BAND CAMP-where you don't know if you're dead, or if you just envy the
dead.
My alarm clock had waken me up at 6:30 in the morning. What, I thought, was my alarm clock doing going off at 6:30 in the morning? It was August, really! School didn't start for another. . . well, two weeks!
Practice, then? Sure, we had several practices since that first meeting in April. In those practices we began to learn some of our work (already!) and did drop spins. Lots of drop spins.
Then I realized what this must mean: the one thing that every marching band person dreads. . . BAND CAMP.
Yes, band camp. I dragged myself out of bed and threw on some shorts and a tshirt, then gathered all the stuff I would need for the loooong day ahead. Let's see now. . . one water bottle. . . my dot book and a pen. . . lunch. . . another water bottle. . . what else did I need? Sunscreen, that's it. . . oh, and why not throw in a third water bottle anyway?
I ate breakfast and glanced at the temperature outside. Wait. . . did it say 66? 66! I was truly shocked. 66 and it was 6:30! Perhaps it would not get as hot today as it did yesterday. Maybe it would actually be comfortable!
Yeah, and maybe Colm Wilkinson would tap dance on my kitchen table while singing "Who Am I" from Les Mis.
After gathering all the stuff together for my dreaded day ahead, I waited for Al-for Julia and her mom to come and pick me up. They had agreed to come pick me up and bring me to band camp so I wouldn't have to bother my dad with it.
I didn't have to wait too long. Shortly after I got my things, I heard the honking of a car outside my house. Yanking aside the curtains, I saw Julia waving at me from her car. "Hold on!" I yelled out the window. "Be right there!" I slung the bookbag over my shoulder and trotted out to Julia's car.
She opened the door. "Hey," She said to me, looking just as tired as I was. "Ready for band camp?" Asked Mrs. Jeter. "No," replied me and Julia at the same time, then we turned and grinned at each other. "I am so not ready for this." I said to Julia, leaning back in the chair. "It's band camp. Can we even be ready?" replied Julia, rolling her eyes.
Mrs. Jeter drove us to the school. We reluctantly got out of the car and trudged up to the cafeteria. The air outside was still surprisingly chilly- I actually kind of wished I had brought my sweater.
When we got into the cafeteria, we saw Cara waving at us from a small round table towards the center. I dropped my stuff on the chair and Julia in the chair next to me. Cara was eating a bagel, and Maggie was drinking some coffee. "Well, here we are again!" Cara said brightly. "Mrf," Replied Maggie drowsily. Me and Julia each got bagels and orange juice and sat down with Cara and Maggie.
Slowly the other guard members arrived. Carrie and Jocelyn were next, Jocelyn looking nervous and staying close to Carrie. Maggie didn't say much the time we all ate, just stared into her mug of coffee.
"Hey, Amy Lynn!" Cara said when Amy Lynn came in. Talie came in with her. Amy Lynn and Talie were both very good friends. "Glad you could make it this year." Cara grinned. "Mmm. Yeah." Murmured Amy Lynn. She, too, was feeling the affects of band camp. And in band camp. . . no one is safe.
Glancing at my watch, which now read 8:30, I looked up and saw Diana and Mary come in. "Look," Whispered Julia. "It's the instructors." I nodded. Diana and Mary whispered about something for a few seconds, and then Mary turned to us and shouted, "Guard! Come with me!"
"Mrf!" Exclaimed Maggie, scowling at her coffee. "Come on," Talie said, getting up and motioning for us all to come with her. Maggie sighed and threw out what remained of her coffee. The rest of us (minus Christian because he was late. . . oh what a surprise) followed Diana and Mary out into the hall and then into the band room. Surprisingly, I noticed, Lorry wasn't there. She was at the other practices we had but not this one. Oh yeah. . . Lorry's family had to go away for vacation this week so she would miss band camp. I felt bad for Lorry. . . she'd be missing a lot.
Mr. P was already in the band room, preparing his start of band camp speech. The band was slowly filing in (yes, slowly! Only about a quarter of the band was already there when we went in. And of course we are rushed there while the band takes their sorry little time. . .!) But soon all the band arrived, and Mr. P began his second speech of the year.
"Alright," Mr. P said. "Today's the first day of band camp." I heard groans and other random noises coming from the band. "Usually we're not going to have a meeting in the band room, we're just going to go out and get started with our drill." This was met by more groans. "But today is the first day, I'll give a bit of information of what is going to happen this week." Mr. P went on to describe the week. . . in detail. From today to the long hours of the rest of the week, to the bonfire and the final performance. In way too many details for my liking.
