((Many thanks...I must say, I am quite obsessed with Phantom too. That is
my favorite play, my obsession, with Les Mis as my second favorite. I end
up using those lyrics interchangeably...because I do it so often. In fact,
the main character of this story, Christine, was in fact named after
Christine Daae from Phantom :)
Second, you anonymous reviewer, I'd like to know who you are. I tend to like to know the identity, or at least the somewhat identity, of who my reviewers are. You sounded, from what you said, that you actually know what marching band and events that this is based off of. I'm not entirely sure I want that band, the band I belong to, to know about this story. . .))
I hit my head on the seat of the moving bus. "I'm secretly dreading this," I told Julia, who was sitting next to me.
The morning of practice went by in quite a blur. Jeff was staring (gazing, drooling, ect.) all morning, Diana was nasty, and it was quite tiring. But it was short, thankfully, and soon we were dressed and on the bus to Natara, the high school of our competition. I was naturally sitting next to Julia.
Julia knew about the whole Jeff thing. She was one of the first people I told. I told Squeak, because Squeak was more girly than I was and might know of it. All Squeak told me was that I should go out with him--even though I felt nothing for him whatsoever. Julia and Ness (Ness is one of my other friends. She sits at the lunch table with me and Julia) both told me that I should talk to him about it. The problem was, that was very hard. I could talk to Jeff about random weird stuff, but this? This I really couldn't. It was too hard, and I was too confused. I just hoped we did good at this competition, without any falter.
The bus halted with a screech. "Well, like me and Ness told you, you have to talk to him." She said, finishing up her hair (we all had to wear our hair the same). "If you don't he'll think you like him, which you don't." She nodded sagely. "You really have to."
"I know, I know." I said with a sigh as we all got off the bus. The guard stayed together, thankfully, with Diana doing last-minute checks on our makeup. "Get your flags and meet me back here. I want to go over the new work." She said, giving us all strict glares that said "or else."
"I just don't know." I told Julia as we got our flags out of the flagbag. "He's nice and all, and I don't want to lose the--oh hi, Jeff." I finished, my explanations ending abruptly as Jeff came up behind me. Julia sighed. I sighed, too.
"Nice flags!" Jeff exclaimed.
"Jeff, I've used these flags since the beginning of the year." I replied patiently.
"Well, they're still nice. You look nice, too. Real nice." At this point, Jeff's eyes wandered a bit, and it certainly wasn't on my face.
I resisted the urge to vomit into the flagbags (seriously, I was a freshman. What got the idea in his stupid boy mind that I, a freshman colorguard musical obsessed person, would want a boy, especially HIM, looking at me. . . there? Ugh. Ugh, ugh, ugh). For once I was actually glad to hurry back to practice and let Diana bite my head off. At least Diana's head biting was expected, and hardly anything surprising or confusing (only her routines were confusing).
Finally, Mr. P gave the signal for the go-ahead, and we all took our flags and lined up. I didn't even look at Jeff, just focused on the upcoming performance we were. Going over the work in my head, praying not to mess up, the usual. I also didn't look at the field--an old suspicion of my marching band, looking at the field before a competition was bad luck.
"Mark time march and one two three four!" The drum major's voice rang out and the drum's beats struck loudly. I relaxed, but only slightly. While Jeff's "affections" were confusing, frustrating, and annoying, this was now marching band. I ~knew~ marching band, and was grateful for this. I followed, rolling my feet (gasp) and holding the flags proudly as we entered the field.
We moved out, and I stuck my flags in position and got into my group with Maggie and Christian.
"What's up with Jeff?" Maggie hissed to me as we looked down in the usual pre-show position.
"Ugh. He's madly in love with me and sending me corny love notes." I told her.
Maggie snickered. "That's funny, I think."
"You have no idea. . ."
"ARE THE JUDGES READY?" Good. A familiar voice at last.
"IS THE BAND READY?" I wasn't.
"PONRA HIGH SCHOOL, YOU MAY NOW TAKE THE FIELD IN COMPETITION!"
Lorry's brother's solo started. I relaxed now, strangely enough, because I knew the show. Then it finally ended with Tony, and we were up and running!
My flag moved in fluid motions through the show. The moves ran through my mind through the first and second song, perfectly. I even remembered the work from yesterdady! I felt happy as we led into the third song. Continued along, everything was working fine, I was moving. . . near the end of the third song. . .
BANG!!!!
A slippery patch of mud suddenly came under my shoe, causing me to lose balance. SLIP! My legs shot under me, and I fell. . . flat on my butt!!
"OH SHIT!"
That was the first time in my life I had ever cursed. But Kat, who was in the spot next to me, looked down at me in surprise. I don't know if she was more surprised with me falling or cursing.
~GET UP, CHRISTINE YOU IDIOT!!~ I thought angrily at myself. Less than ten seconds after I fell, I shot up again and caught up with my work. But this time I felt tears of shame pricking at my eyes. We were getting to get marked off for this, I know we will! Screw the fact that I fell on my butt, I couldn't care less about my pride. . . but if the judges saw that, they'd take off points! And all because of me.
