(Thanks to all who reviewed. I just got back from a marching band trip to
Disneyworld and it was interesting. . . Julia knows what I mean. Soon they
will be younger than us, haha..darn those choir people, keeping us up until
two in the morning. I've decided that I'm going to do a separate chapter
for each of our competitions this year. While in the last story I could get
by with only doing two because most of them were the same, this year each
one of them was different so I have to do each of them. Oh well, here goes
the next chapter!)
I held up my band theme shirt in front of me. It was gray with our title behind it.
Unfortunately, it was not our uniform.
The first competition of the season was a week later. It was Saturday, and I knew from looking at the schedule that it was going to be a long day indeed. In the morning we had a football game to go to, and then after the football game, instead of going home, we're going to be sent off to Virani High, the same place as last year, for our first competition.
This first was different than the last. My last competition at Virani was my First Competition, my first ever time competing with the marching band. This was a different kind of first. This time I would actually be performing and really competing. This time..
Sighing, I stuffed the shirt and pants into my marching band bag. Our uniforms, would you believe it, still hadn't arrived yet. Diana told us (with much scorn) that we would be marching in black pants and our theme shirts. What an interesting way to start out the competing season.
I packed quickly, knowing what to pack by now. My dad drove me to the high school, and I was once again in the midst of the marching band.
Trotting inside the school, I dropped my bag in the guard corner. Julia was leaning against the wall looking tired. "Hey, Julia." I said. "Hi," she replied tiredly. "This is going to be a loooong day." She said. I agreed wholeheartedly.
I watched everyone as the band filed in. Jeff came in, carrying the garment bag over his shoulder as he stopped to talk to me. "Hey Christy," He said, using my much hated nickname. The only person in the entire world allowed to call me Christy was Mrs. Loren (and Nelly, at times). Jeff, however, was not on that list. But I ignored it and let him keep talking. "Hi Jeff." I replied. "What's up?"
Jeff looked at the sky, then down at me intently. "Nothing," He replied. He paused. "Are you nervous about this competition?" He asked.
"Sort of," I replied. "This is my first performing competition. I wasn't in the show really last year."
"Yeah, I think you told me about that whole sideline thing once." Jeff said. He glanced at Julia who gave a cheerful wave, and Cara who was grinning wickedly at him. As soon as he caught sight of Cara, he quickly said, "Okay I have to go see you later!" And vanished into the band room.
"What was that all about?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Cara.
Cara grinned at me. "That's your boyfriend, isn't it?" She said.
"What? Jeff?" I exclaimed. "You have ~got~ to be kidding me. He's my friend. We're good friends, that's it."
With a very evil laugh, Cara replied, "Sure, sure." And went into the band room as well. "Where're you going?" Talie inquired, craning her neck to see Cara. "Because we're going to start soon. It's almost nine."
"To talk to Christine's boyfriend." Replied Cara wickedly.
"He's NOT my boyfriend!" I called after her, but by then she had already gone.
"What? He's not!" I said to Maggie and Jocelyn, who were looking at me strangely. I sighed and leaned against the wall. That was useless. I talked to Jeff in school and at practices, and for some insane reason Maggie, Jocelyn, and of course Cara had this mad idea that we should go out. Guard members! Really!
Diana came in, flicking her keys around in her hand. "Is everyone here?"
Talie answered for us. "Cara's in the band room, and Christian is late."
"Christian is always late. Go get Cara." Replied Diana, and Talie went.
Cara came out, giving me another evil grin. We got our flags and then once again went outside into the field, to practice once more.
THWACK! "Ow!" I exclaimed, rubbing my head where the flag hit coming down. Parallels were easy for the older guard members, but since I had never done them before this season, most of my parallels ended in the flag coming down in some weird uncatchable way and smacking me in the head.
Diana gave a sigh of annoyance from her place up front. The band had already gone inside, for the practice was over. But Diana had us practice an extra twenty minutes, because she said we'd "need it for the competition." But of course by this time we were all drained by the heat and close to dropping, so the extra practice really didn't accomplish much. Just lots of banged heads and grumbles.
"Fine," Diana said. "I'll call this practice over. We don't seem to be getting anything done, anyway." She waved us down the hill. "Meet you after lunch break. We have a game to do first, don't forget." She whispered something to Mary and they turned and went down the hill.
I stuck out my flag and rolled it up. "Keeping us up here extra," Kat spat, walking past me. "It's going to be a long enough day already without ~her~ adding anything extra to it." She looked at me, blue eyes flashing. "What do ~you~ think of that?"
I blinked, taken aback by Kat's sudden anger (although I knew I shouldn't be, because strong emotions are just Kat's thing). "I think it's insane," I replied to her query. "She's working us too hard." The last sentence I murmured, looking down at the field under my feet. Talking to a senior, I was! A senior!
Kat snorted and stormed past me, heading down the field without bothering to wait for Carrie and Jocelyn, her two friends.
"Well, that was interesting." I remarked to Julia as we went down the hill ourselves.
"What?" She asked, pushing the sweaty hair from her face.
