Chapter One
"If any of you are interested in joining the marching band, sign your name on this sheet along with your age and instrument."
A bunch of us got out of our chairs and got in line to sign the sheet. School had been out for a while now, but people came to the school and did summer band to get ready for the next school year and to take field trips and perform in different places. Last year we went to a competition in South Dakota and took third place. This year, we're hoping to get first. Since my family was big on band (thanks to my brother, who was now in the Notre Dame Marching Band), they made me join, which I really didn't mind all that much. They wanted me to do marching band as well. And I didn't argue with them. I knew that it would be fun. But boy, I didn't know that it would be so amazing. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?
"Do you really think I should do it?" My friend Haven asked me, her bold brown eyes shining. She put her short brown hair behind her ears, but it just fell in her face again.
"Yes," I said.
"Why?"
"So I won't be alone."
"Right," Haven said, "Hey! I didn't know you were gonna do it, Marielle." I turned around to see my other friend, Marielle standing in front of James Hawk and Brian Crew. Marielle gave a small smile at Haven and I, as her blue eyes looked around.
"Yeah, I changed my mind," Marielle said, flipping her long blond hair behind her.
"Even better!" I exclaimed. We made our way up to the sheet. I grabbed the pen, and wrote:
Ariana Longchamp, 14, trumpet
I handed the pen to Haven, and walked back to my seat.
"You signed up?!?" John Truex asked me. John was my age. He had dirty blond hair and grey eyes and sat next to me in band-being that he was first chair and I was second chair. If I told my brother that I was second chair, he wouldn't be pleased. That was like my goal in life; to please my brother. I had to work my way up to first chair by the end of this year - before my winter concert. I was getting there. Occasionally I would call up a challenge between the two of us. I would start it, and he would go after me. Every time I would play, he would pretend that I was playing the easiest song in the world-and he would put on his "I'm better than you and you know it" face when he would play. The pieces would get harder and harder, and I always ended up losing. He would say, "Just what I thought. You'll be in my shadow until you die." Once I raided his band folder and found the hardest piece he had. I took it home with me and I haven't looked at it since.
"Yes, I did sign up, only to step up higher than you," I said to him. His stone eyes were staring at me with his "I'm the best ever" look.
"Right. Only way that's possible is if I were dead," he said.
"Then I'll just kill you in your sleep," I said. He laughed when he heard this. I just rolled my eyes. The last person signed the sheet, and our director, Mr. Lambertson read the names off.
"Hmm...Michael Karoo, Alice and Daryl Belle, Hailey Rogan, Sam Joseph, Ariana Longchamp, Haven Harden, Marielle Brooks, James Hawk, Brian and Tyler Crew, Jason Stam, and the one and only John Truex." Once again, I rolled my eyes.
"Well, I'm glad that you all signed up, and I have some news for you all," Mr. Lambertson said.
"What is it?" Michael asked.
"It seems to be that I'm not directing the marching band this year," he said.
"What?!?" Alice said in disbelief.
"You're quitting your job?!?" Sam exclaimed.
"No, I never said that." Mr. Lambertson said.
"You got fired?!?!" Jason asked.
"I never said that either. I'm stepping down, that's all. Your new director is coming on the first day of marching band practice."
"Who is he?" I asked.
"His name is Heck Muffing."
"When's the first practice?" Michael asked.
"The first practice is in two days. From nine to two p.m," Mr. Lambertson said.
"That long?!?" Daryl whined.
"Man, what are you complaining about?!?" Jason exclaimed.
"Calm down, people," I said.
"It'll be fine, trust me. Tyler, get rid of the gum," Mr. Lambertson said. Tyler went over to the trash can and spit it out.
"Now like I was saying, you'll work for about four hours with breaks in between," Mr. Lambertson finished.
"Awesome!!" James exclaimed.
"Where are we supposed to meet?" Hailey asked.
"You'll meet right in here," Mr. Lambertson said.
"I'll be there!" Tyler said, as if he never came late. The one thing about Tyler and Brian is that they always showed up late for any occasion-even for school.
