8:32
PVHS's Band Room for the First Official Section Swap
Ryan looked down at the band from his place on the podium. The section leaders were all standing behind him, leaving only the lowerclassmen sitting on the floor.
"This is not the way we normally do this," Ryan said. "Normally, section swaps happen at least twice every day. Sometimes they happen when one SL gets sick of their section and just trades with another, and sometimes all the sections switch. You'll never know when you'll have different section leaders, so take care not to piss any of them off. That being said, who should go with whom…hmm. Ok, saxes and mellophones, up!"
The three instruments stood up, looking at the section leaders before them.
"You guys can go with Lisa, so clarinets, obviously you won't have your normal SL. You guys can go with…Kyle. Kyle and Lisa, bring them to the spots that they normally go, so make sure you have the right spot. We don't want a section pile up in some of the rooms. And make sure you are back here in about half an hour."
Kyle and Lisa nodded and quickly conferred with the rest of the SLs before taking their new sections out of the room.
"Low Brass…hmm. Ooh, I think I'll be mean and put you with Hannah." Ryan grinned back to the trumpet section leader, who glared. "Who knows, Han? Maybe you and the low brass can work out your differences. Ok, so, trombones, tubas, euphoniums, go with Hannah. Trumpets…go with Tony and Watts. You guys are lucky, you get two SLs."
The low brass followed Hannah, who was still wearing a scowl, out of the room, while the trumpets followed the mellophone SL out.
"Who's left?" Ryan asked. "Hmm…Guard…go with Tyler. Sorry, Tyler," he apologized to the low brass section leader. "Piccolos go with Amy. Battery, you are going to go with me. And Tiffany…I guess you can be Drum Major for the time being, so basically, just hang out with whatever section you want to. And I'm assuming that's going to be with the Pit?"
Tiffany nodded, smiling across the room to Charlie.
"Good," Ryan nodded. "Max, I know you wanted to be apart of this, but I know that you haven't taught your freshmen how to play all the instruments yet, and that's kind of important. And besides, I know that you never get sick of your pities, so you really don't need to switch. And somebody has to keep an eye on Charlie and Tiffany."
Max nodded back, watching Ryan bring the Battery out of the room, keeping a hand on Jake's shoulder as he said something to his youngest brother.
"Ooh, fun!" Sean cheered from atop the stack of chairs. "We get to help you instruct Lily in the art of Pit."
"Off," Max ordered. "Yup. You and Logan get to help me teach her, since it looks like Charlie and Tiffany aren't going to be much help."
He glanced over to the corner of the room, where the couple had already curled up. Tiffany was lying on the floor with her head in Charlie's lap, and he was stroking her cheek, his other hand tightly in hers. Oblivious to the audience that they had, Charlie slowly leaned down to give his love a sweet, passionate kiss.
"Ok, you two, break it up," Max said.
Charlie, still kissing Tiffany, just waved a hand at his friend.
"Blake has a rule about PDA," Logan explained to Lily. "Meaning, he doesn't allow any."
"But he has always been really lineate with Char and Tiffany," Sean reminded the junior.
"Because they've been dating since their freshmen year," Max reminded the boys. "But enough of that. Now, Lily, this is a bass drum…"
8:40
PVHS's Auditorium's Stage
"Are you enjoying band so far?" Ryan asked his youngest brother as they walked out of the band room.
Being the Drum Major, Ryan had taken it upon himself to be the brother for everybody in band, but he still always paid close attention to his own real siblings. His sister Ryan always worried about. Annie was a…colorful character. The twins were just idiots, so Ryan didn't really spend much time worrying about them. Most of Ryan's attention went to Jake. He was the youngest of the O'Connells, and the shyest. He really wasn't big on defending himself, and Ryan unfortunately knew his band. He knew that people would use Jake's quietness to their advantages. So, Ryan had decided before the season had started that he would look out for his brother, no matter what Jake had to say about the matter.
"It's been fun," Jake responded.
Ryan rolled his eyes. It was impossible to get more then a five-word answer out of Jake Matthew O'Connell. "Care to elaborate?"
