Danny:

"Battery get your stuff on the truck now! It’s a bad thing when pit beats you at loading!" Mr. McDougal shouts at us.

"Alright you heard him! Move your asses!" Kendall shouted and I was the first on the truck.

"Danny!" Mike called as I jumped off the truck.

"Yeah?" I walked over.

"Just to let you know, the buses are in class order so please find someone good to sit by," I nodded and looked around to find Jackson sitting at the lunch table eating.

"Hey!" I exclaimed and he looked up from his sandwich with a grin, "Do you want to sit with me on the bus ride to the comp?" I asked, hoping that he would say yes.

"Yeah sure," He took another bite of the sandwich and patted the spot next to him. I sat down next to him and stole an apple slice off of his plate. "Sneak! Put it back!" He playfully shouts and I smirked and eat the rest of the apple slices.

"Alright let's board the buses and get a move on," Mr. McDougal said from the band room.

"Let me load my drum onto the bus. Do you want to grab a seat for us?" I asked standing up.

"Sure," he stood up with his trumpet, backpack, and water. He walked over to the bus and boarded. I walked into the band room and picked up the bass two drum case.

"Are you ready for your first comp Danny?" Ty asked grabbing his fifth bass. I nodded and followed him out to the bus. I slid my drum under and picked up my backpack. I boarded the bus and started my search for Jackson. He waved his hands and stood up.

"Do you want the window seat?" I nodded and slid into the bus seat. He sat down and his leg brushed up against mine. I looked out the window and pretended not to show how much that effected my heart rate. "So..." he cleared his voice.

"Yes?" I looked at him and he smiled at me.

"Do you want to play a game?" he said as the bus started to move.

"That sounds very kinky," I said and he laughed.

"It's called top five and the way it works is you pick a topic. After the topic is picked, you say five favorite things related to the category," he stated and I thought about it.

"Okay. What is the topic?" He put two of his fingers on his chin and thought.

"Favorite fruits. Go!" I put my brain to work.

"Okay. First would be cantaloupe, second would be green apples, third is cranberries, fourth is honeydew, and lastly would be star fruit," I stated and he nodded and started to state his five.

"One is green apples, two is pineapple, third is raspberries, fourth is cantaloupe, and fifth is watermelon," I laugh and he pointed at me.

"Don't judge me Danny," I shook my head and started laughing louder.

"I would never judge, Jackson. I promise," he leaned in closer to my face. I could smell the mint gum in his breath.

"You are judging me right now," I rolled my eyes and tried to control my blush, "Okay your turn to pick a topic," I took a deep breath to recollect my thoughts.

"Favorite genres of music," I said with a huge smile on my face.

"Okay... Rock, Pop, Rap, Jazz, and Country," he listed and my nose scrunched when he said country.

"Mine are Classic rock, R&B, Classical, some Pop, and 1920s-1940s Jazz," he smiled and I realized besides the country difference, we have a lot in common. We spent the rest of the bus ride to Randy Morris High School getting to know more about each other. I watched as we pulled into the high school and took a huge breath and Jackson's hand brushed over mine. I froze in my seat and look at our hands.

"Okay unload and find our band spot in the lot. See you there in two hours," Mr. McDougal said and left the bus. Everyone stood up and ran off the bus straight to the restrooms. I walked into the girls restroom and saw lol the color guard putting make up on and fixing their hair. I looked at my long black hair and slipped my fingers over the split ends. Well I am not much of a girl, what do you expect. I went to the bathroom and washed my hands.

"Hey you," I turned around and looked at the color guard girl.

"Yeah," I’m hoping this is not going to be something against me.

"What school and section are you in?" she asked added more lipstick to the smeared mess on her face.

"I’m from Avenue High School and I play bass in the battery," I answered quickly and turned to leave.

"Ha we have a battery girl in the house! Power to you chick. At least you can find another lesbian," the girl said and my face instantly fell.

"Lilly! Don't be rude! She is already a boy," the other girl said and they both started laughing.

