Chapter 1 - The New Recruit

The guitar could be heard down the corridor, a soothing melody, plucked with an absent mind. Lex sat on the stone benches, hunched over his Washburn, head skyward and thoughts drifting with the gentle tune. His thick matted curls were pulled back into a manbun, in a mass of twisting brown and gold. His deep green eyes drank in the sunlight. 

"We should rope Gary in on our next gig" Lex said snapping out of his trance; he gave the suggestion with a goofy smile and eyed his friend beneath slightly raised eyebrows.

Casey shrugged, but couldn't help grinning. He was tall, with pin-straight black hair. He was a good friend of Lex's, generally calm and calculated, somewhat unwavering even, but hardly around Lex who could almost always crack his composure.

"That would be interesting, he'd be a valuable asset to our little group" Casey said mulling it over.

"By little group you mean the two of us, it's not much of a group" Lex jibed with a chuckle.

"Hey, we're doing fairly well for ourselves with our recent gigs, building our own two man show, type, thing" Casey replied grinning again. "Though I don't know if Gary is up for performing outside of school, don't think he's cut out for that kind of stuff"

"He's definitely got the talent, we just need to awaken his inner showmanship" Lex said, fighting back another smile. Gary was a capable musician, a skilled pianist with perfect pitch, and a love for Maroon 5 outside of his meticulous jazz. He was however quite reserved regarding where he played, preferring not to make much of himself and his music. Skirting beneath the radar was more his style, a kind of personal seclusion from anything too seemingly high end. It brought the two friends some humour to consider coaxing the hermit from his hypothetical shell.

Lex abruptly strayed from his tranquil fingerpicking, into the harshness of Back In Black by AC/DC, hitting the rough staccato strums with energetic rhythm as he headbanged. Casey arched an eyebrow at the sudden change.

"BACK IN BLACK!" Lex screeched, pulling a face, eyes screwed up tight and mouth far too wide. They both doubled over, laughing at the terrible imitation of the singer's classic vocals.

"What was that?" Casey said between breaths.

"My superior vocal ability" Lex replied with false pride.

"We're not gonna convince Gary to join us with vocals like that"

"Hmmm, should I use my sexy voice rather?"

"Yah I think I'd opt for the sexy voice"

"Great, I'll work my seductive charm"

"Don't think Gary swings that way"

"That's not the point. I'm straight, but not even I can resist Brian Johnson's revved up falsetto"

"So, the plan is to seduce him into the band, with your high-pitched pigeon squawk"

"Precisely"

"Love it"

"And if all else fails, I always have my hybrid chicken screech of Living On A Prayer's chorus"

"Oooo, that one's a catch"

"I know right, Gary won't be able to resist"

They could barely keep it together by the time the bell rang. It was sharp and loud, piercing through the surrounding buzz of chattering students, who's faces dropped at its sound, dragging their feet to the next class.

"What's next?" Casey asked.

"It's Bio next, and then we'll get to talk to Gary in Music after" Lex replied, swinging his bag onto his shoulder, before rushing up the stairs. He made as if he were always in a hurry, in truth, he found it mundane to simply walk to class. His swift pace gave purpose to his movements and eased the boring reality of going to his next lesson.

Biology was one of the more merciful subjects, one both Lex and Casey could enjoy, having occasional quiet debates over how things functioned, or how they felt they should function. They would pass witty comments beneath the hum of the class, challenging each other with logical, and purposefully illogical views.  

Lex sat, head resting in his hand and fingers tangled in his curls, as they read through their notes on predation and the understanding of ecosystems. He, unsurprisingly, had concocted his own idea of what he felt should be considered predation. He leaned over to Casey who could practically hear the inner mechanics of his mind, the shifting gears producing his ridiculous thought.

"So, due to my calculations, a caterpillar attacking and munching a blade of grass, should be considered predation" Lex pondered.  

"Nah, the blade of grass can't run away" Casey muttered back.

"But the blade of grass is still alive, it respirates, tis a victim of the caterpillars munchies"

Casey barely managed to stifle his laugh, turning it into a cough. "Maybe you should ask the teacher"

"Hmm, I fear we may have creative differences"

"Ah, unfortunate"

"Yunno"

"Indeed"

"Mmm"

They caught each other's gaze, lips twisting up, forming convolutions to keep them from cracking up.

When the lesson ended, they took their anticipated walk down to the music class. This classroom was nestled in the bottom of half of the school that made up the primary and pre-primary. It was wedged between classrooms on the bottom corridor of the prep school. Music was the only subject that didn't have a classroom up in the high school, it was the odd one out, the seemingly outcast subject, fittingly consisting of only four students. This made it one of the smallest classes. Its unique separation had made it the student's own little exclusive hub of music and creativity. There, they were their own brand of student, and of course, took any gaps during lessons to have jam sessions, often coaxing their teacher into allowing it. It was part of their plan to get the only thing, they felt, was worth enjoying outside of the tedious theory and history of music. Only one of the students kept the balance; Her name was Alice. She served as the mediator between work and play, stern and strong willed, keeping the rest on track and in line.