I refused to cry. I held my head up high and continued on with the show, moving my flag as if nothing happened. I would not cry, that would only spoil my performance. Hold your head up high, for this is guard, and I must be one with the rest.
Then our show ended. I grabbed what flags I could and ran in the line after the guard members. I held my head up as I ran after them, but as soon as we got into our group after the performance I started to cry. I messed up for the entire guard and I knew it. I held my head down so they wouldn't see me, only vaguely listening to Nick's after-performance speech. Finally, after he signaled for the band to leave, Squeak and Julia saw me.
"Christine? Are you okay?" Exclaimed Julia. "Yeah, why're you crying?" Asked Squeak.
"I fell!" I sobbed, now thoroughly ashamed of my mess-up. "And now the judges are going to take points off our guard!"
"It's okay, don't worry. . ." Julia and Squeak both did their best to comfort me, and I stayed with them. Iris came over too, and the three of them tried to convince me that it was all okay, and we'd be fine, our score was good, ect. It was okay, because my friends were being all nice and stuff. But that all ended when Jeff came over.
"Christine, why are you crying?" Jeff asked, looking at me with too- interested eyes.
"None of your business." Julia said, standing between me and Jeff and ushering me away. "Come on, Chris, we have to put the flags away." She shot him a glare before his interest could escalate anymore. By the time we had gotten to the flagbags and put everything away, I had stopped crying and only my eyes remained red. Diana gave us a short speech, not very reassuring, about how we really could have done better. Cara was crying too, evidently she had a mishap. "Cara, stop crying." Diana ordered.
"What did you do?" Asked Kat.
She sniffed. "I dropped my toss," She said. "And I was up front, too."
"That's okay. I fell on my butt during the third song," I told Cara, hoping to reassure her. Diana glared at me. "Don't you start crying either, Christine. That's the last thing I need. Now, come and let's load the trucks."
Sighing, I helped carry the flagbag up to the trucks, loaded it, and then walked down with the guard. The ones up front were trying to console Cara (evidently it took seniors longer to get over their mistakes than me over mine) and the ones I was walking with were just talking about how we think we did in general. We continued walking until we got down by the snackstand to get a hot dog or something, you know, as a guard.
Jeff was waiting.
Yep, sure as Javert's cool hat, Jeff was waiting with his hands in his pockets, looking around. "Hide me," I hissed to Julia, but it was too late.
Jeff looked at me, an enlightened look crossing his face, and ran over. "Hi Christine! Feeling better? You look better. You look nice. How'd you think we did? I think we did good. You did good. Very good. You wanna get a hot dog with me or something? Then let's go up to the stands with the rest of the band. Okay? Let's."
"Jeff, calm down." I managed to say when he let me get a word in edgewise. "I ate already, I'm fine."
Jeff grinned. "You've got a roast beef sandwich in your bag, don't you?"
"No."
"Yes you do." Jeff snatched the bag off my shoulders and began rummaging through it.
"Jeff, stop that!" I exclaimed, yanking my bag away from him and zipping it shut. "Seriously, stop going through my stuff!"
"Aww, you don't mind, do you." He said, ignoring my words in order to drape his arms around me. He was about four or five inches taller than me, so he kind of had to stoop down to do this, and looked like a clinger vine dropped from a height on top of me.
"I'm going to get a soda, then." I said, stepping out of Jeff's arms and heading toward the stands. He trotted behind me quite closely, like an obedient dog at a master's heels. I bet, at this point, that if I threw a stick and told him to fetch, he would. I went into the snack line and got my soda. By then, the entire guard and Julia had been finished with their ordering and now I was alone with Jeff, and some other random band members.
"So, Christy. . . your hair looks nice like that." He said, then yawned. "I'm tired." He proclaimed, and took that time to put an elbow on my shoulder and rest his head on. . . well, my shoulder.
This was getting a bit much. "Then go take a nap." I said, stepping away and causing him to stumble. He looked confused a minute, and then got even closer to me. A band member with a camera walked by. "HERE!" Jeff called to the band member, one of our clarinets. "Take a picture of me and Christine!" He yanked me close to him and took my hand. The camera clicked. . . and my hand went shooting away. "Jeff, I have to go to the bathroom." I said. ~Or I'm going to be sick.~ I held my hand out in front of me and ran to the bathroom.
With Jeff behind me. I stepped into the bathroom quickly, figuring that that would discourage Jeff. Or so I thought. "Christy, this is. . ." He looked around the bathroom, having followed me into it.
"Jeff, this is a ~girl's bathroom!~" I exclaimed. He looked around, surprised, and then ran out.
I sighed, leaning against the wall. "If I had a barricade, I'd push him off of it." I said to no one in particular.
"Stalker?" Said the voice of a bandie beside me, washing her hands. She was from another band, I didn't know which. "He sure looks like one."
"He followed me into the girls' bathroom, and hasn't left my heels since we got off the field." I told the bandie with a sigh.
