Out of Touch

Movement Five: Stanchezza

I walk to the high school early like usual except this isn't for morning practice. This is for marching band practice. I want to beat my Luna here so I can spend the most amount of time with her.

I walk in, greeting others like usual. Jacob is here early. I take the chance to flirt with him until my Luna arrives. I couldn't stop flirting if I'd tried. It only takes a few minutes until my Luna arrives. I jump over a few rows of chairs and land in front of her.

"Hi Luna," I grin.

"Hello Andy," she smiles at me.

"So, how was your day?"

"It was okay. I got frustrated when I got home. Apparently my brother is going to stay after school tomorrow which means I have to decide to wait out here, pick my mom up and then pick him up or make my mom wait. It's going to be another half hour and I have to decide. Ugh."

My Luna turns to her friend and stand partner, Faith. She smiles at Faith, letting Faith know she's included in this. Faith is a year younger than us but fits in well. She's pretty, with hazel eyes and long brown hair she typically pulls into a braid. She's got a bright smile. Her and my Luna fit together well, they're good friends.

"I think you should go with whatever saves you gas," I decide.

"Yeah, you're right," my Luna pulls out her phone, texting someone. "Thanks Andy."

"No problem," I smile. 

My Luna smiled back. She's so pretty. I feel like I'm melting again. I imagine spending the rest of my life with her. It would be perfect, quiet, serene.

I have to ask her out.

"Alright guys," Mr. Graybill comes out of his office. "We're going to be starting practice down on the turf. Let's get going."

I go to the back of the room. I put my sousaphone over my shoulder. This thing is heavy but I've learned to work with it. I hate it though. There's so many dents, the mouthpiece is taped on. I wish we had better one or shoulder tubas. Shoulder tubas made the loudest and best sounds. They were harder to carry, sure. They were all focused on one shoulder. But the sound would be beautiful. I pull my mouthpiece out of my pocket, fitting it into the area on my sousaphone. Hipple pushes by me, forcing me into the barisax player. He is so annoying. Honestly, both the barisax player and Hipple are equally as bad. I've got to make it down to the field with my Luna.

I brush quickly by everyone, headed to the front of the band room. I slip quickly by the pit and whoever is at the door, only knocking one person in the shoulder. Damn this instrument. 

I catch my Luna and Faith. I may have almost taken out everyone in my path with this hunk of metal around me but totally worth it. The two of them are chatting about something.

"What are we talking about?" I ask, easing myself into the situation.

"Tumblr," my Luna says.

"Fandoms," Faith specifies.

"What about fandoms?" 

"They're everywhere on Tumblr and for some reason are the only thing I don't have a love hate relationship with," my Luna gives me a look, almost like she's confused but still firm in her idea. It's always such an interesting look. 

Fandoms. I knew my Luna belonged to a lot of fandoms. Supernatural, Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings, Marvel. More and more. There was almost no limit. Except anime, she refused to touch that black abyss. That supplied an unlimited amount of choices for gifts.

Gifts! Why hadn't I thought of that before! I could give her a series of gifts to spell out a message. It would be perfect! But which fandoms? What gifts? Oh well, I'll figure that out later.

I know exactly what I want to do! I have to tell Alina as soon as possible. She needs to know, she can help me. I have a plan.

I am going to take one giant step out of the friend zone. I am so excited.

I walk onto the turf. There was maybe ten more minutes before practice would actually start. I set my sousaphone down near the end of the fence and made my way back over towards my Luna. An catches me first. She plays saxophone. Hers always seems to be the tiniest, it's cute.

"Andy, ready for the competition next week?" An smiles at me.

"It's the home competition, right?" 

An nods. "What activities are you going to sign up to help with?"

I honestly don't know. "Hopefully nothing that will call me back too early."

"Low brass is supposed to set up the eating area for the judges but that sounds like an after practice affair."

I nod. Wait. This would be perfect for my plan. There's a four hour break before we need to come back to the school. I could invite my Luna over as well as Alina to just hang out at my place. I could ask her out then. Or beforehand? I wasn't too sure, I'd need Alina to help me plot this out.

Practice started out with basics as usual. We did factory basics tonight. We lined up in rows. My sousaphone underlings, Brynn and Alex stayed close by me. I enjoyed messing with those two girls a bit. Alex was turning into a good friend of mine. After basics, it was runthrough after runthrough of each movement, dwelling especially on the visuals to the disappointment of our colorguard. As the night came to a close, I longed for a break, just to talk to my Luna again. Marching band was tiring. It required so much effort and I wish I could have used that effort to lay in bed to sleep instead. 

"Last break, then we're doing the run." Graybill stood up. "Kerdeman, be careful not to hit Hipple this time."

"Yes sir," I called out, though from atop the bleachers I doubt he could hear me. 

Graybill had started calling me Kerdeman since my freshman year. It started because of this old cartoon where a dog played trombone. My instrument history started with saxophone. I then was put on trombone but learned trumpet on the side. When I got to high school, I met Graybill who wanted me on tuba in the marching band. Due to conflicts with his wife giving birth and adjusting to that life, I never joined marching band my freshman year. Kerdeman stemmed from that cartoon. He gave everyone nicknames if he could. There was a girl in concert band my freshman he called McFly. There was a girl he called Oppa because she was Greek. Hipple was Baby Giraffe, a story from how giraffes can't dance. Graybill was a great teacher.

I walked over to where my Luna was. I took her water bottle from her hands, drinking some of it. I gave it back to her. 

"We're almost done," Luna looked to Faith for hope. 

"Yes, we just have to do a great run," Faith nodded.

Graybill called us back in. One fantastic run later, we were headed back up to the bandroom. I went quickly. I wanted to get a hug out of my Luna before she left. I put my sousaphone back on the rack where it belonged. I waited at the enterance to the band room. Luna came out. I touched her shoulder. She turned around to look at me. 

"Goodnight, Luna," I opened myself up for a hug.

Luna accepted. Her hugs felt so good.

I quickly walked myself home. Time to message Alina and plot to siege my Luna's heart.