#egeith

It has barely been a month since CJ had moved to Hennistal. Just recently had they graduated from college and got hired for a job in the new town as a pharmacy assistant. Together with their bandmates had CJ then traded in their previous cramped college dorms for a slightly less cramped apartment, this time with a fully functioning bathroom sink. Although this all was a new living situation for the 21-year-old was everything going surprisingly well. Their room had just enough space for them and Radoth, CJ’s much loved boa constrictor which they had gotten in their first semester from their first dormmate before he had decided to drop out.

Working at the pharmacy was also way more laid back than first expected. Manfred Zimmermann, the head pharmacist made sure to let CJ take their time with understanding the organizational system. In his eyes, it was better to have them fully understand everything after two months than to be rushed through the process in a week and forget half of it again by the end of it. The remaining staff was also very kind, or at least knew how to act like they were. That made it much easier for CJ to settle into their new life. Though, the only thing that had truly changed, was that instead of scheduled classes they’d have to attend, there would be a work schedule which assigned them to random shifts along with at least one other colleague.

Regardless, it was still fairly easy to get used to the new living situation and workplace. There weren’t many customers coming in during the early hours, which left a lot of time for CJ to get to know their coworkers, or handle the paperwork and stock logistics.

On a slow day like these, CJ was just learning from their coworker Mia about some great places in Hennistal. That was, until the phone started ringing. Reluctantly took CJ the phone and put on the best customer service voice they could at the moment, “Hennistal Pharmacy, you are speaking to CJ Ashton. How may I help you?”

From the other end of the line came an equally tired, feminine voice. “Yeah, hi.. this is Ebby from the retirement home. Uh.. so, apparently, some ‘M. Zimmermann’ didn’t like, give us the right amount of medication we need for this month, so we’re already starting to run low and need a restock ASAP."

The fact alone that their boss had messed up an important order like this made CJ crack up. But they had to keep quiet so that they could hear what exactly Ebby would need delivered. They hastily scribbled down all the dozens of pills, creams and other medications on the back of an old piece of paper before the call ended with Ebby adding, “Good, that better be here soon, ‘k? K, bye.”

Sure, CJ knew of the delivery service which the pharmacy offered, they had already tagged along on one of those drives before. But they hadn’t been to the retirement home on that particular day. CJ didn’t even know where it was supposed to be, considering that Hennistal wasn’t a small town. Of course, it was nothing compared to a proper city, but still enough to get lost in easily. And while Mia was kind enough to give CJ the directions, they were still left with just a bit of worry over possibly taking a wrong turn, ending up in a completely different part of town and being too embarrassed to ask anyone for help.

“You really can’t miss it, just head down the main street until you’re out of the housing area and just turn right twice. There’s more than enough signs telling you where to go anyway,” Mia tried to reassure CJ one final time as they both loaded the last boxes into the trunk of the car.

“Yeah, thanks. I’ll try not to become illiterate when these signs pop up.” CJ grinned at their coworker before getting into the driver seat and heading off in the direction given. Never before had CJ been this focused while driving. All they thought about were the instructions on where to go, and Mia was right. There were an awful lot of signs pointing out where the retirement home was. It briefly made CJ wonder what the reason was for these many signs. Probably just too many past visitors complaining how they couldn’t find their way, in a time before GPS on phones had become a normal thing.

And yet, after successfully parking the car was CJ left clueless as to where to go. Not that it was hard to find the entrance, it was just as prominent as the building had been signed out itself. But should they really just head in through the main entrance? There surely had to be one just for deliveries, or at least that’s what CJ thought. After wandering aimlessly around the parking lot for a few minutes, CJ gave up and resigned to taking the only entrance they could find at that moment.

The automatic sliding doors opened as CJ walked in, and they were instantly met with many eyes staring at them. They should have seen this coming actually. For one, this was a retirement home, these seniors were probably expecting (or at least hoping) for their family to come and visit them. But even then, CJ was already standing out like a rainbow sheep in a petting zoo; the bright purple hair, several face and ear piercings, and a few of their many tattoos that still partially peeked out from under the long-sleeved uniform. The combination of uncomfortably long staring and not knowing where to go made them more and more nervous. After all, they couldn’t just throw the boxes with medication into the foyer room and leave. But CJ didn’t know what to do. Luckily, before they would give up and approach one of the seniors were two sets of footsteps approaching from one of the halls along with a gentle voice talking.

The first person that CJ’s eyes fell on was a caucasian woman with bleached blonde hair, probably in her late thirties. She was in the middle of talking when she had also caught sight of the stranger. Her eyes scanned CJ top to bottom, the uniform quickly reminding her of something.

