Marking Time

Although summer practice had started and was now going to consume most of my life, it was still summer and I was going to enjoy it as much as I possibly could. So that night Felicia, Allison, and I sat on the hood of my car at our normal spot where we would sit, watch the stars, and forget about all of our worries for the moment; also known as the local car wash.

So we sat, eating M&M’s and talking about how practice had gone and who had gotten what chair placement.

“I got fourth. Which is fairly good. I was only beaten by seniors...." Felicia said.

Felicia was a trumpet, the most egotistical of instruments. To them, chair placement was crucial.

“Well it doesn’t really matter who got first in our section, as long as one of us did,” Allison joked.

“Did you guys see who got first in the mellophones?” I hadn’t had the chance to talk to either of them about the ridiculous comments Simon had said.

“Oh yeah.... It was that new guy wasn’t it?” Felicia asked, popping another handful of
M&M’s in her mouth. “I saw you two talking. What did he say to you?”

“He said that all juniors are snobs,” I stated bluntly.

Allison’s eyes bulged, “He said what?”

“Yeah, he said that all juniors are snobs.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Felicia had finally swallowed all of the candy and was now able to comment again. “Why do you think he would’ve said something like that?”

And with that, we were sent into a conversation for the next half-hour discussing the audacity that was Simon Forrester.

“Gosh, I feel sorry for you,” Felicia added sympathetically. “You have to deal with him because you’re both section leaders.”

I sighed and leaned against the windshield. “Don’t remind me.”

The next day I woke up at the crack of dawn, which was precisely at 5:45 in the morning. It was cruel and unusual punishment to make us wake up so early during our break.

Regardless of the devilishly early time, I woke up bright and early so I would have enough time to go to the Veranda, our one and only coffee shop in town, and pick up coffee for Allison, Felicia, and myself.

When Allison saw me with a cup from the Veranda she ran up to me saying, “You’re a goddess!”

“You’re welcome,” I said looking her over. “You look like you just rolled out of bed.” Her short, black, spiky hair was a rumpled mess and she was wearing wrinkled old shorts and a tank top.

“I did.”

“Okay everyone, out to the parking lot!” Mr. Glass shouted to everyone.

The sun was peaking over the horizon and it was already notably hot. It was going to be a long day of going over thing I’ve known for three years now.

“First of all, the commands," Vince said. He had us set up in a block formation that we would use the remainder of marching season as a warm up block. “We’re only going to go over the field commands right because we won’t be going to any parades until October. Whenever I say, 'mark time, mark’ that is the command for marking time. Section leaders step out.” I stepped out of my line. He clapped us off. Clap, clap, clap, clap, “Mark time, mark! And one, two, three, four, and close. Okay, make sure they’ve got it.”

My first thought was how Vince was a terrible drum major. He didn’t even explain to them how to mark time. But, that’s where I came in, and made sure that they were up to par. “Okay guys, you want to make sure your foot comes up on the and of four when he says, 'mark time, mark'. Also you start off with your left foot. Your left lands on the odd counts, your right on the evens. You got it?” Gabriel and Emelia nodded.

Luckily I only had two freshmen in my section that I had to go over everything with. Allison and Ginger knew everything already. And I was even luckier that I had freshmen that caught on quickly. But it was still a little annoying to have to go over things that I have been doing for years now.

It was only when I was done going over everything with my section that I realized that Simon wasn’t here. I saw the two mellophones looking lost, wondering what they should do. Trinity was trying to show Paisley what to do, but I could see that it was going completely over her head.

I left my line and walked up to Vince, “That new guy isn’t here.”

“Who?” It kind of annoyed me that he didn’t know who I was talking about; he was drum major, and yet he didn’t know who his section leaders were?

“Simon, the mellophone section leader?”

“Oooooh yeah! I know who you’re talking about now. So?” Are you kidding me? I thought.

“So the mellophones are without a section leader. They’re completely lost! Since they’re in the same line as the saxes do you want me to just add them into my section?”

“Sure,” he looked at me as if I was asking the most idiotic question ever. Whatever.

Skipping back to my line, I yelled, “Hey Trinity! You guys are going to be with me today.”

She looked utterly relieved. Then she posed the question, “Shouldn’t our section leader be here on the second day of practice?”

“Uh, yeah!” I replied sarcastically. “But apparently this new guy doesn’t think so...."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Just my luck to get stuck with someone who doesn’t care. But hey, I can’t change anything. I just have to learn to deal with it. Anyway, I taught her
the basics, but she may need your help. What do you think Paisley?”

“Yeah, I think I’ve pretty much got it.”

We all stood, standing in our line, waiting for the larger sections to finish up. It was pretty
comical to watch actually. Felix was literally moving a freshman’s legs for them. “Okay,” he huffed, “you think you’ve got it?”

