"Zane, Zane dude wake up."

I opened my eyes to see Storm and TJ, who were just staring as I jumped up from my bed. I rubbed my head as I tried to recollect how I got to my bed. I looked at my cellphone, the time being around sixish, dinner time. I then remembered that we just played the opener, set it, marched it while playing, and that I went back to the dorms to sleep for awhile.

"You were knocked out, are you that much of a heavy sleeper? It took me and Storm about a thousand tries to get you up!" TJ said, while I just shrugged, getting out of my bed.

We then started to walk back to the cafeteria, where the rest of the sixty member band was. I sighed deeply as I rubbed my eyes. TJ laughed.

"Long day? Trust me they'll get alot longer."

"Oh won't that be fun." I said, as we walked outside the cafeteria, but a sound stopped us. It was the sound of a clean hit of drum one on a set of quads. We looked over to see Danny and Sean, who had our tenors on, checking the tuning.

"You guys go ahead, I'll be in there in a minute." I said, while the other two drummers just shrugged and left me. I sat there on the steps watching the two. They started to play random exercises, which were perfectly clean and were pretty awesome to watch honestly. I couldn't help but get lost in their playing.

"They're pretty awesome aren't they?"

I looked up to see Helen, who was holding a water in her hands. She sat down next to me, and sighed as she watched the drummers. "Danny is soooo hot..."

Of course I figured thats what she would say. Honestly, Danny wasn't a bad looking fellow. He probably had the ladies crawling at his feet, but even though I've only talked to him once, he seems like the kind of guy to be a player.

"To bad he's taken though. Good solid year. Oh well, to old for me anyway. Atleast you're single..."

My head snapped as I looked at Helen, who started to laugh at my red, embarrassed face. "W-What?" I asked, while Helen kept laughing at me.

"You fell for that! I'm sorry sweetie but you just aren't my type. You're pretty cute though."

"T-Thanks?"

She kept laughing at my expense, while I just blushed deeply. She then patted my back, while I just kept looking down. "I know someone you should go after though!"

I then looked at her again, this time my blushing going away. I gave her a confused look, while Helen just smiled a little bit. "Well, Raquel of course. Don't give me that look like you didn't know!"

"Huh? Why Raquel?" I asked. I wasn't gonna lie. Raquel was one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen, but I didn't think she had the hots for a guy like me.

"She talks about you constantly. You're like the topic of band camp for some reason. Probably because you're the new kid and you were put on quads and that you got your style changed so suddenly during band camp and you're pretty cute, should I go on?" Helen said, while I just shrugged.

"Still. I'm not that great. Well, thats what that kid says."

"What kid?"

"Jason?"

Helen's face went from a happy one to a pissed off look a second after I said Jason's name. "Him? Just ignore him. He's so full of himself and cocky. He's not as good as he portrays himself to be."

"Why does he attack me though? I don't even play any brass instruments, I'm a drummer."

"It's because you are getting all the attention from us. He just doesn't know how to handle not being the center of attention anymore."

"Zane."

I looked up to see Ritchie, who pointed towards the field.

"We're meeting out there, the rest of the winds already set the ballad so we have to after dinner. Then at nine we're gonna have a full ensemble with the winds and pit, playing the opener again, then marching the ballad while they play."

I nodded, and Ritchie smiled as he walked back into the cafeteria. Helen had already randomly left me, so I was stuck by myself. I sighed as I stood up, walking into the cafeteria after Ritchie, but was shocked when someone grabbed me.

It was a short girl with white, pale skin. She had long wavy brown hair, and she was wearing short orange shorts with a white t-shirt that said "FRESHMAN GUARD". I blinked in confusion as she took me into the middle of the cafeteria, where she turned to me. I just looked at her as she sighed deeply.

"Do not judge me on this, ok? I'm only doing this cause I have to."

I just blinked because I had no idea what she was talking about, and she yelled out. "Hey guys look at me!" The whole group of people turned to look at us and suddenly, she lunged at me. Her lips locked with mine as she kissed me infront of the whole band, staff, and of course, cooks.

I, to say the less, was in pure shock. I had to admit, I enjoyed the kiss from a cute girl, but then again, why the hell was she kissing me in the first place? All of a sudden she broke the kiss off, looked at me, blushed, then ran off.

"Um. Zane."

I looked at Dale, who was smirking, while the other drummers had their heads down, crying because they were laughing so hard. "You just aided that little lady into becoming a full fledged guard member!"

"How did I do that?" I asked, blinking as I sat down near Richie, who was still laughing.