"Kat. She seems pretty mad at this extra practice."
Julia snorted as well. "I don't blame here." She said. "So am I."
I glanced around at the rest of the guard. Hot and sweaty they all were. . . as well as mad. None of them seemed to be liking the way she's been treating us lately.
We finally reached the bottom of the hill and gratefully went inside the cooler school. I got out my lunch and started eating, when Talie burst out of the band room.
"Uniforms!" She cried.
"What?" Jocelyn blinked in confusion.
"Uniforms!" Talie clasped her hands together. "The uniforms came in today! They are here! Come, I'll give them out!" She seemed thrilled about this.
Jocelyn grinned. "The marching band gods watch down upon us today."
The rest of us laughed.
Talie came out with a big box of uniforms. They were black and white velvet with a silver section in the middle. "Drat, no names." She said, holding a uniform up. "Let's see. . . here's one that'll fit you, Cara," She tossed one to Cara, who caught it deftly. "Here's. . . this one says. . . ah, Jocelyn, here's your name. Lorry's too." She gave them their uniforms. "Amy Lynn. . . this looks like it'll fit you. Doesn't have a name. Same with Julia." Finally, she stuck one out to me. "Christine, this is yours." I took it, holding at arms length to get a good look at it. I liked it. It was a bodysuit rather than a uniform with many parts to it like last year's.
We all ate lunch, and then changed into our uniforms. They were surprisingly easy to put on, and didn't result in the disaster of last year's first competition changing.
After lunch, Diana ushered us all outside and made us line up. ~It sucks,~ I thought, ~That we have a game today as well.~ Now these football people could play their game and then be done, while we had to trek all the way off to Virani High an hour away and perform once more.
Ah well. Such was the life of marching band.
We marched up to the field, the drum cadence helping to lighten my mood. I loved marching up to the field, with all those people watching. It seemed to me that we were taking away from the football people there, and allowing them to see the marching band, the real stars of the field.
The game wasn't as long as I expected. Of course we practiced during the first two quarters, and then we did our show. That's the good thing about home games-we knew the field. But we did our show, and it was hot, but we still did good. Marching band people are a lot more tolerant to heat, probably because of band camp (*people scream and faint*).
But soon the game was over, and we all walked back down. We stuffed our flags into the flagbag and loaded it on the truck, then went inside to sit down for a bit while the band loaded. Or, to be precise, we all went inside and collapsed on the floor while the band loaded.
When we were called back out, we all got onto the bus. Me and Julia grabbed seats together, as usual. Julia took the window seat and I took the aisle. Across from me was Andre the saxophone player and his friend, squished into seats as well. ~You never learn what it's like to be squished until you go on the band bus,~ I mused. Mr. P popped on the bus long enough to tell us we were fine, and then we were off.
The bus lurched, sending a person behind me sprawling into the aisle, which caused everyone to crack up. Julia leaned back against the chair. "I'm tired already." She said. "And I'll probably fall asleep on the way back." I nodded in agreement. "Hey, at least we got our uniforms, though." I said. Julia snorted. We had a little bit of a uniform problem earlier. Because of the fact that none of them were named, Julia got Amy Lynn's uniform and Amy Lynn got Julia's. Luckily they managed to figure it out and switch, but not before all the guard had a good laugh.
The bus bumped along the road. I looked at my watch, which now read 5:15. We were performing at 6:30.
Julia was now looking out the window, and I saw she actually seemed to be dozing off. So I turned around and looked around the bus.
Andre was pretending to be a DJ, making those weird record noises and zipping records. Everyone was watching him while he did his act. He "put on" a new record and made rapping noises with this one.
Julia had awoken and was now looking at Andre. He noticed me and Julia's attention, and began miming. He "took" a balloon and blew it up, tying a string around it and handing the invisible balloon to me. Then he "poured" a cup of tea and handed it to Julia.
The bus came to an abrupt stop, and Andre mimed smacking into a wall. I glanced outside. . . the other cars were still moving. "What's wrong?" Julia asked, peering outside. The bus in front of us had stopped, too. Andre mimed pouring another cup of tea and handing it to me. Julia pretended to drink her tea.
A few minutes later, Mr. P came in. "Can we have some drummers out here?" He called.
Diana in the first seat stood up. "Why?" She called back down to him.
"Because the truck's broken," Replied Mr. P. "It stopped moving. Something's wrong with it. We need a few drummers out here to see if they can fix it."
Oh, so that's why we were stopped. The truck broke down.
Diana looked at her watch. "It's 5:50! We're performing in forty minutes, and we have to practice still!" She said impatiently.
"I know," Replied Mr. P. "But if the truck's broken, we won't get moving until it is fixed."
Several drummers, anxious to show off their drummer muscle and power, scrambled down the aisle and off the bus. Andre mimed being thrown against the wall this time.
The minutes grew on, and Diana grew more and more anxious. 6:00 came, 6:01, 6:02, and we still weren't moving. I could see her glancing frantically around the bus.
Finally, at 6:06, the drummers came clamoring back in. "It's fixed!" Proclaimed one of them with an arrogant grin.
