Chapter 3
"Wake up, sleepy head," a voice yelled from above. "It's time to march. You missed breakfast."
I rolled over onto my stomach and put the pillow over my head. Everything was coming back to me now. I was at band camp and had a weird dynamic going on with Will, Scott, and even Trista. I groaned. All I wanted to do was to stay in my nice comfortable bed and sleep the day away. I wasn't up for confrontation. Suddenly, I felt the covers being dragged off of my body and felt chilled.
"If this is what it takes to get you up, then so be it," Jen said. "I never took you for a deep sleeper but apparently I was wrong. You slept through breakfast. You can't sleep through morning warm-ups too. And besides, Scott was asking about you this morning."
I groaned even louder and might have tossed in the occasional grunt. The day was already starting out too complicated and could only get progressively worse. "You, go on without me, Jen," I mumbled half- heartedly, scrunching up to get warm.
Jen responded to my flippant attitude by blasting her trumpet right into my ear. "All right, all right. I'm up!" I said as I jumped out of the bed- anything to get away from Jen's blasted trumpet. "How annoying," I muttered as I turned to look in the mirror. The sight that faced me then was a sight so horrendous that someone might have mistaken me for a circus freak. I had mascara and eyeliner streaks running all down my cheeks. My lips were puffy and the area around them was stained a blurry red. Needless to say, I looked about as pretty as the Bride of Frankenstein. Quickly, I ran to the bathroom and washed my face. After changing and redoing my makeup. I made my way to the outside of the building where Kayla, Jen, and Trista were waiting for me. I saw their cases and was reminded that, obviously, I needed my piccolo. I started to head back for the dorm.
"Hey, Katie! Don't worry. I have your picc right here with mine! I grabbed it because I knew you were running late and thought that you'd forget it," Kayla said.
"You're a lifesaver. Thanks," I said as I grabbed my instrument from her hand. We all headed over to the stadium where we would be practicing our field show. When we got there, Johnny, Adam, and Emily were handing out drill charts to section and squad leaders. Kayla got a chart and to my surprise, so did I. I looked at my chart, found my number on the field, and saw that I was on the other end of the piccolo line from Kayla.
"You're a squad leader, Katie. Since we have twenty piccs, I'll get ten and you can watch over the ten on your side. Also, every other person is a freshman. You do know how to read a drill chart right?" Kayla asked.
"Yeah, we used them in Great Falls. I'm good."
"Great. Just head out to your spot and round up your people and place them, okay?"
"No problem, boss," I said with a fake salute. Let's see. The flutes stay by the section with a "P" for most of the show, I thought, looking over my drill book. The "P's" must stand for percussion. Oh no, who's going to stand next to me since I'm on the end? I hope I get along with them since I'm beside them for the whole season. I went off to mark my spot on the 35 yard line, four steps behind the front hash mark. When I had marked all my people off, I went back to my spot. I looked to my left and saw none other than Will himself with a large snare harnessed to his muscular frame. He was wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses so I couldn't see his eyes.
"Hey, Will. I guess we're marching next to each other," I said in the biggest understatement of the year.
"Yeah. This is going to be a fun season. Just make sure your piccolo buddies don't run over my guys," he said jokingly. "They don't need any more distractions than there already are by the piccolo section being charted next to them." I looked over and saw our two sections already intermingling, talking and flirting with each other. Even our token guy piccolo was flirting with one of the female cymbal players. I couldn't help but glance at Scott. He was having a nice friendly chat with Kayla. Will caught my gaze and scowled.
"I'll be straightforward because that's the kind of guy I am. Is Scott one of the 'reasons' that you can't go out with me? He's one of my good friends but if you all ever went out, I'd kill him."
I squirmed uncomfortably. Will was extremely perceptive but he was wrong if he thought that Scott was the reason that I couldn't start anything with him. "Will, I already told you that Scott has nothing to do with why I can't date you. Look, I really can't tell you why because it would just cause a lot of hurt and embarrassment. Besides, you can't like me that much. We barely know each other. I mean," I said when he started to interrupt, "I don't know what your favorite ice cream or color is. I don't know when your birthday is or how many siblings you have. Do you get along with your parents? Do you even live with your parents? And how many smiles do you have? There are all these details that I don't know about you and you don't know about me."
"How many smiles I have? I wasn't aware that people could have more than one smile," Will said with a smirk.
"Well, you just showed me one. You smirk when you're amused."
Will looked sheepish. "Yeah, well, my favorite color is red. I love Rocky Road ice cream. My birthday is in a month, when I will turn eighteen. I live with both my real parents and have two older brothers, both of which are currently enrolled in the best college in America, Penn State. What about you, Miss Thompson?"
