Gym was a very evil class. Especially with the teacher I had. It was the
last class of the day and some days seemed to last forever. Especially
today, when I was stuck playing four square. The only people on my team who
were any good were Nelly, and my other friend Mimi. Everyone else on my
team were the super jocks.
Luckily the teacher called the classes in earlier today. I thought that good, because I had to walk up to the high school today. Why? Today was the very first meeting of the Ponra High School marching band.
I changed out of my gym clothes and talked with Nelly and Mimi outside as we waited for the bell to ring. "So, Alora is saying that your first colorguard meeting is today." Nelly said. "Yep." I replied with a sigh. "Are you sure you aren't coming?" I looked at her reproachfully. "Nope. I told you that." Nelly replied. "And I've told Alora a hundred times. No, I'm not joining. I'm doing basketball." "Basketball is in the winter." I retorted. "But I need to prepare for it in the fall." I sighed. I was fighting a losing battle.
The bell rang with a loud buzz, and I could see everyone quick to scramble out. I took my time, trotting down to my locker, flipping the combination, and taking my books. No sense to rush, right?
Well, yes, actually. I forgot that the high school gets out earlier than we do. And they probably wouldn't want to wait for the middle schoolers to get out.
I slung the bookbag over my shoulder and started heading out of the school. Still, no sense for me to rush. They all knew I walked anyway.
I took my time getting up to the high school. When I finally did and stepped inside, I was immediately met by Alora who seized my arm and began dragging me in the direction of the band room. "We're late already!" She hissed. "We don't want to miss anything."
And so it was into the band room we went. The guard was all situated along the back of the band room, as usual, with all the band members sitting in chairs in front. Mr. Piquano was sitting up top, preparing to give his start-of-season speech. I glanced around. All of the guard was there, minus Shelley and Chrisabel because they graduated. There were also three new faces I had never seen before. One of them was standing next to Carrie, whispering to her. The other had just arrived moments after I had. The third was next to Talie, nodding at everyone.
Mr. P clapped his hands, bringing us all to attention as he prepared to begin his speech. Another glance around the band room made me see several people here I actually knew. Over by the trumpets was Li Yung, or Mr. Awards as me and my friend Adi like to say. Li Yung got thousands of awards at the 8th grade award thing earlier this month. He was this super academic genius. What was ~he~ doing here in marching band?
This other guy I knew. His name was Jeff, and he was a friend of mine. Another trumpet player, but still a friend. We would talk here and there, about nonsense things (he was about the only guy I knew who wasn't afraid of nonsense) and he had repeatedly asked me if I was going to the 8th grade semi formal in June (I was).
There was of course Alora's friend in the pit, but she was there last year. And there were a few more people I recognized from my 8th grade class. Not a lot, but enough.
"Ahem," Mr. P said loudly. "I'd like to get started now."
I turned my attention from the random 8th graders to Mr. P. "Now," He began. "First of all, I'm going to start with describing some of what I hope our show is going to be like this year. It's going to be longer than last year's, more pages of drill, more songs, more moves, and more guard work." He glanced at us when mentioning the guard work. "To the colorguard, as you already know I'm sure Mrs. Loren will not be instructing you this year." Fine, rub it in, I thought, scowling. "You will instead be instructed by Diana, you know her from last year, and her mother, Mary." Diana and Mary nodded at us from the front by the door. Nodded a little severely, I thought.
"Drummers, I warn you, Uncle Shmitt is going to have some fancy things for you this season." Uncle Shmitt was the drumline instructor. Everyone called him Uncle Shmitt. I heard the drummers groan at that.
Mr. P went on to describe our show, how we were going to be doing a lot more this year than last year. How ~this~ year, we were determined to ~win.~ I thought we had won a fair number last year, but the rest of the band didn't.
Andre, one of the saxophone players, raised his hand. "Mr. P, is it true that band camp this year is going to be less days but longer hours?" He asked.
Band camp. I shuddered at the thought.
"Yes," Mr. P replied. "Band camp this year is going to be four, well five days. The hours on the first four days will be longer than usual and the fifth day will be only three hours for pictures and such." He explained.
Band camp. I still dreaded those words. Just say it. . . band camp. Don't those words just send chills down your spine?
"Now," Mr. P concluded, after lecturing us for awhile. "We're going to split and have some practice. Guard, go with Diana and Mary. Band, stay here, you'll get your music and we'll start going over that."
