AN: Sorry for the break!! I've been busy the past couple of weeks (who hasn't?). I hope people are still interested in this story. Thanks to those who have read so far!!


Chapter 2: The Season Begins

"I am small but I am strong
You see I'm just like you
If you only knew
That I'm just like you
All the world would take a cue from anything you do
If you only knew
That they're just like you
I don't want to fight
I want to get along with you."

-- Cabron, Red Hot Chili Peppers

Lucy lugged her bass drum to her car – a 92 Cavalier that was in desperate need of a paint job – still, it got her where she needed to go. She had taken the big drum home over the summer to get used to the weight. Wanting to make sure the guys didn't forget her gender, Lucy had looked far and wide before securing a flashy "Girls Rule" sticker on her carrier. She looked at the carrier – it was also tradition to put your initials on it. You could look back for a few years and remember who marched before you. She traced her finger over the initials. Lucy smiled remembering the seniors who had made her freshman year such a fun one.

The summer had passed in somewhat of a blur. Lucy and one of her best friends, Mandy, a long legged strawberry blond girl on flag corps that had always made the boys come running, had both gotten jobs at the local Fuddruckers. They had flirted their way through the minimum wage hours. Lucy had made out a few times with Arlyn, the hunky fry cook, but it hadn't led to anything serious. When she wasn't working, Lucy kept in touch with friends via IM and the occasional party.


Lucy drove up and pulled her drum out of the car. A large red minivan with racing stripes pulled up next to her – only one person at this school drove that car, Mark. They shared a smile. Mark was a junior and one of her best friends. He was quite tan after working the entire summer as a lifeguard. He opened his trunk and pulled out his quints. They both pulled down their Oakley eye jackets (THE eye wear of choice for the battery) and together they marched into the band room.

Mark asked, "You ready for this?"

Lucy replied, "I was born ready."

The crowded band room was full of people. Lieutenants and captains tried to corral their sections together. Finally Fred, the drum major (and Lucy's friend since 5th grade) clapped his hands for attention. The band broke up into sections. The drum line marched out in front of the school to their traditional warm up spot.

The battery warmed up together. They went over the basic warm-ups that everyone had learned last Spring. Knowing Eight on a Hand by heart and protected by her Oakley eye jackets, Lucy looked around at her fellow basses. They all were at least 3 or 4 inches taller than her 5'3". When lined up in formation, the bass line took a noticeable dip where Lucy stood.

Mike stood in front of her. A cocky, cute sophomore, Mike was arrogant as hell and had a mouth like a sailor. Mike had put her in the "cute" category, which meant their relationship thus far was made up almost entirely of sexual innuendoes.

Behind her was her lieutenant, Tall Paul. Paul had been on the bass line last year and was the only one returning to the section. He was also a sophomore. Tall, with dark hair, and like most percussionists she knew, overly confident (when it came to drumming at least) he lead their sectionals. If only he knew what he was getting into this season…

Behind Paul was Nick. How would she describe Nick? Dark hair…At one time…oh, about a year ago she had been OBSESSED with the kid. Now she couldn't figure out why she had had those feelings. Nick was an old friend. He was pissed for not having made Quints. Ahh…quints. Lucy looked over at the section. What a freakin' hot section. What a freakin' talented section.

Ok, back to her own section, bringing up the end of the basses was Dave. Lovable Dave. Pacifist Dave. Dave like two things in his life -- drumming and the band Less Than Jake. He played the big 5th bass.

Spence, the drum line captain, held up his stick signaling the last run through the warm up. Lucy snapped back to attention as she clicked her mallets against her drum. In this week before Band Camp, the line was mainly getting together to learn cadences and get warmed up before they received their music for this year's show. AKA, there wasn't a lot to do. It was a time, so early in the season, that there was no history established with the line of 2004-2005. Their instructor, Joe, was finishing up his tour with DCI. No one had started to get on each other's nerves, there were no fights over girls, and there was no blaming at dropped sticks or notes. Basically, it was a golden time in the season.

