The air was crisp, and had the smell of fall in it. The sun had gone done about an hour ago and the moon was already bright in the sky behind them as they marched forward onto the field. Zoe held her mellophone mouthpiece in her gloved hands so that it wouldn't get cold. Her breath steamed out in front of her, reminding her of her first home competition. That night was terrible. As she stood on the field waiting for the band to be called to attention, the images flashed in her head. She had been smacked by a flag causing her to slip and take down 3 other people with her. They had all landed on her leg the wrong way, twisted it, and she couldn't even walk. She was terrorized by people marching backwards, and finally a director saw her sitting on the ground, crippled.

"Band ten HUT!" screamed the drum major, Will, and she replied with everyone.

"AND HUT!"

"Roland Hill High School, you may now take the field in competition."

The raised they instruments up to their mouths perfectly in unison. Zoe played every note flawlessly, marched every step perfectly, and breathed as if she would never breathe again. When their show was finished, she felt a rush of adrenaline just go right out her toes, and as they marched off the field, she began to cry. As the band lined up at the 10-yard line, all the seniors broke rank, handing their instruments to the underclassmen to hold while they did their senior recognition. Lizzy, Kristy, Laura, Kelsey, and Paige came running up to Zoe, realizing she was crying.

"Zoe, you have to stop crying!" Laura said. "You don't want your eyes being all red in the picture, do you?"

Zoe laughed. "No, I don't." She smiled. "I love you guys!" and they all hugged. They met up with their parents at the end of the field, and alphabetically walked out in a line. As she stood between her mom and dad, she looked into the crowd and saw Jaxson standing right in front of her at the fence smiling at her. She smiled back and gave a little wave, which he returned with one himself. As they went down the line, each senior stepped forward with his or her parent(s) and received flowers, being mentioned that they were a section leader if they were.

"Zoe Pominger, daughter of Mark and Lily Pominger, section leader of the mellophones." She received her flowers, smiled for the picture, and then burst into tears, her mother holding her tight.

"I know, honey, I know. At least it's not your last competition ever… It's just your last home one."

Zoe looked up to here mom, and said, "I love you," and kissed her on the cheek. She faced forward to get a full class picture when all the names were called, and they all filed off the field.

They won 1st place again, and went back to the school in great cheer. In the locker room, someone had put on a CD and many of the girls were dancing around in only half their uniform, some even in just their underwear. It was kind of funny to see all these girls that were supposed to be conservative running around in a t-shit and underwear, but they were all surprisingly different.

Meg came running over to Laura at one point, and what seemed like a little too obnoxiously said, "Oh my God. I went to the movies with Steven last night, and he is such a good kisser! Oh, I have no idea why ANYONE would give him up!"

Zoe knew that was directed at her, and decided to own her own comment. "Maybe someone would give him up because he's a total ass and set them up. Maybe, also, because he asked another girl out the day that his girlfriend gave him the silent treatment."

"Well, I have news for you, bitch, you're not his girlfriend anymore!" Meg said, pushing her boobs into her space again. "I am!"

"I know. I dumped him so he could go date a whore. Looks like he picked a good one, too!" Zoe grabbed her bag as she said this, and left the locker room with Kristy, Lizzy, and Laura following, leaving Meg alone to change by herself.

Lizzy put her arm in Zoe's. "That was amazing, seriously."

"Yea, I know. I have my moments," Zoe laughed. They hung up their uniforms in numerical order, and as they began to walk away, someone grabbed Zoe's waist, making her scream. She whipped around to discover Jaxson was the one who had done that.

"Oh, hi!" she said, smiling.

"Hey, you guys did an awesome job. The tears added a nice effect," he mocked.

"Oh, be quiet," Zoe laughed. "You're just jealous that you couldn't have a piece of it!"

Lizzy, Jaxson, and Zoe all laughed.

"So, Jaxson, you coming with us out to eat?" Lizzy asked.

"Sure, I'd love to. Where are we going?"

"I think we're going to go to Duff's."

"Okay, that's fine. I'll just wait for you guys out here."

Lizzy and Zoe walked back into the band room, got their instruments, told the rest of their friends where they were going, and went out to meet up with Jaxson again.

"So, are you going to tell Jaxson?" Lizzy asked as they walked down the hallway towards him.

