My feet move without me even noticing. I’m breathing hard, trying to concentrate on Nadiya’s head in front of me, my hands flying. The music moving in front of me sounds off-key and distorted, while the drums behind me get out of step. I start to panic and almost lose it. The band is going too fast and my mind drifts. I see Sitara out of the corner of my eye, her arms moving in a steady rhythm, and my head clears.
I control my face, keeping it solemn as I hit the last note of our show for the final time this year. The judge is right in my face but I stare straight ahead and wait for Jesse to signal us to move back into our block. My heart beats faster than I can march and it throws me off. It’s a chilly evening, much better than all of…show more content… My heart is pounding in a giddy rush. We actually won. We hadn’t beat anyone all season. We’d gotten second, third place, losing to the big bands, even though we knew we were good. Our show was perfectly arranged, our choreography was excellent, the uniforms looked great, every step we took was in time. But now, everyone had to accept it. My parents, who don’t think marching band is important. My sister and her friends, who don’t care. The entire school thinks marching band is a joke. Even my piano teacher didn’t really think we were capable. After the awards, Jesse and Sitara come back to the band carrying the big trophy, and everyone starts cheering. Hoff, the band director does a head count and directs us back to the bus. My friends and I all board the bus for the upperclassmen, except for Louis, who is in the grade below us. Sitara and I sit near the front of the bus. Sierra and Nadiya sit across from us, and Gwen sits behind them, leaning forward to talk to them. I turn to look at Sitara, and her eyes are sparkling.
Jesse gets on the bus and stands at the front. She starts speaking, and everyone looks
