"Why the HELL do we have to stand in line to perform!" David yelled loudly as the other band members stood there just as annoyed as he was. The winds kept air as the drummers took their drums off. The colorguard was with the pit, waiting to set up.
"The dance team, what else? Friken skanks." Dale said, as the whole drumline turned to see the dance team quickly running towards them.
Zane just watched as most of them ran by, some of them acknowledging their existence while others didn't even care that they stood right there waiting for them to perform so they could perform. Was there any respect for the band? Zane sighed deeply as he held his drums up, not even really paying attention as he walked forward, thinking they were all done, when someone collided into him, toppling him over on the ground, sending his drums off.
Instead of the drumline rushing to help, they broke out laughing as usual. Zane growled in annoyance as he looked up to see his face was met with another's. He was shocked, not by the fact someone hit him and sent his drums over.
He was more shocked that his eyes were locked with the most mesmerizing eyes he ever saw. They were a light blue, like a sky on a warm summer day. His eyes broke from the trance as he looked at the face of the owner of the eyes. It was a girl, who had a tan complexion that had glitter all over her face, beautiful white teeth, and flaming hot lips. Of course, it was make-up, but Zane still thought she was the most beautiful thing he ever saw. She sighed, picking up her stuff.
"Sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!" She said, as Zane was just speechless. He couldn't think of anything to say to her.
She noticed Zane's silence, and smiled. "Are you like, mute or something?" She asked, and Zane shook his head quickly, blushing a bit.
"N-No, sorry I was just-"
Before Zane could speak, Matt spoke up. "He was taken back by your beautiful features."
Zane turned around and shot a glare at Matt, while the rest of the drumline snickered. He mouthed a 'piss off' and turned back around quickly, just to see the girl was snickering along with them.
"Well, I'll take that as a compliment. Sorry I gotta go, nice running into you!" She said, as she got up and quickly started to run towards the group of dancers who was laughing with her as they looked at Zane, who just got up.
"Matt..."
Matt turned, looking at Zane. "Yes Zane?"
"I'm going to KILL you." Zane said, his eyes narrowed, malice in his voice. He was mad that Matt had to embarrass him like that. Infront of a girl like that. Of course, Matt just snickered as the rest of the drumline did. Dale went up behind Zane and shook him.
"Chill bro. Not like you and her are gonna get together anyway. You're in band, she's on the dance team. They're mostly skanks anyway."
Woody nodded in agreement. "Trust me man, I tried my freshmen year. I got turned down pretty harshly."
Zane sighed, picking up his drums and placing them back on his harness. They were right. She was way out of his league. He looked at the rest of the drumline, who was just talking. Dale was in a conversation with the rest of the seniors, talking about how this was the last first performance they will ever have. Matt and TJ were talking about a video game. Storm was just standing there like a doofus, watching the dance team perform.
Zane looked over to watch as well. They were dancing to a pop song Zane didn't know, but that didn't catch his attention. That girl did. He wonder why he was staring at her, but he couldn't help it. She just had this aura around her that instantly attracted him to her.
"Everyone get ready, they are almost done!" Lavine yelled out, and the drumline quickly scurried to get in their set positions.
When they got in set position, Lavine pointed at Lisa, who clapped her hands together.
"Band, attention!"
The winds got in set position as the drummers hit their drums. Lisa turned around, clapped her hands four times to set the tempo, and Woody did the taps. They started to march on the field, the dance team running the front under the stands to watch surprisingly.
The crowd clapped and cheered a bit, not knowing what to expect this year. The only people to yell were the band parents of course, including Zane's mom, who yelled out: "That's my baby boy!" Zane thanked the Lord she didn't scream his name.
As they marched toward the center of the fifty, Lisa clapped very loudly, and the Woody tapped his drum four times, making the band stop. They separated to do a warm up.
Tyler would usually be there to help them, but he was up in the stands with the critics. As they turned their back, Richie tapped off Legatos, which the drumline played, wanting to get warm up over with.
When the warm up was over, they got in a huddle. Richie sighed deeply.
"Alright guys, first show. And yes, we have critics in the audience. So make sure you pay attention to your direction changes and feet during marching. Zane and Storm, don't feel nervous, turn that into energy. And remember, feel the hype. Alright guys, you ready."
The drumline began to sway as they stood in the circle, all of them, even Zane and Storm, were pumped up. Richie then yelled out.
