Welcome to Gaia! ::

So, I'm in the process fo writing a book about a group of kids in amrching band. well, I thought I would share the first couple chapters with you guys. (Plus, I need a place to hold it because our computer aught a virus and the only way to get rid of it is wipe our harddrive, so, I'm going to lose all my stories and pics. Evil virus. But hey, you guys benefit with a sneak peekXD)
It is called The Secret Book, for soon to be obvious reasons. Oh,a and when they are writing notes I will have different fonts as a kind of different handwriting thing, but Gaia only supports one font. So for now: Iana-italic, Rini-Normal, Keshi-bold


Chapter 1
“Rini!” I looked across the hall to the source of the voice. Toka stood next to her brother, Shiho. Down the hall, Kiki sat on the floor fiddling with her flip folder.
“What room are you in?” Toka repeated.
“215.” I replied, gesturing toward the door I was standing in front of. Toka’s face fell.
“I don’t know who else is in there. I’m in room 200 with Trisha. Kiki is with Adri in 204 and Shiho is with Ash downstairs in 123.” She sighed.
“I don’t know either. Mrs. Acoshai said it was some girl named Iana. I’m guessing it is a freshman, but I’m not sure.” I sighed as well. At least the triplets were rooming with friends. I was stuck with a freshman girl I had never met before. “I’m going to go put my stuff in my room.” I slid the key into the lock and went inside, closing the door behind me.
The room was painted a light blue with pale blue curtains and trimmings. The comforters were just a bit darker then the curtains, with polka dots colored different shades of blue, and white sheets. The comforter matched the pillows. A desk sat in one corner, and in the other corner a light pine wardrobe with blue trimmings sat slightly open.
Even more mind numbing was what sat on one of the beds. It had bright ginger hair down to its mid-back. It wore a short-sleeved green hoody and dark denim Bermuda shorts. It sat cross-legged on the bed. Right away, I could tell it wasn‘t a freshman. In fact, it looked more my age.
“I hope you don’t mind that I already chose a bed.” It spoke? Its face grew red as I sat blinking at it, hoping it would disappear when I reopened my eyes.
It wouldn’t go away.
“I’m Iana, a junior.” It attempted to introduce itself. I blinked again. Junior? I turned away, trying to pretend it wasn’t there, didn’t exist. I placed my bag on the opposite bed, my back turned to the thing on the other bed.
A knock on the door. A voice called from outside “drum majors need to meet with Mrs. Acoshai in the band room” then light footsteps faded out before the voice appeared again, fainter, as if farther down the hall. I knew the voice was the only male drum major, Justin, and that the second door he stopped at was Toka’s.
“Does he knock on everyone’s door?” It asked. I could feel its green eyes burning into my back. “Did I do something wrong?” I ignored it. She would find out. Eventually.
I opened the door and left, almost hitting Toka. She took one glance at me before she realized what was going on. I closed the door behind me and lead the way to the band room.

