Carimee Copland sat on a hill overlooking the summer sun setting over the horizon. Thoughts ran wild through the teenage mind. Thoughts of life and love.
Thoughts of a boy.
A teenage boy that she had met.
A teenage boy by the name of Gabe Danes.
Gabe sat behind her holding Carimee close to him. His chin at the top of her head. She had never felt so safe before. He gently kissed her on the cheek, then on her lips. She loved him with all of her heart.
But all of that is but a memory of the past.
Carimee sat on the same hill a few months later. This time, she was alone. The sunset hidden behind the storm clouds. Tears flowed down her color-drained face. Her heart was hurting from the pain of Gabe's leave. He left her for another. Another girl whose heart will soon be shattered like Carimee's.
She fell on the ground weeping. Fell on the same spot that they had been a few months earlier. The spot that she cherished in her mind. The spot that now haunted her with every passing day and night. She was lost.
Lost without him. The boy who loved her, or so she thought. The boy she loved.
The rain began to fall as she cried in that one spot. That one memory stained spot. What was she going to do now? Where is was she going to go…
How will she live?
Months later, Carimee laid in her bed as the sunrise shone through her window. Her thousands of multicolored blankets covered her face. Her auburn hair covered her blue pillow.
The alarm clock went off.
First day of school.
She woke up and looked at the clock. It was 6:30 in the morning. Her mom walked into her room with a tray of breakfast.
"Wake up. It's the first day of school." Laurie Copland said to the sleepy daughter. Carimee sat up in her bed and looked at the tray of breakfast and almost threw up. Her mother hasn't been the best cook since her husband left them, especially her breakfast.
"Um… the breakfast looks great mom," said Carimee, "but I am really not that hungry.
"Oh alright, maybe your brother will be hungry."
Yeah right mom, thought Carimee. Not even the dog will eat that. She never had the heart to tell her mom what she thought of her cooking.
"Mom, can you leave?" Carimee asked. "I'd like to get ready for school."
"Oh of course!" She took the tray of food and went to her brother's room. Carimee chucked as she thought how her brother was stuck with the food. He always ate her food even though he hated it.
She got out of her bed and pulled out her drawers. They were full of dark clothes. No bright colors consumed her drawers since the phone call.
The phone call from Gabe. The harsh words still in her thoughts.
She didn't want to see him at school today.
She grabbed her clothes and changed from her pajamas to her black pants and low cut long sleeved black shirt. She walked over to her makeup bag and pulled out the black eyeliner and eyeshadow. Ever since that night, the beautiful peach color in her skin has gone drained from her face. She finished up putting on her makeup as her cell phone rang. She let it ring for awhile. Finally, she realized that the phone wouldn't stop ringing until she answered the phone.
It was Gabe.
"Hello? Carimee?"
"What do you want, Gabe?"
"Hey! I didn't think you would answer the phone. I thought it would be…"
"Gabe! What is it? You are running down my cell minutes!"
"Oh sorry. Um… I wanted to say that I don't want things to be awkward at school. Especially since we have all the same classes as you."
"We as in?"
"Chelsea and me."
"Chelsea as in... your girlfriend?"
"Of course."
Damn, Cassie thought. "Well, I'll be getting my schedule changed soon, so that won't be a problem. There is a class that I want to take."
Of course she lied to him. She didn't want him to think that she was changing her classes because of him and Chelsea.
"Oh that's cool I guess. What class are you going to take?"
Uh oh… she was afraid that he was going to ask that.
"Um… band."
"Oh really? You haven't been in band since your sixth grade year! I guess I will see you at the games then."
Great, she thought. "Um… yeah. Gabe, I have to go."
Before he could say bye, she hung up on him. That was the first time she had talked to him since they broke up. She knew she shouldn't have answered the phone.
"Come on Carimee!" shouted her mother. "It's time to go!"
Carimee opened the school doors and walked into the student-filled hallways. Looking down at the dirty floors, she walked through the hallways hoping not to run into Gabe. The halls soon went from loud and talkative to quiet as the lonely girl walked the hallways. Whispers soon replaced the talking.
Whispers of what happened with Gabe and Carimee.
Everyone knew that they had broken up. If the school had an award for the cutest couple, they would have won it. Carimee ignored the whispering and walked to the office to get her schedule changed.
As soon as she walked into the office, she glanced over to the chairs that sat against the wall to see Gabe sitting in one of the chairs. He stood up to talk to her, but Carimee started talking to the office secretary before he could get a word in.
"Hello. What do you need?" said the secretary.
"I would like to get my schedule changed, please." Carimee replied.
"Alright, follow me." Carimee followed the secretary and didn't look back at Gabe, who started for the door. The secretary led her to the guidance counselor's office and left.
Carimee walked in and knocked on the wall.
"Knock knock," she said.
"Oh hey," the guidance counselor said. "Come on in." Carimee walked in and sat in the chair that was in front of the desk. "So what do you need?"
"Um.. I want to change my schedule a little bit."
"Alright. What do you want to change?"
"I want to change everything around, but my foreign language with band."
"Band.. hmm. Alright. I can do that." She said in his office for awhile waiting for him to finish up her schedule. After five minutes, he handed her the new schedule. "Alright you're set!"
"Thank you very much." She walked out the door with the schedule in hand. Once she walked out the office doors, the whispering started again. She didn't care. It's high school. They will get over it one day.
