Author's Notes: Okay, shameless plug right here: If you love MWPP Era fanfics, then go check out my new HP story: HeadlinerSpeaking of Harry Potter, I saw the movie and read Deathly Hallows and I personally loved both! LOL! Now, I'm not a Ginny fan or a RHr fan, so you can imagine I didn't like the ending, but still, my fellow HHr fans who are weary, you'll like the book immensely! So go read!

And sorry about not getting this out sooner! I had some writer's block with this story! But here it is! Review and enjoy the story!

Also, Courtney here, you might want to check out Halloween - a little one shot about B and Tony.

We do own the characters, but not the Corps.

Chapter 12: A Night Full of Revelations

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to this wonderful day in August. Before we get to the awards this evening, there is someone very special we would like to recognize.

"As you may or may not be aware, there is a DCI Intern program. The students are selected for their outstanding musicianship and leadership qualities from across the country. There is no task too small or large for our interns. Five are assigned to a corps, and help each Corps have a smooth week during Finals.

"This week, however, we experienced a nasty virus, and many of the interns were asked to go above and beyond their normal duties. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how wonderfully things were handled. Even though almost half of the students became ill, the others didn't miss a beat – some working close to 12 hours in a day – for free!

"However, there was one young lady who went even further than each of her counterparts. When the Drum Majors of her Corps fell sick, she stepped up and conducted in their place. She showed promising poise and ability and so that is why I am very proud to award the first ever DCI Intern Outstanding Achievement Award. Vanessa, please join me on stage."

I blushed madly and went upstage, completely scared and praying to God that I didn't trip on one of the steps that led up to the stage. When I got up there, I shook hands with the DCI President and put one hand on the award. Flashes were going off everywhere and I found myself subconsciously wondering if my teeth and hair looked okay. Stupid thing to think, but still…I was having pictures taken of me.

After what seemed like an eternity to me, I walked done the steps towards where Brannon was waiting for me. He had a big grin on his face and all of a sudden I wanted to run over to him and bury himself in him to hide from all the embarrassment.

I nearly tripped over a step at that moment.

Bury himself in him? Where in the world did that come from? I've never thought those thoughts about Brannon! Okay, well, usually that was because I was so focused on thinking of my loving, hot boyfriend, who's sitting at home doing drum major stuff staying completely devoted to you. But still. I just recollected my thoughts as I walked away from the stage. That's right, V, you have Isaac at home. Just remember that.

Feeling more confident in myself, I walked up to Brannon and we both did a little celebration dance together quickly, which caused a couple of our Blue Devils band members to snort in contained laughter. This caught our attention and I went red because I knew Emma and David were watching. I glanced up at Brannon and found him winking to a couple of guard members. I rolled my eyes, grabbed his ear and dragged him off the field before he could do anymore damage.

Once Brannon and I moved to the sidelines, we both tried to catch a glance of Bronwyn's bright red hair to key us in on where our friend was sitting. Finally, Brannon pointed her out (with a frown on his face?) and my eyes followed where he pointed her out. I saw her except…she wasn't sitting alone. In fact, I caught a very familiar, cocky smirk that only belonged to one loveable snare drummer of mine.

That's when I realized one thing:

WILSON WAS HERE! I don't know how he got here and I don't know, more importantly, got access to sit in the sidelines with us, but all I could care about was the fact that my best friend was sitting next to B with his usual cocky smirk on his face. I examined and noticed that he didn't different one bit. In fact, he still looked the same -- complete with drumsticks in his back pocket.

Forgetting Brannon (oops…), I ran right over to Wilson. And while I ran I noticed another familiar smile. A gentle, loving, heart melting smile that captured the hearts of so many girls back home, but was reserved for only one. Said smile belong to my boyfriend, Isaac Meyer. My running kicked up a notch as I ran straight into Isaac's arms, "You're here! You're here!"

Isaac laughed as he enveloped his arms around him and I took him in. I completely missed this feeling and I completely missed his smell. He hugged me tight as he said over the cheering and the speeches given by various DCI Board Members, "Of course! Why wouldn't I be here? Not after all this!"

