The Soundtrack of My Life

"Hey You"

JULY 2009

And just like that, my second year of band camp was over.  We were all packing up our dorm rooms after the past week of hard work and sunburns.  Band camp was honestly the best part of the summer and I wished the whole week could start over again.   I wanted so badly to hit pause, rewind, and then play.  This week had some really great moments, so maybe sticking in the present could be interesting.

I stood with Jane and Chase while we waited for a school bus to take us on an hour-long trip back home.  Our backpacks and band instruments in their proper cases were all in a pile on the grass.  Chase and Jane were flirting, as usual.  Band camp has this funny way of creating relationships.  I only wished that could happen to me.  

James sauntered up to the three of us wearing my light brown tank top.  He had forgotten an extra shirt, and really didn't want to wear one that he drenched with sweat during the week.  He stopped right next to me, putting his bag down on the ground in front of him.  He put the bell end down of his trombone case onto the grass and propped his arm on the other end for balance.  I smiled at him and he smiled back.  His smile was bright, the green on his brackets really popping.  

"Hey, James," offered Chase.  He was stifling a laugh.  "Nice shirt."

"What?  This old thing?" James said gesturing to my tank top.  It fit him rather well, actually.  

"Don't lie, James," said Jane.  "We know its Penelope's.  She told us last night that you asked to borrow a shirt."

James blushed a little.   "Oh."

"It's alright. He promised to wash it." I laughed and bumped my hip into his and he lost his balance.  His trombone started to fall, but he caught it and gently put it down on the ground.  

"I promise to give it back to you as soon as I can," he said as returned a hip bump.  "We live right around the corner from each other, basically.  So, it shouldn't take any time at all."

It was true.  We really did live around the corner from each other.  His house was the bus stop after mine; same neighborhood and everything.  In fact, we had been riding the same school bus every morning for the last two years.  I recalled one time where he almost missed the bus.  He had hurried out of his house, his long hair still wet from the shower he had taken that morning. When he got to the front of the bus, he had looked frantically for a seat.   Our stops were one of the last ones to get on, so normally we have to always sit with someone.

That day, however, I had managed to get my own seat.  And when James eyed the empty spot next to me, I moved my backpack to my lap.  The bus had already started moving, and his large sling bag swung back and forth as it hit every seat on the way to me.  When he sat down, he smiled at me briefly, and it had made my heart flutter.  I remembered how good he smelled – like Axe body spray.  I had even told Eloise at school that day that I shared a bus seat with a hot boy who lived around the corner from me.   She had asked me if I had said hello or anything to him.  Of course I didn't; I had been too chicken.  Why would a boy like him be interested in me?

I made a swaying motion with my hand.   "No rush on the tank, dude."

The bus pulled up in front of our group.  Everyone grabbed onto their belongings and headed toward the door.  It swung open before the wheels even stopped rolling.  My friends started disappearing through the doors and up onto the bus.  Windows slid down to get the surprisingly cool summer day breeze moving through our ride.  I was the last one in our group to get on the bus, and found myself a little panicked on who I was going to sit with.  Luckily, Chase and Jane waved me down and pointed at the seat in front of them.