The Line (15 page)

Lance had gathered the rest of the basses during one of the water breaks, and said, “Guys, this whole thing with Lucy—”

Mark interrupted, “It’s complete and total bullshit!”

Nathan and Jared nodded their heads in agreement. Mark continued, much as he and Lucy fought, he didn’t like seeing her get pushed around, “Well, I think a show of solidarity is in order.”

Nathan caught on and said, “For once, you may be right. We’re the bass line and if one of us doesn’t play, none of us plays.”

Lance considered his options. Jared added, “You know she’d do the same for us.”

And it was true. Lucy loved each of the guys in her section and they all knew it. Well, okay, sometimes she wanted to kill Mark, but that’s just how things were. When it came down to it, she was an integral part of the basses. Lance finally gave his opinion, “Alright guys. Let’s see a show of hands. Who wants to sit out the game on Friday night with Lucy?”

Everyone immediately raised their hands.

“Well, I guess that decides it. Now, we have to keep this to ourselves. I don’t want anyone breathing a word of this to anyone else on the Line…especially Lucy. Who she wants to date is her business, but we’re going to have to make her sweat a little bit longer.”

Someone getting suspended from a game was news that travelled fast throughout the band, as was the rumor Lucy Karate was dating South’s drumline captain. The bass drummer tried her best to stay out of the way, but she could feel everyone’s stares on her throughout practice. Just like with Nevada and Molly, she knew Mandy and Gina were going to be hurt they hadn’t been kept in the loop.

Lucy wasn’t the only one lost in her thoughts that afternoon. The Forrest Hills drumline had a terrible practice. With everyone distracted by what had happened between Lucy and Jerm, the section that was usually always at attention, always on beat, and always correct on drill, was uncharacteristically out of step.

After practice, Lucy booked it to her car, sending a text to Sam as she did.

>> Swings. Now.

The reply was almost instant.

>> C U in 10.

Lucy was glumly sitting on a swing when Sam walked up. She didn’t have the energy to get up and properly meet him.

“Now, is that any way to greet your boyfriend?”

“Everyone on the Line knows about us.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, someone saw us last night and now the whole Line…correction, now the entire Forrest Hills marching band knows.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, and to top everything off, Jerm suspended me from Friday night games until he gets his head out of his ass.”

Sam chuckled and sat down close to her, “Wow. I didn’t think he’d take things this far.”

Lucy swung a few moments before she questioned, “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly happened between the two of you?”

Sam looked at her skeptically and answered, “Lucy, my dear, I know you know the answer to this – what is always the cause of guys acting like this?”

“A girl?!” The junior stood up and began gesturing wildly with her hands, “Wait a minute – you’re telling me this giant rivalry between you two is over some chick?”

“Bingo! I think he’s probably still carrying a grudge from the summer between our sophomore and junior years. We were both away at this musical camp. Can you believe he was my roommate?”

“No way!”

Sam grinned nostalgically, as if remembering some crazy prank, and continued, “Believe it or not, we actually became pretty good friends.”

“You? And Jerm? Were friends?”

“Sure were. You know, when it comes down to it – we’re not all that different. The packaging may be a little different, but there’s a lot we have in common.”

“I guess, although, for the record, I think you are much cuter.” She looked at the snare drummer and asked, “So, what happened exactly?”

“Long story short, I ended up dating this girl that he originally liked. I think he would claim I ‘stole’ her away and by ‘steal’ I mean she liked me better and he couldn’t handle it. Plus, he said some completely crazy things about me.”

Lucy asked incredulously, “That’s what this whole macho competitive thing is based on?!”

“You’re in the drumline, Luce, you have to know we’re not the most mature lot in the world.”

The junior said quietly, “Wow, this girl must’ve been quite a catch.”

Sam put his finger under Lucy’s cheek and answered, “Believe me, she’s got nothing on you.”

Lucy blushed. Somehow, her no good very horrible bad day was turning out way better than she thought it would. They swung for a few moments in silence, before she asked, “So, you think he’s just abusing his power? Since he can’t go after you, he’s going after the next best thing?”

“I think so. Really, I think your only option is to just keep on the best you can. Be the best bass drummer you can be – eventually he’ll come around.”

“Yeah,” Lucy was still a little glum no one was on her side.

“And don’t worry, I bet there will be some surprises at the game on Friday.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s just say, I’ve heard you talk about your section and something tells me, they are not going to take Jerm’s decision lightly.”

“I hope you’re right.” Lucy still wasn’t completely cheered up, but was beginning to brighten and said, “You know, at least now that everyone knows I’m dating you, there’s no reason to hide things!”

“In that case, why don’t you give that dress you’ve been telling me about an extra night out?”

“Why Mr. Powell, would you possibly be referring to Forrest Hills’s Homecoming?”

“I would like nothing better.”

“It’s a date! Anyway, thanks for meeting me out here. I really needed to see you.”

“No problem at all – anything for my girlfriend.”

After a quick goodbye, Lucy spent the rest of the night on damage control. After a quick dinner, she arranged a three-way conversation with Gina and Mandy. Although she did her best to explain to them what had been going on over the past month, they weren’t pleased with their friend for keeping them in the dark. With her banishment from playing at the game on Friday, Lucy had to bite her tongue to keep from spilling insults about Jerm to Mandy.

“I guess I’ve never seen Sam close up. Is he really cuter than Nevada?” asked Mandy.

“Yes…I mean, maybe not in the conventional sense, but it’s more than just looks, girls, Sam just ‘gets’ me, who I am, what I like – it’s different than it was with Nevada.”