I stood between Toka and Justin in the band room. Mrs. Acoshai, our band director, stood in front of us. I could see the tenseness of my two friends, and realized I was tense myself. We were prepared to snap to attention at any moment, though I knew we all hoped we wouldn’t have to.
“I hope you found your rooms all right.” We relaxed as Mrs. A smiled. We nodded in relief. “At rehearsal today we are starting with introductions, to get to know all the freshman. During this time, you will be in your own sections. Do whatever you wish to get to know each other; games, simple hellos, whatever. Just get it done. Once you think you have everyone in your section memorized, come see me an you can start working on your salute and working out who will do what on field. At noon, we will have lunch. During lunch time, I do not want anybody in the rooms. Room halls will be off limits, and let the section leaders know that they need to relay this information to their sections. You are to remain in this hallway, outside, and on campus. Because students will not be allowed in the halls, they are to ring their instruments to introductions. If you get bored during introductions, pull out your instruments and have sectionals. After lunch, it will be indoor rehearsal.” We nodded our understanding. “Tokamya, when I dismiss you, I want you to let all the girls from rooms 200 to 210 know they need their instruments, and that rehearsal is starting. Rini, you tell rooms 210 to 220. Justin, you are in charge of all of the boys. If you need to, have your roommate help you.” We nodded once again.
“Do you want us to have our instruments as well, or will we be conducting the whole rehearsal?” I asked. Mrs. A thought for a moment.
“Bring them, but I don’t know if you will need them.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to intrude. I guess I’m a bit early for rehearsal.” We all turned to look towards the door of the college band room. I recognized the tall boy right away. The cutest boy in band, and also the best trumpet player any of us had ever seen. He blushed, an embarrassed smile etched across his face. “I thought we were starting at 8:30.”
“Not until 9, Keshi.” Mrs. A laughed. We all laughed as well.
“I though I told you this.” Justin laughed. “Well, that saves me the trouble of locating you. Can you tell the boys in room 110 to 120 to bring their instruments to rehearsal?” Keshi nodded.
“Will do. I’ll leave my instrument in here.” He set his trumpet down by the door, looking slightly disappointed. Like all of us, he felt naked without an instrument in his hands, and it was obvious. I loved him as much as I loved band.
But I knew I didn’t have a chance.
Keshi had a girlfriend. A pretty guard girl named Kay. She was hated by most of the girls. She got the cutest boys, yet she had never deserved them. She was a spoiled brat, and extremely blonde, despite her jet black hair. It took her hours to get the easiest joke. Nobody knew why every boy fell for her. She would date them for a year, and then another cute boy would come around. She would dump her boyfriend to be with this other boy, leaving him heartbroken.
“Dismissed, all three of you.” Mrs. A broke me out of my thoughts.
“Yes ma’am!” We chorused, walking out of the room quickly.

I stared after my roommate. If this girl was drum major, I couldn’t help but worry about my fate with the rest of the band. Did I do something wrong already? Or was this how they treated every new student?
I stood up and made my way to the desk. I sat down and pulled a pad of paper from my bag. I smiled when I saw the doodles etched on the front cover. I opened to the first page. A note was written In bright yellow ink.



After the note were a bunch of signatures. I slid my finger over each one, imagining their faces, their voices speaking to me. All my friends, my band family. I wanted to cry.
I flipped through the pages. Empty. Silent. Crying for attention. I held back my tears. Who would help me fill the pages? Only one page held anything of interest. On it, a single paragraph was written in the same handwriting as the note. It was titled ‘The Secret Book.’ I read the words below:


As I finished reading, I heard the key turn n the lock. I quickly shut the book and stored it back in my bag. I tried to act as if I had been cleaning my instrument, since it had been sitting nearby. In walked my roommate. Her eyes locked on my clarinet, widening, while something glinted in them that scared me.
“Rehearsal is starting soon. Bring that.” Her eyes never left my instrument. I was slightly excited that she spoke, but the coldness in her voice told me that she had no other choice. It hurt more then her silence. Why did she hate me?
“Um, what room do I go to?” I ventured, hoping to make her speak more.
“The one that says band room.” She sounded like she had never heard a stupider question. This would be a long band camp.