"Slap him?" She suggested. "He looks like the kind of guy who needs a good slap." She raised an eyebrow at the feet that could be seen through the slits in the bottom of the door. "And he's waiting for you outside."
I groaned. "I know. I got in here to escape him." ~I can't escape from him, I never will. . .~ Came a lyric from Phantom of the Opera, my other favorite play. "But I can't wait in here forever." I sighed, waited a few more minutes, and then decided I did have to leave.
"Good luck!" The bandie called after me. ~Thanks,~ I thought.
Jeff, sure enough, was waiting for me outside. "So, how was that?"
??????
"It was the bathroom, Jeff, how do you think it was?"
"Why'd you take so long?"
"I was talking to a bandie I met in there." He snorted, then grabbed my hand. "Let's get back the the band, now!" He said.
I wrenched my hand away, stuffing it into my pocket, then started heading at a steady trot to the band. I did have to get back to them, so I could talk to Julia and Squeak and Iris at least. But the only problem was that I had this over-obedient dog at my heels.
He followed me all the way to the stands, talking amiably, with the occasional compliment on how lovely I was and how good I looked in my uniform. Finally, I got up in the stands and sat down next to Iris, who had saved me a seat. Squeak was behind me, and Julia was lucky enough to have gone off with the guard higher up. I was kept behind with the person who would soon be known as "my stalker". Only half-listening to Jeff (who was STILL talking), I took out a book and began reading it. He kept talking for about five minutes more before he realized I was reading, and then grabbed my book and tried to tug it out of my hands. "Christy, stop reading!" He exclaimed.
"Release the book now," I said coldly. "Or face the consequences." I loved reading, and no one touched my books without my consent. Iris, who loved books as well, nodded her approval. Iris also wasn't much on boys. She hadn't had a crush in her life, and she didn't exactly approve of crushes, either. When I first told her about Jeff's love notes, she rolled her eyes at me. Iris didn't really like romance unless it was in books.
Jeff blinked, surprised, muttered, "Sorry," and then resorted to just draping his arm around me again. I ignored it and went on reading, thankful that I could read through anything. He yawned, and rested his head on my shoulder. I ignored it, and kept reading. It wasn't until his head began getting a bit too close to mine that I said in annoyance, "Jeff, I'm reading, go away." He shrugged, and took out a notebook of his. ~Lovely, the notebook.~ I thought dryly. The same notebook that he wrote the love poems out of. ~If he writes another one, I'm going to sit over by the OTHER band.~ I thought viciously, buring my head further into the book. Jeff took out a pen and began writing.
"Hey Chris, come up a moment." It was Squeak, behind me. She motioned for me to lean in closer to her. "Chris, what's Jeff doing?" She whispered.
"He's been following me since we got back from the truck. He's been all over me, too."
"So I see." Squeak whispered back. "Did you talk to him?"
"How can I, with all these people around? Plus, we were really good friends before. . . the note."
"Yeah, true. But you--"
"Hey guys, whatcha talking about?" Jeff's inquiring head popped up between mine and Squeak's. I sighed, getting seriously tired of this. Jeff grabbed my hand and yanked me back down. "Lookit what I wrote!" Jeff was big on writing these dialogues between his fictional characters. He tapped a line with his pen.
"Frank comes over and kisses Christine," It read. "That's what I'd like to do." He thought.
I buried my head back in my book fast as to not be sick. ~My God, does he never give up?~ I wondered. Now I was becoming frustrated and confused. I hated this. Sure, I wanted a boyfriend, but. . . "the world I have known/is lost in shadows. . ." (Javert again). . . this was too much. I didn't want a boy getting touchy-feely with me. . .only three days after he told me he liked me. This was too much, too fast, and I felt I'd do something drastic if he kept it up.
The rest of the day continued along the same path. He'd keep trying to hold my hand, kept putting his arms around me, leaning his head on me, and writing more "romantic" things in that book of his. By the time awards were going to be called, I was going out of my mind.
Finally, I heard the judges' voice call, "We are going to be giving out the awards shortly." Our drum major and field captain had departed already, and Talie was now following after them. I allowed myself to relax slightly--if awards were soon, then it meant we'd get out of here soon.
Sure enough, about five minutes later they proclaimed that they were going to start with the awards. Now I could, for a bit, ignore Jeff and think of my marching band. I sat up straight, the thrill of waiting for our score filling me. Iris next to me looked at the field in anticipation. Finally,
"Second place goes to. . . Milna High School!"
Me and Iris looked at each other. There were only two marching bands competing in our group today-us and Milna. If Milna got second. . . nah. . .
"First place goes to. . . Ponra High School!"
IT DID! IT DID!!!!!
Almost immediately, the marching band high rushed through me and sent me into exhiliration. Me and Iris screamed and jumped up and down, cheering our high school on wildly. Squeak behind me literally had her eyes squeezed shut, she was cheering so hard. Me and Iris hugged each other in enthusiasm, exclaiming in turn, "We won!! We beat them!!"
