A/N: I like this story, but I don't know if I should continue it. Reviews are very much appreciated!

The thickly-muscled boy stood in front of the group of us, a bari sax harness around him, his hands clasped behind his back. I couldn't help myself from shuddering under the gaze I could feel radiating from under his apparently designer sunglasses. He whipped them off his tanned face, showing the group the very pale area around his equally pale blue eyes. When he spoke, his voice was deep and booming, a voice that both commanded and demanded attention.

"Welcome to Hell Week." He gave a small smirk as the two other freshmen tittered.

I, on the other hand, stayed silent. I had endured the true Hell Week back at Valley-Center. There was an odd clutching feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I brushed it off. I missed my old school, my old band, and especially my old friends. I felt my eyes mist up as I thought of the sax section leader at Valley-Center, Calvin. He had been my best friend since I was in seventh grade, him in his freshman year. I loved that kid like a brother.

"I wasn't kidding." The older boy said in his creepy voice. "This is the worst week you will ever endure in your life, unless you decide to join us again next season." He spread his lips in a grimace.

An older-looking girl with dusty red hair stood up in the front and turned to face the eight of us that were sitting on the parched grass. "Since your head section leader jerk hasn't bothered to introduce ourselves…" The girl looked over her shoulder at the boy and gave him a big smile. "Love you too, babe. Your head section leader back there is Jesse M, co-section leader. I'm a senior as well, and I'm on alto. Now why don't we go around and introduce ourselves? Yeah, returning veterans, I know this is old hat to you. Deal with it."

Angela sat down, as she gestured for the boy next to her to stand up. He stood shakily, his long brown hair covering his face the entire time he spoke. "I'm Jasper Cook. This is my third year in marching band, because I'm a junior. I play tenor, because it's the coolest. Yeah."

A chubby boy with curly blonde hair stood up before Jasper even had a chance to settle down on the grass. "I'm Ethan Baum. I play alto. This is my third year of marching band, second year on alto. Yes, I am one of those weird guys who were originally on clarinet. Shut up." He gave a hearty smile as he sat down.

Next to stand up were three almost-identical boys, save for their hair and the clothes on their backs. The first to speak had on a black t-shirt and cargo shorts with black sneakers, his hair jet-black like night. "I'm Evan Mack. I'm a sophomore, and I play alto. Out of the three of us Mack boys, I'm the coolest. You better believe it."

The middle boy in the line had on a white t-shirt that read Lincoln Heights Jazz Ensemble and blue jeans with dirt-stained white sneakers. He had curly light brown hair with a white baseball cap with a LH embroidered on the front. "I'm Joey Mack. Oldest of the three of us boys, and I play tenor. Saxophone is my life."

I felt my heart skip a beat when the third of the boys began to speak. His blue jeans shorts were held up by a large black belt and he had on the same t-shirt as Joey. He had hair the same shade as Joey's, long enough so it just barely tickled his chin. "I'm Tyler Mack. I play alto, and I'm the youngest. I really love playing sax, even though I can play almost anything you hand me. So, um, yeah… Hi." He scratched the back of his neck, looking down at the scuffed toes of his red high-tops.

"And now onto my little freshmen." Angela smiled, and I felt my heart calm down.

The girl to the left of me stood up. Her corkscrewed brown hair bounced all around as she swayed from side to side. "I'm Jaime Gray, and I've been playing saxophone since I was in eighth grade, so I'm already freaking amazing, and I play alto and it's awesome!" She clapped her hands together as she plopped back on the ground.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. How could somebody that annoyingly hyper and Valley Girl be in our section? It seemed like I was going to have some personality conflicts with that girl.

I saw the boy to the right of me rise out of the corner of my eye. He spoke in a calm and steady voice, his eyes dark beneath his red hair. "I'm Wren Cartier, and I play tenor. I can't wait to start marching."