I left the room without saying anything else. I heard the door close and footsteps follow me out.
“I told you where it was. You don’t have to follow me.” I growled.
“I-I was just trying to get to the right room. Besides, we are going the same place. Why can’t we walk together?” It asked.
“Because I will be seen with you.” I realized what I had said too late. Her footsteps stopped. I turned to see her face filled with deep sadness. What had I done? “Look, I-”
“I don’t care. If you don’t want to be seen with me, then you won’t have to be seen with me. Just forget I exist.” I couldn’t tell if it was about to cry or explode, but I didn’t want to stick around to find out. I whirled around on my heel, biting my lip. I was supposed to be showing my band how to act, I was supposed to be leading by example. Yet here I was harassing the new girl, just because I didn’t know her. What kind of person was I? Kay? I shivered at the thought as I made my way down the stairs. I had stooped down to Kay’s level. I was her now. And I didn’t like it.
“You look upset.” I almost jumped out of my skin as I reached the bottom of the stairs. I turned to see Keshi standing next to Justin. The male drum major held his trumpet in his hands, while Keshi just had his music.
“I…Its nothing.” It was tempting to tell them what happened, but I didn’t want them to think of me the same way I was thinking of myself.
I shifted my case from one hand to the other. Justin looked at me as if he knew I wasn’t telling him something, but I just turned and continued on my way. It took only about a minute to reach the band room, and I could feel Justin’s gaze on me the whole time.
“We’re back, and our errand is done.” I announced as we entered.
“Good. Just sit up here and relax until everyone comes.” Mrs. A gave us a smile. “Keshi, you can sit in your section.” She added to the only non-drum major in the room. Keshi shrugged and sat down, polishing his trumpet in boredom.
“How many new people are here this year?” Justin asked.
“About twenty freshman, and a girl who just moved her from France.” Mrs. A replied. She turned to me. “I expect you have already met Iana?” I gave a nod, gulping. If I had felt terrible before, now I felt like I could curl up in a hole and die. This poor girl had moved to a whole different continent, and I had treated her like a pile of crap. What a great first impression of American society.
“You know this new girl?” Keshi asked, looking up from his now shiny silver trumpet.
“She is my roommate.” I replied, trying to sound like nothing was bothering me.
“I did that on purpose. I figured you would be kinder to her then most of the other students.” Mrs. A smiled. Now, I felt sick to the stomach. I had been trusted to make this girl feel welcome, and instead I made her feel like an outcast. I pretended to read through my music, conducting with my finger in an attempt to memorize our opener. To tell the truth, I was more distracted then I let on. I wasn’t Kay. I was worse. I was Kay if she had been thrown into a hole full of radioactive waste and kidnapped by a madman who brainwashed her into attempting to destroy the world. And that was an understatement.
As students slowly entered the room, a low roar filled my ears. Excited talking, discussing room numbers and buddies, and preparing for band camp. To my distress, my roommate sat alone, like most of the freshman, but at least the freshman were talking amongst themselves. She was silent, her eyes wide and scared.
“Alright, as you know, we will be starting with introductions. Now I will assign you rooms to get to know each other.” The group was immediately silent as Mrs. A spoke. “Flutes, you will be in the choir room. Clarinets, since you are our largest section, you will be in the cafeteria. Trumpets, you will join them since you are large as well, but I want you on separate halves of the cafeteria. Saxophones, you will be in the dance room. Low brass in the auditorium. Percussion, on stage. You can close the stage curtains for privacy. Guard, you can hang out in here. And yes, mellophones, you are considered low brass for now.” a freshman boy slowly lowered his hand, which had shot up. “If we don’t have any questions, then disperse to your rooms. Section leaders, come see me before you go.”
“Do drum majors count as section leaders?” Toka asked.
“I have already told you three what to do, Tokamya. So no, you don‘t need to stick around. Just head off to your sections and try to keep it as close to calm as you can.” Mrs. A replied. Toka nodded, her face contorting at the use of her full name. All of the triplets hated being called their excruciatingly long names. Unfortunately for them, Mrs. A rarely called anybody by their nicknames.
“Mrs. A, do you want the guard captains as well?” Kay came up from where the guard had been seated.
“Yes I do Kaylinn.” Mrs. A replied, gesturing for the other guard captain, Josie, to join them. We didn’t stick around much longer. Justin was the first of the drum majors to leave, followed by me and then Toka. As I left, I took a quick glance at the corner where the new girl had been sitting. She was gone.
Mrs. A wasn’t over exaggerating when she said you do our best to keep our sections calm. Justin and I walked into the cafeteria to find an argument about which was better, trumpets or clarinets. Did I mention the second reason I could never ask Keshi out? Oh, yeah, well, our two sections had it out for each other. Inter-dating between the trumpet section and clarinet section were highly forbidden.
“Tree suckers!” A trumpet boy cried.
“Your mouths probably taste like metal!” A clarinet girl countered.
“Better then getting splinters on my lips!”
“Cold as ice, that’s what your lips are!”
“Was that a mouse I heard? Oh wait, just a clarinet player.”
“At least we won’t go deaf.”
“Might make your ears bleed though!”
“Band, Ten-Hut!” Justin and I called together. Every student in the cafeteria snapped to attention.