“Ah, hey. I suppose you’re here for the medication delivery?” The woman’s voice was far kinder and less bored than the one CJ had heard over the phone, which calmed their nerves a little already. They nodded in response but didn’t get to say a word as she already turned away and patted on her colleague’s shoulder before walking down a different hallway, “alright, that’s gonna be your job then.”

It took both of them a few seconds to process the idea of being left all alone now before CJ finally met eyes with the other caretaker that had come to the entrance of the building. And the first sight alone already left them feeling astonished. A handsome Afro-American man, who seemed to be just as old as CJ themself, with a gorgeously curled black afro was standing in front of them. What stood out the most to CJ though were the bright cyan eyes that the stranger was looking at them with.

The two felt incredibly awkward, being left like this to figure out what to do next. They stood at the entrance for about a minute before the young caretaker spoke up a bit hesitantly, “I.. suppose I should show you where to bring that stuff..?” He didn’t seem very sure on what to do either, but it was still better than nothing. CJ only nodded in agreement and quietly followed him around. They both didn’t talk a lot, only making brief comments about how hard work was when starting a new job.

After all the boxes had been dropped off waved CJ goodbye to the kind person and headed back to the car. But they didn’t drive back right away. Despite this brief, and very awkward interaction, CJ already felt like they were head over heels for the guy they had just met. There was just something about him that made their heart jump, be it his looks or the lovely first impression that they got of him despite the lack of conversation. Either way, from that day on had the pharmacist assistant started to always look forward to delivery drives, hoping they would get to stop by the retirement home again.

Although the two didn’t get to see each other regularly, they still started getting comfortable around each other more and more over time. The conversations became less awkward, and the two young adults got to know their ‘new colleagues’ better. What both forgot every time though was to ask for their names. Neither of them even remembered to simply look for a name plates on the uniforms. So whenever CJ would gush over the ‘cute caretaker’ to their bandmates, they would always refer to him by just that nickname.

Their names weren’t the only thing that the two didn’t know about each other though. They were also completely unaware that both were regulars at the same music club in Hennistal, “The Rockin’ Punk”. While the young caretaker was mostly just a visitor to the place came CJ often as one of the performing acts with the rest of their band “Ferocious Maniacs”. And yet, despite how much they stood out on stage as the lead singer and guitarist, they hadn’t been recognized for the whole time by the other. CJ’s appearance was simply way too different outside of work; their hair was wild, fluffed up and rarely tied back, instead of glasses were they using contact lenses, the tattoos on their arms were on full display, and generally did their personal outfits show off their actual body shape instead of hiding it under a baggy and long, layered uniform.

The singer was also unaware of the other’s presence at the club. Even though they often stood at the very front of the stage did their eyes rarely focus on the crowd, and thus never had the chance of recognizing the bright blue eyes in the crowd. The lights probably played a role in this all too, as they made everyone in the room get to literally shine in different colors every few seconds, so that cyan shining eyes were less of a feature that would stand out in a mass of people.

This blindness to each other was the main reason why CJ hadn’t already gotten to know the man properly yet. It took over half a year and a very lucky coincidence for that to finally change.

*

Yet another long day was nearing its end for CJ. Their band had played the last set of songs for the night and were just done clearing the stage for the next performers to take over. In the backstage lounged Sydney and Egeith, the band’s keyboardist and drummer, unwinding after packing up their equipment and instruments. As great as the atmosphere always was after a good show, this night CJ wouldn’t be able to stay for too long. The next day, they would have a morning shift with delivery drive, so they’d need to be up on time and well rested. The bassist Rika had just packed away her instrument as she turned to CJ with a sly grin already spread across her lips. “Yo Jay, you know-,” she began, but was promptly cut off by the singer, rolling their eyes. “Yeah I know, my turn to pay for the drinks. No need to remind me of the bet.” They groaned slightly after securing their guitar in its case. CJ couldn’t leave without somewhat getting back at their friend for the teasing though, flicking her forehead on their way out of the backstage area.

By the time that they had gotten to the bar was the new band on stage already done with sound checks and playing their first songs. It was a real shame for CJ that they’d be leaving again soon since they really liked the other band’s music. This wouldn’t be the group's last performance at this club though for sure, they thought and tried to quickly order the drinks for their friends.

While CJ had to wait to even get a chance at talking to the bartender, they sat down on one of the empty stools and let their eyes wander around the place. To their left sat a girl group of goths that were making one of their friends drink her first alcoholic drink in one go, and the rest of the bar was a mix of new and familiar faces alike, most dressed in some sort of scene fashion. Then, a sudden loud laughter to CJ’s right side caught their attention.

