Hello! Lately, life has been just crazy and I'm happy to say Chapter 50 is finally here! Wow... It's been a lot, huh? I can assure you that the edit isn't going to be 50 chapters (which I've already started on, by the way), but I'm happy I can get to this milestone. I'm still not sure how many pages I have total... I save each chapter as a seperate draft, but I'm going to find out one day. Any bets? Ha!
I'm still looking for an interested corps member to help with accuracy and basically what their view was on camps, ect... so my edit is more accurate to what an actual corps is and how they work. There is only so much you get out of a magazine; sometimes you need to talk with an actual person to understand. I wish I had firsthand experience, but I don't! If you know anyone interested, please let me know! Thank you!
You may have read SingerOfSong's recent fanfic off Hearts Of Glass. I have this to say: she's an amazing writer and I thank her for taking the time and effort to create something so great and entertaining. It was really odd for me to see a fanfic off Hearts already, but I'm flattered and she has my full permission to do so. A few of you were worried that I had given up on Hearts and was going to pass it off to her. I'm here to say it's not true: Hearts is my project and I'm not done until it's published in book form! I'm always going to be there, don't worry, working on my novels!
The exercises and practice methods in this chapter were actual things I was taught at drumline camp and I want to thank my own movement clinic leader for teaching these to me. I don't know if I have permission to use them or not (how could an exercise be someones?) but I want to say right now that I didn't think them up. (disclaimer) I use them, though, and I encourage you to try them!
Onward!
First Day At Camp
Laura could feel the plush grass under her marching shoes as she walked out onto the practice field, Jon at her side. The white lines on the bright green blades stood out crisp and clear in the mid afternoon sun, freshly painted and ready to be trampled on. The burnished steel poles holding the stadium lights above the edges of the field gleamed and the reflection hurt Laura's eyes if she wasn't careful where she looked. To avoid being blinded, she kept her eyes on her feet, watching the tips of her black shoes appear and disappear as she walked quietly beside her friend.
"What's the problem, Laura?" Jon asked, sticking his hands in the pockets of his pants, trying to act nonchalant. "Did lunch with the directors go okay?"
"Yeah, it was fine," Laura answered, trying to snap out of her sudden stupor. All she wanted to do was go and sleep and they hadn't even started the first actual drill practice. Laura had heard that, even though The Knights had worked on the drill already, getting on the field before camp, this was going to be unlike anything Mr. Hamon had made them do.
"Did you talk about anything in particular? Why did you have to eat lunch with them? I saw Mr. Deleyney sort of steer you toward the table and you looked really nervous."
"No, we didn't. I just got to meet the instructors for a second time, basically. Beau, the percussion instructor, seems strange, but polite. He's like the quiet version of Mr. Hamon."
At this, Jon smiled, took his hands out of his pockets, and cracked his knuckles, making Laura cringe. They joined the group of marchers, gathering in front of the the drum major podiums that had been placed in front of the field. Jake and Thomas were standing at the foot of the center podium, talking in hushed voices again, working on conducting patterns. Laura wondered how much time they actually spent on conducting and other drum major things. When she was in command of her high school marching band, Laura hoped she didn't look as stressed as Thomas looked. If possible, the circles under his eyes had grown darker in the past few hours and his hand movements were quick and sharp, as if he were angry instead of practicing. Taking her eyes off Thomas, she stood closer to Jon, shuffling from foot to foot.
Around her, other people were talking, laughing, having fun. For some reason, Laura felt nervous and on edge. Ever since her lunch with the directors, the added stress of having the drum major she loved and disliked at the same time sitting at the same table, Laura wanted to hide somewhere and not participate. She knew she had a bad attitude and that, if she didn't cooperate, Mr. Hamon would have a thing or two to say about it.
A glint of sunlight caught Laura's eye, movement in the corner of the field. The directors were approaching the group of corps members, the reflection of light Laura noticed coming off of Mr. Hamon's clipboard. Beside him was Beau and Mark, Mr. Deleyney and Paul following behind at a leisurely pace. Adam's hair looked even more unique than when Laura had seen it under the lights of the dinning hall and she couldn't help but admire the way he walked. He roll stepped like that was the only way he had been taught to walk and his back was so straight Laura found herself fixing her own posture.
