AN: I'm coming up on a very busy 2 weeks: my birthday, my parents visiting, and some travel, so I think this may be the last posted chapter for a few weeks or so. I really meant to introduce the Instructor by now, but Rigby had some things she needed to get through first… If you're dying to know about 'him,' I've written a few drabbles (100 drabble project) to start some work on his character.

They are mine still.

Chapter 4: Summer Backslide

"Good feeling...
won't you stay with me just a little longer?
It always seems like your leaving,
when I need you here just a little longer."

- Good Feeling, Violent Femmes

"So, you probably know why I've called you here today…"

I received blank stares from everyone except Emma, who was grinning like an idiot. Looking at her obvious enthusiasm, I couldn't help but smile back at her. I continued, "Okay, maybe you don't know why I called a meeting today. First of all, let me personally say congratulations to all of you – Mr. Jenkins and I are confident that you will help us shake things up in the Parktown Pirate marching band."

This is it. This is the point where I have to lay all my cards on the table. I took a deep breath, and continued, "I'm not going to shy away from it, guys, the fact is, we currently suck."

I paused for a moment to see if anyone would argue, but there was none. Well, at least we're all on the same page. Of course, there was a fine line between apathy and emotion.

Too enthused by my own emotion, I started pacing the band room floor, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm kind of sick of it. I'm sick of losing, of sloppy playing and marching, of being laughed at or ignored by every other school we come across. That's why I auditioned for Drum Major and I think, or, at least I hope, that's why Jenkins gave me the position. Look, we've got all the elements to make a good band, we just haven't been using them. So, I figured that's at least one thing we have on our side. All the other bands in our district don't have a lot of room to move, but I believe we can really surprise everyone with our improvement."

I risked a look up, and was greeted by some smiles and nods. Finally – a reaction!

"But here's the thing, I really can't do it on my own. If we're going to shake things up and actually win a competition or two, it's going to have to come from ALL the leadership, and that could mean people not liking us. It could mean long hours in the sun. It could mean a lot of things we're not used to. And what I want to know is, are you with me? If things are going to change, we can't just talk about it, I'm going to need the leadership to help me act on these things."

I looked around the room, hoping that I would get a verbal 'second' from someone. All I heard was silence. Was it possible that my dreams were about to be crushed this early in the season?

My hero came from where I least expected it. Everett replied, "The Line is behind you."

Emma chirped, "I'll make sure the woodwinds are, too!"

Todd added, "Don't worry about the Brass."

We all looked at Adelaide. By far, she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. However, she did have some actual natural ability with the flags. Realizing we were all waiting for an answer, she said brightly, "Oh, right…um, I'll do whatever I can with the girls."

It was a start I could do something with.

Crossing my arms, I continued, "Okay then, our new 'attitude' begins next week. The 8th graders are coming up to see how they like marching band, and we're going to show them how things are going to be. If they want to stick around to be with a bunch of winners, then at least they'll know what they're getting into."

And so, we adopted my plans. And actually stuck to them. While I said the meetings and practices were 'voluntary,' we actually got a decent turnout out of people over the summer. The numbers waxed and waned as kids went on vacation and had to work, but overall I think I saw almost every member of the band come through one of my little mini camps. I went back to basics, and even though we didn't have the drill for the show, or the final musical arrangements, we could go over scales and tuning and correct posture and rolling our steps. It was also very good for me, because I became super comfortable conducting the band. There was a healthy respect going, and even a bit of confidence starting to show on everyone's faces. Before, we were always laughing at ourselves, never holding attention or standing up straight – it was amazing we could even get through an eight minute show. There had been times when slacking off had been fun, but this new sense of accomplishment felt way better.

I had even managed to get through to Adelaide. One day, early in the summer, I decided to be a bit sneaky. After growing frustrated by the second to see the girls, once again, prancing around the field with no particular direction, rather than actually practice any set routine or block with their flags, I wandered up and requested, "Teach me."

There was an immediate spark of interest from the four girls who were actually there. I had to admit, it was more difficult than it looked, and it took me most of the afternoon to master a simple spin. Gritting my teeth, and knowing this was for the best of the band, I asked politely, "Could you put together a routine that would help me practice?"

Adelaide looked at me as if I was crazy for a minute wanting to learn a skill I would have no real use for, but then, in her bouncy voice, answered, "Sure!"

My hope was that the 'help' she was going to give me would turn into a set of basics she could use with the rest of the section. The Guard seemed to be lacking what musicians had naturally – scales and rudiments. Over the next week, while I acquired a pretty decent set of basic Guard skills, a warm up set of basics was formed. As much progress as we made, I wondered idly, would Ned really be able to help this section come Fall? I had all but forgotten we were even going to get help in a month's time. We had already come so far, I almost wondered it we really even needed this guy's help. Of course, he would be able to polish the group, but I didn't want him to interfere with our new found confidence. I knew it was only a short trip back to where we had been.

In this manner, the summer passed quickly and my constant marching activity had a totally unexpected personal bonus. While I've never had body image problems, I wouldn't have ever exactly classified myself as 'healthy' or 'fit' until now. From May, I had dropped four sizes and gotten a sweet tan (even if I had obvious tan lines). My arms were crazy muscular from the conducting and my hair had pretty blonde streaks in it. When I passed by myself in the mirror it occurred to me that I was actually turning into something of a hottie. Why hadn't I auditioned for Drum Major years ago?

