Tyler's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Tyler had been working the school showcase since February, and now a teacher named Mr. Henley wanted to kill it two weeks before the end of the year. Tyler stood behind the red brick building at lunch, leather jacket zipped against the wind, three patches showing on his chest: Misfits skull, Dead Kennedys logo, Black Flag bars. He held the folder against his ribs. Inside were the emails, the signed permission slips, every yes he had gotten in writing. None of it mattered anymore. The showcase was the safe route. The real prize was the underground battle of the bands, the one seniors ran in a garage nobody talked about at assembly, and Tyler had decided in first period he was going to win it before he graduated. The problem was simple. He didn't know a single kid who had ever won it. He didn't know what the judges wanted, how long a set ran, whether they killed you for covers or for playing too clean. Mitch had told him at lunch that walking in blind was how you got laughed off the concrete. Tyler had nodded and pretended he had a plan. He didn't. He kicked a bottle cap across the asphalt and stopped near the loading area, where a scuffed green dumpster sat against the wall with its black lids half open. He was about to turn back when he heard someone laugh behind it. A senior he half-recognized sat on a milk crate, cigarette down to the filter, a battered guitar case across his knees. The kid looked at Tyler's jacket, then at the folder, and grinned like he already knew the whole story. "You're the freshman who's been emailing every teacher in the building," the senior said. "I won that battle two years running. You want to know how it works, come to the dumpster tomorrow at lunch. Bring the jacket. Leave the folder." He flicked the cigarette into the green steel and walked off before Tyler could answer. Tyler stood there with the folder still pressed to his ribs. Mr. Henley and the showcase suddenly felt small. He had a name, a time, and a door cracked open. Tomorrow he'd find out if he could walk through it.