The Line (24 page)

Lucy gulped, since Finals were about to start, about the only place there was room was the gym floor. Sure enough, within minutes, Lucy could see flashlights leading the South Washington drumline to sit near Forrest Hill’s Front Ensemble.

As soon as all of the South drummers were seated the last announcement came, “I’ve just had word from the sponsors and judges, I’d like to apologize to all our percussionists, but this competition has been cancelled due to weather. Your safety is the most important thing to us. Until power is restored, we ask for you to remain calm and seated.”

Boos and hisses came up from the percussionists. From the Preliminary scores, South Washington had won, but without Finals, it wasn’t a clearly defined win. Finals always brought out the best drumming and the most pressure. What happened in Preliminaries was just that – preliminary. Lucy was completely disappointed – they had all worked so hard for the past month, only to have Mother Nature shut them down.

“It’s pretty awesome being first,” someone said a little too loudly from near where the South drummers were sitting.

Lucy knew it wasn’t Sam talking, but that didn’t stop Nevada from commenting, “I wish Sam would just shut up about being first already. It’s not like they won Finals.”

“I didn’t say anything! Quit putting words in my mouth!” came Sam’s angry response.

“Then how about you quit stealing our cymbal moves?”

“Stealing, huh? This coming from the guy who stole my Homecoming date.”

Lucy could feel the shock waves ripple across the floor. This was news to everyone on the court. She prayed the lights would come back on and this unseen argument would come to an abrupt end.

“She wouldn’t have needed a date if you hadn't mashed wasabi in Jerm’s eye!”

Jerm had never told his drummers exactly how or why he had started wearing the eye patch and with that information the emotions on the gym floor were definitely in the process of escalating. Now that Nevada had basically spelled it out for everyone how he had lost use of his eye and Sam had let everyone know that Lucy had been stolen away from him, the tension between the two lines was almost palpable. Lucy couldn't take much more of the testosterone fest that was going on and said loudly, “Alright guys, that’s enough! What happened off the court has nothing to do with our Lines and I think we should keep it that way. Can't we just keep this about drumming?”

No one was answering and whatever might have happened next, the drummers would never know. Lucy heard Henry’s voice over by the snares, “Alright guys, the storm has calmed down enough so I’m going to try and get us out of here. We’re going to go section by section. Just wait until the flashlight comes over and you can safely walk to the truck. Let's go Pit!”

She heard Joe, the instructor from South, inform his Line to do something similar.

Lucy crawled back over to her bass drum. She knew it would be a few minutes until Henry got to her section and willed no further comments or insults to carry across the floor. She laid back, propped her legs up on her drum, trying to block out everything, desperately trying to figure a way out of this crazy situation that was her life.

Henry interrupted her thoughts, “Come on basses, let’s go.”

Lucy picked up her drum and slung it over one shoulder, following the flashlight out to the equipment truck and packed up her drum. Outside the gym, she noticed there were branches and leaves strewn everywhere – they had been lucky to miss any injury or permanent damage to themselves or their equipment. However fortunate they had been, the storm had left an unresolved finish to this evening, and Lucy knew it meant next week's competition was going to be unbelievably intense. With all the emotion and energy spent throughout the day, the ride back to Forrest Hills was uncharacteristically quiet. Leaning on Tom’s shoulder, Lucy reflected on the day – everything had started out so great, only to end with a lot of disappointment.

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: AMERICAN IDIOTS

During fifth period on Monday, everyone got a chair and sat down anxiously, waiting to hear the judges’ tapes. They would only be able to listen to the Preliminary tapes, but it would give them something to work on. As Jerm started the first of the three judge’s tapes, Lucy's heart started beating faster. In all the chaos of Saturday, Lucy had forgotten about her dropped stick and was cringing, waiting to hear the judge’s comment on the tape. She knew exactly the spot she dropped her mallet and a couple of notes.

“What’s this? Second bass needs to work on her mallet skills.”

In case the judge hadn’t been referring to Lucy by the second bass comment, the “her” definitely cemented who he was talking about. Every single member of the Forrest Hills drumline looked over at Lucy, who responded, “What?! I dropped my mallet – it could happen to anyone!”

The judge continued, “— and so does fourth bass.”

Everyone’s head swung around to glare at Lance. The judge continued rapidly, so there was no time to talk about the dropped mallets. Finishing, he concluded his comments, “I like your style Forrest Hills, but I’m just not sure you are collectively a Line this year. I hear all the parts, but I don’t hear them all together. Your playing is outstanding, great licks, phrasing, and stick work, but I’m not hearing it as an ensemble. Work on this for your next competition and you should be unbeatable.”

There was silence after the tape ended. Never had the Line heard anything on a tape like this before. No matter what the differences off the court, they always managed to be friends and make things work. The first reaction was, of course, to be angry with the judge, but something about what he had said rang true. Lucy knew each section was functioning fine, but the Line all together…?

Considering their predicament, she decided it was like they were missing Johnny Roastbeef. During her freshman year, the drumline had weirdly happened upon a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure (originally Donatello) while they were practicing early in the season. The turtle had been christened Johnny Roastbeef and went on to be the inside joke of the year. They had even written a cadence about him. In fact, ‘Do it for Johnny!’ was still the rallying cry and good luck chant the Line shouted before competitions to get pumped up. But this year, the collective energy had been on a series of ups and downs. The events with South Washington’s drummers earlier in the season weren’t an inside joke. True, it had brought the Line together, but it had done so in a very negative way. Lucy shook her head and snapped back to reality and said, “He’s right.”

Heads turned towards her.

She continued, “We’ve been practicing and we have all the notes, but deep down we’re missing something.”

Jerm, who had removed his eye patch over the weekend and was now back to his regular self, asked, “And what do you think we should do about it?”

