Freshmen

Chapter 3

     It was the middle of May. Spring fever was getting to me. I was looking at the warm outside inside of our reading class when suddenly my friend Don came up to me and said, "Hey Dale you know about me not ever getting a girlfriend? Well I thought wrong. I got one!" I was happy."How did you meet her?" I asked. "So...(I blanked out)...texting...(What will we have for lunch?)...and we went bowling!" I was so blanked out because lack of sleep. "So what's her name?" I was curious. "Her name is Genkiki." To see Don's face smile after he said Genki's full first name. I had a small heart attack until he said,"Hey! What happen? Are you ok? I didn't mean your Genkiki." I am very confused, "What do you mean?" Don said," There is another Genkiki at this school. "I'm not dating the Genkiki that you hang out with, I'm dating her friend that has the same name as her." As I regain my strength from that temporary heart attack, I congratulated him.

     I was thinking of what Don said. As I got out of the lunch line I saw Don and Genkiki sitting at opposite sides of the table. I thought that it was adorable that they were still in the awkward phase. When the last period bell rang,I got some rest when I got home because Mr.Sully entrusted me conducting a 200 piece middle school band for their spring concert. I don't know why, but I hated being trusted with big responsibilities. I declined the offer. He said that I have to because there were only 2 upperclassmen and one of them died in a car crash this morning. Hearing the news that ,Leilani, one of my friends died made me sad. Even if the girl was such a bitch to me sometimes, she still had those nice moments like taking responsibly of my mess ups in the classes. For Leilani's sake I wanted to make the performance successful, so I accepted to conduct the band.

    When It was time to perform, I looked at the audience to see how many people there are. I was petrified because there were more than a thousand of them sitting in the auditorium. I tried to think of happy thoughts, but all i can think of is what judgemental assholes they are going to be when I mess up. I went back to the band room and looked for Mr.Sully. When I found him I saw him polishing a baton. "Hey champ are you ready for your first performance as a conductor," with a smile on his face. He handed me the baton and said,"Think of the most important people in your life and set your mind in autopilot then it would be easy," I felt inspired. When the students were taking their seats on stage, I got ready to walk in there in my tuxedo and baton. As I walk on stage, I stare forward to show professionalism. "1!2!3! UP!" I yelled to let the band know to put their instruments up. "Our first song is going to be Storm and sunshine,this song was taught Alex Sully and conducted by Dale Demonte." The host said. Storm and sunshine is a college march that Mr.Sully taught a bunch of middle schoolers(quite impressive). I started the song.  All I have to do is sustain a 4/4 beat pattern in cut time and not mess up. I took Mr.Sully's advice to set myself on autopilot and think of people that are important to me. Nobody came up because I hated everyone including family. I started slowing down and panicking. I was scared and started hear voices in my mind,"You're horrible......look at this peice of crap.....just as I was expecting from a load of bullshit....." I hated hearing those voices, but when I heard a little voice in my mind that said,"You can do it coward. Don't let a bunch of people get you down. Get your shit together and look at your pupils." It was Leilani. I blacked out. When I regained my conscious, I found myself bowing to the crowd. I was confused. I looked up and saw Leilani standing behind the auditorium clapping with the audience and then fading away. When everyone went back to the band room, 4 different underclassmen told me that I acted like Leilani at the end of the show. I was really confused.

     After the performance, I forgot to charge my phone and both of my parent's are busy at their research lab with their jobs, so I asked Julie(underclassmen) for a ride. It's very embarrassing.  While in the ride he asked me,"Dude. Do you have a girlfriend?" Me thinking as a mature young man I say,"Why? It's none of your beeswax." Wow great move me. Even with underclassmen I feel stupid. The annoying little girl she is, she asks,"Do you have a crush?" In my mind I be like,"Out of the 200 students I have, I just had to choose the most annoying." I answered the question,"Yes, but it is hard for me to decide if I should ask her or just stay friends." I have been really good friends with Genki, but I didn't want to ruin the friendship. She took my backpack and started rummaging through my stuff. "Hey! What are you doing in there? Are you looking for my phone? Here is my phone. It is at zero percent." She took my phone and charged it in the front of the car. "Which one is is she?" I panicked and tried getting my phone. "Wow. This girl has over 500 text messages. I'm guessing this must be her." I retrieved my phone. "Hey, dude don't be a wuss. What can you lose? Aren't you guys great friends? Ask her out." She had good point. I took my phone and started the conversation.