I jogged back to my cabin and rushed inside, then quickly skidded to a halt. I wasn't alone. Sitting on one of the chairs was a pale boy, his black hair and gray eyes washing out any color that his face might have carried. His thin mouth curved in a smirk as he looked at me.
"Well hello there little butterfly, it's so nice to see you again, is it not?" he asked silkily.
"My name is Moth Skib. Now what the hell are you doing in my cabin?!?" I snapped out, no longer shy around the one who had threatened my cousin and my new friends.
Skib smirked openly at me. "Wouldn't you like to know? I'll take my leave now, but do tell your cousin that I was here, and that I brought a message for her, she'll be quiet surprised." he said, nodding his head toward Wren's bed and the small brown box sitting on top of it. Standing up in a jerky movement Skib walked out of the cabin, leaving me staring after him.
As he walked out of sight into the woods I shook my head in annoyed confusion and looked over at the package Skib had pointed out to me. It was rather small, about the size of my fist, and wrapped in plain, brown, post-office wrappings. I couldn't see any markings on it at all.
A flashing light at the corner of my eye drew my attention. It came from Wren's digital alarm clock. She had apparently plugged it in but not had time to set it as it flashed a neon-colored twelve 'o clock. Seeing this I glanced down at my own watch, intending to set the alarm. Then I remembered.
I now had exactly fifteen minutes to grab my sax and find Tempo Cabin. Quickly I unearthed my case from underneath my pile of simi-unpacked luggage, grabbed my flip-chart, and left the cabin. Locking it securely behind me. Then began walking towards the nearest clump of bandos, hopeing that one of them could direct me to my destination.
My hopes were rectified as one of the boys, (who was carrying a soft-sided trumpet case) pointed me in the right direction. With a nod of thanks I departed, leaving them to their conversation.
My earlier worries went unjustified as I reached the Tempo Cabin with seven minutes to spare. Unlike the cabin I was housed in, this one was huge. It was at least four times the size of mine. Cautiously I knocked upon the screen door.
A tall, slender boy with hazel eyes and blond hair answered the door. "May I help you?" he inquired of me.
"Umm, yes. Is Velt here?" I asked, nervous from being on the opposite side of camp from anyone that I knew.
"Yeah, he's here - wait a moment." the boy said to me, then looked over his shoulder. "Hey Velt! There's a girl here asking' for ya!" he called. Moments later Velt appeared.
"What? Oh - Moth!" Velt said, surprised. "You're here already! Come on in. I'm going to go get your music and drills right now."
I entered the boy's cabin, with no little sense of unease, and was shocked by the neatness of the room. Growing up with mainly male cousins, I had become accustomed to messiness and downright clutter. But the cabin in which I stood was spotless, the shining floors giving evidence to a long polishing, the wood still gleaming after a afternoon of teenage boys treading across it with dusty shoes.
"Have a seat on one of the bunks. The others will be here shortly and I've gotta go get the supplies." Velt murmured distractedly as he walked out of the cabin, letting it's door slam shut behind him.
"Didn't even think to introduce us - that's Velt for ya." the hazel - eyed boy muttered, shaking his head. "I'm Red, second chair trombonist, and co-section leader."
"Moth - Tenor Sax" I replied, gripping his hand in my own, he nodded.
"Have a seat. I would offer you a chair - but we have none, so you'll have to use one of the bunks. I'll be back shortly - I've gotta go round me up some Newbies." Red told me, his face splitting into a wide grin as he nodded towards a group of nervous - looking freshmen a ways down the dirt path.
The door whispered shut behind him as I slowly sat down upon the only hard camp bunk which looked unclaimed, ducking my head so that I wouldn't hit my head on the framework of the upper bunk. Yawning I pulled my case onto my lap and opened it, beginning to put together my saxophone.
I had just readjusted my reed and secured it with my legiture when the cabin door burst back open and loud talking washed over the calm of the room, taking with it any remaining hint of silence.
"Yeah right. Of course you were surprised by Riktor. You're a Newbie, it's in your job description." commented a bronze - haired boy as he walked past, not noticing me in my tucked away corner of the room.
"As if you're any better. You're a sophomore, and only transferred into the district halfway through concert season last year." retorted the blond-haired, slightly shorter boy walking beside him. The shorter boy was carrying a trombone case.
