Keeping in Line (16 page)

“Hey Drew!”

The drum major turned around, silently cursing the smile that broke across his face when he saw Bronwyn approaching him. He immediately tried to replace it with a nonchalant look, “What’s up?”

“Well, so…I know things in the band are a little stressed right now.”

“No thanks to, once again, your section.”

Bronwyn shrugged and answered, “Yeah, I guess.”

“So?”

“I was wondering if well, maybe you could—”

“Drew…” a female voice called from behind them.

The pair spun around and Bronwyn watched helplessly as Christina came walking across the parking lot.

“Oh…”

Drew crossed his arms, “Well, it’s not like—”

At the same time Bronwyn said, “I’d better go.”

Ben shouted across the parking lot, “Come on, B!”

Drew tapped his foot impatiently and said, “Shouldn’t you be going, wouldn’t want to keep your—”

“I’m leaving!” Bronwyn interjected.

As the sophomore walked away, she heard Christina tell Drew, “That’s the girl who wouldn’t let Dana on the Line.”

Bronwyn was more than glad the following day marked the end of the week. Friday lunches were traditionally “cadence days” for the Line. The tradition had started long ago where the Battery would march into the Commons of the school and play as loud as they could for each lunch period on the day of a big football game to get everyone pumped up. For a few minutes, Bronwyn was able to forget the disastrous season so far, and concentrate on having fun – losing herself in the infectious beats. When they weren’t worried about every note being clean, or precision marching, being a member of the Battery was actually an enjoyable experience. All eyes of the Commons were staring at the Line. Although she wasn’t supposed to smile, Bronwyn couldn’t keep the grin off her face.

By the last lunch, everyone on the Battery was relaxed and despite the week they had all shared, were actually having a good time together. Bronwyn looked out into the crowd and unexpectedly met Drew’s blue eyed stare. Her heart momentarily stopped. There was so much more she had wanted to say to him yesterday. Without thinking through her actions, Bronwyn flashed a quick wink at him. At the very same moment, from the corner of her eye, she saw something whizz past her left side and SPLAT! right in the middle of Pete’s bass drum head.

J.D. abruptly ended the cadence and the Line walked back silently to the band room. As soon as everyone had their drums off, they were busy looking at Pete’s drum, which was now home to a large slice of cheese pizza. Their Captain yelled, “Stupid brass players! Who do they think they are?”

Bronwyn took a deep breath and, attempting to control the situation, asked calmly, “Did anyone actually see who threw the pizza?”

The band room was silent. Everyone looked around at each other. Bronwyn continued, “Then how do we know it was a brass player that threw it?”

Tony muttered, “Well, we know you wouldn’t be a reliable source. You were too busy making eyes at Drew.”

Bronwyn sputtered, “I was not!”

Tony said skeptically, “Sure.”

J.D. glanced at the clock and put his hands up, “Enough, you two. I know for a fact Geoff has this lunch period, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a good-for-nothing brass player. Keep your ears open, if you hear anything, let me know. Now, everyone needs to pack up their instruments. We’ve got an away game tonight.”

Bronwyn walked into the snare section of the percussion room and pulled out her instrument case. She heard J.D. whisper to Lance, Scott, and Adam, “Hey guys…emergency meeting. Pre-game at Waffle House. We need to talk retaliation.”

The three other snares nodded.

Adam nodded in the direction of Bronwyn and Tony, “What about those two?”

J.D. responded, “Upperclassmen only.”

Bronwyn turned away, livid. After everything that had happened, after the many hours she had put into things, the time wasted trying to get their acceptance, there it was – obviously never going to happen.

* * *

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: If You’re On Time (You’re Five Minutes Late)

Bronwyn caught a ride with Ben to the game that evening. She was still in a funk from being excluded from the snare emergency meeting and in a horrible mood from the overall crummy week. Bronwyn brought Stewie outside and went immediately to the buses, surprisingly relieved to ride with the rest of Line. Last year, she had felt so much at home in the band, but now…everything was a big mess. Pete had also managed to switch buses, which was good considering Jared was already drilling his section and running through the show. Bronwyn looked around for someone to sit with and Ben gave her a sympathetic look. She sighed, relieved, and sat down next to her chauffeur.

The bus cranked up and Bronwyn looked around, realizing she was missing a few members of her section. She asked Mark, “Where’s Lance?”

Mark shrugged, “He mentioned something about meeting J.D. before the game.”

“Uh, J.D.’s not here either,” said Steve.

Moments later, everyone stopped drumming as Mr. Izzo got on the bus. He cleared his throat and said, “Has anyone seen J.D., Lance, Scott or Adam?”

Everyone shook their head and turned their heads to Bronwyn. She volunteered, “Sorry, I have no idea where they are.”

Her response was obviously not the answer Mr. Izzo was looking for. The band director looked at his watch, then addressed the percussionists, “I hate to do this, guys, but we have to leave without them. If you hear from them, please let me know.”

Bronwyn’s heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach. Without even realizing it, she turned and looked at Tony. Her fellow sophomore looked as if someone had punched him in the stomach. Unless the missing quartet showed up at the game, they had both realized that they would be the only snares marching the show. As the bus pulled away from the school, Mark’s cell phone rang. He scrambled to find it and obviously recognized the caller. The bus was instantly quiet, intently listening to Mark’s half of the conversation.

“Hello?”

“No shit dude – is everyone okay?

“Yeah, we will.”

“Who?”

“Yeah, she’s here.”

Mark pointed at Bronwyn and said, “It’s J.D. He wants to talk to you.”

Bronwyn nervously answered, “Hello?”

J.D.’s voice responded tersely, “B, we’re not going to make it to the game.”

“What happened?”

“Car accident—”

“Is everyone okay?!”

