Simple As A Song (School of Rock)

sixteen -- better together

SCHOOL OF ROCK IS riding the high of winning the Battle of the Bands performance and acting like they're the best thing since sliced bread. They (we?) did win last week, but still. It's been a week, and they're still so excited and happy. Mr. Finn hasn't stopped smiling all day today, and he even listened to my mom today when she asked him not to play AC/DC in the library during lunch. As the day draws to an end, Mr. Finn has allowed us to work on a packet of math homework that he got somewhere online. 

I lean over the packet, my pencil poised over a question that doesn't make any sense to me at all. Around me, the rest of the band is working together, even allowing Riley into their group. I'm not sure why I didn't join them since I needed a little help, but they didn't ask me to join them. Glancing up at the group, I let out a small sigh. Riley is sitting next to Freddy, and to his right is Zack and Lawrence. On the other side of Riley are Tomika and Summer, completing the circle. I understand why they would let Riley join them again; she's the twin sister of Zack, and she isn't the new kid. Everyone has known her longer than me, and that's okay. 

It just hurts a little that they didn't include me in their group, especially because Tomika is my cousin. 

Biting down on my tongue, I force myself to focus on my math homework. I don't want to work on this later at Tomika's house since I want to write a song, but based on the way things are going now, I'm going to have to do it when I get home. Maybe Mom will help me. She has said before that she could have studied math in college, but she didn't. If I don't finish it now, I'll ask her for help later and pray that she can explain all this to me because we all know Mr. Finn can't do that in the slightest. 

As I stare at the piece of paper, I remember the announcements from this morning. Clark gives the announcements every single day, and even though I can't stand his voice, he said something very interesting. According to Clark, there is going to be a call-out meeting for some sort of tech club. Last night, Mom told me that I needed to join a club so that I could meet other people and find other things I enjoy, and I figured this club would be good enough. No one will recognize me in it, and it can be something I can put on my transcript when the time comes for college applications. 

Suddenly, Mr. Finn claps his hands, getting all of our attention focused on him. He stands at the front of the classroom, behind his desk, with a wide smile on his face. "I am so proud of every single one of you," he says, gazing around the room. "We won Battle of the Bands because of our dream -- sharing the stage as a band, together." He focuses his gaze on me and Riley. "And thanks to Harlow Velasco and Riley Kwon, we managed to get Night Lizard out of the competition."

"How did you find us, anyway?" Zack asks, looking at his sister. She only points at me with a shrug, so he looks at me, his eyes dark. I can barely hold his gaze long enough to listen to his question. "You were the one who found us, Harlow?"

"Um, yeah," I say, nodding once. "I heard your screams through a vent, and I knew something was wrong. I followed your screams, and voila, found you guys. It wasn't that hard, actually."

"You two are still on probation, though," Tomika says quickly, like she needs to remind me, giving us a pointed glance. Her dark hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and she looks older than she did last week. Maybe that's because of her major win at Battle of the Bands. "If you want to be in School of Rock, you need to do the things we ask of you. It's only fair since you were going against us."

"That isn't fair," Riley says, glaring at Tomika. I didn't realize Riley also didn't like the probation thing. I only thought that was a me thing. "For us, you guys were going against us, too. And you hid the band from Harlow, so it made sense for us to do the same thing."

"Okay, that's enough fighting," Mr. Finn says, butting into the conversation. My anger is growing by the minute, but I guess it makes sense in a convoluted way that Riley and I should be on probation. Maybe. "How about everyone is on probation, whatever that means? You all will do whatever I ask of you since you guys couldn't bother with telling each other about what you were doing."