14

Monday All anyone at school can talk about these days is Mariana Mendoza's Halloween party, which is this coming Friday. But it's a little annoying for me, because I won't be getting an invitation. Mariana's parties are kind of legendary because her parents don't care WHAT goes on, as long as it stays in the basement.

Last year's party got TOTALLY out of control. It started OFF in the basement, but so many people showed up that it spilled out into the yard, and the cops came to shut it down. And that's a pretty big deal for a middle school party. This year, Mariana's parents said she has to keep it SMALL, so she's only inviting people who are in the school band with her. That's bad news for kids like me who were hoping to get invited this time around. Rowley's gonna get invited, though, because he's in the band. But believe me, if he goes to a party like THAT, he's gonna be in over his head.

I was thinking about this at school today when I had a genius idea. If I join the BAND, I can get invited to Mariana's party. Tonight, when I told Mom and Dad I wanted to join the band, Mom was all for it. She was really excited I wanted to challenge myself and try something new. But Dad wasn't crazy about the idea. Dad said instruments are EXPENSIVE, and he doesn't think I'll stick with it. But Mom said Rodrick stuck with the DRUMS, which I don't think really helped my case. That's when Dad brought up the PIANO.

Two years ago, Mom saw me fooling around with one of those little electronic keyboards at the mall the week before Christmas. I liked it because it had all these buttons that made different sound effects. QUACK QUACK QUACK I think Mom got a little overly excited that I was showing interest in a musical instrument, because on Christmas Eve a truck rolled up to deliver a full-size piano.

Judging by Dad's reaction, I don't think Mom checked with him before buying it. At first I was excited about the piano, but when I realized it didn't make laser sounds and stuff like that, I lost interest real quick. But Mom wasn't gonna let me give up so fast. She hired a lady named Mrs. French to come to the house and give me private lessons twice a week.

Mrs. French knew her stuff when it came to the piano, but I was a TERRIBLE student. The first problem was Mrs. French's teaching style. She'd sit right behind me on the bench and put her fingers on top of MY fingers. That approach might work for SOME of Mrs. French's students, but it definitely didn't work for ME. Then there was the music itself. If I was gonna play the piano, I wanted to learn cool songs like the ones you hear on the radio. But Mrs. French said I had to start with the BASICS, and she gave me a "Beginner's Songbook" that looked like it was older than Mrs. French.