Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


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Jim sat in Math class counting down the minutes until lunch when he would get to see Pam again. He knew it was lame, but as a teenager, there was little he lived for. As he was staring off into space he felt his best friend Ryan poke him in the arm. Jim turned to look at him.

“Jim. Stop thinking about Pam. We got band chair placements to worry about.” Ryan whispered.

Jim sighed. He had completely forgotten about that. “Shit. Those are today?”

“Mr. Halpert is there something that you would like to share with the class?” Jim looked up at Mr. Murphy who was sternly glaring at him. Jim flushed and stared down at his desk. “Um, no.”

“Then what was it that you are Mr. Howard were discussing? I don’t think it was trigonometry, as I don’t think you have been paying attention this entire class period. Please speak with me after class.”

Jim felt his face heat up even more as he continued to look at his desk.

After his discussion with Mr. Murphy at the end of class, Jim caught up with Ryan who was waiting outside the classroom.

“So what’s the damage? What did Murph say?”

Jim shrugged. “I dunno. He just told me to start paying attention more or next time he’ll give me a detention or something.”

“Woo. You got off easy, Halpert. I’ve heard that he can sometimes be pretty harsh.”

Jim nodded. Frankly, he was a little pissed that he was the only one that got called out when it was Ryan that talked to him in the first place.

“Well, thanks for reminding me about the auditions anyway. I totally forgot and haven’t really practiced for a few days,” Jim remarked as they walked towards their lockers.

“Yeah I forgot too until that little shit Andy Bernard reminded me,” Ryan said rolling his eyes.

“Oh god. I hate that kid so much. Why does he keep trying to be your friend? I can’t stand his high a capella singing.” Jim started to do an impression of Andy singing “The Rainbow Connection” as they reached their lockers. They had been lucky enough to have lockers close together.

Ryan snorted as he opened his locker and threw his books inside and grabbed his lunch.

“So you ready for lunch? You’ll get to see your precious Pammy,” Ryan said in a mock girlish voice.

Jim closed his locker. “Actually I’m going to have to skip lunch today. I haven’t really practiced and I really should if I’m going to beat you.”

Ryan gasped. “Beat moi? Never!”

“But I always do. Must be those little arms,” Jim said with a grin.

“Hey, just because we all aren’t as tall as you doesn’t mean you can make fun,” Ryan said, pouting. He could be rather sensitive about his height sometimes.

Jim was getting a little annoyed of Ryan and was glad when they reached the cafeteria. “Well my small friend, this is where I leave you.”

“Fine. I’ll see you in band. Don’t practice too hard. You know you’ll never beat me anyways.”

Jim rolled his eyes again. He didn’t really know what was up with Ryan today. He wasn’t always this annoying.

“Well, see you later, man,” Jim said as he started towards the band room.

“Oh and don’t worry,” Ryan said, “I’ll say hi to your girlfriend for you!”

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Jim practiced his trombone fervently for the next hour. He knew he shouldn’t be that worried; he was always first chair and Ryan was always second. But the comments that Ryan had made had really fueled him to try harder. And Ryan had been even more annoying than normal today. First he had gotten Jim in trouble for talking, and then, even worse, he was making fun of Jim’s crush. A smile came to Jim’s face as he thought about Ryan’s disappointment at being second chair again.

Jim looked at the clock. It was almost time for band. Jim gathered up his music and his instrument. As he was heading back to the band room, he ran into Dwight Shrute, who he hated even more than Andy Bernard.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Jim Halpert. I see you’re doing some last minute practicing.”

“Yep. Oh, hey, I heard that Mr. Scott is making all the bassoons make their own reeds before the audition. I hope you’re ready for that.”

Dwight scoffed. “A Shrute is always prepared for anything.”

Jim shook his head, laughing, as he followed Dwight into the band room. As he was heading to his seat he caught a glimpse of Pam sitting in the front row.

She was setting up her flute while Kelly Kapoor, the annoying girl who sat next to her, was talking with her. Well, not so much with her, as at her. By the looks of it, Pam didn’t seem to enjoy it.

