What Happens in High School

Chapter Five

What I'd Do Just To Get Back In Her Arms

Bob’s POV

I got home from school today around 2 o’clock. Ray invited the guys and me over for a movie later on that night so I figured since I had a few hours to kill I’d go mess around on the drums for a while. I went in through the garage where I’d set up a small rehearsal space and kept my drums. I pulled out my sticks, the same ones I bought when I first met Ray and Max, and sat down behind the drums. I spent a good two hours messing around and thinking of what I might play for the guys the next day. I wanted them to like my sound but I didn’t know exactly what to play for them.

At around 4 or so I decided to go shower and get dressed to go to Ray’s. I went up to my room and grabbed a towel then headed to the bathroom. After I got out I pushed all my hair to the side like usual and figured it was as good as it was going to get. I looked in my closet to pick out something to wear. Admittedly, I wanted to look nice for when I saw Max, she’d only really ever seen me in my uniform so this was my chance to really show some personality. I settled on some dark jeans and a band tee shirt. I threw on a black zip hoodie over my tee and slipped on some black sneakers. I wasn’t sure if I looked too depressing or not but it was the best I could come up with.

After I was showered and dressed I realized I still had some time to get to Ray’s. I sat for about half an hour doing basically nothing. I pulled out a cigarette and opened my bedroom window. I really should quit. One day, I thought, one day. When I finished my smoke I decided to head over. I walked out of the house and down the front steps and headed toward Ray’s house. Suddenly I remembered that Max had told me she was Ray’s neighbor and that she lived down the street from him. I had only seen her house once but it was the only white one with orange shutters on the block. I turned and walked back down a while until I spotted the bright windows.

I walked up to her front porch and tried to work up the courage to knock or ring the doorbell or do something. Right as I lifted my hand to knock Max came out. Did she know I was here? I guess not considering the look of surprise on her face when she saw me in front of her house. I smiled and said ‘hi’ and she did the same. She asked the obvious question, “What’re you doing here?” In all honesty I wasn’t really sure. I guess I figured it’d be nice to walk with her to Ray’s house but as the time passed I felt more and more awkward about the decision.

She was cool about it though. We walked to Ray’s together with notable silence between us. I wanted to break some of the awkwardness. I remembered that she mentioned playing the French horn before so I went with that topic. She showed me a necklace that her mom’s friend gave her of a small French horn. Being the extremely awkward human being that I am, I decided to pick up the necklace to ‘get a better look’ in a futile attempt to get closer to her. It didn’t really work out. Thankfully though we soon got to Ray’s house.

We set up the basement full of various movie necessities and when the guys came over we shut off the lights and started the movie. I sat down on the couch next to Max. It was a little awkward after the necklace thing so I tried to leave some space between us. That plan went out the window when an already tipsy Frank decided he wanted to lay across Ray, Max and I, so I was unwillingly forced a little closer to her. Thanks Frank. Amityville Horror definitely wasn’t the scariest movie on Earth but based on Mikey’s reaction I could tell he thought otherwise. He was perched behind a stack of pillows on the floor only looking at the screen in short ten second intervals. It was kind of funny.

About halfway through the second movie, which was the even less scary House of Wax, I felt something on my shoulder. At first I thought it was just Frank trying to get up or something but when I looked over I saw Max. She had fallen asleep and was leaning her head against my shoulder. Ray noticed this too and told me, “Oh, sorry Bob, I should have warned you. Max is like allergic to staying awake during movies. I’ll take her upstairs” Frank got up to let Ray off the couch but before he moved I said, “No it’s okay I can take her.” Ray looked at me and said, “Okay, if you really don’t mind. Just take her up to my room, I’ll sleep on the couch tonight.” And with that I stood up carefully and lifted Max off the couch.

She was light and fragile looking. I took her up into Ray’s room and set her down on his bed. I stayed for a moment and just looked at her while she slept. She was even pretty then. I pulled the blanket over her and tucked her hair behind her ears. What I wouldn’t give to just sit with her all night. Eventually though I got up and turned out the light, closing Ray’s bedroom door and letting her sleep.