I finally stood, feeling my heart skip around as everyone looked at me. I took a deep breath and said, "Hi. I'm Melody Cadence Williamson. I've been playing sax since I was six. Marching band is my favorite sport."

As I crashed back down to the ground, Angela asked sweetly, "Which sax you play, hun?"

"Oh." I felt myself blushing. "I play bari."

She gave me a small smile as she said, "Sorry, hun. Our school only has one bari and Jesse gets it."

I gave her an even larger smile. "Oh, no. It's okay. My dad owned the music store in Rica Valley, my old town, and he gave me my own bari for my Bat Mitzvah."

"Oh." Angela was stunned into silence.

Out of nowhere, I heard the frightening voice again, and my eyes fell on Jesse. "We only let the best play the bari."

I couldn't hold back my tongue before I said, "I am the best! I was the only eighth-grader ever to get into District Jazz. I've been playing saxophone for eight years. My dad taught me everything he knows, and I want to be just like him!"

Angela sighed. "Jesse, don't get started with arguments. This girl has got what it takes. She's what she says she is. We're going to let her play bari."

"How do you she's good?" Jesse hissed, pale eyes narrowing.

"I know." Angela said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

The older boy rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest with a sullen look on his face. Angela gave him one last glance and then clapped her hands together once, making it echo around the dry empty space around the oak tree that we were all settled under.

"Okay." She said, her voice suddenly taking a slightly more business-like tone. "See the edge of the building over there?"

She pointed off into the distance, to the red brick building that was partially obscured by trees. "That's the school. We're going to run there, touch the wall, and run back. Three times. It's like laps for us. So everyone get up. Today, we're just going to cover the marching basics that we're going to need for our show. And we'll show you rookies how to march with your respective sax. So let's get going!"

I stood right away, used to the old way everyone in Valley-Center would spring up lithely when a command was given. I was surprised when a few people lagged behind on the ground, save for the Mack triplets. They, like me, sprung up right away. "Angela said get up!" Jesse screamed, putting his sunglasses back on.

The remaining four jumped up quickly then, frightened of the wrath that was Jesse McGowan. "Okay, now pace yourselves." Angela said in a tone much different than the male section leader's. "And let's go."

I set off at a crisp jog, and I could already feel my legs groaning under the strain. Sure, my arms were strong, but that didn't mean my lower appendages were the same. I saw somebody out of the corner of my eye, and I heard a familiar voice say, "So you play bari?"

"Yeah." I gave Tyler a small smile. "I really love bari. So you like alto?"

"I guess. I wish I could play tenor, but Joey laid claim to ours. I played the bari back at Lincoln Heights, because I used the school one. I really miss Lincoln Heights." A frown crossed his face, darkening his eyes.

I wiped my brow and responded, "I really miss Valley-Center. My best friend in the entire world was my section leader back there. He was the coolest."

"I'm actually really surprised about the section here." Tyler said, looking off into space. "There were only four of us back at Lincoln Heights. And then my family moves to Kelsey Junction, and there are ten! It's insane!"

I gave him a grin. "My marching band at home had three altos, a tenor, and me on bari. I liked it way better. But whatever. So who were your friends back at Lincoln Heights?"

An odd look passed over Tyler's face, but it was gone in an instant. "Well, I barely had any friends. I had about… four true friends. Kris, Carrie, Nick, and John. They were the best people you could ever ask to know. We were totally inseparable. And then some really bad things happened and… We grew apart."

"Like what?" I could feel myself overstepping boundaries, but I didn't care.

He sighed as we both touched the red brick and then turned around to go back towards the oak tree. He looked out into the distance, seeing things buried in his past. "The five of us were coming home from going mini-golfing, because we all played mallets for Indoor Drumline and we were like four brothers and a sister. Nick was driving. It was really dark, and raining, so he pulled over onto the side of the road until the conditions got better."

"He pulled over?" I couldn't help butting in, confusion plastered clearly all over my face.