Before she realized it, Lucy's first official band practice on the battery was finished. She was sweaty and a little sore, but satisfied with the way things had went. So far she had kept up her part as one-fifth of the bass line. She joked around with the guys as they put their equipment away in the large room that was the percussion HQ. Not only a place to store their instruments, it was a place for inside jokes, blowing off steam, and occasionally, a place to sleep between classes. She met up with Mandy and Gina, her petite curly haired other best friend (a majorette). Both were happy with their second year in the color guard. In the off season, Gina was first chair clarinet and Mandy was first chair flute. The three chatted about where they were going to go after practice. Now having the freedom of their cars, and the swagger of being upperclassmen, the world was their oyster. Lucy knew that the unofficial hang out for the upperclassmen on the battery (and the endless stream of tagalongs) was the local Waffle House. She had been there once, when the drum line had gone out en masse after winning a large drum line competition the year before. Lucy spoke up, "Hey gals – let's say we start the year out differently, let's go to WaHo." Lucy knew that she wouldn't hear a lot of arguments, Mandy had a crush on Spence and Gina was happy to go along wherever the fun was.

They all piled into Gina's red 2005 Hybrid Civic and took off.

Most of the line had arrived before the girls did. Unfortunately, that meant a lot of the dance line had also arrived. The girls were shameless in their attempt to get attention from the line.

Spence, seated in the middle of the corner booth, was already talking about the year ahead, just like a good captain should, "The way I figure it, South is the only line we really have to worry about. You saw them all last year…" Spence was speaking about the cross-town rival line – South. He wasn't speaking of any band competition, he was looking forward to November when the indoor drum line battles would start. Their lines had gone back and forth over the years as to who was the winner.

The guys all agreed. Those who were seniors definitely wanted to go out on a high note. At that moment, Lucy, Gina, and Mandy walked through the door. Lucy stopped for a moment. She had been on the line for 2 years and had had class with some of these guys. However, she had never hung out socially with the seniors. They were intimidating – good drummers and good looking. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to their booth, "Hey guys, what's up?"

Across the crowded diner, the dance line girls shot death stares at Lucy, Gina, and Mandy.

Just like at the lunch table during their 5th period percussion class, there was a definite hierarchy going on at the tables. It wasn't so bad that it broke down into sections, but the seniors definitely had their table. This table was followed by "cool" juniors, "cool" sophomores, "not-so-cool" juniors and sophomores, and finally freshman. Lucy knew it was too early to try and push her luck with any of the tables, even though she had been friends with some of these guys since 7th grade. Stupid guys and their stupid testosterone. Stupid hierarchy. Lucy pulled Gina and Mandy toward the freshman table. There was no way 14 year old boys were going to turn down a female, even if she as the weird ONE girl on the battery. The freshman secretly had a champion in Lucy and were her special cheering section. So far, she had given them more attention than anyone else on the line.

"What's up dudes?" Lucy casually sat down and started talking to the younger boys about high school.

"Can you believe her?" said Adam, a senior snare, from across the room. The guys watched as Lucy flirted with the pit and cymbal members.

Spence looked up. He was staring at beautiful Mandy. "I don't think it's so bad guys. She was fine at practice today. In fact, the bass line is sounding better than it has in years."

Red headed senior and sometime model Brent spoke up smiling, "Let's invite her over. You know, for the sake of battery peace and all that."

Five pairs of eyes looked over at Spence. He was a leader on and off the field. Spence considered Lucy for a minute. He hadn't really taken much notice of her until her appearance on the battery this year. Girls on the line could be trouble. Something about waaayy too many guy hormones and not enough girl hormones to offset all the testosterone. Rarely was there a fight over a drum line girl, but Lucy was cute, and it could mean that some tempers would flare. On the other hand, Lucy's friend Mandy was HOT. This could be his only way to meet her. Spence called out, "Lucy!"

