13 THE DARKEST YEAR (THE FIRST LUNCH PART 1)

"One person can make a difference...

and everyone should try."

-John F. Kennedy

Eleven Months Prior...

"What are you idiots doing?!" The senior looked upon his underclassman, as they laid down and relaxed under the protection of the pavilion. The section he was yelling towards were the trumpets, making the sections nearby extremely uncomfortable.

"What are you talking about?" One of them spat, before drinking some water.

"You're all acting like a complete embarrassment to this band program!" He barked, hunched over to look at the relaxing teens. "You do nothing but complain for whatever we're doing but put no blame to yourselves when we fall behind!"

"You know this isn't entirely our fault." Another underclassman spoke, reassuring. "That bitch's given up on us, and you know it."

The senior's face burned, holding in every pocket of oxygen he had like an over-blown balloon.

"How DARE you!! Our Band Director's done nothing but support us! That doesn't change the fact you're as self-reliant as a pile of fucking ROCKS!"

One of the trumpets, a Hispanic freshman, leapt up from his spot on the ground, placed his bottle next to his feet, and stepped right in front of the senior, equally furious.

"What... what is it that you think you're trying to do?! You're a guy, just like the rest of us, nothing more! Just cause they gave you a tile doesn't mean I have to respect it, especially when our 'Section Leader'... is nothing but a pile of sh-"

"Guys!" Vernon ran in between the two, nervously shaking and sweating (mostly from the heat but still perspirating out of nervousness). "We have to get back out onto the field! Let's just... leave this before-"

"That's enough, Vernon!" The Hispanic, furiously but without any malice to the teen in question, pushed him aside. With little room to step back, Vernon's foot hit a large water jug before tripping and falling back-first onto the dirt beside the pavilion, sun now burning his eyes. "There's no stopping this. I need to get some things off my chest, and there's no stopping me!"

"Let's hear it, dipshit!" The senior spat in the freshman's face, taking a step closer. "I'd love to hear more excuses from an idiot like you."

The freshman took a deep breath, only then realizing the crowd they'd drawn. He immediately felt embarrassed, realizing just how far the senior's baiting had brought him.

"HEY!! What's going on her!" A Drum Major walked by, watching the confrontation start up.

"This idiot was trying to pick a fight with me!" The senior called out, immediately stepping back.

"Don't you fuckin' DARE try and put this on me!!"

"ENOUGH!!" The Drum Major screeched, causing the two to pace back away from each other. "Back on the field NOW... before we have to doll out punishments."

The two Trumpets gave each other dirty looks, before swiping their instruments off of the ground and marching back to the field. The Drum Major then noticed Vernon crashed on the ground, reaching his hand out to help him up.

"Need some help, bud?"

"Thanks... Arthur." Vernon lightly spoke, as if he was in a daze.

The sophomore climbed up due to Arthur's help, the Drum Major being a tall Caucasian with blue eyes, buzzed hair, and a worn-out t-shirt with a picture of a thumbs up on it.

"You... recently changed your name, right?" The Drum Major questioned.

"Yeah, it's Vernon now."

"Nice... Vernon. I like it."

He smiled back sarcastically. "I wasn't asking."

"What about Natalie? She like it?"

"I think she just needs time, but she doesn't hate it."

"Good, good."

The two awkwardly stand around, before Vernon swiped his Trumpet and began to make his way over to the field. "You gonna be alright?" The senior called out, nervously.

"I'll be fine." Vernon looked back, smiling. "Band's my favorite. Nothing could take that from me!"

Present Day...

Arthur opened the door in the back of the Band Room, revealing a large hallway that went far down both left and right, the brick walls painted a light purple. Down towards the right end, the teen noticed another band student making their way down an adjacent hallway, and he followed him down until a large steel door, mirroring the entrance to the Band Room. Opening it up, a large plaza with outdoor chairs and benches rested in front of the currently closed high school cafeteria, filled with many more interior benches and fencing to distinguish five separate lines.

But with the outdoor plaza, groups of band kids made the space their own, moving benches and conforming around each other to best fit their friend groups or sections, celebrating the hardest part of the first day being over. Making his way further into the mess of teens, he looked around for a place to call his own. While their were empty tables, people would have to sit their eventually due to a lack of space, along with Arthur just wanting to find people to eat with. After all, he was now with his people. Why not try and take advantage of it, trying to get at least a little bit more comfortable with the people he was surrounded with?

"You ready to play signs?" A freshman trumpet player sat in a circle on the ground with three other people, in a spot just beyond the shade of the plaza but with plenty of free space. Noticing a spot to try something new, Arthur closed his eyes and took a step towards the group.

"S-s-signs?" Arthur stuttered into the conversation, making the other freshman give him a questionable look.

"What's your name?"

"Arthur..." he replied, timidly looking away.

"Where do I... oh yeah! You're the crazy guy who ran around the field! Ha ha!" He let out a pure laugh, making Arthur's tensions ease the slightest bit. "I'm Pete. Wanna get in on this?"

"S-sure!" Pete and the freshman girl next to him scooted to the side, allowing the teen to fit into the circle. After putting his lunch to the side, Arthur crossed his legs and slid in, the others all facing towards the center.

To Pete's left was the girl, who had dim red hair and rich freckles, to the left of her was Arthur, to the left of Arthur was what appeared to be a Hispanic teen in his sophomore year, and to the left of him was Vernon.