Soon he dismissed us all with a wave of his hand. "Band, get your instruments. We'll warm up and then go outside. Guard, go with Diana and Mary." Yes, go with the instructors.
Sighing, I followed them out of the room. "Flags," Was all Diana said, pointing at a myriad of colored flags leaning against one corner of the band room. We each took a flag (I made sure that the one I got wasn't one of those oddly weighted ones) and followed them outside. Diana situated us all in a tiny little corner, and made us do these abominable stretches first. Stretches that stretched even muscles that I didn't know I had. "Okay, now that we're done with that-" Diana continued. "-we'll do about 100 drop spins to get us started."
100. How lovely. We did the 100, but by the end, my arms were ready to fall off. Next, Diana ushered us all outside. I went out, armed with two water bottles. As we filed out into the back parking lot, I noticed that the air was still surprisingly cool. Huh. Wonder how long that would last.
We got right down to business. The marching block we did was short, very short, and then Mr. P and Nick the Drill Guy all wanted to begin the actual drill spot giving. Already! But checking my watch, it showed that now it was 9:15. We'd only have around three hours before lunch break. ~Darn it,~ I thought. ~I wish Mr. P would make longer speeches.~
Nick proclaimed me "colorguard #7" (each of the guard and band got numbers. . . I was the fated guard number seven. . . and I would be referred to as "Number Seven" for the rest of the season), then gave me the first drill spot.
The morning wore on. The drill spots kept on given, and my initial thoughts of the temperature remaining the same were far off. As soon as it hit around 10:00, the temperature shot up suddenly. The pavement heated up so that we could see the heat waves rising from it. The yellow and white lines burned in my vision. I checked my watch nearly every two seconds. The day wore on, and on, and on. . .
"Alright! Everybody in!" Shouted Nick. I glanced down at my watch for the thousandth time today. 12:03! Hark, success at last! Now it really ~was~ lunch time!
Nick gave us a short speech and then sent us off to lunch. We went in, all completely exhausted. "I'm sunburned again," Julia muttered to me. I grinned weakly at her. "It's a band camp thing." She said.
"My god, Christine," I heard a male's voice say behind me. "Hi, Jeff," I replied to my friend Jeff. I ended up actually going to the semi formal. My friend Adi (a hopeless romantic) even got me to have a slow dance with Jeff. "You were right." Jeff groaned. "Band camp is even worse than you said it would be!" I grinned at him. "Well, it's band camp, what do you expect?" Jeff rolled his eyes and walked ahead of me, holding his trumpet.
Me and Julia got our lunches and went into the cafeteria, sitting down at the guard table. They moved aside to make room for us. I unwrapped my roast beef sandwich, hearing the all around conversations. "Carrie said that band camp was bad." Said Jocelyn. "She was right." Then Jocelyn and Carrie went around to ask Talie and Maggie what they were taking next year for classes. Cara added in a few things of her lunch schedule, her and Maggie grinning over the fact that they had the same lunch period. Julia offered some of her teachers, letting the rest of them critique it. I didn't remember half of the teachers on my schedule (we had gotten our schedules the week before. Me and Julia grimaced over it all together, realizing that we only had lunch together. . . and as we were going to be freshman, we were hoping for more classes together).
Christian got a peanut butter sandwich and sat next to Julia. "Hey Julia," He said in that ever so Christian voice of his. "Want a sandwich?"
"Erm. . .no." Replied Julia.
Christian grinned and looked at the rest of the guard. "Hey, watch this!" He exclaimed. The rest of them turned to look at him. Christian stuck the half of the sandwich to his face. "Augh!" Exclaimed Kat, jerking back in her chair. Christian peeled off the sandwich, leaving peanut butter and jelly stuck all along the side of his face. "Now I'm going to lick it off," He proclaimed.
"Gross!" Exclaimed Cara. "Why?" "Why not?"
Amy Lynn, looking thoroughly disgusted, turned sympathetically to Julia. "I feel so bad for you, having to sit next to him." She said. Julia's face was a combination of horror and disgust. I looked down into my roast beef sandwich to avoid looking at the peanut butter and jelly face of Christian. ((a/n: There ya go, Julia. . . just had to put that in!))
Once lunch was over, we split for guard and music, just like we had done the previous year. But this year we didn't even start with the basics. Diana shoved us all into our box, and immediately got us set doing 100 drop spins, both left and right. By the end of those second 100 of the day, my arms were ready to fall off.