Tyler sighed. "Yeah, Nick pulled over. He didn't want to risk any of our lives by driving in crap like that. So we were all just sitting there, talking and singing and stuff. Then this big Mack truck comes blaring up behind us, with the headlights turned way down so you could barely see two feet in front of it. Carrie was sitting shotgun, and since she was turned around talking to us, she saw it first. She started screaming, and at that point it was too late."

I felt my heart leap up in my throat, and I made a sputtering noise. Tyler gave me an odd look, and then continued. "She was the only one of us who died on impact, because we were pushed right into a guardrail on the right side, where she was sitting. Nick died at the hospital from his injuries. And Kris killed himself two weeks later, because he had just given up on everything. John and I grew apart because we didn't want to have to relive that all again."

I felt my heart stop in my chest. "Oh my God." The tears were building up behind my eyes. "How did you live through that?"

He didn't say anything as we rounded the tree. I saw water tracing down his face from his chocolate eyes. "I really don't know. It was just pure luck that saved me and John. But to lose three of the people I cared about most… That was the most hell-ish thing I've ever had to go through. And, because of that, I never want to go back."

I was totally silent. How could somebody that seemed so cheerful have gone through things like that and lived to bear witness to them? I swallowed and then spoke up softly. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks for your sympathy." I could tell he wasn't sorry at all, but the words were just blooming fake on his lips. "So what was your old school like?"

"I was friends with everyone in my section." I smiled slightly, thinking back to the old memories. "My best friend is a junior this year. His name was Calvin and he was section leader since I was in seventh grade and he was in his freshman year. I was the only girl out of the five of us, and I marched the biggest sax. I was always the youngest. I loved those guys like my brothers, and they had my back through everything. I miss them so much."

"I know exactly what you mean." Tyler said darkly as we touched the red brick building again. "I wish I could move back… But I really don't want to have to deal with all those memories again. Plus it didn't help that my bus went past the spot every day. It drove me insane with hate and fear and worry and pain."

"Hurry up!" Jesse's voice called as we rounded the tree. "You better be going into your second lap already!"

"Third, actually." Tyler's voice was calm, with just a hint of ice behind it.

As we sped away, he muttered, "I really don't like that kid. He's nothing like my section leader back at home."

"Yeah, mine either." I sighed, yet again thinking of Calvin.

"My section leader back home… He was the coolest. We were the only totally guy section in the entire marching band. It was one of the most fun things I've ever been involved in, in my entire life." He said, touching the brick wall.

"I really miss my marching band. I wish they all could have moved here with me." I smiled at the thought of most of the Valley-Center band moving here to Kelsey Junction with me. "My band at home had finally broken a hundred members this year, and I had to move before I could see any of that. It sucks!"

Tyler's eyes bulged as he looked at me with an odd look plastered on his face. "A hundred? Holy carp! My band at my old school had fifty in a really, really good year. Last year, there was a grand total of twelve woodwinds."

I tried to do the math quickly in my head. "There were… Five assorted saxes, ten normal clarinets, nine flutes, three piccolos, an alto clarinet, and two bass clarinets. So there were… thirty woodwinds."

Tyler's jaw fell open in astonishment. "That's freaking insane! I wish we could've ever had that many woodwinds! That was my whole band back at home, save for guard and drumline. That's totally bananas!"

I felt myself smiling as we collapsed beneath the old oak tree, a thin coating of sweat across my brow. I wiped it away with the back of my hand, shut my eyes slowly, and leaned back, exhaling smoothly.

Tyler crashed to the ground beside me, and he immediately picked a dry blade of grass out of the ground, blowing on it between his fingers. Angela came puffing over, her rust-colored hair streaming behind her. She caught most of it in between her hands and, while speaking, attempted to tie it back. "Go to wherever your stuff is. Get it. Put your saxes together, and then come back out here."

I stood up quickly, offering Tyler a hand to help him stand. He accepted it and pulled himself upright. As we walked back towards the school, I heard a deep voice call out.

"Welcome to Hell Week, noobs!"