The freshman, which I now recognized as Layla, stared back at him, and then reared back and slapped him across the face. I cringed as I heard the loud crack that sounded horribly painful. “You perv!” she yelled.

I knew that Felix was no perv. He was one of my best friends, so I, naturally, went to rescue. “Hey Layla!” I jogged up beside her. Felix was rubbing the cherry-red handprint that stretched across his left cheek. “You okay?”

“No I’m not!” She was outraged, I could tell, but I knew that with a little help from me she would calm down.

“Oh yeah, I saw Felix moving your legs for you. I know it’s not great to be treated like you don’t know anything, but he’s really just trying to help you; to let you get a feel for the movement you know? But, like I said, he’s just trying to help you, he really doesn’t think that you’re an idiot.”

“No it’s not that...." I could tell that she was already beginning to doubt herself. “He was grabbing my legs...."

My face dropped, but of course it was all an act, and then I began to laugh. “Wait, you think that Felix was trying to feel you up?” She nodded. Wrapping my arms around her shoulders and turning her slowly around where only she could hear me, I said, “Felix isn’t like that. But watch out for Robert, he is like that. Trust me. Felix isn’t a perv; he’s not a cradle-robber. He was just trying to get you to move your legs on the right counts.”

“Oh.... Crap.”

I chuckled, “Yeah, I’d say.”

To my surprise, she laughed along with me, “Guess I made a fool of myself huh?”

“Nah, Felix will forget about it. He’s cool like that. Just try not to do it again,” I winked at
her.

A loud wailing interrupted our conversation and made everyone cover their ears. “Sorry!" Mr. Glass said as he adjusted his microphone that wrapped around his head like one of those guys from ESPN. The directors used microphones because they stood on a tall, metal stand that over looked the parking lot. From that perspective they could look down onto the band, as if they were in a stadium, therefore they could more easily catch our alignment mistakes.

“Vince, did you teach them attention?” Mr. Glass asked from his place on the stand.

“Oh great,” Vince mumbled. And then added more loudly, “No.”

“Isn’t that pretty critical?”

“Yeah.... Okay section leaders, step out.” He clapped us off; clap, clap, clap, clap, “Band, ten-hut!”

Like a clap of lightening all of the section leaders sounded at once, “Panthers!”

It was snappy. It was quick.

“’Kay, make sure they have it.”

“Alright guys,” I turned around to face them, “whenever he says, ‘band, ten-hut’ you forget
about everything you’re doing and come to attention. For right now, since we’re not using instruments, we’re just going to do this,” I demonstrated how they were supposed to come to set. “Put your left hand over your right fist and hold them at eye-level. Now make sure you keep your elbows out, but not so much that it looks like you’re going to fly away. Also, bring your left foot to your right foot and yell ‘panthers’. You think you guys got it?” Emelia, Gabriel, and Paisley all looked at me, bewildered. “Just try it, you’ll see. It’s not that hard. It’s actually one of the easiest things we’ll do. Let’s try it.” Clap, clap, clap, clap, “Band, ten-hut!”

“Panthers!”

I was astounded at how well they had actually done! “Wow guys, that was amazing! But, when you come to attention you cannot move, okay?”

They all nodded and I could tell that they were pleased with themselves. With as much effort and efficiency that the freshmen were putting out, I could tell that this year was going to be amazing. Our possibilities were limitless.

The day went on like this and we learned mark time, attention, parade rest, and forward marching (heel-to-toe, roll step) before we were released for lunch at 1:00. Allison, Felicia, Landon, and Kristen all jumped in the car with me to go eat. “Where to?” I asked as I was pulling out of my parking space.

“Newton’s!” Kristen shouted.

“Ugh, I hate Newton’s,” Landon complained.

“Well make up your minds,” I said, pulling out of the school parking lot.

I saw Kristen making a pouty face at Landon in my rearview mirror. “Fine,” he gave in and she gave him an enthusiastic hug.

Allison reached over and turned my CD player on, turning the volume up. Krystal Meyer’s, Make Some Noise always made everyone want to dance and sing. I heard Felicia in the backseat, “Oh! Oh! Shout it out!” The windows were down and the backseat was a flurry of Felicia’s red and Kristen’s blonde hair bobbing up and down to the rhythm of the music.

I heard a squeal of excitement escape from Kristen as we pulled into Newton’s.

Turning the ignition off, I reached behind my seat, grabbed my purse, and got out of the car with everyone else. Kristen grabbed Landon’s hand and skipped towards the entrance.

As we walked in, we were greeted by Tiffany Martin, Vince’s twin sister. “Hey guys. How’s putting up with Vince all day?”

I rolled my eyes, “Ugh...."

She giggled, “That good huh? Five?”

“Yeah.”

She sat us in a corner booth where we were somewhat secluded from everyone else. “You know what you guys want?”

