I stepped out of the car into the rain and walked around to the trunk to
get my stuff out. That successful, I closed it and leaned into the open
passenger window. "I'll be careful, Mom! And I'll have fun for sure!"
"Okay, you sure you got everything? Toothpaste, extra socks, enough water?"
"Yeah, Mom." I rolled my eyes. She always did that. Oh well. Didn't hurt to check and make sure I had everything I needed. "See you Friday!!"
I extracted myself from the window so she could roll it up and waved. She waved back. I picked up my bags and watched her drive off. After she turned out of the parking lot, I turned around and walked into the bandroom. Once inside, I stopped and looked around. About twelve people were already there along with a large pile of luggage. I sighed contentedly. The bandroom was one of my favorite hangouts. There was almost always someone willing to play euchre, or do something.
Today was the first day of marching band camp. I got out of the doorway so Jos and Becca, who had shown up behind me, could come in. I set down my bags in an unoccupied corner near the doorway. I watched Jos, third year marcher like me and the only tenor sax player left this year, come in and set her things next to mine. She's a junior like me.
"So I see your hair's blonde now, Jos. Hey, Becca." I remarked casually. She tended to dye her hair at least twice a year, and when I had last seen her, it was bright red.
"Yeah. I decided to go a little more natural." I wasn't sure what that meant because I was never really sure what her true hair color was. I assumed it was blonde, though. She and I really became friends last year, sparked off by a collaboration at last year's band camp on Lip Sync Night. Jos and I quickly became best friends after that. She was the craziest person I have ever met, quick to tease someone and very spontaneous, but would keep anyone's secret without question. I trusted her with my life (most of the time).
Becca was more on the cynical side of things. Top of her class with a 4.0, (she's a senior) she had an infallible work ethic and loved order, well, at least when she could have it. Order was not an option when Jos was around. Becca had learned quickly not to mind when Jos decided to pile everyone in her van on the last day of school last year at the drop of a hat to take all of us to McDonald's where we ending up spending two hours shooting straw wrappers at each other. We almost got kicked out. Still, that didn't deter us since we were on our way out anyway.
"Have you seen the new band director around?" I asked suddenly of Jos.
"Yeah, we met him last week, remember?"
"No, the new band director."
"Yeah," she said, getting a little annoyed. "His name is Mr. Nodin."
"No, Jos. We have another new band director."
"WHAT?!" She hadn't heard, then.
"Yeah, his name is Mr. Calhoun, I think. My mom got a call from one of the band boosters saying that Nodin got a better offer closer to where he lived, and decided to take that. Apparently our school hadn't officially hired him, but he had instead signed a letter of intent. And this Calhoun guy was actually the school's first choice, but they called on Nodin because he, quote, 'had more experience'." I let it all come out in a rush. "And, umm, they called Calhoun Saturday and hired him, my mom said. She then lectured me on what I could do to keep people from resenting this, like I wasn't going to do it anyway, and that no one was sure about what was going to happen this season."
Jos was taken aback. "But . . . but . . . Nodin was good!"
"But he left us. Get over it."
We started chatting about our how the summer went, until I glanced over at the door in time to see Pierce come in, followed closely by Kalea. Ever since pre-band camp last week, Jos and I had the distinct notion that they liked each other. Between Jos's newfound obsession with the word "DOOM!!" and threatening to "destroy" Kalea, Jos found time to light-heartedly tease her about Pierce, at which she would get defensive and blush. It was amusing to watch.
"Hey, look! Pierce and Kalea!" I pointed out.
"DOOM!! You shall be DE-stroyed!" Jos yelled at Kalea. Kalea pretended to cringe, then headed over to our little roost and put down her things, followed by Pierce. Jos informed them of the change in directorship, while I watched a guy I had never seen before enter uncertainly, luggage in hand, and begin to wander in our direction. He was wearing knee-length khaki shorts and a black Coldplay t-shirt under a raincoat. Most striking about him was his face, strongly-featured with dark brown hair and short goatee coupled with intense green eyes. He looked to be about sixteen or seventeen. The rest of him wasn't bad, either, come to think of it. Whoa, Lyssa, I thought to myself, you're moving a little too fast after what happened with Will this summer.
Just before the new guy came in, Will walked in, spotted me, and slunk away like a bruised cat. Good. He deserved it. At least he didn't try to talk to me. That was bound to happen later, though, I realized with dread. I had no desire to talk to that jerk.
