“They’re called rehearsals, Hal!\u00a0 Not camps!”\u00a0 A snare drummer, Billy Bob, twirled his drumstick with his ring finger before flinging it in the air and catching it with his pinky.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hal grinned mischievously and waggled his reversible stuffed octopus.\u00a0 “I know.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It was an inside joke:\u00a0 the drumline summer rehearsals were not camps because camps were optional, but rehearsals weren’t.\u00a0 Of course, the drumline members screamed this phrase in a jocular manner whenever said rehearsals were mentioned, or when someone either accidentally or deliberately misspoke.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Where’d you get that?”\u00a0 Franklin F. Franklin jabbed his finger toward Hal’s octopus.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Bruh, I just came her to have a good time and I honestly feel so attacked right now.”\u00a0 Hal cradled his octopus, surreptitiously flipped it so it showed its amgery face instead of its happi face.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Billy Bob flung his stick into the air again.\u00a0 He caught it with his thumbnail and flicked the digit around so that his stick mimicked a figure 8 motion.\u00a0 “Pretty sure he’s had it since last fall.\u00a0 You know, when everyone got a stuffed octopus…”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Oh.\u00a0 Alright.\u00a0 Carry on.”\u00a0 Franklin sidled away, blowing air through his mouth in a horrid attempt to whistle.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Why are we even here?” Hal questioned.\u00a0 He stroked his poor amgery octopus and wondered why he hadn’t named the plushie Franklin.\u00a0 “We don’t even have practice.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“I don’t…actually know.”\u00a0 Billy Bob frowned.\u00a0 “In fact, I don’t even know how I got here.\u00a0 Or what I’m doing.”\u00a0 As he spoke, he balanced the drumstick on his hangnail.\u00a0 “You?”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“I live in the supply closet.”\u00a0 Hal shrugged.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“What?”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Oh, nothing.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Now, Billy Bob had the stick perched on the bridge of his nose.\u00a0 Despite what gravity and common sense might have you think, the stick did not fall.\u00a0 “I…can’t say I know when my finals are either.\u00a0 Or what classes I’m taking this semester.\u00a0 Or next semester.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hal knitted his eyebrows together.\u00a0 He, too, had had the same experience; he felt like his high school career was a blip in his mind, and everything before that was darkness.\u00a0 “Say, do you ever go anywhere other than your dorm and the band hall?”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Not…really?”\u00a0 Somehow, his drumstick was now vertical as it pressed a divot into Billy Bob’s nose.\u00a0 “I don’t know what the world beyond this band hall is.\u00a0 I think…”\u00a0 He trailed off, and the drumstick fell at long last to the ground.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Hal, I think we’re fictional characters.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
DUN-DUN-DUUUUUN!!!!!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “They’re called rehearsals, Hal!\u00a0 Not camps!”\u00a0 A snare drummer, Billy Bob, twirled his drumstick with his ring finger before flinging it in the air and catching it with his pinky. Hal grinned mischievously and waggled his reversible stuffed octopus.\u00a0 “I know.” It was an inside joke:\u00a0 the drumline summer rehearsals were not camps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2243,"featured_media":17619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1260,1221,1820,1794,1821,1752,1072,420],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20075"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20076,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20075\/revisions\/20076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}