"Come on." Said Diana. We all followed her out onto the pavilion outside the school. She got right down to business. "Alright, as you know I am Diana, and this is my mother Mary. We'll be your instructors this year." Mary nudged Diana, pointing at her watch. "Now I'm afraid I can't stay with you today, but I'll be here for your next practice in two weeks." Our two 'instructors' nodded at us, and then left it all to Talie.
"Welcome, colorguard!" Talie said brightly. "My name is Talie, I'm your captain for this year. Over there are Cara and Katrina, or Kat, your co- captains." She nodded at Cara and Kat who were behind her. "Now, most of us know each other already, but we have three new-well, two new and one sort of new members." She indicated the three new people. "We'll all go around and introduce ourselves. As I said before, I'm Talie." "Cara." "Kat." The next person in line was one of the new people. "Amy Lynn." She said. Talie grinned at Amy Lynn. "Some of you already know Amy Lynn," Talie said. "She was with our guard two years ago." ((a/n: Julia. . . Les Mis! We'd better do it when we are juniors!)) "Continue." Everyone went around the circle. I knew most of these people already. "Maggie." "Christian." (The only guy. . . he was still here) "Alisa." "Carrie." Then we came to another one of the new people. "Jocelyn." She said. "I'm Carrie's sister." The two of them grinned at each other. Talie nodded, and we continued. "Alora." "Christine." Now we came to the last new person. "And you?" Talie asked. "I'm going to be an 8th grader next year," She said. "My name's Alora." She said shyly. Talie glanced at Alora. "So we have two Aloras this year?" She asked.
Alora grinned at me and then turned to Talie. "That's going to be confusing." Talie said.
"Oh, you can call me Julia." Alora interjected. Talie raised an eyebrow at her. "Julia?" "Yes, it's my middle name. I like it better than Alora. So can you call me that?" "Okay." Alora-now Julia-grinned at me again. "I can be Lorry," Offered the other Alora, the new one. "Then it's settled." Talie said. "Julia and Lorry." Maggie finished with introducing herself as Maggie.
"Now that that's done with," Talie continued. "We'll start with the basic moves. First, drop spins."
Yep. While last year, when me, Nelly, and Alora-Julia-(I'd have to get used to calling her that this season) were new, we sat in a circle and talked about ourselves for a bit. This year, we just got right down to business. No descriptions, just telling what our name was and getting right started with guard work. Already I could tell that this year was going to be different.
Talie showed us all drop spins (most of us knew it already, but she did it for the benefit of Lorry and Jocelyn, and as a reminder for Amy Lynn because she already knew that), then figure eights, and a few other really basic things. Soon it was time to go, and Talie called us all in.
"Sorry this practice was kind of off," She said. "I was expecting Diana and Mary to be here. But we'll cut it short, you all don't mind, do you?"
Really. Of course we didn't mind.
"Good." She grinned. "This year's going to be a good year. Now let's put our flags away, and I'll see you at the next practice in May."
So we all put our flags away, then me and Alora (I mean Julia!) trotted outside.
"Glad you're joining again?" Julia asked. "Mmm. . ." I replied. "I don't know yet." Mrs. Jeter pulled up and honked the horn. "That's my mom," Julia said. "I'll see you tomorrow!" I waved to Julia and was left waiting for my own mom to come and pick me up.
"Christine?" I jumped, hearing my name called. Turning around I saw it was Jeff, my friend, who was going to join this year as a trumpet player. "Hey," I said to him, waving as he came up next to me. He dropped his trumpet on the ground. "I didn't know you were joining this year." He said. "Well, I wasn't going to. But Julia talked me into it. I joined last year, you see."
Jeff nodded. "Julia?" "Alora. You know, Alora Jeter? We have another Alora joining our guard this year so we're going to call her by her middle name, Julia." "Oh." Jeff stuck his hands in his pockets. "So, you're in colorguard?" "Yep." "You like it?" "It's cool."
This conversation was getting nowhere. "Why're you deciding to join marching band?" I asked. "Dunno," replied Jeff. "It looked interesting." He looked at me for a second, then off into space.
Finally, Jeff's dad pulled up in his car. He honked the horn loudly. "Sorry, gotta go." Jeff said, picking up his trumpet. "See you in school tomorrow." "Bye." He jumped in the car and drove off.
My mom came shortly afterward. "How was the practice?" She asked.
I sighed. "Things this year, I think, are going to be very very different." I told her. "Very different from last year." "I see." My mom didn't really. But then again, neither did I. I had an idea that things would be different, with new people coming in and old people leaving, with new instructors and band people. . .
