Chapter 1:”Classic or Oldies?”
BEEP
BEEP
BEEP
BE-
A heavy hand fell on the bane of my existence: My alarm clock. While it was still technically summer break, my schedule tells me that I have absolutely zero time to kill by sleeping in.
That reminds me!
Time
What time is it?
Crap! I lost my train of thought!
I am so not a morning person. Which leads me to the question: Why did I pay money for something that will bring me nothing but agonizing misery every morning as it impedes on my dreams?
I glance over at my alarm clock and the numbers in red make me professionally wrestle my covers.
8:30 a.m.
Oh no! I can't be late! I'm never late!
As I rush to put on my casual color guard uniform: black leggings, marching band pride shirt, color guard jacket, long black socks, and dark athletic shoes. As I hop out of my room trying on one leg whilst trying to tie my shoe, a thought comes to me. I know what I can do as a career! I should become a professional acrobat because I am honestly Killing this hopping on one leg thi- My thoughts are interrupted by my life flashing before my eyes. My foot slips and I go tumbling down the stairs as gracefully as a hippo on stilts.
When I reach the bottom I hear the demonic laugh of my younger sister break through the sound of my frantically beating heart. I turn and she is sitting on the living room sofa doubled over in laughter.
"That... Was... Beautiful!" She manages to speak between fits of laughter, "Encore!" By now she is on the floor gasping for breath. I swear that girl is going to die of asphyxiation because of how hard she laughs.
"Ow" I manage to squeak as I stand up rubbing my rear end. I shoot my best death glare towards her which sends her into another round of uncontrolled laughter.
As she manages to compose herself, she takes deep breaths, "You know I laugh out of love."
I can feel my eyes roll to the back of my head "Mhmm." I leave her to her own devices and rush as quickly as a person who managed to fall down a flight of stairs can into the kitchen. Halfway there a realization pops into my weary brain. I about face and stiffly walk back to the living room. I see my sister lounging on the couch on her phone.
"Sicily? Why aren't you ready?" I inquire as my eyelids narrow until I look as curiously menacing as I can.
"First of all, don't look at me like that. You look constipated. Secondly, because it is only 7 o'clock. I snuck into your room and changed all the settings and alarm times on your clock while you were sleeping. The shock of thinking you are late is usually the only thing that gets you motivated and awake in the morning. Apparently so does having a waltz with stairs does, too." She barely glances up at me as she answers. I can feel the steam coming out of my ears and my mouth heat up. I was ready to breath fire and she was my main target.
"Why would you do that!" I scream, managing to overcome my pain as I charge over to her like a bull attempting to slaughter the evil red cloth, "Sleep is precious and you deprived me of it you foul beast!" She raises her arms to block her face but before I can claw her face to shreds I hear my mother's angelic voice calling my not so angelic name.
"Dusty!" I stop in my tracks as Sicily lets out a relieved giggle.
"It is too early to murder your sister. Now go make yourself some breakfast and Sicily go get ready you guys have an important day today." With her remarks finished, she goes back to her room to finish taking out the curlers in her hair.
"I'll be ready in about an hour Dusty!" I hear Sicily's retreating voice hurrying up the same stairs that became more of an enemy to me than my alarm clock.
I head over to the kitchen and put a pot of water onto the stove to let it boil. While I wait I start to stretch to relieve my sore muscles and wake up for the day. As I feel the stretch I contemplate life like any normal human being.
I am starting my senior year of high school. I am turning 18 in a few months. I am the captain of the color guard team. We get to perform my favorite Shakespeare play in theatre for our fall production. My name is Dusty Barnes. That's right. Dusty. Barnes. I am going to start school again and all the new kids are going to have the same reaction, "Is that your real name?" As they snicker and make friends elsewhere. I wish I had a middle name that I could be called by instead; but, I have no such luck. I have a little sister who is named Sicily Jane Barnes. Me? I'm just good ol' Dusty Barnes. If only David were still here. I like to think that he'd be there to tell me that it isn't as bad as it seems. He would be right. I have a pretty good life. It's relatively drama free and comfortable. However, comfortable comes with being in the same small town for all 17 years and 8 months of you life. I've been to neighboring towns and went out of state once to a family reunion. I love my family don't get me wrong, however, they can be a little much to handle when all together at the same time.
