Sectionals usually lasted about an hour, followed by marching practice. Looking at my watch, I saw that we still had about a half hour of sectionals to go. A half hour in which to potentially embarrass myself for life.
After my 'example' incident, everything went normally until the closer. During the second to last measure, I hit the high C# then squeaked loudly. As soon as the piece was over, I quickly fibbed, "Sorry, I need a new reed." Ryan, a clarinet player, looked at me suspiciously.
"Uh... yeah," I added randomly, and I mentally hit myself inside. Stop being a dork!
"Rhianna, I have a reed you can have," volunteered a sophomore, Carrie, "I haven't used it yet."
Actually my reed was just fine. I wasn't quite sure what had caused me to lose control.
"No... it's fine. Thanks. I was just going to buy more after practice today."
"Oh."
Sectionals ended after that. After grabbing my sunglasses and meeting up with Jackie, we left the band room and headed out to the field.
"Rhianna, you're really quiet," she commented as we stepped into the grass. I sneezed.
"Just thinking," I said quickly.
"Really." Jackie gave me a short look, then shook her head. "You're such a dork sometimes, you know that?" she laughed.
"You only just figured that out?" I asked, cracking a grin.
In all truth, though, I had been thinking. Did I like Ryan? Why? No... I couldn't. Of course I didn't. And if I did, I would never admit it, not in a million years.
Wait. So did I like him?
I was scared to think on that topic anymore, but it didn't matter, because we'd reached the field.
"Opener, set one!" Ms. Havens shouted, "Run!"
As was usual, everyone was ignoring her and ambling to their spots at their own paces. I found mine and grinned at Jackie, who was set about ten feet away.
"Ready, airhead?" she called.
"Never!" I replied, just before Ryan called us to attention.
"BAND A-TEN HUT!" he shouted, and we all snapped into position, motionless.
After the snare captain, Tim, tapped us off, the show began. Our show was one of the typical, "Yay! USA!" type shows, with the shocking (or not) title, America. It had several patriotic pieces, as well as a moving one about September 11th.
I do not have a crush on Ryan, I found myself thinking the whole time. I do not have a crush on Ryan.
But the more I denied it, it seemed, the more I realized the truth.