“What is going on in here?” I snapped. Nobody dared to reply. “We leave two sections alone for a minute and we come in to fight them ready to slit each other’s throats! That isn’t how we should treat our fellow band members, section rivalry or not!” I knew my words wouldn’t reach them, but it would at least quell the bickering long enough to have our introductions.
“Trumpets, you are better then this. Mrs. A told us to stay on a different part of the cafeteria then the clarinets so this wouldn’t happen. Can I not expect you to follow simple orders like that?” Now it was Justin’s turn to scold his section.
“The clarinets are near us too!” One of the three female trumpets pointed out.
“Clarinets are on their half.” Justin pointed out.
“But we want that half.” A freshman whined.
“Neither of you should talk at attention.” Justin pointed out. As the tenseness in the air died away, we allowed them all to relax. “Trumpets, to the opposite half.” Justin commanded, just as the trumpet and clarinet section leaders entered the cafeteria. They looked surprised to see their sections so close without any fighting, until they saw our death glares. Pumpkin followed his section with a confused look on his face, Justin right behind him. Rose blinked at her section, who were all sharing glances. Right away, she caught my roommate, who had stayed hidden and well away from the fighting.
“Why, hello there. You look too old to be a freshman!” Rose wasn’t shy. At all. She was probably the most outgoing in the clarinet section.
“I-I’m Iana. I just moved here from France, and I’m a junior, not a freshman.” For the first time I realized the girl had a thick French accent. Her English was surprisingly fluent.
“Foreign exchange or permanent?” Rose asked.
“Permanent. We moved here with my grandmother, since she needs some assistance but is too independent for a senior home.” The girl replied, blushing. Rose smiled.
“I think you will like it here.” She laughed. Iana didn’t look convinced. I hoped she wouldn’t explain why she didn’t believe Rose. What would my section do if they knew I treated someone like I did?
Chapter 2
I kept my eyes locked on my roommate, Rini, as the outgoing section leader told us what we were doing. I could see her eyes lock on mine, but I was surprised to see not bitterness, but a glint of sincere regret. What was she regretting?
“We will go around the circle. Say your name, and then your grade and something about yourself. I’ll start. My name is Rose, but I actually hate the smell of roses.” Everyone laughed slightly at this. ‘I’m a senior.”
“I’m Katrina, but I go by Kat, a sophomore, and I enjoy eating bananas.” A short girl with dark blond hair who had been sitting next to Rose said.
“I’m Anne, a junior, and I can’t resist a cute puppy.”
“I’m Jonathon, but I go by Jojo. I’m a freshman, and I don’t like chocolate.” I was surprised to see a girl say this.
“I’m Patricia, and a senior. My nickname is Breezy, because I am really slow to catch on.” All the older people laughed. Finally, it came to me. I gulped.
“My name is Iana, and I’m a junior. I have played every instrument you can find in a marching band.” I couldn’t think of anything else.
“Wow, sounds like Rini!” Rose joked. My roommate shot her a death glare. Now, it was her turn.
“I’m Rini, a junior. I-” She looked at me, “Feel like a huge jerk at the moment.” I was surprised at her words. Everyone blinked confusedly.
“I don’t think you are a jerk.” Breezy pointed out.
“I am.” Rini sighed.
“Why?”
“I don’t feel like talking about it.” She looked away from all of us. Rose looked utterly confused, but they moved on.
“Next game! Mix the circle!” Rini and Rose stayed where they were while we all switched places. “Alright, now is one I like. Everyone says something they will bring to a picnic. It has to be something with the first letter of your first name or your nickname, like roses or rutabagas for me. It doesn’t have to make sense. You have to repeat what everyone above you said.” Now I was glad I was second. I could remember playing this in my old band in France. “Again, I’ll start. My name is Rose and I will bring Rini.”
“Thanks for the invite.” Rini laughed, though her laugh was only half-hearted.
“This is Rose and she will bring Rini, I’m Iana and I will bring an igloo.”
“Rose is brining Rini, Iana is bringing an igloo, and my name is Danni and I will bring a dragon.” A freshman girl piped up.
“Rose is bringing Rini, Iana is bringing an igloo, Danni is bringing a dragon and I’m Heather and I will bring a hat.” This girl was a sophomore. This continued until we made it to Rini. She repeated everyone’s. She had a good memory.
“-and I’m Rini and I will bring a rabbit to eat Cassy’s carrots.” She laughed. The little junior girl pretended to be upset.
“But I grew them myself! So unappreciative of my hard gardening work!” We all laughed.
“My bunnies enjoy them though!” We were all laughing so hard at this.
“We can’t hear ourselves think!” The drum major boy teased from across the cafeteria.
“It would help if you could think!” Rini teased back. He hot her a fake death glare, shaking his head. Now, my chest hurt from laughing at this.
“We have a better memory then you! We beat you in the memorization contest last year!” An older girl pointed out from the trumpet section.
“That is because trumpets have nothing else in their brains!”
“Hey Rini, how many trumpets does it take to screw in a light bulb?”
“I don’t know Cassy, how many?”
“One to put it in, another to tell them how much better they could have done it!”
“Hey Keshi! What do you call a clarinetist with half a brain?” This was the boy drum major.
“I don’t know Justin!” I had to admit, this second boy was cute.
“Gifted!” The trumpet section burst out laughing, just as the band director walked in. She blinked in confusion.
“Uh, I do hope everything is going well in here. Justin and Rini, Tokamya is waiting for you in the band room, when you are done.” she coughed.
“Erm, yes Mrs. A” Rini slipped off her seat on top of the table. Justin walked over to her, a wide smile on his face. Rose stuck her tongue out at him jokingly.
“Ha-ha, you know I didn’t mean it.” He laughed.
“See you guys later.” Both of them called as they left the cafeteria.