Three guys were sitting together and downing one shot after another. While two of them seemed to be tipsy at most was the guy directly next to CJ fully drunk already.

Before the singer had a chance to try and recognize the person was it already their turn to order for drinks. From there on, it didn’t take much longer until CJ was back with their friends to drink together. But despite the good mood, they couldn’t help but feel like they shouldn’t stay around here much longer and leave soon. And since they almost entirely trusted their gut feeling got CJ up again after just a few minutes. “I, uhm.. I’m gonna head home already. Y’know, wanna get enough sleep ‘n all,” they muttered as a sort of apology to the rest of their band before heading back to the bar. They didn't worry about their guitar, knowing it would be safe with their friends. CJ just wanted to return their glass and then be on their way, but they didn’t get that far this time.

Most of the people from earlier had stayed at the bar, including the goths that CJ had seen there earlier. But from the other friend group they had noticed was only one guy left, the absolutely drunk one who now laid with his upper body sprawled out across the bar. Just as the man had glanced over at CJ hit them some sort of realization. For an odd reason, this was why they wanted to leave early. There was something about the guy that made CJ want to stay near the bar just a little longer. “Hey.. you alright there?” they asked with the gentlest voice they could while loud music was playing around them.

The man lifted his head, looking back somewhat properly at CJ with barely open eyes and a drunken smile. “Yup! Havin’ a great time,” he told the other as he slurred his words. As happy as he seemed to behave, CJ didn’t like the fact he was sitting here all by himself when he was this drunk. They slung an arm around him to have a good grasp in case he would topple over when they lifted him off the barstool. “You’re going home. It’s time to sober up, man.”

The man laughed drunkenly. He tried his best to walk for himself, but the crowded place didn’t make it easy. At least CJ managed to get them both outside again quickly. “Alright, where do I have to drop you off?” They asked with a little chuckle. It was honestly a relief to be out of the noisy area, the sounds were starting to make their skin feel crawly. All CJ got in response though was more laughter as he tried to point in a direction. Well, it was better than nothing.

Together, the two walked in the direction given. The streets were lit just enough to navigate through town with the stranger. His laughter had died down over time, though he still remained far from being sober. “Heyyy.. what’cha name?..” the guy tried to ask with slurred speech. CJ shook their head with a small grin. “Doesn’t matter. I’m just bringing you home, no need to make new friends.”

“Aww c’mon! I wanna know who you are!..” he insisted in a whiny one. CJ shook their head again, tightening their grip on the shirt they held up the other man with in case he’d trip over his own feet. “Alright, I’ll go first then. ‘m Darnell! Now’s your turn.” Darnell poked at CJ repeatedly. It could’ve been annoying, but their silliness somehow got to them. “CJ.”

Darnell’s eyes grew wide. “Daaamn.. tha’ your whole name? Like that’it??”

“Yep. Not a nickname, no abbreviation or anything like that. Just CJ,” they explained to him in a soft voice. Darnell was silent for a moment, his face all scrunched up as if he were thinking about something very hard. “That must suck..” he muttered eventually. CJ gave him a curious look, upon which he elaborated, “Just bein’ called CJ? No last name or som’? That gotta be shit..” CJ had to focus very hard and bite their lip as to not burst out laughing over this hilarious statement.

The two continued their walk until they eventually stopped by an apartment complex not all too far from CJ’s own home. They stayed by the drunk man’s side until he was safely dropped off in his bed to rest. CJ had never done something like this before for a stranger, and only a handful of times for any of their friends. But the two would never see each other again, so that guy sure wouldn’t remember any of this and just be glad to have gotten home safely. That was all CJ cared about in that moment.

They made sure that Darnell had everything he’d need for a good recovery from the very likely hangover that would get to him in the morning. CJ was about to leave after bringing a bottle of water for Darnell, seeing him lay seemingly knocked on in the sheets. But before they could sneak out through the front door sounded quiet groaning form the bedroom, “Thanks CJ..” They left with a smile on their face, heading home themself to finally get their well deserved rest as well.

*

Manfred put a clip board on the counter just as he came out from the back and passed CJ. “The boxes are near the backdoor, you just gotta get them in the car,” he told them. They briefly glanced on the board to see how long the list for the deliveries would be this time around. Many different medications were listed in large amounts, all for the same address. Today’s drive was entirely for the retirement home. CJ excitedly waved to their boss as they jogged off to load up the car with the boxes and then made their way over to the given address.

