This One Time At Band Camp

Chapter 4

"I think this is the choir room," I say to Julia. We're standing by the door to the room next to the band room.  It was essentially the exact same door, but it opened in the opposite direction. It was big, wide and wooden,  unlike normal classroom doors. 

"How'd you figure that out, smarty pants?" Julia says back. She sounds a bit sarcastic but I just ignore it.

"Well, the sign above the door that says 'choir' was a pretty good hint." It also happened to be the only other room in the hallway. I can't imagine the school wouldn't put the two music room close to each other. 

She rolls her eyes at me and says "No shit Sherlock. Aren't you gonna open the door? Or are we just going to stand here because I'm pretty hungry. I could just eat this door if we stand here for too much longer."

I stand there and don't move an inch. I reach for the doorknob but decide against it. "Maybe we should knock. Knowing the rumors that are going around about the band I wouldn't want to...walk in on something."

Julia shrugs her shoulders and reaches for the door. "Suit yourself. New gossip is always good to help with building street cred. Besides, If we do  find someone, I guarantee they'll be more embarrassed than we are."

She opens the door before I can stop her. Inside, I see Noah standing with his iPod by some sort of stereo. We stand there and I take my first real look at him. He had longish straight brown hair and an average body. Not chubby, but not a bodybuilder either. He was kind of rocking a dad bod.  It gave him a kind of approachable feel, but  I could tell by the way his muscles flex under his shirt he's not someone you can just mess with. When he looked up I noticed he had bright blue eyes and a nice smile. 

"Oh hey, you! Zoey right? And you must be Julia. It's nice to meet you. " Noah reached his hand out and Julia took it. He looks at her sideways.  "Hmmm. You remind me of someone. Do you have a sister?"

We both say yes at the same time, but then Julia speaks up for us. "I'm related to the one they called Izzy. You know, that awesome girl that graduated last year? And Zoey's sister, Amanda, is her best friend."

"Ah," Noah says. It appears he got more information than he really cared for.  He pushes a button and the room is flooded with music from the speakers. I try to recognize the song but I didn't know it. Noah started to talk again before I could finish my thought. "See, I knew you looked familiar. You, Julia, look exactly like your sister. You, Zoey, look nothing like Amanda. I would never have put it together. You're a blonde, she's a ginger. She wore glasses, you don't. And truthfully, no offense to your sister, but you're waaaaay prettier than her. Also a lot nicer."

I blush and brush a couple hairs out of my face. " Well, thanks." I feel a little bit dumbfounded. Who in their right mind calls me pretty? Especially when I look like I just ran 2 miles. Maybe he's crazy. Figures. Most of my friends are most of the time.

"Are you guys going to just stand there or come in? I don't bite. I promise.  However I do lick, " We laugh as he licks the inside of an Oreo from his lunch and come in. We grab some chairs and pull them towards where Noah is by the stereo. Once we're settled in, we open our own lunches and begin the chitchat. "So, how are you guys enjoying it hear at marching wonderland?"

He makes band sound like an amazing time with the amount of sass he implied. I answer first. "Can I leave yet? This is so boring. I don't even want to be here. I'd rather be sleeping, playing video games, getting shot. Anything else would literally be more fun. I'm just here because of my father."

"Oh relax," Julia says while rolling her eyes. "It's not that bad."

"Speak for yourself," Noah says. "The first time through band camp was interesting but doing this all over again? It's so repetitive it's ridiculous. Stand up here. Take one step there. Oh look! Three hours in and we can take two steps as a band! Someone call the press!"

"Does ever get any better?" I ask.

"Yeah. It's not all bad I guess," Noah answers. "Once we work on music and sets and the actual show, marching band actually gets enjoyable. But in the meantime, you newbies have to learn how to walk the walk. We, the veterans, are then forced to suffer watching you do it. So if you get glares, that's why. They don't hate you. They just don't want to be here as much as you don't want to be here. My suggestion is don't mess up as much as you can. Save yourself."

"Great," I say. I stuff half of my peanut butter sandwich into my mouth. My face gets grumpy looking as I try to unstick the peanut butter from the roof of my mouth. So this is all my fault in a way. Everyone pretty much already has beef with me just because I'm here. Ugh. Well that's just great. I just can't wait for this to be over. I want to go home and take a nice shower already. 

"Just think of it this way," Noah says, shrugging his shoulders. "Everyone's just as miserable as you are. That's how everyone gets so close by the end of band camp. Everyone has bonded over their common grievances."

Huh. That's interesting. For once everyone is suffering like me. Maybe this isn't that terrible. Well, okay. It's still terrible but at least it's a little more tolerable. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

With that we could hear everyone being called back to the band room. We picked up our trash and did as instructed. Part 2 was beginning. Oh boy.