Diana relaxed in her chair, but then straightened again. "We have less than twenty minutes!" She said. "Let's ~GO!~" She all but yelled at the driver. The driver, afraid of facing Diana's wrath, started the bus with an even bigger jerk than before.
We got to Virani High at 6:20, with only ten minutes left before our performance. Everyone scrambled frantically out, rushing about to grab flags and instruments. Thankfully our time was delayed, and we didn't have to go on until 6:40, which gave us an extra ten minutes of practice time. Diana was pacing back and forth in front of us while we did our drop spins.
Finally, in a short while, Mr. P's familiar yell carried over the crowd. "ALRIGHT! LINE UP!" He shouted, pacing down the line in front of us.
"Go, go, go!" Diana said, waving her hands for us to get into that line. We couldn't get there quick enough.
The drum cadence started, and we marched down to the sidewalk by the field. It was the same sidewalk we were standing on at the first competition here, last year. This time it was much darker, and the lights were already on in the field. I could hear the faint music of the other band playing.
"Don't look at the field!" hissed a trombone player, and we all automatically turned away. That was an old suspicion of our marching band- looking at the field before a competition was bad luck.
Diana paced up and down the length of us, fixing our hair and our costumes last minute before giving a nod of somewhat satisfaction. "It'll do," She remarked, and continued on.
I snorted. 'It'll do.' Sure it will, Diana, sure it will.
"I'm nervous," whispered Maggie in front of me. I grinned-old tradition returned. It was an unspoken tradition for Maggie and I to whisper about our nervousness before the show. "Oh, don't worry." I whispered back, just as always. "We know what we're doing, right?" "I hope." Replied Maggie.
The drum cadence started, and we turned around. "Good luck!" called Diana.
Hah. Like she really believed we'd do good.
But nevertheless, the competition feeling overwhelmed me. I held my head high and rolled my feet, holding the cold flagpole to my exhausted body. This was ~my~ marching band, ~my~ colorguard, and no matter what anyone said, I always thought we were good. That was something not even Diana's pessimism could take away.
We marched proudly onto the field. I held my head up to the bright lights, looking for the judges box, then momentarily scanned for my parents. But they weren't there-I had forgotten. They had a wedding to go to today and couldn't make it.
"Now entering the field, Ponra High School marching band!" Blared the speaker. I grinned-I still loved hearing that. The cadence thrummed in my ears as we marched on.
"Split!" Called the drum major. I darted off to the left side, putting my flag at my starting drill spot, then went into my pre-show group, which consisted of Maggie and Christian. "I'm still nervous." Remarked Maggie, looking around. "And tired." She added.
"I'm tired, too." I agreed with her. "But we have to do this, right?" "Right."
"Are the judges ready?" The speaker said.
"No," Whispered Maggie under her breath.
"Is the band ready?"
"Definitely not," I added. We both snickered.
"Ponra High School, you may now take the field in competition!"
The trumpet soloist, Lorry's brother, rang out the first few notes of our show. I watched as Julia's group walked to their flags, and then we went. I stood at my drill spot and picked up my flag, facing backwards away from the field as I heard each of the soloists go in turn. Lorry's brother, Tony, another trumpet player, then a mellophone. . . a euphonium (I love that word! Euphonium! How cool does that sound!), and then at last back to Tony again.
Then I turned around, and our show began, ready or not.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I dropped my flag from right shoulder down to beside me as the last drum beat smacked. I was panting, exhausted, but I still held my head high and looked defiantly at the judges' box, as if to say, 'This is my marching band, we are fabulous, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop that.'
The drummers began the cadence again, and we coalesced back into our line. By now it was completely dark. All the lights had turned on and were illuminating the field in an odd light. We marched off, and then regrouped by the truck where all the cases were.
Nick the Drill Guy came up. He usually spoke to us after a competition. "That was pretty good, you guys, considering that you just came from a game. It was a long day and you guys did good despite the circumstances." I grinned. Nick was such a good guy. He was always nice and positive, and would encourage people at band camp to keep going. He applauded us, and so did Mr. P.
"The awards are in forty minutes." Mr. P said. "So put the stuff on the truck and then go right to the stands. We don't really have that much time." He made shooing motions with his hands, and turned to discuss something with Nick.
I followed the rest of the guard to the flagbag and stuffed my flag away. Then we all clamored onto the bus to grab our bags and head out. I dug my $5 out of my bag so I could buy a hotdog or something before the awards.
The guard kind of split up. Christian went with his girlfriend, a person who used to be in my dance class. Cara went off who-knows-where, and Amy Lynn, Talie, Carrie, Jocelyn, and Kat all stayed together. We all went and bought some snacks at the stand, then went to the fence to watch the other bands perform.
"Hi," A voice said beside me. It was Iris. "Hi, Iris." I replied. "How'd you like your first competition?"
