Among the Woods

Chapter 2: Little Tunes

"One, two, ready," Mr. Miller suddenly sucked in a breath, along with the rest of the band, and in the next second, beautiful melodies of several different woodwind instruments, strung together into a beautiful, flavorful song. Each pattern of notes fit together nicely with one another. It sounded amazing, well; I thought so until Mr. Miller waved his hands in a close to the measures we were on.

"You are still not loud enough clarinets," he said, staring me straight in the face. I could feel my cheeks turn red. "This is a big moment in the piece. You must play out! I need you to play at least three notches louder."

He sighed, raising his hands, "Let's try this again," With a large gesture; Mr. Miller began the piece, singing along as we went; every other note matched a lower pitch than the one before it. "Da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da, duh, dug-a, dug-a, dug-a, dah!" he then closed the song, a little more impressed.

"One more notch third clarinets," He advised. I was the section leader of the third clarinets, so I nodded along with the two other thirds at Mr. Miller's suggestion. He then began the song again.

While we played, he waved his hand back and forth, as if he was pulling the volume of the sound out of the clarinets, "Louder, louder, louder," He cried, "Perfect!" He ended the song at the measure we were at, "One more time, same spot, at that same volume. And remember to add the crescendo in the scale."

We all played for the next twenty minutes, Mr. Miller having to fix a couple more things in the saxophone and flute sections. At one particular part in the rehearsal, I had to look back to the tenor saxophones. There were only two out of the three tenors here today, Kristen, and Griffin. Griffin, who was another one of my best friends, was playing hideously out of tune, so Mr. Miller had to tune him up a bit.

Soon, we ended with a few more announcements, "Next rehearsal," Mr. Miller began, "we will stay combined with the brass, and add in the percussion. You have got to practice this music with a metronome. Also, based on today's performance, I may need to hand out the tuning assignment again," Everyone groaned. As Mr. Miller looked over to the tenors, I glanced back at Griffin and smiled, "Especially for you tenors." Both of them smiled, and I felt the embarrassment they probably felt.

Mr. Miller finished up his announcements. The band was soon packing up, bringing chairs back upstairs where the band room was (we had to go to the auditorium, for the percussion was using the band room). I put my backpack and clarinet down by a long, black, metal bench so I could easily take my chair and stand to their racks.

I walked through the double doors, in which a trumpet player was holding open for everyone. I went into the band room. Awkwardly, paced to the end of the room. Once I racked my chair and stand, I whizzed around to go retrieve my backpack.

I sat down on the bench, and waited for Griffin. I noticed that he had put his things down by mine; Griffin's bulky saxophone case sat by his black and light green backpack. It practically beckoned me to open it. I reached over to grab it, and pulled it front of my legs.

I unlatched the buckles on the case, and flipped open the lid. The light from the ceiling sent a bright reflection down the saxophone's shiny gold body. I slid my hand down its delicate, pearl like keys thinking, I wish I could play the clarinet and the saxophone. I sighed. 

Before long, Griffin appeared out of the double doors, his full locks of gorgeous brown hair swaying dramatically to the side. He looked at me, his green eyes glistening, "Hey, what are you doin'," he questioned me. I quickly, but also accidentally, slammed down the lid of his case, surprised by Griffin's sudden appearance. A loud thundering thump echoed down the hallway. A few heads turn back to see what was going on. When they realized what had just happened, they turned back to their conversations.

"Oh! I was just," for a moment there, I lost my train of thought as I gazed at Griffin's long slender legs. He wore long, dark, boot cut jeans, which had lighter worn splotches around his knees. When I realized what I was doing, I jumped back into the conversation, "I was just looking at your legs- YOUR SAXOPHONE! I was just looking at your saxophone! Your tenor is amazing," I said, blushing.

He looked at me and smiled, "I know right. I bet your clarinet too is amazingly awesome."

"Yeah, I kinda wish I also played clarinet and saxophone. Maybe I could do marching band or Jazz next year with one."

"That would be so cool," He said.

"Yeah," I drawled. We both stared into thin air for a moment, losing the conversation. Wind Ensemble and Marching band. That would be cool. I would get to play two instruments at once! Oh, I hope I can do it next year. That was when I paused. Next year; next year I will be in ninth grade! Next year I will fifteen, and I will be able to get my Learners Permit. Next year, I might not have any more creepy dreams about little phantoms hiding in the darkness that takes the ground out from under me, and lets me fall until I'm scared awake.

How can you be so sure?

I sat up quickly, a bolt of fear zigzagging through my body. My heart seemed to stop. My thoughts began to trample over each other, trying to keep hold of the strange voice ricocheting through my head. AH! What? Who are you? What are you doing? How'd you get inside my head? What do you mean, How can I be so sure? Sure about what? For the second time that day, the voice gave no reply.

"Are you okay," I looked up to see Griffin giving me a concerned look.

I shook my head wildly, my golden red hair swirling around my head, "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about what happened to Shaye today in math, today." I looked up at him, grinning a goofy grin, and saw that he had picked up his things. He was ready to go.

"Well, speaking of Shaye, let's go see if she's done with her, thing."

"Yeah, let's go," I got up off of the black bench, and nearly fell over. Griffin grabbed my arm, pulling me up straight. I stood a little bit taller than him, making the whole incident a little more awkward.

"Are you sure you are okay?"

    "Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, yet somehow, in the back of my mind, I knew things would not be okay at all.