I've decided that I hate Algebra. Yes, I defiantly do. I drummed my black fingernails on the desk that I painted for spirit. I also had on one of my favorite band shirts that said "I'm with the band."

"Pst! Are you paying attention?" the brown hair boy in front of me asked as he tried to give me the homework worksheet.

"Oh sorry," I whispered back.

I looked at the top of the paper and wrote my name and the date: October 8th. We had a few minutes before the bell rang to do the homework but all I could think about was leaving for Bands of America that evening. We were going to perform at Rutgers University in the morning. Bands from 8 am to 4 pm. What a perfect band day. I took a deep breath and tried to do the first math problem on the page. But every linear equation that I was supposed to solve had the same answer: New Jersey. Instead of completing the assignment, I ended up with a lot of music notes doodled all over my scrap paper. The bell finally rang. I shot up so fast I tripped over my backpack and fell face first on the ground.

"You band people..." the same brown haired boy said more to himself than me. "I don't even get this Marchers of America thing."

"It's BANDS of America," I said loudly as I shoved my books in my backpack. "And what's to get? It's just like any normal competition. We go, we get rated, we win a big trophy, and we leave."

The boy raised his eyebrows and sneered, "but the band never wins big trophies. Actually, the band never wins any trophies."

"We'll see about that," I finished and stalked out of the room before the boy could make any other rude comments.

However, he did have a point. We had never actually won anything with the exception of the parade. Not that I really cared what random people in my algebra class thought.

The minutes seemed to last for days and I didn't really notice the hours passing by. The band kids walked around the hallways like zombies waiting for one o'clock to come. We were going to miss last period in order to get ahead of rush hour on that sunny, Friday afternoon. However, the annoucement didn't come on until an entire 30 seconds past one.

"Please excuse the interruption teachers, but will you please excuse all members of the marching band at this time."

I was in health class at the time with a bunch of weird skater kids and preps who probably didn't know we even had a marching band. I tried so hard not to skip to the band room. When I finally got there, I grabbed my bag of clothes and assorted items I couldn't live without for the one night we would be in New Jersey. Scarlet and Lola ran up behind me and hugged me. "Oh! I love your shirt! You should change it to 'I AM the band!'" Because you know, you are!"

"Wow, Scarlet that was the worst sentence," I told her as we all went into the storage room to get our instruments.

"Hey Lola, I found a new place we can go make-out," Jimmy said when he found us in the storage room.

"Gross, Jimmy! I love you and all but was that really necessary?" Lola scolded her boyfriend.

"Well maybe... considering SOME people in this band have found that the practice room is a wonderful place to make-out," he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

My face got very hot. I knew how close he and Ryan were. I hadn't told any of my friends about what had happen last Monday. Scarlet and Lola looked and my cheery red face for an explanation.

"Okay first of all, it was not a practice room," I told them. "It was the music library. And second of all, we did not 'make-out.' We just kissed. Once."

"Hey, wanna be my bus buddy?" Ryan asked appearing out of no where.

My girlfriends, who were standing there with their mouths half open, started to laugh. I rolled my eyes and told Ryan I would love to be his bus buddy. Lily came in to get us moving faster out to the busses. Most of the parents had come to drop of their children's luggage. I met my dad outside who handed me the backpack that I had packed earlier, wished me good luck, and said he'd see me at the competition. I hugged him quickly and went to get a seat with my friends. Even though I was only a sophomore, the girls and I got a seat in the back with the juniors. We forced the freshmen to sit in the front but they didn't seem to mind as long as they were with each other. The seniors usually go their own bus. By 3:30 the four charter busses and the equipment truck pulled out of the Frost parking lot.

"Okay," Sean, who was sitting in front of us with Scarlet, announced to Ryan, "I don't want to see anything inappropriate out of you two."

"Sean! You moron! Maybe we should be saying the same for you!" Jimmy, who was sitting across from us with Lola, teased his friend.

Mr. Palmer, our chaperone, called role and then put in a horror movie about a haunted house. It was then that I confined in my 5 friends that I was not a big fan of scary movies.

"It's okay, Ryan can hold your hand," Sean teased me. Scarlet hit him playfully. About a half hour into the three hour, horror ride through the haunted house a dead guy appeared on the 8 inch screen. The entire bus screamed.

"Oh my god! You guys are crazy! That is so fake!" Sean laughed.

Of course, as horror movies go, the good guy who had also been scared by the dead guy went into the creepy forest as if he didn't realize how creepy it was until it was too late. As the music got louder and louder, a creepy hand inched out behind a bush, preparing to grab the guy. I had stopped breathing and had a tight grip on Ryan's left hand. I could almost feel the hand on my shoulder as the hand on screen got closer and closer. Suddenly, the hand clamped down on my shoulder.

"AHH! OH MY GOD, JIMMY!!" I yelled at him because it was his had the was really on me. The entire bus laughed at us.

"My god girls!" Jimmy whined, "This movie is so predictable. I've never seen it and okay watch. See the guy? He's going back into the forest! I bet 10 bucks a dead guy pops out of the bush. Ready? 5....4....3....2....1..."

Sure enough a dead guy popped out of the bush. Instead of the usual scream, the entire bus burst out laughing and applauded for Jimmy's correct prediction. The movie quickly turned into a comedy thanks to Jimmy's ridiculous commentary and the entire bus relaxed. By 11:00 pm we had reached a dumpy, cheep hotel in New Jersey.

"I've got the key!" Lola yelled when we got to the room.

The three of us practically feel into the room. There was one king size bed, a TV with a fuzzy picture, a broken coffee maker, and a really old shower curtain. Now we knew how the band boosters saved money. But none of that mattered. We were asleep in next to no time. In a few short hours we would be in our uniforms at Rutgers University preparing for a competition like no other.

A/N: I'm sorry I haven't written in a really, really long time. I found out our band actually got accepted to a Bands of America competition half way through this story and wanted to experience it before I wrote about it. I'll be better about it though. Plus, I really want to finish this one so I can start another. AnywayZ, enjoy and R&R! xoxo