"What, I don't get a hug?" Interrupted Jeff, cutting into my high. I turned, fixing him with the briefest sharp glare, before turning my attention back to the field for further awards.
"Special awards, now. Best marching goes to...Ponra High School!"
More screaming and wild cheering. I was surprised that Iris got this far into it. She was normally a shy, reserved person. . . but then again, marching band brings out the wildest in you.
For our efforts that day, we left the field with first place, best marching, best music, best percussion, and best overall effect. With each of those brought us applauding, screaming, cheering, and just about everything else you could think of. I, and the rest of the guard, too, was very indignant about one thing--we didn't win best guard. Now, I thought compared to the *other* high school's guard, we were pretty good. Our show was more sequenced and such. . . but it could be because our show wasn't finished yet. Nearly, but no. I saw Kat's eyes flashing at the judge when he gave the best guard award to the other high school.
But even though Kat (and most likely Talie) was mad at that, it made me laugh. . . the other high school only got ~two~ trophies. We got ~five~.
The drum major, field captain, and Talie all came to the fence to salute the band, and indicated for us to run down. We all scrambled off the bleachers in excitement to meet them. Sure enough, it seemed what I had predicted. The field captain Tony was holding the trophy over his head and all but running around with it, and Talie was looking serious. She had a slight smile, like she was glad we won, but you could tell that not getting best guard got to her. Diana, I couldn't tell. But I knew that even if she ~wasn't~ disappointed in us (fat chance), that she'd make us practice our butts off until the next competition.
"We did good!" Jeff exclaimed next to me (he had followed me down while I was talking to Iris). He grabbed for my hand again, and took it. I yanked my hand out of his, turning away. ~Don't ruin this,~ I thought. ~Not now.~ I loved marching band highs, as Julia can well tell you.
"What's wrong? Jeff asked. "Are you okay? What's wrong? Tell me!"
I continued to look away, talking to Iris instead. We were talking about names, for some reason. "I like my name as it is," I told her when she asked me how I felt about it. "I just wish that people wouldn't call me Chrissy or Christy. Makes me sound like a cheerleader."
Iris snickered. "My name's okay," She replied. "Just short. I wish it were longer." Jeff didn't hear Iris's response, only mine.
"I love your name," he said to me. "You have such a lovely name, what's wrong with it?"
"Nothing," I said, turning my head away from his stare and congratulating the people on the field.
"I think you have a great name." He took my chin in his hands and forced it to look at him. "What's wrong?"
I couldn't stand it anymore. Something inside of me was near to snapping altogether, with his hands hard on my chin forcing my face to look at his, my eyes to meet his over inquiring ones, and his own eyes straying over my body. We were freshman, and ~I didn't want this!~
I yanked my head away as hard as I could. Julia had come up near Iris, and she could see me. She said later that the look on my face was "of, I dunno, confusion, anger, like you were trapped, scared, and all of that." Thankfully, Julia pointed and said, "Come on. We should rejoin the guard, they'll be wanting to talk to us, no doubt."
I smiled at her gratefully. I was extremely thankful for her at that moment. Jeff started to follow, but Julia said, "Are you in colorguard?"
"No," he replied.
"Then you can't come." And she dragged me way ahead of the crowd to where Kat, Jocelyn, and Carrie were walking. "Let Chris go in front, she has. . . a boy after her," Julia said.
"Jeff?" Inquired Jocelyn innocently.
"Has been following me around all day," I told her, letting Julia lead me to the front of the crowd. Jocelyn winced, evidently she knew what it was like to have an over-interested boy. We talked about the competition, our wins, and the fact that we didn't get best guard all the way to the bus. Thankfully once more, Jeff was on the other bus. I got in and collapsed in a seat near Julia.
"I saw it all day," She confessed. "The way he was touching you, trying to get you to kiss him, looking at you, following you. . . but I had to save you back there, when we were by the fence. The look on your face when he took your chin. . . I never saw that on you before." She said. "I had to do something."
"This has gone too far," I said. "All over a stupid note. All because of a dance last year." I had figured that Jeff's crush on me started when my friend Adi made us dance at the eighth grade semi formal. If I hadn't danced there, I realized, none of this might have happened. If I had lost the note, perhaps I could have at least delayed it.
Until when? Could I imagine in those months until championships being followed around by an adoring boy? No, I couldn't. Today was bad enough. It was so bad it. . . ruined the marching band high. And that's something you just don't do.
"I'm going to talk to him." I told Julia, my resolve firmed. "I have to tell him this. It can't go on forever."
Julia nodded at me. "Good." She said. "Make sure you tell me first what you say, before you tell Squeak. You know how fast it'll spread if ~she~ finds out any more than she already knows." Julia rolled her eyes. I rolled mine in agreement.
The bus pulled away from the parkinglot, and it was another competition over. One that I knew I wouldn't soon forget. . . with Jeff's over- attentions (he later became known by my friends as "my stalker") and the wins we had, the triumphant wins, dulled by a boy. A stupid boy.