Since this had become a regular drop off left CJ their glasses in the car and walked up to the entrance of the building. A few of the seniors had already begun to recognize them, some giving them a soft smile and greeting them happily, while others weren’t exactly a fan of CJ simply for their looks, especially the ‘weird body artwork’ that remained visible much to the senior’s annoyance.

But before CJ would be subjected to someone’s comments on their appearance came a certain caretaker into the entrance hall. Looking not really motivated, if not even tired or sick, CJ’s ‘favorite colleague’ showed up, leaning slightly against the wall. Both looked at each other, and it seemed to take a moment before they realized something.

Dark curly hair, slouched posture, barely open eyes. It reminded CJ of the guy they had walked home last night. Although they hadn’t been able to exactly notice bright blue eyes in the dark lighting back then, they could recognize the exhausted look Darnell had before they went separate ways. Darnell’s eyes shot all around CJ, matching them to the guy he had met at the bar, while CJ did the same until their eyes landed on the name plate. ‘Darnell J. Hodge’ was written on it, confirming that this really was the same person.

An awkward silence lingered between them briefly before it quickly turned into chuckles. “You’re- how couldn’t I recognize you this whole time?” Darnell shook his head, covering his face with his hand out of embarrassment. “God, I was so blind!”

“Just ask me! I feel insanely stupid that I couldn’t recognize that hair of yours,” CJ admitted, but Darnell dismissed them with a wave of his hand. “Oh shut it, afros aren’t that rare.”

The two spent the entire time transporting boxes with laughter over the embarrassing moment. But they both felt incredibly glad that they actually got to know each other after all, despite how silly it was. The car was emptied far too quick. CJ closed the trunk and leaned against it while Darnell stood close by as if he had nothing else left to do now. “I’d ask if we’ll see each other again, but I know we will eventually, so..” he chuckled, kicking the ground as he lowered his head a little. He only looked up again when CJ walked over to the driver’s side of the car without a word.

He thought at first that they would just leave. Instead, they took a scrap piece of paper from the dashboard and the pen from their shirt pocket to scribble something down, folding it up and handing it over to Darnell. “I gotta head back soon. But if you’re not too hungover, we could meet up after work and get to know each other properly this time?”

As Darnell entered the room in his lunch break, Catherine was already shuffling around pictures and texts on the light table to find an appropriate layout. Meanwhile Tommy and Lucas were reading through submitted texts to sort them into piles based on how likely they were to be published.

The air was thick with stress and exhaustion. Especially the other club members walking around the room added to this. Every time Darnell got to witness this, he couldn’t help but feel like he was in the middle of holiday shopping. The only thing missing now was the annoying Christmas music playing on loop.

He didn’t let any of this affect him though. He had submitted articles before several times, so the anxiety of handing over the paper wasn’t there anymore. Especially after being rejected so many times before.

Darnell approached Tommy, tapping his shoulder before holding the handwritten text towards him. “Would you mind reading this?”

“Trying to get back in the print, hm?” He laughed a little and accepted the submission.

“I just followed my gut feeling. Something felt off, and I think people should know the truth.”

Tommy just glanced at the title, then raised a brow at Darnell. “You think that this small band club thing is really going to interest anyone? Nobody is talking about it anymore.”

“At least give me a chance, man!”

To Tommy, it almost felt like he was doing Darnell a favour with this. Everyone, including Darnell himself, knew well enough how his latest submissions were just lacking something to catch people’s interest despite the amount of time and effort he had put into investigating. However, once Tommy had actually read past the headline and opening paragraph, his initial doubts began to melt away. If Darnell remembered correctly, he even heard Tommy gasp quietly at one point.

After reading it himself, he handed the paper over to Lucas for him to get his thoughts on the article.

“Shit, I had no idea Moore could be this.. dickish,” Lucas muttered and looked back and forth between Tommy and the author of the text.

“I know, right? Isn’t being ‘the nicest teacher’ her whole shtick?”

They looked at each other for one more moment. Lucas, still holding the paper, then turned back at Catherine and dropped it right in front of her on the table. She was about to yell at him for messing up her work, but he quickly cut her off, “Cat, we found our cover story.”

*

Even after the weeks of further planning, submitting and printing the newspaper was Darnell still beyond excited. Not only had he finally gotten one of his stories published again, but this was his very first top story. Though he had to explain to the others first the use of ‘they’ for CJ, nobody doubted his decision. Most students reading this probably wouldn’t really pay attention to that anyway. All they would care about would be the way Ms Moore’s real self got exposed.

However one small group did actually notice, and it definitely was a welcome surprise.