“We need to bond.”

The guys all groaned; this was not the answer they wanted.

“How exactly are we going to accomplish that?” asked Jerm.

Lucy had a flash of brilliance and said, “Well, there’s a Green Day concert on Thursday. I know some of you already have tickets, but maybe we should all go.”

There was a murmur of agreement through the sections. Tom smiled at Lucy, and picked up her idea, “Think about it – how awesome would it be to hear our show live? Plus, if we all went together…”

Jerm challenged, “What if it’s sold out?”

Tom shot back, “Come on, Jerm. We’re not talking about front row seats – we’re talking about the nosebleed section.”

One of the freshman, Morty, spoke up, “My mom works for one of the radio stations. Maybe she can get us a deal.”

Tom and Lucy looked at Jerm, challenging him to say anything but ‘yes.’

Jerm sighed and said, “Fine. We’ll try and get tickets.”

After they finished listening to the remainder of the tapes, and each section had a clearly defined set of things to work on for sectionals in the afternoon, Lucy and Molly walked to their next class together.

The Pit section leader said, “Seriously brilliant suggestion, Luce.”

“Thanks.” Lucy’s mouth quirked in a smile as she noted how much could change in a few weeks in her section. At the beginning of the month she had been persona non grata and now she was their heroine.

“So, any news from Sam?”

“You were there for the train wreck at the gym two days ago, right?”

“I was.”

“Well, the facts are out. He doesn’t want to forgive me or have anything to do with me. Even if he did, with all the history behind us, I don’t think it’s possible to get back to where we started. So, as painful as it is, I’m just going to have to let him go. Anyway, after next Saturday, there is no place I’m going to run into him. It will really be over.”

“Tis better to have loved and lost?” Molly offered.

“I’m not so sure,” Lucy replied glumly.

By band practice on Thursday, word had circulated about the non-school sanctioned “field trip” the Forrest Hills drumline had planned. For whatever reason – genuine interest or curious fascination in the drama of the section – Lucy was glad to hear a lot more of the marching band members coming out to support their drumline this weekend and hoped they would be able to make their fellow classmates proud.

Immediately after practice, the drummers gathered in the percussion room – ready to drive to the venue. They were going to caravan so the younger drummers could ride with the upperclassmen. Through lucking out with reduced price tickets, a little bit of persuasion and a few white lies (“Mom, I have to go to the concert or I’ll get kicked off the Line!”), the entire Forrest Hills drumline was going to the Green Day concert. On the way out to the parking lot, Nevada caught up with Lucy and asked, “So, want to sit next to me?”

“Not really.”

“I thought we were going to try and be friends.”

“It’s too soon.”

“But it wasn’t too soon at Homecoming?”

Lucy immediately flushed and answered, “I… I was confused.”

“And I’m supposed to sit by and watch while you play hot and cold?”

The bass drummer steered the senior to a more private area as they walked, and answered, “I didn’t ask you to sit and watch anything. Look, my decision remains the same as it did a month ago – I like Sam.”

“Even if he doesn’t like you?”

“Even if he doesn’t like me, I think it’s probably best that I was alone for awhile.”

“Why doesn’t he like you exactly? What happened between?”

Lucy did not want to relive the moment again, nor give Nevada any further ammunition. Witnessing his immaturity during the black out had been enough to start Lucy from wondering why she ever had feelings for him in the first place. Placing a hand on her hip, she answered, “Please just give me my space. I know I’ve done unspeakable things this season – none of which I’m proud of and for your information, Sam has every reason not to like me. I… I’ve given him every reason not to.”

“I’ll try.”

Putting a hand on her head, and wondering when she ever thought she knew about teenage boys, Lucy found her way to her car, glad to see the two freshmen (Morty and Thomas) and a sophomore (Kevin) already waiting for her. The trio, all members of the cymbal line, had become fast friends with the bass drummer on the field this season. Before marching out for the opening set of the halftime show, they had developed a weird ritual, which mostly involved singing (and what was becoming a choreographed dance) to the lyrics of “Back that Ass Up” by Juvenile. As they drove, singing along with the Green Day soundtrack they had come to know over the season, the bass drummer felt that overall, no matter what happened on Saturday, she had learned a lot about herself during the season. There were mistakes, highs, lows, and just about everything else in between. For her original ideas about the season being all about drumming, she couldn’t have been more wrong.

Collectively, the group parked together and made the long walk towards the stadium hosting the concert. After climbing what seemed like a million stairs, the percussionists found their seats as the opening act finished. The stage was reset and Green Day started their show. As Lucy looked around at the smiles on everyone’s faces, she knew they were thinking the same thing she was – hearing songs from their indoor show played by the actual band was awesome! Even the most socially backwards drummers were up and jumping around by the time the show was over. With their ears ringing, the Forrest Hills drumline walked out and instantly began reliving the concert on the walk to their cars – talking about their favorite songs, looking at pictures, and how good this would make them sound on Saturday.

The away game the next day went well – the football team beat a difficult opponent and would be advancing to the State semi-finals. With the chemistry of the Line finally solidified, Lucy was glad because she didn’t want the season to end just yet. Marching through the now completely familiar territory of the halftime show, she was proud of how far it had come since the sweaty practices in August. Once home, as with the previous week, Lucy had a difficult time falling asleep. With all of the craziness and drama, it was difficult to imagine tomorrow was the last time the Line would be in competition mode for the season. This time tomorrow night, they would be back to marching the half time show and performing in parades. The junior knew it wouldn’t hit her until the football team lost and they would put their equipment away for the last time. Lucy had pride in her previous Indoor competitions but somehow it was different this year – running the drill and moving on the court. She could only hope their hard work would pay off.