But hey, this was marching band after all, and nothing could be expected to stay the same for long.
Second, you anonymous reviewer, I'd like to know who you are. I tend to like to know the identity, or at least the somewhat identity, of who my reviewers are. You sounded, from what you said, that you actually know what marching band and events that this is based off of. I'm not entirely sure I want that band, the band I belong to, to know about this story. . .))
I hit my head on the seat of the moving bus. "I'm secretly dreading this," I told Julia, who was sitting next to me.
The morning of practice went by in quite a blur. Jeff was staring (gazing, drooling, ect.) all morning, Diana was nasty, and it was quite tiring. But it was short, thankfully, and soon we were dressed and on the bus to Natara, the high school of our competition. I was naturally sitting next to Julia.
Julia knew about the whole Jeff thing. She was one of the first people I told. I told Squeak, because Squeak was more girly than I was and might know of it. All Squeak told me was that I should go out with him--even though I felt nothing for him whatsoever. Julia and Ness (Ness is one of my other friends. She sits at the lunch table with me and Julia) both told me that I should talk to him about it. The problem was, that was very hard. I could talk to Jeff about random weird stuff, but this? This I really couldn't. It was too hard, and I was too confused. I just hoped we did good at this competition, without any falter.
The bus halted with a screech. "Well, like me and Ness told you, you have to talk to him." She said, finishing up her hair (we all had to wear our hair the same). "If you don't he'll think you like him, which you don't." She nodded sagely. "You really have to."
"I know, I know." I said with a sigh as we all got off the bus. The guard stayed together, thankfully, with Diana doing last-minute checks on our makeup. "Get your flags and meet me back here. I want to go over the new work." She said, giving us all strict glares that said "or else."
"I just don't know." I told Julia as we got our flags out of the flagbag. "He's nice and all, and I don't want to lose the--oh hi, Jeff." I finished, my explanations ending abruptly as Jeff came up behind me. Julia sighed. I sighed, too.
"Nice flags!" Jeff exclaimed.
"Jeff, I've used these flags since the beginning of the year." I replied patiently.
"Well, they're still nice. You look nice, too. Real nice." At this point, Jeff's eyes wandered a bit, and it certainly wasn't on my face.
I resisted the urge to vomit into the flagbags (seriously, I was a freshman. What got the idea in his stupid boy mind that I, a freshman colorguard musical obsessed person, would want a boy, especially HIM, looking at me. . . there? Ugh. Ugh, ugh, ugh). For once I was actually glad to hurry back to practice and let Diana bite my head off. At least Diana's head biting was expected, and hardly anything surprising or confusing (only her routines were confusing).
Finally, Mr. P gave the signal for the go-ahead, and we all took our flags and lined up. I didn't even look at Jeff, just focused on the upcoming performance we were. Going over the work in my head, praying not to mess up, the usual. I also didn't look at the field--an old suspicion of my marching band, looking at the field before a competition was bad luck.
"Mark time march and one two three four!" The drum major's voice rang out and the drum's beats struck loudly. I relaxed, but only slightly. While Jeff's "affections" were confusing, frustrating, and annoying, this was now marching band. I ~knew~ marching band, and was grateful for this. I followed, rolling my feet (gasp) and holding the flags proudly as we entered the field.
We moved out, and I stuck my flags in position and got into my group with Maggie and Christian.
"What's up with Jeff?" Maggie hissed to me as we looked down in the usual pre-show position.
"Ugh. He's madly in love with me and sending me corny love notes." I told her.
Maggie snickered. "That's funny, I think."
"You have no idea. . ."
"ARE THE JUDGES READY?" Good. A familiar voice at last.
"IS THE BAND READY?" I wasn't.
"PONRA HIGH SCHOOL, YOU MAY NOW TAKE THE FIELD IN COMPETITION!"
Lorry's brother's solo started. I relaxed now, strangely enough, because I knew the show. Then it finally ended with Tony, and we were up and running!
My flag moved in fluid motions through the show. The moves ran through my mind through the first and second song, perfectly. I even remembered the work from yesterdady! I felt happy as we led into the third song. Continued along, everything was working fine, I was moving. . . near the end of the third song. . .
BANG!!!!
A slippery patch of mud suddenly came under my shoe, causing me to lose balance. SLIP! My legs shot under me, and I fell. . . flat on my butt!!
"OH SHIT!"
That was the first time in my life I had ever cursed. But Kat, who was in the spot next to me, looked down at me in surprise. I don't know if she was more surprised with me falling or cursing.
~GET UP, CHRISTINE YOU IDIOT!!~ I thought angrily at myself. Less than ten seconds after I fell, I shot up again and caught up with my work. But this time I felt tears of shame pricking at my eyes. We were getting to get marked off for this, I know we will! Screw the fact that I fell on my butt, I couldn't care less about my pride. . . but if the judges saw that, they'd take off points! And all because of me.
