A moment of understanding
I had my horn to my mouthpiece as I watched Mr. Pearce ascend the platform. Finally, we were on our final song. I was very self-conscious because my seat was right next to Will as always. I tried to place myself at the end of the baritone section next to Gerry, but Will stopped me. He instantly asked where I was going and then he pointed to the vacant space near him.
"Why is he doing this to me," I thought to myself during the whole concert.
My mind really began to focus as we drew near the end of the song. My mind, body, and spirit all rose to the up most attention as we neared a certain line in the song. I just practiced it at home and moved my valves with the ensemble but I was going to play it at this point. If I got it wrong it would be obvious who did it. Will's bugle part was here and all the others didn't play it. But the temptation of getting it right over-powered my fears. And I took sufficient air and began boldly playing
When the song finished, Mr. Pearce winked at me before turning around and I could feel Will eyeing me in joyous amusement. I could hear softly say, "Good job, babygirl."
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On the way home I sat in a seat with Chris because everyone else was deep asleep. The lights mostly came from the heavy traffic outside and his flashlight.
"Do you think I had a chance?" I asked.
"He likes you a lot just not like…a girlfriend," he answered.
"I suppose the fact that he calls me 'babygirl' shoulda been a cue," I sighed.
"But you told me you're over him. No more adding an extra 2 minutes walking to your classes just so you can bump into him," Chris quiered.
"Besides, I think someone else is on his mind," Chris added.
"You're right. Do you have any games? No matter, we can just play tic-tac-toe," I answered.
About a week later I found myself squirming in Mr. Pearce's easy chair. He was sitting on his desk and was going to say something. I was deathly afraid of what it might be because he hadn't yelled at me in days.
"How do you feel about playing without the band," he blurted out.
"Why would I do that?" I answered
"Because I want you to play at next month's upcoming contest," he said.
"What!?" I almost screamed.
"The person who was going to do it asked me to use you as a replacement," he answered.
"Who?" I asked (although my mind was screaming thanks Will
"She doesn't want me to tell," he said before almost pushing me out of his office.
Once he said she I knew it was Mia, but why? I went straight to Gerry.
Her answered surprised me, "Yeah! I'll tell my boyfriend."
"Boyfriend," I unconsciously repeated.
Gerry's face took on a ghastly expression.
"We're real good friend's right," she questioned.
"It's Will isn't it?" I said.
"I didn't want to hurt you. I was waiting," Gerry sighed.
"I know you're thinking you're a terrible friend, but you're not. Sometimes I tend to miss the obvious. Honestly, I didn't want to believe it, but I'm really happy for you. I got what I really wanted" I continued.
I'm so sorry this is so rushed, but I don't have time to do more.