The Line (14 page)

Unable to ignore her friend, Lucy had a sinking feeling in the bottom of her stomach as she walked to meet the Pit player. They walked silently to the girl’s restroom. The bass drummer didn’t bother with chit chat, and asked abruptly, “What the hell is going on?”

Molly looked down at her black and white Vans and answered, “Someone saw you last night.”

“So?”

“Lucy, I don’t think you heard me – someone saw you and Sam Powell in a very compromising situation.”

Lucy’s world abruptly turned upside down. Molly asked, “When were you going to tell me?”

“I thought you would hate me.”

“It would’ve been better to hear it from you than to find out this way. I thought we were friends.”

“We are!” Lucy tried to defend herself, “I just…it got complicated and this is exactly what I didn’t want to have happen. I know this sounds lame, but I’m sorry.”

Molly crossed her arms and said, “Well, I guess everyone knows. Word got out quick.”

“What is this? Middle school?”

“You and I both know the guys are just as bad as girls when it comes to this stuff.”

“How is Jerm taking it?”

Molly shrugged and replied, “He’s playing it pretty close. And are you sure you shouldn’t be asking how Nevada’s doing?”

Lucy let out a deep sigh.

“Lucy, are you sure you did the right thing?”

Lucy looked up, tears threatening to spill over, and said, “That’s the worst part. I really did do the right thing. Sam’s just…well, I wish they could know Sam like I know him. He’s really not a bad guy at all!”

Molly rolled her eyes and said, “Lucy, darling, hello? Nevada is their boy, and now he looks like a total idiot. Not only have you dumped him, but you’ve also ‘chosen’ Sam over him. They have to stick up for and defend him – I’m fairly certain it’s one of the major rules of the Bro Code or something. I’m sure they’re going to make it really tough on you. I thought you should at least get an advance warning.”

Lucy managed to say, “Molly, thanks for being a friend and telling me what’s up, even though I haven’t been completely honest with you. I know I deserve some of this, but it’s really just an issue between me and Nevada, not me and the rest of the Line. Who I want to date should be my business!”

Molly shrugged and walked back to the lunchroom. Lucy darted into the closest stall and broke down. All the emotion from the past week had caught up with her and it was too much. Also, she wasn’t about to cry in front of the guys.

That’s exactly what they would expect me to do. I’m not about to give them the satisfaction.

As her mind jumped around, she wasn’t sure how to handle the next hour. Lucy considered her options.

If there was only some way to clear things up with Nevada…

When the bell rang a few minutes later, Lucy collected herself; she was a part of this Line and had to face the music sooner or later. No matter how much she wanted to skip class and never return, she had worked hard for her spot on the bass line and wasn’t about to give the guys any excuse to…well, she wasn’t sure what exactly they would do, but she didn’t want to give them any more ammunition than they already had.

Wiping the last of her tears away, Lucy took a deep breath and walked into the band room. She expected silent treatment and that’s exactly what she was getting. The bass line gave her somewhat sympathetic looks, as did Tom, but the seniors were stone faced and Lucy didn’t even risk a look at Nevada. She retrieved her bass drum, stand, and mallets and lined up with the rest of the basses.

As if nothing had changed, Jerm warmed everyone up. At the end of the warm up, he looked like he wanted to say something before they started running through the show, but thought better of it. Feeling everyone look at her, judge her, it was the longest fifty minutes of Lucy’s life, but she thought she had dodged a bullet when the clock showed five minutes left of class. Jerm released the group, and everyone was putting their instruments away when Lucy felt a tap on her shoulder.

Her captain asked, “Lucy? Can I have a word with you before band practice today?”

Lucy nodded; she didn’t trust her voice. Wanting to avoid any further questioning, the junior made it to her next class in record speed and considered her options before her imminent doom in an hour. Sighting Nevada on his way into a classroom, Lucy ducked into the crowded hall and watched him. Her former crush (ex-boyfriend? she wasn’t exactly sure of what his current label was) took a seat in class and began tapping his fingers on his desk.

No time like the present.

Fortunately, Nevada’s German teacher, Frau Miller, was not the most observant person and didn’t notice the extra person in her classroom. Lucy knew she only had a few minutes before the last bell rang.

She whispered, “Nevada – I need to talk to you.”

The cymbal player ignored her.

“Seriously, I want…well, I want to give you an explanation. I owe you that.”

Not even acknowledging her presence, Nevada looked in his backpack and got out his notebook.

Lucy continued, “Fine, be that way. But if you want the truth, meet me in the percussion room during this period. I’ll be waiting.”

Back-pedalling out of the classroom with as much pride as she could muster, Lucy walked quietly and quickly through the halls to the band room and ducked inside the percussion room. Lucy was almost positive this was going to earn her a detention, but didn’t care. Pacing around the empty percussion room she realized this was the stupidest thing she had ever done. Nevada wasn’t going to show up and Jerm was probably going to make up some rule to get her kicked off the Line in about an hour. Lucy sat down and put her head between her knees. She wanted to crawl into her bass case, close the lid and never come out. Staring straight ahead, she sat for a while until she was aware that someone was coughing to get her attention. Lucy looked up and was rather surprised to see Nevada, an unfriendly expression on his face. They stood staring at each other for a moment. Finally, Lucy patted the ground next to her. Nevada slowly sat down.

“Nevada – I…”

“I what, Lucy?! What could you possibly say that’s going to do you any good right now?”

Lucy’s green eyes held Nevada’s hazel ones a moment before she said, “Nevada, I deserve everything you are saying to me. I should’ve told you exactly who I was dating, even if it meant you would break up with me. For that, you have every right to be mad at me. What I don’t deserve, is whatever bullshit is that Jerm is going to pull this afternoon. What I did to you and what happens between us is just that, our business. It’s no business of anyone else on this Line, in this band, or at this school!”

