Guitar

[Tadhg Kelly]

Tadhg looked around inside the classroom, and noticed it was empty. Good he had a study hall and he wanted to spend it playing guitar in the music room. He found one of ths provided acoustics. . .it said Frampton on the back and he grinned.

He fingered the tuning knobs, plucking the strings until he got the sound he wanted. Once it was tune, he began playing walk this way as a starter.

[blane]

Blane had seen the new kid in the music room and quickly went to get a few of his buddies and a roll of duct tape. Him and three of his friends burst into the room.

"Well, hello there, Fucker." he said casually, "Remember me? Remember kicking me this morning? Well, you will and you will never forget it." His friends grabbed the boy, threw him on to a chair and held him down while Blane duct tapped him to it. All the while Blane whistled an up beat little turn while he throughly enjoyed him self. When he was certain couldn't get free on his own he had his friends back off and he faced the little asshole.

"So, comfortable?" he asked with an evil grin on his face while hie friends laughed in the background.

[Tadhg Kelly]

Tadgh didn't even know what hit him. Suddenly he was surrounded by a group of guys and no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't shake them . His eyes widened asa roll of duct tape was brought out and he was systematically taped to the chair. He had thought the guy would just leave him alone, but this guy was fucking serious. He knew that to whine, to cry would just be giving him what he wanted.

"Yeah, marginally so," he replied.

[blane]

"Not anymore." he said pulling his arm back and punching the kid in the face. "Oh, I'm sorry did that hurt? Should I go get the nurse?" he said in mock concern as his friends laughed tauntingly. Blane laid another punch into the kids gut. "Come on boys! Don't let me have all the fun!" His friend can over, one of them cracking his knuckles menacingly and then each took turns punching the defenseless kid. When Blane was satisfied he had them stop.

"Ok boys, that's enough for today." His friends made sounds of protest, "Now, now, we have to leave some of him for us to beat tomorrow." He walked over to the kid and bent over so his face was only inches away from him. "Welcome to St. James." and with one last bitch slap across the face Blane and his friends turned and left.

[Tadhg Kelly]

"That the best you got?" Tadhg said after Blane offered to get the nurse.

Tadhg made a small grunt of pain as each fist hit him. He felt something warm and wet on his face and smelled something coppery: his nose was bleeding. He slumped his head over when they'd finished, his bangs obscuring his face.

Once they left, he coughed and sent blood spraying onto his pants, he groaned in pain and frustration. Great, just great, he thought. He looked around awkwardly. How the fuck did he get out of here now?

[armand]

Armand wasn't exactly skipping class. Techinically he was 'going to the bathroom.' It had been an 'emergency.' Right. Good one. In his wanderings he passed the band room and heard quite the commotion coming from inside. Narrowing his dark eyes, he peered through the small rectangular window on the right side of the door. Of course. He should have known. It was Blane in his natural habitat: beating up the defenseless. As Blane and his friends turned to exit, Armand fled down the hallway until they passed, then returned to the room. He opened the door and then closed it gently behind him, looking at the kid with pity. "Hey," he said, his voice gentle. He didn't know how hurt the kid was and Armand didn't want to scare him. He'd probably have a heard attack. "You look like you need some help," he observed, then walked over and began to rip off the duct tape. "You okay?"

[Tadhg Kelly]

((hmm this is awkward. . . .I had Tadhg hop himself down to the nurses office on his chair. . . .because he's impatient. . .I can start a new post if you like somewhere else. . .like after he goes to the nurse.))

[armand]

[[Oh... No problem.]]

[Joel Jackson]

((So, no one's in here, right? I think I read that correctly.))

Nose buried in a notebook, Joel entered the music classroom. He came here every day during his third period study hall, and therefore knew the layout of the room well enough to make his way to his guitar without breaking eye contact with the page in front of him.

Joel loved being alone. He treasured these moments in this room with his music and his guitar. Just him. No one around to please, or annoy.

Suddenly, he snapped the notebook shut and plucked his guitar from its resting place, carrying it over to his usual stool. The notebook he placed on the music stand in front of him, and as he began to tune the strings, he thought of nothing else.