"DRUMS, WHAT DO WE MAKE?"
The whole drumline yelled in response.
"SWEET BEATS!"
Richie then played a little lick on his drums, and the drumline quickly played a down beat.
They ran to their opening sets, and Zane stood in his, breathing deeply.
Ladies and gentlemen, after a painful month away at band camp, this talented group of individuals wish to perform their program, CODES, for us tonight. Under the direction of Mike Lavine, this is the Redskin Marching Band!
The crowd clapped and cheered as Lisa stood on her podium, making sure everyone was set. She then raised her hands.
"1...3...1 2 3 4!"
The show began.
The basses and quads began to click as the snares began to play their hoes. When Zane started playing on the spock, he began to move, his marching alright as far as he knew. The winds finally came in, and the drumline prepared themselves as the big hit came, the hype causing them not to play under the horns at all, but they didn't care.
The solos came up as Zane and Dale prepared for their solo. The snares played their solo pretty clean, making Zane nervous. He shook it off, however, when he saw that girl watching him intently. He was surprised, but he played through the solo.
The solo had no rims whatsoever, making Dale's eyes open wide. He did not turn to Zane, however, as he was focused playing through the show.
When they got to the fugue, Zane's playing began to become more fluent, which Dale took notice too. During the show, his playing was way better than it was during practice, which was probably due to the hype. Zane still had problems with stick heights though, but that will come in time.
They got to the sixteenth note crescendo, but one of the snares ticked, making it completely dirty. Zane noticed Tyler shake his head, while one of the critics say something to him.
They marched on, playing their opener with as much ferocity as they could, and when they got to the push to the front, the drumline couldn't contain themselves as they got to the measure of silence. They dut loud and proud, as the crowd roared from the intensity.
When they ended the opener, the drumline were the only one who stepped out, nodding their head to the audience, which surprised them. Matt mumbled something since he was behind the snares, and Lavine couldn't see him.
"Um...guys, what the fuck."
Lisa, who had her back turned to the audience, eyes were open in shock as she stared them down, and Lavine was giving them the most awful stare that Zane has ever recieved.
Lisa began to count off the ballad, and the flats quickly marched off.
The drumline did not play at all during the ballad, they just marched. The ballad went by quick for the drumline, and the opening of the drum feature was on it's way.
The winds held a chord, and the pit stopped playing, and Lisa yelled out.
"1...3...1 2 3 4!" It was alot faster than the other count off she did, as the drum feature began.
The drummers dut as Woody played his crescendo part, coming in with the little things. At the end, they all of the flats did a triplet roll, which didn't become a crap-shoot but was still a tad uneven. Zane noticed the critics nodding.
The drum feature had very complex drill while the winds stood in pods back field, the drumline sprinting all over the field. Zane actually thanked God that Danny put him through those torture sessions in the morning so he could have the endurance he has right now. The other drummers had a harder time than Zane did.
When the basses played their solo, the crowd actually cheered. Zane was surprised, but he kept his game face on.
It got to the diddle splits, they marched in a triangle, with Dale and Zane in front. When they got to the end, they began to do their solos, Richie started off, playing clean, hitting a ping at the end of it, putting some body movement into it.
Dale was next playing his, and ending with a new double stop he put in, looking to the ground as he did. David then played his, actually being quite serious till the end, where he said something that only the drummers could hear. "BALLS!"
Zane kept cool, and played his kinda clean, ending with the shot, throwing his stick up and catching it. Catie played hers, and ending with a shot like Zane, then coming back in with a giant triplet roll that sounded ok, though Zane wasn't quite up there yet.
They played their tom part, and growled as the rest of the winds came back, doing some body movements that Lavine put in during band camp. The intensity during the drum feature was evident that even the crowd could feel it.
Near the end of the drum feature, Dale said: "Zane, take us home!"
The drumline stopped and there was silence except for Zane, who during the hype couldn't help himself.
"One, two, three, four...dut dut dut dut!"
The winds came in with a part that Lavine wrote for them, and the snares played their little solo, actually a little dirty because stick heights were everywhere. The tenors played theirs the exact same, because hype was going crazy.
The drumline went back to the tom part but without the toms, the winds were behind them just playing. Before the groove, Richie yelled out.
"One, two, three, four...dut dut ROCK IT OUT!"
