Marching On The Club Book 3

Chapter 16

Chapter 16
I woke up early again, but this time it was real early. 'No one is at the school yet,' I thought to myself. 'So what, I've got to feel better about the baritone!' I got out of the bed, and I quickly changed my clothes and ran quietly downstairs and into the kitchen. I heated up the scrambled eggs I had fixed that one morning without the cheese and blueberries. I swallowed my food whole, and I ran outside with my baritone case. I also had some bungee cords to tie the instrument case on the back of my bike. I quickly tied the instrument case onto the back end of my bike, and I hopped on my bike. I pedaled as fast as I could. I didn't bother looking back; I biked as fast as I could to the school. It must have taken me at least five minutes to bike to school because of how fast I was biking. I parked my bike in the bike rack and I locked my bike up. 'Let's see, where can I go to practice?' I grabbed my baritone case after untying it from my bike. I quickly sprinted to the baseball field on the side of the empty teacher parking lot. But then I thought I heard something. Something that sounded like another biker somewhere nearby. I froze. I looked from one side of the parking lot to the other very slowly. 'No one's here! I must be hearing things,' I thought to myself. 'Now I can practice without anyone judging me! Maybe this is not such a good idea,' I thought to myself. 'When is it not a good idea?'
I got my baritone out of its case, and I was very hesitant to play it because the school was in the neighborhood and I didn't want to wake up anyone. 'It's not like anyone would care,' I thought to myself. First I practiced holding the baritone up; and I practiced the ring of fire. Then I practiced my tone quality and I really played my baritone. I played loud and proud as if no one was listening. It felt so good to finally get some sound out of my baritone.                          "JENNIFER, WHAT YA DOING THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING FOR?!?!?"
I stopped playing and turned around; it was William and Brandon was with him too. They both were walking up to me on the baseball field. 'No; don't get any closer! No! This can't be happening! I need to practice alone! I need to feel more confident on the baritone!' I felt my heart just stop beating as I held my breath. As they got closer, I tried to find a way to get rid of them, but I couldn't find any route. There was plenty of room to run, but nowhere to hide. 'To the forest,' I thought but it was too late! William and Brandon already caught up to me on the field.
"I'm just out here..."
"Why, I can see that! Why do you have your baritone out here?"                                                             "I... Was practicing the Ring of Fire," I lied.
"How come I heard you play?"
  I remained silent. I didn't have anything smart to say now. I laughed.
"Me? Play the baritone? Who would have ever thought?" I laughed. Both William and Brandon just stared blankly into my face.
"What are you doing up this early? School doesn't start until 7:00."
"I know, I know." I sighed. I motioned Brandon to leave. I leaned to William, and I motioned him to come closer for I didn't want Brandon to overhear me
  "I don't feel confident on the baritone," I whispered.
"I can tell," he whispered back.
"I can see it in your eyes," he added.
  "I was trying to make myself feel better. I'm really worried."
"Well don't worry so much. Just hang loose and have fun; that's what marching band is all about right?" I just stared at him. 'You think,' I wanted to say, but not a word came out.
"Right?"
"Yeah. That's all that it's all about."
'Just to make my morning better, huh,' I thought sarcastically.
William took both me and Brandon back to Drew's house, and he even took my bike back. When we went back inside, Drew introduced me this morning with;
"Where were you?"
  "Do I have to tell you every time? I was just out-"
  "I told you Jennifer; don't just disappear on us. Okay? We were really worried!"
"If you guys were that concerned then why didn't you guys call the cops on me?"
  "I'm not calling the cops on anyone! Not in this house! We're all a family, and we look out for each other. Now please, just don't run out on us ever again! At least tell one of us first where you're going before just going anywhere. Okay?"
  'This isn't a family! At least, it doesn't feel like it.'
"Okay," I said in an unsure voice. I ran upstairs to grab my headset and I plugged into my phone to listen to that song. Family Portrait just has my name written all over it. I can't get over how good the song is. I came downstairs and I went to William.
  "I found a song that describes my pain in the marching band." "What's the matter?"
He sounded more concerned than ever. I gave him my headset so he could listen, and I restarted the song from the beginning of the song. About a minute or so from the song I thought I saw William taking his glasses off and wiping his eyes for a minute. But then I thought I was just seeing things. Eventually, he just took the headset off at a certain point of the song."It's... Sad," he said.
"Well, yeah."
  "What makes you feel this way?"
"Well, um... It's kind of difficult to explain." I only said that because I didn't know how to tell William.
  "To be honest, I kind of feel your pain."
"Really? How? In what way?"
  Maybe this would be easier than I thought.
  "The band doesn't really feel the same. Don't get me wrong, but it just doesn't feel the same. I don't know what it is, but something is different about the band."
'Exactly what I was thinking,' I thought. I felt my eyes and my whole face just light up as he spoke. 'At last! I'm not alone!'