I had been going out with Will for part of the school year and most of the summer, but I called it off after he began getting too controlling over my life and strangely possessive. By that time, I was getting really tired of his constant calling and asking to go on yet another date. It was but three weeks ago when I told him I was leaving for a week at our cabin in the Upper Peninsula, and he got really depressed. I came back to find he left five or six phone messages for me. It was getting to the point where I felt like my own boyfriend was stalking me, and I couldn't stand it anymore. I called him and told him that I just gotten back from my vacation, and I needed a few days to unpack and get in touch with the rest of the world for a while. He got offended and began accusing me of all sorts of things I had never done. I argued back and eventually hung up on him. He immediately called back, but I refused to answer it, and did so for the remainder of the summer until now. That was the last straw. The next day I e-mailed him a message saying it was over. He called four times that evening while I was in the shower, and my mom told him off. She was my hero that night. Still, the whole thing hurt. A lot.
I told myself to get off that train of thought, and elbowed Jos, who was threatening to destroy Kalea again. I said, indicating the kid who just walked though the door, "Who is that guy?"
"Dunno. Looks cute . . . Hey, you!" she yelled, pointing at the guy. He looked up questioningly, "Yes, you! Come over here and introduce yourself! We don't bite!"
He picked his way through the mounds of luggage and intsruments hiding the floor. Reaching us, he said, "Hi. My name's Vincent Nolan, but just call me 'Vin'."
"Hey, Vin," we all said, almost in unison. I stepped forward and introduced myself. "I'm Lyssa Melekan. I play trombone."
"I play drums. I was the jazz band drummer back at my school in Minnesota."
"Lucky you! We don't have a jazz band. Who knows, maybe Mr. Calhoun will form one this year."
By that time, most everyone was in the bandroom, and I looked around to find still more gigantic mounds of luggage and water everywhere, both bottled and from people's feet. I saw our drum major, nicknamed Thor (because he was obsessed with the Norse thunder god), with, among other things, an electric guitar case. Why, I asked myself. He set down his guitar, looked around, and . . .
"BAND ATTEN HUT!!"
Everyone who wasn't new to the band stood up and yelled, "HUT!!" as loud as possible, then stood straight (a feat, considering the load most of the students had to carry in their backpacks during the year), eyes up, and hands at their sides. That is band attention.
"At ease, but don't talk," Thor said. The band relaxed and looked around. A man I had never seen before stepped up, and said, "Welcome. Is everyone here?" in an aside to Thor. "
"Mostly, I think."
"Anyway, my name is Mr. Calhoun, and I am the new band director." People who hadn't heard this looked around and muttered amongst themselves in surprise. That made up most of the band. Thor glared at them but said nothing. I stayed silent and tried to judge him. He looked like an intelligent person. He was clearly nervous about the whole deal. I couldn't blame him, though. He got hired on Saturday, for crying out loud! It was a personal habit of mine to try and appraise someone new and see how right I was once I got to know the him (or her).
Mr. Calhoun looked around nervously and said, "I know you were all expecting Mr. Nodin to be here, but he found a better job and took that. I am your new band director as of Saturday. The only show I could order on such short notice was a Tchaikovsky show, but I think we can pull it off."
I nodded silently. I leaned over to Jos, and whispered in her ear, "Looks we have another good one, but he's nervous." She nodded, apparently getting the same impression I had.
"The buses will be here soon, and you can load up then. Everyone with a large instrument can put it on the truck. You can continue talking now." Mr. Calhoun said, and walked over to one of the parent chaperones nearby and began talking quietly.
The kids looked around uncomfortably at first, but several seconds later, the noise level was just as high as it was before Thor called us up. (By the way, "getting called up" is another way of saying, "getting called to attention.") I grabbed my trombone and Jos's tenor sax and made my way out to the truck. Par usual, the band was allotted the old rustbucket with the crappy battery yet again. (Once it wouldn't start before a big pep band gig, and my trombone was on it, and we had to load up a school pickup truck . . . let's not go there. That was funny only after it was over.) A couple of parents were standing outside the truck, taking equipment. I left our instruments with them, and that done, returned to the bandroom.
Following one false alarm about the buses' arrival, they finally did come, and we loaded up. Jos, Becca, Pierce, Kalea, Vin, a few others, and I loaded up at the front. I was sitting with Jos. I looked out the rain- spattered window and watched the stragglers hurry up and get on the buses.
I looked at Jos, and said, "Well, here we go. Band camp 2002."
"Yep," she replied.
"It's gonna be different this year, for sure. I will say that right now. I've got one of those feelings," I said. I looked up as the bus driver started the engine.