The drumline began to groove as the crowd all cheered, even the dance team did. At the end of the groove, the drumline ran towards the front of the field, and the winds followed, playing a long chord as the drummers played a sixteenth note diddle frenzy, then into a triplet roll, then straight sixteenth notes. They hit their spot, right infront of the pit.
They screamed hoo, which they got from the Cadets, and ended the piece with gigantic double stops on the flats, making the crowd stand up in cheer.
However, a staff member and band director were not happy.
"What was THAT?"
The winds were up against the wall, while the drumline was in the middle of the band room. The pit and colorguard were at the door, hiding from the wrath of Lavine.
Lavine's face was angry as the drumline just stood there, taking the anger. Tyler was beside him, but not as equally mad as he was.
"Sir, I have no idea what you are talking about." Dale said, who stood infront of the drumlline, defending them.
"When you did that stand out! I took that out TODAY!" Lavine said, yelling loudly as Dale shook his head in defense.
"We never rehearsed it without it! We never heard anything about it!" Dale said, as the drumline began to agree with him. Zane was absolutely terrified of Lavine now, that man could shout.
Suddenly, Lavine walked away from the drumline and towards the winds.
"You all didn't TELL them!"
The winds kept silent, and the pit, guard, and some of the band parents walked away from the band room, obviously not wanting to get in the way.
"This is ONE band ladies and gentlemen! ONE! Like that crappy Drumline movie, this is one band and one sound! It isn't the Winds featuring the percussion and guard! How dare you all not tell them, I don't care if you FORGOT! As soon as I TOLD you all you should of went and told them!"
Suddenly, someone mumbled something, and Lavine's attention was turned to them.
"What was that? Come on, whoever said it say it louder!"
"It was just a Friday night performance sir...aren't you overreacting?" One of the tubas said, as the rest of the winds stood motionless. No one ever said a statement like that to Lavine. Ever.
Lavine shook his head.
"We had alot of other BAND directors watching us. Alot of other BAND member watching us. Even JUDGES were watching us!" Lavine said, as he walked back to the board.
Tyler then walked forward. "This is actually a big deal guys. Now I may just be the percussion instructor, but I've been around. The first performance is always where people get to get the first judgment on how a band does this year. And I gotta say, where it would of been ok for the drumline to do something like that, if it wasn't for you guys were standing complete set waiting for Lisa's orders. Not only did you make yourselves look bad, you mainly made the drumline look bad. Like they don't follow the rules their band director give them during a show. I got some complaints that I had to defend the percussion section I teach."
Zane was surprised about how surprisingly chill Tyler was. It was like he was the kinda good cop while Lavine was the bad cop with a anger issue.
Lavine's anger died down, but he still was frustrated as he spoke. "You all need to get your crap together. This band has a chance, I will not tolerate this again. Except a hard practice first day of school. You all...deserved it. Dismissed." Lavine then walked in his office, closing the door behind him.
The winds looked at each other confused, but started to put up stuff anyway. The pit came back in and put their stuff up as did the guard. The drumline began to put their drums away when Tyler called them.
"Percussion, meet me outside when you're done."
When Zane was done, he came outside to see Tyler leaning on his car. The rest of the drumline came along behind Zane, along with the pit.
"Alright guys...so the show wasn't awful." Tyler explained, and he nodded back towards the band room. "That wasn't your fault either. The winds should of told you."
"I had a talk with them. It was one of them damn freshmen who was suppose to tell us." TJ said, while the rest of the drumline groaned.
"Anyway, guys, there was some dirt in the feature which we will address Monday."
"Wait, what? Last week is the last free week we have until school!" Matt said, and Tyler shrugged.
"Yup. We're having it Monday nine to nine. We're gonna be cleaning and adding visuals. L said it was cool too."
They all groaned, but nodded anyway.
"Good, well, I'm gonna go home. See ya'll bright and early Monday morning!" Tyler said, getting in his car.
The rest of the drumline sighed as he rolled off, all beginning to leave. Zane as about to call his mom until Richie hit him on the back.
"You going to Friday's?"
"Friday's?" Zane asked.
"Yea, it's a tradition. After every home football game or event we go to Friday's. The whole band does, you wanna come?"
"I'm SO hungry!" Alex yelled out. Zane was surprised to see only a few of the band people there. They were sitting across a huge table.
