Chapter Twenty-Three #2
“We already know Brody is a bully and a jerk,” I say fiercely, “which means the only way we let him win is by letting him get in our heads. I don’t want to give him that power. We’ve done a lot of work over the last few weeks, and it’s time we show everyone just what we can do.”
Rosa and Deja nod and Yori claps her hands. “You already know what Oof would do to Brody.”
I point to her. “Then let’s use that to put all our doubters in their place for once.
In fact, I’ve been playing with a new chant of our own, and I think tonight is the right time to use it.
” I had been planning on pulling out this new color guard chant for our third competition, but right now is the time to light a fire under us.
I whisper the words to them, then take a step back.
I call out: “Show up!”
And they respond: “Show out!”
“All in!”
“No doubt!”
I put my hand in the middle and the others join me. “Glen Vale Guard!”
We scream the last words and lift our hands triumphantly in the air.
Our field commander blows her whistle to call the band to attention. Brody and the others may think they know what we’re capable of, but they have no clue.
Everything about tonight’s performance feels different from the moment we step onto the field.
We’re performing the last song of our competition show tonight, since this is mostly a crowd who’s never seen it and we always need the practice.
I march to my starting position and see that Brody and several other percussion players are indeed standing on the sidelines.
I smile serenely and stare into the faces in the crowd with pride.
The performance begins and energy flows through me as the guard transitions through our choreography, moving from our windmill moves into butterflies.
It’s a cool night and quiet enough that I can hear our flags ripple in unison.
When we hit the drum break, the guard members run from our various places on the field to line up on the fifty-yard line.
Right on cue, we begin one of our hardest pieces of choreography—staggered pop tosses starting from the front of the line and rippling back to the last person.
But tonight, I don’t need to call out our musical counts or hold my breath in fear.
I know we’re hitting the choreography dead-on, and I’m not sure I’ve ever been prouder of anything.
We get a big round of applause from the crowd when we’re finished, which is impressive since it’s an away game…and they just saw our faces inside of toilets. We high-five and Faith comes running over for hugs.
Sire calls us to attention on the sidelines.
“Nicely done to those of you on the field tonight. However, I want to say that while we might not be here in an athletic capacity tonight, any unsportsmanlike conduct is absolutely unacceptable. We expect much better of you, and if we see anything again like what we saw before the show”—he cuts his eyes to Brody—“individuals will be removed from this band. Understood?” Sire slowly meets our eyes.
“All right. You can grab food during third quarter, but be back at the stands by the time fourth quarter starts. I’m not in the mood to go searching for people. And color guard—”
My stomach jumps into my throat.
“Good job tonight.” His eyes meet mine. “That’s the kind of improvement I’d like to see from the whole band.”
I bob my head and try to play it cool. Li, Rosa, and Deja high-five me with huge grins.
“Nicely done!” I whisper to them, my whole body vibrating with excitement and relief.
I’m embarrassed that my eyes are stinging from the threat of tears.
It’s a small thing, this compliment, but Sire’s approval feels like an award.
Fingers graze my elbow, and I turn to find Max at my side. His expression is strained.
“Can I talk to you?” he asks quietly, his voice low and tense. “Alone?”
“Percussion doesn’t deserve your attention,” Callie tells me.
“Your section is pitiful,” Madisyn growls at him.
I look between the guard and Max. I can understand their reactions, but I need to talk to Max.
“It’s okay, just give us five minutes,” I tell them. “I’ll be fine.”
They cross their arms and glare at Max, but no one argues. Max leads me toward a quiet area behind the bleachers. It’s not exactly private, but most everyone is standing in line for concessions, so we have the space to ourselves for now.
“I’m sorry, Hazel.” The words rush out of him. “I know you don’t have a reason to believe me, but I swear I didn’t know they were planning on doing that.”
“It’s okay. I know you didn’t know.”
He stares at me in shock. “But…I figured you’d…”
Everything about him is so rigid. It’s clear he’s freaking out about my possible reaction. Li was quick to wonder if he was behind it, and it makes sense that I’d assume the same, but the possibility hadn’t occurred to me. As soon as I saw Brody, I knew Max had no part in it.
I shrug, trying to think of how to explain my reaction to him. “I didn’t assume anything. I guess I just trust you now.”
He takes a deep breath. “Hazel, there’s…” He trails off, tugging at his uniform. His hands clench and then unclench.
“What? Is something else going on?”
“No, it’s nothing.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Only that I’m glad you aren’t mad.”
“You can’t be expected to control Brody, especially when you’re nowhere around him.
” I smile lightly. “And honestly, there’s nothing like rage to motivate people.
That’s probably the best we’ve performed all season, and now the guard knows they’re capable of performances like that.
I almost feel like I should thank Brody for making us better.
I’m not going to, of course, but I could. ”
“If you thank him, please let me be there to witness it.” He shakes his head in disbelief. “Wow, I really thought we were about to get into a huge fight. I was preparing a whole speech in my mind about why you should forgive me.”
“I’d like to hear that.”
He steps closer, and his nearness sends sparks up my spine. “I could still give you the speech. It includes a lot of pleading, in case that’s of interest.”
It’s always of interest, but I’m still wrapping my mind around the fact that he cares this much.
Speeches? Pleading? It’s obvious he’s more worried about my opinion of him than I’d dared to guess before.
Am I the biggest fool in the world to trust him like this?
But the fact is that I do trust him now, without question, whether or not I should.
“Well, if we’re not going to fight, then do you want to get some food?” Max asks.
I’m hesitant to leave the security of the bleachers with Max still by my side. I don’t want any more attention, or for the guard to think I’m a traitor, but I’m hungry and I want to hang out with him. If they get mad, I’ll just explain he had nothing to do with it.
We head to the concession line and skim the menu sign while we wait.
“Why don’t you save your speech for the next time Brody does something stupid,” I say.
“It’d be nice if we could schedule that for directly before our third band competition since it’s such a great motivator for my guard.
Not that we’ll need help blowing you out of the water with our upcoming best auxiliary trophy. ”
“There are the fighting words I’ve been waiting for,” he says with a smirk. It’s amazing how attractive he can look while sporting a green-and-white band uniform and a hat with a big white plume. “Now you’re motivating me. I might need to call an extra rehearsal.”
“I’ve already called two.”
“And maybe more section dinners for extra bonding.”
“I booked a five-night cruise to the Bahamas for our bonding sessions.”
Max laughs. “Hand me a flag, then. I’m officially joining guard.”
We make it to the front of the line. I order a slice of pizza and Max orders nachos, of course. When we step out of line with our food, he holds out the plastic container to me.
“I think we can both agree you deserve first dibs tonight.”
These aren’t nearly as impressive as the ones we made together before our first D&D game, but the hot nacho cheese sauce smothering the chips still looks pretty tasty. My eyes rove around the pile, and I find one on the edge that looks pretty good.
“Nope.” He plucks the chip from my hand. “Not one of the sad nachos. Take the one at the very top.” He gazes at me like he’s imparting real wisdom. “Top Nacho, Hazel. Never forget you’re Top Nacho.”
His words are silly, but butterflies flutter in my stomach, nonetheless. It’s dangerous how much I’d rather eat mildly stale nachos with him than do anything else in the world.