"They basically do the same thing we do, and make the freshmen do stupid stuff." Dale explained, while I sighed deeply.

"Well its whatever...wasn't that bad."

David cracked up. "OH YOU DOG-"

"David, Dale, Zane, Richie! Get your asses outside, NOW!"

Everyone was silenced by that loud roar, we turned to see Tyler, the angry look on his face terrifying most of the cafeteria. We quickly got up and ran outside, not wanting to see Tyler's full rage.

I groaned as I held the tenors above my head, my arms shaking from the weight. All of the line was holding the drums above their heads, the sweat pouring as Tyler watched, sitting in a chair while sipping iced tea.

Apparently, while no one was aware, Catie went off and started a fight with David while I was asleep. The fight took place out in the parking lot, which Catie ended up trying to beat David with a drumstick, but missed, denting Tyler's SUV.

I wondered why I was paying the price for their idiotic crap? I didn't do anything. When I asked Dale, all he told me was.

"We're a drumline, when we are together we're not individuals, we're one group. We take punishments together."

I thought that was the most absurd thing, but I decided to go with it. Dale was in the same amount as pain as I, and was gritting his teeth. The rest of the line was just as bad. Finally, Tyler snapped his fingers.

"Ok, drop em."

So we finally put the drums down, I was sweating more than ever. Tyler sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Catie and David I swear if I ever hear of you two fighting again I'll make you two sleep in the same bed, and don't think Sam won't let me. Understand?"

"Yes sir.." They both muttered, as the two didn't even glance at each other. Richie, who was between the two, was snickering a little.

"So listen up.." Tyler said, as he stood up. "Sean and them left to go get new stuff for you guys..and I know this is sudden, but we are doing something that we have never done before."

"Whats that?" Dale asked, sweating badly.

"Well, tonight, the band is gonna be eating dinner, I'm gonna act like we're outside practicing and working on the drums. While you guys are doing that, I'll tell L to let the winds outside so they can watch you perform the drum feature. We have lights to light up the field, this is just to show that you guys are good enough. Do you think you want to try it? We'll have to work on it for the rest of the time."

We all looked at each other, and Dale had a big smile on his face.

"Hell. Yes."

Tyler smiled as he pointed to the music stands behind us. "Well get to it!"

Hours went by as we prepared, our solos were written, and everything was ready. Dale and I were waiting for our teachers to arrive to hand us our new stuff for our quads. Dale was tuning his tenors while I just sat there, looking at the solo Danny wrote me. It wasn't so hard, since it was only one measure. It was just a inward scrape on one and two, then a uzi scrape on three and four, then a crossover, ending with a shot on the spock drum. Dale's solo, he wrote himself.

"You ready? Luckily we're not marching it." Dale said, and I nodded, a smile on his face. "Good, I expect you to perform good. If not I'm kicking your ass."

"Ha like your first year? Shall I remind you that you fell during rehearsal and almost murdered Rachel?"

We looked up to see Sean and Danny, walking towards us with new sticks in hand. They were the same kind we use now, just freshly taped and brand new.

"Look that bitch shouldn't of been running on the move, I've told you this many times Sean." Dale said, while Sean just laughed.

"Whatever, haha. So you guys ready?"

"I hope you got that solo down Zane, it's pretty simple." Danny said, as he handed me the sticks. I nodded, then Danny pointed to the drums. I walked over, putting them on, and preparing my sticks. Dale noticed, took his new sticks and tapped me off. I then played the part leading into the solos, which was just paradiddles up the drums. I then hit the third and fourth drum, still marking time as I waited. First was Richie's solo, then Dale's, then David's. I then put my sticks up and started to play, doing the solo actually clean, no rims.

Sean, Danny, and Dale sat there with a happy look on their faces. "Good job, I'm impressed." Danny said, and I just smiled a bit.

"Hey Dale, Zane!" We looked over to see Tyler, who was pointing to the rest of the line. "You guys better get ready."

Dale and I walked over to join the others, placing are drums down, harnesses on. The snares and basses were chatting as we joined in. "So I think we should do this awesome visual at the breakdown.." David said, which got us all to listen in.

"What do you mean?"

"At the part after the rack…the part where we go. Dut dut digga digga dat, dutdut dutdut, we should have a awesome rock out there." Tyler and the rest of the percussion staff was over by the tree talking, while the pit wasn't paying attention. The pit consisted of nine people, the only one I knew was Anna.

David looked over to the staff then the pit. "We gotta do it, don't let them know that we are gonna do that."

"What's a rock out?" I asked, and David laughed.

