Give Me Envy, Give Me Malice, Give Me Your Attention

"We would love to have another flute player!" the band director, Mr. Grenier, said excitedly. As a tall, balding man of about 45, his current jumping behavior was not suited for him. I smiled uneasily as he celebrated. Yume and Brendon were doing the same.

"Now, down to business," Mr. Grenier suddenly put on a serious face. "Do you have a flute? Can you start today?"

"Uh, no flute and sure, why not? I'm already here," I turned to look at Yume and Brendon. Yume pointed at Brendon, mouthing that it was his fault.

"Okay," Mr. Grenier replied. "How about you go with Yume and I'll get you a flute and some music." He nodded at us and started towards his office.

"Well, that was strange," Brendon remarked, shaking his head.

"Okay, well, let's go practice!" Yume grabbed my arm.

"Bye Brendon!" she yelled as she ran off, yanking me behind her. He waved good bye, an amused look on his face. Yume lead me to a practice room in the hallway next to the band room.

"Okay, before we go in, let me fill you in. There are 5 other flute players. You're now number 7. Were supposed to be having a sectional right now, but we all know our music, so we just talk. Ok, that's about it," Yume finished, opening the door slightly.

"Oh yeah, before I forget... I'm section leader!" Yume chuckled and ran into the room. I followed hesitantly. Inside were five girls. They all turned to look at me.

"Okay, so we have Adriana, Alyssa, Emily, Alexis, and Camitri, aka Freshman." Yume motioned to the girls. "Everyone, this is Adrienne. You can call her Adrie."

I waved at them. They waved back. One girl, the one Yume had identified as Alexis, stood and walked over to shake my hand.

"Hey, nice to meet you. I'm Alexis, as Yume already said. Welcome! It's great to have you."

The other girls agreed. I smiled at her shyly.

"Thanks. It's great to be here."

Maybe things are starting to look up?