Aria

(Bienek is pronounced bee-neck)

Today was the day. The day that Mr Bienek posted the results of the election for drum major. Me, being the musical and outgoing person that I am, I ran in the election. I've played trumpet since I was ten, saxophone since I was thirteen, and flute since I was sixteen.

I was sure to win, that is until I found out who I was running against. First, there was my enemy, Juliet. Juliet thought she was the best musician in all of Lakeville, when in all reality she wasn't. She played flute and only flute. No piano, no drums, only flute. When I started to play flute, Juliet was furious. As soon as the flute touched my lip, I played beautifully, as I did with all of my other instruments. When she found out that I was running for drum major, she just had to run as well. She just couldn't cope with the fact that, perhaps, someone was better than her, even me, especially me. Next there was a saxophone player named Liam. He was quiet and preferred not to socialize, making him unpopular among the band. he definitely wasn't going to win. Lastly, there was Finley Mason. Finley played trumpet and we were often stand partners, as we were the two best trumpet players at Lakeville South. I've known Finley since preschool. We were best friends from the first day of preschool to about the first day of third grade when girls had "cooties" and suddenly became the untouchables. Because of a make-believe illness, I haven't really talked to Finley in almost nine years.

As soon as I walked into school, I made a bee line to the fine arts hall of the school. It was to left of the huge commons/cafeteria and adjacent to the auditorium because, duh. As soon as one would walk into the hallway, you saw the awards and the posters for the shows we've done. The first door on the left is the black box. Next is the music library and orchestra room, and then there's the choir room. I don't spend a whole lot of time there, but when I do, It's not for singing, it's asking Mrs Brott what she thinks about certain aspects of the music for the musicals, which I'm in the pit for. Along the other side of the hall are voice studios where only the best singers or the leads in the musicals can practice during school hours. At the end of the hall on the left side was my home, the band room. On the right across from the band room was the makeup room and a backstage entrance to the stage and auditorium.

On this day, everyone in the marching band was crowded around one of the two doors to Mr Bienek's office. That must be where Bienek must've put the results for the race and what the percussionists would be playing this summer. When I approached the list, Juliet pushed her way through the crowd from the list and immediately yelled at me. Go figure

"YOU!" She growled. I tried to hold back my laughter, as she looked like one of those cartoons where the very angry character has smoke billowing from their ears.

"What did I do?" I asked, although I probably knew what I had done.

"Why don't you look for yourself, Little Miss Perfect." She scoffed and stomped away, her posse; Ainsley and Marcey, who played clarinet, and Brynn, who was a percussionist, followed right behind her. They thought they were so cool, trendy outfits and all, but in all reality, they weren't even close. They were still band geeks and participated in tennis and track, making them unpopular in the grand scheme of things.

I pushed my way through the crowd and towards Mr Bienek's door. I scanned the sheet of paper, looking for the drum major results.

Drum Majors: Aria Reed & Finley Mason

*Meet me in my office before 1st period.*

I was a drum major. Check that off my plan. Next up: make the Blue Stars drum corps or move to Santa Clara, California to join the Santa Clara Vanguard. Whichever comes first. Before I went to see Bienek, I wanted to congratulate Finley. I scanned the crowd for the familiar pair of blue gray eyes. I quickly found him and pushed my way towards him.

"Hey fellow drum major!" I say as I approached Finley.

"Hey to you too, Blue Star." He says and I blush. Making the Blue Stars drum corp has been my dream since I first saw them at DCI Minnesota in sixth grade. Finley started calling me that after I went on a five minute rant about the Blue Stars before summer marching rehearsal one day freshman year.

"Aren't you excited? It'll be just like being section leaders! Except with more responsibilities. But we get to be more authoritative! I'm rambling aren't I?"

"Aren't you always, Blue?" (Blue- short for Blue Star.)

"True. Well, I gotta go talk to Bienek before Chemistry. You gonna come with?" I ask.

"Sure."

We walk through the crowd to the double doors to the band room. We sneak into Bienek's office before anyone can congratulate us, as we don't want to be late for class.

"Ah. Our new drum majors! I have a task for you two." Bienek says as he notices us.

"And what would that task be?" Finley asks in the same tone as Mr Bienek.

"I want you two to choose the music for this summer. I want two popular songs and one that's more concert bandish, three songs in total."

"We can totally do that. Right, Finley?" I say.

"Yeah. Is there anything else?" Finley asks.

"I also need you to pick section leaders."

"Totally doable." Finley says. "We gotta head to chemistry but we'll see you sixth period." We start heading towards the door.

"Good luck you guys." Bienek says as we leave the room.

We make our way through the craziness outside of the band room and towards Mr Just's chemistry classroom.

"So you want to come over tonight to pick music and work on that section leader stuff?" Finley asks.

"Yeah. I miss seeing your family. Especially your mom. She was always so nice."

"They miss you too." When Finley and I were still attached at the hip, we practically lived at each other's houses. Needless to say, I was looking forward to this afternoon. All I had to do was muddle through the school day.