, so they sat next to each other.
"What?" Kyle called back.
"We still on for tonight? Going to Holton?"
"Yeah!"
"Cool! Alice is going to hitch a ride, too."
"Cool!" Jesse turned back to Alice and smiled.
"Cool," he said. She laughed.
"Cool." Jesse was cute. She wasn't going to deny it. But in the first few days of school he'd confided in her that he was madly in love with some girl at his old school that he was still determined to date, eventually. He'd been flirting with her and "wooing" her since their freshman year, but she'd yet to return his feelings. Alice didn't mind being just friends with Jesse. He was a cool enough guy that he could hold his own as just a friend. The bell rang, and everyone eagerly stood up to leave. Another weekend, finally here. Jesse shoved his chair under the table and turned to Alice.
"Need a ride home?"
"That'd be great." They walked out to the student parking lot together. Once in Jesse's little sedan, Alice turned on the radio.
"You can turn on whatever you want."
"Jack FM ok?" Jesse turned to her and smiled big.
"You listen to Jack? It's my favorite station. Number 3." Alice punched the number and the best songs ever filled the car. She'd never heard a song on Jack she didn't like. Their motto was Playing What We Want. Well, it was Alice wanted, too. The short drive to her house was filled with the two of them jamming to the radio.
As Alice climbed out of the car, Jesse leaned over the seat. "Pick you up around five?"
"Sounds good. See you then."
"Bye." Alice hurried to her front door and unlocked it, then turned and waved as Jesse drove away. She looked at the time. It was three thirty. After grabbing an after school snack, she decided to polish her saxophone. The case was sitting in her room, so Alice hauled it to the living room. As she pulled out the beautiful Keilwerth SX90 black nickel baritone saxophone, she smiled at how lucky she was.
Alice had started out on clarinet, because her mother had found a ridiculously cheap clarinet in good condition. That didn't last long, though, once Alice discovered the alto saxophone. In seventh grade, her band director had asked her to try out the bari sax for one song. It was love at first sight. Tina saw it Alice's eyes, and had made phone call after phone call. In secret, she and Alice's band director worked to find her good bari sax, and it had been Alice's Christmas present. It was the best present she'd ever gotten.
Alice sat on the floor and gently rubbed the bell. The clock said that she still had a half hour. So she popped a reed in her mouth and put her horn together. The deep, rich sound that her Keilwerth produced was the best feeling that Alice knew. She closed her eyes and played from memory, whatever came to her. An old jazz band solo, a strong bass line she liked.
When her eyes finally opened, it was five till five. She quickly put her horn up and grabbed her wallet and phone. Standing at the door and watching for Jesse, she shot off a text to her mother.
Caught a ride to the game with Jesse. Not sure when I'll be back, Love ya
Her mother quickly answered.
Ok, have fun, love you too
Alice looked up to see Jesse pulling into her driveway. She pulled the door shut behind her as she ran outside. Kyle was already in the front seat, so she climbed into the backseat and scooted to the middle. Jesse looked back and flashed a sparkling smile. "Ready?"
Alice popped her aviators on and nodded. "Let's do this."
Soskatona lost, but just barely. It was good game; the final score was 28-30, and Soskatona held their own to the very end. Holton, as Alice had heard, did indeed have a great band, and the halftime show (Beatles Hits) was well played and well choreographed. Alice walked away from the game feeling good. Jesse walked on one side of her, and Kyle on the other. Through the course of the night, Alice learned that Kyle played trumpet (she'd seen him in band but never asked), and he played trumpet well. He was really into music and band, but still was grounded enough to have a social life. He was a pretty cool guy, always ready to crack a joke.
He was in the middle of one of those jokes when Jesse's phone rang. He pulled it out, looked at the number, and smiled. "Hold on, this could be important," he said, flipping the phone open. "Hello?" a pause. "Yeah, yeah," another pause. "No way." Pause. "Your messing with me." Pause. "Seriously?" pause. "When?" Alice looked at Kyle, who shrugged and looked at Jesse, who was oblivious to both of them. "Are you serious? You rock. You are now amazing in my book." A pause; and Jesse mouthed something to Kyle, whose eyes lit up.
"What?" asked Alice. Kyle was laughing excitedly.
"We'll tell you in the car," he said, watching Jesse.
"Uh huh." Pause. "Uh huh." Pause. "Yes, please do. Again, thank you tons." Jesse hung up the phone and turned to Kyle. "Dude, it's on."
"Like Donkey Kong!" replied Kyle excitedly, and they high-fived. By then, they were at Jesse's car, so he unlocked the doors and they all climbed in before continuing to talk.
"Does anyone want to tell the poor little sophomore what exactly is going on?" asked Alice from the back seat. Both boys swiveled at the same time.
"Al, you're going to love this." Said Jesse, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "So, Kyle and I and a couple of the seniors decided that we didn't want to have this year be completely music-less. So we called around, asked for a few favors, dropped a few names, you know,"
Kyle spoke up. "We wanted to be able to play, and I think it's settled this marching season is shot,"
"Even though that's total BS, but that's something else…"
"Anyway! So we called around, you know, and I called my band director from last year, and I think Kayla called hers, and Logan called his, and we thought that maybe we could get some music loaned to us, and if nothing else have a student directed band, you know…"
"And that was my director just now, Mrs. Lenning. She said that she would lend us any of our…well, their music that they weren't using! Isn't that great?"
The entire time Alice whipped her head from face to face, like a tennis match. Now that she was given the opportunity to speak, she wasn't sure what to say. With a laugh, she finally sputtered something. "But do you really Mr. Tyler will allow a student directed band? I've never even heard of that."
Jesse turned around to start the car and start driving, but Kyle still faced her. "We're not giving him the chance to think about it."
"Mrs. Lenning said that I can have the music as soon as I'm willing to get it, so I'm going to go Monday after school."
"At school we're going to spread the word for everyone to bring their instruments."
"And Tuesday we're going to play!" cried Jesse triumphantly. Kyle smiled eagerly at Alice, searching her face for an opinion on the matter. She thought about it for a moment, forming one.
"I think that sound like a great idea," she said carefully, "If we can pull it off."
"What do you mean?" asked Kyle.
"I'm just wondering whether or not Mr. Tyler will allow it…" she said thoughtfully.
"Al, think about it for a minute," said Kyle, practically in the back seat himself for how far he was leaned toward her, "Why would he say no? It's not like we're destroying public property. We want to make music. What's wrong with that? All he has to do is supervise. We're not asking him to do anything."
"True," said Alice, thinking about it. A smile split her face. "I think it sounds like a great idea!" Kyle smiled at her, and Jesse grinned into the rearview mirror. "Who's going to direct?"
"Details, details…" said Jesse with a smile. "The point is, we'll be playing!" Alice smiled, and then looked out the window in time to see Holton's football field one last time. Maybe there was hope for this year yet.
Hey there! First off, thanks to those who reviewed, I just wanted to say something. To anyone out there who might have noticed that Alice, a beginner, was on a Keilwerth SX90 black nickel finish and also noticed that I described it as "affordable", kudos for knowing your horns. Allow me to explain. I would give my sister's left arm for a Keilwerth anything, so I decided to live out that little fantasy through Alice.
See that little button down there that says 'review'? It's calling your name!