“Circle up, everyone!” I call. “Are we ready?”
I put my hand in the center of the circle and everyone else does the same. I start the chant, yelling as loud as I can.
“Show up!”
“Show out!”
“All in!”
“No doubt!”
“Glen Vale Guard!”
We give each other quick hugs, take deep breaths, and then get in line to march onto the Twin Valley football field.
“Glen Vale High School,” the disembodied voice of the announcer booms. “You may begin your warm-up and/or preplacement.”
Chapter Thirty-One
We’ve got this. We can do it.
My stomach wobbles as we all head to our starting positions. I look from side to side as I go through the motions of stretching and placing my flags, catching the eye of whichever guard members are close enough so I can give them a nod of reassurance.
Our field commanders call us to attention, the percussion hits their first note, and my mind goes blissfully blank. The next seven minutes fly like I’m fast-forwarding a TV show at 2x speed. One second we’re swinging our lightning bolt flags to mimic a storm during the opening moments ofNight on Bald Mountain,then we’re nailing our pop tosses during the drum break, and suddenly I’m lifting a huge stained-glass flag in our final pose. I distantly register the cheers and the cow bell my parents bring to each competition. Dear god, my parents are extra.
We march off the field, my heart still on fast-forwarding speed.
“Did we kill it?” I ask Faith as soon as I find her waiting on the sidelines.
“Yes! Absolutely phenomenal!” She claps and waves over the rest of the guard. “You all gave me goose bumps. It’s the best I’ve ever seen you!”
“Eeeeee!” Li squeals and throws her arms around me. Madisyn and Addison pile onto our hug, and soon the entire guard is one massive squealing huddle.
“This is what hard work can bring you!” Faith exclaims. “Now go relax in the stands and enjoy the other band performances. And hey”—her voice gets more serious—“no matter what happens, you all should be very proud of yourselves. You represented Glen Vale color guard very well.”
We make our way to the bleachers to await the awards ceremony at the end of the competition. Max is already there, surrounded by friends. He catches my eye and mouthsnice job.My heart aches to sit down next to him, give him a huge hug, and analyze every minute of the performance. I want to eat crappy nachos by his side, and talk about our chances as we watch the other bands perform, and kiss him whenever I feel like it. Instead, I walk right past him and remind myself that soon we’ll be able to do all those things.
Nova climbs up a few bleachers from her clarinet friends and sits next to me. “How do you feel?”
“Like my heart is about to beat out of my chest. But Faith said it’s the best we’ve ever performed, so I’ll take it. Your solo sounded as amazing as always.”
“Thanks.” She shrugs. “It’s not a hard piece of music.”
She’s definitely deflecting. I know the solo is hard, especially when all eyes are on you, but Nova is self-effacing to a fault, so I let her have that.
“And, even better,” I say, “Brody was noticeably silent when the guard passed him on the bleachers, so it feels like we already won.”
Nova applauds me. “If you can shut him up, then you deserve every trophy they have. You’re definitely my hero.”
A roar of laughter comes from the percussion and Nova slips her arm through mine and squeezes. “I have a good feeling about this awards ceremony.”
“I’m going to puke from waiting, so don’t sit close tome.”
Four other bands perform, then there’s a break so the judges can calculate their scores, andfinallythe disembodied voice of the announcer returns to say that the award ceremony is about to begin. Li sits down at my other side, looking almost as nervous as I feel.
“And now what you’ve all been waiting so patiently for: our award winners.”
I immediately tense and Li grabs my left hand while Nova leans into my side on my right. The announcers go through several other categories before getting to ours.
