Bears Know Best

Chapter 26: This One Time...

TUESDAY MORNING, I was glad I put my iPhone on my dressing table across the room, because if it had been next to me, I'd have turned off the alarm and gone back to bed! I was a little sore from the first day, so the shower felt especially good. As I patted myself dry, I stared at myself in the foggy mirror, and tried to decide what to do with my hair. 'A pony-tail really would be better for today...' I thought to myself. 'But I don't want to be plain...' I admitted to myself and got to work on my normal hair style. I threw a scrunchie on my wrist so I could put it up outside if it got too windy.

Mom took Alyssa and I that morning to practice again, and I found myself both excited and anxious that day. I really was excited to be there, be playing, and generally having a good time with the friends I was beginning to make from the day before. It was also kind of fun to do the marching, almost like a dance in a way, and I enjoyed it. I was really only worried to see if Destiny would be just as rude that day or not.

Alyssa seemed to pick up on my nerves a little and said, "Taylor, if she does anything else just go talk to Mr. Brandt. It sounded like he almost expected problems after yesterday morning."

"I don't like other people solving my problems," I told her sheepishly.

She smiled, "I can tell."

As we walked into the room with our horns, I saw Cameron coming toward us. I'd never had a chance the last night to give him an answer about Wednesday. Alyssa was smart, taking her horn out, and leaving the two of us for a moment.

"Hi Cameron," I said to him.

"Hi Taylor." He said with a smile that I really liked seeing. "So, did you ask your mom about Wednesday?"

I sighed, "Yes I did." I watched his eyes fall, "She said yes," his eyes widened, brightening to a state that made me want to grin. "But I have to tell you she doesn't want this to be any sort of 'date.'" I said date while making quotation marks in the air with my fingers.

"Okay," he said, quickly. "Just friends going for lunch together."

I smiled, "Cool."

He talked with me for a few more moments before Alyssa decided it was safe to rejoin us. Not long after that Mr. Brandt sent us all outside for more marching practice. We worked all morning on marching 'eight-to-five' forwards, backwards, side-to-side, etc. I was tired of it by the time we finally stopped to go inside to practice music about eleven. He had section leaders doing a lot of checking up on us, and even though I knew I was probably doing it better than anyone else in the section, Destiny kept coming up and yelling at me for little things. It was annoying to say the least.

As we sat down to play, I had my music on the stand and she 'accidentally' knocked it on the floor as she sat down. "Oops, sorry about that," she said coolly.

I picked it up, sighed, and looked at her. "Can I talk to you in the hallway for a moment?"

Her eyes opened, and I think she wondered if I wanted to fight her or something. She followed me though out into the hallway that led to the bathrooms.

"Look, Destiny, I know you and I have gotten off on the wrong foot here. I don't feel like playing these games with you until you graduate. I'm sorry for showing you up yesterday, is there a chance we can call a truce?"

"Why on Earth would I care about that?" She snarled, "You think because you came in owning your own marching horn you should get special treatment?"

"Did I ask for special treatment?"

"Obviously, look at where you're sitting. Second chair! That shouldn't be your spot." She said loudly enough that I noticed a few faces peeking out from the band room to the hallway. One of them was Alyssa, and another was Cameron.