I nearly dropped my baton and stared at the girl standing on my podium. "What?" I asked, fearfully.
"I don't know how to direct," she replied calmly, looking as if that was the dumbest question she had ever heard.
I honestly didn't know how to reply. "You're going to be the drum major this summer!" I said. "How did you make it through your drum major training!"
Candice smiled at me, said something about faking it, and proceeded to take her seat.
I gave a short speech about band and how if you weren't dedicated, you could leave the room right now. No one moved. Satisfied with the response, I climbed onto the podium, raised my baton, and gave the down stroke.
Not one person played.
xXx
The first day of band camp had me watching a group of ninth graders looking around, worriedly. "Don't worry," I announced through my megaphone. "Whatever horror stories you've heard about this aren't true."
Michelle, a young girl with glasses, raised her hand slowly. "Even the part about the food being really bad?"
"I heard that we have to do skits!" another boy called.
"Really?" came a response from the girl next to him. "I heard the mattresses are covered in stains that no one can name."
Okay, so maybe some of the stories were true… "I'm not sure about the mattresses," I said. "And I happen to like the food. As for the skits…" I trailed off, looking at my band. My band. Suddenly, I wanted to quit.
xXx
"Alright, listen up! Everyone gather around, we need to practice!"
Of course, everyone listens to my assistant director, Abigail Windle. No one ever listens to me. I mean, I'm the director, so what would I know?
The band separated into their sections, standing in less than perfect arcs, ready to play. I stood in front of them, raised my hands and gave the first of many down strokes that day.
They were awful, as I had expected. Very few knew the music, the majority of those being the true blue, life long members.
"That was wonderful," I lied. "Absolutely- Briana, stopping emptying your spit valve on Lisa's head!"
Briana stopped and looked at me sheepishly while Lisa, who had apparently not noticed what was going on, began to panic.
"Ewww!" she screamed, dropping her flute and bringing her hands to her hair. "This will take forever to get out!"
I gave Abigail a look, telling him that Briana was her kid and she should take care of it.
I got a glare in return and sighed. On the other hand, this day couldn't get any worse.
xXx
I hate being wrong.
"Amanda," I asked. "Why did you stop playing?"
"I haven't been playing!" Amanda shouted back. I looked at her oddly. "Why not?"
"Nothing's coming out of my flute!"
I sighed and took the flute, carefully inspecting to see if there were any loose screws or springs. Finding none, I looked hopelessly at Abigail. She came to my rescue, taking the flute from me and peering inside. She plays the flute herself, you see, and knew more about the stupid things than I could ever hope to. "Well, here's the problem," she said, full of vast knowledge. She stuck her finger in the end of the flute and proceeded to pull something out. A furry something out.
"Don't tell me tell me that's a…"
It was. The three of us stared in silence at the cleaning stick Abigail had produced. I glanced at her, she at me, and we both looked to Amanda. Amanda's response? "Oh! That's where that thing was!"
I began to bash my head against a tree.
xXx
One massive headache and two hours of practicing later, I was leading the band through prayer before dinner. We do this for those in the band that pray before their meals. I came up with this idea of course. Though I don't actually pray myself…
The boy that mentioned the food being bad looked at the chicken in front of him, looked at me, looked back at the chicken, and said; "I told you the food was bad."
"Then don't eat it," I replied. After all, there wasn't anything I could do about the food being bad. I'd done my share for today. I was hungry, I was going to eat, and then I was going to relax for the rest of the evening. Just as the students were going to do. I hoped…
xXx
Surprisingly, band camp flew by for me. If you asked the students, they would tell you something different, but you can't ask my students, so you'll have to take my word for it.
The second to last day… I, for one, was celebrating. Quietly, of course. I didn't want to give my students the wrong idea.
Briana could handle that for me.
Briana somehow had managed to get on the guard bus. She managed to unload all of the equipment, with the help of Alaina, though Alaina would never admit to that. I have an odd feeling that Trisha played a part as well…
Well, they somehow rigged the radio up to a guitar amp. I don't think I'll ever figure out how they did this, and I don't really care.
The entire band, as well as people in the few houses scattered around near it were awakened by "I like cheese! He likes cheese! We like cheese!"
I stormed out of my cabin in my bathrobe and boxers, slamming the door behind me. "Do you have any idea what time it is!" I shouted at her. Briana smiled down at me from the top of the bus. "Yeah!" she said. "Isn't it amazing!"