I wasn't even close to Julia when she began setting us with work. Julia was farther away, and I was somewhere near Kat and Maggie. The work she taught us. . . I was lost from the start. With so many complicated moves, I felt like a new person again. I made a vain attempt at following Kat in front of me. I saw Diana's eyes upon me, seeing me not doing the work, and wanted to cringe back. My god, those eyes! She could turn this look on you that could make you feel like the smallest piece of dirt that you march on, the tiniest speck of dust. The way she was staring at me, as if there was something wrong with me not getting the work, made me feel like that speck.
This part went even slower than the drill learning in the morning. Diana's hard work continued, not giving us the slightest chance of a break. Maggie was leaning on her flag and groaning by the time that 3:00 came.
Thankfully (I couldn't believe I was saying this) the time came for us to all go out and go over our drill again for the last half hour. Today band camp was only until 4.
But that was just today. For the rest of the week, it would be from 8-8 and beyond.
We trudged outside, getting our water bottles (my second) and our flags. The band wasn't out yet, of course. But we were! We ~had~ to be the first ones out.
"In a box!" Commanded Diana as soon as we got outside, clapping her hands and pointing. "A marching drill box! Now!" She didn't seem to take it in to any consideration that we had been standing, spinning, and walking nonstop since 8:00 this morning, that we were hot, tired, and thirsty, and about any other bad feeling you could think of.
No. Didn't think of it at all.
Diana scanned us all. "Now march." She said, clapping her hands to the tempo. We marched in a block, forward, left, back, right.
"What was that?" Diana said when we returned to our forward position. "You call that marching? I can see a total of three of you who are keeping your shoulders forward and your feet on step!" She snapped. "And that's just Kat, and Talie. Now, here's an idea! Roll up your flags and place them across your shoulders, like this." Diana demonstrated with Cara's flag. "And we'll march, and you'll have to keep your shoulders forward."
I rolled my flag and stuck the pole across my shoulders. Luckily, I was sure, no one could see me from the back of the box. Even with that year (as it was) last year, I was still quite shy. I'd hang in the back for practices all the time. I never wanted to be pointed out, merely to do my thing and be on with it. You're never meant to see me, oh no, only my flag.
Diana clapped and had us marching again. We marched forward then twisted sideways. "Christine!" Diana barked. "What are you doing? Face front, feet together!"
I wanted to cringe away from her. I hated being pointed out! When she so much as looked at me I wanted to disappear into a hole in the ground. But calling on me? That was worse! I felt my face turn beet red, redder than it already was in the summer heat.
She sighed as we finished our box. "That was pitiful, you guys," She said, shaking her head, while Mary nodded in agreement. "Keeping yourself forward is one of the first things you learn in marching band!" I saw Jocelyn shift and lean on her flag. Poor Jocelyn. . . she was more new than any of us.
Diana looked scornfully at me. "Christine, you didn't keep front at all," She said. "And you never keep in step! Really, how can you expect to march like that?" her voice was practically dripping with disdain. I looked down, seeing other guard members glance at me out of the corners of my eyes. Did she have to keep doing that?! Didn't she notice how much I ~didn't want to be noticed?~
The band saved me then before she could throw any more criticism or embarrassment at me. They filed out and got in their opening spots as Nick the Drill Guy prepared to continue.
The last hour was fairly alright (or as alright as band camp could be). We got a few more new spots and even got a *gasp* break.
Finally, Nick called us in, gave a short speech, and dismissed us. I was ever so grateful to be out of there. I caught up with Julia as we walked into the band room. "Survive?" She asked with a grin. "No," I replied. "Did you see how she was. . . pointing me out? I hate being pointed out." I said angrily. "I think she's okay. . ." Julia offered with a shrug. Julia didn't think that Diana was all that bad.
I put my flag away and joined my mom in the car. I told her (with not as many details) about the horrors of today.
It wasn't until I got home and was in my room that I realized just how much I wished Mrs. Loren was our instructor again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day went by even slower than the day before. The hours were longer, and Diana's relentless work and pointing me out kept on. Julia and I proclaimed ourselves officially dead on 2 pm that Tuesday.
Wednesday was the night for the bonfire. The practice was all day, so me and Julia were exhausted by the time night fell and the bonfire was to be set.
All the chairs were squeezed into the small cafeteria. It was drizzling outside, so the bonfire couldn't be outside like last year. Instead, the bonfire was on a little braizer (that's a thing where the coal is in a bowl and the fire is in a bowl with it) outside under the ledge. The door was open a crack so that we could get to the bonfire outside under the ledge.
Talie and Cara had all their speeches made. As last year, each one of them would make a small speech about a member of the guard, then call them up to toast their marshmallows. Talie was first, calling up a few people.
