Disclaimer: I don't own Def Leppard. Or a football field. Or Dodge Chargers. I'm not that cool.
I lined my feet up to the 40-yard line. That was my starting position for our field show this year. Brodie was right behind me for the first 16 counts, but the percussion stops then and stays there for pretty much the whole show.
Hannah was 8 steps in front of me. She had had her fourth bottle of Vault this morning and was twitchy as ever. She tried to get me to drink some Vault before practice this morning.
"Aw, it was your first time drinking Vault. Come on, you'll get used to it if you drink it some more," she had said.
"No way. I don't want to knock myself out again," I said. Branch came onto the field and we all stood at attention. The drum major started us off and we went through the first half of the routine. Branch scribbled down something and started going around to everyone and correcting their positions. No one was more than one or two steps off, which was good. Hannah was halfway across the football field, so we couldn't talk. The other tenor sax players weren't my kind of people, so I didn't talk to them.
Branch told us to go back to the very beginning. Everyone groaned and went back to their spots. We went through the first half again, and then we were dismissed to the band room. We went down from the practice hill to the band room. We sat down and waited for Branch. He finally came in.
"It's been brought to my attention that there are many, many band couples. I do not mind, but just be sure to follow our rules. They're listed clearly in the band handbook. If any of you do not understand the rules, or think they are unfair, band is not the place for you," he said. He was looking straight at me. I had no idea how he knew about Brodie and me. He went into one of his huge lectures, and as usual, no one was really listening.
"Okay. B flat concert," he said and stepped down from the podium. The drum major took it from there. We went through our whole show and all of our stand music as well. We got to leave five minutes early.
Hannah waited on me to put my saxophone into its case. I finally got around to gluing the FOB sticker back down. She had already put her flute and piccolo away.
"So, are you and Brodie, together together, or just dating?" Hannah always wanted to pry into the
most personal parts of my life. I usually filled her in anyway.
"We're just dating so far. Dating exclusively. I think. I hope so anyway. I really like him," I said.
"Ah. He's probably more into you than you are into him," she said. Brodie was in Branch's office
talking to some other drummers. I looked through the glass to make sure Alex wasn't in there. She wasn't.
I'm glad.
He came out and reached for my hand. I was sitting on the floor next to the chair Hannah was in. I
reached for it and pulled myself up, with his help, to a standing position. We were still holding hands.
Torrey Branch, Mr. Branch's son and one of Brodie's good friends came up to us.
"Ooh! Axel said you two were kind of together, but I didn't believe him. Congrats, Brodie," he
said. Torrey has always been one of my best guy friends. He's kind of the unofficial BRAT. If the guys can think of another word with the letters B R A T T, they would definitely let him in. It's not like they won't, but Torrey hasn't really asked. He's at most of the BRAT get-togethers.
"Hey, Torrey, call me later? I've got to get home," Brodie said. He was telling the truth. After school, he usually helped his mom around the house before she had to leave for her job teaching night classes at the community college.
"Sure, dude. If you need a rhythm guitar player, talk to me. I heard you were looking for a band…" Torrey said. He played electric guitar. He was good, but he didn't have too much experience.
"You know what, grab your guitar and head on over to my house," Brodie said. He was looking for a band, but he had never thought it would get anywhere, so he didn't bother advertising it.
"I'll go home and get it. I'll be at your house ay-sap," he said. He walked over to his dad's office. Brodie, Hannah, and I walked on out to the parking lot.
"Well, I'll go find Tyler's Charger. I'll call you later, Darcy. See you, Brodie," she said and walked off. I got into Brodie's car and we went to his house.
His mom had left a note saying she had gone to work early and would be home at the regular time. We went on to his room. He lay down on his bed. I sat beside him with my legs crossed.
"I am so happy Torrey is coming over. We're gonna have a great time. Especially when we get a band going," he said. I could tell he was really happy by his eyes. They seemed to smile. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. He is the most beautiful person I've ever seen.
"I am too," I said. I was totally mesmerized by his gorgeous eyes.
"Oh gosh. Do you want to do something in the band? You could play your sax, or tambourine, or whatever you want, Darcy," he said. His smiling eyes had fallen into a slight frown.
"No way. I don't belong in a rock band. It's your band. I want you to have fun when I'm not around, too," I said. I really meant it.
"Okay. I just don't ever want to be apart from you," he said. The smile in his eyes had returned.
"I don't either. But it's something we're going to have to face, whether we want to or not," I said. He hugged me. The doorbell rang. Brodie went to answer it.
He returned with Torrey. He had his guitar case and a small amp with him.
"What can you play?" Brodie asked as Torrey got his guitar out and hooked up to the amp.
"Mostly covers. Classic rock mostly, some new stuff too," he said.
"Photograph, Def Leppard?" Brodie asked.
"Let's do it!" Torrey said.
Brodie counted off and they played through almost perfectly. Torrey was playing the lead guitar part.
"You know what? Why don't we make you lead guitar?" Brodie said. He was grinning. His eyes were grinning right along with him.
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