Chapter 3

The beginning of another school year usually meant a tinge of excitement and a little trepidation for Gordon. He got to figure out the new year’s music and catch up with some of his returning students. It was full of possibilities. After last year’s close second place finish, if he could clean up a few technical errors and enhance the sound with a few new recruits, he thought he had this year in the bag.

The worry that had bothered him all summer, though, was Kelsey. His favorite, hard-working, clarinet player seemed like she might pull back from the band at the end of the year. He had kept her instrument safe in his office, just in case he was wrong, but he hadn’t heard either way. He knew deep down that he felt differently for Kelsey than he did for any other student he had. She was less of a student and more of a friend or a confidante.

He knew he sometimes crossed the line with her. Teachers shouldn’t share their personal lives with students, but he felt drawn to her. There was comfort being in her presence, and she seemed to be more vulnerable with him, too. They shared a lot of personal information and stories during their practice sessions. He wondered if that was something he’d get to enjoy again this year.

His concerns were reduced when he got to school and received his class roster for the semester. The first name he looked for in music was Kelsey Moore, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it. Steven and Debbie, who were standing next to him, both looked at him strangely, hearing him exhale.

“Good or bad class, Gordo?” Steve asked, looking at his own sheets.

“Some good, some bad, and some that I’ll have to figure out,” Gordon said, trying to recover. “What about you, Deb?”

“Ok. English is the same as always. It gets worse every year. Soon they’ll just grunt at each other,” she joked, eliciting a laugh from both of the guys.

Gordon and Debbie Emery were still dating. While everything was going well, Gordon just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. He just didn’t know what it was yet. Debbie wanted things to get more serious and made comments about them moving in together. They weren’t direct statements; just little comments Gordon would notice when they’d be out at stores or at his place. ‘This would look great in our place,’ or ‘I wish I had some clothes here to change’. Gordon knew they were the beginnings of a complicated conversation. One he wished to avoid until he knew for sure what he wanted.

In the meantime, he excused himself from the others to head to his first class of the year. It was biology, which he usually taught once per semester. It was something different and a chance to break away from the brown carpeted walls of the music room.

The summer break for Kelsey started off so promising! She had her friends back, and she started a new relationship with Austin Tate, the star quarterback of the high school football team. Every girl at the school would have given anything to be in her shoes, yet she was the one. She was surprised when he did, having mostly been cast out from that group the previous year. Vicki and Stephanie encouraged her to say yes when she talked with them about it. They said he was a great guy, and they would have fun together. It started out innocently enough. For most of the summer, he was a perfect gentleman. He held the door, asked her about herself, actually listened to her answers, and seemed like a nice guy. A lot of their dates were hanging out in a group with a bunch of the other athletes and their girlfriends, which included Vicki and Stephanie.

As the new school year started, though, Kelsey felt like she was being pulled in so many different directions that she was being ripped apart. Her friends and boyfriend wanted to hang out all the time. But she had a bunch of schoolwork to do, she had band, which was about to start up, and her practice sessions with Mr. O., which she didn’t want to stop. The only positive was that she didn’t have to spend as much time at home listening to her bickering parents.

Austin and her friends wanted her to drop the band altogether, as it was an activity for losers. They didn’t care that she enjoyed it. What mattered to them was hanging out and going to parties. They didn’t even want her to take music class, as they thought it was a waste of time. She felt lost most of the time trying to navigate the social pressures of her new clique. Vicki and Stephanie were now fully integrated into the popular group. They had already dated several different boys from the football and basketball teams. Kelsey didn’t know what they had done with those guys, and she wasn’t about to ask. Unfortunately, one day, she found out.

Kelsey was supposed to meet her friends and Austin at a party one Saturday night. Austin was coming directly from his job, so he wasn’t able to pick her up. When Kelsey arrived, she couldn’t find anyone she knew, so she just wandered around looking for Stephanie and Vicki. As she turned a corner, she heard Stephanie’s voice, so she headed in that direction. As she approached, Vicki’s voice could be heard as well. It was coming from a bedroom door, and what they were saying stopped her in her tracks.

“What have they made you do so far?” Vicki asked.

“I had to fuck two guys at the same time. They weren’t even gentle. My pussy’s already sore,” Stephanie said, with pain in her voice.

“Yeah, but what can we do? This was what we were told we had to do, right?”

“I know. I want this, I do, but fuck, I wish there was another way.”

“Look, if Kelsey finally stops being such a prude and gives it up to Austin, maybe we’ll be given a break. None of the senior girls have to do this. They put their time in,” Vicki replied.

