Once band camp was over, I figured, the worst of it would be over. Last
time, that's how things were.
I was wrong.
It was a little more than a month since band camp that came our first performance. Since that time we had many long practices, and learned new work (though no one really understood any of it). Diana was relentless, and as I began to see, so was Mary at times. But from my perspective, all the fun had gone out of colorguard. It was just a chore now, something I had to do until the season was over and I too could be over with it forever.
But now I just had to get through it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~What do you want from me?~ I thought, staring at the thick pages of math homework in front of me. I was barely three weeks into my freshman year, and already I had homework in virtually every subject. The teachers had absolutely no concept of the fact that most freshman were lost, confused, and bewildered. No, they didn't get it at all. And I didn't even know that Algebra 1 was going to be this confusing when it came.
My dad knocked on my door. "Christine, are you ready?" He said in irritation. Today was our first performance, our first football game. It was 8:35 in the morning, and I had all my things together, and was sitting on my floor trying to get some of my homework done before we went. Not to mention I also had an essay due tomorrow that I didn't even start. "Coming!" I called. I closed my math notebook and stuffed it in my regular school bookbag, and taking my marching band bag instead. I quickly checked through it. Good. . . gloves, lunch, water bottles. . . all there.
And where was my uniform? Not here, of course. This was our first performance and the uniforms didn't even come in. So instead we had to wear our theme shirts with black pants. Figures, that we are the only band that didn't get the uniforms yet.
Sighing, I trodded outside into the early morning heat, my bag around my shoulders. My dad drove me to school, where I went inside and into the guard corner. We had our own corner, right outside the band room, where we'd keep all our stuff. This time it was Amy Lynn asleep on the floor, in place of Chrisabel as it was last year. Talie was sitting next to her saying something, mostly which Amy Lynn replied with a grunt or a thumbs up. Julia waved to me and I went over to her. "You look tired," She remarked.
"It's 8:50 in the morning, I've got tons of homework, and I'm traipsing off to who-knows-where today." I replied pessimistically. Julia shook her head. "Colorguard is really great." She said. "And you shouldn't be so pessimistic about it."
It was hard for me not to be, knowing that sooner or later Diana's biting sarcasm would get to me. It was getting to Kat, too. Kat had always been the most emotional guard member. She was the most joyous and happy, the first of us to cry, and the first to get mad. One day, I heard her snap at Diana when she was being criticized for the way she did the work. People should know better than to criticize Kat, just for the fact that she is so emotional.
Diana and Mary then barged in. Diana seemed wide awake, wide awake and not at all smiling. The one thing I could say about Mary that was good was that she smiled a bit more than Diana. She was not as critical, and actually said one day, "I'd like to thank Christine for actually trying to do the new work to the drill." I had given her a fleeting smile, but that bit of praise was soon cut off by Diana saying, "Yes, but nobody still did it right." I felt like whacking my flag right into her face. Did she have any nice words for us, ever? Or was it always just criticism and telling us how bad we were?
"Is the band out yet?" Asked Mary.
"No," Replied Cara. "Lemme go check and see if they are getting ready." And so Cara disappeared into the band room. My guess was that it wasn't just to run an errand for Mary, but to see one of her new boyfriends who was in the band. Cara always seemed to be having boyfriends.
She came out a few minutes later. "Alright!" She called to us all. "The band's heading up to the field."
I heard a sigh from Amy Lynn as she dragged herself up.
"What are we doing about uniforms?" Asked Talie. "Did they even come in yet?"
"No, they didn't." Replied Diana. "So we are just going to be using the theme shirts and the black pants." She turned and walked out the door.
"Flags and up to the field." Mary said for her. We all took our flags and headed up once more to the field.
The practice went okay. It was shockingly short, but that's because the school we had to go to, Wehawic High, was about 40 minutes away. I was still glad when we all went in, although not liking the fact that we had to wear pants on a hot day like this. But this was marching band, what could you expect? We're always fighting the elements, whether it be rain, heat, snow, cold. . . you name it. I laugh when the football players skitter inside the moment it snows, and yet every time the marching band stays out at least a half hour after the snow starts. If the snow stays the same and doesn't increase, we'll just stay out the entire time. Football players, I always thought, were wimps at heart. They would never have the guts to brave marching band.
We changed somewhat, not having that much to change into except putting on pants and a shirt. For once we allowed the band to have the bathrooms for changing. After that, we went onto. . . the bus.
