Out of Step

viii. Rhythm of your Heart

She hadn't notice it when she packed her bag earlier that day, nor right after she had pulled the gloves from her bag when she was getting off the bus. It was after she had her instrument out and had peed, that she noticed the huge tears on one of her gloves.

"Dammit," Alana hissed, letting out a groan that attracted the eyes of her two best friends.

"Whassup?" Laila asked around the mouthful of food she was attempting to stuff in her mouth, despite being told they shouldn't be eating this close to performance time many times. She managed to spray some Oreo crumbs in Eli's direction, earning her a disgusted look from Eli.

"Brand new gloves," Alana responded, holding up the hand for emphasize. The glove looked mostly normal, a few small cutes lined the back of her hand and fingers, until she turned it over and then suddenly there was a huge gash down the thumb and another on the palm. "Well, mostly brand new. I only wore them for the band show before this."

"Check out your other hand," Laila said. Alana switch hands, holding her instrument with the hand she had just been showing them, and held up her other hand, only to find the tip of one of her gloved fingers was missing.

"Ugh, you're kidding me, right?" She muttered, chewing on her bottom lip. "And right before our first competition too! I can't perform like this!"

"Well, I mean technically you can." Alana cut a glare in her direction. "It's not ideal, of course."

"Maybe someone has an extra pair?" Eli offered, tucking one of her braids under her hat. Alana stopped chewing on her lip and her eyes brightened up. "Or the directors. I feel like one of them should have an extra pair."

"Oh my gosh! You're a genius."

"Of course I am," she responded as Alana bounced with happiness.

Suddenly she stopped and pointed over her shoulder to the empty lot, which, not even five minutes ago, had held seven yellow buses. "Unless they all left them on the bus. I would've if I were them."

"I mean there's no reason not to check," Laila said and Alana groaned, covering her face with one of ripped gloved clad hands. With a sigh, she brought it away.

"I guess you're right. I'm gonna go talk to one of the directors first. Can, um, can you watch my instrument.... Eli?"

Eli nodded and Alana reluctantly handed her the long awkward thing before turning on her heel. She began to make her way through the crowd of mingling band members, searching for any sign of the directors – who seemed to have momentarily disappeared. Her head was turned, attempting to find them, when she ran into an assistant director.

"Oh sorry, Mr. Gellar," she said, stumbling backwards. He looked a little frazzled from the run in, but managed to reply with, "it's fine. Something I can help you with Alana?"

"Oh yeah, yeah. Um, my gloves kinda ripped. I don't know if it was when I was putting them on or not." She held up her hands so he could see the tares and bounced from foot to foot.

"Kinda of ripped? I'd say they most definitely did rip," he said with a grin and she nodded quickly, frowning at him.

"Uh yeah. Um, do you happen to have any extra pairs?"

"I don't, but let's see if anyone else has any extra pairs, okay? You start asking around and I'll go find the directors." Mr. Gellar gestured around and Alana nodded, turning around and starting off into the crowd of people. She asked the first group of students she came across, getting a braid flip and a solid, "no."

She felt like she had gone through almost the whole band when she came across a group milling about and wondered if she should even try. Even still, she tapped on the shoulder of the person closest to her.