“I don’t know if I have good advice for you,” he continues. He tips his head up to the ceiling like he’s thinking. “It’s going to be an uphill battle for me now with Brody insulting me whenever he sees an opening. But, at least for me, it helps that some of us have bonded over video games and quoting LOTR lines to each other. We’ve even started playingHelldiverstogether in the evenings. And we talk music. There’s this drummer I’m obsessed with—El Estepario Siberiano—and now we’re constantly sending each other clips of him playing. Do you have anything like that with your guard members?”
I slump. This is such a basic thing—bonding over our shared interests—but I have no idea what most of the others enjoy. Even those of us who were in guard together previous years never hung out outside of band. And this year, we’ve been so busy rehearsing that I rarely get to talk to them about what else is happening in their lives.
But then I remember our section dinner and how we all made characters. It was silly, but we had a good time. Maybe that’s exactly the type of thing we need more of. We need something to bond us together.
I nod slowly. “That’s really helpful. Thanks.”
“You can pay me back with ice cream.” He jumps to his feet. “Actually, now that I think about it, you have to pay me back…since you lost your bet.” His smile is wicked. “Tome.”
“I knew I’d lose.”
He blinks in surprise. “Then why’d you take the bet?”
“Because it’s really fun toying with you.” My grin matches his as I make little puppet master movements with my hands.
“I’m eating double the ice cream just for that.”
Chapter Twenty
“I have a few ideas to shake things up,” I tell the color guard at practice the next day. I spent last night thinking about Max’s advice, and I want to try putting it into action. “The first thing I thought we’d try is rehearsing in a new space.” I gesture around at the auditorium stage.
Madisyn, Addison, and Devin look around dubiously. “Why?” Madisyn asks. “We’ve never done this before.”
“That’s exactly why,” I reply and walk to the back of the stage. Faith isn’t here since it’s a weekday during her work hours, but I got permission from Sire to try this out. “I thought a change of scenery might be nice, but mostly we’re here for this.”
I dramatically pull back the enormous dusty curtains that cover the mirrors along the back wall.
“Everyone knows the routines at this point, so now it’s a matter of getting as synchronized as possible. I figured ifwe could all watch our own reflections, we might be able to catch things quicker.”
The others quietly inspect themselves without arguing. I’ll take it after the last few rehearsals we’ve had.
“And I had another idea—what do you think about having one person each day act as our DJ for warm-up? You can pick whatever music you like, and we have to warm up to it.” There’s a burst of chatter. “But there’s one caveat,” I continue. “You have to play music that you think your D&D character would like.”
“What, why?” Rosa asks.
I shrug. “For fun? Plus, I was thinking more about it, and sometimes performers feel better when they have an alter ego that they tap into while they’re performing. It’s like they turn their regular self and all their anxieties off and let this other character come out. You already have alter egos, so why don’t we use them?” I walk slowly around the room. “You three chose fighters as a class.” I nod at the seniors. “You can tap into that power during the performance. And I remember you chose to be an elf,” I say to Keira. “Elves can be elegant and graceful, so you could put that energy into your performance.”
“What about me? I was a rageful barbarian orc—does that mean I can knock over the tuba section if they get in my way?” Yori asks, and the whole group bursts into laughter.
I smirk. “Let’s not go quite that far, although I like your spirit.”
“Use your rage against the percussion section,” Callie says.
“Speaking of that,” I say. “I don’t know if you’ve heardthe news yet, but Brody is out and Max is the new section leader. I’d recommend staying out of Brody’s way until he calms down about it.”
A murmur spreads through the group. “He’s going to be on the warpath,” Devin says.
I nod. “This could be good for us. There’s going to be so much chaos in the percussion section that I bet they won’t have time to mess with us. And I think Max might be more chill about that as well.”
Rosa snorts. “Yeah right, he was just as bad as Brody.”
“He’s worse,” Callie argues. “All that stuff at band camp was his idea. Who knows what else they’ll think up now that he’s in charge?”
Li and I exchange a quick uncomfortable glance. Like me, she’s seen a different side of Max during our D&D games. But that’s a whole other world from here. I’m starting to trust Max—it’s why I’m suggesting all these guard changes, after all—but I’m not entirely sure how he’s going to act as section leader. Will things actually change between our sections? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
“The best thing we can do for the next few weeks is ignore them and focus on getting to our absolute best. That’s the way we really put them in their place.” To my surprise, a few guard members nod resolutely. Maybe I need to lean harder into motivating them with spite. “I know we aren’t close to that best auxiliary award yet, but we have everything we need. Our show is creative, we’ve got beautiful flags, fun choreography, and—most importantly—a group of really talented members.” I put out my hands toward them. “Don’t you think we should at least try?”
A few nods, and small smiles grow as they all look around at each other.