I sat next to Julia for the ride down. She offered me a mini oreo. . . notorious band camp food. Grinning, I took it, and gave her half of my roast beef sandwich. We ate while the band and guard got on the bus, and until the bus began to move. Then we all shoved our food into the lunchbags quickly. We knew it was dangerous to eat while the bus was moving. For one thing, the bus usually made sudden turns and could send you careening into the aisle. Second, band members deciding to change on the bus could hop by you, yanking on their pants and sometimes falling on top of you. That happened to Cara once. She was eating, and a changing band member tripped and fell on her.
The bus went on its way, bouncing along with no care for the changing band members. But I wasn't liking the scenery as we got farther into the town we were supposed to be. The buildings were peeling and covered with creeper vines, and everything was looking collapsed and messy. "I don't like this," I whispered to Julia, who was doing her bio homework. I was lucky I didn't take honors bio this year-Julia warned me about it. She glanced up and outside, wincing. "Is this the town?" She asked, looking at the crumbling graffiti covered buildings.
"Yes" was the answer we got as our bus pulled in to the parkinglot of an old school. Mr. P got off to make arrangements, leaving all of us on the bus. None of us liked the look of this place. It made me nervous.
"Alright, let's go!" Mr. P waved us from outside. I slung my bookbag over my shoulder and trotted outside.
Me and Julia stood there while our bus and the other bus that housed our band emptied. My friend Iris came over to me, holding her piccolo. She was followed by Jeff.
"I don't believe this is the place we're performing," Jeff said, glancing around at the school. "Me neither," Iris agreed. Julia nudged me. "This is their first performance, isn't it?" Julia asked, grinning wickedly at Jeff and Iris, and putting on an air of one who had much more experience. "Tell them about ~our~ first last year." She whispered to me.
I grinned. Thinking about it now, I realized that our first performance last year, when we were little but scared new people, was in a place kind of like this. This place made me nervous, and so did the place we performed in last year. But the place this year just kept me a bit more edgy.
"It wasn't that bad, really," I said to Jeff and Iris. I remembered when Julia and I (and Nelly, too. . . Julia could never quite forgive her for quitting) were new people, mortally afraid of saying anything. But of course with Diana now, I was still afraid to say anything. "Just a bit nerve wracking." I told them.
Iris nodded. She was normally very composed, and not one to freak out or overreact. Iris was a very logical person. "You're telling me." Muttered Jeff, taking his trumpet and going over to where Mr. P was calling everyone together.
Julia, Iris and me followed him. Mr. P looked to make sure everyone was here before telling us that we were going to perform a half time show. Half time? That was odd. The rules went that if it was a home game we do half time, and away games are pre-game. I had no idea why Mr. P decided to do differently, but he was the director, what can you do?
We went inside the field (past iron gates. . . how very welcoming) and into the stands. Unfortunately we had to walk past the rivals here. And they scared me, too. They shot us fierce glares as we walked past, making us seem as if we are the evil opposing people. I was glad to get to our own stand and put our stuff down. It was safer here.
Diana motioned for us to come over as soon as we got settled. She was glancing nervously around her. "Guys," She said. "Normally I'd have us practicing now, but. . ." she glanced around again. "But I really don't trust going anywhere alone." Mary nodded, continuing for her. "This is not the kind of place where we should be practicing alone. Stay with the band until we perform."
Now, if anything should show how bad this place was, it would be this. Diana not making us practice? Now that, I must say, was bad. Now I ~really~ didn't like this place.
Contrary to what everyone believed, we were still alive when half time came. For once our football team was winning (gasp), and the band played often. I still didn't like the evil glares the rival team shot us. But soon it was time for us to perform, and as strange as it sounded I was never more grateful to get onto the field.
We got out and the cadence started, and once more we prepared to perform. The band was actually in uniform and yet we weren't. That made me feel even more odd, marching out there in some sort of makeshift uniform. Everyone, I could tell, was anxious to get this over with. I barely paid attention to the drum cadence as we marched onto the field.
"This place is freaky," Maggie whispered to me in our group. The guard, in the beginning of the show, was split into several groups. My group consisted of Maggie and Christian. "I know." I whispered back. "Are you nervous?"
Maggie grinned in an offhand way. "Not of doing the show." We both grinned as the music started and we started our show.