“Yeah, we’re all fine, but there’s no way we’re going to be able to get to the game tonight. So, you’re going to have to lead the Line.”

Bronwyn squeaked, “Me?”

“Yes. Tony’s too new and I won’t let anyone but someone I trust to do it. If anyone gives you any crap, just tell them to call me.”

“And you’re sure Henry’s not going to make it?”

“Yes.”

There was no time to think. She scanned her brain for the answer J.D. wanted to hear, “I’ll do my best.”

“You’d better. Remember this isn’t a night off. We have competitions coming up. I have to go.”

Bronwyn heard a dial tone in her ear. She slowly closed the phone, realizing that everyone’s eyes were on her. She stood up on the bus, took a deep breath and spoke clearly, “J.D., Lance, Adam, and Scott have been in a car accident. Everyone is okay, but they will not be able to make the game tonight. J.D. has asked that in his and Henry’s absence that I lead the Line.”

Everyone started immediately talking.

Bronwyn put her fingers to her mouth and whistled. Loudly. Everyone stopped their conversations. She continued, “It’s going to take all of us tonight. We’re not exactly the most popular section of the band right now, so we need to stick together. I expect you will give me the same respect and courtesy that you give both J.D. and Henry.”

There was silence.

Jared was the first to comment, “You got it, B.”

Ben said, “No worries.”

Pete added, “We’ll do it.”

Not bothering to wait for the other confirmations, Bronwyn looked over at Tony and stated, “You. We’re going to need to practice for the rest of the ride.”

Tony nodded mutely.

The ride flew by and Bronwyn didn’t even have time to think about being nervous or leading the Line. She was concentrating all her energy on getting Tony ready to march the show and trying to will some of her confidence to him. Unfortunately, Tony kept messing up a lick from the opener. Repeatedly. He finally threw his sticks down in frustration and yelled, “I can’t do this! Can we please just water it down?”

Bronwyn gritted her teeth, collected his drum sticks, and said forcefully, “No, we are going to play the part as written. Let’s show the Brass what a bunch of sophomores can do. You can do this. I’ve seen you do it a million times.”

This was an out and out lie, but Bronwyn didn’t think stretching the truth would hurt that much. As they pulled up to the opposing high school, Bronwyn nervously pulled on her uniform and willed her nervous feelings away. She could do this. J.D. had chosen her, and she wasn’t going to let him down. As she got off the bus, Jared and Andy handed her their Lieutenant braids which they had fashioned into a large awkward plait. The bass Lieutenant said, “It’s not much.”

Bronwyn grinned and accepted the ‘gift’ graciously, “Thanks, guys. I know either one of you would probably be better at this.”

Andy said, “I have another year and plenty of time to be Captain.”

Jared replied, “Yeah, 5th bass leading warm ups? I think not.”

She took a deep breath and approached Mr. Izzo, who was talking to Drew and Samantha, “Hey.”

They all looked at her strangely. Bronwyn suddenly wished she were a little bit taller, but squared her shoulders and announced, “J.D. has named me de facto Captain for tonight. I just want to let everyone know the Line won’t let you down.”

Samantha asked skeptically, “You’re marching two out of six snares? One of whom just joined the section and your Instructor isn’t around?”

Bronwyn said plainly, “Yes.”

Mr. Izzo thought a moment and said, “You know, we can just have the set player in the Pit keep time.”

“No!” Bronwyn exclaimed.

The drum majors and band director looked strangely in her direction. Bronwyn continued in a more civilized tone, “I mean, it’s under control. We’re ready. I can handle this.”

“You’ll do fine,” said Drew.

With Drew’s encouragement, Bronwyn lit up. They watched her walk away. The senior drum major had a smile on his face as he watched her brave figure retreat.

At the equipment truck, Bronwyn pulled out Stewie and zipped her carrier under her uniform. She figured she should be more nervous, but all her emotions went away when she put on her drum. She called out to the Battery, “You know the drill, guys. Let’s do it up!”

When the Line gathered, it became obvious to the rest of the band that something was amiss. A distinctly female voice called out loudly, “Eight on a hand…follow my lead!”

The crisp notes from the snare counted out the warm up and the Line began. Bronwyn held up her stick to signify the end of the warm up, “Great job guys, let’s head to the stands.”

Like any game, the home band was responsible for playing the National Anthem. The Line stood at perfect attention while they did. The first quarter went by faster than any fifteen minutes Bronwyn had ever remembered and suddenly it was time to go down to the field and warm up. Bronwyn kept a serious face, but on the inside she was jumping for joy. It felt so right to be leading the Line, but the big test was still ahead. After their warm-ups, the band lined up on the far side of the field. Bronwyn forgot that when the band marched out for the opening set, the snares lined up very close to Geoff and the rest of the trumpet section. And with the right half of the snare line gone, he was literally right next to her.

As everyone got in place and waited for the halftime buzzer to sound, she attempted to make conversation, “Hey Geoff…”

Although they were both supposed to be at attention, he looked down and asked, “Bronwyn, is it?”

She nodded. They shared a very random look and were interrupted when Drew coughed right in front of them. Bronwyn immediately shot her eyes forward. Drew nodded and asked, “The beat, Captain?”

Calmly, Bronwyn began tapping out quarter notes to keep everyone’s left foot hitting the ground at the same time. Once the band was in place, Drew called everyone to attention and the show began. Bronwyn played as loud as she could, trying to compensate for the missing snares. Tony actually performed decently and between the two of them, they marched a pretty clean show. The pair shared a smile as they brought their sticks down at the end of the closer.

Bronwyn carefully settled Stewie and walked over to the concession stand for the third quarter. With her unapologetic and successful performance as Captain, she was the new hero of the Forrest Hills drumline. It was a good feeling.