CHAPTER 7
Bo was excited all day at school on Wednesday, imagining himself and Jimmy on stage Saturday night.
It was like the feeling you had the last day of school before summer vacation, or the day before your birthday. He had trouble concentrating in any of his classes.
In English, Mr. Hacker, as usual, had them spend most of the class reading silently from the textbook. Today it was some old ancient poems that were ridiculous to try to figure out.
Why do any teaching, Bo thought, when you can give totally boring reading assignments instead?
A tune had been bouncing around in Bo's head all morning. It was not a song he knew, but something he was just absent-mindedly making up.
Looking up at Mr. Hacker patrolling the room with his arms folded, a couple of lyrics came to him that seemed to fit the tune just right.
When the bell rang, Bo whipped out a piece of binder paper and scribbled out the words:
"I sat there in English class
Reading from some way old text
Teacher prancing round the room
Get me out of this mess."
"Taking notes on the material, are we?" asked Mr. Hacker.
"Something like that," Bo said, and got out of there.
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At lunch, Bo was sitting at the picnic tables with Adler and Roland Myers, relaxing and enjoying his salami sandwich, when Jimmy came rushing over looking concerned.
"I was on my way to the office to sign us up," he said. "But then Allison Sturgeon tells me if you have more than one person you need a name for the band. Or group, or whatever."
"What does she know?" said Bo.
"She knows," Jimmy said. "She's doing a dance thing with Makena. They have a name."
"What is it?"
"Who cares!" Jimmy said. "What we have to focus on is coming up with ours."
"I know, how about 'The Mouse Padders'?" said Bo. "Or 'The Jerks', that's always a good one."
"C'mon, I mean it," Jimmy said. "This name thing is important. We don't want them laughing at us before we even start playing."
Bo thought about this.
"Okay, I see what you're saying," he said. "It's got to be solid but not fancy."
"You don't want to attract a lot of attention to it," Jimmy said.
"But it has to kind of, like, dominate," Bo said.
"Definitely," said Jimmy.
" 'The Huckabee Band'," said Nick Adler.
"Adler, stay out of this!" Jimmy said.
"Everyone else in the talent show is a pretender," said Adler. "You are the dominators. THE...HUCKABEE...BAND. That says it all."
"That's not bad," Bo said.
"Yeah, but there's already a regular Huckabee Band," Jimmy said.
"Technically," said Adler, "I think we're called 'The Huckabee Unified Middle School Marching Ensemble'. That's what it says on top of all those sheets they send home for my parents to sign."
"You know something, Adler?" Bo said. "If this band ever hits it big, we're hiring you as our business manager. That is, if you don't make it as a pro soccer player first."
"Shut up Ridley," Adler said.
"I like it," Bo said to Jimmy. "Take care of it."
"Really?" Jimmy said.
"As real as a meal--," Bo began rapping, "--on the head of an eel--get your cards and deal--"
"Shut up Bo," Jimmy said.