The chatter died down as the directors grew closer and, with a nod from Mr. Hamon, the movement instructor ran up, dashed between Jake and Thomas, and took his place on Jake's podium, looking around before waving his arms.
"If I could get your attention, please, we'll begin! I'm Adam Chipet, your movement instructor, and today I'm going to teach you some basic moves to warm up with before every show and to use while you march. Gather in a semi-circle around the podium so I can all see you and we'll begin."
Laura found a spot in the semi-circle, Jon nudging her accidentally as everyone shifted so they had enough room to put their arms out and not hit anyone. Adam smiled and Laura took a deep breath. So far, it had been less painful than she thought the clinic was going to be. Was it Adam or Beau who worked the hell out of newbies?
"I'm going to teach you an exercise I want you to do when you wake up, when you come to practice, and before you go to bed. It's marching band yoga, in terms," Adam said, speaking loudly as to address the entire corps without using a microphone or megaphone, both of which Mr. Deleyney had sticking out of his bag along with a binder of music.
"Instructors, you can get in on this. I know we're missing Trygve and a few of the others, but we'll get them up to speed later. Come on, Peter, get over here. You took, Deleyney!"
Adam laughed as the instructors put their bags on the ground, Mr. Deleyney placing his gently in the corner of the field while Mr. Hamon dropped his where he stood. Beau and Paul exchanged looks and Laura smiled as they spread their arms out to make enough space for the exercises.
"Now, I'm going to lead you in a bit of a warm up," Adam said, slinging his arm over his opposite shoulder. "Follow me."
As Laura stretched, she felt her muscles pull and protest. She was already stiff and sore; she had gotten out of shape since last fall. After the incident with Thomas and the push ups, she had worked out and gotten her body up to speed on what it needed to do, but Laura had since let herself go. She hadn't gained any weight, only lost muscle, but she was kicking herself at that moment; she should have realized she would have to work harder than she ever had to work before at spring camp.
"Great! Good job, everyone. We're moving on," Adam said, brushing hair out of his face. "Stand at your best attention."
Laura did so and clenched her fists. Thumb over the top of the fist, just like when she had been in marching band. Or was it thumb inside the fist? Thinking too hard, Laura just wiggled her fingers and did her best to stay still. Adam nodded as the entire group stiffened into attention.
"You have four planes of movement on your body. From your feet to knees, knees to hips, hips to shoulders, shoulders to head. This exercise works with all these areas of your body and makes sure you're relaxed and ready to move. The first movement you will do is bring your chin to your chest. In a steady, four count movement, okay? Here we go. Five, six, seven, eight..."
Laura brought her chin to her chest and thought very vainly that she must have a double chin effect going on. Great. Well, camp wasn't about being attractive. It was about work. And right now, if all the work she had to do was bring her chin to her chest, well, so be it!
"Now, roll your shoulders while crossing your arms in front of you. At the end of four counts, your arms will be crossed left over right and your hands will be in fists. Chin is still touching your chest, got it? Here we go. Five, six, seven, eight..."
As Laura rolled her shoulders and crossed her arms, she felt her back muscles pull, but it was a comfortable sort of pull, like she had never known those muscles were there and had needed attention before.
"Next, you'll bend at the waist, keeping your chin down and arms crossed."
She felt stupid bending at the waist, especially since she didn't know who was behind her, but everyone's chin was supposed to be tucked in, so the situation wasn't so awkward as she had initially thought. Laura was embarrassed, too, that she couldn't touch her toes, some of the boys next to her bending all the way over to playfully scratch at the grass and rip up a few of the bright green blades.
"Still tucked in, squat down so your arms are between your knees in four easy counts. Don't balance yourself by putting your hands on the ground. Imagine yourself folded up in a box, waiting to be opened."