I refused to cry. I held my head up high and continued on with the show, moving my flag as if nothing happened. I would not cry, that would only spoil my performance. Hold your head up high, for this is guard, and I must be one with the rest.
Then our show ended. I grabbed what flags I could and ran in the line after the guard members. I held my head up as I ran after them, but as soon as we got into our group after the performance I started to cry. I messed up for the entire guard and I knew it. I held my head down so they wouldn't see me, only vaguely listening to Nick's after-performance speech. Finally, after he signaled for the band to leave, Squeak and Julia saw me.
"Christine? Are you okay?" Exclaimed Julia. "Yeah, why're you crying?" Asked Squeak.
"I fell!" I sobbed, now thoroughly ashamed of my mess-up. "And now the judges are going to take points off our guard!"
"It's okay, don't worry. . ." Julia and Squeak both did their best to comfort me, and I stayed with them. Iris came over too, and the three of them tried to convince me that it was all okay, and we'd be fine, our score was good, ect. It was okay, because my friends were being all nice and stuff. But that all ended when Jeff came over.
"Christine, why are you crying?" Jeff asked, looking at me with too- interested eyes.
"None of your business." Julia said, standing between me and Jeff and ushering me away. "Come on, Chris, we have to put the flags away." She shot him a glare before his interest could escalate anymore. By the time we had gotten to the flagbags and put everything away, I had stopped crying and only my eyes remained red. Diana gave us a short speech, not very reassuring, about how we really could have done better. Cara was crying too, evidently she had a mishap. "Cara, stop crying." Diana ordered.
"What did you do?" Asked Kat.
She sniffed. "I dropped my toss," She said. "And I was up front, too."
"That's okay. I fell on my butt during the third song," I told Cara, hoping to reassure her. Diana glared at me. "Don't you start crying either, Christine. That's the last thing I need. Now, come and let's load the trucks."
Sighing, I helped carry the flagbag up to the trucks, loaded it, and then walked down with the guard. The ones up front were trying to console Cara (evidently it took seniors longer to get over their mistakes than me over mine) and the ones I was walking with were just talking about how we think we did in general. We continued walking until we got down by the snackstand to get a hot dog or something, you know, as a guard.
Jeff was waiting.
Yep, sure as Javert's cool hat, Jeff was waiting with his hands in his pockets, looking around. "Hide me," I hissed to Julia, but it was too late.
Jeff looked at me, an enlightened look crossing his face, and ran over. "Hi Christine! Feeling better? You look better. You look nice. How'd you think we did? I think we did good. You did good. Very good. You wanna get a hot dog with me or something? Then let's go up to the stands with the rest of the band. Okay? Let's."
"Jeff, calm down." I managed to say when he let me get a word in edgewise. "I ate already, I'm fine."
Jeff grinned. "You've got a roast beef sandwich in your bag, don't you?"
"No."
"Yes you do." Jeff snatched the bag off my shoulders and began rummaging through it.
"Jeff, stop that!" I exclaimed, yanking my bag away from him and zipping it shut. "Seriously, stop going through my stuff!"
"Aww, you don't mind, do you." He said, ignoring my words in order to drape his arms around me. He was about four or five inches taller than me, so he kind of had to stoop down to do this, and looked like a clinger vine dropped from a height on top of me.
"I'm going to get a soda, then." I said, stepping out of Jeff's arms and heading toward the stands. He trotted behind me quite closely, like an obedient dog at a master's heels. I bet, at this point, that if I threw a stick and told him to fetch, he would. I went into the snack line and got my soda. By then, the entire guard and Julia had been finished with their ordering and now I was alone with Jeff, and some other random band members.
"So, Christy. . . your hair looks nice like that." He said, then yawned. "I'm tired." He proclaimed, and took that time to put an elbow on my shoulder and rest his head on. . . well, my shoulder.
This was getting a bit much. "Then go take a nap." I said, stepping away and causing him to stumble. He looked confused a minute, and then got even closer to me. A band member with a camera walked by. "HERE!" Jeff called to the band member, one of our clarinets. "Take a picture of me and Christine!" He yanked me close to him and took my hand. The camera clicked. . . and my hand went shooting away. "Jeff, I have to go to the bathroom." I said. ~Or I'm going to be sick.~ I held my hand out in front of me and ran to the bathroom.
With Jeff behind me. I stepped into the bathroom quickly, figuring that that would discourage Jeff. Or so I thought. "Christy, this is. . ." He looked around the bathroom, having followed me into it.
"Jeff, this is a ~girl's bathroom!~" I exclaimed. He looked around, surprised, and then ran out.
I sighed, leaning against the wall. "If I had a barricade, I'd push him off of it." I said to no one in particular.
"Stalker?" Said the voice of a bandie beside me, washing her hands. She was from another band, I didn't know which. "He sure looks like one."
"He followed me into the girls' bathroom, and hasn't left my heels since we got off the field." I told the bandie with a sigh.
