2 AVALON, THE IMAGINARY FRIEND

In the first grade, Arthur pointed his index and middle fingers downwards on a table, resting them like a pair of legs to a larger body that didn't exist. On that day, Arthur's first imaginary friend, 'Finger Buddy', was born.

Of course, he'd talk to other people when talked to, spoke when spoken to, nod and wave. But the other kids were never on his mind, not for the most part. Throughout the entirety of elementary school, Arthur developed imaginary friends and adventures to go off of. Finding the highest points, looking under the deepest of rocks… nothing could compete with the thrill of a new discovery.

Once middle school hit, however, Arthur's first human imaginary friend, Avalon, was born. In his first two years at the school, his continuous efforts to relate to and understand the students were thrashed, and in even greater expectations than before. After all, middle school was the time of kids turning into teenagers - dating, puberty, and everything in between.

Avalon, despite all of the exterior pressure to fit in, made him feel comfortable. He could talk to her about his favorite hobbies, foods, anything he could think of.

In his third year, though, things changed. Due to a scheduling error, he was placed into a band class, where full Orchestra instruments from the Saxophone to the Trumpet and more were able to be learned, along with the general language of music.

Knowing he didn't have any reason to get out of the class, Arthur stuck around for the first few months. After picking the Flute (a small-yet-versatile instrument), and mastering the basics, he soon began to realize just how social most in the band were. While all the other flutes were quiet, irritated girls, most of the other sections held really social people, who quickly bonded over the difficulty of the work involved. While still in a quiet atmosphere, Arthur was increasingly being left out of the conversation.

This only fueled Avalon, who would listen to Arthur's confused tales of other people and his inability to talk and react with them. She would be the one who could take in his stories of their female teacher's speeches and lectures, and the quick steps the most confident girl in the class, Destiny, took in her lessons.

For Arthur, it was nice. He would be able to talk to Avalon and comprehend the world in his own way. It was… motivating.

Or at least, that was what he thought. The first true time he would feel motivated, and to an overwhelming amount, was after finding a video on Marching Band for a research assignment. It was the first time he'd found music that connected with him, and despite lacking a reason why… Arthur was hooked.

The next day, Arthur looked across the empty table, the figure of a middle school girl adorning a gray hoodie, torn jeans and medium brown hair brought up a nervousness that only people who actually existed brought up within him. Her emerald eyes glistened in the light of the small cafeteria.

"Did you read the new chapter of One Part! last night?! It was so cool!"

"No… I- uh..." Once again, before a conversation could even form, Arthur had begun stuttering, nervous and contemplative of what to say. There was barely anything to say, just an interesting find of a video he found on YouTube, completely by accident of all things. But the words, the MEANING of what he was trying to accomplish by talking to her, wouldn't come out.

And her stare didn't help. Humans would inevitably try to figure out what he was saying by that point, about an eight-second pause of stuttering. But not her. She just stared and waited, stared and waited. It made him even more anxious, knowing that someone was just waiting patiently for his response, not even batting an eye to the problem. And that deadpan expression, like she was just lacking in any kind of emotion except for anticipation… it drove him insane.

Eventually, he cleared his throat and muttered his response. "I, just watched a cool video on YouTube, and thought about it?"

"Thought about it? What are you, a philosopher?" She looked down on his scrunched figure, slugging him on the shoulder. "Kidding! Anyway, what was it about?"

"A... Marching Band."

"What, like the football game band?" Arthur was caught off-guard with her quick response. Without pressuring himself too much, he just simply nodded in agreement.

"No… they just performed this show on a large football field, but… it was like it was a show JUST for them, not a football game."

Avalon looked to him with a bit of confusion. "You're actually interested in that kind of thing?"

He immediately freaked out, arms tensing up. "No! I just… it was really… weird to see."

"Yeah, weird's the word!" Avalon laughed him off, only to look back and see an uncomfortable look on his face. "Did… did you actually like it?"

