A NEW CREATION
"Every artist starts with a blank canvas. As time passes on, the creation takes different shapes and paths. Finding what's true to ourselves brings our masterpiece to life. The blank canvas lies before me. There is so much excitement that it holds. I think of all the possibilities, and a new creation takes unfolds. Your life is a blank canvas. What will you create?"
STARTING WITH A BLANK CANVAS
"I'm Emily Haller, I'm your section leader, my favorite color is green, and my favorite toothpaste is Crest."
Holy crap, what have I done? I wondered. I knew this would be scary, but I never thought I would end up being this terrified. I was never going to learn everyone's name. There were NINE of them! Nine sophomores, juniors, and seniors! I only knew the two other freshmen, Meredith and Savannah, and I really wasn't close with either of them. There were a few I knew… I had met Emily Haller before, because her mother had been my dad's boss; Meredith and Savannah, obviously. Other than that, I'd never learn anyone's names.
I had been placing bets with myself on which freshman would drop out first. So far, my money was on Savannah. She didn't seem so enthused with this whole thing. Then again, most of the freshmen didn't either. As everyone passed around the circle, I tried to commit everyone's name to memory: Emily Haller, Tom, Emily Haskins, Haley, Dylan, Karly, Kelly, Matt, Jordyn, Meredith, Savannah, Me… Green, blue, purple, yellow, pink… Crest, Colgate, Aquafresh, Vanilla Mint Crest Whitening Expressions... At least we all had name tags today.
"Alright," Emily Haller said to us, "I'm going to teach you three-" she gestured to Meredith, Savannah, and I "-our flute songs. We sing these before competitions, and then we'll teach you the flute handshake. If the rest of you will sing with me. Let's do the Wee Song!"
"Sing it on weeeeeeeeeeeee."
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeee…
"When I was a wee, wee tot,
They took me off my wee, wee cot
And put me on my wee, wee pot
To see if I could wee or not.
Wee, wee wee, wee wee wee wee wee wee,
Wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee,
Woo!
When they saw that I could not,
They took me off my wee, wee pot,
And put me on my wee, wee cot,
And then I gave it all I got!
Wee, wee wee, wee wee wee wee wee wee,
Wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee,
Woo!"
Savannah, Meredith, and I stood there in shock. A WEE song?
"We sing it before performances so we don't have to go in the middle of them," Emily explained. "Next, there's Oh! A-day-lay."
Emily put her hands on her knees.
"Oh! A-day-lay!"
The others copied her. She wiggled her rear, coming back to an upright position.
"A-wicki-wicki-wumba!"
Once again, they copied her. She made a grasping motion in the air with both hands, alternating.
"A-mussa-mussa-mussa!"
They copied. She spun in a 4 count circle.
"All-a-way-all-a-way-all-a-wah!"
Copy. She raised her hands in a shrug.
"Now that was really nothing."
Copy.
"We can do it much better…"
"Cheerleader!" "Football player!" "Robot!"
"Let's do cheerleader, that's so fun!"
We repeated it in high pitched, perky voices.
What the hell am I doing here?
"Flute handshakes?" Tom suggested.
"Sure."
She walked over to him. Horizontal high-five, back-hand, horizontal high-five, backhand, snap, kiss your hand, vertical high-five, zone, hug.
A squat, bald man came over to us.
"Guys, could you teach the new kids attention, ready, roll step?"
"Sure, Dave."
He walked away.
"Alright, set a block, like this…"
A PATHWAY OF COLOR
I walked into the school with my mom.
We split off, and I walked into the band room, and she into the uniform closet.
"Hey, Matt!" I said to my ginger friend.
"Allie!"
I grinned. Savannah walked in, and I greeted her with a hug. I would have never thought in a million years that she would be my close friend. I also would have never guessed that it would have been Connor, rather than her, to drop marching band.