I got three responses from that, actually. The first was Iris's optimistic response: "It was tiring, but I think we did pretty good out there, despite our circumstances." The second was of Jeff, who had come up next to me and Iris. "I totally messed up the last song." Jeff groaned. "I just drew a blank, and, whoa. There it went. My section did good, though." He remarked about all his trumpets. "Tony did his solos good and so did Lorry's brother." The last response I got was, "Nehhhh I'm tired." Said a whiny voice.
I groaned, knowing who that voice belonged to. Coming up by Me, Iris, Julia, and Jeff, came Squeak. Squeak was a piccolo player, and a freshman just like me. Her real name was Kammy, but her nickname was Squeak. . . her full nickname being "Squeaky the Band Rat." She was a short little piccolo player whose sole purpose in this marching band was to complain and complain. She'd complain about being tired, hungry, thirsty, confused, and just about everything else there was. She was the band's whiner and complainer, and because of this and the fact that she was short and had a pointy face, she earned the title of Squeaky the Band Rat.
Jeff sighed, leaning against the fence and trying to ignore Squeak.
"I'm tired, too." I replied, having had to handle Squeak before. "We all are. That's something that happens in marching band."
"You've no idea," Julia said dryly. Us two year people had more experience than Jeff, Iris, and Squeak. This was their first year.
"I like their costumes," Remarked Jeff, pointing on the field.
"Why?" Inquired Iris.
"They're shiny!" Jeff grinned idiotically. "I like shiny things."
Iris rolled her eyes, then looked at the other band's costumes. "Well, they are. . . extravagant." Squeak rolled her eyes. For some reason Squeak didn't like Iris all that much. I liked Iris-she was one of my good friends. Squeak, however, latched on to me in gym class in the beginning of the year and hasn't let go since. She attached herself to me, and now thinks I am her best friend for life. My best friends, however, had nothing to do with Squeak and certainly didn't want to.
"I'm hungry." Complained Squeak.
"Get a hot dog." I replied blithely, turning to watch the other band with the 'shiny' costumes.
She made another whiney noise, but then Iris pointed. "The band's moving to the stands. Come on." She started following them, and the rest of us followed her. Julia was busy chattering with the guard, and I seemed suddenly subjected to Jeff's attention.
"Would you look at that!" Jeff pointed.
"What?" asked Squeak.
"It's shiny!"
"Psh." Muttered Squeak.
We continued on, Jeff pointing out every single shiny thing along the way. Iris rolled her eyes, Squeak was getting annoyed (oh, big surprise). We got to the stands and clamored up.
I sat down first and dropped my bag in front of me. Jeff said behind me, Iris and Julia next to me, and Squeak in front.
"Christine!" Jeff suddenly exclaimed.
I turned around. "What?" I asked.
"You're. . . you're earring!"
My hand darted up to my earring-it was a small, gold hoop, just like I always wore.
"It's. . .it's. . ."
"It's what?"
"SHINY!" Exclaimed Jeff, reaching out with a hand and flicking my earring.
I laughed and rolled my eyes. Jeff was goofy, just like I was. I was glad we were friends, though I thought it odd he seemed to flick my ear rather than my earring.
"This is nerve wracking." Remarked Iris, looking at the judges' box. "What time is it?"
"8:39." I replied.
Finally, after waiting another 15 minutes, with Squeak still whining, and Jeff pointing out shiny things and flicking my ear(ring), the announcer blared,
"We are now about to begin the awards for tonight."
NOW everyone was tense. Iris leaned forward in her seat, looking excited. Squeak looked tired, Jeff looked. . . confused.
And he was staring at me. Why was he staring at me?
"For group 2a, special awards!" The announcer continued. Jeff's attention was taken from me to the field.
The announcer went on with his naming, until,
"Best music for group 2a goes to. . . Ponra High School!"
THAT WAS US! THAT WAS US!
Wild cheering erupted around me. "BEST MUSIC!" Cried Jeff loudly. "BEST MUSIC! Christine! Iris! BEST MUSIC!" As a trumpet player, he was really thrilled about this. "Oh my god. . ." Iris said, grinning and staring at the field. "Best music! I don't believe it!" Squeak said, smacking her forehead. "That's us!"
The band was grinning with elation, hugging each other and cheering madly.
"And now. . . third place for group 2a, goes to Fenshwa High School!" Next to us, Fenshwa burst into cheering, grinning at us. That means. . . wait, if they got third, then. . .
"Second place goes to. . . Ponra High School!"
No way!!! But it was true. The band started cheering more wildly than before. I joined them, our screams of joy ringing out across the field. That feeling of marching band high came back, and I cheered happily. I hugged Iris, who was grinning uncharacteristically. Squeak was clapping and jumping up and down, her eyes squinched shut in happiness.
"SECOND! SECOND!" Cried Jeff again from behind me, grabbing my shoulder and jumping up and down. "That's US!" I hugged Julia next to me, who was absolutely overjoyed. We were all too happy. . . this was great.
But second! Last year at our first competition, we got third place instead. Third place and best percussion, but this year. . .
This year we had started out and gotten second. . . second, right away, and best music. Second! Already! This early!
As I grinned at the rest of my friends, the elated Julia, overly happy Jeff, even Iris who normally didn't show this emotion, I wondered.
