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swipe 4 orchestra layout above ^

"Chenle! Is it that hard to just get it and go?!" Renjun shouts. His first period had end 3 minutes ago and his next period starts... in 1 minute.

On a normal day, Renjun would never be experiencing time issues like these. No, at this time, he would be sitting in his seat—first to the left of the conductor, aka the seat of the concertmaster—making small talk with Ms. Bae while setting up his notes and do singing his bow.

Ms. Bae would've approached him first. Probably ask him about the drive to school and the typical musician small talk. They talk comfortably as peers, and Renjun internally deems superiority over the rest of orchestra because Ms. Bae would never ask any of them about the weather.

Unfortunately, due to unexpected delay, getting to second period on time has not proven to be the simple task it usually presents itself as—and Renjun will not make it to tea time with Ms. Bae.

The backing of Renjun's schedule can be attributed to multiple different factors:

1. Orchestra is on floor 4—two floors above Renjun's first period.

2. According to the morning announcements, the elevator is out of order. Why? A group of students spammed the 'open doors' and 'close doors' buttons until the doors got jammed.

3. Renjun isn't even on the 2nd floor right now. He is on the 0th because Chenle—his best friend, not by choice just forced together at a young age and it was too late to back out now—was late that morning so he had to leave his clarinet in his car because he wasn't early enough to put it in the music room but also didn't want to carry it around.

4. Chenle can't find the damn clarinet.

Renjun storms his way to Chenle's car, demanding an explanation for the hold up.  He finds Chenle crawling around his car like a rat scouring for food scraps.

"Ge, I can't find it," Chenle announces, pulling Renjun out of his train of thoughts (read as: unnecessary exposition).

"How do you lose a whole clarinet in your car!" Renjun snaps. He pushes Chenle out of the car and begins to search for the instrument himself.

"Oh my god... Chenle are you literally dumb it was right here," Renjun pulls the large case out from under the backseat. Chenle  scratches the back of his head sheepishly, laughing as a poor attempt to alleviate the situation.

Renjun doesn't find it funny. Not one bit.

Actually, he wants to rip his hair out because that's the punishment he deserves for being so stupid. For ever thinking it was a good idea to accompany Chenle to the car in the first place.

But he bites his tongue and stays silent becaue killing Chenle will only further set back his schedule.

Two minutes have already passed since the start of second period and there is no way that they would be able to make it up four flights of stairs before they pass the threshold of unacceptably late, so Renjun saves everyone in orchestra the uncomfortable experience of hearing his sweaty panting and walks at a reasonable pace.

It was an unspoken rule that as concertmaster, he needed to be within the first three players to arrive, to prove he was responsible and devoted or whatever.

The first year he took up the esteemed position, he always stressed a perfect arrival every day. He was a sophomore back then.

Two years have passed and Renjun has come to accept the fact that that some students just have a closer first period than him. Still, he makes an effort to arrive within the first half of players.

You've reached the end of published parts.

⏰ Last updated: Jul 10, 2022 ⏰

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