I went back downstairs and announced, “She’s good, fast asleep.” Mikey answered with, “I don’t know how she can managed to fall asleep during this stuff. I’m not going to be able to sleep at all tonight.” The guys all rolled their eyes at Mikey’s hatred of horror films and Gerard smacked him with a pillow. “God Mikey how are you even my brother? You’re such a pansy.” I didn’t know they were brothers. If Gerard hadn’t said anything, I never would have known, they don’t look anything alike.

After the movie ended we all helped Ray get everything out of the basement. We all went home around 11 but before we left Ray confirmed, “So we’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, just meet at my house at around two I guess. It’s too much work to move the drums around.” Ray and the other guys nodded. Turns out they’re all in the band. Frank and Ray on guitar, Mikey on bass, and even though he looked like he’d never be in a million years, Gerard was the singer. “Okay, we’ll see you then.” Ray added as I left to go home. I got in and went straight up to bed.

I changed into some plaid pants and a plain black tee and laid down and looked at the ceiling. I thought about how I brought Max up into Ray’s room. She seemed to fit perfectly in my arms and I didn’t want to let her go. As I set her down on Ray’s bed she looked so calm, I felt like I could watch at her for hours. Even while she slept, she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. I didn’t want to leave her side, but if I stayed the guys would have noticed me being gone so long.

I wanted her to be back in my arms already. I really liked her but I didn’t know how to talk to her. Today was one of the good days and I was even weird around her then. She mesmerized me and I tripped over my words when I tried to talk around her. This girl had me hooked like no one else I’d ever met.

I tried to get some sleep. Tomorrow all the guys were coming over to hear me play drums and see if I had the sound they were looking for in their band. I hoped I had it but judging by Ray’s initial reaction I figured I was already in. I shut my lights off and went to sleep still thinking about Max.
…

The next morning I woke up at around 9. I had a smoke, went downstairs, got some cereal and went to watch cartoons. Aside from playing for the band later I really didn’t have anything else to do today. I decided that two hours of Pinky and the Brain was enough and I looked for something else to do. After not finding anything interesting at home I got dressed and headed down to the music store to see if Ray was there. I put on some normal clothes and walked down to the store.

Ray was there playing guitar and passing the time until he got off. He heard the door chime as I came in and turned around on the bench where he sat. “Hey Bob, what’s up?” he greeted me.

“Not much man, just killing time.” I wasn’t the best at making small talk but Ray was cool and fairly easy to talk to.

“Same here. Hey you ready to play later?”

“Yeah, I just hope I don’t suck too much.”

“Nah, you’re amazing, they’ll love it.” Ray reassured my worries. Just as I thanked Ray the front door chimed again. We both turned to see Max walk in. I got a nervous feeling in my stomach again seeing her and remembering last night. I wondered if she knew that I had taken her up to Ray’s room or if she knew that I sat down and watched her sleep. If she did know, did she care?

“Hey you two.” She said cheerfully as she walked over to us. I suddenly became very shy. I wasn’t the most outgoing person in the world to begin with but around her it only seemed to get worse. I let Ray respond saving myself the possible embarrassment of stuttering over my words. “Hey Max,” he replied. “You coming today?” Did he mean…?

“Of course, you know I love to hear you guys.” Yeah he meant it. Max was coming to band practice. I was already nervous enough about playing well for the guys and now that Max was going to be there, who knows how bad I’d screw up? This was going to be fun.

“Cool, I still have like an hour though, but Bob’s here so you guys can talk.” I looked over at Max who was already looking at me. I wanted to talk to her but I had no words. I just froze up around her, I couldn’t help it. I could feel the uncomfortableness building.

Max turned to me and said, “Well I was actually going to practice my horn, but you’re welcome to come listen.” I stood for a moment debating whether or not I could survive being in a room alone with Max then simply said, “Okay.”

Max turned and got out the strangest looking instrument case I think I’d ever seen from behind the front counter. It looked a little like a turtle if that turtle had gotten hit by a truck. She lifted the case, which looked a bit heavier than it led on, and brought it into one of the practice rooms. I followed her in as she sat down in front of a music stand. She snapped open the sliver latches on the case as I sat down next to her and she pulled out a shiny golden horn. It looked just like her necklace only bigger. She looked at me as she fitted the silver mouthpiece in place and smiled shyly, preparing herself for her small performance.