If only I had known at the time just ~how~ different.
((Is Julia the only one reading this? Come on, chaps!))
Luckily the teacher called the classes in earlier today. I thought that good, because I had to walk up to the high school today. Why? Today was the very first meeting of the Ponra High School marching band.
I changed out of my gym clothes and talked with Nelly and Mimi outside as we waited for the bell to ring. "So, Alora is saying that your first colorguard meeting is today." Nelly said. "Yep." I replied with a sigh. "Are you sure you aren't coming?" I looked at her reproachfully. "Nope. I told you that." Nelly replied. "And I've told Alora a hundred times. No, I'm not joining. I'm doing basketball." "Basketball is in the winter." I retorted. "But I need to prepare for it in the fall." I sighed. I was fighting a losing battle.
The bell rang with a loud buzz, and I could see everyone quick to scramble out. I took my time, trotting down to my locker, flipping the combination, and taking my books. No sense to rush, right?
Well, yes, actually. I forgot that the high school gets out earlier than we do. And they probably wouldn't want to wait for the middle schoolers to get out.
I slung the bookbag over my shoulder and started heading out of the school. Still, no sense for me to rush. They all knew I walked anyway.
I took my time getting up to the high school. When I finally did and stepped inside, I was immediately met by Alora who seized my arm and began dragging me in the direction of the band room. "We're late already!" She hissed. "We don't want to miss anything."
And so it was into the band room we went. The guard was all situated along the back of the band room, as usual, with all the band members sitting in chairs in front. Mr. Piquano was sitting up top, preparing to give his start-of-season speech. I glanced around. All of the guard was there, minus Shelley and Chrisabel because they graduated. There were also three new faces I had never seen before. One of them was standing next to Carrie, whispering to her. The other had just arrived moments after I had. The third was next to Talie, nodding at everyone.
Mr. P clapped his hands, bringing us all to attention as he prepared to begin his speech. Another glance around the band room made me see several people here I actually knew. Over by the trumpets was Li Yung, or Mr. Awards as me and my friend Adi like to say. Li Yung got thousands of awards at the 8th grade award thing earlier this month. He was this super academic genius. What was ~he~ doing here in marching band?
This other guy I knew. His name was Jeff, and he was a friend of mine. Another trumpet player, but still a friend. We would talk here and there, about nonsense things (he was about the only guy I knew who wasn't afraid of nonsense) and he had repeatedly asked me if I was going to the 8th grade semi formal in June (I was).
There was of course Alora's friend in the pit, but she was there last year. And there were a few more people I recognized from my 8th grade class. Not a lot, but enough.
"Ahem," Mr. P said loudly. "I'd like to get started now."
I turned my attention from the random 8th graders to Mr. P. "Now," He began. "First of all, I'm going to start with describing some of what I hope our show is going to be like this year. It's going to be longer than last year's, more pages of drill, more songs, more moves, and more guard work." He glanced at us when mentioning the guard work. "To the colorguard, as you already know I'm sure Mrs. Loren will not be instructing you this year." Fine, rub it in, I thought, scowling. "You will instead be instructed by Diana, you know her from last year, and her mother, Mary." Diana and Mary nodded at us from the front by the door. Nodded a little severely, I thought.
"Drummers, I warn you, Uncle Shmitt is going to have some fancy things for you this season." Uncle Shmitt was the drumline instructor. Everyone called him Uncle Shmitt. I heard the drummers groan at that.
Mr. P went on to describe our show, how we were going to be doing a lot more this year than last year. How ~this~ year, we were determined to ~win.~ I thought we had won a fair number last year, but the rest of the band didn't.
Andre, one of the saxophone players, raised his hand. "Mr. P, is it true that band camp this year is going to be less days but longer hours?" He asked.
Band camp. I shuddered at the thought.
"Yes," Mr. P replied. "Band camp this year is going to be four, well five days. The hours on the first four days will be longer than usual and the fifth day will be only three hours for pictures and such." He explained.
Band camp. I still dreaded those words. Just say it. . . band camp. Don't those words just send chills down your spine?
"Now," Mr. P concluded, after lecturing us for awhile. "We're going to split and have some practice. Guard, go with Diana and Mary. Band, stay here, you'll get your music and we'll start going over that."
"Come on." Said Diana. We all followed her out onto the pavilion outside the school. She got right down to business. "Alright, as you know I am Diana, and this is my mother Mary. We'll be your instructors this year." Mary nudged Diana, pointing at her watch. "Now I'm afraid I can't stay with you today, but I'll be here for your next practice in two weeks." Our two 'instructors' nodded at us, and then left it all to Talie.
