Lost in the Rhythm

A Lying Flute in the Band Room

It only took Luz two seconds to decide that she really, really hated her new school.

The hallways were too loud, for one thing. There were too many people here, and they were everywhere, and they were all yelling at the top of their lungs. It hadn't been uncommon for her to get sensory overload at her old school, but that place had, what? Three hundred kids at max? She hadn't exactly passed algebra with flying colors when she was a freshman, but she assumed that this school was big enough to hold at least two thousand.

She sighed. Oh boy.

She didn't need to, but she pulled her schedule out of her back pocket to check it anyway. She'd memorized it, of course- concert band first thing in the morning, followed by physics, algebra two, history, geography, and jazz band last period. She knew her new schedule as well as she knew she already hated her new classmates- she'd spent hours going over it, tracing the map of the school carefully to check her route.

But it never hurt to reevaluate.

She ran her eyes over the list of classes one more time. Yes, yes, that all seemed correct, accurate to her memory, and she was pretty sure she was headed down the right hallway...

She stopped for a minute and squinted at the paper.

Since when was she signed up for advanced concert band?

She'd never exactly been a prodigy. Sure, she was a junior now, and she'd been playing the saxophone since she was eleven, but she'd never been exceptional at it. Of course, she wasn't awful. She could play an improv swing solo from time to time, no problem. But the advanced band at her old school had accepted only a prestigious fifteen people into its ranks. Being a solidly middling musician, she'd missed the cut. And she was pretty sure she hadn't signed up for the fancy good-musician band at her new school, Hexside High. But there it was, on the paper very clearly labeled Luz Noceda. Advanced Concert Band with Mr. Bump, first period.

So maybe there'd been a scheduling mistake. It wasn't something a quick visit to the counselor's office couldn't fix.

She took a sharp left down the hallway her instincts told her would lead her to her destination. Veering closely to the left so as not to be trampled by the sprinting, screaming freshmen- even more obnoxious here than back home, she thought with a roll of her eyes- she spotted a sign on the wall that read Counselor. Her muscles eased. Perfect. She pulled open the door, ducked inside, and-

"I don't see why you can't make these arrangements for me. My family could have any faculty member here fired if their expectations aren't met."

The voice was sharp, lined with poison, and Luz stopped in her tracks. The receptionist behind the desk was facing off with another student, whose mouth was curled into a disdainful sneer. Luz didn't want to stare- but it was hard not to when the angry girl looked so... strange? No, that was mean. She didn't look strange like bad strange. She was strange like mysterious attractive stranger strange. Her bright mint hair and vibrant golden eyes definitely set her apart from the other kids here. And she was apparently also very snobby and had rich, influential parents, or something. Luz made a mental note to not fuck with this girl.

Then her eyes fell on the girl's jacket.

Navy and yellow, with a big H on the right side for Hexside, and a single word printed in blue stitching on the center.

Band.

Oh, wonderful.

The receptionist's head jerked up when she sensed Luz enter, and her eyes filled with something like relief. (Not that Luz blamed her. If she were stuck alone arguing with green-haired girl, she'd be thankful for a distraction too.) "Good morning," she said eagerly. "What can I help you with?"