Mr. Hackett, our new, rather unpopular director tried to get our attention to get us into uniform. We basically ignored him at first, but being the good children we are, the flutes gathered around the door to the closet. I went in, saying hi to my mom, and grabbed my heavy uniform bag. I headed up to the bathroom, and slipped my band pants, black socks, and Dinkles on. I slipped my jacket off its hook, and grabbed my hatbox. I slipped back into the band room, and grabbed my band bag and flute.
"Allie, wait!"
I turned around to see Savannah holding up a grocery bag with a note that said "Allie" on it.
"Buddy gift!" I took it from her. The one I had bought for Meredith was gone. She must have picked it up.
We got on the bus, and set our stuff down on one of the seats toward the middle. Tom and Emily Haskins soon got on and took the seat behind us, buddy gifts in hand. People slowly filed on, and took their seats. People started asking about who got their buddy gifts.
"Allie, were you my buddy?" Dylan asked.
"Nope," I said with a smile.
"Meredith, were you my buddy?" I asked her.
"Nope."
"Matt."
He looked like he hadn't heard me.
"Matt!"
He continued looking away.
"MATT!"
He finally looked up at me, surprised.
"Yeah?"
"Were you my buddy?"
"Yeah," he said.
"I could tell by the hand writing."
I looked through my bag. Pringles, gummy bears, a huge chocolate bar, Goldfish, cookies, water… A pretty good haul.
But probably the best buddy gift was Tom's. Dylan had bought him an avocado, a favorite of his, and a little Halloween doll, with white hair and glowing red eyes, and that let out shrieks when you squeezed its stomach.
"I shall name her Brunhilda."
"Oh, no," I said to Savannah.
We arrived at Pomona festival, and watched a few rather not good bands. Then we dressed out, and blew through music warm-ups and basics block. We were taken to the band holding area, and the flutes set up their circle near a wall. I sat down, back against the wall, taking weight off my sprained ankle. I needed it for the prelims show. We did the Wee Song, Oh! A-day-lay, and flute handshakes. Then it was time to line up and head down to where we would enter from. We stood in our two lines, backs to the field. Blair and Donna walked through the lines, hugging each person. Hearing the announcer call us onto the field, they dashed up front, and we turned around. We marched out and set arcs on the track. We did a quick warm up, and took the field.
As we set up, the excitement in the freshmen was nearly tangible. Our first competition. Holy crap.
We inhaled deeply and quietly dutted as Blair counted us off. This was it. I killed the first movement, and listened to Kelly's brilliant solo in the second. Then, the third. It started up great. I was perfectly in time. Up until set 21ish of 40. I felt my feet tangle, and my back met with the grass. It felt like the world had stopped. Luckily, Hiler had no opportunity to step on me and bring down the rest of the line. It was right before a hold.
I got up as quickly as I could. I felt the tears stinging, threatening to spill over. Not till I was finished with this show. I could blame myself for the fact we wouldn't make finals later. I finished the show, gasping to hold in the tears, barely playing. As we marched off the field, I finally broke down. I gasped for air. I sobbed, letting the tears fall down my face. We weren't going to make finals, and it would be all my fault.
We circled around Blair and Donna, and I stood near Matt Hiler, wallowing in the memory of the gray sky looking at me for that small eternity.
"Hey," Hiler said, putting an arm around my shoulders. "It's ok. You got up fast. It's ok. The judges will give recovery points, if they even saw it. It's ok."
Savannah, Meredith, and Emily Haller wove through the crowd toward me. They enveloped me in hugs.
"It's ok. It won't hurt our score. It's ok. It happens," They murmured.
Blair and Donna released us to head back to the busses and undress. Meredith and Savannah threaded their arms through mine. We walked the insane distance to the bus. We walked back to the stands, Meredith and Savannah with me. Stevie and Kanin comforted me a bit, told me it was ok. But it didn't feel right. Donna hugged me.
We sat behind Lisa and Joyce. Blair and Donna stood on the field.
I sat next to Savannah and clutched her hand.
"In third place, with 68.72 points, and advancing to finals… ARAPAHOE HIGH SCHOOL!"
My breath whooshed out of me. A breath of relief.
We were through to finals, and my fall felt like the distant past.
