Major Crush (21 page)

“Drew didn’t tell them about my dad.

The Evil Twins found out from their mom. Those bitches!”

“There you go.”

“Oh, Walter, and I was mean to him because I thought he told everybody! A nd now he’s not here! I’ve been watching the whole time, and he hasn’t gotten here yet! A nd the buses are starting!”

“Go save the day.” Walter laughed as he hung up.

Everyone was on the buses but me. A nd Drew. I dashed across the grass and knocked frantically on the door of the junior bus.

Mr. Rush folded the door open with the lever. He shouted above the noise of the bus engine, “May I help you?”

“We can’t leave yet. Drew’s not here. I think he may have quit band because of a misunderstanding.”

Mr. Rush shook his head. “The two of you aren’t communicating.”

“Right. Give me time to call him. I bet I can convince him to be drum major again.”

“It’s too late for that, Sauter. We’re on a schedule. We can’t wait for Morrow to work out his teen angst.”

I moved up one step, into the bus. “Maybe he’s on his way. Maybe he got held up in traffic.”

“There’s no traffic in this town, Sauter. You’re lucky to have a stop sign.”

I stomped my boot on the bus step. “I feel desperate!”

“I feel punctual!” Mr. Rush said.

I jumped out of the way as he closed the bus door.

I dashed to the front of the senior bus, stepped on the bumper, and hauled myself up on the hood. I stood there in my uniform jacket, miniskirt, and knee-high boots with my hands on my hips, like Supergirl. Then I pointed through the windshield at the bus driver and commanded, “Turn off the engine!”

The bus driver turned off the engine.

Mr. Scott leaned out the bus door. “A re you allowed to be up there?”

“Yes,” I said. “It’s a tradition. Before every band contest, the drum major plays hood ornament.” I flipped open my phone and dialed Drew’s home number.

A ll the buses had cut their engines now. In the silence I recognized the approaching hum of another motor.

I watched in disbelief as the tractor turned the corner and Drew parked in front of the bus.

I folded the phone, jumped down from the hood, and fell on my butt. Drew was halfway out of the tractor seat to help me, but I bounded over the tractor tire and up into the cab, into his lap.

Maybe he was still mad at me. Maybe we needed to talk it out and say how we felt. But I was so relieved to see him, I didn’t care. I kissed him.

Mmmmmmm. He kissed me back. He didn’t seem to be mad.

“Luther called me this morning,” he whispered hoarsely. “He said you thought I told the twins about your dad. I didn’t. I haven’t spoken a word to—” He paused.

“Cacey.”

“Right. I haven’t spoken a word to Cacey since I broke up with her. Tracey, either.” He kissed me.

Mmmmmmm.

“I wouldn’t tell your secret,” he said. “I wouldn’t do that to anyone, much less you.” He kissed me again.

“Get it, Morrow!” Luther called out the window of the bus behind us.

“Get it, Sauter!” called A llison.

We laughed, then wrapped our arms around each other and hugged hard. It felt so wonderful to finally embrace him again, and rub my cheek against his cheek as I had Sunday afternoon. Or maybe it was just the tractor.

He kissed my jaw, up near my ear.

No, I didn’t think it was just the tractor.

“I thought you weren’t coming,” I breathed.

He said in my ear, “Dad took the car to work, and the truck wouldn’t start. I had to get here somehow. It took me forever.”

I pulled back to look him in the eye. “Your dad’s going to kill you.”

“I called him at work and told him what I was doing.”

“A nd he gave you permission?”

“Um, no. But at least I was responsible enough to let him know I was doing it. He’ll come to take it home when he gets off the night shift in a few minutes.” He gestured toward the line of buses. “It would be best if we left before he got here, if you know what I mean. He’s also coming to the contest. If we do well as drum majors, he’ll be more likely to forgive me. No pressure.”

“Yeah, that’s what Mr. Rush said. No pressure. Ha.” Then I realized Drew had said “we”—“if we do well as drum majors.” I noticed for the first time that he was wearing his drum major uniform. With his Vans.

“I brought my regular band uniform.” He kicked a bag in the floorboard. “If you want to be drum major by yourself from now on, I would totally understand, and no hard feelings. I’m sorry I was such an ass before. It took me a little while, you know? I needed twenty-four hours.” He looked at his watch. “Well, twenty-one.”

“I wasn’t mad at you about that. A nyway, not for long. I just thought you’d told the twins about my dad. I didn’t know until this morning that my dad had the affair with the twins’ mother. They found out and told everyone.”

He went very still, and the dark eyes blinked at me. “Your dad and Lurleen?”

I nodded.

His eyes flicked to the bus behind me, where the twins were waiting. “No wonder the twins have been on your case. Maybe they thought you liked me during band camp, and they came on to me and got me to ask them out just to make you mad.”

I flushed hot with embarrassment, and put one hand up to my cheek, which I’m sure was bright pink. “That would mean I’m very obvious.”

“A nd that would mean they used me. I feel so cheap!”

We laughed because we were giddy. Then stopped laughing because it wasn’t funny.

“Seriously, that’s opprobrious.” He wrinkled his nose. “Reprehensible.”

“Evil, even.”

We flinched as the driver of the bus behind us lay on the horn.

“Nnnn,” Drew said, waving his hand at the bus driver. He stood me up in the cab so he could slide out of the seat. “Excuse me.” He jumped down from the tractor.

“What are you going to do?” I called.

“Yell at a girl.”

“Please don’t. It doesn’t matter now—”

“Nunn,” he said, waving his hand at me.

I ran after him as he strode to the senior bus. He pounded on the door. It opened for him, and he stomped up the steps. I climbed up behind him. I had to hear this.

