I Heart Band by Michelle Schusterman

was open on his desk. I leaned forward a little, my eyes widening.
    â€œDid you . . . did you
color
this?”
    Mr. Dante nodded, flipping a few pages so I could see. “I just highlight certain things so I can see them at a glance. Dynamics are green, tempo changes are orange, key changes are blue . . . you get the idea.”
    Whoa. The man was a genius.
    â€œYou’d better get to lunch, Holly. And listen . . .” I tore my eyes off the beauty of the color-coded score and looked at him. “I appreciate your apology, and I know you mean it. But you need to tell Natasha you’re sorry.” Adjusting his glasses again, Mr. Dante smiled. “I know she . . . pushes your buttons sometimes. But, Holly, you push hers, too, and you know it. And like it or not, you’re going to be in the same section for the rest of the year. Seems like the best thing to do would be at least
try
to get along, right?”
    I nodded fervently. “Yes, sir.”
    Back out in the empty band hall, I grabbed my horn and hurried to the cubby room. I meant what I said to Mr. Dante, sort of. No way was I going to try to be friends with Natasha—that was a lost cause. But I’d definitely try to pretend to get along with her during band if it would make Mr. Dante happy. Mrs. Wendell had told him I was one of her best students, and I was going to start acting like it.
    I was also going to start color-coding my music, like, immediately.
    Outside the band hall doors, a voice interrupted my mental music highlighting.
    â€œSo what
was
that?”
    Startled, I turned to see Julia leaning against the wall.
    â€œOh! You scared me,” I said lightly, but she didn’t smile. Actually, she looked pretty upset.
    Uh-oh.
    â€œWhat
was
that in there?” she asked again. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other.
    â€œUm, what was what?”
    Julia rolled her eyes. “You know exactly what. Did you seriously
spit
on Natasha’s shoes on purpose?”
    â€œI didn’t
spit
on them,” I said defensively. “I—it was from my horn, and—”
    â€œWhatever.” Julia’s arms were tightly crossed over her chest. “So was it on purpose?”
    I waited a second too long to respond. My stomach dropped at the look on her face.
    â€œOh my
God,
Holly.” Julia closed her eyes briefly. “I mean . . . why would you do that?”
    I swallowed hard, but it wasn’t enough to stop the lump rising in my throat.
    â€œI don’t know,” I said at last, my voice all wobbly and weird. “I wasn’t thinking, I was just . . . I was upset.”
    â€œWhy?” She said it flatly; no sympathy. I took a deep breath and thought about what Mr. Dante said.
    â€œBecause Natasha kind of . . . pushes my buttons. Sometimes.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œCome
on,
Julia,” I cried, exasperated. “You can’t seriously be this blind. She’s awful! She’s full of herself, she’s obnoxious, she’s constantly talking about—”
    â€œHolly!” Julia was gaping at me. “Look, I just left the cafeteria because Natasha and Sophie were bad-mouthing
you.
But I’m not going to stand here and listen to you say all this stuff about Natasha, either!”
    â€œBut what
I’m
saying is actually true!” I said, my eyes burning with tears. “She’s—”
    â€œNo, what
they’re
saying is true,” Julia snapped. “That you were so jealous of Natasha that you actually dumped spit on her shoes. Right?”
    â€œJealous?” I wiped my eyes furiously. “I’m not jealous—see, she thinks she’s—”
    â€œReally? You’re not jealous she got first chair?”
    I just stood there, mouth open.
    This was unreal. It’s not like Julia and I had never fought before . . . but it was never anything like this. And