Rejection

A drumline captain and low brass section leader contemplate their relationship their senior year. But what happens when the spunky trombone girl pushes the machoistic snare drummer over the edge?

            I hunched over my chair in the band room, slowly putting away the pieces of my trombone. I knew my cousin Andrea was waiting out on the steps outside the room with her best friend, Tory. I was going to be driving both of them up to my place since there was going to be a small band party at four and they were tagging along.

           I glanced into the mirror that had been laying on the band room floor for ages. In the reflective glass, I saw my expression. Exhaustion, that's precisely what it was. Being low brass section leader for my third year was really taking its toll on me. It didn't help that my assistant section leader was a flighty nut that could never think, talk, or write straight.

           There was a large crease above my eyebrows, and I tried to smooth it out with my fingers. But it stayed in its spot above my light blue eyes, so I sighed and gave up. I attempted to flatten my frizzy hair to an acceptable position, but that wasn't working either. I gave a small grunt, mad at basically everything. My pre-20's wrinkles, my stupid frizzy hair, my short stature, my section, everything. I got back to putting my instrument, my precious baby, away.

            So I latched my trombone case shut and turned around to put it in the locker. But the edge of the case hit something hard, and I looked up and saw Eddie towering above me. “Hey Eddie. You coming to the party later?”

            “Yeah, totally. Hey, Jules, I have a question for you.” Eddie shuffled his feet and scratched the back of his neck.

            “Yeah. Go ahead.” I pushed a flyaway strand of my brown hair behind my ear.

            “Would you… Uh… Would ya… Would you…”

            “Spit it out, Edward!” I gave him a bright smile.

            “Gooutwithme.”

            “Wait, what?”

            Eddie sighed. “You heard me the first time, Jules.”

            I gave a huge sigh. “Eddie, we’ve gone over this so many times. I love you as a brother, not as any other way.”

            He stared frowning. “I know, but I can never stop hoping.”

            “Eddie, don’t hurt yourself like this. The small smidgen of hope is killing you.”

            The frown deepened. “So I’ll take that as a no, Jules?”

            I sighed and touched the side of the redhead’s face gently. “I’m sorry, Eddie. But you know it can’t happen. I… we just can’t.”

            Eddie’s hand came up and touched mine gently. There was a broken look behind his chocolate eyes. They looked like they were full to the brim with water, ready to spill over at any moment. I felt my heart tug at his pain, but knew the two of us as a something would hurt him even more. I reached up and gave him a brief hug, and then tried to pull away. But he held me tightly, and I felt somewhere deep inside of me that this was a pivotal moment in my lifetime.

            He finally let go of me, and the tears were freely streaming down his face. “Eddie, please, you have to-” I started, but he cut me off.

            “No, Julie. It doesn’t matter anymore. None of it matters anymore.” He turned away and walked back to the locker where he stored his stuff. He pulled something out and concealed whatever it was up his sleeve. He walked back over to me. “Take these. Take these, and make sure I never use them again. Make sure I never use any of it again.”

            He placed them in my hand, and tears sprung up behind my eyes. “Eddie, no. You can’t give this up. It matters! It matters! It’s how you’re getting into IUP! It’s your scholarship! It’s how you’re going to make something even greater out of yourself! Please, don’t give up. Please… Keep running with it, Eddie.”

            He shook his head. “No, Julie. I give it all up. The scholarship, the free ride to college, everything that has to do with these. I never want to see any of it again.”

            He turned around, but not before crouching down slightly and kissing my cheek as the tears slid down in silent sobs. He whispered gently in my ear. “I love you, Julie. Don’t ever forget that. I love you more than I love myself. More than I love what I just gave up. Goodbye.”

            And then he was gone, accidentally stepping on the mirror on the wall out, shattering it into a thousand tiny shards.

            The sobs continued. I knew Andrea and Tory would be waiting for me. But at this point, I didn’t care. I needed to get all the emotions out. It felt as if the mirror was me, I was the mirror. Being torn apart by something I couldn't control, a depressed drumine captain, or said captain's foot, in the mirror's case. Why couldn't it all stop? I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and let the flood of memories overcome me.

             Laughing with Eddie as we spun round and round in the teacup ride at Disney World. Hugging him tightly after our first Band Night at the county fair in seventh grade. Walking along the main street in town, arm in arm, this Christmas, trying to find the perfect present for the band director, Fullmer. Me sitting in my room, alone, and a gentle tap on the window, Eddie peering in. At my desk every Valentine’s Day morning since kindergarten, trying to perfect Eddie’s valentine card, always adding a box of conversation hearts.

            I finally gave up. I let my feet give out from under me as I slumped against the rows of blue lockers, my hands unclenching.

            The drumsticks fell to the carpeted floor with an echoing clatter.

Author's Note

This is my first story. How do you think I should expand these characters?

Reviews

[Gina]

I love this. Very emotion pulling and full of feeling. Nicely done.

[A Spectacular Case]

I like the last sentence very much its well written, the whole story is very descriptive, you could expand the character Julie by giving a longer opening piece before the introduction of Eddie, so the reader can picture her better, well done.