Woke

8.)

Chris:

"Are we still good for Dairy Queen after class?" I asked Kiara.

We were in band class, which was our last class of the day. Our band teacher stepped out to take a phone call after we finished rehearsing a song for the December concert, so I took the downtime as an opportunity to talk to Kiara.

She hummed in confirmation but didn't look up from her phone. "If you deem it necessary."

"Why wouldn't it be necessary for me to hang out with my favorite--" Kiara held a finger up to my lips, finally meeting my eyes.

"You're cuter when you don't talk." Her voice was emotionless, but her eyes were playful.

"I knew you found me cute." I smiled. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to protest, but I stopped her. "Nope! You walked right into that one. No use denying it."

I could tell she was biting the inside of her cheeks to keep from laughing. She shook her head and went back to scrolling through her twitter account.

It was the Thursday of our second week as buddies, and I personally thought things were going pretty well. Kiara still insulted me every other sentence, but it was coming off a lot more playful and less malicious. We had begun to develop a bantering relationship, and she would sometimes initiate our conversations. We'd met up at Dairy Queen everyday after school since Monday, and she had even invited me over to her place that Tuesday so we could begin choreographing our dance. I couldn't tell if she felt the same way, but I definitely would consider us friends at this point.

"Hey, Chris?" I looked up at the sound of my name to see Gabriella, the only other girl in the percussion section, giving me a sheepish smile. 

"Wassup, Gabby?"

"I was just wondering if you could help me out with a specific measure on this song? I cannot figure it out for the life of me."

I rose my eyebrows in surprise. "Are you sure you want my help? I've only been here a couple weeks."

"I know, but I don't really feel comfortable asking anyone else. The other guys are kinda belittling, and Ki--"

"And Kiara what?" Kiara looked up at the sound of her name. Her eyes darted from me to Gabby, and she narrowed them slightly.

"N-nothing, Kiara..." Gabriella's face became red. "I just meant that you and I don't talk, so I didn't... I, uh... I didn't know if I should ask you."

Kiara stared at her for a second longer, before giving her a small smile. "Understandable. Chris is definitely a good one to ask for help. He knows what he's doing."

Gabby blinked in surprise, and I was also a bit stunned by the compliment. "Well... could you come too?" I asked. "You're better with rhythms than I am."

"Oh, no." Kiara waved us away. "I wouldn't dare impose."

"Actually, I don't mind." Gabby said. "If Chris wants a second opinion, I'll gladly take it."

Kiara slowly slid her phone into her back pocket, getting up to follow us over to the timpani set. Gabby grabbed the sheet music off the stand and laid it down on top of the drum.

"It's... this one, right here. Measure 62."

I studied the measure while Kiara stood behind me, clearly uninterested. "Oh man, that's a... wow. Okay, uhm... may I?"

"Oh yeah, sure." Gabriella handed me the mallets with a smile.

"Alright, so I think it's like--" I played the measure how I thought it was supposed to sound. I gave her back the mallet sticks. "Something like that."