Hey, sorry for the long delay….School is insane, so much studying and exams to be taken. Here's the next chapter.

Band Day

You know how most mornings you almost want to throw your alarm clock across the room when it goes off? This was definitely one of those days. On one hand I was extremely happy that it was FINALLY Band Day, and on the other, six-thirty in the morning was just too early for a Saturday.

The past week or so of school had been dreadful. I walked through the days numb- answering questions when asked by teachers, simple nodding when asked my opinion by friends. As it turned out, Brianna was dating Daniel, a junior who was head of the drum line. My best friend had left me for a guy, something I never thought would happen. I had seen them several times holding hands around campus, though she never bothered to say something, anything, to me. I think I got a wave once. I'm not sure. Today, I was looking forward to spending time with some of my friends from the middle school who were tagging along.

By the time I got to the school, the bus was there and people were starting to get on. Mr. Locato had thoughtfully gotten a charter bus this year, which proved to very nice. No cheese-wagon. I hopped in line, one of the last to get aboard, and found a seat close to Brianna, Thomas, and Chris. A fellow flute player, Tanner, was already sitting next to the window. I glanced in Brianna's direction, and I could see Daniel sitting behind Brianna, poking her side every few seconds to tickle her. I sighed, tossed my belongings under the seat, and grabbed my MP3 player from my pocket, not yet turning it on- Mr. Locato still had role to call and he would gleefully take away any distractions he could.

Eventually we got on the road, and I'll admit, I got pretty bored. I invented a thing called a 'Paper Ball Note'. Simple: Write a note; ball it up, then throw it to someone on the bus. After receiving a wary glance from Tanner, I threw it to whoever I saw first. Shane. Or course, because the world loves me. Shane, naturally turned around to see who had hit him with a paper ball, and I smiled a sheepish smile and motioned for him to open it.

'What's up? This is a paper ball note….WRITE and THROW back.' I had to write something generic, since I hadn't really thought who I would throw it to. He, like Tanner, gave me a wary glance, then chuckled and immediately threw it back to me. With no response, I decided to just go ahead and give up on that idea.

When we arrived to the campus, the entire band cheered in the fact that we could finally get up and walk around. It was a short walk. One of the first events of Band Day was the College's Warm-up Session. This was my favorite part of the day. No football fanatics and every section plays some famous tune or song. On my left was Lena, and my right, surprisingly (Or not) was Shane. He was deep in conversation with his best friend about some new video game that I vaguely remember hearing about. Okay, so maybe it was a coincidence or something, he HAD been sitting somewhat close to me on the bus, and everyone else had pretty much stayed in order. I don't really remember what each section played, I was too deep in though.

When it came time for us to go to the football stadium I found myself still puzzled-even after two hours of thinking. I came up with a couple of theories. The first, he thinks, or rather knows , I like him. Then I knew that was impossible. I thought that he might like me, but quickly dismissed the notion. He didn't go for little nobodies like me. From what I had heard, he had gotten pretty serious with Katie. I definitely didn't fit the 'Gets really serious' category. Once at the stadium, I sat with Chelsea, Kaydon, and Tanner. I caught myself questioning Shane's whereabouts and almost smacked myself for it. There he was though, a couple of rows above me talking to Sydney.

I turned back around, receiving a glance from Kaydon. He had been one of my good friends while I was still in middle school, and I had a certain tendency to usually tell him whatever was going on. He didn't ask though, and therefore I didn't say anything.

I dared to turn back around a few minutes later, and found Sydney looking at me. No, not looking, staring at me. All of a sudden, my cell phone started buzzing in my pocket. I quickly got it out and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Hey, jeez what was that look for?" It was Sydney. "Anyway, I get to be the lovely middle person! Guess what!?"

"What?" I should have known where this was going, but I guess I'm just a little too naïve to catch these things.

"Shane likes you…A lot….Hold on." I turned around to see Shane glaring at Sydney, who was grinning. Apparently she wasn't supposed to tell me that just yet. I closed the phone and continued to watch Sydney and Shane bicker. After a few minutes of childish yelling Sydney yelled as loud as she could. "HE WANTS TO GO OUT WITH YOU!" Leave it to Sydney to tell the world. With my face bright red, I jumped up and weaved my way to Sydney and Shane to avoid any more yelling. They were finishing another bickering contest. "At least I got her up here. Hey, Ally"

"Hey Syd." I looked her in the eyes, searching for the reason I came up here. What followed was that really awkward silence when no one knows what to say, like when people are talking about how much they hate someone, then that person comes up and says they overheard everything.

"So, will you go out with me?" Shane, amazingly broke the silence. He was blushing, as I'm sure I was. Maybe he didn't get as serious as I thought he did, surely this wouldn't cause him to blush if he had. My automatic reaction was to say 'No', while the back of my mind screamed 'YES', but instead, I found myself not able to speak. I snuck a glance at Sydney, who clearly wanted me to say yes, and sighed. "C-Could I maybe… think about it?" I made a mental note to slap myself again later. I thought that it was the worst answer I could say.

Instead of looking hurt, Shane looked relieved. "I'll accept that." I inwardly sighed with joy, and somehow, I found myself sitting next to Shane a few minutes later. I guess he noticed that I wasn't all completely there, because after a few minutes of trying to get me to answer this one question, he turned to talking to Sydney, thanking her for something or other. I wasn't paying attention. I realized a few items that were kind of important. One, I didn't really know Shane. I knew of him, but the actual number of times I had talked to him were numbered. Two, I knew Katie would be outrageously mad at me. That would not help my friendship, or lack thereof. Three, I really liked Shane, and weren't relationships partially about getting to know the other person? So the fourth thing I realized was that I was going to say yes to Shane…but when? Then I had an idea-revolutionary, I thought.

The college had won the football game, and the spirits were high on the bus ride home. It was pitch dark as we loaded the bus, and got into our seats. Once Mr. Locato had taken role, and we were on our way, I pulled out a sheet of paper, wrote a few words on it, and threw it at the back of Shane's head.

He didn't turn around this time, knowing it was the same person this time. He unfolded the note and hurriedly read it.

"Yes, but what happens next?"

Again, sorry it took so long to get this posted… I retyped this chapter several times, and I'm still not quite happy with it, but, oh well…. R&R please.