Lucy, engrossed in making the younger boys laugh and eating away at her scattered-smothered-covered hash browns, almost didn't realize someone was calling her name. Trying to play it as cool as possible she said, "S'up?"

"S'up?!" Gina started giggling.

"Why don't you come sit over here?" Spence yelled as coolly as possible.

Never one to leave her girlfriends behind, Lucy said, "Do you have room for my friends?"

Scruffy Greg, the quint lieutenant, yelled, "Come on – we don't have all night!"

The girls casually said their good byes to the freshman table, smiled smugly at the dance line chicks, who were hoping to get spots at the table, and squeezed into the crowded booth. The now full table included Spence, Greg, Brent, Adam, Lucy, Gina, and Mandy. Lucy's fellow juniors looked on from the table next to the seniors.

Barry, the unofficial captain of next year's line, smiled as Lucy took her seat. He had always liked her…no, not like that, she had always been nice to him, plus Barry was in a band with Fred. Mark, next to Barry, and the unofficial lieutenant of next year's quint line, had always had a crush on Lucy. It wasn't until recently when Mark started dating Charlotte, a dance line chick, that their friendship had been backed off. Mark and Lucy had been close to inseparable last year. Mark, forever failing the gifted classes that he signed up for, relied on Lucy's ability to study and get him to study in order not to flunk whatever grade they were in. Next to Mark sat Ethan. Ethan was on quints with Mark and Greg. He was tall, intelligent and cute in a goofball sort of way. Finishing up the juniors was Dave (snare) and Nick.

Lucy and the girls chatted away with the seniors until curfew. There was never a lull in conversation. It turns out that the guys and girls actually had a lot of overlapping friends. Plus, the guys were able to fill in the juniors about some of the teachers they would have in the following year. Everyone made their way outside. Gina and Lucy hopped in the Civic. As they waited for the third door to slam, they realized Mandy was deep in conversation with Spence. Mandy skipped up to the car, "Spence is going to give me a ride home! He's lives in my direction anyway."

Gina and Lucy rolled their eyes, knowing very well that Spence and Mandy didn't live that close to each other. Gina dropped Lucy at her car. Lucy popped in her favorite DMB CD and drove home, pondering this seemingly good start to her junior year. She had made the battery. She had gotten her first job. Now, it was time to start worrying about Homecoming. Lucy sighed, she hadn't ever had a good time at this dance. It just seemed that the end of October was always an awkward time of year for her when it came to guys. She thought over the guys on the line…wondering what exactly type of relationships the guys were in…especially a certain red haired senior. Lucy shook her head. No, guys on the line were for flirting with only. She had made a pact with herself, after a failed attempt at a relationship with Nick and a brief fling with Mark, Lucy knew it was best to just be the token girl. She, Lisa, and Amy (the other drum line girl from last year) had decided that their role on the line was part psychiatrist, part matchmaker, and full time masseuse. They all looked on the guys as, whether they were older or younger, their younger brothers. The girls were there on the long rides back from a competition to massage those sore shoulders and arms. The favor was almost universally returned…and when it came November and December and the bus rides were chilly, who better to snuggle down with than a cute drummer.


Lucy was home, but she didn't feel like going to sleep. After letting her parents know that she was home Lucy sat up thinking about who she wanted to date this year. The name popped into her head easily, as it had for 3 years, Eric Wright. The super smart cutie was not in band, only in her classes. He had been valedictorian from day one of their freshman year. Lucy could always count on having history with the object of her affections. What a crush slut I am…

She wondered what Eric had been up to this summer. As the cute head of the class, she knew many people that held a torch for him. She didn't really think she had much of a chance with him. However, as she had finally put into words earlier this summer, crushes were not about returned love. Sometimes it was just fun to know that there was a guy out there who could make your entire day by a smile or comment. Lucy knew this was all she had going right now as no one was seriously interested in her.

Or so she thought…