Jim chuckled to himself and headed for his seat in the back row. He practiced for a few more minutes until Mr. Scott bounded up to the podium.

“Hello bandos! You all ready for some auditions?”

The only response to this was a half hearted ‘yes’ and blank stares. His enthusiasm was clearly lost on the band.

“Well let’s start with Stan the man on the tuba. Can’t wait to see those big lips of yours in action.”

Yikes, Jim thought to himself.

He couldn’t believe that Mr. Scott was still working here after all the comments he had made. He was even tenured for some reason.

After going through the rest of the brass section it was time for the trombones. Jim decided jut to get it over with and went first.

“Good luck, man,” Ryan said to Jim as he walked over to Mr. Scott’s office.

Jim gulped before stepping inside. Auditions always made him nervous. He didn’t know why he should be nervous though; Mr. Scott clearly really liked him.

“Jim my man!” Mr. Scott greeted as Jim came into the office. “Take a seat, take a seat! Dazzle me with your bone!”

Jim smiled weakly and sat down. “Hey, Mr. Scott. Yeah, um, okay.”

“Just take it from the top of the etude there, Mr. Halpert.”

Jim nodded and brought his instrument up.

As he started the etude, he thought he was doing okay. But, as the piece went on, it got worse and worse, probably because he hadn’t practiced those parts as much.

Jim grimaced as he finished and put his trombone down.

Mr. Scott had a kind of worried look on his face. Jim knew this was not a good sign.

“Well, let’s move on to sight-reading then,” said Mr. Scott with a fake smile.

Since Jim had lost all of his confidence on the etude, his sight-reading was even worse. He kept changing meters; he messed up rhythms and was missed notes left and right.

“Great job, Jimbo!” Mr. Scott said with a fake smile and an even faker enthusiasm. “Send in your buddy Mr. Howard please!”

Jim walked from the office feeling horrible. He had never played so terribly in his entire life. It was his own damn fault for forgetting about the audition, but he was still going to blame Ryan for being such a prick today.

Jim walked back to his seat and poked Ryan in the shoulder. “It’s your turn,” he mumbled.

“Sweet! I am so ready for this!” Ryan yelled, pumping his fist in the air and walking towards Mr. Scott’s office.

Jim slumped down in his chair. He knew that even though Mr. Scott could be a stupid ass sometimes, he would know how badly Jim did and be fair about it. God, Jim mentally berated himself as he put his instrument away, you’re the dumb ass. You’re the one who didn’t practice until today. You deserve what you get. His thoughts were interrupted by Ryan, who was sitting down next to him.

“Yes! I did so great, I think I’m going to be giving you a run for your money, Halpert,” Ryan said, giving Jim a punch on the arm.

Jim tried to smile and nod and not let Ryan know what happened, but he couldn’t. It came out more as a grimace.

“What’s up with you, Jim?” Ryan asked looking confused.

Jim shrugged. “Nothing, man. Just thinking about how much homework I have tonight.”

Ryan looked skeptical and looked around the band room. His eyes settled on Pam and a grin came to his face.
“Oh, I know. Someone finally snatched up your precious widdle Pammy,” Ryan said in a mock voice.

Jim rolled his eyes. “Uh, whatever Ryan.”

Ryan didn’t let up, though. “You knew it was going to happen sooner or later, man. She’s hot. I was going to do it soon too, since you never had the balls to.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Jim yelled, pushing Ryan roughly.

Ryan just laughed as he was pushed into Creed, the other trombone player.

“Hey watch it. You’re fighting worse than the bums at my shelter,” Creed said matter-of- factly.

“Ha-ha, I knew that would get to you. So who was it?” Ryan said with a grin.

Jim angrily blew out his breath and stood up. “Just leave me alone, Ryan.”

Ryan continued to laugh as Jim walked to the other side of
the room. He picked a chair that was farthest away from Ryan as possible and sat there attempting to do his math homework until the end of the period.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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When Jim got to school the next day he went straight to the band room. There was a crowd huddled around the door waiting for the telltale pieces of paper announcing the band placements for the year. He saw Pam waiting there and walked next to her.