"You actually want to know all that about me?"
"Well, it's only fair since, now, you know more about me than I do you."
"Okay then. I love mint chocolate chip ice cream and my favorite color is blue. I live with my real mom and my step dad whom I've known since I was four. And I'm an only child."
"Nice. Where's your real dad?"
"He lives across the country with my step mom. I get to see him every summer, usually."
"Oh that would suck. I can't imagine not being able to see my dad whenever I wanted. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault so don't feel sorry. I mean I can't really remember it any other way, anyway..." I trailed off as I saw Trista saunter over to us with a confident air. She came up behind Will and hugged his waist.
"Guess who, Will," she whispered in his ear.
"I have no clue," he said as he unclasped her hands and turned to face her. "Oh, hey, Trista. What's going on?" he said, politely.
"Nothing really. We're not doing anything and my section's good enough that I can leave them by themselves for a little while. So how's everything going? I hope I wasn't interrupting anything," she said innocently.
"Not really," I began just as Will simultaneously said, "Actually-".
"Katie, I think Scott wants you to talk to him," Trista said with a hidden agenda. I looked over at Scott who seemed perfectly content with practicing his bass drum.
"I'm pretty sure he's doing okay right now, without me," I said. I saw Will start to reach for my hand, I guess to show Trista that he wasn't interested. I took a step back. "On the other hand, Scott does look kind of lonely. I think I'll go keep him company." I half-ran, half-skipped over to Scott and his bass drum.
"You know what I like about band?" Scott said as he saw me meander over to him, out of the corner of his eye.
"What? Drumline?"
"Among other things but what I was going to say was the hot girls," he looked up from his bass drum at me, "especially hot girls named Katie." I felt the color rise in my cheeks. I looked over to Will and Trista. He looked annoyed with Trista. I couldn't see how she could be so dense as to not see how he was irritated every time she came up to him. Will looked at me and winked. He said something to Trista then came over to Scott and me, leaving Trista standing alone. She looked mad.
"Hey guys," Will said. I saw Scott tense up out of the corner of my eye. I figured there was no way to prepare myself for these awkward situations that would inevitably arise. "Hey, man, why don't you help Spencer master his rhythms while we have down time," Will said in a way that wasn't really as much of a question as it was a command.
"I don't think so. He's pretty much got them down. Spence will be fine," Scott said as he started clenching his fists by his side.
"Naw man, I really think you should go help him."
"And I said he doesn't need help, man."
"Look guys-"I began and then broke off, not really knowing what to say. Their behavior reminded me of the Discovery Channel when the two alpha males are vying for one female's attention.
"We have to be the best drumline this year and I'm Drum Captain so go help Spence."
"If you're so concerned about Spence, why don't you go help him out? You obviously know the rhythms better than I do."
"You've always been better at the bass drum so just go bloody help him, Scott!" Will yelled with fury.
Scott pushed him so he had to take a step back. "Look, man, I know that you like Katie too but it's pretty lame that you have to abuse your position just to get her alone. And I don't appreciate it very much. You're supposed to be my friend."
Will pushed Scott back. "No, what's lame is you trying to horn in on my girl who I met first anyway."
A crowd started to gather around the two guys. I saw Trista heading over and groaned. A bad situation was about to become worse.
"Yeah, well, who did she go with to the bonfire? Who does she keep talking to and who does she keep trying to avoid?" Scott asked. Will's whole body started trembling with rage.
"Scott, I'm warning you. If you don't leave right now, I'm going to punch the crap out of you," Will said in a strained voice.
"Bring it on, captain."
"You guys quit it!" I said as I tried to get between them. Two drummers grabbed my arms and held me back.
"You can't stop them now," one of the drummers said.
Will charged at Scott but Scott was ready for him and punched him squarely in the eye. Will started bleeding but that didn't stop him from getting a prime hit right in Scott's jaw and another in his stomach. The crowd was screaming and rooting for one guy or the other. They were just contributing to each guy's anger and fueling the fire. I saw Trista look longingly at Will and then shoot me the most scathing look I'd ever had directed at myself.
Then, Johnny and Adam came into the midst of the circle with Mr. Berns. He blew a loud whistle and both Scott and Will stopped in mid punch. "You boys need to stop this ridiculousness. I expected more from the both of you, especially you Will, being on the leadership team." Mr. Berns then spoke to everyone else. "All of you go back to your sections. Johnny and Emily will begin rehearsal now while I deal with these two rogues." He turned back to Will and Scott. "You boys, follow me to my temp. office."
