The Beautiful You

Thirty-one ~ Manta Rays

"And a one, a two, a one, two, three, four!" Amory shouted before he randomly hit the snares of the drum kit in front of him. I slowly nodded to the out of beat sounds as Amory kept his chaotic playing going. Blake stood beside him observing the way his arms flailed around as he attempted to play a single rhythmic pattern.

I adjusted the strap on my guitar as Ken talked away about our performance later this afternoon. Out of all of us in the ensemble, he was the most excited. Although we had only practiced a handful of times, our practices had gone fairly well. Everyone in the band was a competent musician, and it was enough to convince me that they didn't need my skills  at all.

But Ken insisted.

"Thank you, Quincy High!" Amory shouted as he held the drumsticks in the air before crashing the sticks into the symbol, ending his out of beat rythm.

Blake blinked a few times before he mumbled, "That was...really good."

Amory smiled as he handed the drumsticks back to Shawn, our drummer.

"Don't quit the soccer team," Shawn muttered as he sat back down to adjust the drum kit.

I chuckled as Amory shrugged off Shawn's comment.

"Blake and Levi!" Mei shouted from the back of the auditorium. "Help roll in some of this equipment!" They nodded and darted out the double doors. The live performances didn't start until noon, and some of the acts started piling in backstage.

"It's nice that they're helping," Ken said, adjusting the height of his microphone stand.

I nodded in agreement.

"Levi, too." He glanced at me. "He didn't even know Jackson, but he's helping out his friends," he added.

I nodded, tuning my acoustic guitar to our first song. "Yeah, he's just like that."

"I'm glad you're friends," Ken said.

I glanced up at him. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Ken shrugged, turning the tuning pegs on his guitar. "That time he showed up to the practice room looking for you—he looked like a puppy someone just kicked."

"Oh," I mumbled.

"I just assumed—you know—you were the one that kicked him...I for sure thought he wasn't your friend then."

"Oh, yeah I wasn't in the mood for making friends." I shrugged.

Ken tilted his head down to get a better look at my reaction. "Apollo, you're still not in the mood for making friends." He smiled. "He's just a special case..."

I raised an eyebrow and began, "What are you trying to—"

"Apollo!" Amory's voice cut through our conversation. He was holding up a container above his head as he walked towards me. "Your mom dropped this off for us," he said. He placed the container on the stage and peered through the clear plastic. I could tell she had just made it since the container had a film of condensation over it.

"Oh, it might be spicy," I warned.

"It smells good," Amory said. "She said the big ones are for me, but I have no idea what it is."

"They're chile rellenos. It's basically just peppers stuffed with cheese and salsa," I said.

Amory opened the container and groaned. "Apollo, I want all of them," he said, grinning.

I shrugged. "Have them, but don't eat those little ones. It's too spicy, give those ones to Mei."

"Okay," he said. "But are you almost done setting up?"