This One Time At Band Camp

Chapter 8

"Dude that totally sucks!" Julia said to me as we were walking in from the field. Today was turning out to be a truly terrible day. They say Mondays are the worst and I'm beginning to have a deeper understanding of why. We had just completed the morning half of Monday band camp and I was holding both halves of my clarinet....yes you heard me right. HALVES!!!

"How stupid are some people? How do you not look where you're stepping around a bunch of instruments! Just because some aren't as shiny as others, doesn't mean they don't matter. Like how do you not notice?" I complained. Sometimes I seriously hate people. This is definitely one of those times.

"This is why I hate trumpets," Julia says. "He didn't even apologize afterward. He just said 'oops' and laughed it off with his friends as they kept on walking. They need to get their egos in check."

I groaned. "My mom is seriously going to kill me. Clarinets aren't cheap and she knows I hate this thing. She'll think I did it on purpose to try to get out of marching band." I try and fit the broken pieces back together but it's honestly no hope. It's too splintered to even have a chance of being mended. The metal pieces are all bent out of shape. A few small bits fall off as I walk.

"Maybe we'll think of something we can do to fix it over lunch," Julia says. She takes a closer look at the hot mess in my hands. "Or maybe not. I don't think there's really a whole lot we can do to your clarinet, but revenge is a specialty of mine so you just say the word, and I'll be all over that." I just sigh and grab my lunch when we enter the band room. I'm too glum to respond to her attempt to cheer me up. I put the case in my locker, seeing as my clarinet is too deformed to be taken apart. It wouldn't be worth putting back in the case even if I could. The protection won't do much considering it's already destroyed.

We head over to the choir room like we always do for lunch. Shockingly, we beat Noah there. We take our seats and wait for him to arrive which he does shortly after. I delicately put my clarinet remains on one of the open chairs.

He walks in smiling but his face drops when he sees my clarinet. "Wow. Who's responsible for that?" he says pointing at my clarinet. "I haven't seen wood split like that since my dad broke the dining room chair. I tried to warn him about eating too many of Mom's brownies but he had to learn the hard way. The cold, hardwood floor way to be exact. "

I can tell he was trying to make me laugh but it didn't work. I know I'm a dead man walking and there's no reason to deny it. I just looked intensely at my pb&j sandwich and try to enjoy my last meal on earth, seeing as my mom will probably kill me when I get home, or at the very least send me to bed without dinner. More than likely, everything I've been saving in my piggy bank for a car someday is probably going down the drain.

Noah takes his normal seat and opens his lunch. "Hmmm. I know what will make you feel better." I look up to see him pulling out two purple dinosaur ice packs from his lunch. My jaw drops and a smile creeps across my face, but I bite my lips to try to stop myself. Noah catches me in the act and takes advantage of my sudden mood change. "Do you want to play with them?"

"YES! Is that even a question?" I say reaching for them with greedy little hands that could rival a toddler's on Christmas. He hands them over and I play with them a bit. They were seriously the most awesome things I had ever seen in my life. I am such a child at heart. I feel like a 5-year-old stuck in a teenager's body. They made my day suck a considerable amount less.

I was having a good time with the dinosaurs and my friends were laughing at the show I put on, but then they suddenly stopped. I wondered why my childish behaviors suddenly weren't funny anymore. I sure as hell was still having fun. They look toward the door which was behind my back. I turn to get a look and see Ethan standing in the door. I turned fifty shades of red immediately. I've never been so embarrassed in my life. I lowered my dinosaurs.

Ethan takes a step in and clears his throat. "Hey, Zoey. I just wanted to say how sorry I am about your clarinet. It wasn't me personally who stepped on it, but since, you know, someone in my section is responsible for it, I feel responsible for it too. I mean I don't know what I'd do if someone stepped on my trumpet. I'd probably be out for blood."

I feel as though I can't even breathe. My stomach is in my throat. I try to talk but nothing comes out. I'm super nervous, I just hope he can't see me blush. I can't believe he's talking to me or even cared enough to come check up on me. He's so sweet. Gosh. Why does he have to look so hot right now while rubbing the back of his head? Finally, I get my act together and I manage to get something out. "It's ok. I never liked clarinet anyways. It'll be my mom that's going to kill me."

He comes further into the room until he's standing right in front of me. "Now we wouldn't want her to do that," he says putting a hand on my shoulder. "But if it's true you don't like the clarinet, maybe Boston and Gregg can hook you up with something else after lunch. Either way, you'll have to go see them. You'll be needing an instrument to play this afternoon for sectionals. Should I tell them you'll be by in about 20 minutes or so?"

I just nod my head like a stupid trained monkey, you know the one with the symbols? My twin at this exact moment. "Great! I'll tell them you'll be looking for them in their office. Once again, I'm sorry about the clarinet. I'm off to go find out which idiot it was this time and try and talk some manners into them. I swear I'm surrounded by idiots. Have a nice lunch. " He looks up over my shoulder and he gets this strange look on his face and then walks out.

I stare at the spot Ethan was at for a while until Julia grabs my attention. I hadn't even realized I had zoned out. "What's his problem?"

"Huh?" I turn around and notice Noah had left the room. I look to Julia for an explanation. But she doesn't have one either. She just shrugs her shoulders and takes a bit of her sandwich. "That's strange. "