Did you hear that??? The earth moved!
One November Tuesday, I arrive in study hall. The teacher throws a pad of signed library passes on his desk for whoever wants one; he could care less. He’s already hard at work, head down. Alison stands after a minute or two to get a pass. I swoon; she’s wearing the black and white outfit, then quickly fixate on my book as she returns.
She walks past, out the door. A folded note has materialized out of nowhere. On my desk. WTF? No one writes ME notes. I get notes passed to me to hand to a girl in front of me or behind me. I’m a Charlie-Brown-no-valentines kid. This is from Alison??
I open the note. Large letters: “BAND ROOM NOW.”
Of course, I’m catatonic. As the brain freeze thaws, I get it. The teacher doesn’t give a shit where you go once you get a library pass. Rubber-legged, I snag a pass; he doesn’t even glance up. Book and notebook in hand, I depart.
Outside, I lean against a wall, scraping shards of bravery from the depths of my crushed ego. What in the hell could she want with ME?
The hall is a quiet tomb, a soundless void. Footsteps echo as I descend the stairs. Oh shit, maybe she thinks I’m a pervert for looking at her legs all the time. She’s gonna sik Doug on me, like a rabid dog.
I open the ground floor door. Before I reach for the band room door, a voice whispers from a crack in the auditorium door. “In here! Hurry!”
I walk to the door, resigned to some kind of crushing doom.