Will and Scott, both bleeding and bruised, started to follow Mr. Berns. Then, they both looked back at me at the same time. I turned my head. Grudgingly, they left. I searched for Kayla and found her with the piccolos.
"Hey, Kayla, can I please miss this rehearsal? I need to talk to the guys."
She paused and hesitated. "Look, Katie, a lot of people have already been hurt- Will, Scott, and Trista. Just don't make things worse than they already are."
I was shocked. What kind of person did she take me for? I don't normally go around hurting people. I didn't have time to explain, though. I thanked Kayla and ran after the guys.
Mr. Berns' temporary office was a little building just off the field. I waited outside the door and could hear plenty of angry male shouting, although I couldn't make out what was being said. After what seemed like an eternity, the guys came out. They looked so wretched and dismal with their long and bruised faces. I resisted the urge to hug them and offer to clean up their sores and open wounds.
"So, um, what did he say?" I asked timidly.
"We have to do suicides until we fall over and-"Will began.
"—we have to polish all the drums until we can see our 'shining faces' on all the sides," Scott finished. "We also have to write a joint report on the disadvantages to fighting."
"That sucks but at least you guys don't have to write the report on your own."
"That would be better," Will mumbled.
"Hey man. Don't start anything else. I'm already in enough trouble."
"So what are suicides, exactly? We never had those at my old school," I said.
"Suicides are the sadistic punishment that band directors made up to make band camp a living hell," Scott said.
"You have to march at an extremely fast tempo from one yard line to the next, then, march backwards. Then, march two yard lines over and two yard lines back until you've made it across the field or until your legs fall off- whichever happens first," Will said.
I felt extremely bad for the guys. "I wish there was something I could do," I said lamely.
"Look, we did this to ourselves," Scott said, "so we can take the punishment. At least I can."
"I thought we weren't going to start anything, dude," Will said.
"Yeah sorry. How are we ever going to write a paper together?" Scott said.
"Well I can think everything up since I have brains and you can type it up since you have...fingers," Will said.
"This coming from the guy who had to retake Algebra I. Riiight...I don't think so," Scott retorted.
"You guys are so retarded. Can't you all just grow up for two seconds?" I turned and left in disgust. I could only imagine what the guys were thinking as I walked away.
"Wake up, sleepy head," a voice yelled from above. "It's time to march. You missed breakfast."
I rolled over onto my stomach and put the pillow over my head. Everything was coming back to me now. I was at band camp and had a weird dynamic going on with Will, Scott, and even Trista. I groaned. All I wanted to do was to stay in my nice comfortable bed and sleep the day away. I wasn't up for confrontation. Suddenly, I felt the covers being dragged off of my body and felt chilled.
"If this is what it takes to get you up, then so be it," Jen said. "I never took you for a deep sleeper but apparently I was wrong. You slept through breakfast. You can't sleep through morning warm-ups too. And besides, Scott was asking about you this morning."
I groaned even louder and might have tossed in the occasional grunt. The day was already starting out too complicated and could only get progressively worse. "You, go on without me, Jen," I mumbled half- heartedly, scrunching up to get warm.
Jen responded to my flippant attitude by blasting her trumpet right into my ear. "All right, all right. I'm up!" I said as I jumped out of the bed- anything to get away from Jen's blasted trumpet. "How annoying," I muttered as I turned to look in the mirror. The sight that faced me then was a sight so horrendous that someone might have mistaken me for a circus freak. I had mascara and eyeliner streaks running all down my cheeks. My lips were puffy and the area around them was stained a blurry red. Needless to say, I looked about as pretty as the Bride of Frankenstein. Quickly, I ran to the bathroom and washed my face. After changing and redoing my makeup. I made my way to the outside of the building where Kayla, Jen, and Trista were waiting for me. I saw their cases and was reminded that, obviously, I needed my piccolo. I started to head back for the dorm.
"Hey, Katie! Don't worry. I have your picc right here with mine! I grabbed it because I knew you were running late and thought that you'd forget it," Kayla said.
"You're a lifesaver. Thanks," I said as I grabbed my instrument from her hand. We all headed over to the stadium where we would be practicing our field show. When we got there, Johnny, Adam, and Emily were handing out drill charts to section and squad leaders. Kayla got a chart and to my surprise, so did I. I looked at my chart, found my number on the field, and saw that I was on the other end of the piccolo line from Kayla.
"You're a squad leader, Katie. Since we have twenty piccs, I'll get ten and you can watch over the ten on your side. Also, every other person is a freshman. You do know how to read a drill chart right?" Kayla asked.