And how did the show go? Let's just say none of us seemed to remember the work the moment we got onto the field. I managed the best I could, my flag moving clumsily. The second song I actually did okay, but the first song? The first song was just about as out there as it could come.
We didn't have any flags currently except the one, so we didn't have to gather any as I marched off the field. It was an odd feeling for me, marching off the field with the marching band. Really marching off after doing a show, as opposed to scampering after them after ~they~ finished the show, me behind the sideline.
It was a time like this, at this game, that I realized that this year I was really involved.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You did alright," Diana said. "Alright considering the. . . area. . . that we are performing again. I don't hold any mistakes against you." This was about the closest Diana got to actually praising us. But it was better than, "Wow, you guys really sucked," as she said once. I took all I could get.
The rest of the game was uneventful, minus the fact that we still got shooting glares from the opposing team. No one could go anywhere alone, it always had to be two or more people together for fear that we'd get beat up or something. Looking at the state of the opposition, I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to beat us up.
I was surprised, however, that about five minutes before the game ended (with our team. . . gasp. . . winning), when Mr. P flanked by two policemen began beckoning for us to come. "Why are we leaving early?" Lorry hissed to me. Lorry had come back to our guard after band camp. Currently she was somewhat in my position of last year. She did the drill she knew and stood at the sidelines for the part she didn't know. But Lorry was learning, and soon she was going to be doing the whole show with us, unlike me last year. Now Lorry was the new person of this year, this year's only 8th grader, but she wasn't at all like shy me and Julia of last year. She was more like the loud and outgoing Nelly.
"I dunno." I whispered back to Lorry as I clambered down the seats. I continued to be in puzzlement of why the police was following the band down to our buses.
"What was that for?" Lorry asked as soon as we got onto the bus. "Why'd we get escorted?"
Talie, dropping in the seat across the aisle for me, sighed. "Because of the opposing team." She told Lorry. "The last time we went here, two years ago, our football team won and they threw rocks at us, the marching band."
What? The other guard members had that 'what?' look on their faces. "So they're doing it to keep that from happening again."
I knew I didn't like the rival team. They were very scary.
But the bus started (quicker than usual), and we bumped on down the road.
"Well, this was an interesting way to start the year." Julia said to me.
It was interesting. . . very interesting.
I was wrong.
It was a little more than a month since band camp that came our first performance. Since that time we had many long practices, and learned new work (though no one really understood any of it). Diana was relentless, and as I began to see, so was Mary at times. But from my perspective, all the fun had gone out of colorguard. It was just a chore now, something I had to do until the season was over and I too could be over with it forever.
But now I just had to get through it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~What do you want from me?~ I thought, staring at the thick pages of math homework in front of me. I was barely three weeks into my freshman year, and already I had homework in virtually every subject. The teachers had absolutely no concept of the fact that most freshman were lost, confused, and bewildered. No, they didn't get it at all. And I didn't even know that Algebra 1 was going to be this confusing when it came.
My dad knocked on my door. "Christine, are you ready?" He said in irritation. Today was our first performance, our first football game. It was 8:35 in the morning, and I had all my things together, and was sitting on my floor trying to get some of my homework done before we went. Not to mention I also had an essay due tomorrow that I didn't even start. "Coming!" I called. I closed my math notebook and stuffed it in my regular school bookbag, and taking my marching band bag instead. I quickly checked through it. Good. . . gloves, lunch, water bottles. . . all there.
And where was my uniform? Not here, of course. This was our first performance and the uniforms didn't even come in. So instead we had to wear our theme shirts with black pants. Figures, that we are the only band that didn't get the uniforms yet.
Sighing, I trodded outside into the early morning heat, my bag around my shoulders. My dad drove me to school, where I went inside and into the guard corner. We had our own corner, right outside the band room, where we'd keep all our stuff. This time it was Amy Lynn asleep on the floor, in place of Chrisabel as it was last year. Talie was sitting next to her saying something, mostly which Amy Lynn replied with a grunt or a thumbs up. Julia waved to me and I went over to her. "You look tired," She remarked.
"It's 8:50 in the morning, I've got tons of homework, and I'm traipsing off to who-knows-where today." I replied pessimistically. Julia shook her head. "Colorguard is really great." She said. "And you shouldn't be so pessimistic about it."