As I finish my stretches, my water is proficiently boiled and I pour it into a bowl over some Quick Oats. I enjoy the warmth of the oatmeal as it settles in my stomach. I am actually happy that Sicily woke me up early because now I have time to actually brush my teeth and brush my hair. I head back upstairs with less pain in my tush them I did just a little while ago. When I enter the bathroom that is conjoined with my bedroom, I flick the lights on and my dog is sitting on my toilet lid staring at me.
"Poe! You little mutt! You gave momma a heart attack" I pat his head and get my morning routine kit out. Yes, my dog is named after Edgar Allan Poe. I named him this for quite a few reasons actually. First, I love all things classic. Anything after 2012 I do not give two thoughts of giving a crap about. I love Shakespeare, Poe, Montgomery, Van Halen, etc. and am a huge theatre buff. Second, Poe is a little guy with a coat as dark as a raven. Third, he's a little creepy. He has a knack for just showing up and staring into space. Fourth, he seems a little depressed and evil. He doesn't get excited about anything except unless someone gets hurt or... Nope. That is really all he gets excited about. Other than that he is pretty chill and I love him with all my heart. We are a cliche. He is the grumpy character to my sunshiny character. I mean as sunshiny as I can get.
After I clean up, I gather my belongings and head over to Sicily's room. I knock a rythm on her door and shout that I'm leaving with or without her. I turn to the stairs and glare. Do I attempt it again? Do I dare? It is my only escape to the outside world and my responsibilities.
My responsibilities are the only things that are making sure I stay awake at this moment. You see, my school does this little camp for the extracurriculars surrounding football. This includes the varsity football players, cheerleaders, and marching band/color guard. We all get together to tell stories, to pump up the new recruits, and to set goals and expectations for the season. Since I am the captain of the color guard and Sicily is one of the cheerleader captains, we have to be at the school early to help set up.
I grab my keys off the hook and exit through a heavy oak door. I am greeted by a soft breeze that carries the fresh scent of the morning. A soft smile appears on my lips. I honestly loved living out in the country. There are no neighbors in the cookie cutter house or awkward conversations/ neighborly disputes. There are just fields and a house a couple minutes down the road from where I live. It takes about 20 minutes to get to the high school from where I live. We have to be there at 9 which means that I leave at 8:30 and when I get there around 8:50, I will be 10 minutes early give or take 5 minutes depending on morning traffic. Even though there rarely is any traffic, I still take it into my careful calculations.
As I start my pick up truck, the engine roar-stutters to life. Poor old Bessie is getting to the end of her life. I turn to Sicily who just climbed in, "Classic or Oldies?"
She sets her gaze to the roof of the car and twists her mouth as if in thoughtful consideration, "Oldies. Let's get pumped. We have to be peppy for the little Freshies!"
"I know. It's just hard to be peppy this early in the morning."
"Welp, fake it to you make it!"
"Ain't that the truth."
The radio is turned up as we jam out to Bon Jovi and other rocking hits until we arrive at school. I unexcitedly and ungracefully jump out of Ol’ Bessie after gently turning her off.
The humid late August air is starting to warm up and the breeze is dead. I am just glad that we get to be inside today. Other cars are starting to pull in and all the captains start piling into the main gym. Once everyone is inside, our athletic director gives us instructions and we start chipping away at the chores assigned to us.
As time draws closer to when the littles should be showing up, we gather around to discuss our game plan. I take a seat next to Sicily and her boyfriend Adam. He is 17 like me and is going to be a senior with me. He is very kind to me and I appreciate that; however, if he and Sicily hadn’t started dating a couple years back, I wouldn’t have even been in existence in his mind. He is one of the varsity football captains which is why he is here early with us.