[adelena]

Since Lena always missed half of drum line practice because of cheer leading practice she always had to play catch up during her study halls. It was always a pain in the ass because she had homework she could be doing. She was seriously considering quiting the squad mostly because of drum line and partly because she was just sick of dealing with the bitches. It got to the point where it just wasn't worth in anymore and she's rather spend her time with the drum line.

When she entered the band room there was a boy inside playing guitar. Lena always thought that guitar players where hot, but the guy looked like he wanted to be alone, so Lena quietly snuck over to the equipment closet to get her snare. She'd just practice in the auditorium, it was only across the hallway. Just when she thought she had been successful her snare knocked over a cymbal and caused a crash loud enough to wake up the dead.

"Shit!" Lena muttered under her breath.

[Joel Jackson]

Joel just about had the last string perfect. A slight turn... pluck. A little more... pl-

CRASH

As he hadn't even noticed anyone enter the room, the cymbal crash took Joel completely by surprise, which, in turn, caused him to pluck the string too hard. He closed his eyes - he didn't even have to look down to know he'd broken the string.

"Shit," he muttered, and then paused to listen. There seemed to be an echo to his sentiments. Setting the guitar down on the seat next to him, he looked over to where a girl with a drum in hand and a cymbal at her feet stood. Ignoring his own dilemma, he stood and made his way over to her, bending quickly to retreive the fallen percussive implement.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he straightened up. Damn, he thought. This girl had to be one of the hottest drummers he'd ever seen.

[adelena]

Lena wished she had a different angle as the boy bent over to pick up the cymbal for her. He was quite cute, and quite the gentleman as well.

"Yeah, I'm ok," said Lena with a smile, tucking some hair behind her ear, "I was trying to be quiet so I didn't disturb you, but I guys that kinda fell through. Sorry about that, I hope I didn't make you screw up too bad." She looked over the boys shoulder at the guitar and saw that one of the strings was hanging pathetically from the neck of the guitar. Lena cringed a bit and felt very guilty. "Ouch, that's, um, not good is it? I'll, um, buy you a new string if you want since it's kinda my fault you broke it."

[Joel Jackson]

Joel nodded as the girl asserted her well-being. With a quick glance down at the snare, he could tell that it was okay too, and the cymbal felt fine as he turned it in his knowledgable hands.

Joel looked over at his guitar as she did, assessing the damage. A broken string wasn't really a big deal. Restringing was only hard the first couple of times he did it; now, he was pretty sure he could do it with his eyes closed. His dad, the one who'd taught him to play, always had extra strings around. In fact, Joel was almost positive that his family could turn quite a profit if they made their house into a music store without adding anything to it. Therefore, he waved her off politely as she offered to buy him a new string.

"Oh no. That's very nice of you, but totally unnecessary. If you'd ever been to my house, you'd know why," he said, a small smile on his face. "Plus, I should have been paying more attention. I'm always off in my own little world when I'm playing, so..." he trailed off, figuring she could understand where he was going with that particular train of thought.

[adelena]

If I'd ever been to your house that would have been quite a memorable event for the both of us. . . .

Lena didn't argue the boy's choice to decline her offer. If he didn't want a free guitar string that was just fine with her. He must of had a lot of musical stuff at his house,well, she assumed as much anyway. Her brother's played guitar, but she was more into the drums herself. People always told her that she didn't look like a drummer to which Lena usually replied 'well, you don't look like an asshole, but I guess I was wrong'. She hated being stereotyped as some stupid pretty girl. Well, she was a pretty girl, that she was ok with, but she was most defiantly not stupid.

Lena was getting tired of holding her snare so she put it down on the floor because she wasn't planning on going to practice in the auditorium any time soon with Mr. Hot Guitar player there. She was determined to stay there as long as she could. "I'm Adelena." she said with a smile, "but, just call me Lena, it's shorter and easier to remember."