“What are you going to do if Nevada starts dating someone else?” Gina wanted to know.

“Ugh, I don’t even want to think about that, but he has every right. I think the less I have to do with him, the better. It’s already too complicated.”

“So, how bummed are you that you can’t march on Friday?” asked Mandy.

“I’m not going to lie – it totally and completely sucks. Which reminds me, next time you talk to your boyfriend, tell him what a dick he is.”

Mandy remained silent. Lucy knew she should apologize, but didn’t want to and continued, “Listen, I’m not going to make you choose sides or anything, but I’m just mad because Jerm is taking out a personal grudge on me and that’s not cool.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have talked back to him. He is your captain. Don’t you think he deserves some respect?”

“I would give him respect if he had handled this whole situation with more professionalism. He shouldn’t have announced to the whole Line he wanted to see me after school! It was like broadcasting to everyone, ‘Come after school and watch as I rip Lucy a new one!’”

Gina interrupted the heated conversation, “Hey girls, this isn’t going to go anywhere. I think we should all just agree to disagree.”

“And whose side are you on?” Lucy and Mandy asked at the same time.

“Well, Lucy, I don’t know why you didn’t tell us about this from the beginning. Why didn’t you think you could trust us?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but just once I wanted something for me! And you know how things get around between boyfriends and girlfriends; I was worried Jerm would find out.”

Mandy said bitterly, “Thanks for trusting me.”

Lucy muttered, “Well, it’s happened in the past.”

The junior bass drummer was not surprised when she heard a click. Lucy continued, “I really am sorry, Gina. I should’ve trusted both of you. It just got out of hand.”

“I guess,” said Gina in a frosty tone.

Knowing she needed to recover, Lucy said, “I would love for you to meet Sam. Maybe this weekend?”

“We’ll be at the competition…”

“He’ll be there too.”

“Oh, right. Let me think about it, Luce. You’ve given us a lot to think about.”

Lucy walked through the rest of the week like she was on autopilot. Her grades improved because she had nothing else to concentrate on. Her parents were unpleasantly surprised when she received detention for skipping class. Lucy wasn’t ready to apologize to Mandy yet and no one on the Line except Tom would come within a ten-foot radius of her. Lucy suspected they were waiting to see what the results of the competition would be this weekend. Furthermore, she was used to the attentions of Nevada during school hours and was constantly reminded how much the redheaded cymbal player was around and how absent Sam was.

Cut him some slack – he goes to a different school.

I know. I’m just wondering if I rushed my decision.

What do you honestly feel when you see Nevada?

Lucy looked ahead as Nevada walked to class. She squinted her eyes and saw he was talking to Christina, a sophomore from the dance line.

While Lucy was irritated at the sight, she wasn’t outright jealous. At the same time, she thought their relationship would take a little longer to get over. Through the crowded hallway, Nevada’s hazel eyes looked back and locked on Lucy’s green ones. She looked away, embarrassed at the hurt in her eyes.

All too soon it was Friday night. Lucy debated skipping the game, but knew if she did, there would be no chance at her playing at the competition the next day. Grudgingly, she got together her uniform and beret and headed to the game. She had to watch as one of the freshmen marched her bass down to the field and played the National Anthem on the field. Lucy had a lot of low moments in her life, but this was among the worst. The first quarter drug by and with five minutes left in the second quarter, the band made its way down to the field to warm up. Lucy numbly sat and watched, then noticed the Line looked like they were missing someone. Lucy slowly turned around and saw the rest of the basses waving at her from the top of the stands. A slow smile slid across Lucy’s face and she ran up to her section. In a very uncharacteristic moment, there was a bass line group hug. Lucy looked incredulously at her section, before stopping on Mark, and asked, “Even you?”

“Especially me, Luce. I put you through enough, this is the least I could do.”

Lucy found herself getting choked up and said, “You guys are the greatest section a girl could ever ask for, but you do realize Jerm is going to kill you?”

“We’re willing to take that chance,” said Lance.

And sure enough, Jerm had realized he was missing a section from his Line and he wasn’t the only one. Members of the band looked up and saw five bass drummers sitting in the stands.

Mr. Izzo, the band director, walked up to the drumline captain and asked in a tight voice, “Jeremiah, you do realize we’re competing tomorrow?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And the purpose of marching without the basses is?”

“Um…well, see…” Jerm knew once he started explaining things Mr. Izzo would insist the basses all march, so he came up with the best response possible, “I was reading this article and sometimes it helps when a section is missing so the rest of the drumline can really focus on where their part fits in.”

“What about the other sections? Don’t you think they need to hear the bass line?”

“Probably?”

Unfortunately, the conversation came too late – the rest of the marching band was lined up and ready to march out on the field.

Mr. Izzo was being motioned by a band parent, and said tersely, “I don’t want to see this happen again, Jeremiah. We already have six snares and one less is a lot different than missing the entire bass line. You know we have a competition tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

Lucy and the basses laughed as they saw Jerm awkwardly run over to get into his spot on time. The missing section knew there would probably be hell to pay, but watching Jerm get in trouble and then his positively ungraceful run made it worth it. For Lucy it was extra special knowing she really did have someone – four someones – on her side.

* * *

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: BASES LOADED

Even with the absence of the bass line, the halftime show ran smoothly. Lucy and her section moved to the middle of the stands so they could get a better view of the rare opportunity to watch their show as audience members. They cheered a little too enthusiastically after the drum solo, gathering strange looks from the other people in the stands. As they sat listening, there were some definite holes where their part would’ve fit in. After the band marched off the field, the bass line had a few things to discuss.