TRUE MASTERPIECE
It was finally here. State Finals.
We ran through the show one last time for Dave, Brad, Kenny, Lauren, Matt, Fred, and Mr. Hackett. They went through their whole little, "We're going to be great, that looked awesome." Then, they left.
"Alright!" Blair called. "We're leaving clothes ON!"
"No going shirtless!" Donna clarified.
Many of the guys (and a few girls) moaned in disappointment.
The other sections ran to put on their matching boxers, their thongs for over their shorts, their Speedos, their various lingerie. The flutes stood there, wondering what to do. We intended to keep our "Most Modest" award.
We decided to take off our least revealing article. That's right we removed (cue gasp here): OUR SHOES! The majority of us ran the final rehearsal barefoot.
I took my spot next to Phil.
"Holy crap, I'm freezing!" I said, to the scantily clad (a girl's tank top, and a thong over his boxers) Phil.
Looking over at me and not seeing my frozen, muddy feet, he said "You're cold?"
"My feet!"
"Ah, that explains it."
"It does indeed."
We ran through the show.
"Seniors over there!" Donna called. "Freshmen up front, Sophomores there, Juniors in the back."
The freshmen lined up, looking about, confused.
"Hug line!" Blair called.
I couldn't help but grin.
I went through the line, savoring a few of them, laughing at a few others. I got to Paul, Phil, and Erik, the thong trio, and couldn't help but say "Well, this isn't a little awkward."
They laughed, and Phil said "You like it."
I got to the flutes.
I hugged Emily so hard, I thought I would break her. She had been the most amazing section leader I could have asked for. She had dubbed me the Teddy Bear. I bore the name proudly.
I did the same to Kelly.
Then there was Tom. I think I hugged Tom the hardest and the longest. He had taken such good care of the freshmen. He had told me the night before at the focus session that he had come to see me as his little sister. I was glad. To me, he was the big brother I never had.
But, the hug line had to go on. I released Tom, and moved on to Jordyn, whose hug seemed a little halfhearted.
The next memorable hug was Donna. My drum major buddy, and partner in crime on many a 4th hour Monday/Wednesday/Friday excursion.
We broke off, and I hugged Savannah.
It was time to go to State.
As we took the field in our finals performance, I knew this was going to be my best show yet. Blair counted us off, and the show began.
I smashed it.
As Kevin gave us taps, I felt a rush like never before. It was so amazing. Better than any coffee or roller coaster could ever do.
I guided to Keke, and we marched off the field.
I felt AMAZING.
We circled up around Blair and Donna.
Blair: "HOW DID THAT FEEL!"
Us: "AOOOO! WOOO!"
Donna: "SENIORS: LAST SHOW EVER!"
Seniors: "WOOOOO!"
Me: "Oh. Oh, wow."
Hackett and everyone else did their whole thing.
"Alright, we're doing a full retreat, seniors up front, freshmen in the back, sophomores and juniors in the middle!" Blair instructed us.
I ran to Savannah and hugged her tightly.
"We survived our first season!"
"Yes!"
"Stand next to me in the retreat."
"Ok," She grinned.
We gathered five across. To say the least, the freshmen were (dis)organized chaos.
"Randy, Matt, Josh, dress your lines!"
"Freshmen back here!"
"This is ridiculous…"
"Stand still and shut up!"
Savannah and I stood there, she on my right, and Randy on my left. We moved onto the field next to Rampart (Shoo ins for second place).
Randy shuffled and tugged at his uniform.
He turned around and said to Matt Draper "We're going to get third. It's obvious."
"Randy!" I hissed.
"What?"
"Shut up and stand still! Go to the ready!" I said.
I wanted to smack that gloveless, hatless boy (Pit. What are you gonna do?) with my plume, or better yet, my flute.
I exchanged a small glance with Savannah. This was going to be a long retreat.
Savannah and I held our breath.
"In eighth place with a score of...
"In fifth place with a score…
"In third place, and receiving bronze medals, with a score of 76.80… ARAPAHOE HIGH SCHOOL!"
