Playing by Ear (Country Roads #1) - Chapter 21

Friday I was back at school, and overjoyed. The last three days had been brutal. I worked the lunch and dinner shifts each day, which was okay since I was used to that work. Past that, except for two hours where I was to work on my homework before the dinner shift, Chef ran me ragged. He gave me conditioning exercises and bag work, with only a ten-minute break in between. By the time I got home each day I couldn't do anything but just fall into bed and pass out, exhausted. I’ve honestly never worked so hard in my entire life.

I did run into one problem over the suspension. Most of my teachers had no problem sending my school work home with Hanna. Mrs. Seidel had even included a handwritten page explaining the concepts she’d taught that day, which was incredibly thoughtful.

It wasn’t a surprise that the problem had been Coach Bryant. He declared that since I wasn’t in class to learn the material, I would be taking a zero on all classwork and homework, assigned over those three days. So far I’d put up with his bullshit, but I had a way out this time. He’d been in the office when Vice-Principal Keller had said I would get homework sent home for me each day.

I almost had Mom call the school, but I was still avoiding her finding out about my math grades, so I decided to do it myself. I knew that being aggressive or accusatory wouldn’t work, since the faculty's default position would be to rally together. Instead, I framed it as a possible misunderstanding, reminding the vice-principal of what he’d said in the office.

I’m not sure how the conversation went down with Coach Bryant, but he’d started giving my homework to Hanna after that. She said he’d been notably pissed but hadn’t said anything about it. I decided to just claim it as a victory and move on.

I was walking into school with Hanna and was surprised to find the kid I had helped standing at the door into the school. He’d been leaning against the wall, but as soon as he saw me, he pushed off the spot on the wall where he’d been leaning and walked towards me.

“I’ll see you at lunch,” I said to Hanna when she noticed me slowing down.

“Sure,” she said, giving the kid a once over glance before going inside.

“Hey,” the kid said.

“Hey. How’s it going?”

“Good. I’m Cameron, by the way. Cameron Barnes.”

“Yeah, I think the baseball coach mentioned your name. I’m Charlie,” I said, reaching out and shaking his hand.

“Ohh, I know who you are. I saw you play at the Blue Ridge last weekend. You’re really good.”

“Thanks. I’m still learning. I’ve only been playing on stage for a few weeks and I still have a lot of edges to polish.”

“Not that I could see. You killed it the night I was there.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Anyways, I wanted to say thanks for helping me out. Harry was going to beat the shit out of me when he caught me.”

“No problem. I’ve had run-ins with him and his friends before. He’s a real asshole.”

“No kidding. Anyways, I really appreciate it. I know you got in big trouble and you didn’t have to help out. If there’s anything you need, just name it.”

“Sure, but I think I’m okay. Harry already hated me anyway, so nothing much changed except I got a three-day vacation.”

“I think I’ve seen you at lunch. You normally sit with Joseph White, Right?”

“Yea, he sits with us. You know Joseph?”

“Only a little. We’re both in choir, but he’s in show choir and I haven’t managed to make the cut yet.”

“You’re welcome to sit with us at lunch, if you want.”

“Really? You don't think the others would mind?”

“Sure, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Awesome. I’ll let you get to class, and thanks again for helping me.”

“Any time,” I said as he hurried inside.

Although we normally would have sat at the bleachers today, I asked Rhonda to sit inside. Since I told Cameron he could sit with us, it would be rude if I wasn’t there the first time he tried to join us. I introduced him to everyone and he seemed to fit in well.

Rhonda surprised me halfway through lunch when she asked, “Have you thought about homecoming?”

“Homecoming,” I mumbled, mouth half full of food.

“You know, the first dance of the year after the homecoming football game?”

I pointed to myself and said, “Remember, first year of public school?”

“Ugg. It’s a big dance, really important! Everyone’s going to be there.”

“This is the point where I ask you to go, right?”

She rolled her eyes at me.

“When is it,” I asked.

“Friday.”