"Slap him?" She suggested. "He looks like the kind of guy who needs a good slap." She raised an eyebrow at the feet that could be seen through the slits in the bottom of the door. "And he's waiting for you outside."
I groaned. "I know. I got in here to escape him." ~I can't escape from him, I never will. . .~ Came a lyric from Phantom of the Opera, my other favorite play. "But I can't wait in here forever." I sighed, waited a few more minutes, and then decided I did have to leave.
"Good luck!" The bandie called after me. ~Thanks,~ I thought.
Jeff, sure enough, was waiting for me outside. "So, how was that?"
??????
"It was the bathroom, Jeff, how do you think it was?"
"Why'd you take so long?"
"I was talking to a bandie I met in there." He snorted, then grabbed my hand. "Let's get back the the band, now!" He said.
I wrenched my hand away, stuffing it into my pocket, then started heading at a steady trot to the band. I did have to get back to them, so I could talk to Julia and Squeak and Iris at least. But the only problem was that I had this over-obedient dog at my heels.
He followed me all the way to the stands, talking amiably, with the occasional compliment on how lovely I was and how good I looked in my uniform. Finally, I got up in the stands and sat down next to Iris, who had saved me a seat. Squeak was behind me, and Julia was lucky enough to have gone off with the guard higher up. I was kept behind with the person who would soon be known as "my stalker". Only half-listening to Jeff (who was STILL talking), I took out a book and began reading it. He kept talking for about five minutes more before he realized I was reading, and then grabbed my book and tried to tug it out of my hands. "Christy, stop reading!" He exclaimed.
"Release the book now," I said coldly. "Or face the consequences." I loved reading, and no one touched my books without my consent. Iris, who loved books as well, nodded her approval. Iris also wasn't much on boys. She hadn't had a crush in her life, and she didn't exactly approve of crushes, either. When I first told her about Jeff's love notes, she rolled her eyes at me. Iris didn't really like romance unless it was in books.
Jeff blinked, surprised, muttered, "Sorry," and then resorted to just draping his arm around me again. I ignored it and went on reading, thankful that I could read through anything. He yawned, and rested his head on my shoulder. I ignored it, and kept reading. It wasn't until his head began getting a bit too close to mine that I said in annoyance, "Jeff, I'm reading, go away." He shrugged, and took out a notebook of his. ~Lovely, the notebook.~ I thought dryly. The same notebook that he wrote the love poems out of. ~If he writes another one, I'm going to sit over by the OTHER band.~ I thought viciously, buring my head further into the book. Jeff took out a pen and began writing.
"Hey Chris, come up a moment." It was Squeak, behind me. She motioned for me to lean in closer to her. "Chris, what's Jeff doing?" She whispered.
"He's been following me since we got back from the truck. He's been all over me, too."
"So I see." Squeak whispered back. "Did you talk to him?"
"How can I, with all these people around? Plus, we were really good friends before. . . the note."
"Yeah, true. But you--"
"Hey guys, whatcha talking about?" Jeff's inquiring head popped up between mine and Squeak's. I sighed, getting seriously tired of this. Jeff grabbed my hand and yanked me back down. "Lookit what I wrote!" Jeff was big on writing these dialogues between his fictional characters. He tapped a line with his pen.
"Frank comes over and kisses Christine," It read. "That's what I'd like to do." He thought.
I buried my head back in my book fast as to not be sick. ~My God, does he never give up?~ I wondered. Now I was becoming frustrated and confused. I hated this. Sure, I wanted a boyfriend, but. . . "the world I have known/is lost in shadows. . ." (Javert again). . . this was too much. I didn't want a boy getting touchy-feely with me. . .only three days after he told me he liked me. This was too much, too fast, and I felt I'd do something drastic if he kept it up.
The rest of the day continued along the same path. He'd keep trying to hold my hand, kept putting his arms around me, leaning his head on me, and writing more "romantic" things in that book of his. By the time awards were going to be called, I was going out of my mind.
Finally, I heard the judges' voice call, "We are going to be giving out the awards shortly." Our drum major and field captain had departed already, and Talie was now following after them. I allowed myself to relax slightly--if awards were soon, then it meant we'd get out of here soon.
Sure enough, about five minutes later they proclaimed that they were going to start with the awards. Now I could, for a bit, ignore Jeff and think of my marching band. I sat up straight, the thrill of waiting for our score filling me. Iris next to me looked at the field in anticipation. Finally,
"Second place goes to. . . Milna High School!"
Me and Iris looked at each other. There were only two marching bands competing in our group today-us and Milna. If Milna got second. . . nah. . .
"First place goes to. . . Ponra High School!"
IT DID! IT DID!!!!!
Almost immediately, the marching band high rushed through me and sent me into exhiliration. Me and Iris screamed and jumped up and down, cheering our high school on wildly. Squeak behind me literally had her eyes squeezed shut, she was cheering so hard. Me and Iris hugged each other in enthusiasm, exclaiming in turn, "We won!! We beat them!!"
"What, I don't get a hug?" Interrupted Jeff, cutting into my high. I turned, fixing him with the briefest sharp glare, before turning my attention back to the field for further awards.