"We're so proud of you, V," Wilson added as I broke away from Isaac to give him a big hug. My best friend hugged me also and then unexpectedly swung me around. I laughed, not knowing exactly why this was unexpected considering the fact that he was a big goofball. When he put me down, I glanced at both before I squealed loudly and hugged them again. They laughed, knowing that I'd get this excited, and hugged back.

When I settled down, I glanced at my two DCI friends to notice that they carried small smiles. I smiled back at them and murmured, "Thanks, guys."

Brannon shrugged lazily and Bronwyn's grin grew, "No prob."

As we sat down (me between my two fave guys), I knew that at that moment I would have to pay Bronwyn back somehow. Somehow I would have to give her something in return. I'd also was going to have to give something back to Brannon because they two, I knew, didn't have to call Isaac or Wilson to get them here. It was a big deal to me because what two summer friends would do that for you. And that's when I knew. These weren't summer friends. They were life friends. Friends you had to keep in touch with because there was too much of a special connection between the two to let go.

As I sat and pondered all the possibilities to see how to pay back Bronwyn and Brannon, we listened to the announcements. Finally, the came to the awards and my BVHS guys noticed that me and my DCI pals had sat up a little straighter. Wilson gave Isaac a look, but Isaac only smiled.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you'd all been waiting for. They have sweated and toiled and worked their marching band hearts out for this one moment. And now it has come upon us! Let's hear it all for all our DCI groups before the AWARDS CEREMONY COMMENCES!"

Everyone in the stadium cheered louder than I had ever heard them cheer before. The board members on stage laughed and I observed that the bands had stayed in perfect attention. It was amazing. Most bands had a couple members fidgeting by now, but not these guys. It was an intense moment that made me realize I wanted to march in the corps. Somehow, I would. I would learn a new instrument this year to march DCI. What? Didn't know, but I'd work it out somehow.

Maybe Pit…? Who knew?

"For third place, with a score of 78.99…"

I inhaled a breath. That was the score that Crossmen had last awards ceremony. Again, I was struck by revelation. If this had been a cartoon, I would seriously have a little light bulb going off over my head. Of course! Crossmen! TONY! I could finally get the courage to 'fess up to Bronwyn that I knew Tony. Not a Ted, but her Tony. That was how I was going pay her back! Now, I just needed to figure out Brannon…

"…Santa Clara Vanguard!"

I blinked and then a smirk grew on my lips. I exchanged a glance with my two friends. So…Vanguard got third, huh? So it would seem that our little blue accessories were going to be put to use this evening at the party? YES! Score!

"In second place, with a score of 80.02…Blue Devils!"

Me, Bronwyn, Brannon and a sea of Blue Devils fans erupted in cheers. While most of the fans were cheering for the Blue Devils merely getting second, my friends and I were cheering at the fact we won with a significant amount of points in between. In marching band, like they say (speaking of which, who is 'they'?), every point counts! Finally, everyone settled down.

"And in first place…with a score of 80.04…Crossmen!"

I blinked and gazed over at Bronwyn, who was mercilessly searching the sea of band members (near the Crossmen section) for a certain Bass Drummer cutie, who I knew, by this point, she was taken with. After all, who wouldn't know by this point? I rolled my eyes. Bronwyn and Tony, of course! Why is it always that case? I seriously hope things work out at the party…

…Hey, look, there's McDaniel and Laura!

Poor Wilson and Isaac blindly followed me and my two friends as we made our way over to McDaniel and Laura, who were busy trying to ignore us. Bronwyn nodded at us and we launched into an explanation of expectation of them showing up at the party in the stuff we brought. Laura tried backing out (You Poor Leader, You!), but McDaniel glared at her and promised that they'd be there in the stuff. He took it and left with Laura trailing behind him, sulking. As soon as they were out of sight, we busted up laughing, confusing my boyfriend and best friend.

As we climbed on to the bus, Isaac gently pulled me aside, "What was that all about?"

"You'll see," I chirped and kissed him on the cheek. "See you at the party."

I climbed back on and faintly heard Wilson laughing, "Well, she's certainly grown up! I like it!"