On his way from class to the usual hangout spot, Egeith had no choice but to always pass through the cafeteria. He always chose the quickest route to the exit, just to avoid jocks or other douchebags trying to mess with him. But one day, while about to follow the same old habit, he noticed something strange.

The students were all chatting as loudly as they did every day, but nearly every other second could he hear somewhere the mention of Moore or the school band. At every table were at least two or three people holding a newspaper, no matter which group had claimed this part of the cafeteria.

Curiosity got the best of him, and Egeith bought one for himself. He actually didn’t remember if he ever spent money on one before throughout his entire school career.

But he didn’t take the time to read right away. His priority was back to leaving the building as quickly as possible.

“Ey guys, look at this,” Egeith said as soon as he finally got to his group of friends. They all looked confused over the newspaper he was holding up in the air like it was the greatest discovery in human history.

“Dude, since when do you read this stuff?” Sunghee raised an eyebrow at him, and Rita wasn’t sure that moment what to think of this either. But he didn’t let either of them bother him and just presented the cover page to the group.

The layout was as boring as always. Title up top, a few headlines to get a reader’s interest. One of these headlines absolutely stole the show however, “The Band Club Drama: How Ms Moore is responsible for the sudden auditions”.

“CJ, you should see this,” Charlie muttered, unable to take her eyes off the print.

The person in question groaned a little as they now also walked over to see what everyone was gawking at. “What, did someone perv teacher finally get caught?” They hadn’t paid any mind to their other friends who all couldn’t stop staring at the front page.

CJ now read the headline as well and furrowed their brows. Not because they were confused, but rather couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Egeith took this as an invitation to flip open the paper and finally read aloud the article to his friends.

“Just a couple weeks ago, the music teacher Ms Moore had come into the club room of our school’s newspaper. She announced that there would be new auditions for the band club, but upon asking why only answered that a handful of students had recently left.”

Rika was the first to laugh at that. “Wow, not even the guts to tell the full truth, ey?” She elbowed Sunghee standing beside her and also got a cackle out of the black haired girl.

Egeith meanwhile had scanned briefly over the text, skipping a few passages to see where it would get interesting, “It turned out that the guitarist CJ was kicked out by the music teacher, apparently because she couldn’t tolerate their wild behaviour. One would think this meant they had caused harm or damaged school property. The truth, however, was that CJ had broken their own guitar by accident. Nothing else.”

It took a moment for CJ to process what they were being presented this moment. Whoever had written this article had made the effort not just to find this information, to just present the whole story without a filter or bias. But this person took the time to use ‘they’ the whole time.

As Egeith continued to read out loud came they back from their thoughts and interrupted him. “Who wrote that?”

“What?-“

“You heard me dude!” CJ quickly moved to stand next to their friend, eyes jumping across the double page wildly in search for a name. Then they finally found the small text hidden right under the headline, ‘written by Darnell Hodge’.

Reading the name was like unlocking a memory. A very hazy and blurry memory they had nearly forgotten about. While waiting for Rita to finally drive the group of friends home had someone suddenly come by to talk to them. A guy with dark skin and bright blue eyes, who had introduced himself as Darnell before he had asked to talk to CJ. He didn’t even get the chance to ask a question right away. He was both confused and curious about why all of CJ’s friends referred to them not as ‘he’, but other students did. Darnell had even asked if they wanted him to write about them in the article in the same way as CJ’s friends talked about them. But it took a while to piece together these memories. Back when it had happened, they were pretty much high as a kite, and that always messed with their brain when it came to remembering things.

“I gotta show this to Via!” Egeith zoomed off with the magazine in hand, leaving his friends to discuss among themselves what they had just been presented. Though they were mostly ecstatic over the fact that someone had stood up for the group and finally showed the school that Ms Moore actually wasn’t as peaceful and friendly as she always liked to show herself. But CJ still was stuck in place, almost paralyzed by the entire situation. For the rest of lunch break and still going during class, their mind couldn’t focus on anything but Darnell.

Up until this day, almost nobody they had met bothered to refer to them in neuter. Only their handful of friends and a few family members did this. And from the few bits that CJ had heard of the article, they could also hear that Darnell was arguing for their side. Hell, the title already made it clear that he was siding with the group against the teacher!

All of this made them very curious about him. They wanted to get to know Darnell, get to know him properly and see what kind of person he was to be this way. Only problem was that they had no idea how to approach him. CJ wasn’t sure whether Darnell was always busy running around school to find information for his articles, or if he possibly spent his break somewhere other than the meeting room. The two also had no classes together, so there was no chance to talk to him that way.

