The Battle of the Bands ✓

The Battle of the Bands | 10

After my confrontation with Maxwell, the weekend passed fairly quickly. Before I knew it, Monday morning had started. I was nervous about what would happen at McKinley, wondering if Maxwell's band would be more prepared today than they had been on Friday.

When fourth hour finally rolled around, I wasn't what I would consider prepared for band class. We still had a sub because the school had yet to find a replacement, and I was convinced that we'd go the rest of the year without a band director.

That sucked for us right now, but it seemed to work in McKinley's favor.

When the bell for fourth hour rang, I slowly padded towards the band room. If I wanted to win tonight, then I'd have to seek out my strongest players and go from there.

I finally made it to the band room and stumbled inside, taking my trumpet from its designated spot.

"Alright, we've got a lot of work to do today, so everyone needs to get their instruments out," I sighed, setting some music up on the stands.

Everyone followed my command and got their instruments ready, sitting down with their stands in front of them. I did my best to take the lead, instructing the different groups to play certain parts of the song as I'd seen Mr. Everett do in the past.

Once I'd picked out which band members I wanted to use, the eight of us practiced for the entire hour and went over which songs we would play tonight.

I was a little nervous, to say the least, especially since we were versing Maxwell. And knowing him, he would probably have something up his sleeve.

*^*

"I'm telling you, Adam Sandler plays Jack and Jill in the movie," Nick argued, earning a confused look from his brother.

"No way, that was totally a chick in that movie," Jack replied, shaking his head in disbelief.

"C'mon man, how can you not see it? It's a dude with tits and a wig," Nick insisted, showing Jack a picture on his phone.

"Nope, definitely a chick."

Kenzie and I gave each other a look as if screaming 'Why are we friends with these morons'?

"Anyway," I sighed, rolling my eyes at the twins, "Do you think you can go to McKinley with me tonight?"

"I can try, but I can't promise anything. My mom said that she wanted me home early for a family game night or some shit," Kenzie replied, rolling her eyes slightly.

I glanced over at Jack but decided not to ask him to come, seeing that he was purposely distancing himself from me lately. If he was gonna be awkward the whole time then I didn't really want him to come.

I thought about inviting Nick but then realized that whatever was upsetting Jack, he'd probably confided in his brother about it, so Nick would most likely take his side.

Letting out a hopeless sigh, I took a bite of my taco, managing to spill half of its contents onto my tray. An annoyed look crossed my face as I slowly finished my food, the bell ringing shortly after I'd put my tray up.

I gave a lazy wave towards my friends as I made my way to my sixth-hour class, Calculus. Sadly, none of my friends took this class, which sucked because I struggled in it.

Even if I wanted to, I couldn't ask them for help, so I just continued to struggle and refused to ask for a tutor.

My personality was far too stubborn for me to get extra help, though my teacher insisted that I get a tutor so I could at least pass his class.

I currently had a fifty-four in Calculus, and for me, that was pretty fucking bad.

My grades usually consisted of low and high B's, but recently, my grades had begun to slip. I wanted to blame it on the fact that my life was crumbling before me, but my grades had taken a decline even before my life fell apart.

Throughout the beginning of the school year, it seemed that there was always something more important than studying for the big test tomorrow, or finishing a homework assignment that night, so that was most likely the reason as to why my grades began to slip.

Letting out a sigh, I did my best to pay attention as Mr. Douglas explained the lesson. I even went out of my way to take notes, mentally reminding myself to study them later. The rest of class droned on and finally, the bell for seventh hour rang.

I quickly shoved my things into my bag, heading towards my next class slowly. My eyes met with those of my fellow band members in the hallway, and I gave them reassuring smiles as if we weren't gonna get our asses kicked tonight.

Knowing Maxwell, he would come up with some way to take us down, though I don't think it was us that he wanted to take down.

It was me.

*^*

The van we were taking to the game didn't leave until five o'clock, so after school, I made my way to my favorite thinking spot. I hadn't visited there in a week or two, so it seemed that I was overdue for some relaxation.

After sitting for a while, my thoughts began to drift towards tonight, and how I was scared that we would lose against McKinley, but more importantly, I didn't want to lose against Maxwell.

I really didn't have it in me to hear his smug remarks.

A sigh fell from my lips as I sat up, checking the time on my phone. My phone screen read four-fifteen, so I hopped up from my position on the table and made my way back to the band room. I'd have to gather our uniforms to take with us in the car.

Luckily for us, Hayden was able to convince his mom to take her minivan to McKinley. I wasn't exactly thrilled about riding in a minivan with seven other people, but I guess we'd have to make it work.

Once I got our uniforms packed, I hurried out to the parking lot, seeing my group of seven waiting on the sidewalk in front of a Chrysler minivan, instrument cases in hand.

I was a little nervous about performing at McKinley since we usually went there with the football team, but this time, there was no football team involved, and we were on our own.

"Alright guys, load up. We need to be on the road in ten minutes." I announced, clapping my hands together. Everyone began piling into the car, cramming their instruments into the back hatch.

I did a double-take to make sure that no one had left anything behind, doing a quick headcount before telling Hayden that we were all here and ready to go.

"Alright," I sighed, a nervous smile consuming my face, "Let's get this show on the road."