The Love of a Color Guard Girl

Chapter Two

The first week of band camp flew by without any major issues. I got along with all the new guard girls and most of the returning. Coach G, the guard instructor was even being nice. All of us now knew the simple halftime show, Stars & Stripes. It was a filler for football games until we had our competition show, Lost Boy, ready to preform.

Today was the second Monday of band camp and the entire band minus me and two other girls were running breathing block. The other two girls had knee problems and I just had crappy lungs, and crappy feet, and crappy knees, and just a crappy body I guess.

Together we were doing sit-ups in time with the gock-bock. My sit-ups slowed as Sam came closer, finishing today's breathing block, the gock-bock slowly began to fade and breathing block ended. I jumped up and ran to my spot on the field.

Sam was walking towards the drum major stand to grab his water jug. I couldn't help but notice how his muscles tightened as he raised the black water jug up to drink from it. Sam's shirt rose up slightly showing the strained contours of his back muscles and gave me a slight peak at what I could easily assume was a sturdy six-pack.

My fascination with Sam was ridiculous, especially since he would never talk to a pathetic sophomore like me.

The next couple hours turned into days which then turned into a month, and it was the last practice of the summer. The dreaded Play-A-Thon. All day practicing from nine in the morning to nine at night. Twelve hours of practice and then a pool party at a swim center in Plano, Texas.

We would get one long dinner/lunch break and today was the last day to turn in the two hundred dollars that people "pledged" to us to practice for twelve hours. The only reason I was even close to okay with this is the fact that today was also freshman initiation and it was a whole day away from my mom.

"Hey, Elizabeth?"

I turned around and looked at Sam. Had he really said my name? Or had that been my imagination? Instead of risking any embarrassment by answering, I just looked at him blankly. He bit his lip, but kept talking.

"Did you get Addison's new drill card to her?"

I looked at him confused and remembered the scene from two days ago, Addison's mom had thrown away her drill card and she needed a new one. Of course on that day Addison also had a tennis lesson so she had asked me to get her new drill card from our senior drum major. I had totally embarrassed myself and fumbled around my words like an idiot.

"Oh, uh, yeah," I stuttered.

"Good," Sam smiled down at me. I tried pointlessly to contain the butterflies erupting from my stomach. "Are you-uh..." Sam scratched the back of his neck and looked down at his feet. "Do you- I mean... who are you sitting with today during dinner?"

"There's the guard potluck today, so I'll be in the guard hall," I said feeling a slight blush race up my neck. Was he going to ask me to sit with him? Did he want to sit with me?

"Would it be alright if I sat with ya'll...with you?" Sam mumbled.

"Ye-yeah of course, whatever." I couldn't believe this was happening. Was he serious? Was I dying? He was actually just as shy as I was. Oh, my God, this was too good to possibly be true.

"Okay, I have to pick up my lunch, but I'll see you soon then."

"Okay," I said smiling at him.

"Great."

I laughed awkwardly and wrapped my arms around me. Noticing how awful I probably looked and smelled after five grueling hours of practice.

"Is this awkward?" Sam asked tilting his head.

"No... I mean, I-I am, but not you, not this..." I sighed and looked away from his shining blue eyes down to my feet.

"You're fine, I-I am pretty shy too, so y'know."

"Hey, Clark! Let's go!" Nathan, Sam's best friend, yelled from across the hall.

"I'll see you soon," Sam smiled and ran to his friend. I smiled as he jumped on his friend's back laughing at cheering.

"Did you seriously just get asked out by the Samuel Clark?" My best friend, Kaitlyn, asked. Kaitlyn had been waiting for me around the corner into the guard hall.

"I...I-I'm not sure. Did he?"

Kaitlyn grinned at me and shrugged. I smiled wider too. The dreamiest guy in our entire band was trying to hang out with dumb, shy me. This was gonna be an amazing day.

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Our little potluck was a big hit this year. We had a bunch of taco supplies and sides and desserts. Everyone who brought some food could eat some. I had already set up my plate and was talking about Harry Potter with one of the Freshman when Sam came and sat beside me.

"Hey," He said setting down his Chik-Fil-A bag.

"Hello," I said smiling.

"Sa-am, come sit by me!" Ariana, a Senior, called from the other side of the hall. I glared at her and fully expected Sam to stand and go to her, but he didn't. He stayed where he was beside me.

"I'm already sitting and unpacked, Ariana," Sam said flashing a smile that no one could argue with. Ariana pouted but didn't move or pester Sam anymore.

"Can I ask you something?" I turned to look at Sam. He nodded his mouth full of sandwich. He kept nodding and held up a finger to give him a moment as he swallowed.

"Anything," Sam said taking a swig of his drink.

"Um, what made you want to be a drum major?" I asked tucking a loose curl behind my ear.

"I wanted to help people and I think I want to be a band director after high school." Sam nodded, satisfied with his answer. I also nodded and looked down the hall. "What about you? Why'd you join guard?"

"I've wanted to do it since I was a little girl. I saw the marine corps with my dad once and decided that was what I wanted to do."

"Cool," Sam smiled and offered me a waffle fry. I took it and thanked him.

For the rest of lunch, we talked about all of our band experiences, what we like and dislike, some of our favorite things, and about our families. I told him about my parent's divorce and he told me about his dad's death and his new stepdad. I hadn't even realized that his family wasn't the perfect Hallmark family that you see on TV. He learned that I'm a major nerd that loves all things Harry Potter and that I'm a major gamer. I learned that he loved RPG games, but didn't really like first person shooter games because he felt like they totally overlooked half of the things that occur during war. I also told him about my anxiety with my dad and overall anxiety. He was a great listener and incredibly easy to talk to.

At the end of our lunch break, he said that he would see me later at the pool party and that he really liked having lunch with me. He walked one way to conduct the band, and I walked the other to go to the gym for the rest of guard practice. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face for the rest of practice. Sam had noticed me and we'd actually get on really well. Hopefully, this wouldn't be the last time that I hung out with him.

"You're so swooning over him," Kaitlyn said poking my hip.

"And?" I asked smiling at her.

"And, don't screw it up, I don't wanna see you get hurt."

"I won't, I can take care of myself."

Kaitlyn nodded, but still looked serious. As we walked to the gym I told her what Sam and I talked about and that I hoped I would hang with him again.