It was hard for me not to be, knowing that sooner or later Diana's biting sarcasm would get to me. It was getting to Kat, too. Kat had always been the most emotional guard member. She was the most joyous and happy, the first of us to cry, and the first to get mad. One day, I heard her snap at Diana when she was being criticized for the way she did the work. People should know better than to criticize Kat, just for the fact that she is so emotional.
Diana and Mary then barged in. Diana seemed wide awake, wide awake and not at all smiling. The one thing I could say about Mary that was good was that she smiled a bit more than Diana. She was not as critical, and actually said one day, "I'd like to thank Christine for actually trying to do the new work to the drill." I had given her a fleeting smile, but that bit of praise was soon cut off by Diana saying, "Yes, but nobody still did it right." I felt like whacking my flag right into her face. Did she have any nice words for us, ever? Or was it always just criticism and telling us how bad we were?
"Is the band out yet?" Asked Mary.
"No," Replied Cara. "Lemme go check and see if they are getting ready." And so Cara disappeared into the band room. My guess was that it wasn't just to run an errand for Mary, but to see one of her new boyfriends who was in the band. Cara always seemed to be having boyfriends.
She came out a few minutes later. "Alright!" She called to us all. "The band's heading up to the field."
I heard a sigh from Amy Lynn as she dragged herself up.
"What are we doing about uniforms?" Asked Talie. "Did they even come in yet?"
"No, they didn't." Replied Diana. "So we are just going to be using the theme shirts and the black pants." She turned and walked out the door.
"Flags and up to the field." Mary said for her. We all took our flags and headed up once more to the field.
The practice went okay. It was shockingly short, but that's because the school we had to go to, Wehawic High, was about 40 minutes away. I was still glad when we all went in, although not liking the fact that we had to wear pants on a hot day like this. But this was marching band, what could you expect? We're always fighting the elements, whether it be rain, heat, snow, cold. . . you name it. I laugh when the football players skitter inside the moment it snows, and yet every time the marching band stays out at least a half hour after the snow starts. If the snow stays the same and doesn't increase, we'll just stay out the entire time. Football players, I always thought, were wimps at heart. They would never have the guts to brave marching band.
We changed somewhat, not having that much to change into except putting on pants and a shirt. For once we allowed the band to have the bathrooms for changing. After that, we went onto. . . the bus.
I sat next to Julia for the ride down. She offered me a mini oreo. . . notorious band camp food. Grinning, I took it, and gave her half of my roast beef sandwich. We ate while the band and guard got on the bus, and until the bus began to move. Then we all shoved our food into the lunchbags quickly. We knew it was dangerous to eat while the bus was moving. For one thing, the bus usually made sudden turns and could send you careening into the aisle. Second, band members deciding to change on the bus could hop by you, yanking on their pants and sometimes falling on top of you. That happened to Cara once. She was eating, and a changing band member tripped and fell on her.
The bus went on its way, bouncing along with no care for the changing band members. But I wasn't liking the scenery as we got farther into the town we were supposed to be. The buildings were peeling and covered with creeper vines, and everything was looking collapsed and messy. "I don't like this," I whispered to Julia, who was doing her bio homework. I was lucky I didn't take honors bio this year-Julia warned me about it. She glanced up and outside, wincing. "Is this the town?" She asked, looking at the crumbling graffiti covered buildings.
"Yes" was the answer we got as our bus pulled in to the parkinglot of an old school. Mr. P got off to make arrangements, leaving all of us on the bus. None of us liked the look of this place. It made me nervous.
"Alright, let's go!" Mr. P waved us from outside. I slung my bookbag over my shoulder and trotted outside.
Me and Julia stood there while our bus and the other bus that housed our band emptied. My friend Iris came over to me, holding her piccolo. She was followed by Jeff.
"I don't believe this is the place we're performing," Jeff said, glancing around at the school. "Me neither," Iris agreed. Julia nudged me. "This is their first performance, isn't it?" Julia asked, grinning wickedly at Jeff and Iris, and putting on an air of one who had much more experience. "Tell them about ~our~ first last year." She whispered to me.
I grinned. Thinking about it now, I realized that our first performance last year, when we were little but scared new people, was in a place kind of like this. This place made me nervous, and so did the place we performed in last year. But the place this year just kept me a bit more edgy.
"It wasn't that bad, really," I said to Jeff and Iris. I remembered when Julia and I (and Nelly, too. . . Julia could never quite forgive her for quitting) were new people, mortally afraid of saying anything. But of course with Diana now, I was still afraid to say anything. "Just a bit nerve wracking." I told them.
