Chapter Thirty-Five
Today is the day before state, which means it’s Balloon Day—a celebratory day where the whole band spends rehearsal time eating cupcakes, sharing memories, and—shockingly—receiving balloons from the band boosters. We also march through the halls of the high school at the very end of the school day. Most of the year, people couldn’t care less about marching band, but on the Friday before state, everyone lines up to watch us parade down the halls…even if some people spend the whole time on their phones.
Color guard marches in the very back, right behind percussion, and I can’t keep my eyes off Max. I’ve been thinking more about his conversation with Sire and how he prioritized me over his own hopes of winning the MVM award. It took a lot for him to do that. And I’m not sure he was ever going to tell me. It means more knowing he chose to do the right thing rather than only doing it to get the brownie points.
He counts off and the percussion section begins a cadencethat gives me goose bumps. I know I’m biased, but there aren’t many things in the world more electrifying than listening to a well-executed drum cadence.
I hold my head high and enjoy the smiles and waves as we march around the school. If we tried to twirl our flags, there’s a good chance we’d smack someone in the head, so we just lift our flags straight up and down and keep time with the band.
When we’re finished, we march directly into the band room and break into screams and cheers. High-strung energy fills the room…along with hundreds of green and white Mylar balloons tied to chairs. Each year, the band boosters come into the room while we’re away and decorate each of our seats with balloons, flowers, and cards. People around me squeal with delight and run to their chairs to see what’s waiting for them. It’s one of my very favorite moments in the season.
Li comes up beside me. She’s clearly awestruck. “What is all this?”
“Thisis how we celebrate going to state.”
“It’s amazing.”
I elbow her. “Well, bandispretty great. Let’s go check out our chairs.” I point to the back of the room where an extra row of chairs has been set up for guard.
In addition to the balloon that everyone gets, I splurged (with my parents’ help) and got each of the guard members an additional congratulations balloon, a thank-you card, and a small photobook of us during the season. I’d been worried I wouldn’t have enough happy pictures to fill it, but in actuality I had a hard time choosing.
Li holds up her card to me. “You made it out to Ellywich!”
Callie wraps her arms around my neck from behind. “And Puff! You’re awesome. Thank you!”
I grin. At the last minute, I decided it’d be fun to use the D&D character names they made at the beginning of the season rather than their actual names. The rest of the guard silently reads their cards. I personalized each one, not just with their D&D name, but with details of how they grew during the season and helped our group to succeed. I may have had to take a grade penalty for turning in my history essay late, but the lower grade is absolutely worth it when I see their smiles.
“Hazel, this is so sweet!” Madisyn cries and pulls me into a hug. Addison and Devin pile on and we all hug each other tightly.
My chair is piled high with things—flowers from my parents, balloons, cards from Faith and Sire, and a tiny stuffed opossum from Nova, which makes me laugh. I don’t have anything special from the guard, which is a little disappointing, but I push the emotion away. I don’t need objects to know how much we’ve grown together as a group.
When Faith walks in, late as usual, I gather the rest of the guard from where they’re hovering around the snack table. We all chipped in to buy her a big bouquet of flowers and a card. It’s not enough, knowing that we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her, but it’s something.
“Faith, thank you so much for everything this season.” I hand over the flowers to her with a huge smile.
“You guys, thank you! I’m so incredibly proud of how far you’ve come.” She gives Addison a subtle nod and puts herflowers down on the closest chair. “Hazel, we also wanted to give you something.” The rest of the guard circles tighter around me. They’re practically quivering with excitement.
“I put in the order, but otherwise I won’t take any of the credit,” Faith continues as Devin pulls a small gift bag from behind a chair. “It was completely their idea. But I think it’s very well deserved and I’m happy I could help.”
I gingerly remove the tissue paper, my hands shaking, and pull out a small black plaque. Crossed flags are engraved along the top, and below are the words:
Best Color Guard Captain in the History of the Universe
Hazel Buchanan
I can’t help it. I burst into tears.
They all rush in and wrap me in an enormous ten-personhug.
“You didn’t have to do this!” I blubber.
“Of course we did!” Li argues. “We all voted for you and think you totally deserved to win the senior award. You really are the best color guard captain we could’ve ever had.”
“Thanks for doing those dance break warm-ups,” Devin says.
Keira nods. “And for helping me with my tosses.”
“And for making sure I hit my marks on time,” Deja says.