"Welcome, colorguard!" Talie said brightly. "My name is Talie, I'm your captain for this year. Over there are Cara and Katrina, or Kat, your co- captains." She nodded at Cara and Kat who were behind her. "Now, most of us know each other already, but we have three new-well, two new and one sort of new members." She indicated the three new people. "We'll all go around and introduce ourselves. As I said before, I'm Talie." "Cara." "Kat." The next person in line was one of the new people. "Amy Lynn." She said. Talie grinned at Amy Lynn. "Some of you already know Amy Lynn," Talie said. "She was with our guard two years ago." ((a/n: Julia. . . Les Mis! We'd better do it when we are juniors!)) "Continue." Everyone went around the circle. I knew most of these people already. "Maggie." "Christian." (The only guy. . . he was still here) "Alisa." "Carrie." Then we came to another one of the new people. "Jocelyn." She said. "I'm Carrie's sister." The two of them grinned at each other. Talie nodded, and we continued. "Alora." "Christine." Now we came to the last new person. "And you?" Talie asked. "I'm going to be an 8th grader next year," She said. "My name's Alora." She said shyly. Talie glanced at Alora. "So we have two Aloras this year?" She asked.
Alora grinned at me and then turned to Talie. "That's going to be confusing." Talie said.
"Oh, you can call me Julia." Alora interjected. Talie raised an eyebrow at her. "Julia?" "Yes, it's my middle name. I like it better than Alora. So can you call me that?" "Okay." Alora-now Julia-grinned at me again. "I can be Lorry," Offered the other Alora, the new one. "Then it's settled." Talie said. "Julia and Lorry." Maggie finished with introducing herself as Maggie.
"Now that that's done with," Talie continued. "We'll start with the basic moves. First, drop spins."
Yep. While last year, when me, Nelly, and Alora-Julia-(I'd have to get used to calling her that this season) were new, we sat in a circle and talked about ourselves for a bit. This year, we just got right down to business. No descriptions, just telling what our name was and getting right started with guard work. Already I could tell that this year was going to be different.
Talie showed us all drop spins (most of us knew it already, but she did it for the benefit of Lorry and Jocelyn, and as a reminder for Amy Lynn because she already knew that), then figure eights, and a few other really basic things. Soon it was time to go, and Talie called us all in.
"Sorry this practice was kind of off," She said. "I was expecting Diana and Mary to be here. But we'll cut it short, you all don't mind, do you?"
Really. Of course we didn't mind.
"Good." She grinned. "This year's going to be a good year. Now let's put our flags away, and I'll see you at the next practice in May."
So we all put our flags away, then me and Alora (I mean Julia!) trotted outside.
"Glad you're joining again?" Julia asked. "Mmm. . ." I replied. "I don't know yet." Mrs. Jeter pulled up and honked the horn. "That's my mom," Julia said. "I'll see you tomorrow!" I waved to Julia and was left waiting for my own mom to come and pick me up.
"Christine?" I jumped, hearing my name called. Turning around I saw it was Jeff, my friend, who was going to join this year as a trumpet player. "Hey," I said to him, waving as he came up next to me. He dropped his trumpet on the ground. "I didn't know you were joining this year." He said. "Well, I wasn't going to. But Julia talked me into it. I joined last year, you see."
Jeff nodded. "Julia?" "Alora. You know, Alora Jeter? We have another Alora joining our guard this year so we're going to call her by her middle name, Julia." "Oh." Jeff stuck his hands in his pockets. "So, you're in colorguard?" "Yep." "You like it?" "It's cool."
This conversation was getting nowhere. "Why're you deciding to join marching band?" I asked. "Dunno," replied Jeff. "It looked interesting." He looked at me for a second, then off into space.
Finally, Jeff's dad pulled up in his car. He honked the horn loudly. "Sorry, gotta go." Jeff said, picking up his trumpet. "See you in school tomorrow." "Bye." He jumped in the car and drove off.
My mom came shortly afterward. "How was the practice?" She asked.
I sighed. "Things this year, I think, are going to be very very different." I told her. "Very different from last year." "I see." My mom didn't really. But then again, neither did I. I had an idea that things would be different, with new people coming in and old people leaving, with new instructors and band people. . .
If only I had known at the time just ~how~ different.
((Is Julia the only one reading this? Come on, chaps!))