I'm not a school person, if that makes sense to any of you. I don't learn anything there, my teachers are all perverts, and there's this one jackass that follows me around ALL DAY who won't leave me alone. The only reason I'm still in school is band.

It's sad, I know, but I don't really care. Band, you see, is my life.

When I was six, I went to my first concert with my aunt. I decided right then and there that I didn't care how, but I was going to marry a musician. Well, you can guess how ecstatic I was when I found out I could be a musician. I was the happiest fifth grader in the school.

Brady, my saxophone, and I hit it off right from the start. We were always together and I was practicing every chance I could. Do you see what I mean about band being my life?

In seventh grade, I didn't want to marry a musician anymore. I was too caught up in Brady and decided he was the only guy for me. Which, in seventh grade, was a pretty big decision, but I was prepared to stick by it.

Marching band changed all that.

There's a percussionist in my class who I think is really good looking. He tends to shy away from other people and never says a word to anyone, not even the band director, but I know he's really nice. How do I know this? I'll give you one guess. If you said because he's my friend, you're right. He's my best friend in fact.

Okay, so I lied when I said he doesn't talk to anyone. He talks to me of course. He talks really quietly so others can't hear him though and I have to lean in to understand him. That's okay though, anything he says is worth it.

Our first year of marching band was quite an adventure. It rained most of band camp, but that didn't keep us dedicated student from marching around. Some of us even took our shoes off to enjoy ourselves more. Mr. Dunnin didn't like that, not that it mattered to any of us. After all, what better way to become an excellent marcher than trying to march while you're sliding around? By the end of the third day, we thought we were ready for anything.

It was the fourth day at camp and it was still raining. Even if we were all tired and used to the weather by now, some of the kids still complained. I, however, wasn't worried about the weather or the fact that I hadn't slept at all the night before. (It had been Senior Prank Night. Who would sleep!) I was worried about the fact that Matt, the boy I was telling you about earlier, wasn't at his usual spot next to me at our table. He wasn't anywhere in the room! (When you get to know someone as well as we know each other, you tend to notice that.)

"Where's Matt?" I asked Jessie. Jessie is my section leader. She's a junior and plays the saxophone with the best of them.

"I don't know," she told me before leaning across the narrow isle way to the next table. She asked Matt's section leader the same thing and he looked at her oddly before answering.

"He hasn't seen him," she said, frowning. That in itself was odd. I knew for a fact that the pit had had practice before breakfast. Matt would have to be tied down, or dead, to miss a practice. He loved band even more than I did.

I chewed my bottom lip, hoping maybe he had slept in late or something. There was a slim chance of that, but it was better than the alternative, whatever the alternative was…

I left the mess hall, a lot less hungry than I had been, even if I didn't eat anything. I made my way, hurriedly, to Matt's cabin.

"Matt?" I called. He didn't answer and panic began to sink its fangs into me. "Okay," I told myself. "Get a grip. He's probably in the bathroom or something. Maybe he had a late start and is taking a shower."

I nodded my head and set out for the showers, all the way on the other side of the camp…

The showers, and the bathroom for that matter, were empty. Well, now I was out of logical choices of where he could be. Jessie came up behind me, scaring me half to death, and looked at me. I shook my head in answer to her silent question and we both thought for a moment about where else he could be.

It hit us both at the same time. There was a path through the woods surrounding the camp that Matt ran down every morning. Perhaps something had happened to him… I didn't really want to think about it that way, but maybe it was time to face reality.

We told Mr. Dunnin what we thought had happened and where we were going and set out down the path, flashlights in hand just in case. Just in case of what, we weren't really sure, but we felt better holding them.

The path broke off into two after a while and we debated which way we should take. Jessie had the good idea of separating, seeing as how there were two of us and two paths. One of us was bound to find him. So, we separated, her going to the left, me going to the right.

The woods were darker than I had expected and I turned my flash light on. I have one of those big metal ones that every time you see someone get clunked over the head with, you wince in sympathy and rub your own head, so I was feeling pretty sure of myself. Of course, the fact that there aren't any bears around the camp added to the sense of security.

"Matt!" I called, pausing to listen for a response. I didn't get one, so I continued down the path. I called him again about ten minutes later (it's a really long path), but still didn't get a response. It dawned on me that I couldn't even call Jessie to see if she was having any luck because I had left my cell phone in my cabin. We weren't supposed to bring them, but I have a slight problem following rules.

While I was scolding myself for not thinking to bring it, my flash light went out. Every person that's ever seen a horror film knows that isn't good. What can I say? I panicked. Rightfully, I would like to add. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, I tripped over something and fell over, narrowly missing planting my face in the mud. "Damn," I muttered, getting up. On the bright side, my flash light turned back on from the impact of hitting the ground.

"Elizabeth?"

Well, that was shocking. I looked down to see Matt, blinking at me from the ground. "What the Hell are you doing!" I practically shrieked. "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you!"

Matt looked at the ground and nodded before looking back up at me. I stood, glaring down at him, my hands on my hips, tapping my foot, waiting for him to say something.

"I slipped," he whispered. "I tried to get up but…" he trailed off and my face softened.

"I'm sorry I yelled," I said, bending down and inspecting him. "Well, your ankle's fractured, but other than that, you're fine." I slid my arm around his waist and hoisted him to his feet. "Come on, let's get you back to camp so they can fix you up." Together, we made the journey back down the path.

Jessie was waiting for me where the two paths met. Her eyes widened fractionally and she ran over, looping her arm under his Matt's shoulders. "Are you okay?" she asked. That was a silly question, and I bit my tongue to keep from saying so. Matt didn't say anything, only looked at me.

All Mr. Dunnin had to say about the ordeal was that Matt was lucky he had friends like us and that it was a damn good thing that he was in the pit.

It's my second year of marching band now, and we're in Britain right now. The band is going on a tour of one of the castles there, big surprise. Nothing quite as exciting as my first experience in band camp has happened so far, thank God. I don't think I could deal with that again. Matt told me he was really glad I was there, he didn't want to think about having to drag himself back to camp. I laughed it off and told him everything was fine.

My favorite room in the palace is the queen's bedroom, which is where I am now. I'm actually standing on her balcony, looking out over the garden.

"It's really beautiful," a quiet voice behind me says and I smile.

"Yeah," I say. "It is."

The owner of the voice walks up behind me and wraps his arms around me. "Kind of like a girl I know."

Well, this is interesting. "Really?" I ask. "Care to elaborate?"

This catches the owner of the voice by surprise. "I didn't think it needed elaborating," Matt says after a moment or two, turning me around to face him. I raise my eyebrow and he smiles. "Of course, if I really need too…"

He kisses me then and that's all the elaboration I'll ever need.