She heard someone shout her name through the crowd. As she turned around, she saw her best friend walking toward her with a shocked look on her face.
"Wow Carimee!" said her best friend, Ali Hunter. "When you said that you changed your look, you really ment it, didn't you?"
"Heh… yeah. It's just temporary. I promise."
"Well I hope so cause you look like death in a female body!"
Carimee chucked at what Ali said, but at the same time, she felt offended. Of course it wasn't temporary for Carimee. She couldn't tell Ali that. She didn't want Ali to think of her as a freak like she does to all of the other gothic people in the school. Besides, Ali can't tell when Carimee was lying or not. She isn't that bright.
"Well, I have to get to class." Ali said, pulling her long dark brown hair back into a ponytail. "See you later."
"Bye." Carimee started walking toward her first class until Ali yelled her name again.
"Oh Carimee. Wait a second!" she yelled. Carimee stopped and turned around.
"Yeah Ali?"
"Gabe told me that you changed your schedule to band. Why would you do something like that? You haven't played in band since your sixth grade year."
"Um… well… I want to try playing my french horn again." Carimee lied again. She didn't want Ali to know that she changed it because of Gabe.
"Oh… well I hope you know that this semester is marching band."
"Yeah, so…"
"Um… they don't play French horns in marching band."
"Oh… what do they play then?" said Carimee, sounding worried now.
"You'll see." Ali walked away as she said that. Carimee looked at Ali walk away, and then walked to her first class.
It was finally fourth period. The class Carimee had been dreading all day since she had talked to Ali. The class she used to hate so much as a sixth grader.
Band…
She walked into the band room and looked around. Trophies from competitions were lined up neatly on shelves. Pictures of the band in New York and Disney World hung on the walls. A long hallway stretched from the band rehearsal room to the storage room for instruments and uniforms. It was so big.
The bell rang right when a stampede of band kids walked through the double doors. One of the doors squeaky and loud. The other locked. Half walked into the instrument storage room to get their instruments. The other half walked into the bathrooms to change into shorts and t-shirts. All of them stopped and looked at least once at the color-deprived girl looking aimlessly for the band director. Many whispered rumors about her and Gabe.
Out of the chaos of band kids trying to get on the field to warm-up was a girl without an instrument who came up to Carimee.
"You look lost. I'm Kylie Black," said the girl.
"I am a bit confused. It's so big here! I'm Carimee Copland."
"Yes it is. Well, welcome to the McGhee band building. I bet you are looking for the director, Mr. Williams."
"Yeah I am. Do you know where he might be?" Carimee looked up and down the long stretch of hallway.
"Sure! Follow me." Kylie started walking as Carimee followed close behind, afraid she might get stuck in the ruckus of it all. They walked into yet another hallway which led to a bunch of little rooms. Practice rooms maybe? They finally reached the Mr. Williams' office.
"Mr. Williams, we have a new student," said Kylie.
"Great. What's your name?" he asked Carimee.
"Carimee Copland, sir," she replied.
"Well Carimee, I see you have met the drum major."
"Drum major?" Carimee had a question in her voice.
Kylie looked at her and smiled. "Yeah, I forgot to mention that. I'm the drum major."
"Yes, well… Kylie, go start rehearsal. I'll get Carimee settled," Mr. Williams said. Kylie walked out of the office and into the long stretch of hallway. Carimee watched her walk out, and then turned her attention to Mr. Williams who took a pair of keys out of his top drawer of his wooden desk. "So Carimee, what do you play?"
"French horn, but I was told you don't march french horns."
"You were told right. French horn players play mellophones."
"Mello-what?" Carimee sounded confused and out of it.
"Mellophones. They are marching versions of a french horn. They have trumpet fingerings and are shaped almost like a trumpet, but bigger with the sound of a french horn. I think you will enjoy playing it." He got the keys and walked out the door. "I'll be right back with your mellophone."
She sat on the chair in his office and looked around at the pictures that hung on the wall. Of course, they were all band pictures, but they were different than the pictures that hung out in the hallways. No, they were different. The uniforms looked more professional and contemperary, and there were no woodwinds in any of the pictures. She wondered why there were no clarinets or piccolos. In one of the pictures, there was a picture of a man on a podium with a conducting baton. He, as well, had a uniform, but it was so different from the other uniforms. Different colors and a different style. It was the drum major of the band, but who was it? It looked a little like Mr. Williams, but it couldn't be. Could it?
Mr. Williams walked into the office with a mellophone in hand, as well as a flip-folder of music attached to a lyer. As he handed everything to her, he started talking to her about marching.
"Now, since you weren't at band camp, you will have to play on the sidelines. If you ever want to march, you can learn from another marcher and may want to challenge another mellophone player for their spot on the field."
"Um… I don't think I will want to march, but thank you anyways." Carimee kind of chuckled at the idea of marching. Me? Marching? That's hilarious! She focused her attention on the pictures again. "Mr. Williams, if you don't mind me asking, what are the pictures of?"
"Oh, that was a drum corp I was in a long time ago. The Spirit of the South Drum and Bugle Corp. I was drum major." He motioned to the picture of the man on the podium with a conductors baton. Carimee didn't know what a drum corp was, but she wasn't about to ask. "Alright Carimee," Mr. Williams began to say. "I think you are set. Go on out to the field and Kylie will introduce you to the mellophone section."
"Thank you, sir." Carimee walked out of the office.
What am I getting myself in to?