The Longest Day of My Life
By: ~Ceili~
A long, long span of almost 48 hours and two competitions: LMBA and
NYSFBC Championships...please r/r
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We waited in almost-silence for the director to announce the results of the competition. Us older kids were talking quietly in the back, debating on what the scores would be, who would get what caption awards, etc.
It seemed like forever before he finally put the pen down on the sheet of paper, thanked the parents who had called us, and stood up. The bus went dead silent as he stood. We didn't want to get our hopes up, but we really really wanted to win.
"I'll go over the caption awards first," He said, holing the pen and paper in one hand and using the other to steady himself. The only light on the bus was from the small reading lights over the seats, so he had to keep leaning over to read the scores.
"The caption for Best Visual goes to Fairview." Silence
"The caption for best Music goes to Seneca." We cringed. There were still four captions left but this wasn't looking good.
"The caption for best winds-" Everyone on the bus held their breath "goes to Northwestern"
The bus erupted into cheering and screaming and hugging...Then we remembered that our director was standing in front of us, waiting to finish the announcement.
"Caption for best Visual: Seneca...Caption for best Auxilary: Fairview." A couple girls on from the color guard look really depressed. "And the Final caption for Best General Effect goes to Northwestern" He grinned as he read the last one. Now we were really concerned...there was no way that first second and third places could have gotten the same amount of captions and *not* have came very very close to the same score. What if we lost only by a few tenths of a point...?
"Hey, quiet down!" Our drum major yelled from the back of the bus "We want to hear the scores!"
"Alright...In order..." Our band director started "In 10th, 55.20, Sheffield. In 9th, 55.30, Strong Vincent. In 8th, 56.90, Sherman. In 7th, 58.45, Girard. In 6th, 59.25, Otto Eldred. In 5th, 67, Red Bank Valley" I silently grinned...one of my best friends, Elizabeth (lizardbreath), was in Red Bank's band and I was hoping they'd do well "In 4th place, 69.10, East."
The bus grew silent again. We could've guessed that we would be in the top three, but where in the top three.
"In 3rd place...with a score of 74.75..." Our director was taking his time announcing everything "Seneca."
Everyone on the bus gave a collective sigh. One down, one to go.
"In 2nd place....with a score of 74.95..." Damn that was close...what if this was us? The score wasn't even a full point higher than Seneca's. "Fairview." Our band director was smiling, and we were jumping around, hugging each other, crying...it was amazing.
"And in first place...with a score of 76.50...for the second year in a row....Northwestern!!!"
Well, that did it. The overhead lights all went on and everyone was screaming.
"We won!! We really won!!" someone yelled from the front. I think it was one of the younger kids. The music started playing (We are the champions) as we congratulated each other and began to act normal again.
"I didn't mean it, Parker...you really don't suck."
"Neither do you...and don't call me Parker."
"Our senior year....and we won!"
"Now it's time to kick it in New York!"
"When do we get to sleep?"
"Can we watch a movie?"
By the time we'd calmed down the bus pulled into a rest stop and the tears and congratulations and screaming and hugging started all over again. The older kids were the first ones off the first bus and we were there to greet the kids from the second bus as they got off. Fifteen long minutes later we were back on the bus and headed for Syracuse.