Chapter 1: Something's Up
Nathalie, Lindsay, and Lacy were heartbroken. All three had set their sights on trying out for All-District Band, a competitive program only for the most skilled band geeks. But you can't audition unless you have a band director backing you up, and their band director, Mr. Swartz, was dead set against All-District Band this year.
"I just want everyone to know," he'd begin, "I'm dead set against All- District Band this year!"
He would then launch into a long speech about how he was not for auditions at Middle School level, and he might be the only band director in the country who felt this way, but he was not, he repeats not, sending any of his kids to try out.
Let us back up and tell you a little something about Mr. Swartz; he's the coolest teacher around. Ask any kid, they'll tell you straight up what they think of him, and chances are, as long as they're not the type of unruly child who gets in trouble all the time (aka, cough Daniel Martling cough cough). He also always wants his kids to try their hardest, reach for the ultimate goal, challenge themselves, yadda yadda yadda and et cetera, all the things the really good teachers encourage you to do, only he means it when he says it. This was why his behavior was most strange to the band geeks he taught.
Luckily for the three students mentioned previously, Lacy's mom knew exactly how to get into all-district band without that darn Mr. Swartz backing up poor Lacy-poo's audition. She got a small group of Lacy's friends, Lindsay and Nathalie, to go with her to auditions, and got another band director, Mr. Wray, to sponsor them. Oh, she'd show that ol' Mr. Swartz what her Lacy-poo could do, and Lacy would do it all by her little self! She'd get her little pumpkin into auditions if he liked it or not!! No one was going to stand in the path of her sweetie-pie baby-doll cootchy- coo Lacy-poo, oh no sir-ie, this was going to happen, oh yes, she'd make it happen, oh yes, oh yes...many other mother-bear-protecting-her-cub thoughts entered her head, but most of them she didn't say out loud.
Moving on - Lacy's mom phoned Nathalie's mom and Nathalie's mom phoned Lindsay's mom and Lindsay's mom phoned Lacy's mom who explained that we had already been through this, so Lindsay's mom just phoned herself and explained the plan to her, and the next day the three moms sent their kids to band with strict instructions to get information about the audition process for all-district band from Mr. Swartz at any cost! Obviously, Mr. Swartz didn't much like the fact that the meek-and-mild-mannered girls were planning on entering without him anyway, and told Nathalie to just "Go water the plants." While she was doing that, he gave Lindsay and Lacy a good talking-to before giving them any information on all-district, which was not much.
"Oooo, so you wanna go to all-district, aye?" Mr. Swartz rubbed his hands together in a very mischevious way.
"Aye!" Lindsay said. Lacy nodded.
"Well..." Mr. Swartz was rubbing his hands together so hard the girls started seeing sparks. "YOU CAN'T! You can't just march in there and say, 'I want to audition!' There are rules, regulations, things like that. You have to have had the music beforehand, and prepared it, and played it together, and signed up, and called the President, and all sorts of things."
Lindsay looked at Lacy. "But you never gave us any music..."
"That's right! I never gave you the music!! The auditions are Saturday, and you've come too late!! My plan has worked!! Ah hah! Ah hah! Ah HA HA HA HA HA!!"
He looked around. He was alone. As you'd expect, the girls had bolted, hauling Nathalie away from the fern she was crouched over, way before he was done cackling. Oh well, he shrugged. They'll hear another lecture in class. And during that lecture, he kept giving those poor teens the evil eye and harping on the fact that most of his kids hadn't even thought about all district.
This brings us back to the three being heart-broken. Nathalie and Lindsay discussed it during Earth Science (this was while the guys played hacky-sack, narrowly missing Mrs. Moore's head as she tried desperately to force them in their seats using a whip and chair - she was unsuccessful).
"This is just not right," whined Nathalie. "What's up with him?"
"I dunno," Lindsay agreed, "but this is not how he usually acts. I think there's something wrong with our dear Mr. Swartz, and I want to find out what it is."
Nathalie saw a twinkle of mischief in Lindsay's eye. Actually, Lindsay's contact was bothering her again, but Nathalie thought it meant something. "What are you planning, Lindsay?" she said, her tone full of the annoyance of one of Lindsay's many "plans". Actually, whenever Lindsay said, "I have a plan", Nathalie had come to realize this meant, "I am going to be dramatic now and you better deal with it so just do what I say and no one gets hurt."
Lindsay grinned. "You and Lacy should come to my house on Friday," she said. "I have a plan!"
Nathalie rolled her eyes silently. Oh brother, here we go again.
They caught up with Lacy after class, and all decided to meet that Friday afternoon. Thus, the plan that was not a plan commenced.