Arthur immediately froze, unsure of how to answer. Rolling her eyes, Avalon got out of her seat and went across the table, sitting directly next to Arthur. "Well? Put it on. Let's see what this show is all about."

Without skipping a beat, the shy Arthur hunched over his phone before pulling up the video from before, Skyview High School's Marching Polars @ The High School Marching Band International in California, 2019. A few seconds in and Avalon immediately began to slouch in her seat.

"Is this it?" She questioned, baffled. "It's just people moving and playing instruments."

"Yeah, but..." Arthur tried to find the right defense for it, but couldn't. There was no defense for something he knew so little about. "... I don't know… "

"Hey, Arthur!" Turning around, Arthur saw the figure of another girl looming over him, enthralled by the work displayed on his phone. "Is that a Marching Band show?!"

"Uh…" He was immediately caught off-guard by the person behind him, not expecting anyone to be around while he was talking to Avalon. Looking over to his left, there was no one sitting down next to him, allowing the girl to slide into the bench and hunch over the phone. Arthur began to shake in nervousness, only to realize the look on the girl's face was that of pure enjoyment.

"Oh, this is my favorite part!" She exclaimed, as the block of performers split off in all directions, a flurry of movement and sound. "Like, how do they even choreography that?! It's insane!"

"Yeah… it really is."

"So you like Marching Band stuff, Arthur?" She turned to him, inquisitive. He gave her a questioning look, trying to remember where he'd last seen her.

"Oh, yeah!" She hit her forehead, laughing. "I'm Destiny, from your Band class. Nice to finally talk to you!" She extended her hand, which Arthur awkwardly shook. "You play the flute, right?"

"Yes…I, uh-"

"Then you want to do Marching Band in High School?!"

"I… don't really know."

"But doesn't it look like so much fun?!" She stood up, giddy with excitement. "Just all the cool, loud music, and all the moving parts from all the different people! My sister's in the East Coast Marching Band, and she says everyone there just kinda acts like a family! Could you imagine having a family of like, a hundred people?!"

"A family… " Arthur pondered on her wording for a few seconds, thinking about what it meant to him. He'd barely talked to anyone throughout middle school, and then all of a sudden being thrust into a situation with tons upon tons of crazy, music-loving and active people! It was crazy for him to even consider.

"From what I see of you in Band class, you're like, the shyest person I've ever met. I think it'd be good for you to join a band like East Coast, meet new people and that kind of stuff."

"Come on, Arthur!" From behind him, Avalon stood, waiting for him. "Let's go do something else!"

He turned back to Destiny. "I'm sorry… I just don't know if I-"

"Wait." Destiny paused, thinking. "Have you ever even seen East Coast play a Marching Show?"

"Well, no I-"

"You haven't?! They're the coolest! They're performing tonight at the football game, and I think it's their last show of the season. It'd be the best chance for you to find out about if the band's for you or not. I don't want to sound pushy or anything..." She paused, for once in the entire conversation looking a bit nervous. "You just… seem like a good fit for Marching Band."

"Well, that just sounds stupid!" Avalon looked to the oblivious Destiny with resentment. "I and Arthur are finally gonna finish marathoning a series tonight, so he couldn't even come if he-"

"Yeah… that sounds nice." Arthur stuttered through the sentence, nervous but excited. Destiny lit up in surprise while Avalon paused, baffled and wide-eyed.

"Yes! Okay then, um..." Destiny quickly took Arthur's phone from its propped place on the table, opening up the 'Contacts' application and putting in her information. "Just message me your address, and my mom can pick you up from your place. Got it?"

He smiled back at her. "Yeah."

"Why would you do that?! We're so close to finishing up The Dragon Monarchy and then you decide to make plans?!" Avalon fumed to Arthur as the two made their way down the hallways of the Middle School, a smile taking over the boy's face.

"We can finish that whenever, Avalon. This might be my last chance in middle school to see a real-life Marching Band!"

"Since when did you care about anything Marching Band related?!"