“I heard that the cafeteria lunch served some sketchy meat last Wednesday,” Catherine told them all, pointing her fork at the person sat across her before stabbing it back into her food.

“Not worth it,” Tommy was quick to burst her bubble. “Just a stupid rumour that John spread because he doesn’t know what mediocre food tastes like.”

The group kept chatting back and forth as Darnell put his lunchbox aside and checked the notes he had made lately. Compared to the rest of the club, he didn’t get as many of his articles published. Not because they weren’t interesting, well researched, or mention worthy, but they always lacked something that made people want to read them. And his current ideas didn’t seem to be any better either, so he usually only helped out the other people around the club instead of pursuing his own stories.

But there was not much time for him to think about improvement as one of the teachers soon entered the room. “G’dday kids,” Ms Moore chimed. She didn’t hesitate to stand behind Catherine and hold onto the back of the chair with her free hand. “You’re not busy by any chance now, are you?” Everyone was looking around at each other, hesitantly shaking their heads as they eventually looked back to their teacher.

“Then I’d need the help of some of you to put some of these up around here. It won’t take long,” Moore told them as she revealed a poster she had brought with her. Typical for her, it had a fairly simple design and just enough colour to make students at least glance at it for a second. She was a music teacher after all, not an art teacher.

Taking a closer look at it, Darnell finally decided to read the text instead of questioning his teacher’s design choices. “School band auditions in the middle of the semester? Since when is that a thing?” Tommy was the first one to ask the question everyone had on their mind.

“It’s not ‘a thing’, also watch your tone!” Ms Moore folded the poster back into a more handy size and began to gesture around with it like she always did in her classes, especially with her pointer stick. “The band just unfortunately lost some members, and we definitely can’t perform the Christmas concert without a full band.”

“But Christmas is still three months away-“

“More time means more room for perfecting the craft! So, who’s going to join me?”

Nobody felt the need to go with Ms Moore. She wasn’t a greatly disliked teacher, and hanging up a few posters wasn’t going to rob anyone of their entire lunch break. But who would voluntarily give up on hanging around their friends just for some brownie points with a teacher they barely had class with anyway?

Though unlike the rest, Darnell was not pretending to be busy with anything. There was just something about the sudden auditions that seemed off to him. His curiosity was piqued and he knew this voice in him wouldn’t rest until he’d finally uncovered the whole story, no matter how long it would take.

“Darnell, what about you?” Ms Moore’s forceful voice easily got him out of his thoughts.

“Oh, I’m sorry, but I got somewhere to be.”

Darnell quickly collected his things. Not only the teacher, but everyone else in the room gave him a curious look, but that didn’t slow him down at all.

“Ah, and where are you going that is so much more important?”

“Wherever this lead takes me,” he grinned at Moore after he slung his bag over his shoulder and grabbed his notepad. “I got a story to investigate!” His teacher didn’t even get a chance to ask any further questions. She was just left standing in the room with the remaining students as he stormed out into the crowded hallways and made his way to the music room.

*

Just approaching his destination was enough to hear the band students already messing around with their instruments. It echoed out into the hallway along with their laughter, probably because the door to the music room was wide open. But barely anyone passed through these parts of the school anyway, and even less so during lunch, so their noise wasn’t a real bother to anyone.

Darnell peeked inside, and as expected, most of the students from the band were chatting with each other while trying to teach each other new instruments. He never paid attention to who exactly was part of the school band, but even he could tell that there was a handful of them missing.

“Uhm, hey,” Darnell announced his presence as he took a few steps into the room. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at him.

“You looking for somethin’?” A scrawny looking guy, who Darnell assumed to be one of the sophomores, spoke up first.

“Sorta. I heard you’ll be holding auditions soon, so I-“

“What instrument do you play then?” The girl holding a trombone was looking at Darnell now as well, confusing him for a moment with her question.

“What? I don’t- no wait, I’m not here to join you! I wanted to ask some questions, that’s it.”

The students looked back and forth between each other and Darnell for a moment with a hint of curiosity to their expression. They eventually shrugged, the guy from earlier gesturing for their guest to sit down on one of the empty chairs. Darnell was quick to grab a seat and sit across the group, setting his notepad on his lap, “First off, I’m not sure how much you are allowed to disclose to me, so you don’t have to tell me anything that could get you into trouble.” Again, the group shrugged and awaited the first question.

“So, how many students have left the school band?”

“One was kicked out by Ms Moore, and then four others left by themselves. They argued with her for like half an hour why that guy had to leave.”

Darnell scribbled down a few notes, nodding slightly. “Kicked out you say? But Moore takes in nearly any student from what I’ve heard. Why would she do that then?”

