Chapter Text
june
45 minutes... I can't do this.
My pencil tip keeps breaking. I'm sweating my tail off. Our classroom fan is squeaking. My hand is smudging all of my proofs.
I HATE TRIG.
There is a silver lining; after this class, I'll get to spend an hour and a half practicing with Piper. It's just taking so.. so... so long to get there.
But I'm willing to wait.
BRRRRRRING
I rushed up from my seat, still pulling my bag onto my back with my paper in my hand. Teach was telling us, once again, to remember to turn in test corrections before we go, but it didn't seem like anyone was really listening.
Who would when we have clubs next? I, for one, am speeding into the hallway like a bat outta hell.
...I forgot to turn in my corrections.
Anyway. I turned the handle as I pushed our band room's door open. Piper scolds me for that because sometimes I time it wrong and jam the door into the frame, but I don't really take it to heart. I'm the one who fixes it, anyway.
As I swing the door open, Piper turns away from her keyboard and looks at me.
Jesus Christ, she's so pretty. Their hair falls perfectly when they tilt their head, like what folks talk about in those fairy tale books. Her dark hair is a deep mahogany in the sunlight, her highlights cherry red.
How is she real? How are we so close? I'm not religious, but I swear to god that I'm blessed by an ang-
"Hi!" she greets me, her eyes bright. Refocusing on setting up, she asks, "Are you ready?"
Damn it-- my face is warm, I hope it's not as red as it feels.. "You know it~ Let me get my bass-"
I walk to the corner of the room while she hums one of her guitar riffs that she wrote. I love this band room. I love that it's just ours. It has a lot of windows, so the sunshine is always lighting up the entire room. It always seems to hit Piper just right and me exactly wrong; she always looks ethereal and it's right in my eyes... Oy vey.
I pull my ivory-colored bass up over my head and hold it upright as I walk over. Piper is sitting at the piano and silently playing something quickly.
"Took you long enough," she says, smirking without looking up from the keys.
"Whatever! What are we playing?"
She stops playing and turns her sheet music to a page I (obviously) can't see. "Uhhh.." Her index finger is curled over her mouth as she flips through her binder.
"Do you want me to pick?" I ask reluctantly. I hope the hesitation doesn't reflect in my tone...
She looks up at me and smiles a little. "Sure..!"
We decided on the song she had been humming earlier. Whenever she plays her guitar, she has to look down at the frets the entire time, sticking her tongue out a little on tougher parts. I see the way her fingers stretch over the fret board for power chords and just thank my lucky stars that I play bass...
As the final note rang out, I kept my head aimed down at the ground with my plucking hand way past my bass. I'm trying to imitate the SuperTuff Rockstars™ in any cartoon that my brother watches.
"Are you done yet...?" Piper asked painfully.
I looked up to see her playful glare and smiled. "Not quite!" I play a short, quick-paced riff to show off, which pulls my attention away from her.
She sighs and closes her eyes. "You are NOT cool, June."
"Yes I am! Neither are you! I am!"
Piper rolls her eyes before clearing her throat. "Anyway! Are we done for today?"
I shrug.
"What time is it?"
I check my watch, then tilt my head from side to side. Uhh, about.. ten... minutes left? We should probably get it together."
She hangs her head and sighs again. "Unfortunately..."
As I slide my bass over my head and start toward its case, Piper unplugs her keyboard and starts packing her maroon guitar back up.