One of the trombone players had said at band camp that "We had something this year. . . something tells me we're going to win, we're going to be victorious, I can see it. . ."
I hadn't believed her then. But now. . .
Now I wondered.
I held up my band theme shirt in front of me. It was gray with our title behind it.
Unfortunately, it was not our uniform.
The first competition of the season was a week later. It was Saturday, and I knew from looking at the schedule that it was going to be a long day indeed. In the morning we had a football game to go to, and then after the football game, instead of going home, we're going to be sent off to Virani High, the same place as last year, for our first competition.
This first was different than the last. My last competition at Virani was my First Competition, my first ever time competing with the marching band. This was a different kind of first. This time I would actually be performing and really competing. This time..
Sighing, I stuffed the shirt and pants into my marching band bag. Our uniforms, would you believe it, still hadn't arrived yet. Diana told us (with much scorn) that we would be marching in black pants and our theme shirts. What an interesting way to start out the competing season.
I packed quickly, knowing what to pack by now. My dad drove me to the high school, and I was once again in the midst of the marching band.
Trotting inside the school, I dropped my bag in the guard corner. Julia was leaning against the wall looking tired. "Hey, Julia." I said. "Hi," she replied tiredly. "This is going to be a loooong day." She said. I agreed wholeheartedly.
I watched everyone as the band filed in. Jeff came in, carrying the garment bag over his shoulder as he stopped to talk to me. "Hey Christy," He said, using my much hated nickname. The only person in the entire world allowed to call me Christy was Mrs. Loren (and Nelly, at times). Jeff, however, was not on that list. But I ignored it and let him keep talking. "Hi Jeff." I replied. "What's up?"
Jeff looked at the sky, then down at me intently. "Nothing," He replied. He paused. "Are you nervous about this competition?" He asked.
"Sort of," I replied. "This is my first performing competition. I wasn't in the show really last year."
"Yeah, I think you told me about that whole sideline thing once." Jeff said. He glanced at Julia who gave a cheerful wave, and Cara who was grinning wickedly at him. As soon as he caught sight of Cara, he quickly said, "Okay I have to go see you later!" And vanished into the band room.
"What was that all about?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Cara.
Cara grinned at me. "That's your boyfriend, isn't it?" She said.
"What? Jeff?" I exclaimed. "You have ~got~ to be kidding me. He's my friend. We're good friends, that's it."
With a very evil laugh, Cara replied, "Sure, sure." And went into the band room as well. "Where're you going?" Talie inquired, craning her neck to see Cara. "Because we're going to start soon. It's almost nine."
"To talk to Christine's boyfriend." Replied Cara wickedly.
"He's NOT my boyfriend!" I called after her, but by then she had already gone.
"What? He's not!" I said to Maggie and Jocelyn, who were looking at me strangely. I sighed and leaned against the wall. That was useless. I talked to Jeff in school and at practices, and for some insane reason Maggie, Jocelyn, and of course Cara had this mad idea that we should go out. Guard members! Really!
Diana came in, flicking her keys around in her hand. "Is everyone here?"
Talie answered for us. "Cara's in the band room, and Christian is late."
"Christian is always late. Go get Cara." Replied Diana, and Talie went.
Cara came out, giving me another evil grin. We got our flags and then once again went outside into the field, to practice once more.
THWACK! "Ow!" I exclaimed, rubbing my head where the flag hit coming down. Parallels were easy for the older guard members, but since I had never done them before this season, most of my parallels ended in the flag coming down in some weird uncatchable way and smacking me in the head.
Diana gave a sigh of annoyance from her place up front. The band had already gone inside, for the practice was over. But Diana had us practice an extra twenty minutes, because she said we'd "need it for the competition." But of course by this time we were all drained by the heat and close to dropping, so the extra practice really didn't accomplish much. Just lots of banged heads and grumbles.
"Fine," Diana said. "I'll call this practice over. We don't seem to be getting anything done, anyway." She waved us down the hill. "Meet you after lunch break. We have a game to do first, don't forget." She whispered something to Mary and they turned and went down the hill.
I stuck out my flag and rolled it up. "Keeping us up here extra," Kat spat, walking past me. "It's going to be a long enough day already without ~her~ adding anything extra to it." She looked at me, blue eyes flashing. "What do ~you~ think of that?"
I blinked, taken aback by Kat's sudden anger (although I knew I shouldn't be, because strong emotions are just Kat's thing). "I think it's insane," I replied to her query. "She's working us too hard." The last sentence I murmured, looking down at the field under my feet. Talking to a senior, I was! A senior!
Kat snorted and stormed past me, heading down the field without bothering to wait for Carrie and Jocelyn, her two friends.
"Well, that was interesting." I remarked to Julia as we went down the hill ourselves.
"What?" She asked, pushing the sweaty hair from her face.
"Kat. She seems pretty mad at this extra practice."
Julia snorted as well. "I don't blame here." She said. "So am I."
I glanced around at the rest of the guard. Hot and sweaty they all were. . . as well as mad. None of them seemed to be liking the way she's been treating us lately.
