THROUGH THE AGES || A ToA One Shot Collection

R03 ⋅ Band Fever

R03: AnnieSchuyler88

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It's not every day that Arcadia Oaks High hosts a concert, let alone a student-organized event. The first time the school hosted some form of concert was nearly forty years ago. It wasn't much of a hit so the school didn't try to create a tradition for it. But now, for the first time since then, the school council voted to have another concert, and the student body with the help of the local community, namely two college-age kids, would be putting it together.

No one was sure who these college-age kids were, but the students of Arcadia Oaks High who were excited about the concert were glad that they would be helping out. Besides, it seemed that they knew what they were doing when they showed up with a ton of posters, stage equipment, and their own instruments. And apparently, they were charming enough to convince Lenora Janeth to let them store their equipment in the theatre storage space. For the last week, they are all everyone has been talking about and Claire and her friends were no exception.

"Look at the hot sauce that showed up on our front door, C-bomb!" Mary says excitedly, pulling an ill-looking Claire from Jim's side and toward a gathered group of girls, "He's from Arcadia Oaks Academy."

Claire sighs, "Isn't the girl that came with him his girlfriend?"

"I doubt it," Mary grins, "They're complete opposites."

The excitable, boy-crazy teen shoves Claire through the groups of girls, causing her to drop her notebooks and scatter the music sheets she had brought with her. Claire exhales tiredly and kneels to pick them up, but then another pair of hands begins helping her.

"C-bomb, is it?" He asks with an English Accent, "Consider me blown away because you are nuclear."

Claire blushes, feeling slightly embarrassed for dropping her books, "Thanks, but uh..."

Before she can get her sentence out, Jim helps her to her feet and wraps an arm around her shoulders, "So what brings you to our humble school? And what'll it take to send you back?"

Claire smirks at him, knowing full well that he's feeling jealous. However, she doesn't say anything as a cough wracks her frame.

"I'm so glad you asked!" The boy grins, not at all bothered by Jim's overprotectiveness, "The battle of the bands is coming up! My fianceé and I are here to help set up!"

"Fianceé?" Jim questions suddenly growing very confused, "I thought you were from the academy?"

"Nope!" He laughs slightly, "Where'd that come from?"

"Rumor," Claire replies, "Everyone's talking about you two."

"Really?" He smiles, "Isn't that something? Oh—" He hands Claire a small, red and gold poster— "Ash Dispersal Pattern is my band! We'll crush it! But we highly encourage others to give it a shot!"

"Wait, didn't you open for Papa Skull at the Boxtop? You were sick!" Claire bounces on the balls of her feet excitedly before sneezing.

The boy chuckles, "Well, it looks like I'm not the only one." He pulls a black handkerchief from his back pocket and hands it to her.

"Douxie, Love!" A female voice calls, her accent just as thick but more regal sounding, "I could use a bit of help!"

The trio glance back at a young blonde woman wearing a large cream-colored sweater. She appears to be struggling with getting a larger piece of equipment through the door leading to the backstage of the theater.

"Oh, I better go," Douxie grins, "It was nice chatting with you though. Hopefully, we'll meet again."

With that, he rushes over to the blonde and presses a kiss to her temple as he helps her angle the case through the doorway.

"Aw, he's taken," Mary suddenly reappears with a pout.

"That's okay," Claire smiles, glancing back at Jim with a reassuring smile as Darcy rushes over and clings to the girl's arm full of excitement.

"Hey! We should totally join! We could be a cover band!"

"Oh, oh! We can call ourselves Mama Skull!" Mary joins in, suddenly just as excited as Darcy.

Claire grins, "I like it. Let's do this!"

Edited 09/04/2023