Finally, they came to Julia. "Alora Jeter," Talie said. "Alora is now a second year. Who'd have thought this shy little person could be such a good second year? Of course, we all call her Julia now because Lorry, whose full name is also Alora, came into our guard. But Lorry isn't here right now. Anyway, ~Julia~ knows the counts better than anyone else." She said about Julia. "So come on up!" Julia gave me and embarrassed grin and squeezed in between the many rows of chairs to get up front.
Then Cara came to my name. "Christine Vendredy," Oh lovely. Cara was going to be the one making the speech? "It takes a lot to go from spinning on the sidelines to going fully into the guard. It's not an easy thing, but somehow Christine managed to do it. So now she's here for her second year, come on up, Christine, it's going to be a good one!" Cara motioned for me to come up.
I too squeezed in between the chairs until I was up front. Oh god look at all those people! They were all looking at me. . .
Cara grinned and hugged me, handing me a marshmallow on a metal stick (so when I ate it, there wasn't any actual stick inside). I stuck it in the fire and ate it as quickly as I could. Then I went to hug Talie.
And Talie, before I sat down, whispered to me, "Thanks for coming back."
And perhaps. . . perhaps I would be. . .
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Band camp week continued on. Finally the performance, the pre-performance shall I say, came on Friday. After a long week, this would finally be pretty much the last of it. I was ever so looking forward to the end.
When the day ended and the night came, we prepared for our performance. It was raining once again (about the only good thing I could say about this dreaded week was that it rained a bit. But most of the time that wasn't a good thing either because it meant more time we'd be trapped inside with Diana. . .), so instead of the performance outside with our drill like last year, it was inside in the gym. The band was set up in an arc facing the parents, and all of us guard people in a line along the back of them. I couldn't recall a time where we had an inside performance before this day.
So into the gym we went, carrying our flags. We only knew the beginning of the show (and even then not very well) so we weren't entirely as prepared as we should be.
My mom and dad waved to me as they came in. I waved back, grinning at Julia, whose parents came in soon after mine. Both our parents sat next to each other and began talking. Neither of us liked ~that~ prospect all too much.
The show went fairly smooth. We did the opening parts we knew pretty good. Sure we weren't exactly together, but what could you expect, at band camp? After we did the work we knew, Cara's excitement took over and she began dancing with everyone near her: Christian, Alisa, and yes, even me.
After it ended, we all marched out and back to the corner where our stuff was held. Before Diana came to meet us, we all exchanged stories from the small parent show. "You were dancing like anything," Amy Lynn said to Cara, shaking her head. "Well, what did you want me to do?" Replied Cara with a shrug. "I had to fill in the music somehow." "I dropped my flag!" Kat exclaimed mournfully. "During the first song when we do the toss and the parallel. I got the toss but when I threw the parallel it just kind of came down with a crash and dropped. . ." Kat looked extremely angry at that. "Oh, don't worry." Talie said, trying to comfort the distraught Kat. "It's only the parents viewing show. They're our parents. . . they'll think we did a good job even if we drop every toss and forget half the work."
That was true enough.
Diana and Mary came, and gave us a speech to end band camp. I was hardly listening. The worst of it was over at last!
Me and Julia went to find our parents after the guard split. "Well, it's over, think of that!" Julia said to me. "The worst of it," I replied.
"You are too pessimistic," Julia shook her head. "Think of the season!"
But my band camp pessimism remained, and I wasn't going to think that anything was wonderful until I actually experienced it.
As usual, mine and Julia's parents congratulated us and said how wonderful we were. We got food to eat and sat down at a table with our parents and my friend Iris's parents. Iris Orawyn was one of my friends, not as close as Julia, but she was still one of my friends. She decided to be daring and join marching band this year. She played the piccolo. Mr. and Mrs. Orawyn sat at the same table with me and my parents.
I ate and chatted with everyone. Though I did wonder one thing. Last year after the performance I got that adrenaline rush that is just amazing. This year? This year I didn't really get much. But I could think of reasons, of course! It was an indoor show, the band camp week this year was longer and more horrifying.
But one day when all the band members were making speeches in the room (during the day when it rained all morning), they had said, "I see something in us this year. It's something that I haven't seen for two years. But those two years ago I saw it, and it was true. That year, we had a spark in us, and we won so much and conquered so far. That's what I see this year. I see us, as a band, going far and wide and truly being the winners that we are. I see that. . . and I hope you see it, too."
As I looked around, I wondered about that. Did we have that 'spark' the trombone player said she saw in us? Right now, I couldn't see anything fabulous and magnificent about our band. It just seemed like. . . like band camp.