"And you'll leave an hour early?" John asked him.
"Shut up, man!" Tyler yelled.
"Speaking of which, you can all leave now," Mr. Lambertson said to us. We all turned around and put our instruments away. I closed my case, took hold of my folder, and went outside to wait for my ride and my friends. Haven came out first, her brown hair bouncing behind her. Haven was a drummer.
"I'm so excited!" She said.
"So am I," I said. Marielle dragged her mellophone out. Her parents couldn't afford a French horn, and one of her parent's friends gave their mello away. A mello is pretty much the same thing as a French horn, only that you use a mello in a marching band rather than a French horn.
"Hey y'all," she said. Marielle moved from Texas two years ago-her parents had to find a better job-and for the fact that they had relatives here in Nebraska. "I wasn't paying much attention to Mr. Lambertson, what time do we have to be here?"
"Nine a.m.," I said.
"Right," Marielle said.
"Oh, there's my ride," Haven said. "See ya!!"
"Bye!!" I said. She got in her car and drove off.
"I wish she didn't join," Marielle said, putting her long blond hair behind her ears. I looked at her.
"Why?"
"Oh, come on! You know why!! She'll be all over her boyfriend-"
"-James," I finished.
"And the worst part is that they're in the same section!"
"Right. I bet that's the only reason she joined," I said. Marielle looked to the right. She had a funny expression on her face.
"What?" I asked her.
"Don't look now, but I think John's staring at you." If someone ever tells me that someone is staring at me, I have to look. Don't ever tell me to not look at something. So obviously I turned around. And sure enough, John was looking at me. He realized that I was gazing at him, so he looked down and pretended that he was busy.
"You know what?" Marielle asked me.
"Hmm?" I said, turning back.
"If he likes you, he might start paying more attention to you, and you-"
"-might get first chair." I finished, smiling.
"Exactly. Oh! There's my ride!!" she said. Marielle turned to go, but I grabbed her arm.
"What?" she asked.
"You can't leave me here with him!! Who knows what might happen!!" I exclaimed.
"Sorry, but I've got to leave," she said.
"Then take me home!!"
"Can't. People are coming over. Sorry." With that, she left.
"Oh, this is just great," I said. I sat down and watched her leave. I then heard someone walking my way. I became scared.
"Oh please no!" I whispered over and over again.
"Heeeeey Ariana!!" someone said. A wave of relief came over me. It was only Jason.
"THANK GOD!!" I said as I turned around.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I noticed that behind Jason were his friends Tyler and Brian Crew.
"Whoa!!" I said.
"Well?!" Tyler said.
"Nothing," I said.
"Sure," he said.
"I'm serious!!!" I exclaimed.
"Then what did you mean?" Jason asked me, his blue eyes staring at me.
"I thought you were John. He won't stop staring at me."
"Is he really?" Tyler said.
"He told me that he likes you," Brian told me.
"Liar," I said.
"I'm not lying!"
"Sure you aren't," I said.
"Do you like him?" Tyler asked.
"No!! And he doesn't like me!!!"
"Aww...that's mean!!" Jason said.
"Sorry, that's the truth!" I said. Just then, my ride came.
"Aww! Whose Ferrari is that?!?!" Jason exclaimed.
"My brother's," I said.
"Can we get a ride with you?!" Brian asked.
"No way!!!" I said as I walked away. I put my stuff in the back, and sat in the front with my brother.
"Hey," Nick said. "How's the chair?"
"Fine," I lied. I told my brother Nick that I was first chair.
"So, what's new?"
"Well, I signed up for marching band," I said. He looked at me.
"Did you really?"
"Yeah! It seems fun."
"Let me tell you that it is." Nick said, "The high school marching bands are always fun. The college ones are even better."
"Yeah," I said. Nick played the snare drum in the Notre Dame Marching Band. We went to South Bend a few times and watched him play. From as up high as we were, we could still pick out which one was him.
"Well, I'm excited to see you guys march," he said. This time, I looked at him.