Another guy began to laugh, “Oh man, Moore lets anyone join who can play a single note!” The rest nodded in agreement with his words. “She said she ‘couldn’t tolerate such destructive behaviour’ because that guy smashed his own guitar on the floor.”

“Did he do that before?”

“Nah, that was the only time. Sure, CJ got quite the wild style sometimes, but he never hurt anyone or damaged anything else ever.”

Darnell sat back with furrowed brows for a second. He never before heard of this person, and an uncommon name like this certainly would stay on his mind.

“Is this.. CJ new here?” He asked hesitantly, receiving almost baffled faces in response.

“Uh, no? He’s one of the juniors. I think he’s also part of the boxing club, but he rather spends lunch outside with the other ones that have left.”

This already explained to an extent why Darnell never heard of CJ before. For the rare occasion that the school newspaper reported of the boxing club, Tommy wrote articles about it because he had more of a connection with the people there. And aside from that, Darnell always spent his breaks in the club room.

He quickly wrote down the new information, but before he had the chance to ask any more questions rang the bell for the next classes to begin. “Thank you for your time, this was a great help,” Darnell told them as he got up from his chair and grabbed his bag to hurry to his classroom. It seemed like his investigations had to continue after school.

*

Students were running out of the school building once their final class came to an end. Those that weren’t staying late for a school club couldn’t wait to get home, and the rest tagged along to say goodbye to their friends. Today, Darnell was part of the former group. He didn’t have time to stay for his club, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to visit his grandparents and would’ve had to ride his bike home. As he got outside to the parking lots was his mother’s car nowhere to be seen, only his two sisters Lily and Kate which were already waiting as well.

Darnell approached the two, putting his hands on either girls’ shoulder to get their attention, “Hey, any idea where mom might be?” Kate groaned and shook her head, trying to swat her older brother away from her.

“I dunno, maybe Jeremy was up to some shit again,” Lily shrugged nonchalantly. “Who knows, maybe we have to wait another 30 before the teacher lets them off.”

Another half hour? That might just come in handy for Darnell, if he was lucky, and if Lily was right about her assumption. He quickly checked his watch, then looked up again as if the traffic ahead of them would give him any indication of how much time he’s got left. “Alright, I got something to do then. I won’t be long, but you better tell me when mom gets here!”

“Uhm, ‘scuse me?” The sisters asked together, “what’s in it for us?”

Darnell groaned as he had to stop dead in his tracks. Of course they wanted something, they never did anything for him just like that. “Fine.. I’ll let you have my NES for two hours.”

The twins looked at each other for a second, then Kate made an offer in return, “make it a day and we’ll get another five minutes for you.”

“Half a day and I’ll do your homework today to make it 15.”

“Alright, deal,” both sisters held out their hand to seal the deal with a handshake, but Darnell just quickly waved at them as he hurried back onto the campus. Now he just had to be lucky enough to find the guy he was looking for. He had no more of a lead than the name and that he apparently liked to hang outside, so Darnell had to come up with an idea quickly if he still wanted to talk to CJ today.

Pacing around the school grounds for a while, Darnell eventually stopped as he noticed a weird, smoky smell. He looked around to figure out where it was coming from until he turned a corner to find the source. A small group stood close together, smoking and talking with each other, though their conversations mostly consisted of weak laughter. Surely Darnell could ask them if any of them knew CJ without giving him a weird look or snarky comment.

He hesitantly approached the four students, waving a little as one of the two girls caught sight of him at which the rest of the group turned to look back at Darnell.

“Yo.. who’re you?” A guy with blond hair that was reaching to his shoulders asked as he furrowed brows.

“Darnell,” he introduced himself while carefully approaching them. “I’m not here to cause trouble. Just looking for a guy named CJ. Do you know him by any chance?”

The other girl gave him a curious expression, “y’want something from ‘em?” Seemed like Darnell had a sense for following useful leads.

“Yeah, I heard of the school band.. situation. I’m part of the school newspaper and wanted to get his side of the story for my article.” he pulled out his notepad from his jacket and showed the notes to the others. They quickly walked closer to look at what he’s written down, though none of them actually read any of it. The guy with a brown-blonde mullet eventually looked back up from the notepad at Darnell and took a drag from his smoke, “y’re here to punch down or what? Wanna side with that fuckin’ Moore-whore?”

The look Darnell got from him certainly had something intimidating. But he didn’t back down, despite his whole body screaming to run. “Quite the opposite actually. I wanna know his side of the story, I think it wasn’t right of her to kick him out.”