Amid ragged cheers from the band, the buses began moving and we were on our way to band camp.
"Okay, you sure you got everything? Toothpaste, extra socks, enough water?"
"Yeah, Mom." I rolled my eyes. She always did that. Oh well. Didn't hurt to check and make sure I had everything I needed. "See you Friday!!"
I extracted myself from the window so she could roll it up and waved. She waved back. I picked up my bags and watched her drive off. After she turned out of the parking lot, I turned around and walked into the bandroom. Once inside, I stopped and looked around. About twelve people were already there along with a large pile of luggage. I sighed contentedly. The bandroom was one of my favorite hangouts. There was almost always someone willing to play euchre, or do something.
Today was the first day of marching band camp. I got out of the doorway so Jos and Becca, who had shown up behind me, could come in. I set down my bags in an unoccupied corner near the doorway. I watched Jos, third year marcher like me and the only tenor sax player left this year, come in and set her things next to mine. She's a junior like me.
"So I see your hair's blonde now, Jos. Hey, Becca." I remarked casually. She tended to dye her hair at least twice a year, and when I had last seen her, it was bright red.
"Yeah. I decided to go a little more natural." I wasn't sure what that meant because I was never really sure what her true hair color was. I assumed it was blonde, though. She and I really became friends last year, sparked off by a collaboration at last year's band camp on Lip Sync Night. Jos and I quickly became best friends after that. She was the craziest person I have ever met, quick to tease someone and very spontaneous, but would keep anyone's secret without question. I trusted her with my life (most of the time).
Becca was more on the cynical side of things. Top of her class with a 4.0, (she's a senior) she had an infallible work ethic and loved order, well, at least when she could have it. Order was not an option when Jos was around. Becca had learned quickly not to mind when Jos decided to pile everyone in her van on the last day of school last year at the drop of a hat to take all of us to McDonald's where we ending up spending two hours shooting straw wrappers at each other. We almost got kicked out. Still, that didn't deter us since we were on our way out anyway.
"Have you seen the new band director around?" I asked suddenly of Jos.
"Yeah, we met him last week, remember?"
"No, the new band director."
"Yeah," she said, getting a little annoyed. "His name is Mr. Nodin."
"No, Jos. We have another new band director."
"WHAT?!" She hadn't heard, then.
"Yeah, his name is Mr. Calhoun, I think. My mom got a call from one of the band boosters saying that Nodin got a better offer closer to where he lived, and decided to take that. Apparently our school hadn't officially hired him, but he had instead signed a letter of intent. And this Calhoun guy was actually the school's first choice, but they called on Nodin because he, quote, 'had more experience'." I let it all come out in a rush. "And, umm, they called Calhoun Saturday and hired him, my mom said. She then lectured me on what I could do to keep people from resenting this, like I wasn't going to do it anyway, and that no one was sure about what was going to happen this season."
Jos was taken aback. "But . . . but . . . Nodin was good!"
"But he left us. Get over it."
We started chatting about our how the summer went, until I glanced over at the door in time to see Pierce come in, followed closely by Kalea. Ever since pre-band camp last week, Jos and I had the distinct notion that they liked each other. Between Jos's newfound obsession with the word "DOOM!!" and threatening to "destroy" Kalea, Jos found time to light-heartedly tease her about Pierce, at which she would get defensive and blush. It was amusing to watch.
"Hey, look! Pierce and Kalea!" I pointed out.
"DOOM!! You shall be DE-stroyed!" Jos yelled at Kalea. Kalea pretended to cringe, then headed over to our little roost and put down her things, followed by Pierce. Jos informed them of the change in directorship, while I watched a guy I had never seen before enter uncertainly, luggage in hand, and begin to wander in our direction. He was wearing knee-length khaki shorts and a black Coldplay t-shirt under a raincoat. Most striking about him was his face, strongly-featured with dark brown hair and short goatee coupled with intense green eyes. He looked to be about sixteen or seventeen. The rest of him wasn't bad, either, come to think of it. Whoa, Lyssa, I thought to myself, you're moving a little too fast after what happened with Will this summer.
Just before the new guy came in, Will walked in, spotted me, and slunk away like a bruised cat. Good. He deserved it. At least he didn't try to talk to me. That was bound to happen later, though, I realized with dread. I had no desire to talk to that jerk.