“Rhonda, do you want to go to the homecoming dance with me on Friday?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” she said in the most deadpan voice possible.

“Gotta keep you girls on your toes.”

“Sure. Let me guess, you have no idea how to dress to a homecoming dance, do you?”

“Umm …”

“That’s what I thought. You dress nicely. Button up shirt, sports jacket, that kind of thing. You also have to buy me a mum.”

“A mum?"

“It’s this thing girls pin on their dress, has ribbons and stuff and is personalized to them.”

“I can do that.”

“Good. My dress is going to be blue, by the way.”

I just nodded, assuming that was important information but having no clue why she’d tell me that. I managed to hold everything in until after school, on the way to work with Hanna.

“Are you going to homecoming?” I asked, looking around the car.

“I wish I wasn’t,” Hanna said. “Marcus feels he has to make an appearance so I told him I’d go. I haven’t worn a dress in forever.”

“Are you getting a mum?”

“God, no. Those things are hideous. I told Marcus I’d break his knees if he got me one.”

“I need some help. I apparently need some kind of dress clothes, and Rhonda made it very clear I had to buy a mum.”

“Damn, there isn’t a lot of time to get those. Most kids will have already placed their orders. Do you have money on you?”

“A little, are they expensive?”

“They can be. Pay what you can and I’ll cover the rest. We get paid today and you can pay me back this weekend. We’ll go on Sunday to buy dress clothes.”

“I need to talk to Mom first. I’m supposed to be grounded from dates and outings until the end of the week.”

“Okay, we can do the mum on Sunday too I guess, but that’s pushing it.”

“Great, thanks. Until lunchtime, I didn’t even know there was a homecoming dance.”

“Can you dance?”

“Sure. Remember, grew up in clubs and bars. I can hold my own on the dance floor. What I don’t know how to do is all this high school ritual stuff. You guys grew up hearing about it. Like, everyone else knew what a mum was, and I just thought it was how the British say ‘mom.’”

“I sometimes forget how weird you are.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“Don’t mention it,” she said with a smile.

As I predicted, my paycheck was much larger again, almost twice what it was a week before. The past two weekends' audiences were the largest the Blue Ridge had ever seen, more so if you consider there was an actual turnover. We technically managed to fit more people in on Saturday than it would normally hold, since it wasn’t one audience staying in place all night.

That means more people paying covers, more people buying meals, and many more drinks, all of which had portions paid to the band. The rest of the band members were ecstatic, although for them it was only a modest bump. My pay increased so much, not only because of the larger audiences, but also because I was getting a larger portion. They decided to cut me in for a full share, just like any of the other guys in the band. I argued that I was still only playing Saturdays, but Willie said that everyone had agreed I was contributing enough to be worth it.

Considering their good moods over how everything was going, I didn’t argue it. Everyone seemed happy and I was getting more, so it seemed like a win-win for me.

The crowds were larger again, so much so that some had to be turned away at the door. It felt like there was further we could go with this but my one hour on Saturdays had about hit their limit. We couldn’t shove more people into the Blue Ridge without going overcapacity. I mentioned to Chef and Willie that it looked like we’d about hit the max we could bring in, and both said they were working on options. Since sitting back and letting them figure it out had worked so far, I decided to go with the strategy. Besides, I was enjoying the ride.

The harder part was Sunday morning when I got to talk to Mom, and convince her I should both be allowed to go on a date with Rhonda on Friday and go shopping with Hanna later in the day. She was at first completely against it, barely letting me get any word out. She’d continued to be in a mood all week, although it seemed like my suspension was only a small part of the reason behind that. Once I explained it was for the homecoming dance, she softened a bit. Unlike me, she attended all the traditional school activities, when she was young. She had a better grasp of the social rituals.

