"Here it is, folks. The lucky school." He opened it slowly. With a terrible grin, he read, "Marrisville Jr. Sr. High School located in Iowa."
"No!" students screamed. They all jumped to their feet. Others broke down in tears. The reactions were...
I watched Olivia as she ran through the dance with Tommy. What I wouldn't give to be him right now. The way they wrapped their arms around each other; it looked like they were actually in love. And the way she pretended to be taken from him was realistic enough, imagine what'd it'd be like when there were actual people doing it.
I played with the seam of my uniform as I thought about it all. Maria told me that we liked each other after Olivia and I finished video chatting the other day, but it can be hard to trust her word sometimes.
"Alright," Mr. Wires yelled. "reset to the top of Part Two! We're running the dance."
The students cheered as they took their places. I was in front of Olivia here and would go off to the side with the other boys. Mathew counted us off and we began.
The music started soft and warm. I marched to the side, setting my bass drum down on the tarp next to Joel's snare. We got into a group, watching Olivia and Tommy while they danced. The girls did the exact same thing on the other side of the tarp. We watched as the two hugged and took that as our cue.
The music changed. It was darker and faster. We all marched up to them and reached our arms out, but Joel was the one to actually pull her off. We circled her, giving the audience looks of hunger and greed. Olivia's face showed fear. She got to her feet and went to break out of the circle, only to have me push her back in. She looked around at each of us, trying to find an escape. She reached out to Tommy again, but I knew he had his own problems.
The girls would have him in a circle too. He would try to break out and fail as well and we would overcome them. Olivia was in the middle as we walked near her. With one last fearful look, she crouched down and we all bent down to hide her from the audience.
There was no music now. While crouched, Olivia changed her uniform, flipping light blue and white inside out to reveal pitch black and red. Her face that once held fear now held anger. The music started again, low and dark, building up as we all stood straight. Olivia followed, coming up to her feet. She was still in our circle glaring at each boy. This time, she ran and busted out.
The music was intense now as Olivia snarled and glared at the girls who still held Tommy captive. The boys all went to join the girls in their circle, making it larger. The boys faced out while the girls face in. She circled our circle, baring teeth at each of us. She ran toward the circle and went in. The music was loud and livid.
The boys turned so we all were facing in the circle. Eliza was taunting Tommy, who was sitting in the middle covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut. Olivia glared at Eliza before attacking. The two swatted at each other over and over as we all walked in a circle around them. Eliza made one last swing at her, but Olivia deflected it and pounced her. The two fell to the floor and that was our cue to run in and hide them from the audience.
The music was quiet again as Olivia flipped her red and black uniform back to blue and white. Eliza lied on the floor with her eyes shut and Tommy was sitting on the floor with his ears covered and eyes shut.
The music became sweet again as we slowly backed up, revealing the scene. Olivia snarled at Eliza one last time before facing Tommy. She lightly touched his shoulder, causing Tommy to jerk up and flinch away. Olivia took his hands.
The circle turned into a line as we marching back to our drums, leaving Olivia and Tommy. Although my back was to them, I knew what would happen. Tommy and Olivia would stare at each other for a moment—Tommy looking scared and Olivia looking concerned. Then Tommy would wrap his arms around her tightly and they would hug on the floor until the music that was now light and happy would die down.
The pit faced the audience with proud smiles while the battery now had their drums and were set for Part Three with looks of relief on their faces.
A voiceover began playing, "Too often, people give up on happy endings. They call them cheesy and cliché. People do not believe in happy endings, but thrive for miracles, not realizing that what their miracle is, in fact, a happy ending. Besides, who isn't a sucker for happy endings?"
I still couldn't see, but I knew that was Olivia's cue to pull from the hug and stand up. She would offer her hand to Tommy and he would take it. Together, they would walk hand in hand back to their drums. By now Eliza was dragged away by two of the girls and back to her drum, so she had her drum on. Tommy and Olivia put their drums on.
That's where it ended.
There was silence as we looked to Mr. Wires and Matthew, who quietly spoke to each other. Mr. Wires said something and Matthew nodded. Mr. Wires stood up. "That was probably the best performance of Part Two I've ever seen. For once, you guys actually showed us some emotion! Would you agree, Travis, Daniel, Mike?"
They all nodded. "The way you guys really looked angry was great," Travis said. "That's exactly what'll win us Nationals."
Someone ran into the gym. It was that Brian kid in Maria's grade. He must have been sprinting because he was out of breath and panting.
"You good, kid?" Daniel asked from the stands. I glanced back at Olivia. She had an eyebrow raised suspiciously. Brian was still trying to catch his breath. "Don't hurt yourself."
"Olivia," he breathed. "I need Olivia. Like, now."
"What is it?" Olivia asked.
"You got a call," he said.
"Can it wait?"
"You got a call," he repeated with urge. "A very important call from a very important person."
Olivia seemed to understand. She quickly set her drum down. "Can I go?"
"Yeah." Mr. Wires didn't argue. "Do what you need to do."
"Thank you." Olivia ran out of the gym with Brian.
"Who do you think she had to talk to?" Jacob, a member of the pit, asked.
"Taylor, Toby," Mike called. "you guys know?"
The two looked at each other, confused. They looked like they were trying to remember. Suddenly, Taylor perked up like she remembered. "Oh my god! We're supposed to be with her!"
"What? Why?" Toby was still confused. She ran to him and whispered to him. It hit him then. "Oh my god! We're supposed to be with her!"
"Can we go?" Taylor asked. Mr. Wires nodded. The two sprinted out of the gym so fast, one of Toby's xylophone mallets fell to the floor and Taylor's vibraphone music flew off her stand.
"Uh," Daniel was the first ot break the confused silence that had been bestowed on the percussionists. "top of Part One."
