Chapter 2: Early bird gets the Worm…
Mandy pried her eye open to see the clock. The numbers 8:15, burning themselves into her retina.
"OH MY GOD!" flew out of her mouth, jumping out of bed. "I'm late!" She informed the empty house.
Hair still damp, make-up freshly applied she grabbed her stuff and ran to the car, where she drove to school on the foggy, less than legal side of the speed limit and managed to get to her second period class without dying on the way. Lunch came, as if too soon. There she stumbled upon Lucy quietly munching her lunch in the grass.
"Hey." Mandy said.
"Oh! Hey! Where were you this morning?" Lucy inquired.
"Woke up late, to an empty house and a half tank of gas." Mandy said smirking.
"Interesting. Up late after our convo or just overly, unusually sleepy?" asked Lucy.
"Not really, I journal-ed for a bit then went to bed. I guess I just didn't want to get up." Said Mandy, sighing.
"Oh weird. You being the guardie I know you are, are usually full of energy. How else do you chuck that flag so high?" Lucy said chuckling.
"Oh I know. I can chuck that thing so high because I have muscles." Mandy said confidently poking her upper arm and raising her eyebrows a few times to emphasize the point.
"And I don't?" Lucy joked.
"You have more than me. I'm just saying it takes a special kind of muscle to throw objects around and catch'em while booking it across a plastic field, that's all Luce." Mandy joked back with a smile thinking about the numerous times she had attempted to teach Lucy anything about tossing and watching her hit herself in the forehead. Then again, she wasn't near as good as Lucy when it came to all things drumming.
"Well I gotta go, I have class in a couple of minutes. Plans this evening?" She questioned.
"Umm… I have practice till 6, but then I'm free." Mandy told her.
" Dinner at WaHo?" Lucy said.
"Pick me up from practice?" Mandy asked.
"Sure thing. See ya there." Lucy replied as she waved Mandy off and trotted to her next class.
She picked up her things and walked to her next class.
AFTER PRACTICE
Mandy sat with her equipment bag on the corner. That practice ran through her mind again and again. They were really behind. With first competition only 10 days away, they needed to kick it into high gear. The work they were learning was at the very least ten times harder than the previous seasons work, so it took twice as long to learn. At the same time, that was no excuse for only having the first songs work learned and memorized. She overheard Mr. Izzo speaking with a group of students about the first major football game on Friday against South, the rival band. She overheard the half-time show plan was the second song, which the band had already learned, and the guard had not. She informed Kelly, who didn't seem worried. Didn't seem anyway. At practice before they got let out, there was a major pep talk.
"Okay girls. The plan for Friday is the second song. We all know there is not a whole lot we can do as far as changing the band plans. I'm not totally sure what we are going to do yet, but until then I need five thousand percent from all of you at every practice. I need a ton of effort. Hit your sets harder. Do your work better, Run when we reset. No complaining. No, I repeat, NO talking on the field. We are a fun group and we have a good time, but we need to crack down and get work done. I don't want to go to first competition incomplete, but I would rather go with quality incompleteness, than a poor quality, poor work, poorly exhibited whole show. Since it is first competition, they won't dock us points for not competing with the whole show. However, If we don't do the whole show, it needs to be incredible. Not great. Not good. Amazing. We can only get better at later competitions. Remember that. You guys can go now." Kelly finally took a breath, waving everyone goodbye.
Mandy heard a loud honking noise and snapped out of her daydream to see Lucy waving at her to get in the car.
"Sorry, we had a…difficult practice. I have had it on my mind since we got out." Lucy said shaking her head in attempt to shake away her drowsy-ness.
"Oh that's cool. I bet you guys look good out there. I hear you guys are working a lot harder this year." Lucy said.
"You bet we are. Our instructors guarantee, there won't be a single guard in our division with work anywhere near our level at any competitions." Mandy said, beaming with pride.
"Wow. I can't wait." Lucy replied, as they pulled into WaHo's parking lot.
They walked inside, a got a small table in the back. After a filling dinner they climbed back into Lucy's car.
"I totally need a girls night out. How about we plan another night like this for Friday after the game?" Mandy inquired.
"Sure thing. It'll be nice to get out. I haven't in a while. Do you mind hanging with the guys for a bit before though?" said Lucy.
"Nah, not a problem. I'm in need of some boy-hunting anyway." Mandy replied with a smile.
"I doubt you'll get anywhere with these guys, after you and Spence were together for so long." Lucy concluded.
Mandy, grinning ear to ear, "a girl can hope."
Lucy smiled back. "Haha. Only you, Mandy. Only you."
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Graceful Dream