"No, I'm not. He doesn't need to know. Not yet."

"Right…"

They met up with Jaxson and walked out to their cars. Lizzy went in Zoe's car, and Jaxson followed them to Duff's. Since they were first, they reserved a table.

"I gotta pee, I'll be right back," Lizzy said, leaving Zoe and Jaxson alone at the table.

"You guys really did do a great job," he said.

Zoe smiled. "Thanks. I was so nervous, but I think I did pretty much everything perfectly."

"You did, I was watching you the whole time," he said.

She looked at him. "You were?"

"Yea…"

It was a little different for Zoe, being left alone with Jaxson one-on-one. Usually, the only time that they were one-on-one was online, and then, she didn't care what the hell she looked like or sounded like. She simply was just a bunch of words he had to read. But now, he actually had to look at her, while she was all sweaty and probably gross looking, having no makeup on at all.

He must've been reading her thoughts, since he broke the silence with, "You know what, I love talking in person so much more than online."

"Why's that?" she asked.

"Because, I just can't take my eyes off you. You're so beautiful."

She laughed. "You must be joking… I'm so gross and sweaty. I'm far from attractive in the first place anyway."

"No, that's not true. You have natural beauty. I actually kind of hate it when you wear make-up. It doesn't look good on you. You don't need it."

She smiled. "Thanks…"

"Zoe, I'm not just saying this. I really mean it."

"Yea, I'm sure…"

"No, really. Zoe, I have something to tell you. I went to Lizzy's house to get my sweatshirt a little while after I left, and I overheard you guys talking."

"Oh… you did?" Zoe squirmed a little.

"Yea. I heard what you said about me. You are such a sweetheart to think all of that. Zoe, you really are so beautiful, I mean it, I just don't know if I like you the same way you like me."

"Oh… that's ok. You might even just be rebound, you know?" Zoe said, trying to laugh it off a little.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I just broke up with my boyfriend Thursday, so maybe I really don't like you. Maybe I just thought I did."

"But, what if you do?"

"Then, I do. No big deal."

Lizzy came back, followed by mostly Zoe's party list, who all sat down surrounding Zoe and Jaxson.

They sat there for a few hours, talking about marching band and other random things, eating loads of wings and other food, just having a good time. They left at around midnight, and Jaxson followed Lizzy and Zoe all the way home.

As Zoe pulled into Lizzy's driveway, she noticed Jaxson pull in too.

"Why is he pulling in too?" she said.

"I don't know, maybe he wants to talk to you…" Lizzy said. "Hey, thanks for all the rides tonight. You're such an awesome friend!"

"Yea, no problem! See ya!"

Zoe heard Lizzy tell Jaxson I was in the car, and suddenly there was a tap on her window.

"Hey, could you maybe get out? I want to talk to you," Jaxson said as she rolled down her window.

She turned the car off and got out of it. "What's up?" she asked.

"I felt bad about what I said in Duff's."

"No, it's alright. You don't like me, I understand."

"No, it's not that I don't like you. I don't know if I like you. I think I might actually like you."

"Well, tell me when you know, ok?" she said, going to open her door.

"Wait, I think I know how I'll know."

"How?" she said, facing him again.

"Can I kiss you?"

She looked shocked. "What?"

"I said, can I kiss you?"

"Wha…" she stood there. Why do all these guys suddenly want to kiss me? Did I suddenly become sexy because I'm a senior or something?

"Well?" he asked.

She didn't even answer. She took his chin in her hands and pulled it towards her. As they kissed, she could've sworn that so far, he had the hottest kiss. He put his hands on her waist, pushing her back against her car. She ran her fingers through his hair, feeling the locks tumble through the crevices between her fingers, and with the other hand, she gently touched the nape of his neck with her fingertips. She let him keep kissing her, and he slowly made his way from her lips to her cheeks to her neck. She hoped that Lizzy's little sisters weren't anywhere watching, this definitely was not something for them to see.

"Jaxson," she said as he kissed her neck, "do you want to come over?"

He stopped and looked at her. "Wouldn't your parents mind?"

"No, they're fine with it. You're just going to hang out, anyway."

"Okay, I'll just follow you to your house."

"Okay."

They both got into their cars, pulled out of Lizzy's driveway, and made their 3-minute trip up the hill to Zoe's house.