I took a deep breath before walking into the band room, way after school hours for rehearsal. I opened the door to see a couple of our bandmates from the strings section talking. Some turned around to say hi to me; I waved back to them. I take a seat and nervously start bouncing my leg, looking down at my phone to see if Milo texted me back. I looked up once I heard the front door open, and in walked both Mr. Harrison and Milo.
“Good afternoon, strings,” Mr. Harrison began to say. “Thank you all again for being able to stay after school for this meeting–“
“Are you kicking us out from the ensemble?” one student said. Everyone turned their head to see who it was; it was Carrie, the goth girl that typically keeps to herself in school.
“Why would you think that?” Mr. Harrison questioned, seeming confused at the question.
“Well,” another kid, Brett, began to say. “It’s no secret that the school thinks we suck.” Minor chatter began to linger the room; everyone agreed with the said statement. To my surprise, Mr. Harrison doesn’t say anything to defend the string section.
“I think you guys add something nostalgic to the ensemble,” Milo finally said, looking at us at our seats.
“So something that is outdated and dead?” Another student questioned; this time it was a girl named Tiffany.”
“No,” Milo said as he scrunched his eyebrows. “Classic. Timeless. A staple in an ensemble!”
“That’s easy for you say,” Allen said, another quiet kid that usually keeps to himself. “You’re not in strings and you’re a dual major.”
“So?” Milo responded back.
“So, it means you don’t understand what it’s like to be the laughing stock of the school,” Allen replied, crossing his arms along his chest.
“That doesn’t mean I pity you guys, or agree with the rest of the school,” Milo sternly stated. “I asked Mr. Harrison to gather you all because I wanted to have you guys assist me in my dual major performance.” I looked around the classroom; the room went completely silent. Milo’s energy disappeared as a result.
“You’re only going to be as good as you think you are,” Mr. Harrison added, addressing the ensemble. “And if this is the attitude that you all are going to have, then Milo doesn’t need to include you guys in his showcase—”
“Which I really want you guys a part of it,” Milo emphasized. He quickly looked at me and smiled; I couldn’t help but smile back. It was like a reflex I couldn’t help doing.
“I still don’t see the purpose of us playing in performance where the audience is there to only support the dual majors,” Allen debated, which lead to a couple of our bandmates nodding their heads in agreement. “No one is actually going to think the strings are any better; they’re just going to praise Milo for putting this thing together—”
“Let’s give Milo a chance, yeah?” I finally turned around and faced the rest of the ensemble. “We should be thankful that someone in the dual majors program wants to work with us. You failed to realize that he could’ve easily asked his other major class to help him, but instead he chose us.” I looked at Allen, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. “We can’t prove that we’re good if we’re so afraid to step on stage to perform.”
“Sophie is right,” Mr. Harrison added, walking towards his desk. “Of course, being a part of a showcase like this is completely voluntary, and if you still feel the need to not do the show just because you feel like you can’t do it, then you can pack your things and leave for the day.” Everyone looked around the room, curious to see if anyone was going to leave. I was surprised to see that no one got up from their seats.
“The piece I put together was heavily inspired by Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ in F Minor,” Milo began to explain, taking a piece of chalk to write on the blackboard. “Many people recognize the ‘Spring’ concerto, the opening act of the piece; what really gives the piece some color is ‘Winter’,” I continued to stare at Milo as he spoke and explained his vision to the class. He was mesmerizing to watch; passionate, driven, and… natural. It’s no surprise, considering he watches his father teach every day.
“You see, the winter piece flows like the frigid air of the winter season,” Milo continued to explain. “I wanted to put together a piece that retold the story in a more modern way; a Gen Z type of way. So we are going to be putting together a piece called,” Milo finally stopped writing on the blackboard and turned around to finally face us. “A Frigid Winter.”
…
It was finally the end of the school day, and I was walking to my locker to grab my books and other things to take home with me. I opened the locker and grabbed the couple of books I needed for my homework tonight, in addition to the binder of sheet music I had to learn for the showcase. As I put my things in my backpack, I hear a guy and a girl loudly laugh down the hallway. I peeked over the locker door to see that it was Aaron and Mollie, walking down the hallway holding hands, smiling at each other. They walk by me, not acknowledging me whatsoever. I couldn’t help but watch them as they did. They seemed so happy with each other; holding hands, and Aaron smiling every time he turned his head to talk to her. The Aaron that we see in band class is nothing like the Aaron I see whenever he’s with Mollie. I can’t help but feel a sense of jealousy when I see them together. I wish I was able to hold Milo’s hand in the hallway. I wish Milo looked at me the way Aaron looks at Mollie.
“Sophie?” I heard a boy’s voice call out my name. I quickly turned around, completely caught off guard. I lifted up an eyebrow, confused to see Allen standing by my locker.
“Hey,” I quickly said, shutting my locker door shut. “Did you need the rehearsal schedule?”
“No, I have it,” Allen said; he seemed to sound bothered. I was still so confused in why he came up to me. Allen never spoke to me in our band class. “I was just wondering if you really were going to do Milo’s showcase or not…”
“Why wouldn’t I do it?” I asked, wondering where Allen was going with this.
“To be honest with you, I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Allen confessed, crossing his arms tightly along his chest. “I don’t feel like his intentions are genuine.” I scrunched my eyebrows, disagreeing with his assumption of Milo.
“Milo’s not like that,” I responded, defending Milo. “He really wants to work with us to put this performance together—”
“He’s never made an effort to even talk to our section before,” Allen spat back, not convinced with what I said. “It just feels very performative, like he’s trying to be the ‘generous dual major’ in a crowd of overachieving dual majors.”
“Performative?” I repeated, now getting annoyed. “You got it all wrong, Allen. Milo is really not like the person you think he is—”
“I’m just saying this to the person I believe should be the voice of our section,” Allen expressed his thoughts further. The voice of the section? “You’re clearly the best person in strings, and for someone who isn’t even in the strings to just come and do charity work just because we weren’t picked before feels offensive. I would rather not us do the showcase than for us to be the pity pick because he decided to wait out…”
“I really don’t know where you’re going with this,” I said, getting ready to end the conversation. Before I could step away, Allen steps in front of me.
“From what I heard, Milo was originally going to pair up with Mollie Castro to do this showcase,” Allen mentioned. Mollie? “But I guess she would rather do the showcase with her boyfriend, Aaron Serrano.”
“Where did you hear that? Milo wanting to work with Mollie?” I asked, curious to know.
“Mollie herself,” Allen answered. “She was talking to Aaron one day before band class a few weeks back about it after he had asked her to do the showcase. I guess when you’re Aaron Serrano, you can persuade any girl you want…” I couldn’t believe what Allen was telling me. Was it true? If it was, how did someone else from our band class know this information before I did? Why didn’t Milo tell me that he was originally going to work with Mollie in the first place? Why did he make it seem like he had the strings on his mind this whole time for the showcase?
Before I could respond, Allen sighs loudly. I looked back at him as he shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m just saying that we shouldn’t be so quick to take Milo’s offer if he doesn’t have us with the best interest in mind.” Allen walked away towards the opposite side of the hallway. I didn’t know what to believe, or who to believe these days. Was Milo that shallow and self-centered? Was the Milo I know just a facade to boost up his own ego? Was the Milo I know and love all just a lie?
My train of thought broke once I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Speaking of the devil, it was Milo texting me, telling me to meet him at the pizza shop. I sighed loudly, walking away from my locker and towards the exit of the school.
Letters From Liz. 