It all began with a flute player, really. That would be me. I've played the flute for several years now...since I was 9, actually. I'm 15 now, and a sophomore in high school. That's really where it all began- high school. You see, I joined the band and became good friends with the other flute players, two of who were in marching band. Well, let's just say that from that point on, the torture was endless. Okay, so maybe it wasn't actually "torture", per say, but they sure did bug me about it a lot. They were juniors; I was a freshman. I don't know, maybe to them that meant power. They always tried to get me to join marching band, and I never did. I had tried marching band in 8th grade, but it was hard, being in a different school, and all. Plus, I just wasn't enjoying myself so much. From that point on, I was kind of turned off from the whole marching band scene. Not to mention that I had so much other stuff to do, anyway. Anyway, they dropped it all after the season was over, but as the year drew to a close, and the marching band season was rolling in, the questioning, or should I say, persuading, started again. Well, obviously, over the course of the year, I had plenty of time to contemplate the situation. My decision was made. It wasn't final, but I figured it was worth a shot- I was going to join the color guard. I had already danced for years, much longer than I had played the flute. But anyway, back to the story. May rolls around, and practices begin. Yup, May...we start practicing in May for the next season. Well, recruiting, really. We put together our elite team and decide on our captains, section leaders, and drum majors. Anyway, to understand the full extent of this story, you must understand that our color guard is made up of some pretty unusual characters. For one, there's me- I'm just a tad on the quirky side and also the only sophomore on the color guard. There's Kristen, our captain- I love her, she's so sweet; but she can take charge. Then there's Nichole, our co- captain- she's a junior, and she has so many sides. Like Kristen, she's really nice till you piss her off. She's definitely got a tough streak in her- not necessarily a bad thing to have, especially with our marching band! She's funny, and together with Vicki (I'll get to her later), they can seriously wreak havoc on people, especially guys ;-). Next, there's Cassandra- she was supposed to be our captain and one of our drum majors until she unexpectedly dropped out of color guard last year. She returned after one of the new freshman girls left, leaving our sets with an empty spot. I knew her the least of all the color guard; we weren't as close, so that's really all I can say about her. There's also Danielle- again, a total sweetheart, but totally quirky. I don't really know how to describe her, but she's awesome. The one thing that can set her apart is her honesty. She's, how do I say this...brutally honest. That works. Like me, this was her first year, although she was a junior. Now Vicki, the one I mentioned before- I love this girl. She is the weirdest, wackiest person you will ever meet, but she is still so nice. She can literally just take on any form- she can turn herself into the strangest characters. She definitely kept us all amused on the field. And she still has her off days, too. I miss her though; she goes to another school and I hardly ever see her anymore. Plus, she's a senior, so she'll be graduating this year. :'-(. Now for the freshman. Yup, I save them for last. First there's Morgan- she's really nice, and probably the sanest person in the whole marching band. Okay, maybe not the WHOLE band, but at least the color guard. Believe me, this girl has her quirks, but compared to the rest of us, she's downright normal. And of course, last, but not least, there's Kelly. I love everything about Kelly- she's so funny, and really nice, and of course wacky (who isn't?). She's so blonde sometimes, but its funny. She knows it, and freely admits it. And she's easy to make fun of; you know, she's gullible. But of course, we'd never make fun of her mean- spiritedly. We all made fun of each other all the time, but it was always good-natured. Now that you know the color guard, I can really get into this story. I'm going to jump ahead a little- the months of June, July, and most of August were pretty, if not completely, uneventful in the way of the marching band. Then came the last week in August. The ever-popular, always-loved (drum roll please)....BAND CAMP!!! Now our "band camp" isn't anything like those portrayed in movies. *coughcoughAmericanPiecoughcough* It takes place mostly on our high school's football field, where we learn our routines, arrange our sets, and the band learns their music while we learn to twirl our flags. Our band director and color guard choreographer head the camp, which isn't a "camp" like you would think of. It's more like day-long practices. Either way, it gets everyone acquainted, and we learn our stuff. That way, come September, the official start of our season, everybody knows each other and we have a show to perform. Now, I think I'll speed this up a little- I'm sure no one wants to sit and read a light-year long story about the perils of band camp. (Well, maybe you do, but I don't want to write it!) Anyway, I'm going to leave off here for now- a little introduction to life as a musical color guard. I'll keep you posted with more chapters, which I promise will be more interesting-dialogue and everything! I'm sorry if this first installment bored you, but I had to create a starting point for the story. From here on out, I'll attempt more involved chapters, but it may take a little while. Thanks for reading my first chapter! Please post your reviews, and I'll see you again with chapter 2!