So Alone

Chapter 1: Marching Band

*Summer after 8th Grade*
    I ran into the Highschool band room, unpacking my Mellophone quickly and rushed out as quick as possible. I didn't want to make eye contact with him. Luckily, I was all the way across the classroom from him in this huge classroom. Then one of his friends, Matthew Sanchez, who I'll just call Sanchez, who is also playing Mellophone for Marching Band, sat next to me.
    "You excited for band camp? It's going to be a lot harder than regular practices." He says, trying to make conversation.
    "Actually yes. It's going to feel great to be apart from my family."
    "I know right?"
Just a few minutes later, our teacher separated us into sections. High Brass, Low Brass, Clarinets, Saxophones, and Percussion. Then I saw HIM walking over to us.
    "Hello." He says, I'm guessing towards Sanchez.
I get up and go to someone else I know, my friend Emma.
    "You look dead inside." She says.
    "Thanks. I take that as a compliment." I say as a joke, hopefully hiding my anxiety.
I so badly wanted my other friend, Summer, by my side to back me up if I mentally fall. But she is a Clarinet player. The only times I saw her was during lunch break or in the field. So I stayed by Sanchez's side whenever you know who wasn't around. You will find out his name shortly.

    "Hey, do you have any valve oil?" Sanchez asks.
    "Yes. I left it in my case, so I'll be back." I reply as I stand up and run over to the room full of other peoples cases.
    "Want to know who I like?" A girl named Madison says in the room.
    "Who?" Her friend asks desperately.
    "Lance." Madison says. The sound of the guy I used to like burned in my ears. I wanted to say 'good luck.'
    Her friend laughs. "Eww why would you like him!?!"
    I walk out with my valve oil. Waiting for the soundproof door to close, I laughed forgetting Lance's seat was right there. He spun his head around, with a weird smile that said 'What's so funny?'

*Before Band Camp*
    On the car ride to the High School, where we would be picked up by buses, I thought about a dream I had. A dream where me and Lance were still friends. The place inside the dream was unfamiliar. I wish the dream were true, but in reality it wasn't. I sat by my closest "friend" on the grass, and showed her water-type Pokémon I drew for our cabin theme "Under the Sea."
    "Oooh Popplio!" Lance said.
    'What?' I said to myself. 'He spoke to me.'
    I pulled out Kyogre and stuttered. "I-I also drew this one.. Which took the longest."
    "Wow that looks so good. My favorite legendary is Groudon. What's yours?"
    'Does he know who I am? Is it because my glasses broke?'
    "Raikou." I answer. "I have Groudon on Pokémon go... And Raikou." I try to sound stern.
    "May I look through your Pokémon?" He asks.
    "Sure."
    "Wow you have really strong stuff." He says as he scrolls through my Pokémon.
    "And 44 shinies." I say with pride.
    "What?! How did you get that many?" He asks with excitement as I show him my shiny Pokémon.

*During Band Camp*
Moment 1.)
    "Alright guys you can have a 10 minute break."  The substitute section leader says. The brass players gasped, because our regular section leader works us the entire time. I chug down some water, and Sanchez does the same. Lance scoots closer to us.
   "Kaitlyn! Catch!" He says as he throws a stick. I catch it and throw it back. We did it back and forth until, "Kaitlyn Catch!" And he throws a piece of ice. It slips out of my hand as he giggles.
    "Really.." I say.
Sanchez takes the ice and chucks it back at Lance, hitting his eye. Me and him burst into laughter as he stares back at Sanchez with his regular cold stare.

Moment 2.)
    After looking at Summer's Pokémon X, her having every shiny legendary in game, we decided to watch Sanchez beat people in Chess.
    "Man I'm cold." I say. "I should've grabbed my blanket from my cabin." I look over at Lance and see him shivering. I never saw someone shiver so hard before.
    "Y-Yeah me too. I get cold easily."
After a few minutes, I had enough. I went to get my blanket from my cabin. When I came back, I checked in on my friend, Summer. Madison, already having like 3 different crushes throughout the week, now had her eyes on someone else. Lance was in front of me checking in on his friend, Ian, the guy Madison likes. Let me say, when Lance found out Madison liked him once, he hated her ever since. After Lance passed through, I heard her say something like "Wow he's disgusting."
I got to my seat with my blanket. Lance stole a little, but I piled a bunch more on him.
    "Wow thanks. This blanket is so soft."
I was fine with just enough blanket to cover my chest down to my feet.
    Sanchez then spoke up. "Hey Kaitlyn did you want to play Chess with me?"
    "N-no"
    "What's wrong?" Lance looks at me.
    "Nothing I just heard something earlier."
    "What is it?"
    "I'm not saying." I reply.
    "Tell meeeee." He insists with a smirk.
    "Something from Madison."
    Just then, Sanchez jumps over to where I am. "You've got to tell us!"
With all of the pressure, I finally whispered to Sanchez what I think happened just from my perspective. "I think she was talking about me. I dated her for a few hours and then she cheated on me." Sanchez explains. "But hey, thanks for being honest. We really trust you, you know. So if you ever want to bring friends over to the tennis table, go ahead. I don't allow anyone else to do this, because people like Madison aren't nice like you."
    I smile slightly and felt myself blush a bit due to my heart being touched. I blush at any compliment.

Moment 3.)
Lance's brother, Matthew, probably the shyest boy I've ever met looked towards me and asked me a question. "Are you going to be joining Marching Band next year?"
"Uh yeah, I think so."
"Good, it's nice to know that there will be a friend going."
I blushed a bit and said to myself, 'You think of me as a friend?'

Moment 4.)
    "Hey I'm gonna head outside for this break." I say to my cabin mates.
    "Okay!" One of my friends I made this year says. Her name is Emily. You should probably remember this name.. "Just make sure to make it to dinner on time." I nod.
I see all of my true friends over at the tennis table. I sit in a seat, and watch them play. Lance loses, and he stands back just padding around a tennis ball on his tennis racket.
    "Your turn." He says to his brother, Matthew.
    The tennis table area looked familiar. It was the place from my dream. Is it possible, that I saw a scene from the future? I sit still, watching. Before I know it a ball is headed towards me. It was one of those moments where you saw something happening but didn't have enough time to react. About a second before collision, Lance snatches the ball.
    "Kaitlyn you should move. I really don't want you to get bonked on the head."
I move and pull my phone out, and before I know it all of my friends are telling me funny videos to search up and watch. When I showed them Marching Band as vines, they all bursted into laughter of how relatable it is.
    Madison walks over and says, "almost time for dinner!"
    Everyone walks with her, but Lance stays behind. "Is it okay if I walk with you and your friends? I don't want to walk with them."
I knew it was because of Madison. And boys have to take the long path so they couldn't cut through the girl's cabins.
    "Sure. Let me get my friends first."
Then we all walked together.