We finally reached the bottom of the hill and gratefully went inside the cooler school. I got out my lunch and started eating, when Talie burst out of the band room.
"Uniforms!" She cried.
"What?" Jocelyn blinked in confusion.
"Uniforms!" Talie clasped her hands together. "The uniforms came in today! They are here! Come, I'll give them out!" She seemed thrilled about this.
Jocelyn grinned. "The marching band gods watch down upon us today."
The rest of us laughed.
Talie came out with a big box of uniforms. They were black and white velvet with a silver section in the middle. "Drat, no names." She said, holding a uniform up. "Let's see. . . here's one that'll fit you, Cara," She tossed one to Cara, who caught it deftly. "Here's. . . this one says. . . ah, Jocelyn, here's your name. Lorry's too." She gave them their uniforms. "Amy Lynn. . . this looks like it'll fit you. Doesn't have a name. Same with Julia." Finally, she stuck one out to me. "Christine, this is yours." I took it, holding at arms length to get a good look at it. I liked it. It was a bodysuit rather than a uniform with many parts to it like last year's.
We all ate lunch, and then changed into our uniforms. They were surprisingly easy to put on, and didn't result in the disaster of last year's first competition changing.
After lunch, Diana ushered us all outside and made us line up. ~It sucks,~ I thought, ~That we have a game today as well.~ Now these football people could play their game and then be done, while we had to trek all the way off to Virani High an hour away and perform once more.
Ah well. Such was the life of marching band.
We marched up to the field, the drum cadence helping to lighten my mood. I loved marching up to the field, with all those people watching. It seemed to me that we were taking away from the football people there, and allowing them to see the marching band, the real stars of the field.
The game wasn't as long as I expected. Of course we practiced during the first two quarters, and then we did our show. That's the good thing about home games-we knew the field. But we did our show, and it was hot, but we still did good. Marching band people are a lot more tolerant to heat, probably because of band camp (*people scream and faint*).
But soon the game was over, and we all walked back down. We stuffed our flags into the flagbag and loaded it on the truck, then went inside to sit down for a bit while the band loaded. Or, to be precise, we all went inside and collapsed on the floor while the band loaded.
When we were called back out, we all got onto the bus. Me and Julia grabbed seats together, as usual. Julia took the window seat and I took the aisle. Across from me was Andre the saxophone player and his friend, squished into seats as well. ~You never learn what it's like to be squished until you go on the band bus,~ I mused. Mr. P popped on the bus long enough to tell us we were fine, and then we were off.
The bus lurched, sending a person behind me sprawling into the aisle, which caused everyone to crack up. Julia leaned back against the chair. "I'm tired already." She said. "And I'll probably fall asleep on the way back." I nodded in agreement. "Hey, at least we got our uniforms, though." I said. Julia snorted. We had a little bit of a uniform problem earlier. Because of the fact that none of them were named, Julia got Amy Lynn's uniform and Amy Lynn got Julia's. Luckily they managed to figure it out and switch, but not before all the guard had a good laugh.
The bus bumped along the road. I looked at my watch, which now read 5:15. We were performing at 6:30.
Julia was now looking out the window, and I saw she actually seemed to be dozing off. So I turned around and looked around the bus.
Andre was pretending to be a DJ, making those weird record noises and zipping records. Everyone was watching him while he did his act. He "put on" a new record and made rapping noises with this one.
Julia had awoken and was now looking at Andre. He noticed me and Julia's attention, and began miming. He "took" a balloon and blew it up, tying a string around it and handing the invisible balloon to me. Then he "poured" a cup of tea and handed it to Julia.
The bus came to an abrupt stop, and Andre mimed smacking into a wall. I glanced outside. . . the other cars were still moving. "What's wrong?" Julia asked, peering outside. The bus in front of us had stopped, too. Andre mimed pouring another cup of tea and handing it to me. Julia pretended to drink her tea.
A few minutes later, Mr. P came in. "Can we have some drummers out here?" He called.
Diana in the first seat stood up. "Why?" She called back down to him.
"Because the truck's broken," Replied Mr. P. "It stopped moving. Something's wrong with it. We need a few drummers out here to see if they can fix it."
Oh, so that's why we were stopped. The truck broke down.
Diana looked at her watch. "It's 5:50! We're performing in forty minutes, and we have to practice still!" She said impatiently.
"I know," Replied Mr. P. "But if the truck's broken, we won't get moving until it is fixed."
Several drummers, anxious to show off their drummer muscle and power, scrambled down the aisle and off the bus. Andre mimed being thrown against the wall this time.
The minutes grew on, and Diana grew more and more anxious. 6:00 came, 6:01, 6:02, and we still weren't moving. I could see her glancing frantically around the bus.
Finally, at 6:06, the drummers came clamoring back in. "It's fixed!" Proclaimed one of them with an arrogant grin.
Diana relaxed in her chair, but then straightened again. "We have less than twenty minutes!" She said. "Let's ~GO!~" She all but yelled at the driver. The driver, afraid of facing Diana's wrath, started the bus with an even bigger jerk than before.