"Yeah, we used them in Great Falls. I'm good."
"Great. Just head out to your spot and round up your people and place them, okay?"
"No problem, boss," I said with a fake salute. Let's see. The flutes stay by the section with a "P" for most of the show, I thought, looking over my drill book. The "P's" must stand for percussion. Oh no, who's going to stand next to me since I'm on the end? I hope I get along with them since I'm beside them for the whole season. I went off to mark my spot on the 35 yard line, four steps behind the front hash mark. When I had marked all my people off, I went back to my spot. I looked to my left and saw none other than Will himself with a large snare harnessed to his muscular frame. He was wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses so I couldn't see his eyes.
"Hey, Will. I guess we're marching next to each other," I said in the biggest understatement of the year.
"Yeah. This is going to be a fun season. Just make sure your piccolo buddies don't run over my guys," he said jokingly. "They don't need any more distractions than there already are by the piccolo section being charted next to them." I looked over and saw our two sections already intermingling, talking and flirting with each other. Even our token guy piccolo was flirting with one of the female cymbal players. I couldn't help but glance at Scott. He was having a nice friendly chat with Kayla. Will caught my gaze and scowled.
"I'll be straightforward because that's the kind of guy I am. Is Scott one of the 'reasons' that you can't go out with me? He's one of my good friends but if you all ever went out, I'd kill him."
I squirmed uncomfortably. Will was extremely perceptive but he was wrong if he thought that Scott was the reason that I couldn't start anything with him. "Will, I already told you that Scott has nothing to do with why I can't date you. Look, I really can't tell you why because it would just cause a lot of hurt and embarrassment. Besides, you can't like me that much. We barely know each other. I mean," I said when he started to interrupt, "I don't know what your favorite ice cream or color is. I don't know when your birthday is or how many siblings you have. Do you get along with your parents? Do you even live with your parents? And how many smiles do you have? There are all these details that I don't know about you and you don't know about me."
"How many smiles I have? I wasn't aware that people could have more than one smile," Will said with a smirk.
"Well, you just showed me one. You smirk when you're amused."
Will looked sheepish. "Yeah, well, my favorite color is red. I love Rocky Road ice cream. My birthday is in a month, when I will turn eighteen. I live with both my real parents and have two older brothers, both of which are currently enrolled in the best college in America, Penn State. What about you, Miss Thompson?"
"You actually want to know all that about me?"
"Well, it's only fair since, now, you know more about me than I do you."
"Okay then. I love mint chocolate chip ice cream and my favorite color is blue. I live with my real mom and my step dad whom I've known since I was four. And I'm an only child."
"Nice. Where's your real dad?"
"He lives across the country with my step mom. I get to see him every summer, usually."
"Oh that would suck. I can't imagine not being able to see my dad whenever I wanted. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault so don't feel sorry. I mean I can't really remember it any other way, anyway..." I trailed off as I saw Trista saunter over to us with a confident air. She came up behind Will and hugged his waist.
"Guess who, Will," she whispered in his ear.
"I have no clue," he said as he unclasped her hands and turned to face her. "Oh, hey, Trista. What's going on?" he said, politely.
"Nothing really. We're not doing anything and my section's good enough that I can leave them by themselves for a little while. So how's everything going? I hope I wasn't interrupting anything," she said innocently.
"Not really," I began just as Will simultaneously said, "Actually-".
"Katie, I think Scott wants you to talk to him," Trista said with a hidden agenda. I looked over at Scott who seemed perfectly content with practicing his bass drum.
"I'm pretty sure he's doing okay right now, without me," I said. I saw Will start to reach for my hand, I guess to show Trista that he wasn't interested. I took a step back. "On the other hand, Scott does look kind of lonely. I think I'll go keep him company." I half-ran, half-skipped over to Scott and his bass drum.
"You know what I like about band?" Scott said as he saw me meander over to him, out of the corner of his eye.
"What? Drumline?"
"Among other things but what I was going to say was the hot girls," he looked up from his bass drum at me, "especially hot girls named Katie." I felt the color rise in my cheeks. I looked over to Will and Trista. He looked annoyed with Trista. I couldn't see how she could be so dense as to not see how he was irritated every time she came up to him. Will looked at me and winked. He said something to Trista then came over to Scott and me, leaving Trista standing alone. She looked mad.
"Hey guys," Will said. I saw Scott tense up out of the corner of my eye. I figured there was no way to prepare myself for these awkward situations that would inevitably arise. "Hey, man, why don't you help Spencer master his rhythms while we have down time," Will said in a way that wasn't really as much of a question as it was a command.