When they arrived, the class was open. Gary was inside playing the piano, fingers caressing the keys, while Alice sat on one of the desks scrolling through her phone, her legs dangling off the edge and swaying to an imaginary tune. Her blonde hair was tied up in a high loop that had then been pulled on either side to open like a fan, the remaining hair fell behind and to the sides, landing on her shoulders.  

Their music teacher was yet to return from the staff room, and like most days, they had arrived before her. Lex and Casey entered, dropping their bags at their respective tables and listening to Gary's playing.  It was one of his jazz improvisations, fairly complex and fast paced, with a swing beat to it. He turned when he heard them.

"Hey Lex, catch on to this" Gary said, turning back to the piano to weigh down the keys with the intensity of Maroon 5's Harder to Breathe, their debut success, and one of Gary's favourites.

"How dare you say that my behaviour is unacceptable!" Lex sang, taking the cue and giving his vocals a punch.

Casey took the opportunity to jump on the drum kit. While he was in fact a bassist, he could also hold his own on the drums, and thumped out a solid rhythm.  Alice rolled her eyes, but caught the trend and abandoned her phone, joining in with an interesting harmony that wrapped tightly around Lex's melody.

"Is there anyone out there cause it's getting harder and harder to breathe" Lex and Alice repeated the main line together, dropping their volume low as the other two followed suit, and they built it back up again. They ended on the last word, extending it out and cutting it sharp at the end with the signal of Lex's blurred arm movement. The last dregs of the ending reverberated around the room, along with the echo of Casey's crash cymbal.

"Come on guys to your seats now please"an earnest voice said. It belonged to their teacher who had just walked in. She was a pleasant person by any standard, but they'd all been expecting the inevitable shift in her behaviour that came with being in their final year. Matric was a ghastly thing, it seemed to transform teachers into irrational work-aholics, who abandoned all hope as far as any form of recreation was concerned. It was this dark cloud that coated their words, as they shuffled through mountainous stacks of past exam papers. It was as if each year, with each matric class, the teachers awoke with a new nightmare of wondering how on this god forsaken earth, were they going to drag these inept cretins through matric. Well, that's what it felt like from the students view anyway. As far as the pupils were concerned, their teachers had taken the new year's resolution of 'new year, new me' to the next level. The pressure of the final year had completely changed the environment, and their beloved jam sessions would undoubtedly be taking a knock this year.

"Just a little more time Ma'am" Gary tried, testing the waters, but he'd waded too deep.

"Gary, get to your seat" she said, raising her voice. Lex grinned; Mrs Marini had a knack for chiding Gary specifically, granted he did share snarky remarks from time to time, it was like not-so-subtle banter between the two of them.

"Don't you know the sound of good music when you hear it" Gary asked, glancing at her as he made his way to his desk, that distinct twinkle in his eye.

"Yeah right, that nonsense you call music" Mrs Marini replied, shooting her, practically patented, not-so-subtle wink at Lex and Casey. Gary and Mrs Marini were essentially the height and embodiment of "not-so-subtle", though Lex and Casey managed to appreciate the humour in it. They were simply the awkward part of their musical bunch.

"It's art ma'am, not sure what you listen to" Gary said with a pretentious air. 

"Quiet Gary or i'll deduct marks from you"

"What marks, it's the start of term we haven't done any assessments" 

"Shush Gary" she said with a slight smile, ignoring the obvious loophole in her idle threat. 

"Right guys we need to get cracking, get your theory books out. We'll be looking at four part harmony" She said, hastily moving to the far cupboard to retrieve her copy of the theory book. Four part harmony was a grueling part of music theory, time consuming and tedious. They pulled out their books, reluctantly turning to the right page to start. 

"Guys, you think we could pull another jam session if we quickly finish this exercise" Gary said distractedly. 

"There won't be any jamming if you don't stop talking and get to it" Alice piped up, giving him a quick but sharp, hooded look. He sighed, returning to the dullness of the page before him. 

                 *

Lex and Casey caught up with Gary as they left the class, falling into step beside him. 

"We're looking to perform at a restaurant this wednesday" Lex said, beginning the proposal. 

"And we'd like you to join us," Casey finished. 

Gary considered it for a moment, head down and brow furrowed in thought. He raised his arm before he spoke.

"Where is it" he asked 

"At Winchester's, a restaurant in Windermere" Lex answered, eying him carefully

"I'll have to ask my dad, but it should be possible" He said a little unsurely, but nodded anyway, taking the first daring step outside his ordered comfort zone. It seemed his curiosity for a taste of something a little more had finally broken through, he could barely shy from the opportunity. 

"Awesome, you'll obviously have to bring your keyboard with" Casey said "They don't lend equipment" 

Gary nodded and continued walking. When they'd reached the top of the stairs, back to the highschool, Lex expelled a breath of satisfaction. 

"Operation Hermit, complete" He said chuffed.

"What?, when did we agree on calling it that?" Casey asked, humorously perplexed.

"Right now, telepathically" lex affirmed "And it's perfect don't you think, we've enticed him out from his proverbial humble abode or shell as it were" 

"You don't know what proverbial means do you?" 

"Of course i do, i invented my own proverb just for it" 

"Must be interesting"

"Very, goes like this: He who remains within his shell, may never know-", he paused, chewing thoughtfully at his lip "ah fuck it, i can only talk so much shit in one day, lets go im hungry" he confessed, laughing at himself as they walked on.