In Times of War

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

“Mia, what’s wrong? You’ve been quiet all week.”

   “I’m fine, Robbie. Really, I am, promise.” I smile at him, it’s fake and he knows it but he lets it go. He plays the percussion instruments and is one of my best friends. He’s shown up for the concert, and he works for the diner now. We met in seventh grade when he transferred to Clarion. His older brother and I were close too, but he graduated four years ago and then left for the war. Robbie was in the war but they sent him home because he lost his eye and can’t see really well.

   Clarion’s weird and it goes through all the grades in one school, from first grade all the way to senior year. The elementary, middle, and high school classes are all in different buildings on the same campus. There were a set of two hallways that each ran all the way through all three of the buildings to connect them.

   “Mia, I know something’s not right, but I’m not gonna bother you about it now because you act worse than normal when you’re upset.” I playfully shove him in the shoulder and he laughs. This is our relationship, we tease each other, we mess with each other; our relationship is just like a brother and sister. “Seriously, I will start a sass-off right here, right now if that’ll cheer you up.”

“I don’t think that’ll be neccessar-“ I don’t get to finish my retort.

“What’re you all still doing up here? Get your tails downstairs, concert starts in thirty seconds!” Mr. Polis yells into the band room where all the students and Robbie and I have camped out before the concert.

“You ready to get back to work, Robbie?” I ask as we rush downstairs.

“Depends, are you ready to accept that Julliard scholarship?”

“Robbie, you know that I’m gonna be a nurse. As much as I hate to admit it, music isn’t the most important thing in the world at the moment. I’m a lot more useful stitching up wounds than on a stage.”

   “Whatever, you’ve got talent, Maria; whether you want to admit it or not. I mean, Julliard offered you a full scholarship. That isn’t something you just turn down.” Him, the rest of the band, Mr. Polis, my mother, Jimmy, Alice, pretty much everyone was ticked off that I wasn’t going to Julliard. I got the scholarship two years ago when I graduated high school, but the school kept saying it was open for me and my flute whenever I was ready. I would love to go, but that isn’t what’s needed. Nurses are needed, not performers.

   I sit down in my spot right in the front row and look around. I saw my mother sitting towards the back beside Aunt Tess and the rest of the Howells. She’s sandwiched in the middle of them like they’re making sure she doesn’t try to make a run for it. I don’t know how or why they got her here but she doesn’t look happy to be here and she’s avoiding my gaze. Let’s just say we still aren’t on speaking terms after last week. We’ve been avoiding each other like the Plague and have said about ten words to each other in the week since our fight. When we fight, we either make up immediately or we don’t talk to each other until somebody makes us work out our problems. Usually that somebody is Jimmy, but seeing as he’s absent at the moment, I don’t know who it’ll be.

   David’s there too, standing in the very back corner of the auditorium. He smiles at me and it’s the first thing we’ve communicated in the last week. He’d been sick all week and I’d been on lockdown. I couldn’t see his face very well because of the shadows in his corner, but the light somehow manages to catch the gleam in his emerald eyes. He flashes me two thumbs up to show that he’s okay and then the concert begins.

   I nearly suffocate myself watching Mary Lou suffocate herself, but she manages to make it to the solo at the end of the concert without anything major going wrong. But then comes the solo. The big, huge, terrifying solo. I keep telling myself that she was fine, but the fact that everyone stopped playing, stopped breathing didn’t help my nerves. I was probably more nervous than she was. She does it perfectly. Everybody stands up and claps. Everyone smiles like they enjoyed it, the whole band stands up and takes a bow together.