Of course we all knew what we want. There weren’t that many restaurants in Brook Dale, and Newton’s was definitely one of the most popular around.

We all answered at once, “Yup!”

Once we had ordered we finally had some time to talk amongst ourselves.

“OMG, did you guys see that girl slap Felix?” Landon started talking as soon as Tiffany left.

Felicia covered her eyes in annoyance. Taking her hand away from her eyes again she said, “Good golly! Stop with the text-message-talking already!”

“Ex-cuse me! Oh. My. God. Did you see that girl slap Felix? Better Fee?”

“Much,” she answered in a snotty tone.

“Yeah, I did see that. I went over to talk to her, and she thought that Felix was trying to feel her up. Once I explained that that just wasn’t Felix, she felt terrible.”

“How come the flutes always get stuck with boring freshmen?” Kristen griped.

Landon put his arm around her and laughed, “Sorry hon.”

“Like last year when Brandi got into a knock-down-drag-out with Zoey? While we were marching in rehearsal. That was amazing. I always miss out on that kind of stuff.”

“Only you,” Allison chuckled.

“I had totally forgotten about that!” Felicia exclaimed. “What’s so funny is they’re like best friends now. Ha, so much happens over the course of just one marching season...."

“You’ve got that right,” Allison said methodically.

Practice resumed at 2:30, which gave us way too much free time. After we finished eating, we swung by Quik Stop so Felicia could get some M&M’s. Whoever knew that so much time could be thoroughly wasted at a convenient store? Grabbing foam, toy swords, Allison and Landon fought up and down the isles while Felicia, Kristen and I grabbed drinks for everyone.

“C’mon guys!” Kristen yelled over the tops of candy displays.

“Just a minute!” I heard Landon huff.

“We’re leaving,” Felicia said as she pushed the door open with her back, holding three Dr. Peppers in her hands.

“You know I could’ve gotten those?” I threw my wallet through my open window onto the driver’s seat.

“I’m good,” she added, putting the other two on the hood.

As she twisted off the cap to her Dr. Pepper it made a zzzt! sound. She sighed and leaned up against Beth.

The three of us sat there, drinking our soda and staring straight out in front of us. I was the first to break the silence, “One more year after this...."

“Why are you so eager to leave high school? This is supposed to be the time of your life.” Kristen stated.

“Live a month in my shoes, then come back to me,” I said sardonically.

Then I began to wonder why exactly I wanted to leave so badly. I wanted to leave because my I wanted to start my new life and leave this one completely behind; never looking back. With a successful career and a happy life, I would finally be satisfied with myself. My life here had been nothing less than terrible. I had friends, sure. I had band. But what about life outside of school? My family was the talk of the town. My mother left right after my fifth birthday, running off with some old geezer with a fat checkbook. That left my dad behind, devastated. I’ve only known my dad to be a depressed man with no compassion. He was convinced that I was the reason that my mother left, and I was a constant reminder to him of what he was missing. In my own unique way, I was alone in the world.

Allison and Landon strolled out of the Quik Zip, holding those stupid foam swords. “Oh geeze. Do I ever get a break?” Felicia looked up to the sky as she said this, shaking her head.

“Jump in, we’re going to be late if we don’t hurry,” I told everyone.

“Heaven forbid we be a few seconds late.”

“Stop with the sarcasm Fee, it’s getting old,” Landon said as he ducked into Becky.

“Well, at least I don’t carry around foam swords!”

“Guys!” I yelled. “Enough! Soon you’ll both be walking.”

Landon and Allison fought up and down the back hallway with their newfound toys. They made a huge ruckus as the crashed into things as they went. They were a walking hazard that I wouldn’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole. Throwing Landon onto the ground, Allison pinned him to the ground; a large prop of a house used for last year’s musical performance of Oklahoma! blocked his right and she blocked his left. “Touché,” we heard him say from a distance that we had deemed safe.

“Did you just lose to a girl?” I asked Landon.

“A very strong girl.”

Walking into the band room, I automatically noticed one thing: an addition to our group from this morning. Simon had decided to show up. Swallowing my anger and annoyance, I took a deep breath and continued walking. But somehow, my body and my brain seemed to be momentarily unconnected, and before I knew it I found myself walking in his direction. I was only a few feet away from him when my brain kicked in.

Crap. What am I going to say? Hey, how are you doing? I don’t really know why I’m over here.... I think that I really wanted to come over here and chew you out, but you know what? I really don’t feel like it. See you later!

“Where were you this morning?” I finally decided, at the last moment, what to say.

“Asleep,” well at least his answer was honest.

“Asleep? Do you get the concept of section leader at all? They were depending on you to be there, and you were asleep? You know what, maybe you should give up your position to Trinity. She would do a whole heck of a lot better than you’re doing! You can’t just slack off like that!”