"Since..." He thought back to Destiny, and the love she had for almost every aspect of the Marching Show. "Since I was validated in liking it, by someone else who likes it too."

"You have a crush on her or something? No way that's gonna happen."

"I do not have a crush on her! She just seemed really cool, and I'm excited to go see a show with a decent person. Is that too much to understand?"

She sighed, trying to hide her annoyance but failing miserably. "Well, okay then. Just let me know when your 'Marching Show' sucks, okay?"

"Yes!! Another TOUCHDOWN!!" Destiny cheered from the steel football stands, rattling occurring from the nearly hundreds of parents, friends, and staff showing up for the final game of the season. Her mother, a short but energetic woman wearing a floral pattern shirt and jeans, celebrated with her as Arthur sat next to them, uncomfortable from just being surrounded by that many people. "Do you watch a lot of Football, Arthur?"

"Oh… no, not really."

"Well in Marching Band..." She smiled. "You'll definitely get your fill!" As soon as she was done talking, the blaring sound of nearly a hundred instruments roared from the other side of the stands, around the left end. Looking over, all of the Marching Band students sat clumped together in one section of the stands, playing their hearts out to what Arthur could only assume to be the school's theme. Most of them were up and dancing while playing, celebrating the victory of a touchdown for all to hear.

"Do they play EVERY time we get a touchdown?!" Arthur questioned, trying to talk over the sounds of the people in the stands, the game performing in front of them, and the band from the left side of the stands. It was probably the loudest he'd ever had to talk in weeks, straining his voice.

"Not just then! Every time the other them's on offense, they get to play all kinds of music, but mainly pop songs to keep the hype up!"

"That sounds really hard!"

"But just think about it!" Destiny stood up, continuing to look at him. "Not only are they hyping up the entire audience, they must be hyping themselves up, right?! I'm sure energy isn't a big problem for them, despite how difficult it looks!"

Arthur simply nodded in agreement as the girl sat back down, looking like the next set of the football gameplay out.

"Told you!" Looking to the aisle, Arthur immediately noticed Avalon's figure watching him, judgingly. "You're regretting coming out here, aren't you?"

The young teen just looked at her nervously, knowing in at least some small part she was right.

"Well..."

BEEP!!

"Yes!" Destiny exclaimed. "Halftime!"

The Marching Band left their place from the stands, going down and around the football field in a single-file line to the back, where they organized themselves into a large block of people, evenly spaced.

"Welcome, East Coast!" The announcer blared over the speakers, as the front of the band, a teen strapped to a drum of some sort, began to tap off at a reasonable speed. With the timing set, the band stepped onto the field, keeping their block in shape as they went down to the center of the field. The band was big enough and spaced out enough so that they touched each thirty-yard line.

"Today, we have the Pride of East Coast High, the Marching… Tigers!! And they come to perform on Senior Night, their latest, award-winning show… KNIGHTS!!"

From the field, the lead conductors of the show, two teens in uniquely decorated uniforms, clapped their hands together with eerily-accurate rhythm. The entire band called out in a cheer, as the front row, made entirely of the rod-like flutes, re-aimed them from their initial playing position to that of holding a sword, right foot out in front of the other.

"Woah..." Arthur muttered under his breath.

"It looks absolutely ridiculous." Avalon whispered in retaliation, baffled.

"East Coast High… is your band ready?!" The two leads saluted the audience, before running up to metal step stools on each end of the field's front side. From up higher, they were visible to all of the Marching Band students.

Without warning, percussion instruments unique and familiar to Arthur began playing from a pocket in the front of the field, replicating the sound of a melodic dream beginning to form.

"I hope you're ready." Destiny smiled to him, whispering in the pockets of silence the music allowed for. "These guys may not be state-worthy, but they're great!"

Soon, blending in with the slow start, the musicians on the field all began to move to different spots on the field, all seemingly incomprehensible until frozen in time. The percussion began to speed up, adding more exotic and European instruments into the mix. The barreling Sousaphones with their monstrously large instruments began adding a layer of rising uneasy chords, captivating Arthur and Destiny further. More instruments added in, getting louder and louder. A tension formed from the most unlikely of sounds, nearly choking Arthur in anticipation.

