Today was a bad day for Hakeem. The substitute teacher for his first class, English, attempted to say his name and then looked around for anyone to help pronounce the foreign name, much to his chagrin. He raised his hand up and he told the sub just to call him Hakeem. This time the teacher laughed and said that they were just going to yell "another one" like DJ Khalid if he hadn’t said anything. How original, it’s not like he’s ever heard that joke before. Hakeem rolls his eyes just thinking about the ignorance. His parents named him after his father and grandfather, Nureddin Hakeem Khalid. At least he lucked out with one "white friendly" name. The rest of the day became a blur of tedium and subtle racism, but endured it in order to make it to his favorite part of the day, Band.

As soon as Hakeem arrives at his 7th period band class, he sees his friend, Julian. Julian thinks of himself as a billionaire playboy despite not having any money or the ability to talk to women.

"Did you see Ainsley today? I think today is the day that I talk to her and she falls in love with me," Julian swoons.

"Every day has been ’the day’. What makes today any different?"

"Today I have the confidence of a superhero."

Julian is dressed like Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man. He almost looks suave in his suit. Today just might be the day. With a deep intake of breath, Julian gets up and walks towards the girl of his dreams. Right before he can muster up the courage to say her name, Mr. Sampson walks in and gathers the attention of the class. Julian retreats to his seat like a wounded gazelle. Hakeem decides that after class, he is going to talk to Ainsley for Julian. It looked like he might have actually talked to her if he had an extra minute.

Class goes on like usual, with many harmonies and the occasional cacophony of sounds that come from people not practicing. Despite the random bad notes, Hakeem felt more at home in this room than he did in his house. He felt like a star every time he tapped out a beat or rattled off a drum solo. Even though he might not be the first chair saxophone player or the prodigy pianist, his rhythms were the ones that kept the whole group together and mostly on beat. He loved getting lost in the sounds of his own sticks hitting the drums in front of him. So much so that sometimes he likes to get lost in the cadence of his own making. One of those times is now. His arms start flailing and thumping out the most intricate beat his can come up with, letting every bit of his frustrations from earlier in the day and week culminate in one short performance. His teacher tries to get his attention to stop, but the oppression and anger within him isn’t allowing him to hear anything but the music of his heart bleeding through to the drum kit. Someone tries to reach out to Hakeem and one of his notes falls flat as he hits skin instead of a drum.

Hakeem comes back to reality and notices that his stool has been pulled away from the drum set and that someone is lying on the ground writhing in pain. When his ears start to tune into his surroundings and not on the noises he is making he hears people angry, shocked, and scared. His best friend, Julian is on the floor having been hit in both the face and hand by Hakeem. He tries to run over to comfort his friend, but he is being pulled away and towards the teacher. Ainsley goes over to Julian and tries to mend his hurt hand and broken nose. At least one good thing came from this disaster, he thinks to himself. Hakeem gets chastised for his recklessness and is given a demerit slip for Saturday Detention. Hopefully detention tomorrow will go by fast and he won’t miss band practice. After getting the slip, he runs over to Julian while apologizing profusely. Julian stands up and lets his best friend and crush walk him to the nurses office as the bell to end the day rings.

Next Chapter: The Bus