But as I learned, it was still far too early to make ~those~ judgments.
My alarm clock had waken me up at 6:30 in the morning. What, I thought, was my alarm clock doing going off at 6:30 in the morning? It was August, really! School didn't start for another. . . well, two weeks!
Practice, then? Sure, we had several practices since that first meeting in April. In those practices we began to learn some of our work (already!) and did drop spins. Lots of drop spins.
Then I realized what this must mean: the one thing that every marching band person dreads. . . BAND CAMP.
Yes, band camp. I dragged myself out of bed and threw on some shorts and a tshirt, then gathered all the stuff I would need for the loooong day ahead. Let's see now. . . one water bottle. . . my dot book and a pen. . . lunch. . . another water bottle. . . what else did I need? Sunscreen, that's it. . . oh, and why not throw in a third water bottle anyway?
I ate breakfast and glanced at the temperature outside. Wait. . . did it say 66? 66! I was truly shocked. 66 and it was 6:30! Perhaps it would not get as hot today as it did yesterday. Maybe it would actually be comfortable!
Yeah, and maybe Colm Wilkinson would tap dance on my kitchen table while singing "Who Am I" from Les Mis.
After gathering all the stuff together for my dreaded day ahead, I waited for Al-for Julia and her mom to come and pick me up. They had agreed to come pick me up and bring me to band camp so I wouldn't have to bother my dad with it.
I didn't have to wait too long. Shortly after I got my things, I heard the honking of a car outside my house. Yanking aside the curtains, I saw Julia waving at me from her car. "Hold on!" I yelled out the window. "Be right there!" I slung the bookbag over my shoulder and trotted out to Julia's car.
She opened the door. "Hey," She said to me, looking just as tired as I was. "Ready for band camp?" Asked Mrs. Jeter. "No," replied me and Julia at the same time, then we turned and grinned at each other. "I am so not ready for this." I said to Julia, leaning back in the chair. "It's band camp. Can we even be ready?" replied Julia, rolling her eyes.
Mrs. Jeter drove us to the school. We reluctantly got out of the car and trudged up to the cafeteria. The air outside was still surprisingly chilly- I actually kind of wished I had brought my sweater.
When we got into the cafeteria, we saw Cara waving at us from a small round table towards the center. I dropped my stuff on the chair and Julia in the chair next to me. Cara was eating a bagel, and Maggie was drinking some coffee. "Well, here we are again!" Cara said brightly. "Mrf," Replied Maggie drowsily. Me and Julia each got bagels and orange juice and sat down with Cara and Maggie.
Slowly the other guard members arrived. Carrie and Jocelyn were next, Jocelyn looking nervous and staying close to Carrie. Maggie didn't say much the time we all ate, just stared into her mug of coffee.
"Hey, Amy Lynn!" Cara said when Amy Lynn came in. Talie came in with her. Amy Lynn and Talie were both very good friends. "Glad you could make it this year." Cara grinned. "Mmm. Yeah." Murmured Amy Lynn. She, too, was feeling the affects of band camp. And in band camp. . . no one is safe.
Glancing at my watch, which now read 8:30, I looked up and saw Diana and Mary come in. "Look," Whispered Julia. "It's the instructors." I nodded. Diana and Mary whispered about something for a few seconds, and then Mary turned to us and shouted, "Guard! Come with me!"
"Mrf!" Exclaimed Maggie, scowling at her coffee. "Come on," Talie said, getting up and motioning for us all to come with her. Maggie sighed and threw out what remained of her coffee. The rest of us (minus Christian because he was late. . . oh what a surprise) followed Diana and Mary out into the hall and then into the band room. Surprisingly, I noticed, Lorry wasn't there. She was at the other practices we had but not this one. Oh yeah. . . Lorry's family had to go away for vacation this week so she would miss band camp. I felt bad for Lorry. . . she'd be missing a lot.
Mr. P was already in the band room, preparing his start of band camp speech. The band was slowly filing in (yes, slowly! Only about a quarter of the band was already there when we went in. And of course we are rushed there while the band takes their sorry little time. . .!) But soon all the band arrived, and Mr. P began his second speech of the year.
"Alright," Mr. P said. "Today's the first day of band camp." I heard groans and other random noises coming from the band. "Usually we're not going to have a meeting in the band room, we're just going to go out and get started with our drill." This was met by more groans. "But today is the first day, I'll give a bit of information of what is going to happen this week." Mr. P went on to describe the week. . . in detail. From today to the long hours of the rest of the week, to the bonfire and the final performance. In way too many details for my liking.