Both of the Alex were there, both complaining about how hungry they were. Helen was sitting beside of Anna and tenor sax Alex. Two twins also sat at the table, they looked strange, like aliens to Zane. Though it was mean, he couldn't help but think that. They were bugged eyes, each with curly red hair and freckles. They were very identical, like the guys from the Harry Potter movies. Beside them was a guy with a buzzed head and glasses, talking to colorguard member who kissed Zane and another who was a bit heavy set, with glasses and long brown hair.
The drumline, minus Dale, sat in booths, and of course, Ritchie snagged the last seat. They ignored Zane, who just shrugged and sat down beside the Alex that Dale told him about. He stopped and just gave Zane a weird look, while the tenor sax Alex and Helen just looked at him.
"Um. What makes you think you can sit here bro?"
Zane shrugged, about to get up until Helen started to laugh.
"Lang's messing with ya, sit down." Zane was surprised to hear her talk to him, since she didn't speak to him at all during the time at band camp.
"Lang?" He asked, and the other Alex smiled.
"Yea, just call me Lang. Less confusion because of this guy right here." Lang said, as Zane sighed in relief, but then his attention turned to Helen.
"So, wait, I gotta ask why are you talking to me now since you ignored me the rest of band camp?"
Helen shrugged. "Well you didn't talk to me. That and Raquel was so mad at you." Suddenly, Alex's face turned dark as Lang nodded.
"Yea man, she was so mad at you. You blew her down."
Zane just looked at them as the waiter asked them what they wanted to drink. He was confused. Why was Raquel mad at him? He didn't do anything to her. Infact, he was nice to her. As far as he knew. Wait, what if she took that for being mean? Wait, how could she?
"Sir..?"
Zane snapped as he looked up at the waiter, who was tapping his foot. "What would you like to drink?"
"W-water, please. Sorry." The waiter shrugged and walked off, leaving Zane back into this drama.
"What did I do? I didn't do anything." Zane said, trying to defend himself.
"You don't know what you did? Man, you're hopeless Zane.." Helen said, laughing a little bit. "Though I don't take sides, I gotta admit, you ignoring her was cold."
"Ignoring her? What do you mean?" Zane asked, as the waiter returned with their drinks. Zane took his, taking a sip, then sitting it down. "I didn't do anything wrong to her. I don't get it."
Suddenly, when the waiter was out of sight, Alex slammed the table, making his drink topple over and spill on the table, getting a bit on himself.
"You FUCKING ignored her text messages asshole!"
Everyone at the table was quiet, and Zane noticed how red Alex's face was. He looked like he was about to jump over the table and tackle him.
"Alex, calm the fuck down." He heard the buzzed guy down the table say, while Alex growled, getting up and walking out the door.
Zane just looked at Helen, who nodded. "He's right, I was there when it happened. She texted you saying you were cute and that you were really nice, she'd like to get to know you better, but you just kinda blew her off."
"What? I never got anything like that from her!" Zane said, defending himself, when suddenly he noticed something. His pockets were empty. His pockets were never empty. Usually, he would have his phone on him the whole time.
"Yea, he's not lying. It ended with her saying something about how he'd laugh at her. He must of not gotten any of the texts."
He looked over to see Lang, holding his phone in his hand, going through it. Zane grabbed his phone. "What the hell man!"
Lang laughed a bit as he just shrugged. "It's alright bro, I do that to everyone. I just had to make sure. I'm kinda of a klepto, but not really. I don't steal, I take and borrow."
Helen laughed as she cleaned up Alex's mess. "He somehow managed to get in the girl's dorm last year and took my bra. Hung it over Lavine's door post. I almost shoved his baritone somewhere that it would never come out."
"Yea, I remember that pretty well. I remember that one time Dale found your panties on top of his suitcase after ACCs...that was all Lang and David."
Zane looked to see the buzzcut guy, smiling as he took Alex's seat. "He won't be back for awhile, so I'll just keep it warm. My name is Kyle, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too." Zane said, and Kyle pointed down the line.
"Those two kids with the freckles? The twins? Their names are Ron and Jon. They play trumpet with Helen here."
Helen cringed at the sound of their name. "They're...interesting characters, I'll tell you that much." Zane looked at them and they just sat there, blankly staring back at him. He was a little creeped, turning his attention back to Kyle, who was laughing.
"Yup, and those two down there? That's Laura and Jenelle. Jenelle was the one who kissed you that day at band camp."