"Well it was nice meeting both of you color guard bitches, but I have a section to get to," I sassed and walked out of the bathroom. I walked over to my school and met up with Jackson, "I was just called a lesbian by those girls," I pointed over and before he responded he saw them, he planted a huge kiss on my cheek and warped his arm around my shoulder. The color guard girls' faces dropped and the walked off with a stomp in their step.

"Why did you do that?" he smiled and removed his arm from my shoulder.

"Because no one has a right to assume anything of anyone," I smiled and started walking with him. I can't believe he did that for me. He gave me another hug and went over for stretching block. I walked over to the battery and set up my drum. The uniform moms helped us into our black marching pants and I grabbed my blue and grey jacket and slid it onto my drum. I reached into my box and grabbed my blue and black shako. I walked over to the uniform mom and she placed a black plume onto the top. I placed my harness over my marching jacket and placed my drum on top of that. I held in one hand the shako and in the other my bass mallets. After being in warm-up block for an hour, we joined up with pit. We ran through the beginning of the show and gathered a huge crowd in just that opening part. The rest of our 250 piece marching band joined us and we ran different parts of our show.

"Alright we go on in fifteen! Pit start moving in five. Everyone rest your chops and get ready!" Mr. McDougal said and left for the stadium. I took off my drum and set it on the grass. Jackson walked over and handed me a water.

"Thanks!" I chugged down that water and threw the bottle away.

"You ready?" I nodded and he went to hug me. We tried to hug around my harness and I started to laugh. I took it off for a second and I was pulled into his embrace. Even in all the sweat he still smelled amazing. "Break a stick," he said and gave me one last squeeze and went over to line up. I put my harness back on, grabbed my drum, shako, and lined up. I have never been so nervous in my entire life. We lined up at the edge of the stadium and prepared to march onto the field.

"Now coming to the field. Is the Avenue High School Marching Band!" We started marching forward onto our opening dots of the show. My feet started to move and we played through opener of our show. We played through the ballad with ease and the closer brought adrenaline to the band and the crowd. We hit our last note of the show and everyone in the crowd went crazy. Kendall tapped out the band and we turned in time and marched off the field. We marched back into our loading sight and circled up around Mr. McDougal.

"Well how did that run feel?" We all answered in so-so comments. "You guys sounded good for a first time out. Let's improve based on the scores and be ready for next weeks challenge," he dismissed us and we all went to change out of uniforms and reload the two trucks. I walked over to my drum in my sweaty compression shorts and shirt and I loaded it back into the truck. I walked onto the bus and changed into our show shirts and jeans, finishing off with my gray Chuck Taylor's. I ran a hair brush through my hair and threw my DC hat on top of my wet hair. They called for dinner break and the swarm of band children came around the parent volunteers. They served us Panda Express and I joined Jackson and the rest of the freshmen on the ground by our first truck.

"How was your run?" Jackson asked. Taking another bite of orange chicken.

"I missed one of my dots and I’m just hoping that it’s not noticeable to the visual judge." I said while I swirled my fork in some chow mein.

"Yeah...I’m hoping the trumpets weren't to loud. You know Harry hates when we outblast the woodwinds," I nodded and some commotion broke across the lot.

“Danny!” I turned around quickly to see Georgie, pulling Adam behind her.

“Hey!” I stood up quickly and Jackson followed.

“That was so amazing! I didn’t know marching band was like that!” she said while Adam and Jackson shook hands.

“Thanks. I’m so glad you guys made it. This is Jackson,” I introduced him and Georgie gave him a huge hug.

“It’s nice to meet you!” Jackson said and we sat down on the ground again. We continued to talk and we even snuck Georgie and Adam some food.

"Has anyone seen my boyfriend?" I looked at the red head. She was dressed in cheerleading stuff and had her red hair was tied back into a braid.

"Who’s your boyfriend?" Nick asked taking a bite of his food.

"Kendall...Kendall Miller." Wait! Kendall has a girlfriend? Wow I did not see that one coming.

"Nick I can find him," I stated and stood up and went looking for him. I heard footsteps behind me and I realized that Jackson stood up to follow.

