How many other bands are we talking about Right now Mr Byrd said fifteen junior high bands in our region have registered to compete Whoa I said That’s a lot of bands How many winners will there be in a region Sherman asked Mr Byrd held up two fingers Only two Why even bother Zac asked Playing before an audience and getting judges feedback is a great opportunity for our band Zac even if we don’t win And Mr Byrd went on our band is just as talented as the other competitors Did you hear us today Zac held his nose We stunk We won’t stink if we all learn the music And show up with all of our stuff Lem added Lem was talking about Zac So far this week he’d forgotten his sheet music one day and left his mouthpiece on the bus another day We all knew Zac did it on purpose to get out of playing 8
Okay guys Mr Byrd went on I have one other piece of exciting news to share He wiggled his eyebrows up and down behind his glasses What was Mr Byrd up to now We’re going to have a little pre-competition competition right here in the band room he said I’ve asked a couple of guest judges to help me choose a soloist for our song at the competition I didn’t like the way this was going My hands were sweaty just thinking about playing a solo Do we have to try out for the solo I asked Please say no Because I really really don’t want to Absolutely Mr Byrd nodded It’ll be a good experience for everyone And a fair competition for the solo I was afraid he’d say that But trying out for a solo I didn’t even want seemed totally unfair And the song I’ve chosen for us to play at the competition is one we’ve practiced a lot lately Mr Byrd said It’s Flight of the Bumblebee 9
By then the entire band room was buzzing Everybody talked all at once They all wanted the solo Everyone except me I felt more like I’d been flying along minding my own beeswax until wham I flew face first into one of those giant sticky tape traps dangling from a ceiling And no matter how much I squirmed to get out of this trap I was stuck
Chapter 2 TROUBLE IN THE HIVE For the next couple of days the solo audition was big news in the band room While Mr Byrd worked with the drummers in the percussion section one day Lem got the room buzzing again Everyone else may as well give up Lem said You’re looking at the soloist It’s moi He pointed to himself Lem’s family is from the Philippines But last year we did a family tree study and he found out his tree has French roots because like a bazillion years ago some relative of his was related by marriage to French royalty Ever since Lem has been using French words every chance he gets You’re joking right Kori Neal asked Am I laughing Lem responded 11