We got to Virani High at 6:20, with only ten minutes left before our performance. Everyone scrambled frantically out, rushing about to grab flags and instruments. Thankfully our time was delayed, and we didn't have to go on until 6:40, which gave us an extra ten minutes of practice time. Diana was pacing back and forth in front of us while we did our drop spins.
Finally, in a short while, Mr. P's familiar yell carried over the crowd. "ALRIGHT! LINE UP!" He shouted, pacing down the line in front of us.
"Go, go, go!" Diana said, waving her hands for us to get into that line. We couldn't get there quick enough.
The drum cadence started, and we marched down to the sidewalk by the field. It was the same sidewalk we were standing on at the first competition here, last year. This time it was much darker, and the lights were already on in the field. I could hear the faint music of the other band playing.
"Don't look at the field!" hissed a trombone player, and we all automatically turned away. That was an old suspicion of our marching band- looking at the field before a competition was bad luck.
Diana paced up and down the length of us, fixing our hair and our costumes last minute before giving a nod of somewhat satisfaction. "It'll do," She remarked, and continued on.
I snorted. 'It'll do.' Sure it will, Diana, sure it will.
"I'm nervous," whispered Maggie in front of me. I grinned-old tradition returned. It was an unspoken tradition for Maggie and I to whisper about our nervousness before the show. "Oh, don't worry." I whispered back, just as always. "We know what we're doing, right?" "I hope." Replied Maggie.
The drum cadence started, and we turned around. "Good luck!" called Diana.
Hah. Like she really believed we'd do good.
But nevertheless, the competition feeling overwhelmed me. I held my head high and rolled my feet, holding the cold flagpole to my exhausted body. This was ~my~ marching band, ~my~ colorguard, and no matter what anyone said, I always thought we were good. That was something not even Diana's pessimism could take away.
We marched proudly onto the field. I held my head up to the bright lights, looking for the judges box, then momentarily scanned for my parents. But they weren't there-I had forgotten. They had a wedding to go to today and couldn't make it.
"Now entering the field, Ponra High School marching band!" Blared the speaker. I grinned-I still loved hearing that. The cadence thrummed in my ears as we marched on.
"Split!" Called the drum major. I darted off to the left side, putting my flag at my starting drill spot, then went into my pre-show group, which consisted of Maggie and Christian. "I'm still nervous." Remarked Maggie, looking around. "And tired." She added.
"I'm tired, too." I agreed with her. "But we have to do this, right?" "Right."
"Are the judges ready?" The speaker said.
"No," Whispered Maggie under her breath.
"Is the band ready?"
"Definitely not," I added. We both snickered.
"Ponra High School, you may now take the field in competition!"
The trumpet soloist, Lorry's brother, rang out the first few notes of our show. I watched as Julia's group walked to their flags, and then we went. I stood at my drill spot and picked up my flag, facing backwards away from the field as I heard each of the soloists go in turn. Lorry's brother, Tony, another trumpet player, then a mellophone. . . a euphonium (I love that word! Euphonium! How cool does that sound!), and then at last back to Tony again.
Then I turned around, and our show began, ready or not.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I dropped my flag from right shoulder down to beside me as the last drum beat smacked. I was panting, exhausted, but I still held my head high and looked defiantly at the judges' box, as if to say, 'This is my marching band, we are fabulous, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop that.'
The drummers began the cadence again, and we coalesced back into our line. By now it was completely dark. All the lights had turned on and were illuminating the field in an odd light. We marched off, and then regrouped by the truck where all the cases were.
Nick the Drill Guy came up. He usually spoke to us after a competition. "That was pretty good, you guys, considering that you just came from a game. It was a long day and you guys did good despite the circumstances." I grinned. Nick was such a good guy. He was always nice and positive, and would encourage people at band camp to keep going. He applauded us, and so did Mr. P.
"The awards are in forty minutes." Mr. P said. "So put the stuff on the truck and then go right to the stands. We don't really have that much time." He made shooing motions with his hands, and turned to discuss something with Nick.
I followed the rest of the guard to the flagbag and stuffed my flag away. Then we all clamored onto the bus to grab our bags and head out. I dug my $5 out of my bag so I could buy a hotdog or something before the awards.
The guard kind of split up. Christian went with his girlfriend, a person who used to be in my dance class. Cara went off who-knows-where, and Amy Lynn, Talie, Carrie, Jocelyn, and Kat all stayed together. We all went and bought some snacks at the stand, then went to the fence to watch the other bands perform.
"Hi," A voice said beside me. It was Iris. "Hi, Iris." I replied. "How'd you like your first competition?"
I got three responses from that, actually. The first was Iris's optimistic response: "It was tiring, but I think we did pretty good out there, despite our circumstances." The second was of Jeff, who had come up next to me and Iris. "I totally messed up the last song." Jeff groaned. "I just drew a blank, and, whoa. There it went. My section did good, though." He remarked about all his trumpets. "Tony did his solos good and so did Lorry's brother." The last response I got was, "Nehhhh I'm tired." Said a whiny voice.