I looked around the cafeteria. How could I have come in so late? There was almost nowhere left to sit. I sighed and glanced to my left. One small spot open, but I didn’t think even I could fit in that space. I glanced to my right, hoping for better luck. To my surprise, nearly half a table was remaining at the edge. I made my way over with my sandwich. To my distress, I saw the one person sitting there that I did not want to see. She noticed me as well, sending me a glare. I sighed inwardly. I would have to make it up to her sometime, and now, when we were alone, would be perfect.
“Hi.” I ventured, sitting down across the table from her. She didn’t say anything. “Look, I-”
“I don’t want to hear it.” She snapped. I sighed, staring down at my lunch. I was suddenly not hungry anymore. “I thought you didn‘t want to be seen around me.” She added, trying to get me to leave.
“First of all, there is nowhere else to sit, secondly, I feel bad for what I said.” I replied, pulling out a pen and paper. When I had nothing better to do, I would doodle and write in notebooks. The previous year I had filled two and a half, thanks to me brining markers to school, which is never a good idea.
“What are you doing?” Iana asked, eyeing me with curiosity.
“I draw when I don’t have anything better to do, or when I am trying to keep my cool.” I replied. “It calms me down, I guess.”
“Me too. Me and my friends were always doodling in notebooks back in France.” She smiled for the first time since I had met her. The guilt inside me slowly vanished as we began to get to know each other better. Who knew that one common interest would set off a friendship, when before we had been what seemed like enemies.
“When we get back to our room tonight, I have to show you something.” She said suddenly, her green eyes glinting. I nodded as I looked at my watch. Had it really only been ten minutes? I looked at everybody in the cafeteria. I realized that both Kay and Keshi were nowhere in sight. Finally, the tall trumpet boy walks in, his face filled with deep grief. Kay followed him, a more triumphant, evil look on her face. Noticing the lack of seating, Keshi joined us at our lonely table.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Kay broke up with me.” Keshi sighed.
“You upset?” I asked, my heart doing backflips. But deeper inside, I knew it still could never be. He was a trumpet, and though I was currently drum major, deep inside I was still a clarinet. And clarinet/trumpet relationships were strictly forbidden by the sections.
“Not really. I never really liked her too much. She just wouldn’t accept a no.” He shrugged, biting into his sandwich.
“I don’t know this girl, but she doesn’t seem very nice.” Iana pointed out.
“Meanest guard girl in band.” I explained.
“Hey Keshi, what are you doing over with them?” I recognized the boy who had called the clarinets tree suckers. He indicated me and Iana. “They are clarinets!”
“Your point is? I never understood why I can’t be friends with someone in the clarinet section. Are you telling me you won’t listen to Rini just because she plays the clarinet? She is your drum major.” Keshi scolded. The boy looked surprised.
“I-I-” He stammered.
“Just go back to eating, Sam, and leave us in peace.” Keshi ordered. Sam turned back to his group of friends, looking scared. I laughed.
“And you didn’t go for section leader why?” I asked.
“Pumpkin Seed is a senior, while I’m a junior. I thought I would let him have a year of glory his last year of high school. I always have next year.” he replied.
“Why did you just call him Pumpkin Seed?” Iana asked. I realized for the first time that she didn’t know the origin of any of the weirder nicknames.
“He always has pumpkin seeds, for some reason. Nobody knows why. I remember my freshman year I commented about how much I liked pumpkin seeds, and he handed me a bag of them.” Keshi laughed. I laughed as well, as did Iana.
“A lot of us just call him Pumpkin though.” I added.

