I lost my internet for a while sorry it's late. Hope you like it! Review!!! Sorry if theres typos, spell check thing wouldn't work.

Ch. 10-Ups and Downs

"the radio plays a love song. I smash my fist right through the dial....here's to the broken hearted....generation born in denial." The Ataris

The month of October had finally rolled around. We had been practicing so hard for the competitions coming up. Our practices became an hour longer; we strived even more to make a good performance at Football games, and we all started to get into a different frame of mind.

Our first competition was at a local High School, 73rd High School. We had already played them at a game and it was..hm...Interesting to say the least. The night before the game they had left us a banner on our band trailer and one on our football field. J was angry, the band was too, but I think the football coach, Coach Parole, was the maddest.

We could all only hope they would be fair to us at competition. The competition was the first weekend of October. The whole up to that Friday, we had two-hour practices and different sections had sectionals on alternate days. Even the guard had sectionals. We were all working so hard. J told us that this schedule for practicing would probably continue for the next month.

"This is going to be so hectic." I thought to myself, "I hope I don't get to much homework."

I walked into my fourth period on Wednesday. Our health teacher decided to give us a 2 page report on the circulatory system.

"Just what I need." I thought.

As I walked into the band room after school I saw someone I never expected to see, my ex-boyfriend Dave. I wondered what he was doing there, I don't know why though he had his bass guitar in his hand. I walked over to him and asked what was going on.

"Hey Dave," I said "what are you doing here?"

"Remember that time I told you i should have joined band when I had the chance? Well I have the chance." he said.

"Oh, that's cool. So you'll be in the pit then?"

"Yep, It'll be nice to talk to you again Maria, I sort of missed it."

"Oh, yea same here," I said to be nice "I have to go get changed."

I could tell now that this was going to take a turn for the worst. I never really got too involved with Dave. We only went out for 1 month and 2 weeks of that I thought we had broke up. I wondered sometimes what would have happened. If he would loved me, if we would have lasted, how we would have acted like together, if I would have stopped comparing to him to Parker maybe we would have lasted. Parker meant so much more to me though.

We went on and practice and J introduced us to Dave at the end of class.

"Everyone gather round, gather round," J said "Everyone this is Dave our new bass guitar player. I once had bass guitar player and it brought a good thing to our band. I recruited Dave for this particular thing. Dave will be coming Saturday, but he will not be playing because he is not yet sure of the music. We should have playing by next competion. Dismissed."

On Friday night we went to the usual football. It wasn't as fun as it usually is. We lost, I guess that's a reason. The band as a whole really didn't care, we were to excited about the competition. Saturday morning I got up at nine. We had to be at school at eleven to practice for the competition. Parker came and picked me up and we got to school at 10:45. It was actually pretty hot for early morning practice, it reminded me of summer practice. I saw Dave sitting on the bleachers. He had headphones on and was practicing his music.

After and hour we made our way to 73rd. We stopped for lunch on the way there. When we arrived at 73rd there were already a lot of bands there. There was somewhere around 30 bands there. We were in class AAA. We were to perform at about 6. At 5 we had to go get changed. I thought I was going to be sick. After the guard finished changing we huddled and said a prayer, then we joined the band to warm up.

After we finished warming up, Dave came up to me and hugged me.

"This is weird." I thought.

"Good Luck Maria," he said "I know you'll do great."

"Um..you too Dave"

I walked away and went and sat by Parker.

"I hope you do great tonight honey." I said to him.

"You too baby, I love you." With that we kissed and I went off to line up with the guard.

The band before was in their second song. The whole band lined up and we were ready to go. J had given us a pep talk earlier and it really gave us a big boost of energy. He told us that we deserved to win this more than anyone else here. Even if they said we didn't win, we did, and there were so much more important competitions than this one. The band before us just finished there last song and were beginning to march off the field. The would come right past us.

"BAND ATTENT HUT!" J yelled.

"HUT!" we all screamed back.

We stood there in perfect order and silence until they passed and we started marching on.

"Mark time mark and one, two, ready, move!" J said.

We marched onto the field and the guard ran on to the field to set our equipment. We stayed in our spots, and the band was introduced. Our band ran on and the music started. Twelve minutes of our band's music and it was over. It was such a rush. I dropped my flag twice, no big deal. We marched off the field to the place where we would take pictures.

"It was not your best," J said "but is one of the best I have seen tonight so far."

It was not all good news but we would accept that for our first competition. It looked as if we even had a chance to win. We went into the stands and watched the other bands perform. They were all so good. They all had so many props too. I had never seen a show like the ones I saw then. I was starting to get butterflies in my stomach. I practically held my breath until the awards ceremony came.

They started with A, then AA. It seemed to go by in slow motion. Then AAA came.

"1st place Drumline," the announcer started "KNOXVILLE HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING TIGERS!"

We all screamed and cheered.

"1st place Colorguard...Martinsville High School." I soon felt myself become sick. "Second place Colorguard...John Smith High School."

I felt like crying, and I did. I had lost my first competition. I really thought we had a chance. Maybe we'll get third I thought to myself.

"1st place Horn Line," disapointment set in "Martinsville High school"

"2nd place Horn Line...John Smith High School."

Our whole band was dissapointed. We could the captains were too when they came back. We had one trophy. No Lie that our Drumline was one of the best around, but so was every part of our band. Dave came and hugged me, and I didn't fight it, I wasn't up to fighting anything. I walked away to Parker and collapsed in his arms. I felt so tired and so drained, I didn't know that losing could affect someone so bad.

Everyone in our band was pretty much that way. It was quiet on the bus except for a couple of people talking loud. I wish that our bus would be bustling with people smiling and laughing. I wish that we were passing around trophies for everyone to touch. I guess sometimes wishing just isn't enough sometimes, because when I open my eyes, I saw the same thing. I sure hope we don't lose this bad anymore, I'm not sure I could take it.