"I don't think so. He's pretty much got them down. Spence will be fine," Scott said as he started clenching his fists by his side.
"Naw man, I really think you should go help him."
"And I said he doesn't need help, man."
"Look guys-"I began and then broke off, not really knowing what to say. Their behavior reminded me of the Discovery Channel when the two alpha males are vying for one female's attention.
"We have to be the best drumline this year and I'm Drum Captain so go help Spence."
"If you're so concerned about Spence, why don't you go help him out? You obviously know the rhythms better than I do."
"You've always been better at the bass drum so just go bloody help him, Scott!" Will yelled with fury.
Scott pushed him so he had to take a step back. "Look, man, I know that you like Katie too but it's pretty lame that you have to abuse your position just to get her alone. And I don't appreciate it very much. You're supposed to be my friend."
Will pushed Scott back. "No, what's lame is you trying to horn in on my girl who I met first anyway."
A crowd started to gather around the two guys. I saw Trista heading over and groaned. A bad situation was about to become worse.
"Yeah, well, who did she go with to the bonfire? Who does she keep talking to and who does she keep trying to avoid?" Scott asked. Will's whole body started trembling with rage.
"Scott, I'm warning you. If you don't leave right now, I'm going to punch the crap out of you," Will said in a strained voice.
"Bring it on, captain."
"You guys quit it!" I said as I tried to get between them. Two drummers grabbed my arms and held me back.
"You can't stop them now," one of the drummers said.
Will charged at Scott but Scott was ready for him and punched him squarely in the eye. Will started bleeding but that didn't stop him from getting a prime hit right in Scott's jaw and another in his stomach. The crowd was screaming and rooting for one guy or the other. They were just contributing to each guy's anger and fueling the fire. I saw Trista look longingly at Will and then shoot me the most scathing look I'd ever had directed at myself.
Then, Johnny and Adam came into the midst of the circle with Mr. Berns. He blew a loud whistle and both Scott and Will stopped in mid punch. "You boys need to stop this ridiculousness. I expected more from the both of you, especially you Will, being on the leadership team." Mr. Berns then spoke to everyone else. "All of you go back to your sections. Johnny and Emily will begin rehearsal now while I deal with these two rogues." He turned back to Will and Scott. "You boys, follow me to my temp. office."
Will and Scott, both bleeding and bruised, started to follow Mr. Berns. Then, they both looked back at me at the same time. I turned my head. Grudgingly, they left. I searched for Kayla and found her with the piccolos.
"Hey, Kayla, can I please miss this rehearsal? I need to talk to the guys."
She paused and hesitated. "Look, Katie, a lot of people have already been hurt- Will, Scott, and Trista. Just don't make things worse than they already are."
I was shocked. What kind of person did she take me for? I don't normally go around hurting people. I didn't have time to explain, though. I thanked Kayla and ran after the guys.
Mr. Berns' temporary office was a little building just off the field. I waited outside the door and could hear plenty of angry male shouting, although I couldn't make out what was being said. After what seemed like an eternity, the guys came out. They looked so wretched and dismal with their long and bruised faces. I resisted the urge to hug them and offer to clean up their sores and open wounds.
"So, um, what did he say?" I asked timidly.
"We have to do suicides until we fall over and-"Will began.
"—we have to polish all the drums until we can see our 'shining faces' on all the sides," Scott finished. "We also have to write a joint report on the disadvantages to fighting."
"That sucks but at least you guys don't have to write the report on your own."
"That would be better," Will mumbled.
"Hey man. Don't start anything else. I'm already in enough trouble."
"So what are suicides, exactly? We never had those at my old school," I said.
"Suicides are the sadistic punishment that band directors made up to make band camp a living hell," Scott said.
"You have to march at an extremely fast tempo from one yard line to the next, then, march backwards. Then, march two yard lines over and two yard lines back until you've made it across the field or until your legs fall off- whichever happens first," Will said.
I felt extremely bad for the guys. "I wish there was something I could do," I said lamely.
"Look, we did this to ourselves," Scott said, "so we can take the punishment. At least I can."
"I thought we weren't going to start anything, dude," Will said.
"Yeah sorry. How are we ever going to write a paper together?" Scott said.
"Well I can think everything up since I have brains and you can type it up since you have...fingers," Will said.
"This coming from the guy who had to retake Algebra I. Riiight...I don't think so," Scott retorted.
"You guys are so retarded. Can't you all just grow up for two seconds?" I turned and left in disgust. I could only imagine what the guys were thinking as I walked away.