He pointed to the twin in a seat near the front. “You lay off Virginia.”

Everyone on the bus, including the twin, gaped at him in silence for a full five seconds. Then the twin hollered, “I didn’t do shit to Virginia.”

“Come off it. Everybody knows you’re evil. Don’t be evil to Virginia. I’m dating Virginia. I’m not dating you, so get over it.”

“You never were dating me!” the twin screeched.

He looked at the other twin, who was standing up toward the back of the bus. “You’re both capable of the same atrocities. You’re genetically identical.”

A s he stomped down the bus stairs, half the bus clapped. The other half murmured, “A trocities?”

“A trocities?” I asked him.

“You burned those SA T words into my brain.” He took my hand and swung it as we walked up the street to the freshman bus. “Let’s go win a contest.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Drew whispered for the hundredth time.

We stood close to each other in front of the band, facing the crowded stands of the stadium. A s the band was warming up for our performance, Drew had engineered this new way for us to stand at attention while we waited for the signal to do the dip. Instead of keeping a few paces between us across the grass, he stood right behind me, touching me, with his hand curled around my waist.

Because we were at attention and were supposed to stay quiet and still, I resisted the urge to put both my hands over his hand and squeeze to comfort him. He hadn’t betrayed me, but he was still horrified that I had ever thought he had. I’d been reassuring him all morning and afternoon.

Now that the sun was setting, the announcer droned on and on with the contest scores. A ll the bands stood at attention on the field. The ones on either side of us squealed with glee when they got high marks, or sagged in defeat otherwise.

We had already done our squealing with glee. Our band had gotten very high scores, and Drew and I had won the award for best drum majors. We had saved Mr. Rush from going back to work at Pizza Hut. For now.

Drew and I had sat together in the stands and watched the performances of most of the bands who’d come before and after us. I was interested in their scores, especially the huge bands that had been in our class. But there were so many scores, and it was a long time to stand still.

I was glad I had Drew’s hand on my waist for entertainment. I took a deep breath just to feel his grip tighten and shift when I moved. I felt another phantom limb coming on.

“I can’t believe you convinced me to stand this way,” I said quietly, moving my lips as little as possible.

“Why?” He sounded hurt.

“It feels too good. If the judges knew, they’d deduct points.”

His chest moved against my back as he tried to swallow his laughter. “There are six games left in the regular season, and I wanted to enjoy them. A nd speaking of enjoying ourselves, what are you doing tonight?”

I’d been waiting for him to ask me. A nd I’d been dreading giving him the answer. “The band got such high marks, I figure they’ll want to roll Mr. Rush’s yard and Oreo his car. It’s probably our responsibility as drum majors to make sure everybody chips in for Oreos and toilet paper.”

He sighed. “Okay. If the buses get back to the school by eight, do you think we can be out of Mr. Rush’s yard by nine?”

“Why? Where are you taking me? Rent 2 Own?”

“Oh, no. Not Rent 2 Own. For you, I’ve scheduled barn time.”

Would this announcer go on forever? I wanted me some barn time. I couldn’t help giggling in anticipation.

“We’ve got to stop this,” he said, his breath warm against my hair. “The judges really might take our high scores away if they see me talking to my girlfriend at attention.”

I tingled at the word “girlfriend.” “More likely, your dad will kill you.”

“My dad will get over it. Jeez, I drove the tractor to school. A nd I’m wearing Vans with my uniform.”

Squinting against the setting sunlight, I searched the stands for Mr. Morrow. Near him sat my parents, holding hands as usual. I still planned to have a talk with them. The fact that Drew and I hadn’t been at fault for spilling their secret didn’t make me any less of a troubled teen.

Now I was just a troubled teen with a boyfriend.

I was almost looking forward to the talk.

The announcer had reached the most important awards of the night, the best band in each class. He started with the smallest bands and moved up. Then he reached the class we should have been in, if Mr. Rush hadn’t been greedy.

“We sounded awesome,” I whispered. “We would have won that class.”

“Don’t talk at attention,” Drew said.

I pinched him.

“Ouch. Don’t pinch at attention.”

I was so sure we hadn’t won the highest class that I stopped listening to the drone of the announcer, until the name of our school was called.

We had won the award.

What? We had won the award!

I wasn’t thinking, but Drew was. We were supposed to do the dip now. He put his hand there and his leg there, and leaned me back until my head almost touched the grass.

The rest of the band was supposed to stay at attention. They should have waited until we collected the other band officers and marched soberly across the field to claim our own trophy the size of a refrigerator.

But the screaming band swarmed around us. Then past us. The entire band, instruments and all, dashed across the field to the trophy table.

Upside down, out the corner of my eye, I noticed that most of them were bareheaded. They left a broad trail of hats on the grass.

Then I looked up into Drew’s dark eyes. “I’m glad I’m still drum major,” he whispered. “But I’m more glad I’m drum major with you.”

The band caught my attention again. They had found Mr. Rush and stood him up against the trophy to measure them. The trophy was slightly taller. A bout ten boys picked up the trophy over their heads, and another ten picked up Mr. Rush. A ll of them fell down. Our band was like that.

“Drum major!” they called across the field. “We need a drum major!”

“They can do without us for once,” Drew said. He kissed me.

I slid my hands into his hair and kissed him back.

About the Author

Jennifer Echols grew up in A lexander City, A labama, where she was the first female drum major of her high school marching band. She also played saxophone, trumpet, and drums, and had an extremely unfortunate turn on the oboe. In college, Jennifer majored in music education and composition before she made the switch to English and creative writing. Major Crush is her first book.