"It's two o'clock in the morning!"
That didn't seem to phase her one bit. In fact, her smile grew wider, if that was possible. "I know! Rock on!" She did this odd hand motion, holding her thumb and pinky out and shaking her fist, before strumming a few notes on her guitar. My megaphone, I'm not sure how she managed to get that out of my cabin, was strapped to the base drum stand, which was balancing precariously on the edge of the bus.
By now, the other members of the band, including the faculty, had arrived and were watching with interest.
"Sir," Aiden said, coming up next to me. "Your face is getting very red."
I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster and he shrank back.
Briana wisely stayed on top of the bus. "I'm Briana Windle!" she shouted. "And I owns this camp!"
A few members of the band cheered as she began another song. I was seriously debating the consequences of climbing up after her. Or, better yet, getting behind the steering wheel of the bus and driving it with her on top.
Aiden put his hand on my shoulder. "Don't sir," he said. "It wouldn't be worth it."
Watching my band begin dancing, a few of them grabbing their instruments and joining Briana on top of the bus, had me seriously doubting Aiden's words.
xXx
Home sweet home.
I was glad to be there, stretching my feet out on my couch and turning on the television. A week surrounded by kids like… No, best not to think about her.
The awful part was, I had been away from the kids for two days and had practice with them that night. Ugh.
I didn't think I was ready for that, but it was my duty. Someone had to get those kids into tip top shape for our competition in two weeks.
There was no way we were going to win…
xXx
Practice went as well as could be expected. Kids tripped over kids, mouth pieces were lost, and one trombone player even managed to get the lid from a milk jug shoved into her bell. It wouldn't come out and I was helpless.
It was Briana that came to my rescue. Though Alaina offered to do it, she didn't have the lung capacity to launch that lid into the air. Briana, not surprisingly, did. She took a deep breath and blew as hard as she could. It was quite impressive, seeing as how she's a trumpet player. The lid flew through the air and landed on the ground, where Aiden unsuspectingly stepped on it, slipping and falling backwards, his arms flailing. He crashed into the xylophone, hitting his head on it.
The driver of the ambulance wanted to take me as well, claiming I looked way too stressed out.
"Did you see the blood?" Briana asked as the ambulance drove away, Abigail and Alaina inside it with Aiden.
One of the parents had to remind me that strangling a student would be frowned upon by others.
xXx
I've always loved the first competition of the year. The thrill I get watching my band march on to that field, full of confidence and expecting to win first place.
That is, until this year.
One of the judges looked at me, wringing my shirt in my hands. "Are you alright?" he asked, handing me a glass of water. I nodded, deciding that telling him exactly what thoughts were going through my mind probably wasn't the best thing to do.
The show, for once, went smoothly without a single problem. All three judges complimented me on the performance and I was smiling when I rejoined my band in front of our homerooms.
"Good job," I said. "Wonderful! First place is as good as ours!"
That, right there, was probably the biggest mistake of my life.
xXx
I watched, not really shocked, as the fire department put out the fire that had once been the football field.
We hadn't won first place and, while no one could prove it, I was pretty sure my band had something to do with the mysterious arson incident.
With my band gathered around me, I looked around for Briana. Naturally, she was right next to me.
"I had nothing to do with it," she told an officer. "I was with my instructor the whole time."
I knew this wasn't true, but decided that I had better follow the band motto; which was the equivalent of 'stick together' and nodded in agreement.
Besides, I was pretty upset that we didn't win as well.
xXx
We didn't make it to states. We won first place in our last show, but it wasn't nearly enough to bounce us up into the top ten. Although I was disappointed, I was more concerned with how my band would handle it.
They handled it surprising well. No fires, no bomb threats, no nothing. I blinked in surprise as they trooped off the buses, one by one, no pushing or shoving or tripping over each other in a rush to get home. All in all, it was upsetting.
I gathered them around me. "Don't worry," I said. "We still have our trip to Disney World to look forward to."
It was like a switch had been thrown. Thirty teenage faces looked at me, trying not to smile. I wasn't mad? Wow!
I fought the urge to roll my eyes and waved them off.
"Bye Mr. Adol!" Briana called, standing up in Aiden's truck bed and waving. "See you at practice tomorrow!"
Oh, Lord save me…
