My Side of the Field

Welcome All

*Three months before*

I breathed in heavily and sighed as I looked around. No one that I knew was there. Again, I was going to face everything on my own. I wasn't going to have my friends at my side like always. I was by myself. The thought of being alone made me cringe. I clutched onto my bag tightly as I walked into the building. Holding my breath, I slowly walked into the room filled with a bunch of teenagers all, like me, dressed in shorts, light colored shirts, and athletic shoes.

"Well, this makes me feel a little bit better..." I thought sarcastically to myself as I looked around. I could feel myself getting hot. The girls there made me self-conscious to a point where I could just have ran under a rock and hidden there for the rest of eternity. Me being only 5'0 and skinnier than a twig, I didn't feel so great next to all these girls. At least my hair didn't make much of a difference. It was the same as all the others: stuffed into a ponytail. Oh, and the boys! I swear, if one had even looked at me, I would have had a panic attack right then and there. I didn't feel too comfortable anymore.

I skimmed the place, pushing aside how self-conscious I felt, hoping to see someone or someplace in which I could figure out what exactly I was supposed to do or where to go. To my joy, I saw a line of most likely new-comers like me piled outside an office. I slowly breathed out.

As I walked over to the line, I saw that name tags were being given out. There the woman handing out the tags was also taking some papers, physicals I assumed. I had done mine last year so I wouldn't have to deal with that problem now. Finally, it was my turn and I stood in front of the short haired blonde woman about 5'7. I recognized who she was, she was one of the teachers who was evaluating me during my audition. She looked different because her hair was shorter than the last time I saw her.

"What's your name?" She asked in a serious tone. I looked at her as she waited for my response. "Well?"

"Oh, my name's Darla. Darla Gray." I said and smiled. She didn't smile back. With one eyebrow raised, she looked through the name badges that were in her hands and finally handed me mine. "Thank you." I said quietly and turned around. I didn't know where I was supposed to sit at now. I was beginning to give up hope, when suddenly I saw a ball of familiar curly hair. I smiled. It was Gerson, my best friend.

"Gerson!" I yelled. He didn't turn around. "Gerson!" I yelled louder, this time he was able to hear me. He turned around to see where his name was being called from, and to his amusement he saw it was me.

"Short stuff!" He said, smiling. We walked over to greet one another, only meet each other half way. His 5'9 height made me feel like a dwarf. He looked down at me and laughed an enchanting laugh. I looked at him questioningly.

"What are you laughing at?"

"You haven't grown a bit Darla." He said, still laughing, and embraced me in a giant bear hug. He released me only meet my fist against his arm. "I see you're still quite the strong one too."

"I've been working on these pecks, bruh." I said and he laughed.

"Sure." He said before hugging me again.

I laughed. I was happy to see him again; I had missed him, more than I should have. I missed looking at his perfect smile, his curly black hair; I basically missed everything about him, but I felt that he didn't feel the same way about me. I couldn't lie; there was something that I felt for that boy, but I still couldn't figure it out myself. It was a feeling that I had felt since I first met him. Every time I saw him, my heart would race and butterflies would swarm my stomach. I hated the feeling because I knew what I felt for him would never be returned.

We both took a seat next to each other as a bald man took the stand and silenced us all.

"Well, hello!" he said smiling widely.

"Hello!" everyone responded back to him. I just raised an eyebrow, and looked at Gerson who just shrugged at me.

"Welcome all to summer camp! To all of those who don't know me, my name is Mr. Smith and I am the head band director here at Raisenville. To my right is Mrs. Salvador, she's the percussion teacher and one of our assistant band directors." The blonde lady who was handing out the name tags was there, Mrs. Salvador. She smiled evilly, looking at the percussion section.

"Eh..." Gerson said softly.

"Great..." I groaned.

"To my left is our other assistant band director, Mr. Bailey." Mr. Smith continued. Mr. Bailey waved his hand to signal who he was. He was pretty young looking, short black hair that was spiked up and had a charming smile. He looked about Gerson's height, maybe taller, 5'11-ish? He looked to be around his late 20's. "These next three weeks will be the building block for our season. You will learn all the basics of marching band, as well as the first part of your competition show. By now, you should have at least the first song memorized. You will have to play it in front of one of the officers by memory in order to march in the show." Soft chatter filled the room.

"As hard as it is to believe, you will be marching and playing your instrument at the same time." Sarcasm was visible in his voice. I smiled. I knew I was going to like him. "Are you guys ready to get started?" he said, more enthusiasm in his voice. Everyone cheered. "I'm going to hand ya'll over to Mrs. Salvador." She got on the podium and silenced us all.

When it got quiet, she smiled at us, a cynical smile.

"Welcome to the Raisenville High School marching band. Let's see what you're made of."