"It's where ya shake ya ass. You know, groove. We've never had one, always wanted one. Now's the time to, so do it!"

We all agreed, then suddenly Tyler appeared.

"Soloists, whenever you do your solo, step out, alright?" We all nodded, but we smiled to ourselves.

Suddenly, L came out with his thumbs up, then we got ready. The band was walking out, and I could see Raquel with Helen, laughing as they walked out. For some reason, I really wanted to impress her. The rest of the drumline watched as they walked out, Tyler standing infront of us.

"Drumline, drums up!"

We all quickly grabbed our drums and put them on. It was getting easier for me, and I put them down. We stood at set, waiting.

L stopped the band, who just looked at us, then back at L. The whole 18 person percussion section was ready as L held his hand to us.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the percussion section would like to perform a piece for you this evening that they have worked very hard on. The drum feature for this season, enjoy."

The band then circled around, sitting down while some stood up. Richie looked at us, then began to tap off.

The pit began with a very subliminal opening, rolling on a certain key. We began to mark time as Woody and a girl in the pit played a very soft beat on their drums, then started to crescendo in. We began to dut.

Dale and I hit the shell of our drums, the bass drums hitting their rims except for Woody, and the snares playing on their hoes and their drums.

Then Tyler yelled out. "LET IT STING!"

We rolled and went into the drum feature as the pit began to play Fur Elise at 180. The crowd roared as we dut again. Dale and I returned to the same pattern on our shells, the top two basses playing on the rims, the bottom two playing a beat while the snares played something similar to the beginning. We then played a small part then returned to the shells. The bass drums stepped out, and everyone but them cut off. They played a amazing split, ending with a loud unison at the end, making the crowd yell.

The pit played a part, then we played a couple of flams, then the pit played again, the basses playing a simple run as we played on our shots. The method was call/respond, which I enjoyed greatly. Finally they played again, the snares playing a flam drag with a shot at the end, then Dale and I came in with a simple diddle crossover.

The pit and the drumline came together again, the pit rolled as the whole drumline played a simple paradidle passage, at the end, all the flat drums flipped the sticks and caught them. Dale and I hit a shot on drum one, then the pit began to play the melody again, as we joined back in with the clicks on the shells.

Finally a different part was coming as we played a simple crescendo part, but it got complex, the snares and the tenors began a call/response of their own, the snares playing just a single hit as we played diddles. We then did paradiddle-diddles up the drums, and hit a shot, then went into the solos, the pit playing a piano level transition.

Richie stepped out, playing a pretty intense snare solo, which I couldn't tell the rudiments since I was so focused on mine. When he stepped back, Dale stepped out, playing two grandmas, ending on both three and four, stepping back. Ryan stepped out, playing a mainly flams with diddles thrown in, ending with a invert cheese.

Finally, I stepped out, playing my scrape solo perfectly clean, ending with a shot, stepping back. I noticed Raquel's eyes were on me, and I couldn't help but feel good. Catie then stepped out, playing her solo, then stepping back, all of the flats including the bass line who had a sick triplet roll split, rolled as two pit members came out with a tom rack, making the crowd to roar again as the snares began to play on them.

We began the tom rack part, which was pretty fun to do, I had to admit this feeling I was having, from playing for this crowd was the best feeling I've ever had. Was this the feeling of performing for a crowd? I didn't know as the tingling in my spine wouldn't stop. Suddenly at the end, Tyler yelled out. "TAKE IT ZANE!" At the end of the tom rack part, I gritted my teeth as the whole section entered a measure rest.

"DUT DUT DUT DUT!"

I heard Helen scream at me. "GO ZANE!" I couldn't help but smirk a little.

The snares began to play their little ditty while the basses played a dampen groove, then Dale and I came in with a scrape split between us both, then we entered back with the snares, playing a similar part to the basses split, then we began the tom rack part again, except the snares were playing on their drum and shot instead of a tom. This was the moment, and I heard Richie growl, the anticipation building, the whole drumline was moving away from each other, surprising everyone, even Tyler.

Finally, the moment came, and I heard Richie:

"One, two, three, four…dut dut ROCK IT OUT!"

We all began to dance as we played the rock out section, everyone screaming for us as we grooved with the music. Finally, at the end, we just played diddles, then hit a shot.

"WHO!"

We ended the song, just with a loud ending on the drums as the crowd watched. We sat there, and the crowd just roared as we ended the song.

I couldn't resist the proud feeling I had. The tingling sensation that was overflowing in my body, the feeling of tears welling up from just pure excitement.

Hopefully, that would happen with every performance.