to you, 2000 days ago

13

Running a hand through his hair, Callum sighed for what felt like the millionth time today. He leaned back in his chair, his eyes tracing the second-hand of the clock propped on the back wall, waiting for the bell to ring.

To everyone else, it seemed like a normal Monday in orchestra class.

But to Callum and Juliette, it meant everything to them.

Their teacher took her seat in the front of the class, scanning her binder for her lesson plan for the day.

Juliette walked to their section, dropping her backpack to the floor and smoothing out her skirt before sitting down next to him. Her hair was woven into a long braid, tendrils of hair dangling in the front, revealing her favorite gold hoops. She fidgeted with the hem of her sleeves, waiting for their teacher to begin class.

"Why do you guys look so tense?" Nathan asked, glancing at the pair behind him. "Failed midterms or something?"

Aside from being on his best behavior the past few weeks, Callum used his connections with his private music teacher and the section leaders in the other orchestra classes to put in a good word for him with Mrs. Moon. It wasn't totally fair for his stand partner, but they'd never mentioned anything about bribing.

And if it meant that it secured his future after junior high, he was more than willing to take the risk, no matter the cost.

"Funny you should ask," Callum said, sitting up in his chair, "last I recall, you barely scraped by with a B minus."

His friend mouthed the word traitor back, only letting Callum's smirk grow wider.

"I hope prioritizing Candy Crush was worth it," Juliette added.

"Candy Crush?" Josh asked, poking his head in their conversation.

"Don't you dare laugh," Nathan warned, narrowing his eyes at their section leader. "It's very calming."

"Yeah, nothing like swiping a bunch of candies to relieve stress," Callum drawled.

Nathan turned around. "Wanna talk about your questionable stress-coping mechanisms?"

Callum only lifted a shoulder. "I don't know, I think drawing free body diagrams is pretty therapeutic."

His stand partner swiveled her head to him. "You seriously think it's therapeutic?" she gasped. "I'm sorry, but drawing those for objects at an incline will be the death of me."

He grinned. "Those are even more fun."

Juliette rolled her eyes, turning back to her music binder propped on their stand. "You're insufferable."

"And yet you still talk to me."

Juliette only rolled her eyes, noticing that their teacher finally stood up from her desk to turn on the projector and pull down the screen at the front of the classroom.

Their air immediately shifted, realizing that this was the moment they were waiting for since the beginning of the school year. Her left leg began to bounce in anticipation.

"Alright class! As promised, here are the concert seating and soloist assignments," she explained, pulling up the semicircle seating chart on the screen.

Everyone in the classroom craned their necks to look at the screen, searching for their name within their section. For the other sections, everything seemed pretty expected, everyone was placed near or at their usual seat.

They both stared at the seating arrangement.

Juliette's only reaction was a sharp inhale.

There her name was: second row, third chair, as usual.