"Special awards, now. Best marching goes to...Ponra High School!"
More screaming and wild cheering. I was surprised that Iris got this far into it. She was normally a shy, reserved person. . . but then again, marching band brings out the wildest in you.
For our efforts that day, we left the field with first place, best marching, best music, best percussion, and best overall effect. With each of those brought us applauding, screaming, cheering, and just about everything else you could think of. I, and the rest of the guard, too, was very indignant about one thing--we didn't win best guard. Now, I thought compared to the *other* high school's guard, we were pretty good. Our show was more sequenced and such. . . but it could be because our show wasn't finished yet. Nearly, but no. I saw Kat's eyes flashing at the judge when he gave the best guard award to the other high school.
But even though Kat (and most likely Talie) was mad at that, it made me laugh. . . the other high school only got ~two~ trophies. We got ~five~.
The drum major, field captain, and Talie all came to the fence to salute the band, and indicated for us to run down. We all scrambled off the bleachers in excitement to meet them. Sure enough, it seemed what I had predicted. The field captain Tony was holding the trophy over his head and all but running around with it, and Talie was looking serious. She had a slight smile, like she was glad we won, but you could tell that not getting best guard got to her. Diana, I couldn't tell. But I knew that even if she ~wasn't~ disappointed in us (fat chance), that she'd make us practice our butts off until the next competition.
"We did good!" Jeff exclaimed next to me (he had followed me down while I was talking to Iris). He grabbed for my hand again, and took it. I yanked my hand out of his, turning away. ~Don't ruin this,~ I thought. ~Not now.~ I loved marching band highs, as Julia can well tell you.
"What's wrong? Jeff asked. "Are you okay? What's wrong? Tell me!"
I continued to look away, talking to Iris instead. We were talking about names, for some reason. "I like my name as it is," I told her when she asked me how I felt about it. "I just wish that people wouldn't call me Chrissy or Christy. Makes me sound like a cheerleader."
Iris snickered. "My name's okay," She replied. "Just short. I wish it were longer." Jeff didn't hear Iris's response, only mine.
"I love your name," he said to me. "You have such a lovely name, what's wrong with it?"
"Nothing," I said, turning my head away from his stare and congratulating the people on the field.
"I think you have a great name." He took my chin in his hands and forced it to look at him. "What's wrong?"
I couldn't stand it anymore. Something inside of me was near to snapping altogether, with his hands hard on my chin forcing my face to look at his, my eyes to meet his over inquiring ones, and his own eyes straying over my body. We were freshman, and ~I didn't want this!~
I yanked my head away as hard as I could. Julia had come up near Iris, and she could see me. She said later that the look on my face was "of, I dunno, confusion, anger, like you were trapped, scared, and all of that." Thankfully, Julia pointed and said, "Come on. We should rejoin the guard, they'll be wanting to talk to us, no doubt."
I smiled at her gratefully. I was extremely thankful for her at that moment. Jeff started to follow, but Julia said, "Are you in colorguard?"
"No," he replied.
"Then you can't come." And she dragged me way ahead of the crowd to where Kat, Jocelyn, and Carrie were walking. "Let Chris go in front, she has. . . a boy after her," Julia said.
"Jeff?" Inquired Jocelyn innocently.
"Has been following me around all day," I told her, letting Julia lead me to the front of the crowd. Jocelyn winced, evidently she knew what it was like to have an over-interested boy. We talked about the competition, our wins, and the fact that we didn't get best guard all the way to the bus. Thankfully once more, Jeff was on the other bus. I got in and collapsed in a seat near Julia.
"I saw it all day," She confessed. "The way he was touching you, trying to get you to kiss him, looking at you, following you. . . but I had to save you back there, when we were by the fence. The look on your face when he took your chin. . . I never saw that on you before." She said. "I had to do something."
"This has gone too far," I said. "All over a stupid note. All because of a dance last year." I had figured that Jeff's crush on me started when my friend Adi made us dance at the eighth grade semi formal. If I hadn't danced there, I realized, none of this might have happened. If I had lost the note, perhaps I could have at least delayed it.
Until when? Could I imagine in those months until championships being followed around by an adoring boy? No, I couldn't. Today was bad enough. It was so bad it. . . ruined the marching band high. And that's something you just don't do.
"I'm going to talk to him." I told Julia, my resolve firmed. "I have to tell him this. It can't go on forever."
Julia nodded at me. "Good." She said. "Make sure you tell me first what you say, before you tell Squeak. You know how fast it'll spread if ~she~ finds out any more than she already knows." Julia rolled her eyes. I rolled mine in agreement.
The bus pulled away from the parkinglot, and it was another competition over. One that I knew I wouldn't soon forget. . . with Jeff's over- attentions (he later became known by my friends as "my stalker") and the wins we had, the triumphant wins, dulled by a boy. A stupid boy.
But hey, this was marching band after all, and nothing could be expected to stay the same for long.