I burst into the hotel room with B and Brannon behind me before I quickly shoved our male half out of the room so us girls could change. He looked slightly miffed the whole way home, but didn't say anything as I shoved him out. I glanced at Bronwyn, who had a sad smile on, but shrugged nonetheless.

When we got to the party, we (or rather I) noticed Wilson and Isaac standing there. I nodded at them and then scanned the room for other people. I giggled when I noticed McDaniel and Laura and then continued searching. I needed to find Tony. And there he was. Bronwyn and Brannon had gotten separated from us, so this was my perfect chance. I slipped away from them and sauntered over to the drummer. He noticed me, so I smiled (it wasn't tough to do around him) and said, "Hey, Tony. Congrats on the win!"

"Congrats on the award!" He replied back and then ruffled my head, "See, I knew you'd do fine!"

I giggled, "Thanks. My BF and BFF showed up without my knowledge."

Tony's eyes flickered at the mention of 'BF and BFF', but it quickly passed, "Really? That's great!"

I was about to ask him to walk over with me so I could get us to run over to a certain female when said redhead walked over to us. Her eyes looked shocked and I could only imagine what was going through her head. Somehow, her running into us was not how I imagined this happy reunion, but it worked better than trying to get them to run into each other in my guidance.

"Let's go -- over here," Bronwyn mumbled, obviously dumbstruck with the turn of events.

She looked at me and I sent an apologetic smile at her. What else could I do? This wasn't how everything worked out in my head. I knew it was ridiculous, but I imagined a Hollywood style reunion. Boy and Girl see each other. Girl talks to Boy. Boy talks to Girl. Boy and Girl kiss and make-up. Not this.

I decided to leave before I exploded and left the two to see Brannon sitting in a corner, watching everyone sadly. I rose an eyebrow and moved closer to him, "Brannon, you okay?"

He glanced up at me, smiled weakly and said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Go with Isaac."

The way he said my boyfriend's name made me feel weird. I don't know what it was, but it made me want to stay with Brannon more than I wanted to stay with Isaac. All of a sudden my usually funny and free friend was uncharacteristically moody and depressed. And this was something I didn't work well with. If you had seen my freshmen year, you know that I didn't wok well with angry, depressed or moody boys. I couldn't even handle my boyfriend when he got like this! How was I supposed to handle Brannon?

Yet, I sat down next mention, blinked numerous of times with a goofy look on my face to cheer him up, but it didn't work. I frowned then, moved closer and murmured, "Brannon are you sure you're okay? You have me worried sitting here by yourself. I don't like my friends being all moody and stuff."

Brannon looked even more tense, "I'm fine."

I glanced around, almost unsure of what to say. What was I going to say? I mean, I didn't know why Brannon was acting like this or why he was suddenly so short with me, but it hurt. It hurt to have this boy act like this with me. The only other one who acted like this with me was Isaac. Before we started dating. But I understood the situation with Isaac and why he had been so cross with me. I didn't understand the situation with Brannon.

"Did someone say something to you to make you mad?" I questioned, trying to pry out whatever it was that bothered him.

"I'm not upset," He said shortly and looked away. "And no one said anything to me."

Again, I was at lost for words. I clutched my hands together. Where was Bronwyn when you needed her? She could break the ice between the two of us? That's when it hit me. Was Brannon only cool with me because of Bronwyn? Did he not like me at all? Or was he upset because he saw Bronwyn walking off with Tony? Did he like Bronwyn? That way?

But the one question only made it out of my mouth, "Do you not like me or something?!"

Brannon actually came to life with my outburst and looked at me shocked. "No, V! I like you! Why wouldn't I? What brought this up?"

"Well…" I glanced down to the ground, my face flushing with embarrassment, "…it's just…you're so short with me that I thought maybe this friendship was a lie. I thought maybe you actually hated me all this time!"

"No…" Brannon answered slowly and shook his head, "That's not it. You really…are…my…friend."

His voice sounded strangled and my thoughts were brought back to Bronwyn and Tony. Maybe he liked Bronwyn and he was upset that the two were talking. I know I was jumping to conclusions, but it was the only explanations I could come up with as why he was acting so funny. "Are you angry because B is talking to Tony? Are you jealous or something?"