He and Pam had started to become good friends, even though he hadn’t known her at all before this year. Being a low brass player, he didn’t normally pay attention to the woodwind players. Jim and Pam were in Biology class together and hit it off. Jim had fallen head over heels for her right away; she was pretty, had a great sense of humor and really seemed to understand him. Jim had been so excited that he had finally found someone. Then one day a few weeks ago, that idea blew up in his face.

He and Pam were sitting together in the cafeteria eating their lunches and having a good time. Jim had been planning for the last week to ask Pam out and today seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Jim cleared his throat. “Hey Pam?”

Pam looked up from her nachos. “Yeah?”

“Um..”Jim began.

All of a sudden a lumbering jock came and sat down next to Pam.

“Hey Pammy,” the nameless jock said, grabbing one of Pam’s chips. Pam turned to the guy with a smile and kissed his cheek.

Jim felt the color drain from his face. Pam was dating a jock? He stared down at his lunch in shock.

“Oh, how rude of me! Jim, this is my boyfriend Roy.”

Jim looked up and tried his best to muster a smile, extending his hand over the table towards Roy.

“Hey, man. How’s it going?” Roy shook Jim’s hand.

“Pretty good. You one of Pam’s bando dork friends?”

Jim chuckled humorlessly. “Yeah. Well, it was nice to meet you, Roy, but I should get going. Talk to you later, Pam.”

Jim stood up and started to walk away.

“You’re leaving? What were you going to tell me?”

Jim shook his head. “Nothing, it was just a dumb joke. See ya”

Jim walked away and threw his half eaten lunch in the garbage. He felt so stupid. He should have known someone great like Pam was already taken.

Jim shook his head trying to forget that horrible day. He hadn’t even told Ryan that Pam had a boyfriend. He and Pam had still remained friends and right now he could use a friend. “Hey,” Jim said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster at 7:45 in the morning.

Pam looked over at him and smiled. “Hey to you too. You nervous?”

Jim’s smile left his face. “Yeah. I totally bombed it.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be fine. Mr. Scott really likes you.”

Jim shrugged.

“Oh come on, Jim. Even if you did horribly, which you probably didn’t, he knows you’re good.”

Jim gave Pam a halfhearted smile. He knew that he had done so badly that even Mr. Scott would be able to tell. But, it was nice of Pam to try. They stood around talking for the next five minutes until Mr. Scott came out of his office and put the list up on the door. The crowd surrounding the door pushed past him.

“God, everyone is sure pushy! Let’s wait till the crowd dies down.”

Jim nodded. “Good idea.”

They lingered behind, waiting for the crowd to disperse before walking up. Pam ran up the door.

“Yes! I don’t have to sit next to Kelly.”

Jim walked slowly up to the door. He quickly glanced at the other sections before his eyes finally landed on the trombone section:

Trombones:
Ryan Howard
Jim Halpert
Creed Bratton

Jim scoffed. He should have known this would happen. He started walking away from the band room when he felt a hand on his arm. He immediately stiffened. Pam wasn’t allowed to touch him. He looked into her concerned eyes.

“You okay?”

Jim shrugged. “I’ll get over it.”

All of a sudden Ryan came barreling down the hallway. Jim tried to get away as quickly as he could, but Ryan had already seen the list and caught up with Jim. “Haha, Jim. I told you that I would beat you!”

Jim didn’t say anything and continued walking, Pam trailing behind him. Ryan caught up with him again. “Oh come on, Jim. It’s not that big of a deal. You’ve been first chair the last two years. It’s about time other people got a chance. I’m just pulling your leg.”

“Yeah, sure. Well congratulations,” Jim said trying to take the mocking tone of out of his voice.

Unfortunately, Ryan heard it. “You’re mad at me? It’s not my fault you didn’t practice.”

Jim just shook his head, not looking for a fight.

“Don’t fucking walk away from me. We’re talking.”

“Well, it’s almost time for class. I can’t be late to Biology.”

