"Come on Chase I need to get this done," I said to him, my nerves obviously shaking in my voice. Today I’m going to buy supplies to make a poster. Not just any post, I’m going to ask Danny to homecoming. I smiled as I finally found the last of the art supplies I needed.

"Okay sweetie," Chase laughed and walked to the checkout line. I followed him and rushed us home. I have to ask her tomorrow. Her mom is in on the plan as well; I’m going to ask her at the football game tonight. "You need anymore help?" Chase asked opening the front door.

"No I think I’m good. Thanks for taking me," I said as we fist-bumped and rushed up to my room. I quickly made the poster and then came the hard part, the words to say. I practiced different things that would correlate with my poster. My poster has two pairs of drumsticks. I wrote on one box YES and this had the sticks in it and on the other NO with no sticks. What do I write in the middle? I finally came to writing, 'Life If You Said No Would B♭.' I laughed to myself because I love music puns. I have everything planned. I’m going to ask her before we march out onto the field and get the trumpets to play her favorite song by Journey, which is Open Arms. I learned the song by heart in seventh grade, so it works out perfectly. The next morning, I got to work. During the marching band period and through lunch, I reserved the practice room and all twelve of us practiced the song. I hid my poster in Mr. McDougal’s office, before anyone could find it. I finished out school and raced over to see if I could catch Danny and go to dinner. She was sitting in a bass circle on the band room floor and they were going over parts of the show. She saw me out of the corner of her eye and stood up. "Do you want to get a bite to eat?" I asked, watching her turn her hat around so that the bill was facing the back of her head.

"Sure! Let me put my drum into its case," She lifted her drum and placed it in the case and set the lid on top. "Alright let’s go," I followed her out the door and we walked over to the Jersey Diner. We finished quickly and headed back to the band room. The brass changed into marching uniforms first, so I had enough time to give a pep talk to the trumpets and grab my sign. As soon as Danny walked out with her uniform and bass drum on, I signaled for all the trumpets to line up and the color guard to hold up my sign. I counted us off and we started playing Open Arms. Her head snapped and she made eye contact with me while I was playing lead. She set her drum down and slowly walked over to us. We finished the song and I dropped my trumpet, only to say seven amazing words.

"Will you go to homecoming with me?" her mouth dropped and she stared at me for a little bit longer.

"Of course I will!" she screamed and ran into my arms and gave me a tight hug. I picked her up and spun her in a circle. I set her down and she kissed my cheek. Oh great, now I’m blushing! I quickly smiled to cover this annoying red affection.

"Danny! Jackson! Get into block we’re going to be late!" Mr. McDougal yelled and Danny and I scattered, getting into our marching block lines. "Okay let's move!" we started marching forward and towards the crazy football fans. We climbed the towering bleachers and each section took up a row. The flutes were at the bottom, then following were the clarinets, then the soprano saxophones, alto saxophones, tenors, baris, and the bass clarinets. My section was above that section, then the mellophones, baritones, and sousaphones. Then lastly the battery and pit. We played through the first and second quarter to add some liveliness to the football game. I looked at the score before I went down for halftime. We were winning, 27-10 and our rival school, Randy Morris High, was against us. They brought their pep band and now we had the pressure of other eyes watching. I walked down the bleachers and into marching block. Danny and I made eye contact and she gave me a bright smile. I walked over to her and she placed her drum on the ground.

"You ready?" I asked, taking her hands in mine.

"Yes I am," I kissed her cheek and she fixed my shako.

"Break a stick," I shouted over my shoulder and got into my spot in line. We marched onto the field and I got on my dot. I was the top point of the “L” in love. We played through the opener and I was already painting hard. The rest of the show was smooth, but not clean. We hit the the last impact note in the show and the crowd erupted in loud screams and cheers. We marched off the field and back up into the stands. The battery marched off the field and over to the football team. Our football team ran out onto the field and the battery marched back up into the stands with us. We played for a couple more minutes and then we had the rest of third quarter off for ourselves. We all took off our shakos and jackets to get food. I walked down the bleachers and put my gloves in my pants pocket. I waited for Danny down at the bottom to see how her run of the show went. All I saw was Kendall in Danny's spot next to her drum.

"Kendall, where’s Danny?" I asked and he frowned.

"She had an asthma attack," That's all I heard before I ran to the band room. I walked in to see Danny on the ground of the band room with a bucket next to her.

"Hey are you okay?" I crouched down next to her and she looked up at me.

"Yeah I will be. It's been awhile since my lungs tried to kill me," she laughed softly and I looked up to see a uniform mom holding my uniform jacket and shako.

"Can I hang your pants?" she asked and I nodded stripping down into my black running shorts and shirt. I picked up another water and set it next to Danny's empty one.

"Thanks," she opened it and drank a couple sips from it. I plopped down next to her and wrapped my arm around her waist. The rest of the band piled in and I carried Danny outside. I sat with her outside until her brother sat down next to her.

"We’re going to Jersey Diner tonight. I asked Chase and he said he could take you guys home," I looked at him and nodded.

"Ok, sounds good," he handed me a key and I tilted my head.

"Our parents are out of town so, can I trust you to stay with her until I get home?" I nodded again and he got up to leave. "Thanks Jack," he rubbed Danny's back and left.

“Did Mikey seem off to you?” Danny pressed her lips together and then covered her face with her hands.

“That was the first time he has spoken to me since I told him about Zoey and Kendall,” I wrapped my arms around her to comfort her.

Chase drove us back to her house and we went up to her room.

"I am going to shower and get ready for bed." I nodded and she walked off using the wall as support.

"Dan are you sure you’ll be okay?" I looked down the hall and she looked back at me and smiled.

"I’m fine, it's just the aftermath," I nodded and walked into her room. I took a look around, and the room suited her personality well. Her walls are a dark royal blue, her bed was purple and black, and she had posters everywhere of all types of bands. She walked back in wearing oversized PJ pants and a Drum Corps International sweatshirt. "Sorry it took me so long, I was dizzy and didn't want to push my lungs." I shrugged and laid back onto her bed. She lifted the covers and laid down next to me. "Thanks for taking care of me today," I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and felt her wet hair seep through my shirt. I laid there staring up at the ceiling and I started to feel my eyelids droop. I couldn't move fast enough and I feel asleep. Danny moved under me and my arms wrapped around her waist tightly. "Jackson what time is it?" I looked at the clock.

"12:30," she sat up and looked around.

"Where’s Mikey?" She snapped and got up to go look around. "Son of a bitch! He didn't come home!" She shouted from downstairs.

"Call him he might be with Zoe," she nodded and sat down on the bed. She called him and got her answer.

"He’s with Zoe and he didn’t believe me when I told him that she’s cheating on him with Kendall," she let out a frustrated scream and flopped down into the bed.

"He’ll come back Danny," I said, looking down at her tired eyes.

"Can you please just stay with me?" She looked back at me and I nodded.

"Get some rest and worry later," she mumbled something back in response to what I said and that is the last word I heard out of her. I wrapped my arms around her waist and drifted off into my own coma of sleep.