Both of them held eye contact for an awfully long moment. Something about his look made it only more uncomfortable for Darnell, though he couldn’t put his finger on what exactly put him off so much. It could’ve been the uncommon grey eye colour, or the faint red hue the white of his eyes had for some reason.

At least he didn’t have to endure this for much longer, as the guy eventually stepped back again to look at the rest of his group. They all just shrug or raised their hands to tell him it wasn’t their decision before he groaned and nodded. That prompted the blonde girl to ‘present’ him to Darnell with an almost silly grin, “Well congrats, here they are!”

Darnell needed a second to understand the whole situation. His face lit up once it clicked for him that the one he just had a staring contest with was CJ. “I’m sorry, I was just a bit confused.. well, actually still am. Just.. everyone else called you a ‘he’, why not here?”

CJ just shrugged while passing the smoke to one of the girls. “Eh, I dunno.. I guess I look like a guy, so everyone calls me one. Not that I mind it, just.. ‘they’ sounds better, y’know?”

“I.. absolutely don’t, but I think I get what you mean,” Darnell stood there for a moment, still processing the way CJ’s friends referred to them before quickly writing it down. “So you wouldn’t mind if I said ‘they’ instead of ‘he’ in the article?” CJ nodded, though Darnell wasn’t really sure how much they were listening to him at that moment.

“Alright.. moving on, I want you to describe to me your perspective of that day, how it happened that Ms Moore ended up kicking you out.”

CJ leaned with their shoulder against the wall, probably because their balance was a bit off. They surely were intoxicated in some way. But as long as he’d get decent answers from them, Darnell wasn’t going to question it. “I dunno man, ‘t’was just normal practice day. Just..” they began wildly waving their hands around while trying to not lose track of what they just said. “.. I guess I got a bit outta hand, smashed my precious on the floor.”

“You mean your guitar?”

CJ began to grin a bit stupidly, trying to hold back a giggle. “Duh, who doesn’t?”

Darnell rolled his eyes with a little smile and dismissed their words as he tried to summarise them on paper. “And then Moore threw you out I assume?”

“Pah, if only. She got right up ‘n my face, almost yelled at me for my.. unexemptable- uh, unexpectable…”

“Unacceptable?..”

“Right, that word! ‘That sorta behaviour’, how she said it.. almost gave me a meltdown, fuck’s sake..” Their grin from earlier was slowly disappearing. It was clear that CJ didn’t know what they should do, if it was worth making a fuss about something that might become nothing more than gossip by the end. This gave Darnell only more of a reason to go public with this.

The other guy of the group nodded a little, pointing over to his black haired friend. “Sunghee was the first to jump in for ‘em, told Moore to fuckin’ back off. Was kinda useless to argue with’e teacher, so we all left.”

“Well, us ‘nd Rika,” the girl standing near Sunghee corrected her friend. “She’s a senior, usually hangs here with us.”

“And why isn’t she now?” Darnell put his notepad away. He probably didn’t have much more time left to chat, and if any more important information would be brought up, he’d just write it down later.

“Probably talking with a teacher. We’re just waiting for her to pick us up,” Sunghee told him. “I’m surprised Egeith hasn’t started whining around yet.” The blond guy in question rolled his eyes and started talking back to her, but Darnell didn’t quite catch that anymore as he heard one of his sisters yelling his name from afar.

“I’d love to spend more time with y’all,” he told the people he just talked to, hoping at least someone was listening right now. “But my ride is here now, so I gotta go. If you got anything else you want me to know for the article, just come by the meeting room.” Darnell waved quickly at them, he didn’t even have the time to see if anyone waved back as he ran to the parking lot.

Lily and Kate were already getting into the backseat of the car where their brother Jeremy sat, so Darnell quickly sat in the front passenger seat and greeted his mother with an almost breathless “hey mom.”

“I told you if you wanted to stay for your club today, you’d have to take the bike,” Karen shot him a slight glare before pulling out of the parking lot and onto the street. Of course, his sisters put the blame on him. Next time he’d make such a deal with them, he’d have to specify that they’re supposed to come up with something themselves.

“Sorry, just had something important to discuss with the others.”

Karen sighed a little, losing any hint of an upset expression quickly and showing Darnell a gentle smile instead. “Did you all have a good day at least?”

He didn’t have much of a chance to respond, he only got to nod a little before his siblings in the backseat immediately started rambling about their day at school. But honestly, he didn’t mind all too much. If anything, this only gave him more time to go over his notes from today’s investigation. He’d still have to turn this into a proper text of course, but the base story itself certainly had potential.

If everything would go as planned, Darnell might finally get another one of his articles published again after a long time.