"I didn't know that Kendall had a girlfriend. I thought he was gay," Jackson said as we walked up onto the senior bus.

"Neither did I and me too," I looked up from Jackson and my eyes met up with the back of someone's head and Zoe's kissing them.

"Oh um," Then the head turned around and I saw Kendall.

"Kendall? Wait! What?" My face was burning with anger. How could Zoe cheat on Mikey?!

"Please, Danny, don't tell your brother. I was just talking to Kendall because his girlfriend couldn't make it to the comp and it was just a misunderstanding," Kendall nodded and stood up.

"Danny, I was upset and Zoe came to talk to me," Kendall said and Jackson spoke instead of me.

"Well, Kendall, your girlfriend is outside and it might be best if you don't keep her waiting," Kendall walked off the bus and ran out to her.

"Zoe, I can’t keep this from my brother," Was all I could say and I got off the bus and Jackson followed placing his arm around my shoulder.

"I'm sorry you had to see all that," he whispered and I nodded.

"Let's go see some bands play in the lot," he suggested and I nodded. He took my hand in his and we walked over to watch other bands. We watched most of the bigger groups practice and I, of course wanted to watch the batteries and Jackson watched the horn lines. "Let's go up into the stands," he nudged me and I took his hand in mine again. We walked hand in hand into the stands and met up with our band. We watched the last band perform is the highest division and waited for awards. All the marching band drum majors marched onto the field and fanned out into an arch. We’re in division 3 and we have really steep competition this year. The announcer started off with division 1.

"In division 1, in third place with a score of 56.55...Harrison High School." The drum majors on the field marched up and revived their award. Doing their school salute before marching back to their spot in the arch. There was clapping and cheering for the band. "In second place with a score of 58.67...Alberta High School." Their drum majors marched up and retrieved their award. "And in first place, winning all the caption awards in division 1 with a score of 60.89 is the Grove Marching Band and Color Guard." Their crowd screamed and cheered for their band. "Now for division 2," the announcer said and my heart started racing. One more division until we get to hear our placement. We listened to the division 2 placements and then, the moment of truth. "Now for division 3 places," I took Jackson's hands in mine and started praying we didn't get last. "In fifth place with a score of 66.90...Amor High School," Our band clapped and Jackson took my hands again. "In fourth place in division 3 with a score of 69.78 is the Jackson Valley High School," Okay, so we made it to the top three. I can go home happy if we get third. "And in third place..." My heart started to pound harder in my chest and I gripped Jackson's hands tighter. "With a score of 69.90...Riverside High School," Our band let out a deep breath. "And in second place, winning the caption awards of high percussion, visual, and general effect and with a score of 73.88...Avenue High School," My mouth dropped. We won high percussion and with that, I was happy,"And in first place, winning high auxiliary and high music… Randy Morris High School," We clapped for them and stood up to meet our drum majors on the field. We all circled up and took a huge group photo.

"Yo! Danny come over here!" Kendall called over and held out the trophy. "It’s tradition for all of battery to lick the percussion award. Come on!" I looked at him strangely and shrugged my shoulders. This is what I get for being in a section with all guys. We as a unit had one final meeting before we headed back to the bus. I climbed the bus and Jackson followed behind me. Placing his arms around my small shoulders. I slid into my seat and as soon as he sat down next to me, I placed my legs on his lap.

"You tired?" he asked about halfway home when my eyes started to droop.

"Yeah a little bit," he wrapped his arms around me and I placed my head on his chest. From that point on I dozed off and fell asleep. I was shaken awake by a warm touch.

"Danny we’re at school," Jackson whispered into my ear and I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Okay, I’ll see you Monday," Jackson stood up and let me move in front of him.

"I’ll see you Monday," I gave him a peck on the cheek and went to meet Mikey at his car.

"Alright let's go home," Mikey pulled out of the parking lot and we began the drive home.

“Mikey. I need to tell you something and I don't know how your going to take it,” I said quickly.

He looked at me slowly, “What is it Danny? Is everything okay?”

I cleared my throat and looked down at my hands, “Zoey is cheating on you.”