Soon he dismissed us all with a wave of his hand. "Band, get your instruments. We'll warm up and then go outside. Guard, go with Diana and Mary." Yes, go with the instructors.
Sighing, I followed them out of the room. "Flags," Was all Diana said, pointing at a myriad of colored flags leaning against one corner of the band room. We each took a flag (I made sure that the one I got wasn't one of those oddly weighted ones) and followed them outside. Diana situated us all in a tiny little corner, and made us do these abominable stretches first. Stretches that stretched even muscles that I didn't know I had. "Okay, now that we're done with that-" Diana continued. "-we'll do about 100 drop spins to get us started."
100. How lovely. We did the 100, but by the end, my arms were ready to fall off. Next, Diana ushered us all outside. I went out, armed with two water bottles. As we filed out into the back parking lot, I noticed that the air was still surprisingly cool. Huh. Wonder how long that would last.
We got right down to business. The marching block we did was short, very short, and then Mr. P and Nick the Drill Guy all wanted to begin the actual drill spot giving. Already! But checking my watch, it showed that now it was 9:15. We'd only have around three hours before lunch break. ~Darn it,~ I thought. ~I wish Mr. P would make longer speeches.~
Nick proclaimed me "colorguard #7" (each of the guard and band got numbers. . . I was the fated guard number seven. . . and I would be referred to as "Number Seven" for the rest of the season), then gave me the first drill spot.
The morning wore on. The drill spots kept on given, and my initial thoughts of the temperature remaining the same were far off. As soon as it hit around 10:00, the temperature shot up suddenly. The pavement heated up so that we could see the heat waves rising from it. The yellow and white lines burned in my vision. I checked my watch nearly every two seconds. The day wore on, and on, and on. . .
"Alright! Everybody in!" Shouted Nick. I glanced down at my watch for the thousandth time today. 12:03! Hark, success at last! Now it really ~was~ lunch time!
Nick gave us a short speech and then sent us off to lunch. We went in, all completely exhausted. "I'm sunburned again," Julia muttered to me. I grinned weakly at her. "It's a band camp thing." She said.
"My god, Christine," I heard a male's voice say behind me. "Hi, Jeff," I replied to my friend Jeff. I ended up actually going to the semi formal. My friend Adi (a hopeless romantic) even got me to have a slow dance with Jeff. "You were right." Jeff groaned. "Band camp is even worse than you said it would be!" I grinned at him. "Well, it's band camp, what do you expect?" Jeff rolled his eyes and walked ahead of me, holding his trumpet.
Me and Julia got our lunches and went into the cafeteria, sitting down at the guard table. They moved aside to make room for us. I unwrapped my roast beef sandwich, hearing the all around conversations. "Carrie said that band camp was bad." Said Jocelyn. "She was right." Then Jocelyn and Carrie went around to ask Talie and Maggie what they were taking next year for classes. Cara added in a few things of her lunch schedule, her and Maggie grinning over the fact that they had the same lunch period. Julia offered some of her teachers, letting the rest of them critique it. I didn't remember half of the teachers on my schedule (we had gotten our schedules the week before. Me and Julia grimaced over it all together, realizing that we only had lunch together. . . and as we were going to be freshman, we were hoping for more classes together).
Christian got a peanut butter sandwich and sat next to Julia. "Hey Julia," He said in that ever so Christian voice of his. "Want a sandwich?"
"Erm. . .no." Replied Julia.
Christian grinned and looked at the rest of the guard. "Hey, watch this!" He exclaimed. The rest of them turned to look at him. Christian stuck the half of the sandwich to his face. "Augh!" Exclaimed Kat, jerking back in her chair. Christian peeled off the sandwich, leaving peanut butter and jelly stuck all along the side of his face. "Now I'm going to lick it off," He proclaimed.
"Gross!" Exclaimed Cara. "Why?" "Why not?"
Amy Lynn, looking thoroughly disgusted, turned sympathetically to Julia. "I feel so bad for you, having to sit next to him." She said. Julia's face was a combination of horror and disgust. I looked down into my roast beef sandwich to avoid looking at the peanut butter and jelly face of Christian. ((a/n: There ya go, Julia. . . just had to put that in!))
Once lunch was over, we split for guard and music, just like we had done the previous year. But this year we didn't even start with the basics. Diana shoved us all into our box, and immediately got us set doing 100 drop spins, both left and right. By the end of those second 100 of the day, my arms were ready to fall off.