I had been going out with Will for part of the school year and most of the summer, but I called it off after he began getting too controlling over my life and strangely possessive. By that time, I was getting really tired of his constant calling and asking to go on yet another date. It was but three weeks ago when I told him I was leaving for a week at our cabin in the Upper Peninsula, and he got really depressed. I came back to find he left five or six phone messages for me. It was getting to the point where I felt like my own boyfriend was stalking me, and I couldn't stand it anymore. I called him and told him that I just gotten back from my vacation, and I needed a few days to unpack and get in touch with the rest of the world for a while. He got offended and began accusing me of all sorts of things I had never done. I argued back and eventually hung up on him. He immediately called back, but I refused to answer it, and did so for the remainder of the summer until now. That was the last straw. The next day I e-mailed him a message saying it was over. He called four times that evening while I was in the shower, and my mom told him off. She was my hero that night. Still, the whole thing hurt. A lot.
I told myself to get off that train of thought, and elbowed Jos, who was threatening to destroy Kalea again. I said, indicating the kid who just walked though the door, "Who is that guy?"
"Dunno. Looks cute . . . Hey, you!" she yelled, pointing at the guy. He looked up questioningly, "Yes, you! Come over here and introduce yourself! We don't bite!"
He picked his way through the mounds of luggage and intsruments hiding the floor. Reaching us, he said, "Hi. My name's Vincent Nolan, but just call me 'Vin'."
"Hey, Vin," we all said, almost in unison. I stepped forward and introduced myself. "I'm Lyssa Melekan. I play trombone."
"I play drums. I was the jazz band drummer back at my school in Minnesota."
"Lucky you! We don't have a jazz band. Who knows, maybe Mr. Calhoun will form one this year."
By that time, most everyone was in the bandroom, and I looked around to find still more gigantic mounds of luggage and water everywhere, both bottled and from people's feet. I saw our drum major, nicknamed Thor (because he was obsessed with the Norse thunder god), with, among other things, an electric guitar case. Why, I asked myself. He set down his guitar, looked around, and . . .
"BAND ATTEN HUT!!"
Everyone who wasn't new to the band stood up and yelled, "HUT!!" as loud as possible, then stood straight (a feat, considering the load most of the students had to carry in their backpacks during the year), eyes up, and hands at their sides. That is band attention.
"At ease, but don't talk," Thor said. The band relaxed and looked around. A man I had never seen before stepped up, and said, "Welcome. Is everyone here?" in an aside to Thor. "
"Mostly, I think."
"Anyway, my name is Mr. Calhoun, and I am the new band director." People who hadn't heard this looked around and muttered amongst themselves in surprise. That made up most of the band. Thor glared at them but said nothing. I stayed silent and tried to judge him. He looked like an intelligent person. He was clearly nervous about the whole deal. I couldn't blame him, though. He got hired on Saturday, for crying out loud! It was a personal habit of mine to try and appraise someone new and see how right I was once I got to know the him (or her).
Mr. Calhoun looked around nervously and said, "I know you were all expecting Mr. Nodin to be here, but he found a better job and took that. I am your new band director as of Saturday. The only show I could order on such short notice was a Tchaikovsky show, but I think we can pull it off."
I nodded silently. I leaned over to Jos, and whispered in her ear, "Looks we have another good one, but he's nervous." She nodded, apparently getting the same impression I had.
"The buses will be here soon, and you can load up then. Everyone with a large instrument can put it on the truck. You can continue talking now." Mr. Calhoun said, and walked over to one of the parent chaperones nearby and began talking quietly.
The kids looked around uncomfortably at first, but several seconds later, the noise level was just as high as it was before Thor called us up. (By the way, "getting called up" is another way of saying, "getting called to attention.") I grabbed my trombone and Jos's tenor sax and made my way out to the truck. Par usual, the band was allotted the old rustbucket with the crappy battery yet again. (Once it wouldn't start before a big pep band gig, and my trombone was on it, and we had to load up a school pickup truck . . . let's not go there. That was funny only after it was over.) A couple of parents were standing outside the truck, taking equipment. I left our instruments with them, and that done, returned to the bandroom.
Following one false alarm about the buses' arrival, they finally did come, and we loaded up. Jos, Becca, Pierce, Kalea, Vin, a few others, and I loaded up at the front. I was sitting with Jos. I looked out the rain- spattered window and watched the stragglers hurry up and get on the buses.
I looked at Jos, and said, "Well, here we go. Band camp 2002."
"Yep," she replied.
"It's gonna be different this year, for sure. I will say that right now. I've got one of those feelings," I said. I looked up as the bus driver started the engine.
Amid ragged cheers from the band, the buses began moving and we were on our way to band camp.