I’m surprised by the warmth in his expression. If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think he was looking at me as if I was a friend.
“Or maybe we both won?”
“I like that explanation better. Although now we don’t know who’s bringing food for next Sunday.” He shoves hishands into his pockets. “Assuming there’s still going to be another session?”
“The group needs to figure out what happened to the raccoon. I wouldn’t deny you that.”
“Cool.” His smile does something to my brain chemistry that I don’t want to analyze.
After this past month, I didn’t think it was possible, but there’s no point denying it: I just spent a fun evening with Max. I guess D&D is even more powerful than I realized.
Chapter Sixteen
It’s the Thursday before our next band competition, and the pressure continues to mount for our performance this Saturday. Everyone’s been so focused that there hasn’t even been time to clash with percussion. A small part of me wonders if Max and Felix could be talking down the others after our Sunday game, but I’m not going to get my hopes up yet.
“Before we end for today,” Sire calls to us on the field from the sidelines, “I thought we’d do something fun to lighten the mood. It’s a game we’ve played before during band camp—Glare.”
The older members of the band cheer at the announcement. Glare is a kind of weird game that somehow has become a tradition at Glen Vale. Members of a section play against each other by standing in circles of five. We all stare at the ground and when the field commanders screamGlare!, we have to look up at someone in the group. But there’sa strategy to it because you need to choose someone who likely won’t choose to look at you. If you guess wrong, and the personislooking back at you, you’re both out.
I explain the rules quickly to the new members of guard and then lead us to the twenty-yard line where we break into two circles.
“This is confusing. How are we supposed to know who to look at?” Callie asks, her hand on her hip. She always seems to have something to complain about.
“You don’t, that’s why it’s a game,” Addison replies.
“It’s about knowing the personalities of your group members and being able to predict their actions,” I explain. “And also it’s just for fun. Don’t worry about it.”
“At least we get a break from practice,” Rosa mutters to Yori.
“Forced fun is better than having no fun like usual,” she whispers back.
My shoulders droop, but I pretend like I don’t hear them. I know I’ve been on edge more than usual this week, but after our poor showing at the first competition, our rehearsals are more important than ever. It probably doesn’t help that everyone is still annoyed about the bet I made with percussion.
“Are we ready, Knights?” Sire asks into his megaphone. I glance around at the circles spread all through the field. Happily, I can barely see the percussion at the far other end.
“Eyes down!” Marjorie commands. It’s almost like being back in drill down. Just like then, I’m determined to win.
“Glare!” our other drum major, Greg, calls.
I look up at Rosa. Sure enough, she isn’t looking at me. I figured she wouldn’t be after what she just said. Addison and Madisyn are out first round, leaving Devin behind, much to his chagrin. We look back at the ground.
“Rosa, look at me next time,” Devin whispers.
“You know that’s cheating,” I say.
“Yeah, but then we can go sit on the bleachers.”
I shake my head. Devin never saw a task he didn’t try to get out of. I’m surprised he stuck with color guard all four years.
“Glare!” Marjorie calls.
Sure enough, Devin and Rosa look at each other and I’m the de facto winner for our circle. It doesn’t feel like much of a victory when my competitors were actively trying to lose, though. Deja’s the winner from the other group of guard members.
“Great job so far, everyone,” Sire says once each group has gotten down to their last person. “Let’s keep this fun going! Circle up with the others and we’ll keep playing until we get down to one.”
I win the next round as well. There are only a small number of people left on the field now, and I’m not surprised to see that Nova is one of us. And so is Max.
I swallow hard and slowly make my way to the fifty-yard line to join them and the four other remaining people.
