Midland High School Marching Band

Chapter 5

The remainder of the 2019 football season for the Mud Pigs went very much similarly to the opening game. They defeated Austin 60-3, and the marching band was forced to be a pep band because, as they were marching to the back of the field for their halftime show, the skies opened up, and it began to downpour. Everyone knew that this rain was coming, but they also knew this was going to be a quick storm, so they put their instruments in the shed behind where they were situated in the bleachers, and would leave them there during the third quarter.

Joe's first game as a drum major was, in large part, a huge success. He was disappointed that they didn't get to march a halftime show, as he and Kierstan had choreographed an elaborate salute of which they were very proud of. It would have to wait a few weeks, though, because Midland would go on the road against Mathis, Arlington, and Houston for the next three weeks.

The closest of the three away games was against Arlington. Joe decided he was going to go to this football game. He brought Matthew and Andy along with him. They were all having a good time and watching the football game when they heard a very familiar voice calling Matt's name. Joe turned and looked at Matt and whispered, "Is that who I think it is?"

Matt sighed, "I sure hope it isn't. If it is, y'all are gonna have to keep me from going off 'cause I definitely don't have the energy to deal with this shit." He turned around and immediately turned back towards the game. Yup. It was her.

"Hiiiii Matttttttt," she said, dragging out her words to try to be seductive.

Matt was doing his very best to ignore her. He used to go to Arlington High, and he had dated Alyssa for about three months, but ever since they had broken up, she had been trying to get in touch with Matt so that they could potentially get back together. Matthew, of course, wanted no part of this, as he had a boyfriend back in Midland, and he knew that his boyfriend wouldn't cheat on him as Alyssa did. "What in the absolute fuck could you possibly want?" he asked snarkily.

"I wanna talk to ya. Quite honestly, I miss ya." She sounded sincere for once.

"Well, you should have thought of that before you slept with Jonathan. You knew I was going to find out, but you did it anyway. That is something that bothers the hell out of me. I trusted you and you broke me. How do you think that made me feel? You always bitch that I completely cut you off, but you forget that I gave you everything while we were together, and what did you choose to do? You had sex with my best friend. I will never forgive either of you for that."

Before Alyssa could respond, Joe jumped in, "Alyssa, look, you hurt Matt to a point of no return. He is happy in the relationship he is in right now, and he very clearly is done with you, anyways. Don't bother with your half-assed apology because nobody wants to hear it."

Matt gave Joe a thankful and relieved look. He looked as if he was about to cry if
Alyssa hung around for too much longer. "Aly, please just do me a favor. Go away and don't ever talk to me again. I've had enough of your shit."

Alyssa knew she wasn't going to get anywhere, so she turned around, looked back at Joe, Matthew, and Andy, and made one more comment; softly, but loud enough that they would hear her, "I'm sorry, Matty. I hope you know I still love you," and then she walked away. The group hoped they would never hear from her again.

Just then, Joe saw someone that he knew from when they were both at Odessa Middle School. The two were good friends, and their friendship only increased through umpiring for the local baseball leagues. Nick Fowler was one of Joe's best friends, and they were happy to see one another. Nick was a freshman at Arlington High. The two called themselves the umpiring god squad, and they weren't that far off. As a crew, they had a 92.4 rating, which was the best in the organization.