"What?" I said. "You're coming to all the games?!?"
"No, I didn't say all of them. Maybe just a few. I have to go to school you know."
"Oh right," I said, "Forgot about school." We pulled into the driveway of our house. We didn't live very far from the school.
"Dad's working?" I asked Nick.
"Double time," he said. I got out of the car and got my stuff out of the back. I went inside the house to see my mom scrubbing the kitchen floor.
"Whoa!" I said as I went the other way to the family room.
"What'cha drop this time?" Nick asked my mom.
"Why do you all assume that I dropped something every time I wash the floor?!" my mother asked us.
"Because you always do." I said.
"Well, I didn't drop anything this time," she said. "I was bored and I realized that the floor was due for it."
"You do know that we have maids," Nick said.
"I insisted that I do it myself," my mother replied.
"Wow!" Nick said. "That's a first!" She gave him a look.
"What?!" Nick exclaimed. I laughed and went up to my room. Our house was pretty big-this was a prosperous neighborhood-and probably the only one.
"I'm home!" I sighed and dropped all my stuff on the ground. I pulled my blinds open and went down stairs. I was just about to go into the family room when Nick stopped me.
"Whoa! Where do you think you're going?" he asked me.
"That way," I said.
"Oh wow, what a thorough answer," he said. "Well, since you're not going that way, you can go get the mail."
"No! I do believe I got it yesterday!" I retorted.
"Ah, well...hmm...too bad!!! Better luck next time, eh?" He replied.
"Whatever," I said coldly and went through the front door. Yes, my brother and I had the silliest arguments sometimes. The mail was probably our biggest one. I pretty much always ended up losing the argument and going outside during all weather. It really wasn't fair. I ran down the driveway to the mailbox. I opened it and what did I see? Business letters, an invitation, and a package. I pried all the stuff out and the first thing I went to was the package. It was for me-and it was from my aunt Marcie.
"Oh great," I said to myself. "What'd she get me this time?" My aunt Marcie had an intention to get me anything she could find anywhere. If she saw something and immediately thought of me, it was all mine. I closed the mailbox and ran back inside. I threw the rest of the mail on the kitchen table and lay on the couch. I ripped open my package. Aunt Marcie had sent me a shiny, silver whistle.
"Something that'll come in use," I said. I observed my new whistle while listening to my mother talk with Nick.
"More new neighbors?!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah, and it says here; come join us for a feast set for a king," Nick said.
"And where do they live?" I asked.
"Next door," Nick replied.
"Ooooo, what fun," I said.
"Well, who's the family?" my mother asked Nick.
"Hmm...it says here the Truex family," Nick replied. My heart skipped a beat.
"The who family?" I asked.
"The Truex family, not who," Nick said. "Weren't you listening?"
"Maybe," I said. I went upstairs to my room and put my whistle on my desk. This was just great. My rival was gonna live right next to us?! Why couldn't the Leroy's stay?! They were nice people. They liked it here.
"I'll just have to wait till dinner," I said.
"They moved to be closer to their son and daughter." We had just finished eating dinner. I had asked the butler when he took our plates away.
"Why couldn't their kids move here?" I asked.
"They have jobs you know," my dad said.
"Could have gotten new ones," I mumbled.
"It sure does sound like you don't want the Truex's here," my mom said to me.
"I don't!" I exclaimed. Everyone looked at me.
"Sorry," I said quietly.
"Why don't you?" Nick asked.
"Because...they're my rival."
"What do you mean by rival?" my father asked.
"I think she means that their only son, John is, sir. He plays trumpet and they're both at it to be the best," the butler said.
"Oh, well, that's interesting," my father said.
"That's no reason to want them to leave - he won't bother you," my mother said.
"That's the least of my problems..." I mumbled as the butler took away my plate. I left the table and started heading for my room.
"Yeah, that's the least of my problems," I said again. "The worst of them is the fact that he likes me."
