Bully

Chapter 3: My band!

**ABRIELLE’S POV**

I should have known. I’d taken a shower that morning so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it that night since I didn’t even know if we’d be on the bus or at a hotel. Since I had “dressed up”, so to speak, everyone knew that there was something I wanted or someone I was looking forward to seeing. My tormentors got worse. All I wanted was to get through this day so I could meet the band I was going on tour with. 

 In between one of my classes, one of my fellow students, a much taller than me guy, walked up and shoved me hard onto the grass. I stayed where I was for a few moments to make sure he left. I unceremoniously picked myself up off the ground, dusted myself off, and then gathered my belongings. There was nothing new to this. Trying to fight back only led to more bullying. My only solace was the music of my favorite band and the idea that Karma would eventually give these people what they rightly deserved. 

I was shoved, tripped, knocked into, and had my stuff knocked out of my hands all day. Despite everything I knew that there was a light at the end of this dark tunnel. During my lunch break, I decided to sit outside since it was a nice day. I was eating my meager sandwich from the campus cafeteria when three guys walked up behind me. I could tell from the silhouettes there were three or more. I figured they’d just talk shit to me, call me names, and or make fun of me. What I wasn’t expecting was them dumping several milkshakes on me.

 I threw my barely eaten sandwich in the trash, gathered my things, and then shamefully walked off. As I walked to the gym where all the showers were everyone pointed and laughed and some even threw more stuff on me. I wanted to look decent when I met my band but it wasn’t looking like that was going to happen! I stopped at my little hiding spot to grab a clean outfit. The whole time I was fighting tears. This was more than humiliating! There weren’t many people in the gym so I quickly grabbed a towel, a soap, and shampoo. I set my bag, which housed my clean clothes, close to me in the enormous shower but far enough away that it wouldn’t get wet. 

I was drying off when some girls came in. They barely acknowledge my presence so I quickly changed into my clean clothes (with my survival bracelet on my right wrist and the other bracelet on my left), put my nasty clothes in a plastic bag, shoved that into my bag and quickly jogged to my next class. It was boring so I started sketching website logos and icons for fictional websites. There was just one more class to suffer through before the conference. All I had to do was get to that class, sit through the class, and safely make my way to the auditorium where it was being held. Sounds simple but it’s really not.   

FINALLY. Finally the announcement was made through the loud speakers that were spread all over the campus for those students that were in the program to make our way to the auditorium. I walked as quickly as I possibly could to try and keep anyone from shoving me into the dirt, grass, gravel, or anything else. As a matter of fact, I was so excited I was shaking! The other students were more concerned with what band they were being assigned to that they didn’t bother with me. I literally ran into a very tall blond male as I was trying to keep my head down and find a seat. 

 ”Sorry.” I mumbled as I quickly moved away from him

  The last thing I needed was to piss off one of the bigger guys on campus and get hurt and dirty right before I meet the band! The room lined with chairs in a weird fashion. There were a bunch of seats, a large space, a bunch a seats, a large space and so on. For some reason we were being segregated. I was told the bands would be sitting away from the students until we were allowed to formally meet. Sitting as far away from everyone else that I could, several of the Professors were walking around to give the students the files on their band. 

 He handed me a file with a smile before walking on to other students. My hands were shaking as I flipped open the file. My heart leapt up into my throat and tears sprung to my eyes. The page on the left read:

  Band Name: Shinedown

 Nationality: American

Genre: Rock 

Together since: 2001; However Zach joined in 2006 and Eric joined in 2008 

Members: Brent Smith, Barry Kerch, Zach Myers, Eric Bass 

From: Barry-Jacksonville, Florida; Brent—Los Angeles, California; Zach Myers—Memphis, Tennessee; Eric—Charleston, South Carolina

 Languages: English 

 On the opposite page, there was a picture of each band member. Under each picture was a small biography with the person’s age, what instrument(s) they play, what role they have in the band, interests, hobbies, and whether or not they drank alcohol. There were several guys walking around that I didn’t recognize. They weren’t in any of the band, they were Professors, and they weren’t students that I knew of. They were just walking around watching all the students. To be honest it made me nervous. Finally the Dean got the conference started. It was hard to pay attention because I kept looking down at my file to make sure that the information hadn’t changed! 

 “Students, bands, managers, welcome! I want to thank you all for joining us for this little project. I think our students are going to learn a lot from you and I hope that you will learn something from our wonderful students as well. There will be three students for each band. One technical student, one business student, and one multi-media student. Their curriculums have been modified for their time out on the road with you. 

 Students, I hope you take the wonderful opportunity you’ve been given and make the absolute most out of it. You have the chance to learn from industry professionals and get real-world experience. And remember, you are not only representing yourself but you are representing this University. You will be meeting the band you were placed with here in a few minutes. You will be given a paper on the general day-to-day workings so you have an idea of what you’re in for. 

 Managers, you have all of the contact information for me and the University. If you have any questions, concerns, or issues with any of the students please don’t hesitate to contact me. They are in college and should be acting appropriately. I understand there are a lot of you who drink and will go out together drinking. That’s not an issue. I’m not their father. They should know how to behave out in public. As I said, if you have any issues with one of your students, please contact me so we can work out the issue.

And now I’m sure all you students are dying to meet the band you are about to spend the next one to two years of your life with. I want to wish you all good luck in this endeavor. Have fun. Thank you.” The Dean stated

I sat there for a few minutes while the other students walked around trying to find their band. It was utter chaos so I opted to leave the auditorium. There were a few bands hanging around outside. I wasn’t sure where Shinedown were located so I decided to go gather my two bags. I really didn’t want to have to explain why I was hiding my luggage in the first place. As I was walking with my large “school bag” and two suitcases, I felt so out of place. As I approached where some of the bands were just hanging out, I noticed a short guy with long, beautiful dreads standing there with his back to me.