The Line (25 page)

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER

The bus ride to the competition the following morning was one of the most memorable Lucy had ever been on. Given the excitement that carried over from the concert, someone had brought speakers for their iPod and the entire bus jammed to the Green Day album during the trip – singing and playing along with the tracks. In what seemed no time at all, the Line had arrived at the competition. Like previous Saturday, the individual competitors went to get their equipment out and start warming up. Lucy noted with relief that it was a perfect November day – cool, clear and crisp and not a cloud in the sky.

Like the week before, Lucy followed Tom to help with his quints. After Lucy had helped Tom onstage, instead of joining the rest of her section, she went backstage to wait for him to finish and help get his equipment back on the truck. Lucy looked around and noticed Sam, who was warming up on a Real Feel pad under a tree in the distance. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him and she had to firmly remind herself the South captain was no longer of any particular concern to her.

Sighing heavily, she turned around and bumped directly into Nevada. Instead of moving aside, the senior held her tight. Lucy looked up at him curiously and asked, “And just what are you doing?”

“This—”

Lucy saw Nevada’s lips coming towards hers and immediately freaked out. She pushed at his shoulder. Nevada did not seem to take the hint. Lucy had to literally avert her face from his, and said sternly, “Seriously, let me go.”

“Lucy, quit playing hard to get! You know we’re supposed to be together.”

“I am not playing hard to get! I am not playing anything. I told you on Thursday, I just want to be alone.”

“Is something the matter here?” a voice asked from behind them.

Lucy saw Nevada’s eyes hazel look up and narrow. He answered, “No, it’s personal, we don’t need your help.”

“I’m not sure Lucy agrees with you.”

“I don’t—”

Nevada interrupted, “Lucy doesn’t know what she wants.”

“I do so!”

Something happened behind Lucy and she quickly found herself spun around and slamming into Sam’s broad chest. She looked up, cocked her head and said, “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Sam moved her behind him and Lucy peeped out over his shoulder. This close to her ex-boyfriend, she inhaled his scent, trying to memorize its subtle and distinctive parts – his musky aftershave, the just washed scent of his white t-shirt…

Nevada pushed up his sleeves and said, “Lucy belongs with her own drumline.”

Sam answered calmly, “I think Lucy belongs wherever she wants to be.”

A third voice joined them, “Back off, Petersen.”

Nevada spun around to see Jerm behind him, arms crossed.

“What gives, Jerm?”

“I think you’ve done enough. I’m not getting our Line kicked out this close to legitimately kicking Sam’s ass on the court.”

Nevada glared at Jerm, but looked over Sam’s shoulder and asked, “So this is what you really want?”

“It is. I know the three of you think it’s not possible…but I think there is room in a season to be a dedicated drummer and a decent girlfriend. Furthermore, I think you guys should spend more time worrying about your notes and less time about who is dating who.”

Finished with the trio, Lucy walked off. Watching her, Nevada looked at Sam and said, “You know it’s not too late to get over yourself. Lucy deserves to be happy…”

Sam’s jaw clenched and he said, “Maybe you’re right.”

Jerm gently nudged the South Washington drummer and said, “Sounds like there is some unresolved business between you and Lucy – just see to it that my star second bass player gets to her warm ups on time, okay?”

Sam nodded and walked quickly to catch up with the bass player, “Hey Luce?”

“Yeah?” Lucy was wary of the voice that called behind her. She stopped, took a deep breath and turned around to face Sam.

“I think I owe you an explanation…about what happened at Homecoming.”

“Why is that?”

“I didn’t mention it before, but I’ve been burned in the past. and seeing the two of you together, I just wasn’t sure I’d be able to take it again.”

Lucy said as neutrally as possible, “I’m not going to cheat on you, Sam. I got”

“Even after everything, I do believe you. You’ve had to go through a lot to be with me. And if it were any other girl I might not understand that – but since we’re both drummers, I understand the sacrifices you made.”

“So…”

Sam laced a hand through hers and said, “So, I don’t know, maybe we could just start all over? I could buy you some Swedish fish and we could go see a movie?”

Lucy didn’t think she had heard him correctly, she clarified, “What?”

Sam gently put his arms on Lucy’s shoulders and forced her to look into those intensely dark blue eyes of his, “Because here's the thing – the past two weeks have royally sucked. And you know what?”

“What?”

“We already made it through the hard stuff. Seriously, most high school relationships don’t have to go anything like we did.”

“You’re right. Plus, this whole marching season is just about over…”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

Lucy's heart started beating faster and she looked up into Sam’s eyes, smiling at his familiar face. She traced a finger over his chin. He understood her in a way a lot of people wouldn’t and he was right – they had been through a lot together. She grinned, “I’d like that.”

Sam kissed her gently on the lips.

After changing in the women’s locker room and catching Molly up with the day’s events, the girls walked out to meet the guys and start to prepare. The warm up went well and everyone was primed for Preliminaries. Stepping on the court, Lucy got the rush of adrenaline that usually accompanied her during a competition. With her senses heightened, she had a sense of clarity before the show started. It seemed like just a few moments had passed when they were right in the middle of the mallet toss.
Success!
None of the basses had dropped their mallets, and seamlessly dove back into the complicated drill. Hearing a round of applause from the audience, Lucy knew their hard work had paid off.

As great as they did (or thought they did), it was still difficult to wait out the judges’ decision. Finally, after they had put their instruments away, and staked out a part of the bleachers, the announcer began with the individual results from the morning. It was a Forrest Hills sweep – Jerm, Tom, Nevada and the cymbals each won first place in their specific divisions. Lucy was sad to see Sam had lost, but knew Jerm had worked diligently over the past week to make his solo the very best possible.