"Alright people!! Get in your seats!! Mr. Muffing should be here soon!!" We all got in a seat with our sections. I didn't sit where I normally did because I knew that the high school kids were better than me. I still sat next to John though.
"So, when are you gonna call it out?" John asked me. I knew what he was talking about.
"Soon my friend, very soon." I said. "But this time, I refuse to surrender to you! You'll be surrendering to me!!"
"Oh right!! In your dreams!"
"We'll just see about that," I said. All day yesterday I practiced that hard song I had stolen out of John's folder. It was tough, but I knew half of it.
"Okay, I don't know where Mr. Muffing is, so I'll call the role," one of the seniors said. She picked up a piece of paper and started calling off the names of the band members. When she finished that (which took a while since there were so many of us in the band), she opened a folder.
"Okay, for those of you who don't know me, I'm Jen, and I guess I'll be leading you all today until Heck comes." Jen picked up a stack of music and started passing it out. When I got mine, it read "Olympic Fanfare."
"Awesome!!" I said. "I love this song!!" The next one we got was titled, "The Imperial March."
"Ooo! That one's good too!" I said. The last one we got was called "March." By then, I got the hint.
"Excuse me," I said, "is this year's theme John Williams' music?"
"You listen to him?" Jen asked me.
"Yeah. He's pretty good." I replied. "What kinda moves are we gonna do?"
"We don't move. It's been like that for awhile now," a tuba player said.
"Wow," I said. "That's sad. Somebody should change that."
"But no one will," a piccolo player said.
"Wait...what about you?" a mello player asked to me.
"Me?!" I exclaimed. "No way!!"
"Just what I thought," she sighed. "Everyone's too scared to try."
"Why's that?" Haven asked.
"The people's reactions," a sax player said.
"We don't know how they'll like it." Jen said.
"Oh come on!" I said. "They probably won't give a-"
"Okay miss everything, you give it a shot then! Come up with a half time show for the last game of the season!! You act like you can do so much, so try this!! It'll show who you really are and what you can really do!"
"Hey!! I don't think I can do everything! This is my first year of marching band!! Sure, I may be talented in many ways, but this is one thing that will kill me!!" I retorted.
"And just how will it kill you?!" Jen asked.
"Of stress! Of this crazy marching band!! You all know that you can't perform a show without a director!!!" I yelled.
"Hey! That's not true!!" the tuba player said.
"Then do it!" I said. "Tell Mr. Muffing to leave whenever he comes and do it all on your own!!"
"There's too many of us!!" a trombone player said.
"I think that that can only work for a small marching band," a flute player said.
"NO!!! That's a lie!!! Any band could do a show without a director!!! No matter how large they are! All it takes is work and cooperation with one another!!" I yelled.
"Then do it!!" Jen said. "Prove that to us!! Show us all what you're made of!! Show the world that any band could do a show without a director!!"
"No matter how large!!!" the tuba player added. Now the whole band was yelling, "Yeah!!" I looked around.
"Why don't you do it?!" I yelled to Jen.
"Yeah right! Like this band would ever listen to me!"
"Aww...forget it." I said. "Let Mr. Stick-In-The-Mud come and direct this circus band!"
"COWARD!!!" Jen yelled.
"AM NOT!!" I yelled back.
"ARE TOO!"
"AM NOT!!!"
"THEN DO IT!!!"
"I WILL!!!!!!!" I yelled. It became dead silent.
"What did you say?" Jen asked.
"I said...I will," I said angrily.
"Good! Here's the deal; if you successfully get a show put together, we all applaud you. When we perform it-nobody better mess up. If the people like your show-"
"I'll lead the marching band until I graduate," I said.
"Fine," Jen said. "But if no one likes it, you have to quit the band and join choir-until you graduate."
"Fine," I said. "It's a deal."
"Good! Start working on your show, you've got many weeks ahead, and you better not slack. Now you'll know what it's really like to direct a band and work hard," Jen said. "Anyways, let's get started on the Olympic Fanfare!" I took a look at my music. It was pretty hard-for a second part. I shook my head quickly, trying to see what I saw in front of me was real. My music read first part. I quietly looked over at John's music. My eyes became wide.