[Joel Jackson]

"I'm Joel. It's preshortened for your convenience," he replied with a coy smirk. True, he didn't have a lot of friends. That didn't mean he was a crappy conversationalist, it just meant he liked keeping to himself. He felt, though, in this case, maybe keeping to himself was not preferable to the alternative. Adelena. He thought that he liked the longer version better, but he'd call her what she wanted.

"Are you in the marching band?" he asked, gesturing to the drum she'd just set down. He was hoping she was getting more comfortable because she didn't want to leave, and not because she felt guilty about the guitar string. The last thing he wanted was a pity conversation. Especially from this girl.

[adelena]

Joel. A reasonable hot name and easy to remember. Lena smirked at the pre-shorten comment. So, Joel was quite witty. He wasn't all looks, thank God. Lena had had enough of the dumb hot jocks who thought they were stronger and hotter than God.

"Yeah, I'm in drum line, well obviously." said Lena giving her drum a tap with her foot, "The only girl too which I quite like. I deal with enough bitches on the cheer leading squad so it's nice to do an activity that gives me all male companions." Most of the guys on the drum line were fucking hot too, but Lena didn't want to mention this for fear of discouraging Joel. "I miss a lot of drumline practices because of cheer leading," Lena rolled her eyes and shook her head in annoyance of her choice to join the squad, "so I usually practice during my study hall." I don't normally run into cute boys such as yourself though. . .

[Joel Jackson]

"It's weird I haven't seen you around then. I'm here every day, just messing around," he said, gesturing toward the guitar. "I think I remember seeing you at a game once, though. You stood out, in your cheerleading uniform." That was an understatement. It wasn't every day you saw a drummer in a skirt, much less one with her legs... but that wasn't the only thing he was looking at. Joel played a wealth of instruments, including the drums. Lena was obviously more talented than many of the others in the line.

"This is going to sound completely fabricated, but you do an awesome job out there. Better than your senior leader... whatever his name is. You have got timing down - especially the clicks. It seems like everyone is always a half-beat slow on them. You're always on, though."

[adelena]

"It's weird I haven't seen you around then. I'm here every day, just messing around,"

"Well, I just switched to a period 3 study hall today," said Lena with a shrug, "It used to be period four, but I switched gym classes because the one I was in was way to full and the teacher was a bitch. I tired to change it earlier in the year, but the guidance office was just so busy." She didn't comment about her being in her uniform on the field though. She hated standing out so much and it sucked having to wear a drum harness and a skirt even if she got the attention of hot guys.

"This is going to sound completely fabricated, but you do an awesome job out there. Better than your senior leader... whatever his name is. You have got timing down - especially the clicks. It seems like everyone is always a half-beat slow on them. You're always on, though."

"Oh, well, thank you!" said Lena with a big smile and a blush. She knew she was the best in the line, she practiced her ass off to be the best, but she still liked people telling her she was especially cute boys like Joel. "Yeah, I tired out for captain last year, but I didn't make it because I was only going into Sophomore yeah and our instructor thought an upper classmen should get it." Lena rolled her eyes; she hated band politics, "but he says I'm a shew-in for next year and I must say I really don't think I'll have any competition." Lena hoped she didn't sound to full of herself, but it wasn't like she was one of those people who was good at everything, just drums and gymnastics mostly.

[Joel Jackson]

"I have to agree with you. There isn't anyone better, to be blunt," he commented. "I hate the bias for seniors that this school is in love with. It's almost intolerable - the simple fact of one's birthday should not determine what consideration they receive. That's the reason I didn't join the band myself - well, that and I doubt I could march and play at the same time," he finished with a smile. His voice wasn't bitter, but rational. The way things were in this school were, at times, too much to deal with.

That was why he could never understand how his sister got along with so many people. She ought to be sainted.

[adelena]

"Well, if you can't march I thank you for not joining; nothing is more annoying than watching someone who can't march, especially in drum line when we're the ones who keep the beat." said Lena. She found marching to be very easy and could not stand it when some one was off step of not even on the beat. There was this one freshman Lena could not stand because of his lack of ability to grasp the concept of marching. "Well, I will admit so seniors genuinely deserve the leadership their given; my brother is a senior and he's trumpet section leader and he's very good, but it still sucks that some people get just based on age."