He raised one eyebrow and sighed, “You’re really not going to be fun to work with this year.”

How dare he.... “Likewise.”

“Look, I understand what it means to be a section leader. Maybe if this band wasn’t second best in everything, I would put more effort into it.”

“We are only second best when it comes to...." And then it clicked, “Wait. You’re from Legacy?”

He smiled at me with a cocky grin, “Sure thing.”

Legacy... West Pointe’s rival band. If it weren’t for Legacy, West Pointe would’ve taken sweepstakes last year. We were always neck-and-neck with them, but somehow, just about every year, Legacy finished out on top.

“Okay, so what are you trying to do? Sabotage us?”

He laughed a singular, heavy laugh, “You wish. Maybe you guys would actually take sweep stakes if you knew how to practice, though.”

“Hey, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, when you’re here you do not degrade our system of rehearsal. If you liked Legacy’s so much, then why don’t you just go back there? You have to face the facts. You are now a part of the Panther Pride now, get used to it!”

“Everyone outside!” Mr. Glass yelled.

“Sure thing,” he said again, his green eyes sparkling with amusement.

“Backwards marching. Fun, fun. Okay guys, it’s like this-” As I was trying to explain the backwards march to my section, I was suddenly knocked into, making me stumble and almost land flat on my face.

“Oh. Sorry,” I heard Simon say.

Whenever I had recovered and was standing on my feet again I said, “You want to watch where you’re going there?” I rubbed my hip where we had collided, a sure spot for a bruise.

“You want to watch where you’re standing there?” he retorted.

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, you heard me,” he took a step toward me.

I matched his step and was about to shove him back when Mr. Glass shouted, “Hey! You two, what’s going on?”

Of course he doesn’t know when someone gets slapped, but when I’m involved, he is
acutely in tuned.

Locking my eyes with his green ones for a long moment, it was hard to feel anger towards Simon. Although I really didn’t like him, it was hard to ignore that he was in fact, very attractive. So as I was standing there, so close to him, I was taken aback with the feeling that swarmed over me. All I wanted to do was make his life as miserable as possible, but it made it very difficult to think maliciously whenever he was so close.

“Everything’s fine,” I said through clenched teeth.

He broke our gaze, walking past me onto his spot in our line.

He had totally killed my patience and attitude for the day. So when I was trying to teach backwards marching to the freshmen and Gabriel would not stay on his toes, I kind of lost my control.

“Is it really that hard!” I said, more forcefully than necessary. Automatically, the hurt showed in his face. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just... I need a minute. Could you take over for a sec, Allison?” I asked, already walking away from the group.

Breathe in, breathe out.

For some reason, it just felt that it wasn’t completely because I had gotten into it with Simon. It was something, I wasn’t really sure what, but something was eating away at me, and I could tell that it would soon surface. It might have been my reminiscing this afternoon at the Quik Stop. But whatever the reason, I could tell that something was bothering me, although I couldn’t put a name on it.

“Take a seat Daisy.”

I reluctantly pulled out one of the black plastic chairs and joined the circle of section leaders. Flopping down in the chair, it was made clear by my body language that I was in no mood to be here... at all.

“As you all know we really don’t have anything to discuss as far as our performance goes
yet,” As Mr. Glass was speaking, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Simon looking in my direction. “So, as to why there was a meeting called today. We are sending you all away. Starting Monday.”

Murmurs spread quickly through everyone. Confused faces turned to each other for answers.

“Hey. Hey, listen,” Mr. Glass got everyone quiet before he spoke again. “We want to see what will happen without you here. Also, we want you all to better yourselves, become more acquainted with one another, and, most of all, learn techniques that you can bring back to your sections.”

There was a dramatic pause, a suspension, in his talking, “We’re sending you all to the Black Mountain Camp. It’s a camp specifically for drum majors and section leaders. You’ll be going next Monday, and you’ll be staying until Friday night.” It took awhile for it to sink into everyone’s minds, but as I began to contemplate the idea, I realized that it wasn’t so bad; it was good even.

“You will also have a partner for the week. With your partner you will take part in numerous team-building activities. You’ll need to stay with your partner all week for competitions and such, but you will have a final partner competition, and I can tell you: the more time you spend with your partner, the better. Your partner will be the most important person in your life for this one week,” Mr. Glass laughed at the idea.

“So, we’ve paired you up according to who you’re closest to in the drill, so the teams are: Seth and Keaton, Felix and Marcus, Hugo and Monica, Chloe and Zoey, and Simon and Daisy.”

And in that moment, my mind was in a thousand different places. I was going to have to spend the entire week with him? And, even worse still, I was going to be his “partner”? Was there any justice in this world? I already had to deal with him at regular practices, but now I was required to stay with him twenty-four seven for a week?

This was going to be disastrous....