“Oh, yeah. You wouldn’t want to miss your special time with Pam.”

Jim abruptly stopped and turned around glaring at Ryan. Ryan just laughed and pushed his way past Jim.

Jim felt his face heat up. He was so embarrassed and angry. He glanced momentarily at Pam who was still standing next to him, but she was purposely looking away.

Jim laughed nervously. “I don’t know what the hell Ryan was talking about. Come on let’s go to class.”
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The rest of Jim’s day seemed to drag on. He knew he shouldn’t let it get to him this much, but he just knew he was better than Ryan.

At lunch he sat by himself at a table usually reserved for the dorkiest dorks. As he sat down with his bagged lunch from his mom, they smiled at him, their braces shining. Jim gave a polite smile back, and sat as far away from them as possible. As he began eating his sandwich he noticed Ryan standing up with his tray looking around. He was looking for Jim. Jim tried to slouch down as far as his tall frame would allow, but it was too late Ryan spotted him.

Jim looked up as Ryan sat across from him, feigning surprise.

“Oh, Ryan. I didn’t see you.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Don’t pull that shit with me, Halpert. I know you’re avoiding me. I mean look where you’re sitting.” Ryan gestured to the dorks.

Jim shrugged. “I just thought it would be good to branch out you know? Meet some new people?”

“Whatever man. You just need to get over this. I did better than you, accept it. Now you know how I always felt.”

“It’s fine. I’m over it.”

“No you’re not. Ugh, whatever, Halpert.”

They continued eating their lunches in silence until Ryan looked up and saw Pam walking with her boyfriend.

Ryan grinned maliciously. “Halpert, it looks like you were too late. Someone already scooped up your beloved Pam.”

Jim looked up and saw Pam holding hands with Roy. Pam caught his eye and waved. Jim tried to muster a smile. Pam rolled her eyes as she was dragged to a table of jocks. Jim attempted to give a sympathetic smile back. Ryan looked back and forth between the two of them.

“Is that some kind of secret code you two girls have?”

“Shut up Ryan.”

“I mean seriously. You have to be like two girlfriends because obviously you can’t be trying to get into her pants since it seems like someone else already has.”

“I can just be friends with someone, Ryan.” Jim could feel the anger boiling inside of him at his comment. But he just let it simmer below the surface.

“How long have you known she was dating someone?”

Jim shrugged. “Not that long.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”

Jim shook his head. “Of course I didn’t. I knew this is what you would act like if I told you!” he shouted, a little too loud. He noticed that a few heads turned.

“No need to get so riled up there, Halpert.”

“You can be such a douche sometimes Ryan, you know that?” Jim shouted even louder. Warnings ran through his head telling him to stop. Jim never yelled like this, especially in school.

“You’re one to talk. You’re mad at me because I took first chair!” Ryan’s voice began to rise in volume as well.

Jim huffed. “I told you that I’m over that, okay? Just stop bringing it up!” Jim yelled. He stood up and walked away trying to calm himself down as he turned away from Ryan.

“Oh yeah that tells me you’re not mad. God, I can’t believe that I’m friends with such a pansy,” Ryan yelled at Jim’s back.

Jim started breathing heavily. Calm down. Calm down, he told himself over and over. It didn’t work.

Jim whipped around, glaring at Ryan’s pompous face.

Ryan grinned. “Hah. I knew that would get you.”

Jim said nothing but continued to glare at Ryan, hoping that would be enough to make him stop.

“I mean you really are being a pansy. You get upset over a stupid audition, and then you get yourself worked up over a girl who is already taken.” Ryan shook his head, laughing.

Jim finally reached his boiling point. He ran towards Ryan. He reached his right fist back and hit Ryan in the face.

Ryan’s head whipped back, blood flying from his nose. Ryan reached a hand up to his nose.

“You fucker!” Ryan threw a punch at Jim hitting his lip. Jim felt his lip split. He was about to get a second punch in when someone grabbed his arms and held them behind his back.

“Break it up, men. Break it up!” It was his math teacher, Mr. Murphy.

Great, this day can’t get any better.