Chapter 4 – Day Two
Valerie brushed a strand of sandy blond hair off of her face as she sat in the empty band room reading a book. She was sure that band camp rehearsal began at 7:30, but perhaps she had been mistaken.
On any other day, she surely would have scolded herself for forcing herself to wake up early when she did not have to, but right now she did not mind. Nothing could put her into a sour mood. Tonight Cici was taking her to a Maingrove Symphony Orchestra performance of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. Valerie was greatly anticipating the concert, although she knew that her friend would enjoy it even more, with Tchaikovsky being Cici's favorite composer, and apparently his Fourth had a couple famous oboe solos in it.
But nevertheless, Valerie was still looking forward to the evening. Band camp would not spoil her pleasant mood.
Just then, the band room door swung open. A tall, lanky young guy with dark hair entered carrying a saxophone case. Valerie recognized him as a junior who was saxophone section leader.
Valerie turned back to her book, trying to be invisible. She did not really want to talk to him, but he noticed her anyway.
"Hey, you're here early," he greeted.
"So are you," she muttered.
"Yeah… so, you're a freshman, aren't you?" the boy inquired.
"Yes," Valerie replied curtly, keeping her nose in the book.
"No need to be short with me. What's your name?"
"Valerie."
"Oh, I'm Dylan. Nice to meet you, Valerie. Do you like band camp so far?"
"I don't know," Valerie replied.
Dylan rested his arm around Valerie's chair. Ew! thought Valerie. Why is he doing this? I barely even know him!
"You should hang around me some. You might enjoy it more," Dylan continued. His face was somewhat close to hers. It was making her very uncomfortable.
As if reading her thoughts, Dylan asked, "Does this make you uncomfortable?"
Valerie nodded and scooted away.
Dylan scooted closer to her again. "You freshmen are so innocent!"
Just then, drum major Peter sauntered in through the door and spotted the two in the corner. "Hey, Dylan! There you go again, flirting with all the freshmen. Why don't you try someone your own age?"
Startled, Dylan jumped up. He gave an awkward, forced laugh and began to converse with Peter.
Valerie raised her head and nodded at Peter. She was grateful for his interference.
Later in the day, in sectionals, Sandy and Jennifer stopped giving drill commands—but still left the flutes at set—while she glanced over at the saxophone section. The entire section was sitting down on the grass, laughing at Dylan while he goofed off.
"They're so lazy!" complained Sandy.
"I know! But Dylan is kinda hot… but he is such a moron!"
"Why again is Mr. Stilling not addressing this?" Sandy asked, referring to the band director who was talking to the drum majors, no more than ten feet away from the saxophones.
Jennifer sighed. "Because Dylan is the band director's favorite. Don't ask me why or how. His tone sucks. All he does is goof off. He is a lame marcher and never keeps his toes up. But for some reason, he's the favorite."
Sandy sighed and turned back to her section. "Valerie, stop looking at the saxophones! Just because we weren't giving you directions doesn't mean you don't have to stay at set! You have to be self-disciplined!"
"Mark four, forward eight, backwards eight. Hup… hup… ready go…"
"Valerie!" Sandy screeched. "Keep your toes up!"
Valerie exaggeratedly dug her heels into the ground, keeping her toes as high as possible.
"Valerie, flute angle! Keep it parallel to the ground!" Jennifer scolded.
"Valerie! Chin up!" yelled Sandy.
"No, Valerie, not that high!" added Jennifer.
Finally outdoor sectionals were over and all of the sections came together to learn drill.
Great, thought Valerie. I have been the only person yelled at in an entire hour of sectionals. Lovely.
Later, when the band was taking a break, Mr. Stilling approached Cici.
"Cecilia Brown?" he asked.
Cici nodded.
"Our oboe player?"
Cici nodded again.
"We need one of you in wind ensemble. Even though we usually don't allow freshmen be in wind ensemble, we don't have an oboist. Would you be willing?"
"Yes!" Cici replied enthusiastically.
Lucky, thought Valerie. I'll be stuck in lame concert band. At least I won't have to deal with Jennifer and Sandy.
"The freshmen guidance counselor is in the guidance office today to get some paperwork done before school starts. Even spring semester is a long ways away, I think it would be wise to go change your schedule now, before your life gets hectic with schoolwork and football games," suggested Mr. Stilling.
"Sure!" Cici agreed, walking off with the band director to the school building, abandoning Valerie.
But she was not alone for long. Soon, she felt a shadow come over her and plop down on the grass next to her.
"You're really good at flute you know," a female voice said.
Valerie looked up and squinted in the sun to see an Asian-looking girl sitting next to her. Valerie recognized her from her flute section.
"Umm… Thank you…"
"You are totally gonna beat Jennifer out of that flute solo. I know it!" the girl assured.
"And you are?" Valerie wondered aloud.
"Liana. And you're Valerie, right?"
"Right," Valerie affirmed.
A few other band kids who appeared to be Liana's friends circled around the two. The group talked and laughed. Valerie felt herself opening up to the group. She had never been this outgoing before, but she enjoyed it.
At the end of the long and sweaty day, Mr. Stilling stood on the drum major's podium to make a few announcements while the band continued to stand at attention, which Valerie thought was highly unnecessary. She did not pay attention. All she could think about was the concert she was about to attend with Cici.
But something at the end grabbed her attention:
"Tomorrow we will select the trumpet, flute, and mellophone soloists."