Traitor (Phan) - ON HIATUS

3

-Dan-
The Summerton game came by quicker than I'd expected. We arrived at the Melladine field at six o' clock exactly and lined up into block. Once Summerton finally arrived, we went out to play the pregame show.

As I stood in place, drumming the solemn intro to God Save The Queen, I couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. Lots of people criticized our uni, saying it was a horrible school and all of us were delinquents, but it really wasn't all bad. Sure, Melladine was small and some of us weren't the brightest, but we were a team.

At times like this, I had an unbelievable amount of school pride for no particular reason. If one thing was for certain, we were going to kick some serious ass tonight.

Luckily I didn't screw up our national anthem in my train of thought, as it was burned into my brain so early on I could play it in my sleep.

We moved on to some Reading-specific tunes that marching bands traditionally played before shows, and then marched off the field. Being a home crowd, there was much applause this time. Some jeering ensued from the opposing stands, but that didn't matter. We were glad to be there.

Our field commanders stepped off and led us to our bleachers. Once we were seated, people started moving around to sit with their friends. Emma came to sit beside me. I smiled at her as she sat, warily placing her tuba behind us.

"'S'up, ho?" I joked. She stuck her tongue out at me and plopped down on the bench, leaning on my shoulder.

"That tuba is heavy as hell. You got it good, Howell."

"Hey, hey. Ever tried to hold a snare? It's not exactly light either."

"Whatever. At least you can breathe whenever you want."

"Touché."

We watched the game intently so we would know when to play different cadences and cheers. At least, that's why I paid attention. Emma fancied one of our goalies, so I figured that was why she seemed so interested.

The game was going well on our part for the first half. We kept Summerton from scoring the entire time. Our crowd was particularly chuffed about that, however not so much on the visiting side.

Finally, it was time for the halftime show. Emma and I exchanged messages of luck before we marched. All our band camp training helped us to achieve a perfect opening set formation on the first go. Our lead field commander counted us off and we began playing our first song.

As I usually did, I decided to scan the crowd for familiar faces. One half of the halftime show was done to the home crowd, and the other was done facing the visiting side.

During the home portion, I found Finn sitting dead center cheering us on. I also saw his mates looking bored as all hell, which was probably why we didn't get along well. They were so different from Emma and I.

Other people I saw included Zo and Bryan, a girl and guy who we often hung out with during cafeteria days; and Tom, a guy in my art class who I associated with often.

Then we turned around to face the visitor side.

Not only were there Summerton kids and parents, but some people from other unis as well. That was perfectly allowed in this area, and it was actually encouraged a lot of the time.

I saw a group of girls from Gardner Community, as well as the blue haired bitch from Redford.

That wasn't the only Redford person I saw, though, because a familiar pair of icy blue eyes stood out from the crowd as well.