'Ah, smell that wonderful combination of wood, grass, and sweat…I'm home. Well, better get to making the big welcome speech and whatnot….'

"People! I demand attention! Ok! now, you can call me Andy. Hey now! Don't look so surprised, its short for Andrea. Yeah, so I'm your drum captain this year. We're going to work hard, but don't be scared… unless you can't walk in a straight line. Then you're screwed. And that's then end of my OFFICIAL drum captain speech. If you want more, you can follow me around after line. I might buy the newbies food or something."

Andy grinned and stepped down from the director's podium. It looks like she had broken the ice with her speech, which is what her point had been. She walked over to her spot between her friends Danni and Becky and looked back up to the podium, where Mr. B was trying to get everyone's attention. Once he managed to capture it, began speaking.

"Okay, everyone, we have a new drum tech this year, since Mr. Swanson decided to leave us. So, without further ado, here's Adam." A slim, broad-shouldered guy climbed up on the podium and looked around confidently.

"I'm Adam, your new drum tech, as Mr. B said already. Now, I could never beat that amazing speech by your…lovely drum captain, but I'll try. You…ALL…will be going traditional this year. ALL OF YOU! That means work, and lots of it. But you guys'll do fine. I believe in you" He turned his icy blue eyes to Andy as he made his way down from the podium.

After all the speech had been made, the line was called to the wooden practice boards to warm up. As Andy stood up, she noticed Adam watching her out of the corner of her eye.

More specifically, she noticed him staring at her chest.

'Oh god…' she turned and gave a grin to her friend Becky as she walked over to stand next to her. She pulled her sticks out of her back pocket and started warming up with the rest of her people. She felt someone slide in next to her on the board and start talking to her.

"So…Andy, was it?"

"Yeah."

"You're drum captain then?"

"Yeah. Center snare for two years too."

"So you can play traditional then?"

"Nope-I've been matched for nine years"

"I'll teach you then. You free after line?" Andy gave him a sidelong glance. He was hot. Very much so, but probably conceited as all hell.

"I'm free after I take the newbies out for dinner; tag along if you want to take me anywhere."

"Right. Do you have to worry about your parents freaking if you're home late?"

"ParenT, and no, I don't. My dad works night shift."

"Right… so, after line everyday then?"

"Only today, here at school, unless I'm horribly retarded and need extra help." Andy glanced over at him again, and saw that his eyes had traveled south again. She rolled her eyes, and counted off as the next warm-up started.

This was going to be a long, long six weeks.

llll-llll-llll-llll-llll-llll-llll-llll

Andy jingled her keys in front of the seven new freshmen, and three other people - her friends Danni and Becky, and, of course, The Staring Wonder.

The gorgeous Staring Wonder, whom she was starting to have interesting thoughts about.

"Halloo! I'm up here, morons" She waved her hand in front of her chest, which was being ogled rather noticeably by every male in the vicinity. "Yeah, I have room for…six in the cab, which means that, what, four of you? Yeah, four of you will have to ride in the back. It's big."

Becky and Danni both waved their hands in the air to ride in the back, which they knew was furnished with an air mattress. They grabbed two freshmen to go with them, and they all went out to Andy's pickup. Adam whistled appreciatively.

"Niiiice. But how are we going to fit six people in the cab?"

"You ride shotgun. Okay, four of you newbies-one, two, three, four. You guys are skinny. You all squeeze in inside that back seat. And you, tiny one, you climb on top of them and lay down." The tiny one looked at Andy with a 'you have GOT to be kidding' look. Andy stared right back. "Don't look at me like that, I'm serious. Back in my day we did this all the time. Besides, you'll have to squeeze with them on a bus eventually anyways, so get over yourself."

She then climbed into the driver seat and drove them to the nearest McDonalds. When the got there, she climbed out and heard a faint voice from the back seat saying,

"Andy? …How do we get out?"

Andy sighed.

She ripped open the door, and caught the girl that fell out. "That's how. Now, don't break the bank. You each get one thing"

She watched them all run towards the entrance, and then felt a set of hands on her shoulders, massaging.

"You look tense. You ARE tense. Your shoulders are like rocks…" Adam said softly into her ear.

"Well, that's what I get for bringing my drum home every day of section leader camp," Andy replied, relaxing into Adam's ridiculously skilled hands.

"Wow, I thought I was the only one who did that… Am I doing a good job?"

"Mmmm…yeah," she answered, though it came out as more of a moan than she'd meant it to. "You need to be a little more aggressive though. You're being too gentle." She gave him a mischievous grin and then pulled away. "We'd better get inside before they order everything on the menu."

Adam looked slightly disappointed as she turned around and called to him, "If you don't hurry, you won't get any food!" Despite himself, Adam grinned and jogged to catch up to the food-driven wonder in front of him.