I told her that I understood I was grounded, but Rhonda had made this seem like a big deal. I was surprised when Mom agreed to give me a pass on both things, only making me promise to have Mrs. Philips get pictures, assuming I would be going to the dance with Hanna and her boyfriend. Her agreeing so readily made me suddenly nervous, since this whole thing was clearly a bigger deal than I thought it was. I’d told Hanna I could dance, which was true, but I hadn’t actually been to a dance. I made a mental note to ask Hanna to break down all the stuff that happens at these things and make sure I knew enough not to make an ass of myself.

By Monday, I was all set up for the dance, or at least it felt that way. I’d had to blow through most of my half of my paycheck to cover the mum, slacks, dress shoes, and sport coat. What blew my mind was the mum, which turned out to be enormous, cost as much as all the clothes. I couldn’t imagine Rhonda would ever use this again. At best it would sit in her room somewhere, only to be thrown away when she went to college. While it seemed like a waste of money to me, it’s something she had seemed to really want, so it was worth it. After all, I’d decided to embrace my three years of high school, which meant all the traditions that go with it.

I had a test in Coach Bryant’s class, but Hanna had made sure to bring me all the study materials for it while I was suspended. The information wasn’t difficult, since much of it I had read about before, but I studied hard for the test. I knew that if I answered a question even a little wrong, the coach would find a way to mark me wrong. After the test, I felt good about it. I knew everything that was asked, and was confident in my answers. Better yet, it was a multiple-choice Scantron test and not a short answer or essay. Those were more subjective than just right or wrong answers, and he would have had more of a chance to mark things wrong.

I was shocked on Wednesday, when I got my test back. According to the Scantron in front of me, I scored a fifty-four, failing badly. I couldn’t imagine how that was right. I tried to ask the coach for a copy of the test, so I could check what I got wrong, but he refused. Thankfully, a few non-athlete students in the class agreed to let me compare our answers and see what had been marked wrong. It became instantly apparent something wasn’t right.

I had the same answer on multiple questions as they did, but theirs was marked correct and mine was marked wrong. After checking with multiple people, I couldn’t find a single answer that I was marked off for that was actually incorrect. There was no way this was an accident, and I knew showing it to Coach Bryant wouldn’t get me anywhere. The test's answers were marked wrong by a computer, meaning the only way this would have happened if he’d altered something to read the results incorrectly or put in the wrong teachers' copy for just my test.

I borrowed a few of the students' results and headed towards the front office. Vice-Principal Keller had been fairly reasonable when I’d been suspended last week, after the baseball incident. While he had suspended me, he didn’t have much choice, since any physical altercation, no matter the reasons, were required to go that way. He didn’t side with Coach Bryant, who was pushing for me to be actually arrested, as well as being expelled. I hoped that meant he would hear me out.

I let Hanna know I would be late to meet her, and showed up at the front office as soon as my last class got out.

“Can I talk to Vice-Principal Keller?” I asked the school secretary.

“I don’t think … “

“Mr. Nelson?” Vice-Principal Keller said, as he walked out of the back of the office, noticing me.

“Mr. Keller, do you have a minute?”

He looked at his watch and said, “Yes, come on.”

I followed him back to his office and held out the Scantrons.

“I’m having an issue in my history class with Coach Bryant. This is my test as well as the tests of several other students. If you look, you’ll see I was marked wrong on a lot of questions that are correct on these other Scantrons.”

“Have you spoken to your teacher?”

“I haven’t had a lot of success dealing with Coach Bryant in the past. I’m not sure if you remember last week, but he is very antagonistic towards me.”

“I don’t normally overrule teachers in their classes. If you have an issue then you really need to take it up with them.”

“Sir, I really have tried. A few weeks ago, I had to see the counselor, which made me late to class. Despite having a tardy slip, Coach Bryant would not let me attend class because I was late. I’m not trying to make problems, honestly. I’m not trying to get a teacher in trouble or suggesting anything is going on; I just want to make sure my grades aren’t messed up. Please, Sir, look at these tests. I’m just asking for some help.”

He sighed and took the tests from me, looking through mine and comparing it to the others. After checking them thoroughly, which seemed to take forever, he reached over to his desk and picked up the phone, dialing.