It didn’t start out like much. She did these things she called ‘lip-slurs’ to warm up for a few minutes then pulled out some sheet music. The piece was called ‘Vocalise’ by someone named Sergei Rachmaninoff. It looked like it was too fast to be played on an instrument like the French horn but in reality it was just about the slowest song I’d ever heard. Even though it wasn’t the type of music I’d normally listen to or enjoy, I found it to be really pretty and well composed. I don’t know if this was because I actually liked it or just the fact that Max was the one playing it.

I’m not quite sure how she did it but she held out the long notes effortlessly. She seemed to be able to hold her breath forever. She lost herself in the music and I felt like she took me with her. Each note was flawless and she seemed to make the music even better. The song went on for about 5 minutes but I didn’t mind the length, I kind of wanted it to keep going.

When she finished she looked up to get my reaction which was, “Wow. That was amazing. I’ve never heard a French horn before, it sounds so mellow but like, pretty at the same time.” And all of a sudden I was some kind of music connoisseur. I laughed a little at my ridiculous answer and because of the fact that Max made me nervous. She was pleased with my response though because when I finished she turned to me and looked me in the eyes and said, “Really? No one’s ever heard me play before. To be honest I was a little nervous for you to hear.” I nearly threw up as she said this. One: she was looking right into my eyes, and two: I made her nervous. Sure, she made me nervous too, but come on, just look at her; how could any guy not be even a little intimidated? I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Did she like me too or was I just scary?

The mood instantly went back to awkward but I was still curious about what she meant, so I mustered up all my courage to ask, “Why would I make you nervous?” All that really did was make her more nervous. She timidly bit her lip thinking of an answer, which only mesmerized me more. “Oh, you know, it’s just that I’ve never really played in front of anyone else before.” Why did it sound like she was hiding what she really meant?

I’d have to deal with the fact that it was going to take a lot more to get Max. She was the type of girl you had to work for and I didn’t really mind that; she was definitely worth it. I listened to her play for the remainder of the hour. She had a few little tunes that you just kind of knew and some pieces I’d never heard before. We really didn’t talk much during this time but I felt like somehow we still got to know each other better, or at least, things were significantly less awkward.

As the clock ticked nearer to two in the afternoon Max packed up her instrument and grabbed her music. I tried to be chivalrous and brought her horn out for her, and I was right, it was too heavy for Max to be carrying. Right as we came out of the practice room Ray greeted us saying, “Hey, how’d it go?” I think he said this more toward Max so I let her answer. “It was alright, nothing spectacular.” She really needed to stop doubting her skills. Ray gave her a look that encompassed my very same thought and said, “Whatever you say, buttercup. You guys ready to go?” I nodded to Ray and we left the store.

We walked to my house from the store considering it wasn’t far away, ten minutes at most. We got to my house and I opened up the garage door to reveal my little rehearsal space. Ray seemed to be impressed with it because when he saw it he said, “Whoa, Bob, this is sick.” I didn’t even know people said that stuff was ‘sick’ anymore but it was a compliment nonetheless and I accepted it. Max tentatively walked in and took a look around herself before replying with, “Yeah, nice set up.” Why, thank you.

Max took a seat at the edge of the room while Ray set up his guitar. Frank, Mikey, and Gerard showed up in a little bit and they too started to get their stuff ready. When everyone was set, they played a song without my drums first so I could get an idea of what to add. The second go around I’d add the beat. I was a little nervous with Max right there but I tried to push through it. After all she’d already heard me play once and I had just listened to her. I adjusted my set a little to stall for time but eventually figured I had to get it over with sooner or later. I gave the guys the okay to go again this time with drum. I made up stuff as I went along but it seemed to fit well enough. I guess the other guys thought so too.

“Nice man, that was sweet!” Gerard excitedly said as he came over to high five me for my performance. “We definitely need you in the band dude, what do you say?” Of course I agreed to be in the band, I needed an outlet for my drumming and these guys were all really cool. We settled upon a practice schedule then continued to practice and fit together our musical styles for a while. Eventually everyone had to get home including Max who needed to babysit her younger brother.

“I should get home, mom asked me to watch Andy tonight. You guys sounded awesome and even better now that you’ve got Bob.” When she said this last part she looked right at me and gave me a shy smile. I wanted so bad to just be with her already but for now getting to know her as a friend would have to do. She said goodbye to all of us before waving and heading down the street back to her house. Frank hugged her before she left and all I could think was, I wish I was Frank. Scary thought.