The next morning at four-thirty Sydney leapt out of bed and threw on yoga pants, a Wizards T-shirt, and shoes and socks. She pulled up her hair, grabbed her suitcase, and ran down the stairs, out into the freezing cold morning to the uniform hall, which was located in D-Building. Smiling, she saw Vaughn was at the far end of the cluttered hall, standing next to a gray-haired woman with a tape measure around her neck.
"Katie Bixby," Vaughn murmured to her as she approached.
"You're new too?" Katie asked. "I don't know where Mr. Flittman pulled you out of, but you'll certainly need a uniform. You, young man! Try on those pants – number 67! And take jacket number 12."
Vaughn moved hurriedly to do as she asked, grabbing a pair of black overall-style pants off a rack to her left and a blue and silver jacket from the rack on her right. He ducked out of the hall and into a partitioned-off dressing room to the right. "And now you," Katie murmured. "Let's see. You look as though you could fit into Moira's old uniform. Pants – number 108! And jacket, let's see, 51."
Sydney grabbed the clothes and hurried into a cordoned-off area, pulling the pink curtain closed across the opening. She pulled on the overalls and threw the jacket over top of it. Catching sight of herself in the mirror, she began to laugh. The pants came to the tops of her feet, and were not at all stylish. The blue jacket had a wide stripe of silver diagonally across the chest and bright silver buttons marching – pardon the pun – down its front.
"Does it fit?" Katie's voice asked from the other side of the curtain.
"I think so!" Sydney replied.
"Let me see," the uniform coordinator requested.
Sydney stepped out, and came face-to-face with Vaughn, who had just stepped out of his own dressing room. Both of them looked ridiculous, but neither said anything. The grins on their faces were proof enough.
"These look fine," Katie said. "Hurry, I'll pack them up and then you can go load the buses."
She did as she promised, zipping their respective uniforms into blue-and-silver garment bags. They hurried from the uniform hall back out into the cold morning. Sydney immediately saw David Kelleher standing outside the second bus. "Is this our bus?" she asked.
"Right you are, Emma. We already loaded the drums onto the truck, so don't worry about that," he said. "Put your uniform and your suitcase under the bus and let's get this show on the road."
Sydney did as she was told, loading her luggage into the bus's luggage compartment and scrambling aboard to find a seat next to Natalie Birchmont. "Hey!" the quads player greeted her.
"Good morning!" Sydney said, shivering.
"Are you ready?" Natalie asked.
"I hope so!" Sydney said.
The buses pulled out of the parking lot twenty minutes later, exactly at five-thirty. They were on their way. The buses droves south, towards Strasburg. The drumline members chattered eagerly as the buses wound their way towards the small town of Strasburg. They arrived at nine-fifteen, and piled out into the parking lot of the Strasburg Municipal Amphitheater. "All right!" someone was yelling. Sydney saw that it was Angus Flittman. "Dressing rooms for the girls are over there, to my left!" He pointed. "Dressing rooms for the guys are to my right! Get dressed and meet back here in twenty minutes!"
Sydney grabbed her uniform bag and ran for the dressing rooms. They were immediately filled with all of the female members of the Wizards. Sydney claimed a corner for herself and threw on her uniform.
The Wizards met back up in the parking lot. David Kelleher grabbed Sydney by the arm and led her to a large truck she hadn't noticed before. "Grab your drum," he instructed. "Your name's in tape on the case."
She did as she was told, noticing Jeremy Foxworth standing next to her. "We're really doing this, huh?" she asked. "We're really marching?"
Jeremy nodded seriously. "You better believe we are."
Sydney pulled on the harness. "Well," she said, "I guess I'm ready. Let's go."