“Bonjour!” I greeted as I spotted rose already in the band room.
“Huh?” She asked. I laughed.
“Quelqu'un ici ne sait pas de français ?” I asked. Rose blinked, I turned expectantly to Rini and Keshi, hoping they at least understood me. Blank stares. Okay. So nobody in the room knew French. I would have to teach them, but not today. “I asked if anybody here knew French.” I explained.
“Oh!” They chorused, and I laughed.
“Vous wuldn't durez un jour en France!” I teased. “You wouldn’t last a day in France!” I decided not to translate this time. I had finally made friends. I didn’t want to lose them so soon.
“Bonjour children! All of you are a bit early.” Mrs. A came in as I gave my new friends a wide grin. Immediately, I got excited.
“Parlez-vous le français ?” I asked. “Do you speak French?”
“Sorry Iana, I don’t speak French. I just know how to say hello.” She laughed. I slumped my shoulders a bit. “I had a feeling you would say that.” She smiled and left the room.
“You didn’t seem to speak this much French before!” Rini laughed. I shrugged.
“English is my native tongue, but you can’t survive in France without knowing the language.” I smiled back. “Bonjour Joshua!” The saxophone section leader had came in, squeezing past Rini and Keshi.
"Oops, sorry Josh!” Rini apologize, inching out of his way.
“Its fine. And bonjour, Iana.” He laughed. “Comment appréciez-vous votre premier jour ?” I squealed in delight. “How are you enjoying your first day?”
“Quelqu'un qui sait le français!” “Somebody who knows French!”
“Oui. J'ai pris des classes l'année dernière.” “Yes. I took classes last year.”
“I think I will leave now, since I don’t understand a word either of you are saying.” Rini laughed.
“Je m'excuse!” Josh and I said together. “I’m sorry!”
“I keep forgetting your French Iana!” Rose commented from across the room. I realized I hadn’t allowed her to get a word in edgewise.
“Do you miss France?” Josh asked. I shrugged.
“I did when I first got here, but I think I’m starting to get used to America.”
“That’s good.” Josh smiled. “Savez-vous si elle l'aime ?” “Do you think she likes him?” He did a barely noticeable gesture towards Rini and Keshi, who at this point had both walked off.
“Oui, c'est extrêmement possible. Ils l'acte sûr comme cela!” I laughed. “Yes, that is highly possible. They sure act like it!”
“If you two are quite finished, wouldn’t it be smart to get our instruments together?” A clarinet girl, Erika, teased. She grabbed Josh’s hand, and with a slight, friendly wave they went to the side of the room and sat down with their instrument cases at their side. Note to self: Josh has a girlfriend. Should have seen that one coming.