“Yeah, but if I have to suck one more sweaty cock tonight, I’m gonna puke.”

“Just remember, we’ll be the ones in charge next year. Just think about that. It’ll be our turn. Now where’s Kelsey, for fucks sake?” Vicki asked as she opened the bedroom door.

Kelsey tried to act surprised and pretended she hadn’t heard the entire conversation. She didn’t know what to do, so she just faked her way through the party. She wondered if Austin was the same as the other guys, but he had been ok, up to that point. She was mad at her friends for what they wanted to do to her, but a part of her also pitied them. They became so obsessed with becoming popular that they gave up their dignity. She couldn’t imagine being used as a sex toy for a bunch of horny guys. That’s not what making love was all about. She wanted to say something to them later, but didn’t know how. They’d changed so much and seemed hell-bent on what they were doing. Still, she didn’t want to lose the only friends she had.

Inevitably, Kelsey started having difficulties with Austin. After a few weeks of starting school, she found he was getting handsy and grabby. It was more and more difficult to get him to take ‘no’ for an answer. She didn’t know why he was suddenly like this, having behaved himself all summer long.

She started working to find ways to not be left alone with him. At parties, she’d stay in a large group and not go to separate rooms to make out. If they went to the movies, she’d try to sit near other people, so it would be easier to keep his hands off her. She probably would have dumped him already, but she knew her friends Vicki and Stephanie would probably never talk to her again. It turns out, they had set her up and it was their way of getting her back into the cool group instead of the band dorks. Unfortunately, these things can come crashing down.

It was the day of the chair auditions for the band and Gordon was looking forward to seeing what the hopefuls would bring this year. He knew he’d have to pick the music based on the strengths and weaknesses of his best sections. Auditions were done privately, mainly so that Gordon wouldn’t have to deal with a bunch of other students doing who knows what, while he was trying to follow the soloist.

It was time for the clarinet section with three students vying for the first and second seats. There were two seniors who were solid performers in their previous years, and then there was Kelsey. The two seniors were passed over last year for second chair in favor of Kelsey and seemed like they each wanted to show they had the right stuff this year. Each of their solos were very well done, not technically difficult pieces, but played cleanly with few errors. Gordon thought if you are going to do something easy, you’d better nail it and they both did.

Finally, it was Kelsey’s turn. As she sat down to perform, Gordon wasn’t sure how it would go. Lately, Kelsey had been late or had fully missed her booked practice sessions, which was extremely uncommon for her. The only time she ever missed a session was when she was at home sick from school. When she did practice, she seemed lost and unfocused, like something was bothering her. Gordon tried to get her to open up but nothing he did seemed to work. She’d just say that it was personal and would like him to drop it.

He suspected it had something to do with her boyfriend and the rest of his friends. Gordon had heard them laughing and bullying some of the other band members over the years. He knew the school band was uncool and with Kelsey being part of it, Gordon wondered how that might look to Austin and his friends.

Secretly, Gordon was also suspicious of their relationship. Ever since he found out they were dating, he tried to figure out the angle that was being played. It’s not that Kelsey wasn’t attractive; she was one of the best-looking girls in her year. She had beautiful long red hair, a thin body, a nice curve to her hips and ass, and what looked like nice perky breasts. It made sense that guys would find her attractive, but this boy, this boy was trouble.

Chatter in the teacher’s lounge said he was a cherry-picker. He’d find younger girls to date, pressure them into losing their virginities, and then dump them. The guidance counselors at the school had a revolving door of devastated girls from his little clique. He wanted to warn Kelsey before the year ended but was talked out of it by his own girlfriend, Debbie, saying it wasn’t his business and shouldn’t get involved in student relationships. Gordon didn’t want to think about what Kelsey might have done with the boy.

“Where would you draw the line then?” she would say. “They have to learn things on their own.”

Once Kelsey was ready to start her solo, Gordon counted her in, and she started. It was a much more difficult piece, as he had come to expect from her. Everything was going smoothly. Her transitions and key changes were good, her notes were clean, but it felt hollow. She normally played with such passion and joy, this felt mechanical and robotic. By the end, he had counted a small handful of mistakes, ones she would normally never make. He thanked her for playing and she left the room. Gordon was at a loss as to what to do.

It was the first band practice of the year, and the day Kelsey would learn if she made first chair this year. She thought her audition could have gone better. There were some mistakes, and she didn’t get to practice as much as she would have liked. She just had to hope the other girls made more mistakes. As Mr. O. stood at the front, welcoming everyone to this year’s band, she got lost daydreaming about him. She was so tuned out that she almost missed her name announced as first chair.

