The lunch-room: it’s so menacing if there’s no one for you to sit with. Luckily, I did. I bought my lunch and looked around for my new found friend... Now that I thought about it, I never did ask her name. Better do that now.
I found her smiling face at a round table at the left side of the room. She was surrounded by a few kids, all who were laughing at some sort of joke that she had just told. I made my way over there. Her face lit up when she saw me. “Hey, everyone, I want you to meet a new friend of mine. I ran into her this morning - actually I sort of crashed into her - and I told her about the band.”
I grinned timidly at these people. “Hey guys. I’m Nina.”
“So that’s your name!”my friend grinned.
“So you invited her to our table today but didn’t ask for her name?” one of the girls asked. “Lemme guess: you didn’t tell her your name either.”
“My name is Melanie, by the way.” She turned to look at her friend as she powerfully told me, “I was in a hurry to get to class today, and it skipped my mind. Sorry.” She grinned apologetically. “Lisa and I are “partners in crime,” but as you can see, we butt heads a lot too.” Lisa stuck her tongue out at Melanie, who just smiled back.
“It’s fine, really. I know how you feel. Honestly, I’m the new girl here. I just wanted to get to class on time today without doing anything stupid. That didn’t happen, but then again, I wouldn’t be here now if I didn’t.”
“That’s what I like to see: a positive attitude. We’re going to get along just fine,” Melanie assured me. I smiled at everyone there, feeling like I belonged already.
“So Nina,“ one of the guys started, “Melanie told us that you were interested in the band program. Anything that you want to know in general?”

“Yeah, … Sorry, what’s your name?”

“Brad.”

“Yeah, Brad.” I tested the name out. “What exactly is the band program all about?”

“Basically, it’s just a bunch of kids that love to play music - that or they’re forced by their parents-" a couple kids smirked at that, "-that meet before school every other morning. We play music that our conductor, Mr. Tayrok, picks out.”

I nodded my head. “What about jazz band? When I first met Melanie, she said that she took up the saxophone to get into the group. Are there restrictions as to what instrument gets in?”

Lisa looked at me shocked. “Wow, she got your interest quickly, didn’t she? You seem really into it already, and you’ve never even been part of the band craziness.” At this the whole table cracked up.

“I. Want. In.” I said in a serious tone. “NOW.” They stared at me. We burst into fits of laughter after a few seconds of silence.

For the rest of the period, we sat eating our lunches as everyone at the table recounted their band stories of last year. I swear, I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. I figured out that the band didn’t start until after the first meeting of the year, and that wasn’t until next week. I decided that I wanted to get to know Melanie and her friends better in the mean time.