Chapter 3

“Water break! 5 minutes!”
I sat on my podium, stretching my arms before taking a drink of water. This one week of band camp had been a huge workout on my arms, and by now I had lost most feeling in them. I looked at Justin and Toka. Both were stretched across their own podiums. Everyone in the band took seats in the grass. They looked exhausted. My eyes drifted to the guard. Kay had already moved on, holding hands with a tuba boy named Cory, also known as Gummy Bear. Next I drifted to the trumpets. Keshi didn’t seem at all phased by Kay’s new boyfriend.
I sighed, now looking at my own exhausted section. Iana sat alone. Rose looked like she was explaining something to Breezy, while a few others were chatting between the three. I pulled out the small pa of paper from my pocket. On one of the empty pages, I doodled a sleeping dog. Next to it I wrote a poem:

I’m tired and sweaty,
And sick of this heat,
Why can’t I just lie down?
Since I am so beat?

I no longer hear music
I hear not a sound
I realize I’m aching,
As my head starts to pound

As we return to the field,
You hear not a peep,
‘Cause during band camp,
We all want to sleep.

I stored the book back in my pocket as Iana passed by. She gave me a smile.
“I’ll read it later.” she whispered as she returned to the field. I nodded and stood up.
“Break over! I want to finish the show before we leave this afternoon.” Mrs. A called. Everyone groaned before filing onto the field. “Start finding set 20! We have 30 more to go!” Everyone groaned louder. This would be a long day.