Kelsey was excited, but looking down the row, it seemed like the other girls were less than thrilled with her leadership position. She hoped to work hard to prove she was the right choice. The rest of the meeting went well. Kelsey was given all the sheet music for this year’s performances, which featured a couple of solos for her. She was so excited! As the lunch meeting wrapped up, she thanked Mr. O. before running outside to see Austin, who had a lunch meeting with the football team.

She knew he was focused on football right now, so she hung back and waited for it to be over. They were getting ready for their big game against the rival Ridgemont Wolves. The winner of that game was likely to move on to State this year, so she knew the pressure was on for him. It was one of the reasons she put up with his grabby hands this past week and missed several practice sessions. She would only let him touch her breasts, but he kept trying to reach between her legs, which she would slap his hand away from.

When she saw the meeting was done, she ran over to him, wrapped one of her arms around his neck and gave him a big kiss, the other still carried her clarinet.

“Hey babe, you seem happy,” he said as they slowly made their way back inside.

“I got first chair!” she said excitedly.

“That’s cool, Kels, but I was kind of hoping you’d have more time for me,” he said plainly. Kelsey, slightly disappointed by his lack of support, pushed back. “You have a lot of time with me, and this is important to me! I wish you could see that.”

They walked down a quiet corridor that led from outside towards the back entrance to the music room. Kelsey figured they were headed towards her next class before the bell.

“But I don’t have enough of you,” he said, as he kissed her against the concrete wall, his hands moving up her sides.

“Austin, what are you doing? Not in school,” she said, trying to push him off her.

“Don’t worry, no one comes down here. I just want a little time with my girl,” he said, as he trapped her against the wall, kissing her hard on the lips, as one of his hands crept up her leg.

“No, Austin don’t...” she tried to say, as he covered her mouth with his.

Gordon was in his classroom getting ready for his next class and thinking about the decision he made to have Kelsey be the clarinet first chair. He knew, deep down, that in any other year and with any other student, she wouldn’t have earned that position for her performance. He finally saw how much objectivity he’d lost with regards to her. It was too late though. He couldn’t take the spot back from here and give it to a more deserving student. Everyone would know what he tried to do. His best plan was to let it play out and hope Kelsey’s focus comes back up like it had the previous two years.

There were still about ten minutes before the next class, so Gordon moved to the piano to play a bit before the students poured in. As he sat down, his hands just above the keys, he heard a strange sound coming from the back doorway. He thought that odd as very few people ever actually used that door for anything, he just assumed it was mainly a fire exit in case the main door was blocked.

He got up to investigate the noises. Opening the inner door, he heard what sounded like arguing. His intuition kicked in, thinking it could be a fight or a drug deal, and decided to check it out. Opening the outer door to the hallway, he was shocked to see Kelsey pressed up against the wall, with Austin holding her in place with one arm, the second hidden behind him.

“Hello Kelsey, I thought I heard a commotion. Is everything ok out here?” he asked, suspicious of the scene in front of him.

“Hello Mr. Osgood,” Austin said. “Everything’s good. No problems here.”

“Thank you, Mr. Tate, but I asked Kelsey. Is everything ok?” he said in a calm tone, but his blood was boiling inside. That answer confirmed an issue.

“I ... uh...” she paused, clearly uncomfortable, a few tears in her eyes. “Please take me inside, Mr. O.!”

“Ok, come on Kelsey,” Gordon said, just wanting to get her out of whatever the situation was.

“Ok, well, I’ll talk to you later Kelsey,” Austin said, leaning in for a kiss. Kelsey, though, took the opportunity to push him out of her way and run behind Gordon. As she moved, it revealed that Austin had his hand under her skirt the whole time. Austin tried to grab her arm, but Kelsey hit him with her plastic clarinet case.

“WE’RE DONE! DON’T YOU EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!” she yelled, safely inside the door.

“I think you’d better leave NOW! Mr. Tate,” Gordon growled, his hands in fists by his sides.

As Austin walked away, Gordon could hear him uttering under his breath, “Whatever you prissy stuck-up bitch.” It took everything in Gordon’s power not to chase the boy down and slam his face against the wall, but he wanted to make sure Kelsey was ok. The two entered the music room and Kelsey took a seat and began to cry.

“Are you ok, Kelsey? Is there anything I can do for you?” Gordon asked, his heart breaking for her.

“No, I ... I just don’t know what to do,” she said through her tears.

“I think we should go to guidance and also talk to the principal,” Gordon said.