Jake shook his head. "Not really."
8:43
PVHS's Main Gym, where the low brass hung out
"I don't like you guys," Hannah informed the low brass section.
"I like you!" Isaac argued. "You are friends with my sister and brother, so I kind of have to like you…"
"You also aren't a trombone player," Hannah reminded him. "Ok, let me rephrase that. I don't like the trombones, and the trombones don't like the trumpets. Is that better?"
Isaac nodded.
"Nobody is really sure where the trumpet and 'bone rivalry started, but all we know is that it did. I don't expect it to be solved for a while, and neither does Ryan. He is just a prat, so thought it would be funny to stick me with you. But he's not funny. Not at all. Tell him that I said that, ok?" Hannah told Isaac. "Now…since I'm your section leader for the time being, you all have to do what I say. And I say that the trombones have to go sit in the corner and face the wall, not talking to each other, while the rest of the low brass and I have fun."
8:45
The Baseball Field where the Guard Girls threw stuff around
"First rule: No throwing things," Tyler instructed the Guard Girls. Being the low brass section leader, he was more used to big, buff guys then little, high pitched giggling girls. "Second rule: None of that squeaking you guys do when you laugh. Third rule: No gossiping. Forth rule: No making noise."
"So, what can we do?" a sophomore girl asked.
Tyler thought for a second. "Breathe," he finally said. "But only if you do it quietly."
9:00
PVHS's Band Room
"Ryan!" Tyler, Hannah, and the rest of the rest of the section leaders bellowed, storming into the band room with their new sections straggling in behind them.
"He isn't here yet," Max answered, not taking his eyes off of Charlie, who was busy amusing the pit by juggling five mallets while standing on one leg with his eyes closed.
The sections leaders glared at Max and just stood around, stomping their feet every few seconds. When Ryan came in with the Drumline, they all pounced on him before he was two feet in the door.
"Ryan! That was pointless!"
"I have no idea how she deals with them - "
"Absolute waste of half an hour!"
"Yeah, I'd much rather be marching!"
"SHUT UP OR HE'LL MAKE US MARCH FOR EVEN LONGER!"
"What? Anything would be better then being around them!"
"Wow, talk much?" Ryan asked, pushing his way though the crowd of SLs and making his way to the podium to stop the complaining. "Do mine ears deceive me, or is this the first year that the section leaders actually like their own section more then the like the others?"
"Now, we didn't say that!"
"Yeah, don't go putting words in our mouths!"
"I TAKE IT BACK!"
Ryan just grinned. "Ok, so, maybe the First Official Section Swap didn't work so well. But hey, you can't be right all the time, eh? Anyways, now it's time for MARCHING! Pit, stay inside, and Max, you guys are on water duty when everybody else inside. I'll send a runner in 15 minutes before we come inside so you can set up; Drumline, you're with Kyle, and listen to him, please; Guard Girls, you are with Amy; wind players, you're coming outside with me. Welcome to Hell."
9:45
PVHS's Band Room
"What's water duty?" Lily asked Logan as they sat, filling up hundreds of tiny little paper cups full of ice-cold water.
"This," Logan replied, setting another two cups down on the long table they had brought into the band room.
"Obviously," Lily retorted. She was feeling much more at ease with the Pit guys after sitting around for 45 minutes talking about the most random things in a Circ-Sec. "But why are we doing this?"
"Because Ryan seems to think that the band needs water after learning how to march around for an hour," Logan answered. "Personally, I think that we should let them die of dehydration, but that's why I'm not in charge of the band."
"Oh, what a scary thought that is," Sean shuddered, grabbing a cup of water and chugging it, throwing it at Logan when he was done.
"Dude!" Logan protested, throwing it back. "These are for the people in the band that are actually doing work. You haven't done anything all day."
"Sure I have!" Sean countered. "Do you think that looking this good involves no work? But then again, I wouldn't expect you to know."
"Oh, ha, ha," Logan sneered.
"Boys!" Charlie ordered. "Shut up. You just made me hit Max with a mallet."