We released our breaths. We were in the top three once again.
"In second place, and receiving silver medals, with a score of 78.70… RAMPART HIGH SCHOOL!
"We will now announce the remaining caption awards."
Really? When we know who's got first with at least an 80? And most likely all three captions?
"Oh, come on now…"
"Yeah," I said to Savannah "come on. "Really? I can name all three winners: Legacy, Legacy, Legacy."
"The award for High Visual Effect goes to…. LEGACY HIGH SCHOOL!
"The award for High Music Effect goes to… LEGACY HIGH SCHOOL!
"The award for High Overall Effect goes to… LEGACY HIGH SCHOOL!"
"I knew it," I muttered.
"Of course," I heard a few people mutter.
"In first place, receiving gold medals, with a score of 82.60… LEGACY HIGH SCHOOL!
"Congratulations to all the students who performed tonight. Drum majors… DIIIISMISSED!"
We broke away and removed our hats. We exchanged some hugs with Melissa, Teresa, Donna, and a few others.
"Come on," Savannah said to me, "Let's go get our medals."
"Excellent work, ladies," Blair beamed at us.
"Thanks, Blair," I smiled.
Savannah ran over to Matt and attacked him with a hug. I stopped and stared at the sky, the throngs of parents, the other bands and their directors.
This was my last performance of this show. My last show with the seniors. Damn, I was going to miss them.
Savannah was hanging back, waiting for me. I couldn't help it. The tears sprang loose and ran down my cheeks in hot rivulets.
"Allie? What's wrong?" She wrapped her arms around me.
"I'm going to miss the seniors."
"Awww… I am, too."
We walked to the path that we were supposed to be leaving on, and left in relative silence. Emily Haller was walking with a few alumni. She quickly caught up to us.
"Oh, Allie…" She knew why I was crying. She hugged me tightly. "You know, I don't think I ever told you this, but you remind me a lot of myself. I hope that's a good thing."
"I take it as a compliment."
I walked the final bit back to the bus with Teresa, a senior Mello from Legacy (Tim) who gave her a hug, and his friend. I was the only woodwind. Needless to say, they tried to convert me to Mello.
Maybe I could go find Cady once I got back…
Once we got to the busses, I went and stood with Tom and Maureen.
Tom, in an almost stern, incredulous tone: "Why are you crying?"
I just shook my head.
"Aww, Allie…" Maureen gave me a hug. "That was jerky, Tom."
I didn't see his reaction, due to my face being in Maureen's shoulder.
"I'm going to go say hi to my sister," she said, releasing me and walking over to Keke.
Tom and I stood there for a second.
"I'm sorry if I was a jerk."
He held his arms out for a hug.
A gladly accepted it.
"You weren't. It's ok."
We were called to circle up.
"DETAIL, ATTEN HUT!"
"HUUUUUUUUUT!"
"HOW ARE YOUR FEET?"
"TOGETHER!"
"STOMACH?"
"IN!"
"CHEST?"
"OUT!"
"SHOULDERS?"
"BACK!"
"ELBOWS?"
"FROZEN!"
"CHIN?"
"UP!"
"EYES?"
"WITH PRIDE!"
"EYES?"
"WITH PRIDE!"
"EYES?"
"WITH PRIDE!"
"Dut dut dut dut…. EYES?"
"WITH PRIDE!"
"FALL OUT!"
"WOOOO!"
Our last time closing out this season. Wow.
2009-2010 Flute Section
Emily Haller- Senior, Section Leader
Tom Roberts- Senior, Squad Leader, Anchor, Giraffe
Kelly Churchill- Senior, Soloist, Angel
Jordyn Mackelberger- Senior, Rooster
Matt Lay- Junior, Artist's Pencil
Emily Haskins- Junior, Bird
Karly Hood- Junior, Fish
Dylan Gordon- Sophomore, Tree
Haley Reed- Sophomore, Sunshine
Savannah Anderson- Freshman, Flower
Meredith Lutz- Freshman, Sheep
Allie Boom- Freshman, Teddy Bear
The Show
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