Helen laughed. "She would NOT stop talking about how soft your lips were! Like, they were like a baby's butt cheeks, but on your lips!" Zane blushed and drove back into his seat with that comment.
"Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Sorry. I tend to do that alot." Kyle said, and Helen returned to her serious look.
"Well, she thought you ignored her. It sucks for her. I suggest sometime you get a hold of her and talk to her about it."
Suddenly, Alex walked back over to the table, still looking angry. Kyle got up quickly and scurried back to his seat, while Alex retook his seat. He looked at Zane, and sighed.
"I'm sorry about that...that was immature. Raquel means alot to me. I don't get why you did that to her."
"Alex, he didn't know about it. His shitty phone didn't get the messages." Lang defended the clueless drummer, and Alex turned red, but not in anger this time. Pure embarrassment.
"Oh, dude, I'm so sorry about that. I-I feel really stupid now..." Alex said, putting his head down as Zane shook his head.
"It's alright, don't worry about it.." Zane said.
They began to talk about other things. About band camp and their experiences with it. When Zane told them about his grueling experience tracking and marching, all of them looked at him shock. They weren't use to that critical training by themselves, and couldn't imagine doing that all morning.
"That's like...brutal. I mean, when we're all with Lavine it's rough as hell. But damn..." Lang said, as Zane just shrugged it off.
"Lavine's a asshole. I don't see why he's a band director-" Alex said, but Helen cut him off.
"Actually, he's really nice. He actually gives me private lessons outside of band...I never heard him play but he really helps out. He says I can get first trumpet easily if I wanted too, but I just want to stay where I am now."
"Well you are pretty good Helen, damn you need to try out for a corp." Helen laughed at Lang's remark.
"Yea, maybe next year...I'm thinking about the Blue Stars, but I don't know.."
"Excuse me."
They all looked over to beside of Zane, who turned to be surprised to see the person speaking to them.
It was the dance team member who Zane collided into.
"I'm SO surprised to see you here!" She said, talking to Zane, who just turned red in embarrassment. Alex looked at Zane, and back at the girl.
"You know him?"
The girl smiled. "Yea, we bumped into each other at Friday Night Lights. Apparently, he's taken a liking to little ol me." She said, as Alex just laughed a bit.
"N-No, it's not that, you just uh...I'm sorry about-uh..yea..." Zane couldn't find the words to speak for some reason. He was just tongue tied, for some odd reason around this girl.
She laughed a bit, mainly at Zane's expense. "My name is Naomi. I'm a freshmen, which I guess you are too?"
Zane just nodded, and finally could speak. "I'm Zane, nice to meet you.." He said, and Naomi smiled sweetly at him.
"Well, it was nice bumping into you for the second time Zane. Well, not literally this time. I'm just eating with my friends and I saw you. I just really wanted to say hey." She explained, and looked at the rest of the group of people, even the drumline, who were surprised to see her. The only one who wasn't was Alex, who was just getting a good laugh out of Zane's reaction.
"Uhh..yea, it's nice to bump into you too. I'm really sorry about that by the way, I should of paid attention-" Before Zane could continue, Catie spoke up.
"Oh Zane, you were paying attention to her pretty little face, weren't you honey?" She said, but she noticed Zane put his hand behind his back, flipping her off without Naomi seeing. Instead of brushing it off, Catie got up and put Zane in a chokehold, making him lose all air.
"Don't flip me off, I don't like to take offers from little boys like you!" Catie said, while Zane gasped for air. Surprisingly, Naomi just giggled a bit at Zane's reaction, and waved at him.
"Well, I gotta go back to my table. It was nice meeting you Zane..hopefully we bump into each other again sometime." She said, walking off.
Zane pushed Catie off him quickly, and was just able to get a "Yea, you too" to her, which he found incredibly stupid.
"Good job Zane, blew it with one of the most popular freshmen in school..." Storm said, as he shook his head. Everyone started to laugh, while Zane just sighed.
"I hate my life."
"Oh Zaney-poo, don't be like that. Everything is gonna be a-ok!" Helen said, and Zane just looked at her with a very annoyed expression.
"Zaney-poo?"
"Yep, my pet name for you. Oh this is gonna be a wonderful year!" Helen said, as the waiter returned.
"Are you all ready to order?"
Lang put his hands up to the sky. "Thank you LORD! Let's get some grub!"