Logan and Sean both looked over to Max, who was holding a mallet with an amused smile.
"How'd you manage that?" Logan wondered out loud.
"I was juggling," Charlie explained, "but you two distracted me and I didn't catch the mallet, making it fall and his Max on the head."
"Can you show me how?" Lily quietly asked. The only person she wasn't comfortable around yet was Charlie, but that was only because she wasn't sure how to act around an older brother.
"How to hit Max on the head?" Charlie asked surprised. "Sure…it's really easy. You just kind of stand over him and just give him a smack." He demonstrated for Lily, much to the dismay of the Pit SL.
"No, how to juggle!" Lily corrected herself.
"We have like, 3 minutes left," Sean informed everybody.
"So, we don't have time today," Charlie said. "But tomorrow, I'll teach you. I'll bring in some hackey sacks in to teach you with."
"Hackey sacks!" Logan gasped. "Charlie, I love you."
"Logan is obsessed with playing hackey sack," Max explained to Lily. "We're not really sure why…but it's really fun to steal them from him and watch him go crazy trying to get them back."
Logan opened his mouth to argue, but the doors to the room opened, and Isaac and Erik ran though.
"Band is coming!" they announced in unison. "Ry sent us ahead to come in to tell you to get ready."
"Thanks," Max told the twins. "Ok, Pit, man your stations."
As if on cue, the rest of the band came trooping through the doors. Some of the freshmen came in crawling, looking like they were ready to crawl under a rock and die, while the upperclassmen seemed fine. Everybody crowded around the water table, and the five pit people had their hands full with handing out cup after cup after cup. Ryan was the last person to come in, and he was the only person wearing a smile.
After stepping onto the podium with Blake, and telling everybody they had done very well for the first day of marching, and after Ryan yelled out "One more time!" and sent two freshmen girl into hysterics, Blake declared the First Day of Marching Band Camp over, and slowly, everybody left the room to go home and shower, sleep, and whack their heads against the wall for joining band.
10:15
Ryan O'Connell's car
"My feet hurt," Erik complained.
"Mine too!" Isaac echoed.
"Shut up," Ryan ordered. "You guys are used to marching. You aren't allowed to complain. Jake, on the other hand, does have reason to, so he is the only person that may complain. However, he won't, so I expect this car to be silent until I drop you guys off at home. Complain all you want at home; I'm sure Dad will really enjoy that."
Annie looked over at her older brother from the passenger seat with a knowing smile. Being a junior, she was closest with Ryan then she was with her other brothers. The twins obviously were close, and Jake was often left out. But he was a loner, so he really didn't mind that much. Annie was normally the person Ryan involved in his crazy schemes whenever he was bored. His last one had been on the twins' birthday, and it involved a balloon filled with shaving crème, an alarm set for 3am, and lots and lots of rubber bands.
Yes indeed, life at the O'Connell's was never boring.
10:32
The local IHOP
"Sorry for being late," Ryan apologized to his fellow bandos who were all jammed into their regular booth.
"No worries," Amy and Max assured him.
Charlie and Tiffany didn't even notice that he had come in, they were to busy smiling at each other. Tyler and Kyle just nodded at him, their mouths too full of food to make any noise. The various other section leaders just nodded or waved.
"So this is it," Ryan said, sliding into the booth next to Tiffany. "The first IHOP band breakfast of the band season. The last first IHOP breakfast. Man. Guys, we are seniors! This is our last year together. We've been together since our freshmen year, and come June, it's all over…no more band parties, no more IHOP breakfasts, no more band competitions, no more three hour Wednesday night concert season Wind Ensemble rehearsals. So, I propose a toast."
Everybody at the table raised their glasses.
"So," Ryan started, holding up Tiffany's glass as she shared Charlie's, "To our Senior year. May it be filled with fun, college acceptance letters, first place band trophies, and good memories."
"To our Senior year!" everybody echoed.
Ryan beamed. "Now that that is over, now it's time for the first 'Annoying Freshmen' stories. Who's first?"
