Play On

Play On (1)

­­The bell rang, bringing about the end of class.

I collected my things and started for the door, Landon and Randy in hot pursuit. We all had a short half-hour reprieve until our next class, and Landon insisted that they use the time to show the ‘newbie’ around campus. And although I was certain that it would take more than a half-hour to simply leave the music wing, I followed along blindly. I was no longer a little fish in a big pond… I’d found a school to take me in, and I wasn’t about to contradict conformity. Not when they both looked so happy.

The halls went by in one enormous blur. It was a speed-tour which hit on all of the major points that I would potentially need to know – the chorus room, the solo performers’ rehearsal room, the jazz choir rehearsal room, the wind ensemble rehearsal room, the jazz ensemble rehearsal room, the band room… there were so many specialized rooms for the different groups, it made my head spin. There was even a gymnasium-sized room dedicated exclusively for the marching band to rehearse!

“It’s all so impressive!” I said breathlessly. My feet were flying across the tile floor, my lungs straining as I fought to keep up with Landon’s impressive stride. Randy simply laughed at my side.

“Yeah, so long as you stay in the music wing.” He said. I envied how normal he sounded. “It’s always pretty cool down here. Professor Kaye and Miss Kaye don’t take any bull. They run a pretty tight ship.” And then, he shrugged. “It’s not like this in the drama wing.”

Landon nodded, a disgusted look on his face. “The drama wing… let’s just say, they’re led by King-Shit Lex Andrews. Stay away from him if you can.”

I was confused. “What’s he done that’s so bad?”

Randy blushed and looked away. Landon’s expression switched from disgust to contempt. “He stole Randy’s clothes out of his gym locker and scattered them all over the football field, then spread a rumor that he’d slept with the football team. The entire football team.”

“That’s awful!” We’d slowed down now, and I reached out and took Randy’s hand. “How can he get away with that?”

“Mr. Lytle heads up the drama department.” Randy explained. “The kids love him, and that’s the problem. Even if he tries to be an authority figure, they think of him as one of them… they don’t listen to him for shit.”

Randy clenched my hand a little too tightly in his and I had to do my best not to wince. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t –“

“Don’t worry about it, doll.” He relaxed just as quickly. “You didn’t know, so no harm done.”

“Hey,” leave it to Landon to break the awkward tension hanging in the air. “Why don’t we all head over to Dahlia’s after classes today? It’ll be a great way for newbie here to meet the rest of the music department.”

I’d heard about Dahlia’s once or twice from my mother. She’d never been there herself (as a drama major, she wouldn’t have been caught dead in a music major hang-out), but she knew that it was a jazz lounge. Occasionally, the professors of the music department would come out and perform a few numbers, and sometimes the owner would have professional jazz musicians come in. I’d loved jazz music ever since I was a child, and instantly felt my heart-rate increase at the very idea of hearing it live.

“Do you know who is preforming tonight?” Randy asked. He’d withdrawn his hand from mine and was looking around self-consciously. I felt like an ass, knowing that I was the reason he was on edge.

“Professor Kaye and Miss Kaye are slated to be on tonight around six-thirty. They’ll be on piano and soprano sax respectively.” A pause, “Oh, I forgot, Rowena doesn’t know… Professor Kaye is a world-renowned concert pianist. It’s a show you don’t want to miss, I promise.”