Iris nodded. She was normally very composed, and not one to freak out or overreact. Iris was a very logical person. "You're telling me." Muttered Jeff, taking his trumpet and going over to where Mr. P was calling everyone together.
Julia, Iris and me followed him. Mr. P looked to make sure everyone was here before telling us that we were going to perform a half time show. Half time? That was odd. The rules went that if it was a home game we do half time, and away games are pre-game. I had no idea why Mr. P decided to do differently, but he was the director, what can you do?
We went inside the field (past iron gates. . . how very welcoming) and into the stands. Unfortunately we had to walk past the rivals here. And they scared me, too. They shot us fierce glares as we walked past, making us seem as if we are the evil opposing people. I was glad to get to our own stand and put our stuff down. It was safer here.
Diana motioned for us to come over as soon as we got settled. She was glancing nervously around her. "Guys," She said. "Normally I'd have us practicing now, but. . ." she glanced around again. "But I really don't trust going anywhere alone." Mary nodded, continuing for her. "This is not the kind of place where we should be practicing alone. Stay with the band until we perform."
Now, if anything should show how bad this place was, it would be this. Diana not making us practice? Now that, I must say, was bad. Now I ~really~ didn't like this place.
Contrary to what everyone believed, we were still alive when half time came. For once our football team was winning (gasp), and the band played often. I still didn't like the evil glares the rival team shot us. But soon it was time for us to perform, and as strange as it sounded I was never more grateful to get onto the field.
We got out and the cadence started, and once more we prepared to perform. The band was actually in uniform and yet we weren't. That made me feel even more odd, marching out there in some sort of makeshift uniform. Everyone, I could tell, was anxious to get this over with. I barely paid attention to the drum cadence as we marched onto the field.
"This place is freaky," Maggie whispered to me in our group. The guard, in the beginning of the show, was split into several groups. My group consisted of Maggie and Christian. "I know." I whispered back. "Are you nervous?"
Maggie grinned in an offhand way. "Not of doing the show." We both grinned as the music started and we started our show.
And how did the show go? Let's just say none of us seemed to remember the work the moment we got onto the field. I managed the best I could, my flag moving clumsily. The second song I actually did okay, but the first song? The first song was just about as out there as it could come.
We didn't have any flags currently except the one, so we didn't have to gather any as I marched off the field. It was an odd feeling for me, marching off the field with the marching band. Really marching off after doing a show, as opposed to scampering after them after ~they~ finished the show, me behind the sideline.
It was a time like this, at this game, that I realized that this year I was really involved.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You did alright," Diana said. "Alright considering the. . . area. . . that we are performing again. I don't hold any mistakes against you." This was about the closest Diana got to actually praising us. But it was better than, "Wow, you guys really sucked," as she said once. I took all I could get.
The rest of the game was uneventful, minus the fact that we still got shooting glares from the opposing team. No one could go anywhere alone, it always had to be two or more people together for fear that we'd get beat up or something. Looking at the state of the opposition, I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to beat us up.
I was surprised, however, that about five minutes before the game ended (with our team. . . gasp. . . winning), when Mr. P flanked by two policemen began beckoning for us to come. "Why are we leaving early?" Lorry hissed to me. Lorry had come back to our guard after band camp. Currently she was somewhat in my position of last year. She did the drill she knew and stood at the sidelines for the part she didn't know. But Lorry was learning, and soon she was going to be doing the whole show with us, unlike me last year. Now Lorry was the new person of this year, this year's only 8th grader, but she wasn't at all like shy me and Julia of last year. She was more like the loud and outgoing Nelly.
"I dunno." I whispered back to Lorry as I clambered down the seats. I continued to be in puzzlement of why the police was following the band down to our buses.
"What was that for?" Lorry asked as soon as we got onto the bus. "Why'd we get escorted?"
Talie, dropping in the seat across the aisle for me, sighed. "Because of the opposing team." She told Lorry. "The last time we went here, two years ago, our football team won and they threw rocks at us, the marching band."
What? The other guard members had that 'what?' look on their faces. "So they're doing it to keep that from happening again."
I knew I didn't like the rival team. They were very scary.
But the bus started (quicker than usual), and we bumped on down the road.
"Well, this was an interesting way to start the year." Julia said to me.
It was interesting. . . very interesting.