When it came to the competing drumlines, all the usual players had made it to Finals. South Washington edged out Forrest Hills for first place, but they hadn’t won by a large margin. In order of competition, South would go last, and Forrest Hills would go second to last. In a matter of hours, the first place drumline trophy would be awarded.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: SHE’S GOING THE DISTANCE

With the gauntlet thrown and for the last time that mattered in the season, the Forrest Hills drumline warmed up. Henry didn’t say anything – he didn’t need to. The drummers had all the motivation they needed – they wanted to hear their Line’s name being called when it was time to announce first place. The seniors wanted to leave their legacy. The juniors, many on their instruments for the first time in competition, wanted to prove themselves. The sophomores didn't want to let anyone down. The freshman had dreams of starting a four year winning streak.

All was quiet as the Forrest Hills drummers stepped out on the court. In the brief moments before the show began, Lucy looked out into the crowd and smiled warmly at the band members who had made the trek to support their Line. Lucy’s green eyes swept over the audience and saw parents and friends. She got a wink from Henry, who had taken a seat in the front row. This was it. It seemed melodramatic, but, like her audition in the spring, the season really did come down to these few minutes. All the practicing, all the bitching, all the hours spent on a court, going over drill and music came to these precious minutes. Lucy looked to the seniors and for once, did not envy them. While it was fun to be the reigning class, it also meant graduation loomed in the spring. Lucy was thankful she had another year…another show to learn…another Line to compete with. Time went by too fast sometimes. It seemed like just yesterday she was standing in the band room, reading her name on the list after tryouts and now, she was a seasoned member of the Battery.

“Is the Forrest Hills drumline ready to take the court for competition?”

Jerm waited a dramatic few seconds before stepping out and gave the cue for everyone. They were ready.

“You may now take the court for competition.”

The show started – quickly blending from one song to the next. The combination of Henry’s difficult book and complicated drill took over – dominating Lucy’s thoughts for the next ten minutes. And then it was over, and they were scrambling to get off the court so they wouldn’t get any violations on timing. They passed South’s drummers in the narrow hallway that led to the court. Nothing was said between the lines. Forrest Hills was ecstatic at their performance, but weren’t about to let S.W. know that, and South was in their pre-show concentration mode.

As soon as drummers were outside backstage they started congratulating each other. Quickly joined by the other FHHS students who had made the trek to the competition, it didn’t matter what the judges said, at least for the next few minutes, the group felt like they were the best drumline in the world. As their celebration came to an end, with the exception of Jerm and Tom, the percussionists loaded their instruments into the equipment truck. As was the custom of most competitions, the winning soloists would be giving an encore performance of their routines. While the judges finished tallying the scores and deciding which sections would be awarded captions, the students went into the gym to wait and cheer on their fellow drummers.

The announcer addressed the crowd, “Please welcome first place individual tenor winner, Thomas Finnegan, from Forrest Hills high school, to the floor.”

Tom, attired in dark jeans, white shirt, two tone Doc Martens and his favorite flame suspenders. Started softly, to his original routine he added juggling and for this night’s performance, Tom somehow managed to incorporate taking a picture of the crowd on a disposable camera without missing a beat. Lucy was glad to see Tom getting what he loved plenty of audience attention. The tenor player finished to a thundering round of applause.

“Finally on the court this evening, please welcome our first place snare drummer, also from Forrest Hills high school, Jeremiah Stanford.”

Jerm began to play his technically difficult solo. There was no question he had a demanding routine and upon completion, he was also greeted by a loud round of applause. While Jerm cleared his snare off the floor, the announcer called for the section leaders from each of the competing Lines to gather on the gym floor. Representing Forrest Hills were Jerm, Doug, Nevada, Lance, and Molly.

The announcer came to a conclusion, “As always, we’d like to thank each of the drumlines for coming to compete today and all the friends and family that support them. A special thanks to the instructors, for all their hard work and dedication to the students present today. And now, the results.”

“In third place overall with a score of 88.75, Swiss County high school.”

The Swiss County captain stepped out to accept his trophy with a big smile on his face, he knew next year there would be a lot of returning members from his line and they would be a force to be taken seriously.

Across the court, Lucy’s sought out Sam and made eye contact with him. He gave her a quick half smile which she immediately returned. Against everything, they had survived the season on opposing drumlines. It wasn’t exactly as dramatic as Romeo and Juliet, but the bass drummer knew their relationship was worth it.

“In second place overall, with a score of 90.00...South Washington high school.”

Keeping his eyes on Lucy, Sam stepped out. He knew his Line would blame the judges and the “jerks” from his girlfriend’s school, but deep down he knew Forrest Hills had done a better job this evening and in the long run, he felt like he was really the winner. He had Lucy and being with her was better than a plastic trophy any day. Furthermore, his Line had just as many wins as Forrest Hills’ and he had an individual snare win to his credit. He proudly shook hands with the judges.

“Finally, in first place, with a score of 92.5, Forrest Hills high school!”

Next to her Tom jumped up and hugged his friend tightly – they had won! Amidst the number of flashes of various cameras, Jerm walked over and accepted the large trophy for first place.

The announcer continued, “Now, we would like to announce the best section captions. For these particular sections, the judges all noted outstanding playing from all the percussionists. These awards are given for musicality, incorporating visuals, and the cohesiveness of the section. The members of the sections should be very proud of this honor. First we would like to award the trophy for outstanding Front Ensemble, the award goes to…South Washington high school.”