That One Marching Band Romance: Movement One

It's Not Just A Pun

Jackson:

"Come on Chase I need to get this done," I said to him, my nerves obviously shaking in my voice. Today I'm going to buy supplies to make a poster. Not just any post, I'm going to ask Danny to homecoming. I smiled as I finally found the last of the art supplies I needed.

"Okay sweetie," Chase laughed and walked to the checkout line. I followed him and rushed us home. I have to ask her tomorrow. Her mom is in on the plan as well; I'm going to ask her at the football game tonight. "You need any more help?" Chase asked opening the front door.

"No, I think I'm good. Thanks for taking me," I said as we fist-bumped and rushed up to my room. I quickly made the poster and then came the hard part, the words to say. I practiced different things that would correlate with my poster. My poster has two pairs of drumsticks. I wrote on one box, YES and this had the sticks in it and on the other NO with no sticks. What do I write in the middle? I finally came to writing, 'Life If You Said No Would B♭.' I laughed to myself because I love music puns. I have everything planned. I'm going to ask her before we march out onto the field and get the trumpets to play her favorite song by Journey, which is Open Arms. I learned the song by heart in seventh grade, so it works out perfectly. The next morning, I got to work. During the marching band period and through lunch, I reserved the practice room and all twelve of us practiced the song. I hid my poster in Mr. McDougal's office before anyone could find it. I finished school and raced over to see if I could catch Danny and go to dinner. She was sitting in a bass circle on the band room floor and they were going over parts of the show. She saw me out of the corner of her eye and stood up.

"Do you want to get a bite to eat?" I asked, watching her turn her hat around so that the bill was facing the back of her head.

"Sure! Let me put my drum into its case," she lifted her drum and placed it in the case, and set the lid on top, "Alright let's go," I followed her out the door and we walked over to the Jersey Diner. We finished quickly and headed back to the band room. The brass changed into marching uniforms first, so I had enough time to give a pep talk to the trumpets and grab my sign. As soon as Danny walked out with her uniform and bass drum on, I signaled for all the trumpets to line up and the color guard to hold up my sign. I counted us off and we started playing Open Arms. Her head snapped and she made eye contact with me while I was playing the lead. She set her drum down and slowly walked over to us. We finished the song and I dropped my trumpet, only to say seven amazing words.

"Will you go to homecoming with me?" her mouth dropped and she stared at me for a little bit longer.

"Of course I will!" she screamed and ran into my arms and gave me a tight hug. I picked her up and spun her in a circle. I set her down and she kissed my cheek. Oh great, now I'm blushing! I quickly smiled to cover this annoying red affection.

"Danny! Jackson! Get into block! We're going to be late!" Mr. McDougal yelled. Danny and I scattered, getting into our marching block lines, "Okay let's move!" we started marching forward and towards the crazy football fans. We climbed the towering bleachers and each section took up a row. The flutes were at the bottom, then following were the clarinets, then the soprano saxophones, alto saxophones, tenors, baris, and the bass clarinets. My section was above that section, then the mellophones, baritones, and sousaphones. Then lastly the battery and pit. We played through the first and second quarters to add some liveliness to the football game. I looked at the score before I went down for halftime. We were winning, 27-10, and our rival school, Randy Morris High, was against us. They brought their pep band and now we had the pressure of other eyes watching. I walked down the bleachers and into marching block. Danny and I made eye contact and she gave me a bright smile. I walked over to her and she placed her drum on the ground.