Pop Punk High

Day Four. Part Two

First off, sorry for not doing anything with this book for a few months haaa 😖 but it's back! Also wow, 1.32k reads, that's insane! 💜  Here's a long awaited chapter.

While Jaelyn and I were making our way to class, we spotted a flyer. Upon further inspection, it was announcing clubs and a lot of them look fun. To list a few, there is Getting Noticed Club, Pete Wentz Appreciation Club, Guitar Nerds Club, De-crypting TØP Club, Yelling At Awsten Knight Club, Album Appreciation Club, Cover Club and quite a few more.

The one that took my attention the most was Instrument Club. The description read:

A club for those not wanting to limit themselves to a single instrument.

That sounded perfect so I took out my phone and snapped a picture of the room number before catching up with Jaelyn. I spent most of the day anticipating how the club was going to go after getting the okay from my mom. Finally the bell rang, releasing us from class and I was off to find the room.

After a good three minutes of speed walking down halls and up some stairs, I found it. There was a banner outside of the class that read 'Instrument Club'. I went to open the door to find that it was locked. I sighed before setting my backpack on the ground and slumping next to it. Suddenly another girl ran up to the room, frantically tried the handle and whispered with fear, "Oh no, I'm too late...". She turned and noticed me before asking if I saw where they went. " I just got here. I haven't seen... Who?" I questioned. "Professor Patty! He's taking the club to the National Museum of Music today!" She said.  "Whoa, really?! We have to find him then!" I half-yelled, not wanting to miss out on a field trip like that.

At that same moment, the loudspeaker came on "Jasmine L. Please come to the bus loop immediately." Billie's voice rumbled.
"Oh no! We're keeping them waiting!" She yelled and pulled me up. We full on sprinted before Mr. Stump warned us to slow down after we almost ran into him. "Sorry Pa-Mr. Stump!" Jasmine shouted before we slowed to a speed walk. After finally reaching the bus loop we were greeted with a slightly annoyed looking Patty Walters, who must be Professor Patty. 

Jasmine quickly climbed onto the bus that Patty was standing in front of but I, on the other hand, was stopped. "Excuse me, but who are you? I haven't seen you before." Patty inquired. "Um, I'm Y/N, and I would like to join the Instrument Club." I smiled nervously, worried that he wouldn't let me on. "Okay!" He smiled. "Glad to have another person with us!" After I climbed on he looked around and checked a short list of names that he was holding on a clipboard. He followed me up the steps and stood in front for a moment as the doors closed.

I took a seat with Jasmine, who was sitting at the front. "That's Professor Patty. He's a really kind and funny guy, but he HATES it when people don't listen to him." I made a mental note of that. "Okay everyone. Are you ready to go to the National Museum of Music?!" Professor Patty said to the eight people on the bus. A chorus of 'yeah!' called back. Patty took a seat across from me and Jasmine and the bus started to move. I contemplated on if I should say something to him and finally decided on doing so. I leaned over a little so he could hear me. "Hi, Professor Patty, I really admire what you're doing with The Great Depression so far and I can't wait to hear more off of it." Patty grinned and replied. "Oh please, just call me Patty. And thank you! It's by far the hardest and most challenging album we've done, but it's something that we felt needed to be done."

After a forty-five minute bus ride, we arrived. Patty stood up first and flattened out his shirt before picking up his clipboard and moving to the front of the bus. "Okay guys, we're here." And with that, he walked off the bus, leaving us to follow. Jasmine nearly pushed me out of the seat with excitement. "Woah, calm down." I laughed. "No! I can't! We only have an hour here and I want to see EVERYTHING" She said excitedly before running off the bus. I followed as closely behind her as possible.

We got our wristbands and pamphlets at the entrance before Patty went on 'tour guide mode' and lead us through the seemingly catacombs of instruments.
"Our first stop, is the 90's, which was when pop punk started becoming mainstream thanks to the likes of Green Day, Blink-182 and Sum 41 to name a few." Patty explained as everyone looked around at signed guitars, setlists, picks and drumsticks. After a few minutes Patty gathered everyone up and moved to the next room. "Here's the era of pop punk that REALLY became mainstream on the 2000's. Bands here are Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance and much more that you probably know. Many of these bands have members that teach at our own school," Patty continued explaining but everyone was paying more attention to the exhibits. Slight annoyance flickered in his eyes. I saw him standing in the corner with his arms crossed and tapped Jasmine's shoulder. "Hey, Patty looks mad..." I whispered. She looked over at him and nodded her head in agreement. "I'm going to go talk to him." I told her before walking away.

I partially feigned interest in one of Pete's basses that was on display before looking at Patty and walking over to him. "Excuse me, Patty, could you please teach me about this bass?" His eyes lit up with excitement as he uncrossed his arms and led me back over to throw bass and explained how that was the bass that was thrown into some water, leading to Pete diving in after it.

After he was done explaining, he led everyone onto the next and last room. "Here is modern pop punk, bands like Waterparks, As It Is, Set It Off and State Champs-" Mostly everyone had walked away before Patty even finished. Patty was taking deep breaths and clenching and unclenching his fists in anger. I went to try and reach for him but was too late. He ripped off his sweater and flannel, revealing not only a black suit, but also a red silk shirt and black tie underneath. He threw his glasses down and tore off his headset before ruffling his hair and pulling out eyeliner from somewhere and applied it. He grabbed a megaphone and jumped on top of a display case before yelling "Now listen! I know this isn't something you're going to like to hear, which is EXACTLY why you need to hear this. Because we have failed our ancestors, ourselves and the future inhabitants of the wounded world! You can't pull back the trigger, and then point the same finger!" He dropped the megaphone and jumped down from the display case. Everyone was looking at him in bewilderment. He calmly picked up the clothes and glasses on the floor before composing himself and signaled for us to follow him back to the bus. No one objected.

When everyone was back on the bus and we were on our way back to Pop Punk High, Patty rested his head know his hands and started to... cry? I did the only thing I could think of and scoot to the edge of my seat and rest my hand on his shoulder. He looked up with red eyes and black makeup running down his face.

"I'm probably going to get fired again... This'll be the fourth school to fire me..." He groaned. "It wasn't your fault Patty, people were being dicks and not listening to you. If Billie or Josh tries to get rid of you, then I'll defend you." I said confidently. He looked up and smiled in gratitude. The rest of the bus ride was fairly silent until we got back to school where I got Jasmine's Instagram and then met up with my mom to take me home. Today was eventful.

Author's Note:

PRE ORDER 'THE GREAT DEPRESSION' BY AS IT IS 😁🖤