battle of the bands (and babes) ~ camila/you

chapter two

The Rattlesnakes show this year was "Fate of The Gods", and I will admit Shawn knew his stuff. But I could tell some parts lacked energy, and also some of the front line was marching slow. Although they got a fair amount of applause. I knew we were gonna truly bring it.

"What instrument did he play?" I asked Camila.

"Guitar." She replied through gritted teeth.

"Just Guitar? Are you kidding me?" I laughed. "That's not a marching band instrument. At least Sebastian played tenor sax."

"He looks threatening, but also like he's never carried a bass drum. So, he doesn't bother me." Nate added.

"Well, he threatened your best friend." Camila told him.

"He's a dead man as of now." Nate remarked.

Just then, Lauren Jauregui, a trumpet player, came over to where we were all sitting.

"Hey Lauren. What can I help you with?" I asked kindly.

Before Camila and I started dating, Lauren and I were hooking up. It sounds bad, but she just really liked me. I ended it because I wasn't comfortable sneaking around, plus I liked Camila more.

"Hi Y/N, I was just wondering if you had some extra copies of The Horse." Lauren inquired, asking for another copy of the popular song we play whenever our team scores a touchdown.

"Sure." I rummaged through my duffle bag to find a copy for Trumpet 1. "Here you go."

"Thanks!" She walked off, probably to go sit next to Dinah.

"Y'all, I know these games can get cold so I brought some hot cocoa." Ally proudly announced, holding up a thermos.

"Ally, you smuggled that in? You're so rebellious." Camila teased.

"Before you know it, she'll turn to a life of crime." Nate laughed, until he saw Ally's unamused face. "Baby, I'm sorry. No, I didn't mean it like that. It's just, how can one thermos warm up the entire band?"

Ally, still not laughing, pulled out three more large thermoses from her bag.

"Costco. What can I say?" Ally joked.

Pretty soon, we played the national anthem and the game begun. The maroon and gold players met the green, white, and black in a frenzy. I kept playing our usual stands repertoire of course: The Hey Song, The Horse, Land of A Thousand Dances, All I Do Is Win, GDFR, The Shots Cadence, and Hey Baby. However, we had a surprise for Mr. Jonas tonight. As were as those asshats on the other side of the field.

"Okay, Mila. When the counts come, chant this. Okay?"

"You got it baby. You sure this'll work?" She asked me.

"I'm positive." I cued the band off, and the song "Freaks" begun. Nate composed it as soon as we saw a video online of a father and son playing it using an oven and a trombone.

Dinah came in first and then the entire band came in. The guy who usually played tenor drums went to the bathroom, so I covered for him. The whole crowd went berserk. The drums were insane on the song. When the song finished, I knew if Shawn's looks could kill I'd be dead by now.

"I didn't know you could play tenor that well!" Nate exclaimed.

"Bro, you taught me a lot about this stuff. It's so easy." I told him.

"That was a great surprise, I gotta say." Mr. Jonas said. "Alright guys, get ready to perform on the field."

While the Rattlesnakes put on an impressive show, nothing beat ours. "Walk The Plank" was a show telling the story of a pirate who dies in a great conquest, yet comes back as a ghost haunting his enemies. It's completely, I can't find a better word for it, badass. I could feel the energy throughout the band, however there was a moment I almost stopped conducting. During the ballad, Jamie tossed the white flag to Camila. She stood at the center of the field tossing the flag delicately in the air, signaling the ship's surrender. The band marched around her, forming an arc that later scattered into pods across the field. During this part, Nate and the drumlins ditched their loud noisy drums for mellow auxiliary percussion. It really complimented the ballad, but as soon as the closer came, it was back to the drums. Every move and note of the closer oozed vengeance. It got me thinking about Shawn and how this season was going to be while we're at each others throats. I couldn't fight fire with fire, that would just make a bigger fire. I focused as the closer made it's way to the end of the piece, as the audience roared in approval and the opposing band was silenced.

As we marched off the field, third quarter came around. I took Camila with me to go get some food, yet I suspiciously saw Shawn walk away from the football field. i shook it off, and went to get pretzels with Mila.

"You looked so cute up there." Camila said, handing me my cinnamon sugar pretzel.

"You looked even cuter tossing that flag." I said back, kissing her softly.

"I love our new flags. They're so pretty." The sea blue flags were a fortune to buy, but really captured the beauty of the sea.

"Speaking of which, where are they?" I asked, confused and a little worried.

"Don't worry, babe. Mr. Jonas brought them back to the band room so they wouldn't get damaged."

Later that night, we won 28-14. We marched back to the school in formation, but for some reason as we got back to the band room we knew something was up.

We got inside to see the color guard flags sprawled onto the floor, each one drenched with water. Camila's eyes turned from calm to infuriated within a matter of seconds.

"No one pick it up!" She ordered. "A wet flag needs to be fully air dried. If we pick them up, we could get hurt. The fabric is extremely sharp when wet."

"Let me through!" Mr. Jonas made his way to the front of the band room. His jaw dropped as he saw. "Camila, we'll hang them up before we go. Everyone else, put your instruments away!"

Nate went to go put his snare drum away, opening the case. He suddenly jumped back. I went to go see what scared him so bad, until I saw a baby rattlesnake in the drum case- the enemy band's calling card.

With Camila holding back tears as she hung the flags and band members looking nervous than ever, this was not going to be an easy season at all.