"Oh I'm better all right. You wouldn't believe how much better!" spat back the taller of the two. Walking over to one of the bunks he knelt down and pulled a soft-sided trombone case out from under it as I watched the pair in amusement.
"Uh huh. Of course you are." smirked the younger lad.
Whirling around to spit out a comeback the kneeling boy caught sight of me. Letting out a gasp he lost his balance and toppled over, quickly scrambling to his feet . "What are you doing in here?!?" he choked out, completely and utterly shocked and somewhat fearful. Seeing the expression upon his face I bit my lip and held back a laugh.
"She's here because she's supposed to be here, and for no other reason then that. As hard as it is to believe that she's not going to kill you, you'd better try. Because sectionals can get awfully long if you fear one of your fellow people." came the sagely advice of Red from the cabin's entrance. He had reentered the cabin unseen as I was busy being bemused by the underclassmen, and was now leaning nonchalantly against to door frame, arms crossed, and eyebrow quirked amusedly.
Any reply the boy might have made was cut short by several more people entering the cabin. Some of whom stopped short at the sight of me, but the majority mearly glanced at me and continued walking, for which I was thankful.
After a scant couple of minutes everyone of them had gotten out their trombones and were either ingrossed in hushed conversations with their neighbors, or were sitting silently and doing their absolute best not to stare at me. Mostly it was the younger ones who sat in shocked silence, as their elder counterparts took it all in stride and talked about everything other then the elephant in the room.
The awkward silence was abruptly broken as Velt stumbled into the cabin, nearly tripping over the door-frame and almost dropping his armloads of drill and music. I for one was glad to have something besides my sense of nervous forbidding to focus on.
Red rolled his eyes and moved to Velt's side, taking the majority of the papers from him and setting them on top of the nearest dresser.
Velt followed Red's lead and set down the rest of his burden. Then turned and faced the room. His eyes searching the faces until he found mine. "Ahh! Good! You found your way here all right then Moth! I had wondered if you would!" he said cheerfully as I stared at him confused. But he turned to the room as a whole.
"In a few minutes the rules of this camp will be told to you. But for now, let me introduce myself. I am called Velt, and I am your section leader this year. Also helping me will be Red, he's co-section leader with me. He will now tell you all of Camp Koultridge's rules and boundaries." Velt finished abruptly, sitting down upon what appeared to be his bunk. Red smoothly continued.
"Koultridge's boundaries are simple, and plainly marked. Wondering within these boundaries is perfectly fine. You'll know you've gone too far when you hit a paved road or a privet lake. Our boundaries go up to the edge of those roads and that lake." he explained calmly. Breakfast is at seven-thirty each day. Lunch is at one, and supper is at six. Vegetarian meals began forty-five minutes earlier then these times. If you're late to a meal, or miss one, then you don't eat. Simple as that.
Dress code is a tee-shirt and shorts, with tennis shoes. No torn off sleeves, muscle shirts, tanks, or chains will be permitted. Make sure your shoes have enclosed heels, or you'll get push-ups and suicides to complete before the next days breakfast. Not exactly the best way to start out you're day, trust me.
Your cabin's must remain in a decent livable condition throughout the week. If you see trash, pick it up, regardless of whose it is, pick it up and throw it away. Lights out is at one-thirty, wake up call at six. Now, with the exeption of us during sectionals, there will be no girls in boy's cabins, and no boys in girl's cabins. Breakers of this rule will be sent home immediately at their parent's expense." Red finished, leaning back against the door frame as Velt continued.
"As you may have noticed, things have differed from years past. Regardless of what was, change is a good thing, a necessary thing, one which we cannot live without." at this point Velt turned to me. "I have talked to Riktor, and have gotten his permission for us to meet in this cabin. All of us." he said, nodding his head and turning back to face the rest of the room. "Teamwork is necessary. I don't require any of you to like each other. But I do demand that you work together and at least pretend to get along when we are together as a group. Each and everyone of you will pull your weight here. I will have no slackers in my section." he finished firmly, his arms crossed.