"Well, we complain about the senior favoring now, but once we're senior we're going to love it so I try not to make a big deal out of it. It's really their last though when you think about it, but still; it's not fair. Then again, life's not fair. The best thing we can do is just deal with it." Lena sighed a shrugged. She looked up at the clock, they only had twenty minutes until four period. Even though she no longer had the gym Nazi she still wasn't looking forward to class. "What do you have next period?"

[Joel Jackson]

Evan nodded. He could imagine Lena's annoyance at those who were out of step - he himself always found himself distracted by little things like that. One person being even on the wrong foot drove him insane as he watched the band perform. He doubted sincerely that he could manage to be in the band with he himself being one of those distractions. As an instrumentalist, he had rhythym. He just sincerely lacked coordination in his feet.

Also, he could agree that some seniors deserved the leadership they were given - if they were the best person for the job. He could not agree that he would ever enjoy senior favoring.

"I prefer to make the small difference, myself," he said. "Age discrimination isn't something I could ever get behind, even if it leans in my favor. Even though life isn't fair, I try to make it a little moreso, just through my actions." Joel was very strongly opinionated on matters of discrimination, and had a hard time keeping silent when something unjust was going on... hence the reason he was constantly on the verge of suspension from St. James. But, if he didn't stand up for things like that, who would?

"I've got AP Lit. You?" he asked, mentally groaning as he remembered. They were supposed to have read a couple of excerpts from Hamlet for today, to discuss. The Shakespeare he had no problem with. The discussion, well, that was a different story. Though he had the class with mostly upperclassmen who were at the top of their class, he still found a lot of their arguments to be self-centered and/or closeminded. Of course, there were exceptions, but not as many as he would like.

[adelena]

"Gym." said Lena with groan. She was athletic enough but hated being all sweaty in the middle of school and her hair and makeup got all messed up and it just wasn't' a fun time for her. "but, this is my first day in my new class so I don't really know what to expect. I just hope it's better than my last class. I hope we're playing badminton, that's a nice easy going game." Doing a heavy duty work out at ten o clock in the morning wasn't very appealing to Lena.

"AP huh?" Lena knew AP classes were for smart kids. Her brother had a bunch of AP classes and he was in the top of his class. Joel had to be a very intelligent guy, something Lena found very attractive. "AP Lit, hmm. I don't read very much so I'd suck at that class. I plan on taking AP music theory next year though. Other than that I don't think I could handle the AP."

[Joel Jackson]

"Oh, right, you just told me that you changed your schedule, I completely forgot. Well, I hope it is badminton for you. I'm about as good at sports as I am at marching. Really the only sports I can play are ones only involving the hands, like Ping Pong," Joel replied. He wasn't ashamed of the fact that he wasn't good at sports. He felt his talent with music made up for it.

"Hey, cool. I plan on taking AP Music Theory next year too. I would have had it this year, but my schedule was too full, and I refused to give up this study hall." Joel was smiling - it wasn't entirely often that that particular phenomenon occured in school.

[adelena]

"Well, I'm glad it didn't work for you this year so we'll have the class together next year now." said Lena with a smile. She's spent the last twenty minutes standing while she was talking to Joel and thought that now would be a good time to sit down. Since there was never a shortage of chairs in the the band room she was able to pull one up behind her and take a seat. "That's better." she said adjusting herself in the chair to a more lady like position. "Sorry, my feet where starting to go a bit numb. Standing for periods of time kinda sucks for me during marching season."

[Joel Jackson]

Joel took a seat as Lena did, pulling a chair up so they were across from each other.

"No, of course, I should have thought of that," he replied. He was entirely used to standing for long periods of time - he played his guitar on his feet unless he was learning something new. Also, he hadn't really expected to talk to her for so long. The period was half over already. "So, what do you do besides cheer and drum?" he asked. This was a conversation he wouldn't particularly mind continuing.