Zane sighed deeply as he looked at the group around him, but he couldn't help but have a faint smile, wondering what life will be like with these people for the next couple of months.
"Dut...dut...dut dut dut dut!"
The met was on 180, as the drumline marched across the asphalt, playing their feature with everything they got. Zane was focusing on his sound quality as he marched, the late August heat getting to him. All he wore was a pair of shorts, a pair of aviators on his face.
Across the field was Tyler and Sean, whom came to watch them after his college band camp. Sean looked over at the caption head, who was watching the drumline with alot of focus on the quads.
"Sean, do you notice how much difference there is between Dale and Zane?" Tyler asked, while Sean turned his head to look at the two.
"Yea..why? Haven't you noticed?"
Tyler laughed a bit while he watched the drumline play their solos. "Not till yesterday. Zane is showing alot of potential each day I watch him drum. He may not act like it, but he's very passionate about what he's doing right now. He's already made alot of improvement just in these couple of months. Dale, however, is arrogant about his abilities right now. He's pretty confident that he is the best drummer on the line. Now, I like confidence, but the way he feels is to far. Zane's technique..is more fluent than Dale's."
Sean nodded, and pointed at Zane.
"I think he has more potential than Dale and I ever did. He's not a natural, but he has alot of drive to work."
Tyler nodded.
"Hopefully, we can get him to stay and become better. He is gonna be the only veteran flat we will have next year."
"Don't worry about next year's line, focus on the one now. I'm afraid to say, the snares don't have any uniformity of technique at all. David's really stubborn about changing and Catie just won't. They both need to get the hang of Richie's. That's gonna kill you guys, along with Zane and Dale. In my opinion, Dale needs to learn Zane's technique. He kinda has a Tim Jackson thing going on."
Tyler nodded, and was surprised to see the drumline run back to their opening sets of the show. Richie ran back to the met, changing back to the opener tempo.
"Well. Atleast they are making up for the mistake they made Friday. I'll worry about the technique soon enough. The first competition is only a month away."
Zane sighed deeply as he put his drums away. The practice was pretty brutal, and he probably had sunburns on his back. Tyler had ripped them apart after practice, expecting better from the Redskin line. The seniors, mad and upset with themselves, quickly put their stuff up and left, without saying a word to any of the other percussion members. The pit was also scurrying to leave, since they weren't really rip into, they had played their parts actually well.
Tyler and Sean left as well, wanting to grab a bite. Storm and TJ left as well, going home to play some video games. That left Zane alone. He was surprised to see that he was the only person there.
"Hey Zane."
He turned around and jumped to see Smitty, who was pointing to the door. "I'm just chilling out here, if you want some company."
Zane nodded. "Thanks man. I thought I was the only one here."
"Nah, I gotta wait on my parents anyway. Are you?" He asked as Zane closed the door to the percussion closet, walking outside with him. The sun was still out, so he put his aviators back on. He decided to not wear his shirt, since he was probably burnt anyway.
"Yea I guess, I haven't called yet. I actually don't live that far from the school, so I may just walk." Zane said, and Smitty shook his head.
"No way! I'll ask if you can ride with my parents-"
"No I don't want to trouble you dude. I'll just walk home. I need the exercise anyway." Zane said, and Smitty laughed.
"Sure you do...asshole. Hey, wanna go watch the dance team? I hear their practicing inside the school. I need to pick up my schedule anyway."
"Why would I want to watch the dance team?" Zane asked, and Smitty shrugged his shoulders, with a smirk on his face.
"I don't know, cause their hot as hell." He noticed Zane rub the back of his head as started to walk towards the main building.
"I gotta pick up my schedule anyway..."
As Zane and Smitty walked in, they bumped into Helen, who was carrying a piece of paper with her. Zane was surprised to see her, especially at how she was dressed. She wore a pair of jean shorts, a white tank top, and actually had make up on, her hair was down. She was carrying her keys with her, and she smiled.
"Well hi Zaney-poo! What's ya doing with your shirt off?"
"Just got done at practice, picking up my schedule, why are you dressed like that?" Zane asked, and Helen just blinked.
"Like what?"
"Like..girly."
"I'm a girl Zane, I don't have rehearsal today. I'm not like...getting ready to go to prom or something." Helen said, but was surprised when she heard a bit of a snicker.