"Alright." Red said after a moments pause. "Most of you know each other from band in years past. Therefore, it is my pleasure to introduce our only brand new member this year. Make no mistake, she is not a Newbie, and shall not be treated as such." Red said sternly, looking around the room and leaving no room for doubt in their minds. "Now. Let me introduce her to you. Lads - this is Moth. She's a tenor sax player and is going into her junior year." At this point most of the eyes in the room turned from Red to meet mine. I gave a thin-lipped, nervous smile and a small nod of my head. Several people nodded back. But all attention quickly snapped back to Red as he continued. "Now I expect that you will all make her feel welcome, and will introduce yourselves. But not now. Because now you new ones have to get your music, and you all have to get your drills." Red finished calmly, pushing himself off of the doorframe and walking over to the stacks of paper sitting on the dresser. Picking some of them up, he began to walk around the room, distributing the music in parts. When he finally got through all the music in his hands he walked back over to the dresser and picked up a very small stack of paper, no more then six or seven sheets high, and walked over to me.
"Here's your tenor music for the show itself. We'll have to get you pregame and stand cheers later." Red said, handing me the small stack of paper. Then he walked away to pick up the drill charts.
I glanced down at the sheets of paper in my hands. Photocopied onto them in flip-chart size was: 'You Really Got Me' by VanHalen; 'Smoke on the Water' by Deep Purple; '(Dude) Looks Like A Lady' by Areosmith; 'Grand Illusion' by Styx; 'Dream On' by Areosmith; and, ironically enough, 'Carry On my Wayward Son' by Kansas. I grinned to myself, pleasantly surprised. I had played 'wayward son' last year for a parade with my old band, and it happened to be one of my favorite songs.
Eventually Red made it around the room to me again and I was handed drill charts with the number 'L39' written on top of them.
Velt stood. "I know that normally the tuba's and baritone's have their own letter, but we got a new writer this year, and this is the way he printed them. They have numbers one through nineteen, and we've got numbers twenty through thirty-nine." he glanced at his watch. "Okay people, we have enough time to go through these songs at least twice, so let's get to work."
Dutifully we slid our music into our flip-charts and picked up our instruments.
a/n - okay. i had a nice little response to each of you typed up on the edit/preview page that was at least three lines each per person, and then the computer froze. i am now officially annoyed. not only did i lost that. but i lost the next two chapters and i now have to re-type them both. so i'm no longer in the best of moods, obviously. so i'll attempt to summerize what i had typed.
okay. i can also blame the computer agian. this chapter would have been up by nine thirty last night, but the computer decided that it would be able to crash, wipeing out everything that i had saved withn the last 37 hours.
normal begining of a/n -
sorry that it took me so long to update. but i haven't had the time! and at least its a long chapter! unlike the next one i'll be posting. that one's really short.
and boys: sorry 'bout that messiness coment! if you knew my cousins at all, you'd understand. it's impossable to walk into their rooms (or their apartments for that matter) without being verry careful. you'd break your neck if you tried to walk normally!
the playlist for my school's show is the same as the one i used in the story. that's not the order it's in, but it's close enough.
individual thanks:
bandnerd: some of us do yeah. others i gave names to protect them; or, perhaps, myself.... not all of them have strange haircolor, just a few. it just happens that the ones i introduced in the story have 'unnatural' hair colors. and yes, our school does allow them, as long as they're not 'overly distracting.' has there ever been a bando that wasn't strange???
BaritoneQueen: perfectlly okay, i've been gone longer. our band has weekly monday night rehersals too, but most of us had all of the music memorized by the time band camp ended. how do you play in only three of the five peices? thanks, i did have fun (regardless of the ninety degree weather...)
Chramedprincess: that's cool. you're playing the Beatles?!? no fair!!!
Anubuss: (to 'buss) you're welcome. (to other people out there) anyone who wants to kill him's gotta fight me first!!! (steps into a fighter's stance) we need him to play cards with!
Jinxd n cursed: yeah, it's tucked in between our two (for now) high schools. stupid grass. new bd?!? ouch! dosen't he/she know better then to switch the dates of band camp???
clarinetchica2006: thanks, it reminds me of my band too! i'm guessing you're going to be a junior as well as a clarinet player this comeing year then? or, perhaps you already are, since every school has a different starting day...
to all: if you would like me to email you a charictor discription sheet, then tell me and i will. if you're not logged in, make sure to tell me your email address.
thanks all!
-gryffyn