I wasn't even close to Julia when she began setting us with work. Julia was farther away, and I was somewhere near Kat and Maggie. The work she taught us. . . I was lost from the start. With so many complicated moves, I felt like a new person again. I made a vain attempt at following Kat in front of me. I saw Diana's eyes upon me, seeing me not doing the work, and wanted to cringe back. My god, those eyes! She could turn this look on you that could make you feel like the smallest piece of dirt that you march on, the tiniest speck of dust. The way she was staring at me, as if there was something wrong with me not getting the work, made me feel like that speck.
This part went even slower than the drill learning in the morning. Diana's hard work continued, not giving us the slightest chance of a break. Maggie was leaning on her flag and groaning by the time that 3:00 came.
Thankfully (I couldn't believe I was saying this) the time came for us to all go out and go over our drill again for the last half hour. Today band camp was only until 4.
But that was just today. For the rest of the week, it would be from 8-8 and beyond.
We trudged outside, getting our water bottles (my second) and our flags. The band wasn't out yet, of course. But we were! We ~had~ to be the first ones out.
"In a box!" Commanded Diana as soon as we got outside, clapping her hands and pointing. "A marching drill box! Now!" She didn't seem to take it in to any consideration that we had been standing, spinning, and walking nonstop since 8:00 this morning, that we were hot, tired, and thirsty, and about any other bad feeling you could think of.
No. Didn't think of it at all.
Diana scanned us all. "Now march." She said, clapping her hands to the tempo. We marched in a block, forward, left, back, right.
"What was that?" Diana said when we returned to our forward position. "You call that marching? I can see a total of three of you who are keeping your shoulders forward and your feet on step!" She snapped. "And that's just Kat, and Talie. Now, here's an idea! Roll up your flags and place them across your shoulders, like this." Diana demonstrated with Cara's flag. "And we'll march, and you'll have to keep your shoulders forward."
I rolled my flag and stuck the pole across my shoulders. Luckily, I was sure, no one could see me from the back of the box. Even with that year (as it was) last year, I was still quite shy. I'd hang in the back for practices all the time. I never wanted to be pointed out, merely to do my thing and be on with it. You're never meant to see me, oh no, only my flag.
Diana clapped and had us marching again. We marched forward then twisted sideways. "Christine!" Diana barked. "What are you doing? Face front, feet together!"
I wanted to cringe away from her. I hated being pointed out! When she so much as looked at me I wanted to disappear into a hole in the ground. But calling on me? That was worse! I felt my face turn beet red, redder than it already was in the summer heat.
She sighed as we finished our box. "That was pitiful, you guys," She said, shaking her head, while Mary nodded in agreement. "Keeping yourself forward is one of the first things you learn in marching band!" I saw Jocelyn shift and lean on her flag. Poor Jocelyn. . . she was more new than any of us.
Diana looked scornfully at me. "Christine, you didn't keep front at all," She said. "And you never keep in step! Really, how can you expect to march like that?" her voice was practically dripping with disdain. I looked down, seeing other guard members glance at me out of the corners of my eyes. Did she have to keep doing that?! Didn't she notice how much I ~didn't want to be noticed?~
The band saved me then before she could throw any more criticism or embarrassment at me. They filed out and got in their opening spots as Nick the Drill Guy prepared to continue.
The last hour was fairly alright (or as alright as band camp could be). We got a few more new spots and even got a *gasp* break.
Finally, Nick called us in, gave a short speech, and dismissed us. I was ever so grateful to be out of there. I caught up with Julia as we walked into the band room. "Survive?" She asked with a grin. "No," I replied. "Did you see how she was. . . pointing me out? I hate being pointed out." I said angrily. "I think she's okay. . ." Julia offered with a shrug. Julia didn't think that Diana was all that bad.
I put my flag away and joined my mom in the car. I told her (with not as many details) about the horrors of today.
It wasn't until I got home and was in my room that I realized just how much I wished Mrs. Loren was our instructor again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day went by even slower than the day before. The hours were longer, and Diana's relentless work and pointing me out kept on. Julia and I proclaimed ourselves officially dead on 2 pm that Tuesday.
Wednesday was the night for the bonfire. The practice was all day, so me and Julia were exhausted by the time night fell and the bonfire was to be set.
All the chairs were squeezed into the small cafeteria. It was drizzling outside, so the bonfire couldn't be outside like last year. Instead, the bonfire was on a little braizer (that's a thing where the coal is in a bowl and the fire is in a bowl with it) outside under the ledge. The door was open a crack so that we could get to the bonfire outside under the ledge.
Talie and Cara had all their speeches made. As last year, each one of them would make a small speech about a member of the guard, then call them up to toast their marshmallows. Talie was first, calling up a few people.