Even Adam snorted at this as a few of the guys groaned as their marching instructor became faux poetic. Laura did as he said and, as she went down, several things popped in her back. Many other people had joint snaps and cracks as they all followed their movement instructor's directions. Laura felt like she was about to topple over and a few other boys were swaying. Laura could see them out of the corner of her eye, bending back and forth, trying to keep their balance.
"We're going to go in reverse now. For each movement we did, we're going to take four counts to unfold and we should end up back at attention. Here we go. Five, six, seven, eight..."
As Laura straighted up, pulled her arms back, and lifted her chin, a calming effect came over her. That had felt great! She wanted to do it again! Looking over, she smiled at Jon, who was rolling a shoulder to get the muscle cramp he was experiencing to go away faster. So calming! She felt loose and limber and ready to go march!
"Wasn't that great?" Adam asked. Laura could hear Mr. Hamon snort and saw Mr. Deleyney straighten out his back, saying something about being too old for this sort of thing. Paul, who was around the same age as Tyler, chuckled and slapped him on the back, earning a look of sarcastic appreciation from the music instructor. Laura cheered, though, with the other members of the corps who had enjoyed the exercise and, to her delight, Adam began explaining the different ways to use that exercise and the numerous variations. Marching yoga. Laura laughed in her head. She loved it!
"We're going to try another exercise," Adam announced, killing the chatter that had arose among the corps members standing around Jake's podium. How Adam could do the exercises along with them while balancing on a podium was beyond her.
"Stand at attention and, slowly, in four counts, lift your right leg so it's up against your left with your right foot against your left knee. Your toes on your right foot should be pointing down. Here we go, in four counts. Five, six, seven, eight..."
Laura followed the instruction and felt herself sway to the left. A few boys couldn't do it, constantly having to start over. Adam yelled for them to look a few feet in front of where they were standing and to concentrate on that spot to help them balance. It seemed to work because there was a lot less flailing going on. In four counts, Adam brought them back out of it.
"Did you realize that you all swayed to the left when you did that? This time, stay straight. Don't move to your left. Move as little as possible; you're just picking your foot up and putting it down without moving in any direction. Here we go again."
This time, Laura found it much harder to balance because she was indeed leaning to the left again. It was a massive, corps wide sway and Adam shook his head. They went through the exercise again until Adam was pleased enough to continue on.
"Now, that's all the warm ups I'm going to teach you today. Tomorrow, we'll go over the old ones and start a new one and hopefully we'll have a new one every other day after that. Got it? I'm going to turn you over to Mr. Hamon now and you'll start with the drill. Thanks for being a wonderful group!"
Laura clapped and wondered how many other corps the man had worked with; he seemed very comfortable with speaking to such a large group and had the air of a person who had done stuff like this a hundred times before. Mr. Hamon, picking his bag back up, walked to Jake's podium and nodded his head at Adam as the movement instructor let him go by. Jake, who looked like he wanted his podium back that instant, was waved over and Thomas followed.
"Adam is going to be walking around and helping us with the drill as we go through it. Luckily, since we had longer practices and more time than other corps to work on our show, we already are far ahead our schedule. But that doesn't mean we're going to work any less than we have in the past. All of you are going to give a hundred and fifty percent. Any less than that and I'm holding back your meals."
There was a general mutter of shock and the tension tripled. He couldn't do that!
"Relax! I'm joking!" Mr. Hamon raised an eyebrow and there were a few nervous laughs. "You don't have a sense of humor."
"I think it's the opposite," Jon whispered in Laura's ear. "He doesn't have the sense of humor. He's dangerous enough that we wouldn't put it past him to do such a thing!"
"Now, we're going to get our drum majors up here and they're going to start you off. Since a few of our specialist instructors are gone, we're going to work with getting on and off the field as well as watching your majors for commands. Here we go, corps!"
Laura gulped as she was herded back into her section and was given orders on where and how to stand. The marching yoga wasn't going to last her through the practice, Laura bet, and she tried to remember how she felt at that moment, not so stiff and sore as before. She was going to miss that feeling.
