Glory Days

Chapter 3: The New Drummer

-Rylee-

Marching Band was the best this summer. I made new friends and I have solos on the snare. This summer my family also moved to a different neighborhood because it was closer to my dad's auto shop. Hunter Auto repair, My dad's pride and joy. He is the owner of the shop. This summer I helped him when I wasn't busy. But new neighborhood means new bus.

I walk onto the bus and I don't recognize anyone. I walk past the jerky Lax boys and don't make eye contact. Mason made fun of me a lot last year, I hope he leaves me alone this year. I see a girl in the back wearing air pods, sitting alone. She has tan skin and black wavy hair. I tap on her shoulder.

"Can I sit here?" I ask.

"Oh yeah sure." She says and smiles. She moves her bag so I can sit down. "I'm Emmie."

"I'm Rylee. Nice to meet you." I say.

"Are you new? I don't think I've seen you on this bus before."

"Not new to Lakewood, but new to this neighborhood. "I tell her. The bus pulls up to school and I pick up my schedule and head to my home room. Ugh, I don't have band until lunch. The day drags on until finally it's lunch time. I walk into the cafeteria and see my friends and sit with them.

"Arron VanDorren moved schools; our football team is gonna suck." Kiki says.

"Ok?" I say and laugh. I don't keep up with football stuff, all I know about football is that Marching band is at the same time. I watch football on Sundays with my dad, so I understand the game, but I don't care about the players. Especially the ones at my school, they're all jerks. I leave lunch early so I can run to the bathroom before band. In the hallway, I hear someone shout my name.

"Hey look, its Rylee! The little drummer boy." Mason teases. Noooo...

"What do you want Mason?" I ask. I really don't want him to ruin my first day.

"Still marching with a drum?" He laughs. This jerk!

"Yep." I say and keep walking. I can hear two people running. I look behind me and see Mason and Jack, double trouble. I start running and run into the girl's bathroom.

"If you think you're safe in there, you're wrong. I'll see you again Rylee." Jack shouts. I hear them snicker and walk away. A tear slips out of my eye. Pull it together, you have band next. I wipe away my tears and walk to the band room. I'm still early so I look at the music on the stands. Our first piece is "Waltz of the Flowers" By Tchaikovsky. I love Tchaikovsky, his music is fun. Mr. G, the Band director, walks into the room.

"You're early Rylee." He says and smiles.

"You always say, early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable." I say and Laugh. That's one of his favorite sayings.

"That is very true. Oh by the way, there is a new percussionist. He didn't do marching band because he does Cross Country, make sure to be nice to him." He says and smiles.

"Of course! New people are always welcome." I say and smile. I sit in the seat labeled with my name on it behind the snare, the chair next to me is labeled for Henry Davis... why do I recognize that name? I pull out my phone as student's start to walk in. Almost everyone is in their seats as Mr. G steps up and introduces himself. The, the 'dude crew' walks in. It's 5 boys, notorious for being annoying. Jacob, Leo, Silas, Asher, and one other boy... is that... Henry Davis??

Now I know why I recognize his name. Henry Davis is your typical bad boy jock. He run cross country and plays baseball, and you know how baseball players are- Jerks. Henry has a different girl around his arm every other week, he's that kind of jerk. I also heard he skips class, but I'm not one to believe rumors. But he's also wearing a leather jacket. Yeah, a freaking leather jacket, not a letterman.