Finally, they came to Julia. "Alora Jeter," Talie said. "Alora is now a second year. Who'd have thought this shy little person could be such a good second year? Of course, we all call her Julia now because Lorry, whose full name is also Alora, came into our guard. But Lorry isn't here right now. Anyway, ~Julia~ knows the counts better than anyone else." She said about Julia. "So come on up!" Julia gave me and embarrassed grin and squeezed in between the many rows of chairs to get up front.
Then Cara came to my name. "Christine Vendredy," Oh lovely. Cara was going to be the one making the speech? "It takes a lot to go from spinning on the sidelines to going fully into the guard. It's not an easy thing, but somehow Christine managed to do it. So now she's here for her second year, come on up, Christine, it's going to be a good one!" Cara motioned for me to come up.
I too squeezed in between the chairs until I was up front. Oh god look at all those people! They were all looking at me. . .
Cara grinned and hugged me, handing me a marshmallow on a metal stick (so when I ate it, there wasn't any actual stick inside). I stuck it in the fire and ate it as quickly as I could. Then I went to hug Talie.
And Talie, before I sat down, whispered to me, "Thanks for coming back."
And perhaps. . . perhaps I would be. . .
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Band camp week continued on. Finally the performance, the pre-performance shall I say, came on Friday. After a long week, this would finally be pretty much the last of it. I was ever so looking forward to the end.
When the day ended and the night came, we prepared for our performance. It was raining once again (about the only good thing I could say about this dreaded week was that it rained a bit. But most of the time that wasn't a good thing either because it meant more time we'd be trapped inside with Diana. . .), so instead of the performance outside with our drill like last year, it was inside in the gym. The band was set up in an arc facing the parents, and all of us guard people in a line along the back of them. I couldn't recall a time where we had an inside performance before this day.
So into the gym we went, carrying our flags. We only knew the beginning of the show (and even then not very well) so we weren't entirely as prepared as we should be.
My mom and dad waved to me as they came in. I waved back, grinning at Julia, whose parents came in soon after mine. Both our parents sat next to each other and began talking. Neither of us liked ~that~ prospect all too much.
The show went fairly smooth. We did the opening parts we knew pretty good. Sure we weren't exactly together, but what could you expect, at band camp? After we did the work we knew, Cara's excitement took over and she began dancing with everyone near her: Christian, Alisa, and yes, even me.
After it ended, we all marched out and back to the corner where our stuff was held. Before Diana came to meet us, we all exchanged stories from the small parent show. "You were dancing like anything," Amy Lynn said to Cara, shaking her head. "Well, what did you want me to do?" Replied Cara with a shrug. "I had to fill in the music somehow." "I dropped my flag!" Kat exclaimed mournfully. "During the first song when we do the toss and the parallel. I got the toss but when I threw the parallel it just kind of came down with a crash and dropped. . ." Kat looked extremely angry at that. "Oh, don't worry." Talie said, trying to comfort the distraught Kat. "It's only the parents viewing show. They're our parents. . . they'll think we did a good job even if we drop every toss and forget half the work."
That was true enough.
Diana and Mary came, and gave us a speech to end band camp. I was hardly listening. The worst of it was over at last!
Me and Julia went to find our parents after the guard split. "Well, it's over, think of that!" Julia said to me. "The worst of it," I replied.
"You are too pessimistic," Julia shook her head. "Think of the season!"
But my band camp pessimism remained, and I wasn't going to think that anything was wonderful until I actually experienced it.
As usual, mine and Julia's parents congratulated us and said how wonderful we were. We got food to eat and sat down at a table with our parents and my friend Iris's parents. Iris Orawyn was one of my friends, not as close as Julia, but she was still one of my friends. She decided to be daring and join marching band this year. She played the piccolo. Mr. and Mrs. Orawyn sat at the same table with me and my parents.
I ate and chatted with everyone. Though I did wonder one thing. Last year after the performance I got that adrenaline rush that is just amazing. This year? This year I didn't really get much. But I could think of reasons, of course! It was an indoor show, the band camp week this year was longer and more horrifying.
But one day when all the band members were making speeches in the room (during the day when it rained all morning), they had said, "I see something in us this year. It's something that I haven't seen for two years. But those two years ago I saw it, and it was true. That year, we had a spark in us, and we won so much and conquered so far. That's what I see this year. I see us, as a band, going far and wide and truly being the winners that we are. I see that. . . and I hope you see it, too."
As I looked around, I wondered about that. Did we have that 'spark' the trombone player said she saw in us? Right now, I couldn't see anything fabulous and magnificent about our band. It just seemed like. . . like band camp.
But as I learned, it was still far too early to make ~those~ judgments.