I collapsed onto my seat on the bus, followed closely by Rini. Keshi sat in front of us. He looked more distracted then exhausted.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. He blinked as if he hadn’t realized I was there.
“Was I being that obvious?” Rini and I nodded with smiles on our faces. “Oh. Well, it is nothing.” He sighed, sinking into his seat as he did so. Rini and I shared a glance.
“You know you are going to have to tell us.” She pointed out, leaning over the seat. Instead of a reply, he handed her the notepad. She opened it to the page after her poem.
On this page, he had drawn a bunch of hearts, and in the center was a picture of a clarinet and trumpet crossed.
“he’s in love with someone!” Rini whispered in my ear. I nodded, trying to figure out who it could be. Just then, I remembered another use for our book. I stole the pad from Rini.
Who is it?
It will never work out…
Of course it will!
She is from your section.
I know the feeling…
I doubt it.
I like someone from your section.
Justin?
Ew no!
Ew.
Who?
I’ll tell if you tell.
Uh, I’d rather not.
Then you won’t know who I like. What about you Iana?
I don’t know anyone well enough yet.
Sure you do! What about Shiho?
Shiho? No thanks.
Haha, I think you should leave the boy finding to the girls!
We all laughed. At first, I had thought moving to a new school without my friends would be fatal. Yet now, as I sat on the bus watching the trees pass by with Rini by my side and kasha’s smiling face, I couldn’t think of anything better.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“Bonjour Iana. Welcome home.” My little sister’s enthusiasm was almost too much. I rolled my eyes.
“Bonjour Faith.” I yawned.
“What’s for supper Mum?” She asked as our mother closed the door behind us. I took my bag off my shoulder and set it on the couch. A few boxes were still piled by the walls. I didn’t know why I had expected them to be unpacked.
“I don’t know yet. I’m still deciding between chicken or pork. Iana, take that to your room please. We are expecting visitors.”
“I will.” I replied, picking the bag up. “What visitors?” I added in surprise. My mom wasn’t one to have visitors over.
“A few neighbors want to get to know us, so I invited them over.” Joy. Just got back from meeting my classmates and I would meet the adults of the new town. What joyous fun.
“I’ll be in my room.” The words made me happy. My room. Not our room. Back in France, I had to share with Faith. That was worse then any band camp I had ever been to. Rooming with Faith was torture.
I dragged my bag weakly into my room. I carelessly set it aside. Bad idea. It was immediately covered in dog slobber, courtesy of our young cavalier spaniel puppy, Ruby. The chestnut-and-white puppy was automatically more obsessed with it then she was with me. Apparently, my dirty, fermented clothes smelled better then the scents of the new friends I had hugged goodbye.
“Thanks for the love Rubs.” I giggled. Ruby perked up at the sound of her play name, and quickly tackled me on my bed. Now, my face was in worse shape then my bag. She let out a little yip of joy before digging her nose into my clothes.
“Les visiteurs sont ici. Mum wants us both in the living room to meet the neighbors.” It was obvious that my English was better then Faith’s. Back in France, she would have been taking her last year of English as an eighth grader, but because she left before she completed the classes, her English was incomplete. It wasn’t required, but most people took it for the sole purpose of learning a second language.
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Let me know what you think! It gets better, but this is all I have typed up. and sorry about weird formatting. not my fault. And italics after french comments are translations, by the way. And I need some advice on Iana's home life. should I make everything automatically translated or do the same as I did when I had Iana talking to Josh? Because if you think about it, it is Iana speaking, so she would know what they were saying, but then again, it would be kind of confusing as to when they were speaking french or english.
Oh, and a few characters in here are from my band. Josh is our bass clarinetist named Josh, Erika is his girlfreind Brittany, Pumpkin the trumpet sl who is the real trumpet sl Ryan(except I decided this after I gave him the nickname Pumpkin SeedD So that has nothing to do with real Ryan) and there will be a few more later on, like Hank and Betty the dating tuba players made up by one of our tubas named Marshall, Chad/Zoey the freshman clarinet who is my sl, Katie the trumpet player, and a bunch more.
If you want to have a character in it, I can post a little form for you to fill out. You can have section leaders or drill instructors. But we don't have captains, so those aren't included. You can also amke siblings for any characters that can have random light appearances like at games, competitions or watchign rehearsals. I'm perfectly fine if you make band siblings for my characters too. Also, School names with mascots are appreciated. I only have a few, which makes for a very tiny festival later on. Yo can make as many characters as you want
You don't need anything descriptive. Just something like shy or friendly or mean. igh descriptions, preferably just hair color, hair length/style and eye color. Under anythign else is stuff liek whether they do drugs or not, any good friends, ambitions, fears that could be pointed out for fun, anythign to help me sculpt the character. Small pictures are fine for both schools and character appearance.
Full Character Name:
Personality:
Grade and age:
Appearnnce:
Instrument:
Anything I should know about them:
Rank:
Any relation to my characters?:

for Schools.
School name:
Uniform:
School colors:
Mascot:
Band Name:


My current schools:
-*the band in the story*Riverview: Purple Platypus Marching Band(Purple and red)
-West Valley Wildcat Pride(Red and blue)
-Mountain View Cougar Band(Green and blue. By the way, in the story, this band sucksXD)
-Lakeside Pride of the Leopards(White and Red)
-Cactus Green Armadillo Marching Band(Green and Gold)

I know some of them are a bit weird. This is what happens when you ask Josh what would be good school names and good mascots. His were Cactus and their mascot armiddillos(he insisted) and he decided on Platypus. I kind of liek the ring of it though. Purple platypus marching bandXD

heart the clarinet vs trumpet conflict in there. "Tree suckers?" that's a LOW BLOW to my kind. crying

Haha, I play clarientXD I quite enjoyed the fighting parts, writing them that is. It is favorited by all the people who read it. I foudn ti easier to insult my kind as oppsoed to the trumepts though, which is weird. apparenlt yi have a grudge agaisnt my own instrument...

Oh, and in teh fighting part, where rini is lecturing them after callign them to attention, I could have sworn I fixed where it is supposed to say "find" but says "fight". I know I did...

XD Sorry its taking so long to write more! Our computer compeltely died on us, so we just now got a new one. I need to transfer this onto it before i can do anything, but right now I'm working on DM audition stuff. i might be able to put more up probably around Saturday or Sunday of next weeek.

Ooo! I love it! Post more of it when you write, please! ^-^