Then, for a moment, everything stopped; movement, sound, the two would even be surprised if anyone on that field was actually breathing. Right as the silence would've gotten uncomfortable to bear, the lead drummer began tapping on his instrument, building up speed immensely.

It was gonna hit, Arthur thought. All that build-up, it had to hit.

Bursting through the wall of silence, the band crashed in with incredible strength, the specter of a knight in epic combat living on through the sounds of the performance. As they scattered around, the notion that this knight was fighting something larger-than-life, like a fire-breathing dragon, came to life. The Trumpets would pop in and out with sounds that could replicate true dragon fire, the rest of the sounds reacting in turn like a dodge towards scattered rubble.

With one last build-up, the knight leaped from his place of rest and fought the dragon, the power of man versus myth rocking the foundations of the stands, and the two biggest admirers within it.

The sound cut off once more, this time setting off into another song. But Arthur, deep in his heart, had seen enough.

"So, what'd you think?" Destiny asked, as the two walked out of the stadium and towards the high-school parking lot, where Destiny's mother sat in an old SUV waiting to pick the two of them up.

"It was..." He pondered for a moment, unsure of how to describe the music. "Just like the video I watched."

"I mean-" Destiny jumped in hesitantly, unsure of how to compare the band at the game to a World-renowned performance like Skyview.

"What I meant was..." Arthur cut back in, nervous but with purpose. "It felt like I was… in the music. I don't know how to describe it other than that."

"I… understand, to an extent." Destiny nodded in agreement. "I think every Marching Show has a story to tell, and tonight, it was… 'I'm Here!'... you know?"

"Yeah! Exactly… uh- I mean-"

"You don't have to be so nervous all the time!" She nearly cheered the statement, patting Arthur on the back. "Everyone in class is worried about you, you know?"

"What?"

"Like, you're always the quietest kid in class, you barely say anything. But… you're really good at the flute, and you don't seem to care much about what other people think."

"Isn't not caring a bad thing?"

"Most of the time, yeah." Destiny flicked him in the head playfully, before hopping over a patch of grass. "But sometimes, dealing with people's the worst. And when you're in your own world, it looks like you have this vision of what YOU want to do… it's really cool."

The girl began to blush with excitement, confusing Arthur in a way he didn't expect.

"Oh. Okay… I never really t-thought about it like that..." Arthur trailed off, trying to stop talking and leave the conversation on some sort of high note before he could embarrass himself. Taking a deep breath and thinking, though, he did have one more thing to say.

"T-thanks, Destiny. For letting me come along."

"Oh, I actually wasn't planning to go tonight." Arthur looked to her with an even more confused expression than before. Despite his inquisitive glances, Destiny continued to smile and enjoy herself. "But, seeing you want to know more about Marching Band… I just had to take you. And in the end, I'm glad I finally got to meet you, in all of your awkward, cute self."

Arthur instantly blushed, as the girl did the same. The two had just made it to the car but stopped short outside to look at each other, taking their mind off of the music and beginning to think about finally having time to notice each other. The boy had barely known what socializing in an out-of-school situation was like the day before, and now he was worried about things he should've been long ago, such as flirting.

"Arthur!" He turned to see Avalon, staring back at him furiously. "I know what you're thinking… and you're wrong! How could you even consider that she likes you!?"

"Well, I just-"

"You just WHAT?! Do you spend an afternoon with this girl you barely know and all of a sudden you're in love?! This isn't some stupid fairy tail, man! Get a grip! No one would like you the way you are now, always acting like an idiot, never being a part of the crowd. That's all girls ever see, isn't that right?!"

"I- um..." Arthur began to feel swarmed with conflicting emotions, unsure of how to react.

"This whole night was a waste of your time, Arthur! Why can't you see that?! Just go back to being you, and stop trying to be someone you're not!!"

