"Hurry up already! The bus is leaving soon!"
The drum major was yelling, even before it was light outside. The moon still shown through the teeny windows in the band room. Our instruments were thrown into the back of a truck, in a Tetris-like fashion, along with our uniforms. It was the day we all dreaded and anticipated: the marching band competition.
The band in Derry was one of the smaller bands, but we still had to bring a full sized school bus to transport all the students. Marching band was a fairly popular sport at our school.
"Come on, guys! Let's go!" the drum major called out once more before disappearing around the corner. Me and a couple of other musicians followed right behind her, each of us carrying a multitude of shako boxes. We brought them up to one of the trucks and slipped them in before loading onto the bus. Great, I thought. Plenty of seats left.
I made my way towards the middle of the bus and sat in an open seat, making myself comfortable. It was far enough from the front so that the driver couldn't see me eating, but it wasn't so far that I would be in the back, where the giant horde of loud band kids were. Perfect. Pulling out my Walkman, I closed my eyes and began to fall back asleep to the sweet sound of Sinatra...
Tap. Tap. Tap.
I was awoken by some random force tapping my headphones. I thought nothing of it and began to fall back asleep. Obviously, that was a bad idea, since whoever was tapping my headphones pulled one end away from my head and started talking, disrupting my peace.
"Hey, you awake?" the voice asked. I opened one eye to see giant eyes behind giant spectacles peering at me. Dear God, it's Richie Tozier.
"Can I help you?" I mumbled harshly. The fricken kid had interrupted my beauty sleep, and all I wanted to do was get him off my back. Richie smirked and pulled my headphones off of my head.
"Whatcha listening to?" he asked, pulling them over his own head. I snatched them back and shoved them in my bag, not wanting the freshman to touch my stuff. "Hey, I just wanted to listen," he said defensively.
"Sorry, but I don't want lice," I responded, kicking my bag farther to the left of me.
"Oh, I don't have head lice, but I got pubic lice from your mother. You better watch out," Richie said sassily. I looked at him oddly before speaking.
"You do realize that you just admitted you have an STD, right?" I chuckled. "No wonder you don't get any girls."
"Actually, I've gotten quite a few. The list is longer than my wang," he said, smirking. Suddenly, a curly head popped up from the seat in front of us, staring back at us from over the seat. Stanley Uris.
"That's not saying much," Stan said, rolling his eyes. Richie reached up, trying to hit the noodle head, but he was unsuccessful. Stan dodged his swing, but popped right back up, speaking to Richie. "Eddie wants to know how's it going." I looked over at Richie, whose eyes were now wide.
"Go away, Stan," he mumbled, pushing up his glasses. Stan shook his head and disappeared behind the seat. He cleared his throat as I scoffed.
"What was that all about?" I asked, chuckling. He smirked, adjusting his glasses again.
"Oh, Eddie's just trying to fuck again. For the last time, Eds, I'm not gay!" he called over the seat, making Eddie groan in frustration. I pulled out my headphones and closed my eyes, listening to music. I could feel Richie staring at me, but I kept my cool, and eventually fell asleep.
_____
I was awoken by the drum major shaking my shoulder. Sinatra's album was repeating yet again.
"Come on, you've gotta get your uniform on," she whispered. I rubbed my eyes and jumped out of my seat, rushing off the bus.
"What took so long, babe?" a voice greeted me as soon as I stepped underneath the changing tent. God dammit, it's Richie again.
"My subconscious was trying to bring me death," I said casually, unzipping my uniform bag and pulling off my sweatpants to reveal the spandex shorts underneath. Richie was staring at me as I did so, and I gave him a weird face. "Go obsess over your own ass, perv," I shot, covering my legs with my bibbers. He eyed me up and down before smirking and pulling on his jacket.
"My ass don't look like that," he said. I rolled my eyes and pulled the blue gauntlets over my sleeves. Pulling my shako out of its box, I went to go find my instrument.
_____
"Alright, guys, this is it! Just take deep breaths, and do not forget to dress!" The drum major called out. We had already been wearing our uniforms for a while, and the stiff collar was digging into my neck, especially because of my neck strap. Ugh, why did I want to play tenor sax again? I thought, regretting my decisions. We began to march onto the field as the announcer called us on, the audience cheering. Finding our places on the field, the drum major counted us off and we began.
1... 2... 3... 4...
I began counting as I played, knowing exactly when to step off. Taking extra caution not to get whacked in the head by a flag, I shifted forward slightly when passing by the color guard. Our show this year was Disney themed, which, I know, I know, is quite typical, but at least it was familiar. We played through the whole show almost flawlessly and listened to the large eruption of applause after our "horns down". Man, that was good, I though as we marched off the field.
We made our way back to our camp, and after reflecting on the show, got out of our uniforms. As I slipped out of my bibbers, I felt a sudden smack to my behind as a hand grabbed it.
"Damn, she thicc!" Richie hollered. I pushed his arm away and slapped his shoulder.
"Get away, Tozier!" I called, pushing him away. He smirked and headed off to find his loser friends. I shook my head and stared at them as they conversed, acting like complete idiots. Ahh, you can't help but love these teenage dweebs.
_____
We hopped back on the bus after the long day, back in our normal clothes. We'd gotten the news that we had not advanced to the finals, and, while we were bummed, we still had one hell of a time.
I sighed as I slumped down into the seat. It was almost 9 PM, since we decided to stay and watch the other bands. God, was I tired. I was about to close my eyes, when I heard a thump next to me. Richie.
"So we meet again, milady," he said slyly. I turned to the curly-headed freak and spoke, almost whispering.
"Okay, you've been stalking me this whole day. What the hell do you want, Richie?"
As he heard my words, Richie's eyes drifted away from mine and he adjusted his glasses. He took a breath and began to explain.
"So, I kinda sorta really like you? And, uh, I didn't know how else to express it," he said awkwardly. Oh God. I burst out laughing, startling the kid.
"You know you're adorable, right?" I chuckled, making him frown.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" he fought, obviously not wanting to be seen as 'adorable'.
I shook my head and leaned in, kissing him sweetly. At first he was taken aback, kind of shocked, but after I pulled away, he pulled me right back in, kissing me even more passionately. Our lips moved in sync, our eyes closed and our hands on each other. I might have had to keep his hands from going too low, but other than that, it was a nice kiss. Sadly, however, it was interrupted by a perverted Jew peeking his head over the seat in front of us.
"God damn, I didn't think he would actually be able to do it," Stan scoffed. At the sound of his voice, my eyes shot open and I pushed Richie away, squeezing myself more towards the window. Richie, on the other hand, had a giant, annoying smirk plastered across his face. I whacked his arm, scolding him as Stan called Eddie over.
"Eddie! Richie finally did it!"
