Chapter 1 NOT SO EARLY BYRD Sherman Frye warmed up with jumping jacks Baylor Meece and Yulia Glatt flicked clarinet reeds to see whose would go the farthest And Zac Wiles flew paper airplanes all around room 217 It would have been hard to hear a real 747 jet over the roar of the noise in the Benton Bluff Junior High band room Basically it was like any other day before class got started But things would change as soon as Mr Byrd our band director walked in Everyone would scramble to their seats The noise would cease immediately Mr Byrd loved teaching us about music but he took our lessons seriously He was like a band room drill sergeant
Where was Mr Byrd anyway He was late Again I wasn't the only one who noticed either Lemuel Soriano nudged me and said Hey Miles I wonder what's up with Mr Byrd He's been late nearly every day this week I said Lem glanced at the clock like he was sort of worried And Mr Byrd is never late Lem should know He was in eighth grade so he'd been in Mr Byrd’s band room for a couple of years Lem played trumpet same as me Except he was the best trumpet player in the band That's why he sat in the first chair next to me in second But since I just moved up to the junior high band this year as a seventh grader I was pretty happy with my spot And you never know Next year when Lem went to high school maybe his chair would be mine Except I wouldn't exactly be sitting in Lem's
actual chair That's because of having muscular dystrophy Since my legs didn't work so great I sat in a wheelchair Mr Byrd could just move Lem's chair over to make room for mine Anyway even though I was new to the band this year I totally got what Lem was talking about You mean Mr Byrd never used to be late I said Maybe he's printing sheet music and there's a long wait in the copy room Morgan Bryant said whirling around This was Morgan's first year in Byrd's band too She sat in the row in front of us with the other clarinet players Lem scrunched his nose making his blue framed glasses go lopsided But there wouldn't be a traffic jam at the copy machine every day Yeah I frowned Somehow I don't think that's it Okay so where is he then Morgan asked I didn't answer Morgan because Mr Byrd rushed into the band room then He must've
hurried because his face was red like the sunset above the sandy beach on his shirt Mr Byrd always wore tropical shirts usually paired with khaki shorts and flip flops It was spring now but he'd dressed like that all winter too Sorry I'm running late everyone Mr Byrd said Get your instruments ready and let's bop a concert B flat scale And just like that class began We played up and down the scale a few times Then we played some warm up songs After that we practiced a new song for an upcoming end of year concert Somebody was off I whispered to Lem He nodded I heard it too I waited for Mr Byrd to nail em like he always did But today he didn't seem to notice Instead Byrd pulled out his phone Let's take a quick break everyone he said Okay something is seriously going on here Lem said