“Coach Bryant, I know you’re starting practice, but can you come to my office … Thank you.”

“I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding,” he said after hanging up.

I didn’t say anything. I was positive it was anything but a misunderstanding, but I wasn’t going to get anywhere arguing it. While we waited the vice-principal had me sit off to one side quietly while he did something on his computer, making notes on whatever he was working on.

After a few minutes, Coach Bryant came into the office, wearing a whistle around his neck and carrying a clipboard. His eyes narrowed when he noticed me, but he didn’t say anything right away.

“Coach, Mr. Nelson has some questions about this test.”

“I bet he does. I made it clear in my syllabus at the beginning of the year, there are only makeup tests for students who have an approved reason for missing tests. I do not offer chances to retake tests because of low grades. He should consider studying harder and missing less class if he wants to have a good grade.”

“I only missed one day because of a doctor's appointment, and the day you wouldn’t let me into class even though I had a late slip from the office.”

“Listen here, you little …”

“Coach!” Nelson said, stopping whatever Bryant was going to say. “There is a problem with these tests.”

“I’m sure they’re accurate,” he said, not sounding particularly sure.

“They’re not. It appears something happened when they were run. I’ve compared Mr. Nelsons test to these other students and the answers he got wrong are right on these other students' tests. Either his test, or theirs, were run through with the wrong answer key.”

“I … I’m sure this was just some kind of mistake. Had Mr. Nelson brought this to me, I would have cleared it up. I’m not sure why he felt the need to bring it here and waste your time.”

“I’m sure he will know that, next time; although I want all students to always know my door is open. I’m just glad we could clear this up. I’m sure you won’t have any problems getting this test re-run?”

“No. I’ll take care of it.”

Bryant glared at me once more before storming out of the office.

“Mr. Keller, is there any way I can be moved to another history class? I’m not sure why Coach Bryant has it in for me, but I’m not sure I can get graded fairly in his class.”

“Coach Bryant has a long track record at this school and is a valued member of staff. I can appreciate some students don’t get along with their teachers, but I promise you every teacher in this school operates with the highest levels of integrity. I will ask you to please show some respect for them, they work very hard to ensure you get a good education and deserve to be treated appropriately.”

I could imagine exactly how Coach Bryant deserved to be treated, but there was no way saying it out loud would do anything but cause me problems.

“I’ve been looking at your file while we waited, and I saw that this is your first year in public school. I can imagine that it will take some time to adjust to, so I will cut you a little slack. You’re almost an adult, so I ask that you please try and remember there are better ways of dealing with situations like this. I encourage you next to talk to Coach Bryant and clear this up. If that doesn’t work, you can, of course, come back here and talk to me, but I would like for you to show some initiative on your own part first.”

That all seemed to mean he didn’t really want me back, and he definitely did not want to hear about anything Coach Bryant was doing, regardless of how absurd it was. I wasn’t honestly surprised, since it only made sense from his perspective, but it still felt unfair.

“I’ll try,” I said as I stood up.

“While I have you here, I wanted to talk to you about something else. While I was looking at your files, I noticed your grades. Specifically, your grades in math, which have been less than spectacular. Your grades in science, as well as history, are also borderline. I very much want every student here at Carr to succeed, and I’m worried you’ve fallen through the cracks. I’m sending home a note for your mother to arrange a parent-teacher conference for later this week. Please make sure she gets it, so I don’t have to call and track her down myself.”

“I will,” I said, my heart sinking into my stomach.

This was almost certainly the death knell to my even starting a musical career. I hadn’t lied to her yet about how I was doing in class, but I’d been very evasive every time the subject had come up. So far, I’d managed to keep her from paying too much attention to how my grades were doing, but I wouldn’t be able to avoid it now. She’d made it painfully clear what would happen if my grades started slipping, and there wasn’t much I could do to stop that now.

I left his office and went to find Hanna, feeling like things couldn’t possibly get any worse.