I groaned, knowing who that voice belonged to. Coming up by Me, Iris, Julia, and Jeff, came Squeak. Squeak was a piccolo player, and a freshman just like me. Her real name was Kammy, but her nickname was Squeak. . . her full nickname being "Squeaky the Band Rat." She was a short little piccolo player whose sole purpose in this marching band was to complain and complain. She'd complain about being tired, hungry, thirsty, confused, and just about everything else there was. She was the band's whiner and complainer, and because of this and the fact that she was short and had a pointy face, she earned the title of Squeaky the Band Rat.
Jeff sighed, leaning against the fence and trying to ignore Squeak.
"I'm tired, too." I replied, having had to handle Squeak before. "We all are. That's something that happens in marching band."
"You've no idea," Julia said dryly. Us two year people had more experience than Jeff, Iris, and Squeak. This was their first year.
"I like their costumes," Remarked Jeff, pointing on the field.
"Why?" Inquired Iris.
"They're shiny!" Jeff grinned idiotically. "I like shiny things."
Iris rolled her eyes, then looked at the other band's costumes. "Well, they are. . . extravagant." Squeak rolled her eyes. For some reason Squeak didn't like Iris all that much. I liked Iris-she was one of my good friends. Squeak, however, latched on to me in gym class in the beginning of the year and hasn't let go since. She attached herself to me, and now thinks I am her best friend for life. My best friends, however, had nothing to do with Squeak and certainly didn't want to.
"I'm hungry." Complained Squeak.
"Get a hot dog." I replied blithely, turning to watch the other band with the 'shiny' costumes.
She made another whiney noise, but then Iris pointed. "The band's moving to the stands. Come on." She started following them, and the rest of us followed her. Julia was busy chattering with the guard, and I seemed suddenly subjected to Jeff's attention.
"Would you look at that!" Jeff pointed.
"What?" asked Squeak.
"It's shiny!"
"Psh." Muttered Squeak.
We continued on, Jeff pointing out every single shiny thing along the way. Iris rolled her eyes, Squeak was getting annoyed (oh, big surprise). We got to the stands and clamored up.
I sat down first and dropped my bag in front of me. Jeff said behind me, Iris and Julia next to me, and Squeak in front.
"Christine!" Jeff suddenly exclaimed.
I turned around. "What?" I asked.
"You're. . . you're earring!"
My hand darted up to my earring-it was a small, gold hoop, just like I always wore.
"It's. . .it's. . ."
"It's what?"
"SHINY!" Exclaimed Jeff, reaching out with a hand and flicking my earring.
I laughed and rolled my eyes. Jeff was goofy, just like I was. I was glad we were friends, though I thought it odd he seemed to flick my ear rather than my earring.
"This is nerve wracking." Remarked Iris, looking at the judges' box. "What time is it?"
"8:39." I replied.
Finally, after waiting another 15 minutes, with Squeak still whining, and Jeff pointing out shiny things and flicking my ear(ring), the announcer blared,
"We are now about to begin the awards for tonight."
NOW everyone was tense. Iris leaned forward in her seat, looking excited. Squeak looked tired, Jeff looked. . . confused.
And he was staring at me. Why was he staring at me?
"For group 2a, special awards!" The announcer continued. Jeff's attention was taken from me to the field.
The announcer went on with his naming, until,
"Best music for group 2a goes to. . . Ponra High School!"
THAT WAS US! THAT WAS US!
Wild cheering erupted around me. "BEST MUSIC!" Cried Jeff loudly. "BEST MUSIC! Christine! Iris! BEST MUSIC!" As a trumpet player, he was really thrilled about this. "Oh my god. . ." Iris said, grinning and staring at the field. "Best music! I don't believe it!" Squeak said, smacking her forehead. "That's us!"
The band was grinning with elation, hugging each other and cheering madly.
"And now. . . third place for group 2a, goes to Fenshwa High School!" Next to us, Fenshwa burst into cheering, grinning at us. That means. . . wait, if they got third, then. . .
"Second place goes to. . . Ponra High School!"
No way!!! But it was true. The band started cheering more wildly than before. I joined them, our screams of joy ringing out across the field. That feeling of marching band high came back, and I cheered happily. I hugged Iris, who was grinning uncharacteristically. Squeak was clapping and jumping up and down, her eyes squinched shut in happiness.
"SECOND! SECOND!" Cried Jeff again from behind me, grabbing my shoulder and jumping up and down. "That's US!" I hugged Julia next to me, who was absolutely overjoyed. We were all too happy. . . this was great.
But second! Last year at our first competition, we got third place instead. Third place and best percussion, but this year. . .
This year we had started out and gotten second. . . second, right away, and best music. Second! Already! This early!
As I grinned at the rest of my friends, the elated Julia, overly happy Jeff, even Iris who normally didn't show this emotion, I wondered.
One of the trombone players had said at band camp that "We had something this year. . . something tells me we're going to win, we're going to be victorious, I can see it. . ."
I hadn't believed her then. But now. . .
Now I wondered.