A/N: All characters are fictional, just a story I've had in my head. More to come. I hope you like it! :)
My first audition was the scariest. No, scratch that. They all were scary. I don't audition well. My hands get all shaky and I can't play. But I guess I did alright, because when I got those letters from multiple corps saying they wanted me to play for them I was overly ecstatic. Of course I picked playing for Phantom Regiment. Ever since I was a little kid they've been my favorite.
"Don't you want to start smaller?" My dad asked me. My conscience was agreeing with him, but since when have I listened to my conscience? I had gotten into Phantom! My dream corps wanted me to come play for them, why wouldn't I say yes?
That's how I found myself getting off the bus in Illinois. There were a ton of kids around me, mostly college age. I was only going to be a senior in high school next year. Luckily I was only missing the last week of school. I had taken my finals and everything early, so I could spend my summer making music. By the time I got to check in, I was fidgety. I mean, I'm always fidgety, but it was pretty noticeable this time.
"Hi welcome to spring training! Your name please?" The girl sitting at the table said.
"Marley Merrin" I said with a smile.
"Ok Marley, you'll be in room 1112, in this building." She handed me a map, highlighting the building I was in.
"At 6 we'll be having a full corps meeting. See you then!" I headed out of the gym, my white converse tapping on the concrete. I eventually found my building, and then my room. I pushed open the door and saw another girl sitting on one of the beds.
"Hi I'm Olivia!" She said with a grin. Her hair was shoulder length, and red.
"Marley." I said, shaking her hand.
"I play the trumpet. I'm so excited for this year!" She said, bouncing around the room.
"I'm in the pit." I said kind of nervously.
"That's cool. Can you play with like six sticks or something?"
"I can do four mallet, yes. And I have the callouses to prove it." I laughed.
"Hello newbies!" Another girl called from behind me.
"I'm Raquel, I play contra, and this is my third year with the corps. I'm going to be a senior at Ohio state in the fall." She said. She had long, dark brown hair knotted neatly in a braid.
"I'm Olivia, trumpet, and I'll be a sophomore at UMass." Olivia said.
"Marley, I'm in the pit. I'll be a senior at Oakfield High." I clarified.
"Wow, you're young. That's awesome!" Raquel said. As we set up our beds she gave us a run down of what our typical day would be like. As she rambled on there was a knock on our open door.
"Sorry to interrupt." He said. "Raquel, do you have plans for our section meeting or am I doing that?"
"I can do it. I'm just filling in the newbies. Olivia, Marley, this is Aaron, co-section leader of the contras." Aaron took a step into our room to shake our hands. He was tall, tan, and blond. He gave a crooked smile before ducking out the door. Raquel pulled out some note cards.
"I kinda already started. He doesn't know that though. He'll loosen up as we get going." She said, laughing to herself.
We stayed in our room for a while longer, chatting and getting to know each other.
"I love your shoes." Olivia said with a nod of agreement from Raquel.
"Thanks," I blushed, looking down at the white converse I had drawn music notes on with black permanent marker.
"So what do you guys do for fun?" Raquel asked.
"I like to go shopping with my friends in Boston. Tons of cute stores there!" Olivia said. After she finished a story about her endeavors in the city, they both looked at me.
"Honestly I spend all of my free time in a practice room. I'm three time reigning champion of 'most likely seen in a practice room'. There's always room for improvement." I said.
"Well if you're still in high school and in a big corps, that practicing has really paid off." Raquel said.
"I'm going for all-state auditions this year. That'll be scarier than my audition to get here." I joked. We then made our way back to the gym for the full corps meeting. A lot of information we were given was stuff that Raquel had told us. We then broke up into sections. My section was smaller than most, but much larger than any pit I had worked with.
"My name is Brian, I'm your section leader." One boy said, standing in front of the group.
"Many of you may think the pit is the most important section. News flash, we aren't." He said. Some of the returning players laughed.
"However, we are still part of the corps and we will work hard to keep it that way. Now, I have parts assigned here, so when I call your name, if you could just come get your music." I wondered what process they used to determine who played what in the pit. At my audition I played a marimba solo, a timpani exercise, and a triangle part. I guess they based it off of that. Returning players got called first, no surprise.
"And finally, Marley on marimba 2." My eyes widened in shock. I thought I'd get an aux part, just because I'm so young and new.
"Good luck kid." Somebody said to me, patting me on the shoulder.
"Ok, now we can go over to that table and get some ice cream. It's gonna be a fantastic year!" Brian finished. As I sat and ate my ice cream, Brian sat next to me.
"You're only a senior in high school right?" He asked.
"Yup." I said, licking my cone.
"Kudos to you for getting marimba two. That's a big part. I wasn't sure what kind of talent we were getting this year, but I'm pleasantly surprised." He said. Just then Olivia sat across the table from me.
"Oh my gosh Marley this is so exciting!" She squealed. Brian laughed.
"I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast. 6 am sharp." He said, rolling his eyes.
"Who was that?" Olivia asked.
"Brian Spaldie, pit section leader, right?" Raquel looked at me, and I nodded. By the time I got into bed, I was exhausted.
"Marley you never told us about your section meeting. How was it?" Olivia asked from the bunk below me.
"I got second marimba." I yawned. Raquel and Olivia cheered quietly.
"That's great!" They said. I smiled as I closed my eyes.
I was about to fall asleep when there was a knock at our door. Raquel groaned as she got up from her single bed across the room and opened the door. Light poured in from outside.
"What do you want Aaron?" She asked.
"We're playing a prank on the drum majors. You girls in or are you too scared?"
"I'm in." Raquel said, grabbing a flashlight. I climbed off of my bunk and threw a pinny over my sports bra.
"Me too." I said, rubbing my eyes. I saw Brian over Aaron's shoulder give me a thumbs up.
"I think Liv is sound asleep. We'll leave her here." Raquel said, shutting the door quietly behind us. As we crept down the hallway I thought about how this was going to be one of the best summers ever.