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Samir walked to the usual spot Arty and he would always sit for lunch. Arty was sitting against the East wall, closer to the senior couch, a slice of pizza moving toward his mouth. Samir pulled the aluminum chair out with the typical low screech, sitting down opposite him. Seeing Samir pulling out his homemade ham and cheese sandwich, Arty set down his slice to speak. “So, who are you taking to homecoming?” Samir took his time chewing, fianlly swallowing to reply, “Haven’t thought about it. You?” Arty looked at the ceiling, “Well I’m taking Jessica Dolan.” Samir took another bite. “Jessica Dolan… I know her,” he said with a mouthfull, “She went to school at Valley with me.” Arty didn’t look surprised. “Yeah, pretty much all Valley kids know each other. I asked if she knew you. She did.” Samir wiped his mouth. “Damn good at drawing. Smiles a lot, too.” Arty chuckled. “Yup, that’s her. She’s graduating a semester early to get a head start on college.” Samir returned a stuffed smile. “Fine arts folks are overachievers.”
A comfortable silence fell over the two as they continued eating. A group of girls rushed past their table, hurried to grab the overpriced Bosco Sticks. As Samir and Arty watched them pass, another girl barreled by, short and with blonde hair. Arty grimaced as she darted her eyes toward their table. “Maybe you should ask Hardface,” he suggested after she went by. Samir shook his head. “No way. She would crush my windpipe if I asked her to dance.” Arty smiled thoughtfully and let some time go by before bringing HER up. “You know, I do’t think Lauren has a date yet. You should ask her. I’ll help you.” Samir almost choked on a carrot. “Absolutely not. I would get boned if I tried getting within 10 feet of her.” Arty smirked. “You won’t get boned, you’ll be the bone.” Samir had to take a swig of water to stop himself from laughing.
“If I do it, you’ll stop asking me to get a date?” Samir asked hopefully. Arty nodded. “Sure.” Samir sat back and thought. A minute passed before he spoke. “Okay, I’m going to ask her with a note. Help me write it.” He took out his notebook and jotted some ideas down. A minute more and he showed Arty. “I’m not very good at reading handwriting,” he squinted, “but it looks like you wrote ‘I might not ‘b-sharp’, but we’d ‘b-natural’ at homecoming together… Cheesy, and there’s no way she’s falling for it. Good enough.” Samir breathed out, checking his watch. “Whew. Just in time, too. Let’s get tootin.”
As Samir and Arty walked toward 101 to drop off the note in Lauren’s locker, they walked into Selena and her boyfriend Chasten. Selena’s blonde hair was a bit ruffled and Chasten looked too happy. Arty made some smacking noises once they had passed, looking behind to see Selena’s cheeks were aflame and clutching Chasten’s hand, who seemed hadn’t heard. “What a miserable couple,” Arty mumbled. Samir clucked and shook his head. “Chasten blow my flute!” Arty exclaimed in a high imitation of Selena. Samir laughed as the duo entered 101. They dropped off the note and went to talk to Lando about their plans to do a duet at Solo & Ensemble.
During band, Samir made fun of Selena’s piccolo playing by using a pencil, pretending to play it then sticking the eraser in his ear. Arty almost stopped playing more than once to laugh, however Selena kept giving him dirty looks. Once Lando concluded class, she was the first one out of her chair, immediately gossiping with Lando’s daughter El. Arty cleaned his flute and walked out with Samir, giving him a pat on the back for the good times they shared during band. Halfway down the hallway to 101, Hardface raced past them, giving her French horn a few new tarnishes and both Samir and Arty a bruise on their thighs. Arty stuck his tongue out at her.
101 was chaos. There were 60 people trying to get their instruments put away at once. Students were running into each other, shoving others out of the way, and still a portion blocking the doorway so others couldn’t get in. Arty really had to shove his way past the trumpets and the clarinets only to get squashed between the timpanis and Selena. “Scuse me Selena. Comin through.” But Selena had other ideas. She squashed Arty in further between the timpanis and her ample buttox. Arty could feel her pushing around his stock. Selena pinned him there for several more moments before turning around to Arty’s embarassed face. “What more do you want, Arty?” she hissed. “Is this it?” With that, Selena grabbed Arty’s face with both hands and smashed her lips against his. “MMMMHHHHHH” Arty struggled but it was useless. Selena wasn’t letting go. Arty was dumbly aware that the room had gone quiet as everyone stared at them. Selena sucked on Arty’s lips, parting them just a little. Her tongue traced his hesitant mouth, willing him to give in to her desire. Her hands went down, sliding against his hips, sailing to the bottom, pulling Arty closer. Selena sighed, giving Arty a taste of cinnamon. There were audible camera clicks and wolf whistles as Arty started to kiss back. He dropped his flute and his sheet music to put his arms around Selena, picking her up and driving her against his midsection. A moment of bliss was shared between them. Just then a cry came out, and Arty felt something connect with his head as darkness took over.
As he was waking up, he saw Samir standing over him, everybody else gone. “Damn, what a show.”