Nevada was silent for a moment before he asked, “Why couldn’t you just tell me the truth?”

Lucy had to look away from Nevada’s intense eye contact. She half mumbled, “Because I knew you’d break things off with me, and I didn’t want that happening.”

“Well, you’re right on that. Did Sam know about me?”

Lucy fidgeted and said, “After we went to South, it was kind of obvious.”

“Hmph.”

Lucy, at the risk of sounding clichéd, still found herself saying, “Nevada, you have to believe me when I say I didn’t want things to turn out this way. I don’t know, I just kept dating both of you and had convinced myself it was good enough you knew I wasn’t exclusive.”

“Luce, spare me. I get you wanted to keep dating me then, but what about now? Why didn’t you pick me? Why some loser drummer from our rival Line?”

Lucy chose to ignore the insult against her favorite South Washington senior and answered honestly, “It wasn’t an easy decision, but I guess it was because Sam liked me from the beginning. I know you can’t probably understand that; you’ve always had girls like you. It’s different for someone like me. No one has ever liked me first and in the end, that’s why I chose Sam.”

“I guess I was too blind to see what was in front of me the whole time.”

Lucy wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to Nevada’s comment, so she said calmly, “So, any chance you could talk to Jerm and try and talk him out of whatever it is he’s going to try and pull?”

The cymbal player considered his options; none of which he really liked. He answered, “No. I will not talk to Jerm out of respect for his position, but here’s what I will do. I agree that this is really just something between you and me.” He chewed on his lip a moment and continued, “I will not show up this afternoon. That way it will just be you and Jerm and you can tell him exactly what you told me.”

“Fine, and Nevada?”

“Yes?”

Lucy half-smiled and said, “I really am sorry.”

Nevada stood up and left. Lucy sat in the percussion room until the final bell rang. She was in the middle of collecting her thoughts when Jerm walked in. He was, of course, not alone. The rest of the seniors (minus Nevada) collected around him. Out of curiosity, some of the juniors and underclassmen showed up as well. Lucy shrugged, obviously, there wasn’t going to be a lot of privacy on this. Standing up to her full height of five feet, four inches, she asked cheerfully, “What’s up, Jerm?”

“I think you know.”

“No, I don’t know.”

“It’s about your boyfriend.”

“What about my boyfriend?”

“Your boyfriend? The one you dumped Nevada for, who just so happens to be the captain of our opposing drumline? Or did that fact just happen to escape your attention?”

“No, Jerm, it did not escape my attention. What I want to know is which member of this Line saw me and Sam last night and decided to spread it around like we were all a bunch of girls?”

No one spoke up.

Crossing her arms, Lucy continued, “Because last time I checked, it’s not a crime to kiss your boyfriend good night.”

Jerm ignored her comment, asking, “Has anyone seen Nevada around? He was supposed to be here.”

Lucy smiled sweetly and said, “Actually Jerm, I saw Nevada last period. We had a private conversation and decided what happens between us is our business and not yours.”

“That may be true, but back to your boyfriend—”

“He has a name, Jerm. You know his name is Sam.”

“Fine, what I want to know is how are we supposed to know you’re going to be loyal to this Line? You lied to Nevada and all of us, so how are we to trust you’re not going to run off to Sam and tell him everything about our show? For all we know, you’ve copied our Indoor music and the entire South drumline has access to it.”

Green eyes flashing dangerously, Lucy said icily, “First of all, my relationship with Sam is not your concern. Second of all, how dare you question my loyalty to this Line?! Turn the situation around, Jerm. Would you give one of the guys this much crap if they were dating a majorette from South?!”

Jerm refused to respond.

“Well, would you?” Lucy pushed the point, knowing she was right. “Probably not. So I don’t want to hear for one more second about whose Line I have loyalty towards. I am on this drumline. I play second bass and who I date has no effect on that whatsoever.”

“Fine, but as your captain I still have the right to suspend you from playing this week’s game.”

“On what grounds?!” Lucy sputtered.

“Disrespecting your captain.”

Lucy was stunned. She never dreamed Jerm would actually stop her from playing and said quietly, “Are you sure you want to do this, Jerm? You know Friday’s game is our last practice before the competition.”

“Well, if our score suffers, maybe you should have thought about that before you started yelling at me.”

“I was not yelling!” shouted an infuriated Lucy.

“I’m sticking by my decision. You’re suspended from Friday night games until I decide just how loyal you really are.”

“But Jerm…”

The punishment was a low blow for Lucy. Nothing made her happier than performing during half time or goofing around in the stands. Tears were threatening to spill over and the bass drummer willed them back – she was not going to break down in front of everyone.

Jerm crossed his arms and asked, “What? Do you have anything else you’d like to share?”

“No,” Lucy said, her lower lip trembling.

“Fine. You will dress for the game and march down with the Pit, but if you should so much as pick up your carrier, you can forget marching indoor.”

Lucy quickly walked off and got ready for band practice. She whipped on her sunglasses so no one could see the tears escaping her eyes.

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: AFTERSHOCK

Lucy struggled to get through band practice that afternoon. She played her part the best she could, but her heart wasn’t in the notes or drill.

What’s the use of playing if I don’t get to play on Friday?

Shake it off. Sam is worth it.

Is he? It would be so much easier with Nevada…

Easier, maybe. The right thing? Not so much.

That’s another thing, how do I tell Sam what happened? I’m pretty sure this is not going improve relations between him and Jerm and that’s the last thing I need right now.