The Line (2 page)

“Is he graduating in May or will you be seeing him next season?”

“He’ll be a senior.”

“He’s cute.”

“Mo-oom.” It was amazing how perceptive her mother could be sometimes. Since her freshman year, Lucy had been carrying an Olympic sized torch for the attractive drummer. She had watched, from a distance, as Nevada had dated a string of girls in the marching band, mostly from the pretty Auxiliary sections.

“Okay, so, how did auditions go?

“Good enough. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”

The following day, Lucy tapped her pencil in Economics class impatiently. She glanced at her chipped pink nail polish and wondered how she was going to make it through the whole day. Unable to sit still a moment longer, she raised her hand and asked, “Can I go to the bathroom?”

Dr. Knott nodded; he was too busy trying to make the laws of supply and demand interesting to a bunch of sophomores.

Taking the hall pass, Lucy walked through the deserted halls and found herself in front of the band room. She approached the band director’s office – where lists of this importance were usually posted and sighed with disappointment – no list yet. Mr. Izzo was on the phone in his office. Seeing the sophomore outside and, hardly believing what he was doing, Lucy watched as he held up two fingers, then mouthed the word, “Bass.”

Lucy choked back an excited scream and a grin lit up her entire face.

DRUMLINE

(First practice – next Monday after school! *denotes section leader)

SNARES

*Jerm (Captain)

Billy

Adam

James

Herschel

Gardner

QUINTS

*Doug

Tom

Ewan

Andy

BASS

Mark (1st)

Lucy (2nd)

*Lance (3rd)

Nathan (4th)

Jared (5th)

CYMBALS

*Nevada

Morty

Kevin

Scott

Thomas

Ben

Donovan

PIT

*Molly

Hank

Vince

Sean

Doyle

Chad

Christopher

After school that day, the percussionists crowded around the list. The newly christened second bass drummer tried to ignore some of the ruder comments regarding her placement, recognizing this was a weird time of year on the Line. Although everyone was friendly during the season, around auditions, friendships were put on a temporary hiatus. Given it was only herself and her fellow sophomore, Molly, Lucy was also not surprised to see she was the only girl on the Battery. Taking a mental snapshot, she walked away from the list with a smile on her face.

* * *

CHAPTER ONE: THE SEASON BEGINS

On a sweltering afternoon in August, Lucy lugged her thirty-pound bass drum to her car, the Matt Damon, a blue Chevrolet Cavalier that was in desperate need of a paint job. She had taken the big drum home over the summer to try and get used to the weight. Wanting to make sure the guys didn’t forget her gender, Lucy had secured a flashy Tinkerbell sticker to her carrier. In addition to the glittery sticker, she had added her initials to the metal contraption – becoming part of the tradition to put your initials to mark your season. Lucy gently traced the other worn stickers and smiled, remembering previous percussionists who had made her freshman and sophomore years such fun ones.

Although Lucy thought it would take forever for her junior year to start, the summer had flown by in a blur. Lucy and one of her best friends, Mandy, a legs for miles blond on the Forrest Hills Color Guard, had both worked jobs at the local pizza place, Da Vinci’s, flirting their way through the minimum wage hours with the delivery boys. When she wasn’t working, Lucy kept in touch with friends and gossip via the usual social networks facebook, texting, and the occasional party.

The junior had been waiting for this day for so long, she could hardly believe it was finally the first practice of the season. The brunette drove up to the high school and took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the next couple of hours. The expectations of the Forrest Hills drumline were intimidating – there was a tradition of discipline and difficult shows. In the middle of her calming thoughts, a large blue minivan with racing stripes pulled up next to her. Only one person at the high school drove that car, Tom Finnegan, a junior and one of her best friends.

Ever since the band trip to Disneyland their freshman year, Tom and Lucy had been close to inseparable. They both had a bizarre sense of humor no one else really seemed to get. Tom, forever failing the gifted classes he signed up for, relied on Lucy’s ability to study and get him to concentrate in order not to flunk whatever grade they were in. Lucy noted Tom was quite tan after working the entire summer as a lifeguard. She rolled her eyes thinking of his goofy cuteness that had probably earned him quite a female following at the local pool. He opened the trunk of the van and pulled out his quints. They both pulled down their black Oakley eyejackets (the sunglasses of choice for Battery members) and together they walked towards the band room.

“You ready for this?”

“Are you kidding? I was born ready.”

The crowded band room was full of people. Section leaders tried, with varying degrees of success, to corral their sections. Finally, Fred, one of the drum majors, fellow junior, and Lucy’s friend since fifth grade, clapped his hands for attention. He gave a stirring speech about how great the season was going to be and how every person in the band made a difference. The full marching band then broke into sectionals and the Line marched out in front of the school to their traditional warm up spot where Henry, their instructor, was waiting for them. Helping carry some of the Pit equipment, Lucy walked with Molly and chatted with the only other source of estrogen on the Line.

As Forrest Hills’ Instructor for three years, Henry didn’t need to give a speech this early in the season. They all knew he expected the best and wouldn’t accept anything less. He wrote all their music and made sure they were one of the best high school drumlines in the region. As a group, the combined force of Battery and Front Line went over the basic exercises and drills everyone had learned during Warm-up Week. Knowing Eight on a Hand by heart and protected by the dark tint of her sunglasses, Lucy considered her section.

