AN: As you may have noticed I'm beginning to wrap things up. I'm not sure if this story will end after the Bands of America competition. That will most likely be about 3 or 4 chapters so we've got a little ways to go. My next story is going to be romance. I think. I have a lot of ideas for it but no real storyline. For now, I'm just focusing on this story. Plus band camp starts this week! Well enjoy and R&R! xoxo

We had a band free weekend and Monday reunited us all in the band room where we discussed the fact that this week of practices were going to be really important if we were going to have a chance at BOA. We had a game on Friday which was going to be our last run through before the big day. Everyone was talking excitedly. It was good to be back to normal. Or as normal as marching band at Frost High School ever was.

That afternoon, I went to the band room to sort left over pep band music for McBride. The Band Room was empty because there was no marching band practice on Mondays. Since the rest of the week's practices ate into our homework time, marchers often rushed home on Mondays to do a week's worth of homework. I didn't have a whole lot because my mad homework rush day was usually Sunday. I enjoyed sorting music because it gave me a chance to think away from the rest of the world.

"Still here?" Lily asked me as she came into the library to give me a few extra copies of Louie Louie.

"Yah just sorting music," I told her. "What are you doing here?"

"Andrew's talking to McBride about the competition. Then we're going out for ice cream. We haven't really had a real date since camp started. You know, what you said to Leah on Thursday is all over the school. You're like famous!" she laughed. Just then, Ryan ran into the room looking really upset.

"You – You!" he yelled pointing at me. "Bands of America is in ONE week! ONE! What's it going to be? Cheerleading or Marching Band?"

"Oh right! He has a lesson on Thursdays! He was late and missed you're thing. Still, the news is all over the school. Ryan, as much as I love marching and all, you really need to get a life. Or a girlfriend. It doesn't have to be all band, all the time, you know," Lily said.

"S'arlight Lily, I got this one. Have fun with Andrew!" I told her as she left the storage room. I had never been alone in a room with Ryan before or talked to him using more than one or two sentences at a time. Standing there with his cold eyes drilling into me made me very uncomfortable. Those eyes seemed to be trying to look inside me for some kind of answer. It was like he was trying to understand a foreign language. I let out a deep sigh. Ryan exploded.

"I can't believe you would leave us in the dark THIS LONG!" he yelled. "You totally left the whole freakin' band hanging! This is going to throw the whole drill off and it's all your fault and we won't have any good players on second part anymore and I just can believe your horrible lack of character. How can you just leave us like this?! We are so close to..."

"Ryan!" I cut him off. "I quit! Okay? Are you happy now? I gave it all up. To be here. With all of you guys."

"What?" he asked clearly stunned.

"I told the band on Thursday and if you would take your clarinet out of your mouth for five minutes, you may have noticed," I yelled back outraged. "Do you even care about your section as people? Or are they just clarinets? There are real people playing those instruments, you know. You don't even believe in us."

"Like you do? You were going to leave us!" he pointed out, still yelling.

I paused. I was never really going to leave them but I knew that the band never knew that. Another deep sigh escaped me as I realized that I had a lot of band life to catch up on. "But I didn't," I said firmly but at normal volume.

"Why not?" He demanded loudly.

I couldn't face him. I turned away. "Because I love this band. I love everything about it. From the uniforms to the hot, sweaty practices to the crazy bus rides to the freezing games. Cheerleading has done nothing but make me worry about what I look like and how I present myself. Marching Band has taught me to be myself and express what I believe in."

I stopped talking and focused my eyes on the floor. The tears started to form in my eyes and I swallowed hard, trying not to cry. Ryan came up behind me and rested his hands on my shoulders. "It would have been so easy to just give up after that competition," he told me in a whisper. "After that everyone just stopped believing. Even me."

"But that's your job," I told him, still not facing him. "It is number four on the job description. 'Create a sense of teamwork and spirit within your section.' You can't just give up on us. When you give up, the whole team gives up."

"You read the section leader job description?" he asked me looking surprised.

"I tried out. I know I'm only a sophomore but I wanted to show I had some interest in become a leader." Very few people knew that I had gone out for section leader last spring. All section leaders had to do was write a paper. Only the drum major try-outs consisted of a written paper as well as an interview and a conducting performance.

"Did Lily know?" he asked me and I nodded. "So that's why she thought you were going to choose marching band in the end." I did confine in Lily as well as Jenny that I was going out for section leader. It was common knowledge that the people who went out for section leader were the most dedicated of all the marchers. That must have been how they knew. "Allison McAlister is your band ready?" he asked me in a deep whisper.

I pulled my shoulders back, turned on my heel as I pretended the drum major cape was swishing across my back as I did it, and performed Andrew's salute for Ryan like I never had before. His hand almost touched my face when I finished, but he stopped himself halfway there. "You know sometimes it's not about the sets," I started still standing at attention.

"It's about the movement between the sets," he finished softly pulling my hands out of attention and holding them in his.

"You got that?" I asked looking him in the eye.

"Of course," he whispered.

A tear escaped from my eye and rolled down my cheek. I backed away from him and pressed my back up against the wall, not facing him again. The moment was too emotional. I couldn't handle myself being so close and intimate with Ryan. Half of me wanted to be alone with my thoughts and the other half was praying he wouldn't leave me. He slowly turned around. His blue eyes sparkled in the dim light of the storage room as he spoke again.

"You don't have to be so brave," he said to me, still whispering, as I suddenly grew weak in the knees and sunk to the floor. "That's why you're a musician. You bring feelings to life. You put your soul into what you do without holding back." He was now on the floor, sitting next to me. He rested my face in his hands and brushed the tears from my eyes with his thumbs. "Music is the second greatest force in the universe," he told me more softly then ever as his face got closer to mine.

"What's the first?" I choked.

"Love."

The space between our lips disappeared and I was locked in a passionate kiss with one of the most wonderful musicians I had ever known. It was then that I did the worse thing in the band geek code of conduct. I fell in love with my section leader.