"But a girl should always look her best, that's why you don't have a boyfriend." Zane looked from behind Helen to see a girl wearing a purple casual dress, wearing alot of make up. She had blue eyes, and her hair was permed into dark ringlets. Zane had to admit, she was actually pretty attractive.
Helen shot a glare back at her, then smirked a bit. "Yea, that's why I made out with Anthony while you just sat right beside of us on the band bus back home. Oh yea, and don't forget that I wasn't wearing make up either."
The girl's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Oh, I remember. He was just a crush. To bad I hear alot of the guys in your section like to look at my ass when I march by them."
Zane then remembered seeing this girl at band camp. She was a clarinet, and was always prettied up, never once was seen without make up. She somehow managed to get there on time, every single time. Even when she sweat some of it off, she would always have some kind of thing with her to fix it.
"I'm pretty sure these two do the same...well, except for the nerdy one. He's in the pit."
Suddenly, Smitty looked down, hurt by the comment she made. Zane shook his head.
"I don't really have a set near you...and I'm not into big asses."
The girl's eyes widened at the comment, she then blushed, and walked out of the school quickly, while Helen and Smitty couldn't contain themselves.
"Oh my god, I love you man." Smitty said, as Zane smiled.
"Well, I mean, she does..." Before Zane made a actual comment about how she may of had a big one, but a nice one, Helen cut him off.
"Man, I hate that chick. Always prettied up, every single day. It's like she's trying to whore herself out to the band. Even the color guard girls aren't as bad as her!"
"Carmandie? She's always been like that. I go to church with her. Not like she notices, anyway." Smitty said, while Zane just looked at him.
"You know her that well?"
"Well, not really know her, but I've been in her youth group. I'm usually ignored. She mistreats everyone she knows, except for the guys she likes. It's pretty bad."
Helen nodded in agreement, then looked at her phone. "Oh shit, I'm suppose to be at the mall in five minutes. Oh well." She quickly grabbed Zane and gave him a hug. "See you next Monday, be ready for practice!"
She then waved at Smitty, running out of the school. Smitty looked at Zane in envy, while Zane shrugged. They walked over towards the cafeteria, where there were tables spread out. One had Freshmen printed on the side, and Zane went to look for his schedule. Smitty quickly found his his, then walked over to Zane, still very envious of the tenor player.
"I don't get how you are so good with the women." Smitty said, and Zane laughed a little as he picked up his schedule.
"I don't know either...I don't think they like me that way, but as a friend."
"ZANE!"
Suddenly, they looked up to see have the dance team looking at them, including Naomi, who was smiling. "What are you doing here? Coming to see me?"
Smitty noticed that Zane's face, and even some part of his body was turning red as he looked down, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
"No, just picking up my schedule..." He said, and Naomi smiled, then turning to Smitty.
"How are you? I haven't talk to you in.."
"A year?" Smitty said, surprised that she was talking to him.
"Yea, sorry about that. Anyway, Zane, how are you? You look pretty burnt." Some of the dance team members were giggling while Zane didn't look back up at her.
"Just had drumline practice."
"Percussion practice." Smitty corrected him, but the dance team members didn't really seem to care about what Smitty had to say.
"Cool, anyway, I was having a party at my house tomorrow night. I was wondering if you'd like to come. You can bring him and Alex along. We'd love to have you!" Naomi said, and that surprised both of the band kids.
"Uh..yea, sure."
"Great! Here is my number!" Naomi seemed to expect him to say yes as she handed him a paper, nicely folded. "Just text me and let me know its you, I'll send you directions." She said, as she smiled at him. She was poked on the shoulder by another dance team member, and she pointed back to the gym. "Well, I gotta go back to practice, I'll see you tomorrow! Bye Zane."
She quickly ran back to the gym with the other dance team members, while Smitty turned and looked at Zane, who just shook his head walking off.
"I don't wanna watch them anymore."
The pit member laughed, and shook his head.
"I figured you wouldn't."
Zane sighed as he walked out of the front door.
This is gonna be one hell of a year.
I do realize that I changed the story from first person to third. Let's just say the first couple of chapters were Zane's view of his band camp experience. Also, some characters are still needed for future chapters (I can't promise they will make a appearence in the next chapter, but I do promise they will be in the story.)
This chapter was kind of rushed, but it's the longest I've written so far. The next one will be up as soon as I can!
Q.P.