"Time check?" Fern groans turning over in her bed.
"We have..." I glance at my watch, "TEN MINUTES."
"Thank you, Emily." She smiles at me.
"If we want to be late..." I mumble after she looks away.
We get our things together and head to the sectional. Surprise, Mr. Davis and Mr. Richards are both here today! Yay.
"We're going to do something different today. Third parts, you guys come with me." Mr. Richards walks over to the other side of the chapel.
We all follow and get in a smaller arc. It's really pretty back here, too bad we're only allowed here for sectionals.
"Okay, let's run the first few measures of the last song." Mr. Richards says, looking at the music.
We play through the song, Stronger Everyday, only stopping when we mess up.
"Okay, try again." Mr. Richards is clearly losing patients. We have gone over the same measure five times now and someone is still playing it wrong.
We run it again, only to get cut off by Jackson coming around the corner.
I completely mess up what I was playing and both Fern and Catie look at me like I'm insane.
I ignore them and listen to what Jackson is saying. "Soo, yeah. It's time to go over with everyone else so we can march down to the field."
"Alright thank you. Go ahead guys." Mr. Richards says shaking his head.
We walk over to the picnic tables and sit down for a couple minutes before Stacey stands up and calls us into attention.
"I am so over this." Fern groans as we find our way to our spots for the millionth time this week.
"Same." I agree as we're called into attention again.
We start marching and I think Fern might have a heart attack because low brass is playing again. I shake my head and try not to smile.
We get to the field and Mr. Smith tells us to set up the last set of the second song.
"Well shi- wait what...?" Catie says confused.
We all burst out laughing then look at our set cards to remember where we're supposed to go.
"Alright." Mr. Smith calls once we're all set. "Second set of the third song, go."
Everyone scrambles to find where they're going and help out people who still don't understand.
We get through a few sets before confusion sets it. "Are we supposed to turn around and march or march backwards?" I ask Robby the third time we run a movement."
He shrugs at me and turns away.
"Well ask Jackson!" I say, getting more annoyed by the minute.
He gives me a "you're crazy" look and goes back to his music.
I mentally groan and yell over to Jackson, "Are we supposed to turn around or not?!"
"I don't know!" He yells back.
"Don't ask Mr. Smith or anything!" I mumble, shaking my head.
Finally, Mr. Smith looks away from the flutes for more than five seconds and tells us to turn around since we're not playing anyways.
We run through the few sets we know a few more times and then we get a surprise from the band moms. Popsicles!
Mr. Smith tells us we have ten minutes to relax, use the bathroom, and eat popsicles.
Everyone runs over to the golf cart to grab a Popsicle and sit down.
I give my blue one to some mellophone walking around trying to get more and walk over to Jackson. He's lying on the ground with his eyes shut. I smile before dangling the mouth piece of my camelback over his face and dropping water on him.
"What the-" He sits up and looks at me. "Did you just do that?"
I pretend to have been looking at Leah and turn around, "Oh hey Jackson! I didn't even see you there!" I smile innocently.
"Uh huh." He smirks and lays back down.
I wait a couple seconds and drop more water on him.
"You better stop." He warns, not moving.
"Or what?" I taunt dropping even more water on him.
In one swift motion he grabs me below my knees and pulls me down so my face is right above his. I immediately start blushing. I'm so close I can see his eyes beneath his sunglasses.
"Serious face." I whisper.
He smiles and closes his eyes.
"I win."
"You were already smiling." He sighs.
Before I can protest, Mr. Smith calls us back to our spots to keep going.
The rest of the practice is a blur for me because I can't stop thinking about Jackson. Is there really a chance we could be together? Probably not.
We get through a little more than half of the third song before it's time to go to dinner.
"I can't believe we'll be going home tomorrow." I say as we sit down to eat.
"Thank goodness!" Fern says.
"I can't wait to see the video tonight." Catie says excitedly.
"I know, it's going to be sad though because this is the seniors' last band camp!" I say frowning.
"Let's worry about that later!" Fern says. "We have to go get our instruments again."
We throw our food away and go upstairs to grab our things before going back downstairs and lining up to march to the field again.
"It's crazy how many times we have done this in four days!" Fern exclaims as we find our spots.
"And three more years after this!" I tell her as we get called into attention again.
We march down to the field and Mr. Smith is already waiting.
"First set of the third song!" Stacey yells.
"Well- why do I even try anymore?" Catie shakes her head and walks away.
Once everyone is set, we run what we know so far. Drumline clearly needs to get their shit together. It sounds like a wave of cymbals, because they're not playing at the same time.
After an hour, we have the whole third song done. Mr. Smith tells us that if we can run the first three songs with out bombing, we can go in.
"REEESEEETTT" The upperclassmen call as we move back to our beginning spots.
We run through the songs ("Still not enough melody trumpets") and get to go in. It's getting dark and we're not allowed to play so we march back up to everyone saying "dut" on our left foot.
This does not end well because, of course, no one takes it seriously.
We go up to our room and put all of our stuff away before hurrying over to the chapel for skit night.
"I don't feel good." Catie says.
"This is mandatory, though. Are you going to be okay? You can probably go lay down if you ask." I tell her.
"No, I'll be okay." She shrugs.
We walk in and find a seat before everything starts.
First we watch a video with pictures of everyone and all of our songs playing in the background. I feel bad for the seniors, because I want to cry and I have three more years!
After the video, we get to awards. Jackson gets the worst morning person award, surprise there!
Then we get to the actual skits. All of the seniors go up and Clay is acting like Mr. Smith.
"His ass is so fine in khaki's!" Fern groans quietly.
They finish the skit and everyone claps, even Mr. Smith.
Too soon, it's time to go to bed. We all walk back to our room to lay down. It feels depressing knowing that this is our last night, even if camp was hell!
We get back and start getting dressed for bed, except Catie who just lays down.
"How are you feeling?" I ask getting in bed.
"Fine, I just threw up outside the chapel." She says, not opening her eyes.
"Why didn't you tell us?" I ask.
"Didn't really seem important at the time." She shrugs.
"You're crazy." Fern says, turning off the light.
We lay quietly and fall asleep at band camp for the last time freshmen year.