Sorry for not updating sooner; a lot of band stuff has been going on that hopefully I will get to in the end of this particular story! Anyway, enjoy this chapter! Please, please review and tell me what you have to say about this latest development in the story and about Ari and Elissa!

Chapter Five: A Practice, A Compliment, An Apology

They were on the field again, the evening practice bringing so many memories back to Arianna. It had been her freshman year where Mr. Berringer couldn't handle the band; it had been her sophomore year when they had been great under the direction of Mr. Marah. Now, practice for the junior year was beginning. What would it be like this year?

Arianna watched Elissa take the field with the rest of the color guard members. There had been some bitter words exchanged between the two girls after the majorettes were announced the previous week.

"What am I supposed to do?" Elissa had yelled, causing people to look as Arianna stood with her in the hallway. "Am I supposed to vote for you and not for my best friend?"

It was true that Kassie and Elissa had been good friends in junior high and high school, but Arianna knew Elissa had used the term "best friend" to strike a blow, suggesting Arianna wasn't even a friend anymore. She continued the rant until Arianna walked away, regretting ever asking who Elissa had voted for. It didn't matter anymore.

Arianna had not talked with Elissa since that day and turned away as Elissa looked over at her. Arianna supposed it would be difficult to pick between two friends, but didn't think Elissa would be snappy about it. The color guard started warming up and Arianna sighed as she watched the two new majorettes take the field with Mr. Vogl.

Kassie looked so much like herself, Arianna thought bitterly. Long dark hair, thin body, quick eyes and hands... Teachers even got them mixed up if they were in the same class. What was it Kassie had? Why would she get majorette when she didn't even have band all year long? She was the vice president of the band and wouldn't even be with the band for half the year.

Arianna stopped moping and got to her first position in the new set graphs Mr. Vogl had handed out earlier that day. It was going to be a fairly easy routine that year, but there were many more freshman than older students, too. Arianna groaned and held the piccolo tighter as Jenate, the girl who had tormented her the entire freshman field show, took her spot next to Ari.

"I hope you know how to read graphs, Ari," said Jenate. "I'm not going to have time to help you."

"It's Arianna, and I know how to read a graph better than most. Stop talking."

"You know, Ari, if you were up there, you could give me orders and I'd have to listen," Jenate said sweetly, gesturing to the front of the field where Kassie and Ashley stood, looking confused. "But, you're not up there and you've not going to be up there. And I don't have to listen to you."

"I am your section leader."

"That doesn't matter to me. Everyone knows that the only reason you're section leader is because Mr. Berringer-"

"Be quiet, Jenate."

Arianna was fuming inside. Practice had barely begun and already there were problems. Jenate gave a simpering smile and turned away to the flute player on her other side, a sophomore named Carrie.

"Carrie, let's help Arianna read a graph," Jenate told her and Carrie smiled. Jenate and Carrie had been good friends for awhile and Arianna knew they were going to give her trouble. Carrie would do anything Jenate did.

And Arianna didn't even have Elissa to back her up.

"Arianna, you-"

"I'm not off my mark, Jenate."

"Yes you are!"

"No, I'm not, Carrie."

"Yes you are!"

"Turn the graph right side up, Carrie!"

Arianna sighed. Her patience was wearing thin. Between the majorettes figuring out how to conduct the band, Elissa ignoring her, and Jenate and Carrie pestering her nonstop, Arianna didn't know how many more hours she could take.

They were forty five minutes away from the end of practice. Arianna couldn't wait to escape. The whole band was stressed, the director and majorettes were stressed, and the flute section was either supporting Jenate or Arianna, split right down the middle.

"Arianna! Move to your right! You are off!"

"Jenate," Arianna replied as calmly as she could, "If I do that, this wouldn't be a straight line, would it?"

"But the graph says you're wrong!"

People on the other end of the field looked down toward the flute section expectantly. They had waited for this all night. Jenate was annoying, yes, but would Arianna snap? Half of them were supporting Arianna, eager for the section leader to put the low rank flute player back in her spot. The other half of the band was backing Jenate, mostly friends of Jenate's boyfriend.

"Arianna, you are off-"

"Jenate, get back in line!"

Arianna was shocked at how loud her voice was. Jenate, who had broke rank to walk up to Arianna and brandish the graph in her face, looked equally stunned.

"Don't talk to her like that!" yelled Carrie, supporting Jenate. "You won't ever be a majorette if you talk to her like that!"

"If Arianna was a majorette know, Carrie, we wouldn't have this problem," yelled Peter from across the field, supporting Arianna. "She deserves to be up there and shouldn't have to deal with this!"

"Jenate was just doing her job," piped in a friend of Jenate's boyfriend. "And telling Arianna where to go-"

"-is not her job," cut in Brittany, a clarinet player. "Arianna is the section leader! Jenate shouldn't say those things to her. Arianna was cheated!"

In an instant, the whole band was fighting and Arianna stood in shock. They were fighting about her. Some of them wanted her to be a majorette, some of them didn't want Arianna in the band at all. She felt tears come to her eyes, happy and upset at the same time: she had supporters, but she also had enemies.

"Settle down, settle down," yelled the director over the megaphone. Eventually, everything was silent, Jenate about to attack Arianna. "Let's break practice for tonight. We're all tired and this is getting us nowhere. See you all at school tomorrow."

"Arianna!" called Mr. Vogl, beckoning her to him. Arianna just wanted to go home and forget about this night. It had been awful, utterly awful.

"About that fight-"

"I am sorry-"

"It's not your fault. Jenate and Carrie have been separated and I am going to have a long talk with them tomorrow about respect for their section leader. Then they are getting a lesson on how to read set graphs."

Arianna smiled in spite of herself and Mr. Vogl smiled, too. A few seconds passed between them and Arianna found herself comforted.

"You handled yourself really well tonight. I don't know why things turned out the way they did, but I see you getting what you want someday. You won't have to put up with that anymore because you'll be in command and not just a section leader. It will all work out. You proved yourself tonight. Thank you, Arianna."

Arianna felt like crying and giving Mr. Vogl a big hug, and she felt the tears come, but brushed them back and straightened up.

"That meant more than you could possibly know, Mr. Vogl. Thank you."

"Go and get some sleep. You look exhausted. Good night."

"Goodnight."

"I didn't plan on running into you," Elissa said as she met Arianna on the edge of the cement-and-iron steps that ran up the hill to the school parking lot. The ledge was the perfect view of the football field and Arianna was standing there, watching Mr. Vogl cross the field to the light box.

"Well, here I am."

"Ari, I-"

"Don't say it. I know. Me too."

The girls just smiled as they stood side by side. This didn't mean everything was alright. It just meant they both had their friend back.

And as the new director crossed the field, the girls looked up at the sky, watching the stars brighten as the stadium lights were turned off, and they knew that, for awhile, everything would be alright.

What do you think? This was a long chapter, but I didn't want to split everything up. Please tell me what you think! Thanks so much for reading and I'll update soon! We will get into a really funny part in another chapter or two! It'll be great! Thanks again!