Arthur looked to Vernon, the Junior who had helped Machiko encourage him earlier to push through the running (and in turn caused him to be wiped for the rest of the practice), and noticed that he looked distraught, or lost in thought on something that really mattered to him. Before he could call the junior out, however, Pete clapped his hands.

"Alright, let's explain-"

"Have room for one more?" Pete looked over to see Machiko crouching down towards the center of the circle, curious. "I have a friend who told me about signs, but I never got to play."

"Can we make that two?" From behind her, Teller slid into the conversation, hands in his worn black pockets.

"The more the better." Pete smiled, having himself and the red-head make more room. The order from then was the red-headed girl, Teller, Machiko, and Arthur, followed by the same remaining order. Machiko looked to Arthur, giving him a warm smile.

"I wish I could be as pumped as you were out there."

"Oh..." Arthur blushed, which immediately caused the Asian to knock Arthur in the head lightly, putting him into a quick daze.

"Don't take everything so literally. I could tell you were burning yourself silly out there."

"I wouldn't have b-b-burned out so soon if-"

"Well, the past is the past." She smiled, turning away as if Arthur didn't have any rebuttal to begin with. The teen frustratingly took a deep breath before focusing back on the center of the circle. The Hispanic sophomore reached out and clapped his hands, getting the circle's attention.

"Okay, no more late entries, guys! So, who doesn't know how to play signs?"

The two freshman trumpets, Arthur, and Machiko all raised their hands.

"Okay, so-"

"Have I met you before?" Machiko interrupted, looking at him with questioning eyes. "What's your name again?"

"Uh... Joseph."

"That's it! Melody mentioned you!"

"You know Melody?"

"Yeah, we went to-"

'COUGH!' Teller sarcastically coughed, pointing out the impatient students in the circle looking at them.

"Sorry! I mean... sorry." Machiko replied, nodding.

"Well anyways, as I've been taught," Joseph continued, Arthur noticing the glaring look Vernon gave him. "Signs is a game of rhythm and memory. First, everyone make a sign with your hands. It has to be original, and it has to be something that could be made right on the spot, nothing too complex."

Everyone looked down to their hands, figuring out what to do. Arthur didn't take much time in figuring it out himself, opting for two fun 'Peace Sign's!' right in front of his chest.

Vernon continued, looking around the large group of people. "Now, take note of everyone's sign. The goal of this game is to stay alive, as people 'Tag' you. Tagging is basically someone using your sign. Once they use your sign, you have to use the same sign back, followed by Tagging someone else with their sign. The trick?"

The Junior clapped his hands on his crossed legs twice before clapping with his hands, waiting a beat, and then repeating the process.

"Every action happens on the third beat of this four-beat rhythm. Someone tags you on the third beat, you respond back on the next set, and on the third set, the person initially tags now tags someone else. For example..." Vernon started up the rhythm without signing, followed by the other trumpets. Eventually, everyone in the circle began clapping the beats, before Vernon sent out Joseph's tag. Joseph in return, repeated his sign, followed by him tagging Vernon back. Purposely messing up the timing of his call back, he looked again to the to the others in the circle. "And beyond that, as the number of people drop from the game, the rhythm gets faster. Makes more sense?"

The group nodded, and he started up the rhythm again. Two claps on their crossed legs, followed by a third clap with their hands and a quick pause. They all looked to each other, waiting for someone to make the first move, and the game of quick thinking to begin.

On a third beat a few seconds in, Machiko Tagged the red-headed girl, who immediately sent the sign towards Vernon. The Junior responded by sending it to Arthur, who nervously shaped Vernon's symbol at the last second. Chuckling, the teen sent it to Joseph, who threw it right back to Vernon.

He awkwardly tried to comment, the rhythm messing up his concentration on the words. "I knew I was popular, but..." Vernon sent the sign to Pete, who took a second to look at Joseph. The Sophomore nodded, before Pete Tagged Vernon once again. Vernon, unsuspecting of another attempt, waited too long to respond and threw his hands back in frustration. "Nuts!"

"Well..." Joseph scoffed. "You win some, you lose some, am I right?"

Vernon looked to Joseph, trying to read his face. Joseph in response gave the upperclassman a dirty look. "You gonna get out of the circle or what?"

Vernon, disappointed, stood up and walked away from the game entirely. Without hesitating, Joseph started up the game again, a bit faster than the last time. Once Pete started the Tagging process, he commented snarkily towards Joseph. "Glad we got that idiot out of the game."

Joseph laughed. "Yeah, I couldn't stand another moment of him trying to explain the rules. It was like practice all over again." As Joseph received a Tag, he threw it to Arthur, who didn't even try to respond back, just clapping on the third beat. Once everyone realized what he did, the clapping stopped. "You know you have to... try, right?"

Arthur looked up, revealing a maddened face to the Sophomore. He stood up, grabbing his lunch before turning around. The freshman simply nodded in disdain, before continuing his leave.

Machiko and Teller watched, bewildered, as the shy teen took a confident stride away from the game, sure that making friends wasn't worth putting up with people who'd mock a person who supported him before. The other trumpets just laughed at his cartoon-like bravado, equally sure that those who supported their Section Leader didn't have a place with them.