I was in a further great mood because Mr. Jenkins was going to be passing out the music to the band the following day, and it would be the first of our official pre-band camp sessions. We would have one final week of the entire band practicing before Ned joined us. I looked back on the summer with a lot of pride. While we weren't the best in the region, we were definitely the best Parktown had ever been…and I owed a lot of the improvements to the underclassmen. It had been a big surprise to me. When we first started things, I fully anticipated the upperclassmen to pick up the slack, and quite honestly, was even harder on the little ninth and tenth graders…but they didn't question me. If anything, they worked harder. I'm not sure if it was a weird connection or allegiance to Emma, but whatever the reason, they were the true force behind our improvement.

But tonight, as I reflected on things, I wondered if I hadn't missed out on my almost last real summer. While I was never a girl to have some sort of summer fling, part of me wished I was. It was difficult not to notice the constant flirting and summer romances that had started as a result of my summer camps. Well, honestly, if you put that many teenagers together, something is bound to happen.

It's not that I was without a chance of one either…

Although it had been difficult, I had resisted the stares and appreciative glances from Everett all summer. Our paths hadn't crossed that much. He promised me he would take care of the Line, and I had to believe him. They practiced separately from the rest of us, and that was fine by me – I had enough going on with just the band. I'm not sure if it was the fact that I had been too long without any male companionship, or just that Everett and I were a really good fit together, but I was starting to really wonder why I had broken up with him in the first place. He had asked to meet up with me at 'our place' later tonight under the pretense of talking about my old section. I had to wonder if that's really what he wanted to discuss.

So, even though I wouldn't admit it, I did dress more carefully than I usually would. With all my weight loss, I actually had more to choose from. My mom, really proud of not only my drum majorness, but also my commitment, had noticed I had to belt everything up, so last week she took me on a bit of a shopping spree. While I wanted to get mostly work out and warm up clothes for practice, my mom forced me to buy a few other things that I could wear at school. Tonight, I was glad she had.

I suggested to Everett that we meet up, rather than him picking me up. I figured if I could just make it to the school year starting, then maybe I would be able to escape the backslide straight into my ex-boyfriend's arms. We had been moving towards a friendship, but there were moments of weakness on both of our sides, and a new flirtation had started that I wasn't entirely comfortable with. I knew myself, and I knew I wasn't the world's strongest individual when it came to a pair of strong arms.

Everett was waiting for me as I pulled into the local Chipotle (AN: just go with it, I'm 5 months off from having the stuff again, and I need to live vicariously through my characters, y'hear?). We small talked throughout dinner, just like old times. Ev caught me up on all the goings on with the Line. It wasn't until Everett walked me to my car that I realized we hadn't really talked about why he had really invited me out today.

"So, what's really up?" I asked.

He shrugged a moment before saying, "Well, at the beginning of the summer I wasn't sure how things were going to go…"

"Neither was I."

"And well, I just thought you should know how proud we are of you."

"We?" I asked flirtatiously, eyebrows lifted.

"Okay, I'll admit, me too. I only wish we had all started caring a few seasons ago."

I nodded, "Totally, but since we didn't, we have to make this one count, don't we?"

Everett was quiet a long moment before he answered, "About that…"

And then my ex-boyfriend, out of NOWHERE, leaned in for a kiss. My body, so used to responding to his, moved forward to meet him, until I abruptly stopped it at the last second. What was I doing? What was he doing? This wasn't what I wanted, was it? I ended up awkwardly burrowing my head into his shoulder. I didn't want to face him – I had completely just shut his advance down. I was mortified…for both of us.

Finally, I backed away slowly, and said quietly, "I can't, Everett, I'm sorry."

I hurried into my car, and sped away as fast as possible, wondering if I had done the right thing…

The following day, with the whole band gathered, Mr. Jenkins went into a long speech about the coming season and all the influences for the pieces, effectively putting everyone to sleep. It gave me time to go over my actions with Everett, who was now effectively pretending like I didn't exist. In the end, I still felt like I had done the right thing. Leading Everett on, simply because he was there and we had a history wasn't going to help anyone. Still, as proud as I was of myself, I had to wonder what or who I was waiting for. Ev was my only real potential for action and how prepared was I to turn into a nun for my senior year? Of course, maybe I could put that extra energy into being drum major... Maybe that was the solution.

Coming out of my thoughts, my band director was finally finishing, I clapped my hands together for attention. Deciding the first response was definitely not loud enough, I clapped again, louder and harder, "Band, ten HUT!"

"HUT!!!!!"

Good start.

Mr. Jenkins looked a bit surprised at the response, then said, "Okay, I'll let Rigby take it from here."

Pushing stray thoughts of Everett firmly aside, I stood up proudly, and projected my voice so that the 80 instrumentalists and 20 Guard members could hear my first official instructions, "Okay gang, let's break out into sections and start going over the music. Take it at a slow tempo. I'm going to check in on each of your sections throughout the day. Remember how we practiced this summer. This is nothing to get worried about. Attack the music, play it with confidence, and then we'll worry about how it all comes together. Remember, we want to show Mr. Buchanan when he arrives that he's got a winning band to work with."

AN: Happy (almost) birthday to me – please leave a review – they make the best birthday presents! I've also decided on a special gift for myself – I've commissioned a picture of Tony and Bronwyn from a very talented Deviant Artist. I'll be sure to let you know when it is finished. Speaking of pictures, a reader has designed a number of uniforms for the Line universe - check out my facebook or myspace accounts for the pictures and let me know what you think!