Arthur tried to breathe, but the space in his throat began to close.

"Arthur?" Destiny questioned, looking at him with a confused and nervous glare. "You look like you're in pain… are you alright?!"

As soon as Destiny asked the question, the sound of Avalon screaming at him faded from his ears. His breathing returned, hands shaking.

"I'm… I- I'm SO sorry, Destiny. Can I- uh I mean, can you take me home?"

The girl looked to him with concerned eyes. "Uh… sure."

The wall across from Arthur was empty and baron, devoid of any context. Despite this, he continued to stare at it intensely, using it as an outlet to control his mind, if even for just a little bit.

"Are we gonna be playing any more Crash Bros?" Avalon questioned, holding a set of game controllers while looking at the boy's T.V set. "Cause you seem to be really zoning out right now."

"That was so embarrassing..." Arthur concluded, looking down to clenched, vibrating hands. "Everything was perfect, and I just..."

"Just what?" Avalon looked to him, her blank, uncaring stare returning. "Messed up? Froze on the spot? People do that."

"No, they don't."

"What was that?" Avalon questioned back, taking a few seconds to fully comprehend Arthur's quick retort back. Arthur himself took a few seconds to realize he snapped, before clenching his fists in acceptance.

"I said… no, they don't, Avalon."

"Then what do you think's the problem?"

There was a pause, a silence. Avalon didn't realize it (and didn't realize it, because she was just a figment of Arthur's imagination), but that question made Arthur rethink everything about everything since he'd first thought about Marching Band a few nights before. After some time had passed, and the boy had let several hard and difficult thoughts swirl his brain, he slowly turned his neck to face Avalon, dead-on. For the first time since her creation, Avalon saw true confidence in Arthur's eyes.

"Maybe… it's you."

"Oh shut up!" Avalon nearly screeched at the eighth-graders, furious by the sheer concept. "I'm everything you could ever want from a friend! I protect you from all kinds of danger. I support everything and anything you could ever want to do! How in the world can I be bad for you?! What logical sense does that make, Arthur?!"

"Because..." Arthur went deep into his head, making sure his words were as clear as possible. "You make sure I never challenge myself. I'm never going to grow with you around to stop me from leaping into anything."

"Yeah… I'll always be here to stop you from leaping into the fire!! That's what I do!!"

"Well maybe sometimes people gotta get burned!" Arthur stood up from his seat, still confident in his thoughts. "I can't protect myself from my fears forever, so maybe I should just take the leap and go on my own!!"

"You'll never handle it out there! You want to be a part of a Marching Band, whoopty-doo! You're not the best musician, you barely exercise, and you rarely talk to anyone! Congratulations on being one of the worst candidates for that kind of program… EVER!!"

"Of course I'm not ready! I might not ever be ready!!" Avalon nearly jumped back at the strength in his response, unsure of how to combat it. "But just watch! I'll show you… and I'll show Destiny too, that I can be confident! I'll join Marching Band, and we'll go all the way to the top! Nothing will stop me! Just… watch!"

9 Months Later…

Arthur stood in front of a large steel door, flute case in hand and supplies in a small black backpack. From inside, the sounds of groups of kids and their instruments could be heard. There was so much to learn from it… all of their stories to understand…

But the boy hesitated. What if this isn't what he wanted? What if all the preparation and growth he tried to push himself into… was all for nothing?

"Having second doubts?" Avalon leaned against a concrete pole with a smirk. "If you're too afraid for this 'High School Marching Band' crap, you know your mom's just a phone call away..."

"Hey, Avalon?" Arthur questioned, shaking the smug look off her face from its bluntness.

"What?"

Arthur closed his eyes and began to imagine the performance he saw nine months prior. The images in his head, of knights and dragons in an epic duel for control, and the masters of all medieval time barreling down their power through time to that very performance. It made him happy and brought a smile to his face.

He opened his eyes, to find no one there.

"Bye, Avalon. I need to change, but… I'll always miss you. See you… from the top."