Chapter Six
When the guard pulls up to our house on Wednesday evening for our section dinner, I’m not surprised to see that Mom has outdone herself yet again. The front yard is filled with massive letters that spell out Welcome Knights!
“Come on in, it’s great to have you here,” Dad says as he beckons everyone inside and toward the kitchen. Kelsey waves from her spot in the living room but is surprisingly quiet. Though it’s hard to be louder than ten teenagers who are eager to dissect the day’s rehearsals.
“I hope you all like tacos!” Mom calls as they walk in. “We have hard and soft shell tortillas, rice, a Crock-Pot of shredded chicken, and a skillet of peppers and onions for any vegetarians in the mix, plus all the toppings. Please help yourself!”
The guard stands around in awe for a second before jumping into line.
“Thanks, Mom,” I say quietly. “I think everyone’s impressed.”
“I’m glad. This evening is important, so I wanted to help you get it right. I remember how close our entire trumpet section was—we were inseparable. It’s one of the biggest reasons why we were so successful.”
Her words make my stomach churn. I’m grateful everyone agreed to come to dinner tonight, but we’re a long way from being inseparable. Already, I can see a few people checking the time on their phones since they have plans for later.
“Are you doing any fun bonding exercises with them after you eat?” Mom asks.
Bonding exercises? I glance at her in alarm. Isn’t it enough to just eat some food together? I didn’t realize I needed to plan a series of trust fall activities like we’re at a corporate retreat in order to be a good leader.
“Never mind,” she says. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” She pushes me toward the group. “Now stop talking to me and go connect with them.”
To Mom’s credit, the taco bar is a huge hit.
The dining room has been decorated with green and white balloons, streamers, napkins, and plates.
Everyone happily crowds around the table, laughing and talking about the beginning of school next Monday.
I sit down next to Li. I was hoping some of the other members would take her under their wings, but so far she seems like a bit of an outsider.
“Are you excited to start freshman year?”
She smiles and then frowns. “I am, but I’m also scared. The high school is so big compared to the junior high, and I’m not sure how much I’ll see my friends. That’s why I’m so happy to be in color guard and get to have all of you.”
My heart squeezes, remembering that scary transition. I really need to look out for her and make sure she’s okay. I can’t control the rest of high school, but marching band needs to be a safe spot for her.
As soon as the food is gone, the conversation dwindles too.
I think back to what Mom said earlier…maybe I should have planned something else to do together.
I hate for them to leave so soon. I glance around quickly and then see a stack of D&D books on a corner bookshelf.
A thought comes to me. It’s something Nova and I do sometimes when we’re bored, and even Max and I used to do this back in the day.
“Hey, I have a wild idea,” I say loudly.
All the heads at the table swivel in my direction.
“What if we all tried making a D&D character tonight?”
Callie and Deja look disgusted, while the seniors give me bewildered expressions.
“Um…why?” Devin asks.
“My brother plays that,” Rosa complains.
I’m already regretting this suggestion, but maybe it’ll be fun if people can get over their prejudices.
“I’m not saying we start a campaign together,” I reply.
“We have way too many people for that anyway. But it’s fun making characters, and you can be whoever you want.
” I grab a few of Mom’s manuals and start passing them around.
“Think of it like a personality test so we can get to know each other better. You can choose your name, what species and class you’d like to be, all your personality traits.
How about everyone takes fifteen minutes and then we’ll go around and introduce the characters to each other. Just for fun?”
They look back-and-forth to each other hesitantly, but no one refuses.
“Um, how do we do it?” Deja asks.
Whew, they aren’t revolting yet. I start explaining, then quickly realize that going through the entire character development process is going to be too intensive, so I narrow it down to the basic elements. Soon they’re flipping pages and squealing over ideas.
“Wait, I can be a dragon?” Callie asks.
“You can be dragonborn if you want to be.”
“Oh, I’m totally being a dragon!” She claps with delight, surprising me with her enthusiasm. “My name is going to be Puff and I want to make swords. Do I get to choose the color of my scales?”
“Absolutely.”
“Ooh, that’s hard. Maybe purple?”
“No,” Keira says. “You should do green like our school colors.”
I laugh and turn to Li. “What are you thinking?”
“This is so cool.” Her expression is bright with joy. “I’ve read a few D&D novels, and I always thought it would be fun to play, but I didn’t think I’d get a chance. I mean, not that we’re actually playing, but even making a character is fun.”
It quickly becomes apparent that Li is a natural.
It takes her no time at all to decide on an elf druid named Ellywich, so I point her to the section on possible backgrounds so she can add more detail.
A few of the girls need a little help making decisions, and we get a ton of bards, which probably isn’t surprising since many of us are in color guard because we like to perform.
I pull up a name generator on my phone for a few who can’t easily come up with their names.
When the fifteen minutes is up, not only does everyone have a basic character, but they look eager to share.
Callie starts with her dragonborn character, which she chose so she can burn anyone she doesn’t like.
Madisyn, Addison, and Devin go next. Of course they all chose the same species and class—human fighters.
“Because we’re the Knights!” they exclaim with grins.
Yori leans forward, her black hair slipping over her shoulder. “I’m an orc barbarian named Oof.”
“An orc? Aren’t they…super creepy?” Rosa asks her BFF.
“Yeah, but this way I can destroy anyone who annoys me.”
“Like Brody, Max, and the percussion bros!”
“Can Puff get in on that action?” Callie asks.
The group laughs and Li lifts a hand to high-five me.
“What kind of weapon does your orc use?” Li asks Yori.
“Um…I don’t know. Something that can flatten people?”
Deja holds up a book. “Use a maul.”
“Perfect,” Li says and starts sketching something on a napkin.
I lean over her shoulder. With the crappy ballpoint pen I gave her to write down her character notes, she’s drawing a sketch that looks shockingly like the orc in the D&D manual. “Whoa, you’re an artist?”
She slides down in her chair. “I’m not an artist. I just like to draw fan art.” She works for a few more seconds and then sits up. Sure, it’s rough, but her sketch of Oof the orc is way better than anything I could even conceive in my head, let alone draw.
I lift up the napkin so the whole table can see. “Um, I think you’re an artist.”
Everyone gasps in delight. “Me! Do me!” Keira calls.
“And us too,” the seniors call.
“I want one!”
“Me too!”
“I’ll get you some better paper,” I say.
Another twenty minutes and we’ve met everyone’s alter ego characters and have seen a cool sketch of each one.
“What about you, Hazel? What’s your character?” Rosa asks.
“Oh, I don’t need a character. I just wanted to do this for you all.”
A chorus of nooooos rings out.
“We all have characters. You have to make one too!” Yori commands.
“I think she should be a wizard,” Li says. “They’re wise, which you are, they’re old, which you totally are”—the group laughs—“and they make magic. And I know you’re going to help us make magic this season.”
The others laugh, probably sarcastically given their optimism about guard, but I pull Li into a hug so no one can see the fact that her last sentence has me emotional.