After dinner, which Laura ate with Chris and Jon much to her relief, the three trumpet players went back to their room. The percussionists had pretty much taken over the lounge television and the corps members who had never been to camp before didn't quite know what to do besides go back to their rooms and hang out until lights went out. Laura convinced the boys that this was the time to get their rooms set up for the next few weeks and, after Chris dragged out a portable stereo for personal music players to attach to, they hooked up some music and everyone unpacked their bags.
"So, what did you think of the movement exercises Adam taught us?" Jon asked, standing on his bunk ladder to tuck in a corner of a sheet.
"I thought they were great!" Chris said, playing air guitar as a rock song came on the stereo. Laura laughed as she realized Jon was actually making his bed and that Chris had almost hit his head on the ceiling as he jumped off his bunk and danced like a rock star, still playing air guitar. Laura, happy with her now freshly made bed and unpacked clothes, lined her bottles of perfume, deodorant, and other rather girlish things on the shelf that doubled as a bunk headboard. Jon looked curiously at the bottles and went and sat on Laura's bed, smiling.
"Hey, I just made that!" she exclaimed, standing up after sliding her suitcase and duffel bag under the bed.
"I know. That's the fun part."
Laura sat down beside Jon and straightened one of the bottles so it's label faced forward. Jon looked at her with amazement.
"Do girls really think that's so important? That everything is perfect?"
"Naw, I'm just bored. Some girls do, but..." Laura trailed off and shrugged as Jon picked a few of the bottles up.
"Coconut milk? Mango and cucumber? Fresh breeze? What does a fresh breeze smell like?"
"Try some!"
"No, thanks. Oh, I like the sound of strawberries, though!" he said, uncapping a small spray bottle. "With cream, too! Sweet!"
Jon playfully sprayed some on both of them and Laura snatched the bottle away, laughing. Chris shook his head and joined in on the laugher as the entire room started to smell like a scented soap shop.
Suddenly, the dorm door opened and someone walked in. Laura, still laughing cheerfully, looked over and she felt her heart jump into her throat at the same time her stomach fell down to her feet. Chris turned down the stereo and Jon stood up and backed away from Laura in one swift movement, as if they had been doing something they shouldn't have been doing in the first place. Laura had wondered when their fourth roommate was going to come join them. His clothes were still all over his unmade bed and the suitcase was half open, displaying it's contents.
Thomas shut the door and walked to his bunk, moving clothes around in the sort of way one does when they don't exactly want to fold them but they still want the clothes put away. Finally, someone found something to say after what seemed like minutes of uncomfortable silence.
"Um, Thomas, do you want the top bunk?" Chris asked, meek. Laura would have laughed if the situation was at all funny but found it best to sit cross legged on her bed and put the bottles of perfume back into their proper spot on the headboard shelf. Jon crept back over to Laura and stood with a foot and a hand on the bunk ladder.
Thomas shook his head and started to fold clothes, very carefully, as if it was the only job in the world he had to do. Laura watched out of the corner of her eye as Thomas folded all his shirts. A sweatshirt, a pair of jeans, a pair of shorts, another shirt. Many items had The Knights insignia on it, a man in armor against a large, scripted K, some shirts specifically for corps members from shows years back, others the sort of shirts any member or fan could buy at a performance. Laura found herself admiring a pair of emerald green long legged shorts Thomas was currently folding and she blushed and looked away as Thomas looked up at her.
"So, did you like Adam?" Chris asked, trying to make conversation.
"I've met him before."
Chris climbed up on top of his bunk, above Thomas, and signaled to Jon and Laura that he wasn't going to talk with Thomas any more through a serious of hand gestures and movements Laura found hilarious. Once again, though, she didn't laugh, only continued arranging things on the shelf, making sure all the folds in her clothes were made properly.
"How did you get placed with us?" Jon asked, taking Laura by surprise. Jon's tone was accusing even though the question was innocent enough. Laura hoped Jon wouldn't make a scene; it had been a while since they had had a fight and Laura wanted to keep it that way.
"Long story. In the end, we had too many people and not enough rooms. Jake might be coming here or I might leave if we find another available room."
