I went to the band room just like every other morning to put my instrument in my locker. As I turned the lock to open it, someone came up behind me.

"No one comes to the band room anymore," Scarlet's voice said dryly. I put my clarinet in my locker and slowly turned toward her. Jenny and Lola were there too. I couldn't bring myself to look them in the eye.

"It's been like this all week. Today is now Thursday. Practices are dead. Mornings are empty. No one even hangs around after class anymore," Lola added just as dryly as Scarlet.

"Are you blaming me?" I asked them, still not looking them in the eye.

"Not really," Lola started.

"We just want you to make a decision," Scarlet finished.

I slowly lifted my gaze. It was time to tell them what I had been thinking long and hard about since the competition. "I love to cheer. I love to march. I have great friends in both activities and I could succeed at both."

"That's not helping," Lola interrupted.

"But," I continued, "I can live with out cheerleading. I could never, ever, ever, live without marching band or playing my clarinet. I don't even what to imagine life without you guys or the feeling I get every single time I put that clarinet in my mouth. We're more than a marching band, we're a family. And families stick together when it seems that all hope is lost. This means the world to me. You guys mean the world to me. Besides, I can't let you guys go to Bands of America in your current condition." I finish with a smile.

"That's my girl!" Jenny said, "I knew you would make the right decision.

"Oh Lily, don't cry!" Scarlet said looking over at Lily who was leaning against the locker room door with her hand over her mouth and tears streaming down her face. She had obviously been there the whole time.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed pulling me into a hug, "that was just so beautiful!"

"Typical section leader," Lola said rolling her eyes, "but what about the squad?"

"I haven't really decided how I'm going to tell me them," I admitted still in Lily's arms.

"Well if they come after you, we got your back McAlister!" Lily said finally releasing me.

It would be assumed that word would spread slowly in a school of 3,000 students but when 10% of the school is made of band kids it was only expected that everyone would hear about my decision by the end of first period. With the Bands of America festival a week away, the spirit explosion among the band kids could not have been more appropriate. They were giving high fives in the hallway and yelling 'see you at practice!' across locker bays. I even heard during one of the lunches the trumpet section leader stood on the table and announced to everyone that he was marching in the Bands of America festival and we were going to kick some tail. By the end of the day it seemed that we were the marching band we used to be. Of course, the perfect moment could not have lasted forever. I stood in the band room that afternoon stretching for my first practice as a 100% band geek. It was then that Leah and her cheerleading friends walked right into the band room. The weird part was no one tired to stop them.

"Word on the street says you're going to quit cheerleading," Leah said coldly.

"I'm sorry you must have heard wrong. I'm not going to quit. I already have," I said trying to keep a straight face. The Band Room was stone silence as everyone watched this information soak into Leah.

"You can't quit. We have NCS in one week. You made a commitment," she said.

"Well I have BOA in a week. And I made a commitment to basketball cheerleading. You pulled me into this NCS thing."

"Don't you dare blame this on me, McAlister!" she said drilling her eyes into me. "Jake was right! You're just a – a...."

"A what?" I asked her standing up. "Say it. I'm just a prude band geek! Is that what you were going to say? I'm just some stupid clarinet player in the marching band? Yah, well, maybe I like it that way."

Many of the band members cheered for this response but Leah's follow up remark quickly hushed them.

"You want to be some unpopular dunce? You want to live in this stuffy room where no one notices you? Reality check babe: No one cares about the marching band!"

The band was silent feeling defeated. I looked around at them slowly, knowing my comeback. I then turned back to Leah.

"Psh! Reality! Reality is for people who can't cope with marching band," I said coolly.

"Oooooh" went the marching band.

"Whatever. Just don't come crawling to me when you realize where you would have been better off," she snarled back and left with the other cheerleaders without another word.

"I already realized where I'm better off," I told the marching band. "Thanks for taking me back guys. I'm really sorry it took me so long to realize that I belong here. But why didn't you stop them when they came in. It's hell trying to get in here if you're not in band."

The band looked at Scarlet and Sean.

"We, um, kinda made sure they knew you had made up your mind," Sean began.

"And that they knew you would be here after school. We wanted you to be able to humiliate them in front of the whole band," Scarlet finished for him.

"You know we can't miss something like that!" Sean said with a smile.

I smiled at them and then rushed over to hug them both. "Alright! As amazing as that was we really have to get down to the field. We have a limited number of practices before BOA and we need all the practice we can get!" Andrew said loudly, herding everyone outside. "It should be a good practice since we have our spirit back!" he then said so only I could hear him.

It was a fantastic practice. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. After seven years of trying to be a popular, preppy cheerleader, I realized that the place where I could find true happiness was right in front of me the whole time.