18

I had to put my horn down to fix my shoe, and when I did, the last kid in the woodwind section went through the stage door and let it shut behind him. I tried to open the door, but it was LOCKED, so I pounded on the window. But everyone was tuning their instruments and couldn't hear me.

The concert was about to start, and all I could think about was Dad looking at my empty chair. So I knocked HARDER. Luckily, Rowley saw me at the window, got up from his chair, and opened the door. But then he stepped INSIDE the room and let the door shut BEHIND him. Now we were BOTH stuck. I knocked on the window again, but right at that moment Mrs. Graziano struck up the band and everyone started playing. Now it was HOPELESS, because there was no way anyone was gonna hear me with George Deveney pounding away on his kettledrums.

When the clarinet section piped in, Rowley went into a PANIC. He started playing along with the rest of the band, which was DEFINITELY not helping matters. It was pretty clear it was gonna be up to me to get us out of there. I tried to pry the door open by putting my foot on the wall and pulling on the handle with all my strength. But I guess my pants couldn't take the stress.

I looked in the mirror on the back wall to check the damage, and there was a five-inch tear down the middle of my pants. That was really bad news, because you could see my underwear. I realized that even if we managed to get the door back open, I couldn't go out there with this giant HOLE in my pants. So I looked around the room to see if there was anything I could use to cover up. I found a black binder on Mrs. Graziano's desk, and I slipped it down the back of my pants.

The binder covered up the hole pretty well, and from a distance no one would be able to notice. But it was so STIFF, I couldn't actually sit DOWN. So I had to take it out and come up with a different idea. Then I thought of a solution. I grabbed a black marker off Mrs. Graziano's desk and told Rowley to color in the part of my underwear that was showing. That way, no one would even know my pants ripped. Unfortunately, that's right when DAD came through the door. I don't know what it looked like to HIM, but I have a feeling it didn't look GOOD.

Thursday No matter how many times I explained to Dad what had happened at the Fall Concert, he didn't want to hear it. He said me and Rowley were goofing off when we should've been performing with the band, and that's all he needed to know. My punishment is two weeks with no television or video games, and I'm not allowed to have friends over after school. The only thing I really CAN do is practice my French horn, which I guess is the point. But practicing that thing stresses me out, and stress makes me HUNGRY. I usually have a whole pillowcase full of candy at this time of year, but since I skipped trick-or-treating to go to that party, I missed out on the best part of Halloween.