MiLoh BSGSSB Adventures

Muscle Music

(I know it sounds lame but its a lot more exciting than it sounds)
Xuan's POV

The smell of the band room: a musty, home-y smell that immediately welcomes you to the depths of music. It feels like hell, yet feels like heaven. This is where we live, and this is where we stay.

We had a new Band teacher recently named Steven. MiLoh might have talked about him in the previous chapter. He is actually from overseas, from the UK, and is tall. That's all I can tell you really. He doesn't talk much, and usually sits in the Band room and watch whoever is there have sectionals. The others and I think of him as a 'new MiLoh', although their height difference is so big and they are basically opposites of each other.

Our Band room hasn't been touched in the process of renovation, but that doesn't mean the metal cupboards can't rust. Yes, the edges are covered in reddish-orange dry stuff that can't flake off on its own, thus we needed it replaced.

The first process is to move it out. The conductor did that just fine, and we brought the shelves of the new cupboard in. I got cut in the process, and like the usual old me, waved my finger around screaming "BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD". It didn't really hurt, but I imagine I must have some sort of spring in my bone that activates everytime something happens.

The next practice, the Band leader and some other friends helped to move the old cupboard out. You know how you teach kids to walk by letting them stand on your toes then slowly walking? That's more or less what they did to the cupboard, only they didn't put it on their toes. The cupboard was shuffled to the staircase, and here was the hard part.

Our teacher in charge, Mrs Toh, had formally introduced Steven to the Band leaders, so I presume that was the reason he was a bit more...pro-active? Diya, Rathi, Yang, Mrs Toh, me and about 5 other people(including the band leaders) stood around the cupboard, wondering how we could carry it up the narrow and wavy staircase all the way to the top. This is where some of the exciting part comes.

We decided to tip the top of the cupboard towards 2 people in front, and the rest support by below. It's sort of like carrying a person on a stretcher. Steven, being the typical tall, strong Westerner, helped to support from the side. Yang tried to go underneath the cupboard but screams of "YANG DON'T GO UNDERNEATH THE CUPBOARD"persuaded her otherwise. We carried this cupboard with much difficulty up the stairs, managing to get past the twists and turns without squashing anybody to the wall. All of us were exhausted by then.

The very last lap was to carry it over the door ledge, over the mess of shoes scattered all over the floor, and through the front door. The only problem was, the passageway wasn't wide enough. We had to tilt the cupboard so it could fit, which meant some people were definitely going to get squashed.

At that very moment the trombone tutor came. He is also a tall man from the UK, and his eyes widened at the sight of the 10 girls and 1 man heaving the cupboard out. "Do you need any help?"he asked, taking his shoes off rapidly. He proceeded to take one side of the cupboard from the girls and lifted it alone with Steven together out. Everyone was screaming, with shock, surprise, horror, admiration. It was so cliched, yet part of me felt really amused to be able to see these 2 Western men carry the cupboard like how I always see on TV.

If life was a Band movie, this is definitely one of those cliche scenes. The scenes of everyone freaking out and me screaming Steven's ear off with laughter, though not cliche, highlight the very thing that make us all enjoy Band. Diya claims the whole cupboard lifting thing was not fun, but I know her eyes say otherwise. There was just one last thing.

"Do you think this is the reason we have men in the band? So they can do all this macho stuff?"
"NO Xuan."

Signed
Xuan