“...Be kind but make sure you establish dominance before they think that they can walk all over you.” Mr. Man’s voice breaks through my dazed stance that I didn’t know that I had fallen victim to. Mr. Man is a peculiar human being. Starting with his name to the way he talks to the rumours surrounding his past life and ending with his physique. He is a good guy, though, he is just… strange.
With his moving speech drawing to an end, they open the doors and children slowly stagger in. It is going to be a long day. As I examine the new recruits, a faint smile plays on my lips until I hear the ear piercing voice of Valerie Stevens.
“He is just so kind! Did you see him on the press story with the children at the hospital? He is just getting more and more sexy!”
I roll my eyes at her gushing and lean over to Sicily, “Who is she talking about this time?” Sicily lets out a short laugh.
“Probably Miles Greenwood.”
“Who?”
“You wouldn’t know him since you are so far out of the pop culture loop; but, he is becoming very popular in the realm of teenage girl fantasies.”
“Oh. Well, good luck to him then. She is so obsessed with celebrities that she doesn’t have time for her boyfriend. Are they even still together?” I glance over at Ray who is not sitting next to his so called girlfriend.
“I have honestly zero idea. One minute they are on the next they are off again. So, at this moment in time I think it would be safe to say that they are complicated.”
I laugh in response and turn my attention to the crowd of newbies in front of me.
Mr. Man’s voice rings loud and clear over the many many conversations taking place, “Welcome! I now ask you to please find a seat if you don’t already have one and please quiet your cute little munchkin voices down so that you can hear me. Today, I am your king! I will introduce you to my royal court and then we will split up into groups, run some drills, have some lunch, and have fun! Who’s with me?” A couple soft, frightened claps come from the freshman audience. “Awesome! Let’s start with football. These are your varsity captains: Adam Steele and Ray Luke. They will help you learn to overcome your fears and help you know what you need in order to grab a spot on varsity when you are older. Next, we have our wonderful cheer captains! This is Valerie Stevens, your senior captain and this is Sicily Barnes, you junior captain. They will teach you the ropes and give you much needed information about auditions and practice times. Next, we have our marching band department! We have our drum majors Oliver Reef and Gracie Fadure who will be teaching you marching basics and practice/season details. Also in our marching department, we have our color guard captain Dusty Barnes,” Hearing my name incited a few snickers and comments from the dear little freshman, “She will be going over basics, practice times, and expectations. After lunch we will meet back in here and we will be privileged to hear some stories and see some performances and videos. Alright… Break!”
With that, the freshman went to their designated captains who took them to their assigned areas. I am surprised at the turnout for color guard. I got 4 freshman! Hopefully what I have to say won’t scare them away. Well, let’s get started.
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When everyone regrouped after lunch, we sat down for an ask the captain questionnaire. When they all seemed satisfied with our answers and our stories, we decided to play videos from last year’s season and then it was my turn to do a live performance. I am pretty good at what I do because I have been doing it for 3 and a half consecutive years. I have a passion for it which helps when I get frustrated with everything. I take deep breaths to calm my anxiety and go into the zone while the music starts to play. This feeling that I have when performing is the only time I feel like I truly belong. It is nice to feel the silk push wind around my head and feel the pole move around as I maneuver it in circles and hits. It really is a rush to be able to do this. I love it so much.
As I finish I feel the flood of anxiety again I quickly strip my flag and make my way over to my seat keeping my head low.
“Well now, I believe that today has been a success!” Mr. Man says in an overly cheerful tone, “Let’s get home and get some rest because camps start in a week!” A couple growns make their over the noise of people starting to shuffle out of gym.
I look over at Sicily and Adam who are laughing with each other and I realize that this year is going to be rough. I can’t wait for graduation