"You have second part?!" I said quietly to John.
"Yeah, so what?"
"Well, apparently they think I'm better than you," I said, smiling. He looked at my music. He couldn't believe it either.
"How'd that happen?!" he whispered.
"I don't know, but maybe I'm actually better than you!" I said delighted.
"No way! That'll never happen!"
"Well, it just did," I said, lifting up my trumpet as we were about to start. Jen started us off. It didn't sound that bad actually. The high school band really knew what they were doing. I got lost here and there. But I felt proud being on first part. After that, we went on to playing the Imperial March. Again, I had first, and John had second.
"This isn't right. Everybody knows I'm better than you," John said.
"The high school doesn't," I replied. We started playing the Imperial March. This one was easy. I knew how the tune went, and I could hit the high notes. This song wasn't too long. Right after that, we got out March. The song March reminded me of summer. Every summer my family and I went down to our summer house in Georgia. We would spend so much time down there. Let me tell you, it can get pretty hot down in Georgia. On the way down, I'd listen to the song March. I would listen to it when we would pass up the vacation houses. Now every time I hear it, I always think of Georgia. Oh yeah, and once again, I had first, and John was on second. Could this day get any better?
"Okay guys," Jen said after we finished playing March, "we will work on these in the future, but for now, we have to practice marching."
"I thought you said we don't march," Haven said.
"Hey! I said that!" The tuba player said.
"Whatever," Haven said.
"We march, we just don't move." Jen replied.
"I'm not getting it," Tyler said.
"We march onto the track and onto the field and to the shell and to the school! Is that clear?!" Jen exclaimed.
"Not really-" Tyler said. We all laughed.
"Just get outside and talk to your squad leader!" Jen said. We all got up, took our instruments with us and went to the football field. We all went with our sections, and they divided us into lines of four. There were three lines of trumpets. I was in the middle line.
"We need the piccolos in the front!" Jen yelled.
"Why them in the front?" I asked my section leader, Mark. Mark was a junior.
"They play the music as we march." Mark said.
"Oh, you mean like an army back in the 1700s?" I asked.
"Exactly. We're the Patriots, so it fits right in. They play the music, with a rhythm from the drums."
"So that's what my brother would practice!" I said.
"Brother?" Mark asked. It was then I learned that Mark was a very curious person. If you said anything around him, he'd jump right in and would want to know everything about it.
"Yeah, my brother was in the marching band a while ago. He goes to Notre Dame now," I told Mark.
"Who's your brother?"
"Nick," I said.
"Nick...?"
"...Longchamp," I replied.
"You mean the famous Nick Longchamp!?!" Mark exclaimed.
"Ummm..."
"Hey Jen!!" Jen looked up. She was talking to the flutes.
"Yeah?" she said.
"Remember Nick Longchamp?!"
"Best drummer we ever had! Not to mention one of the best substitute directors. Why ask?" Jen said.
"He has a little sister!" Mark exclaimed.
"Who?" Jen asked.
"Her!!!" Mark said, pointing to me.
"Does ‘her' have a name?"
"Umm..." Mark said, thinking.
"Ariana," I said to him.
"Ariana! The girl you made the bet with!"
"Oh her! She better not get any help from him."
"Oh yeah right!" I said.
"Okay! We're all set! Drum roll for four counts please!" Jen yelled. The drums did a drum roll for four counts, and then started playing the rhythm I heard when I was little. The piccolos played their tune, and away we went around the track. I really felt like a soldier now.
After going around the track four times, we practiced getting on and off the field. Before we all knew it, it was two o'clock.
"We practice every day here!" Jen said to us as we started packing up. I met my friends outside of the school.
"That was fun!" I said as Marielle came out of the school.
"Sure was!" she replied.
"It was awesome! They put me on cymbals. James is on the bass drum!" Haven exclaimed.
"Neat! Hey! There's my ride!" I said as I ran to the red Ferrari.
So far, so good.
But not for long.