Now it Brannon's turn to look shocked, "WHAT?! No! I don't like Bronwyn that way!"

"Then why…?" My voice trailed off.

"It's nothing," Brannon shifted his weight, his eyes searching the ground for something. "I'm just sad because it's all over and the three of us have to go home now."

The first that crossed my head was: How come he couldn't just say that then? And then second thing that crossed my mind was: Awwwww! I jumped on Brannon and gave him a big hug. He hugged back as I murmured into his ear, "Don't worry about it! We'll stay in touch all year and maybe all of us can march corps next year together!"

"Yeah," he whispered back.

We pulled away and I smiled at him. Suddenly, it occurred to me that I should thank him for helping get Wilson and Isaac here. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and mumbled, "Thanks for everything, Brannon. Especially getting Wilson and Isaac here. It was really sweet of you."

I hugged him tightly again, now afraid that he would vanish because it did occur to me that this was finally it and that after this, we'd all have to go up to our rooms and start packing everything for our rides home tomorrow and that did make me upset. That made me really upset for some reason. And it made, seemingly, Brannon upset because he hugged back tightly.

Pulling myself away from his arms, I said, "Gotta go back. Poor Wilson and Isaac are probably feeling really lost with this sea of strange people."

"Yeah…" He muttered and the two of us went our separate ways. Him almost looking lost and me feeling lost.

"Hey, where were you?" Isaac asked me when I caught back up with the two boys. Like I had predicted, the two boys (especially Wilson…stupid drummer) did look lost in the crowd.

"Nowhere in particular," I answered quietly, almost feeling guilty for the (now that I realized) weirdly intimate moment between me and Brannon. I thought it best that left that little detail out of mine and Isaac's conversation. Besides, it was just because the two of us were going to be separated tomorrow that we had that moment. Why start an argument between me and Isaac over something so small.

Suddenly, I had my doubts that it was small.

It had to be around four in the morning when B and I burst through our hotel room door. In fact, when we looked at the clock, we didn't even go back to sleep because we knew somehow that we'd never get anything done or get any real rest. So, instead, we talked while we finished packing whatever t was that needed to be finished packing.

We joked about McDaniel and Laura for the longest time. And it almost gotten dangerously close to what happened with Brannon at the party, I expertly changed the subject by asking a question that had been killing me since I left the two of them alone, "What did you and Tony talk about?"

"I'm not sure."

I blinked. "What does that mean?"

"Well, it wasn't a bad conversation..." Her voice trailed off and my eyes lit up. Maybe they did kiss and make-up like I wanted them to! But the redhead must have noticed my look because she quickly added, "However, there's just too much going on that we can go back to where we were."

My eyes, shoulders (which we sore, by the way) and excitement went down to the ground. Well…I guess you couldn't get everything that you wanted in the game of Love. So far, I had been lucky. Except my matchmaking skills were in desperate need of work. I guess Bronwyn sensed my disappointment because she said quietly, "But you'll be the first to know if that changes."

And then my thoughts were brought back to the Game of Love, "Thanks, B. I know things will work out the way they are supposed to."

"What makes you so sure?" She challenged.

"Trust me, I went through a lot last marching season…and I know." I remarked with a sly smile on my face. Who wouldn't know with my freshmen season! I went through hell and back with Isaac and everything worked out fine! I fought rumors and an evil guard captain and everything worked out fine! Suddenly, I felt more confident in Bronwyn's problems! I knew everything would work by at least by the end of marching season! Just you watch!

When the alarm went off, we giggled. When we finished laughing, B murmured, "I wish I could come back and do this again with you next year."

"Yeah," I whispered, my reality brought back to Brannon and the promise I made to him. My face flushed at the memory of us together and I quickly shook it away.

Isaac, Vanessa, just remember Isaac…

Author's Notes:

NO! She is not cheating! Girls go through our moments when we are weirdly attracted to another guy before we get home and see reality. She is just going through a moment! She is still devoted to Isaac, trust me! LOL! Sorry, just had to say that. Poor V wouldn't be able to handle any bashing from her fans! She's sensitive! Anyway, next chapter is Courtney! Ciao, y'all!

Hugs and Kisses,

Somewei