That Saturday in October, when we had a contest at Appalachian State, was one of the best days of my life. The whole band was nervous and excited to be going to such an important contest. We'd never been there, but we were sure to have fun.
We arrived and warmed up, and then walked to the field. It was cold in the mountains, and that could mess up our tuning, so we had to keep our instruments warm. It was really windy, and as we walked onto the field, a huge gust of wind almost blew us over. We got to our fist set and waited for the command. We were all thinking the same thing, "play it loud, play it proud". Then it came. "BAND TEN-HUT!" As one, we got to attention; ready to march our last show of the season, at our last competition. Before we got on the field, we all had our doubts and fears, but we pushed them aside for the ten minutes we were on the field.
There went the cue. We started. The first note came out great. The second even better. Everything was going the best it ever had, and you could see the pride in our movement as we played. Every set hit, every note played out, and the few quiet mess ups that happened couldn't be heard.
And then it was over. We were finished. Panting from the excitement of performing our show in front of a large crowd, we marched off the field as they cheered in amazement of our work.
Later that night, after everything was put away, huddled in groups sharing blankets, hand warmers and hot cocoa, we waited for awards. They started. Our class was called. We stood up. We listened to all the awards. We didn't get any. Still trying to be proud of ourselves, we were quiet. Then came the placement awards. We heard our name. We screamed. We had gotten 3rd out of 7 awesome bands. We were so proud of ourselves.
Soon after, we drove home. Our director, Mr. Reynolds, had nothing but good words. We found out that our score was a 79.7, 2 tenths of a point higher than our last contest, and 3 tenths below a superior, the best you can get. We were happy. It was our best show. The seniors even said that it was one of the best they'd seen in their history in band. We had to give them a perfect end to the season, and it was.