Mark stood in front of her on first bass. A cocky, cute sophomore, Mark was arrogant as hell and had a mouth like a sailor. Fortunately, Mark had long ago classified her as “cute,” which meant their relationship thus far was made up almost entirely of sexual innuendoes and third grade flirting techniques like stealing each other’s mallets. Lucy knew she was going to have to watch herself to remain at attention rather than succumb to Mark’s taunts.

Behind Lucy on third bass was her lieutenant, Lance. Lance had been on the bass line the previous and was the only one returning to the section. He was also a sophomore. Tall, with dark hair, and like most percussionists she knew, overly confident (when it came to drumming at least) he led their sectionals and tried to keep Lucy and Mark from killing each other. Behind Lance on fourth bass was dark haired nerdy cute Nathan. Bringing up the end of the basses was Jared. Lovable Jared. Pacifist Jared. Jared liked two things in life: drumming and the band Less Than Jake. He played the big fifth bass. Altogether, the basses were by far the most eclectic section in the Line.

While Jermiah “Jerm” Stanford, the drumline captain and snare section leader, gradually increased the tempo of the warm up, Lucy couldn’t help it as her eyes were drawn to the cymbal line. She hadn’t seen Nevada all summer and openly stared at him behind her dark sunglasses, noting his muscular arms and newly acquired goatee.

Henry held up a stick signalling the last run through of the warm up. Lucy guiltily snapped back to attention as she clicked her mallets against her drum. In this week before band camp, the Line was mainly reviewing cadences and rebuilding chops before they received their music for this year’s halftime show. It was a special time, so early in the season, that there was no history established with the Line. No one had started to get on each other’s nerves, no fights over girls, and no blaming over dropped sticks or notes. It was a golden time in the season that wouldn’t last long. Henry looked at all of them and said, “Great first practice, guys. I’ll see you all at band camp.”

Before she realized it, Lucy’s first official band practice on the Battery was over. She was sweaty, but overall, very satisfied with the way things had went. So far, she had kept up her part as one-fifth of the bass line. She joked around with the guys as they put their equipment away in the large room just off the band room that served as the section’s headquarters. Not only a place to store their instruments, it was the location for inside jokes, blowing off steam, and occasionally, a place to sleep between classes.

In the parking lot, Lucy met up with Mandy and Gina, the third of the Three Musketeers, and also a talented majorette in her own right. In the concert season (and the origination of their friendship) Gina was the first chair bassoon and Mandy was co-first chair clarinet in the Honor Band, joining Lucy and her oboe in the first row. The three chatted about where they should go to celebrate their first practice. Lucy knew the unofficial destination for the upperclassmen on The Battery (and its endless stream of groupies) was the local Waffle House. She had been there once the year before, when the Line had gone out en masse after winning an important competition.

Looking at her friends and inspired by the season ahead, she said optimistically, “Let’s say we start the year out differently. Let’s join my section at WaHo.”

The brunette knew she wouldn’t hear a lot of arguments. Mandy had confessed earlier in the summer to a growing crush on Jerm, the drumline captain, and Gina was happy to go along wherever the fun was.

Most of the Line had arrived before the trio did. Unfortunately, a lot of the wannabe girlfriends from various sections had also chosen the Waffle House as their social hang out, shameless in their attempt to get attention from the drummers. Jerm, completely oblivious to his potential fan club, was seated in the middle of the large corner booth and talking about the year ahead. He commented, “The way I figure it, S.W. is the only Line we have to worry about. You saw them last year.”

The snare drummer was speaking about the cross-town rival Line – South Washington high school. He wasn’t speaking of any band competition or football game; he was looking forward to November when the indoor drumline battles would start. Their drumlines were in a constant struggle for first place. The guys all nodded in agreement. Jerm’s fellow seniors definitely wanted to go out on a high note.

At that moment, Lucy, Gina, and Mandy walked through the door. Lucy stopped and scanned the room. She had been on the Line for two years and had developed some close friendships with some of the other juniors. However, she had never hung out socially with the seniors. From a purely percussion standpoint, they were intimidating. Lucy wanted to approach them, but didn’t want to risk being shot down in front of her friends. Unable to decide, Lucy pulled Gina and Mandy toward the freshman table. There was no way fourteen-year-old boys were going to turn down a female, even if she was the only girl on the Battery.

“What’s up, dudes?” Lucy casually sat down and started talking to the younger boys about their upcoming first year in high school.

“Can you believe her?” asked Adam from across the room.

Jerm looked up, momentarily entranced by the beautiful Mandy, before replying, “I don’t think it’s so bad. She was fine at practice today. In fact, the bass line is sounding better than it has in years.”

Nevada spoke up, smiling, “Let’s invite her over. You know, for the sake of Battery peace and all that.”

Five pairs of eyes looked over at Jerm. He was their leader both on and off the field. Jerm considered Lucy for a minute. He hadn’t really taken much notice until her appearance on the Battery this year, noting that girls on the Line could add up to trouble. There was something about entirely too many guy hormones and not enough girl hormones to offset all the testosterone. Rarely was there a fight over a drumline girl, but Lucy was cute, and it could mean certain tempers could flare. On the other hand, Lucy’s friend Mandy had definitely piqued his curiosity. This opportunity could be his only way to meet her. Jerm called out, “Lucy!”

Lucy, engrossed in making the younger boys laugh and eating away at her scattered-smothered-covered hash browns, almost didn’t realize someone was calling her name. Recognizing her captain’s voice, she finally replied, “Yes, Jerm?”

“Why don’t you come sit over here?”

Never one to leave her girlfriends behind, Lucy asked, “Do you have room for my friends?”