"If Jake comes here, where would he sleep?" Chris asked, his curiosity taking the better of him. "On the floor?"
"Yes," Thomas said, as if it were the easiest answer in the world. "Other corps members are sleeping five to a room, also. Only instructors have rooms to themselves."
"Oh," Jon said, not satisfied. Laura knew as well as the others that Thomas' answer didn't really make sense because the sort of college they were staying at for camp held more than a hundred and fifty students per residency hall. It was tough to believe that other members were sleeping five to a room. But, Thomas was a drum major, even off the field, and he wouldn't lie. Would he?
Jon climbed up on top of his bunk and took a look at the portable clock he had brought with and set up.
"It's almost time for lights out."
Chis snickered at this rather lame statement and Laura even broke a smile, but Thomas was as serious as ever, picking up the pace of his folding. Within minutes, his suitcase was under the bed like Laura's and Thomas stood up.
"I need to talk with a few of the instructors, then. I should be back before lights out but if I'm not, don't go looking for me."
Thomas walked out the door without so much as a parting glance and, as soon as he was gone and the door was shut behind him, Chris broke into hysterics.
"Yeah, we'll really go looking for you!" Chris said, nearly pounding his pillow. "That guy is so full of himself!"
Jon waved his hand over the edge of his bunk and Laura pulled at his fingers, trying to catch one. She had a feeling this was a new game they were going to play.
"Laura, do you really think he's here because there's no place else for him to sleep?"
"No," she answered, trying to find something else to say. "As a drum major, I would think he would have the pick of rooms. Just my thoughts."
"Wanna know what I think?" Jon asked, pulling his hand up and leaning over the side so he could look upside down at Laura. "I think he chose this room because you were in it. And because I'm in it. He wants to keep you from me, just like at camp. He can't stand it that we're friends."
"He's threatened," Chris said, joining in on the conversation, even though it was assumed he didn't know what he was talking about. "Thomas lurves Laura and he hates the fact Johnny boy is here with you!"
"First of all," Jon said, half joking, half serious, "Never say 'lurves' again. Second of all, my name is Jon. Third of all, I think you're right."
"What gets me is why I don't have my own room," Laura said, frowning. "Don't get me wrong, I love being here with you guys, but I'm the only girl with about a hundred other guys who won't be seeing another female nearly all summer. Wouldn't I be under a lot of protection right now? I'm a liability and they're putting me in with three other guys."
"Maybe Deleyney trusts us," Jon said, his face getting red as all the blood rushed to his head from being upside down for so long. "I mean, it's not a secret I'm way overprotective of you and Thomas is too much of a gentleman to do anything to you. Chris, well, I'm sure they found the nicest possible guy to put in here with us. If Thomas is right and there isn't enough rooms to go around, this could have been the only possible solution besides you sleeping with one of the directors."
Chris snorted and Laura shot him a look. Jon shrugged and said, "You know what I mean, right?"
Laura nodded. Thomas could be telling the truth. It was obvious Laura was protected by Jon and Thomas and Chris seemed to be a nice guy with nothing against Laura. If Jake also roomed with them, it would add to her safety, too.
"Hey, you guys want to see my girlfriend?"
Chris brought out a picture and handed it around. He winked at Laura as if he had read her mind.
"Sorry, Laura, you'll have to keep your hands off me. I'm already taken."
Yes, she was going to be safe with them.
Thanks, everyone for reading! Right now, I'm at home because my big drumline/corps weekend was cancelled due to a wicked snowstorm. My director called me this morning: "Good morning! We're not going!" Darn... I was all packed and set to go; we were going to about three contests and sleeping overnight on a gym floor. It was going to be fun. Boohoo. Oh, well... Once again, Hearts Of Glass is on Facebook and LiveJournal, so take a look. I'm usually on my Facebook once a day, too, so I'll always have Hearts updates there... A few of you have already found me and I thank you for being so nice and friendly!
Please leave a review and thanks so much, once again! I love it that you love this, because it makes me love it even more (if that makes sense!) Happy Reading!
