Five Months Prior...
Eve looked to Felicity as the two sat next to each other in the cafeteria, wondering what in the world she was talking about.
"They have these things called Drum Majors, see..." Felicity began, wearing a white sweatshirt and a small black skirt, her light-brown hair braided in the back. "And they basically get to lead everyone! They're the ones who set the music, and teach people and all this other stuff!"
"Sounds like a lot of work..." Maria, sitting next to Eve, slumped down onto the lunch table, her blonde braid flopping beside her and her food tray. While a little more plump than the other two, her energy for doing nothing and her skills with basic makeup made up for it.
"I've always wanted to be a teacher, and that would be a great opportunity!" Felicity dreamed, Eve, rolling her eyes.
"And Marching Band's a requirement for the better band classes at the school?" Eve questioned. "I don't get why they care about it that much..."
Felicity started to continue on her praise but held it back at the last second. She saw the two as immediately unmotivated to do anything meaningful in the marching program, unlike her. After hearing about it from her (admittedly to her, annoying) older brother, the dreams of what she could do if she was Drum Major filled her head. But to those two... they were just the dreams of a try-hard.
If that was the case, she'd have to work for the goal by herself, without worrying about what others thought. She would get to Drum Major all on her own, and nothing could stop her...
Present Day...
"FLUTES... TEN HUT!!"
"HUT!!" The eight others cried out as best as they could, with the majority being petite girls who weren't vocal that much. While he was supposed to keep a straight face, Arthur smiled with pure excitement.
"Good job, Felicity and Maria!" Maya smiled at the girl, who stood on the right end of the first row, opposing Arthur and next to Eve. Maria was in between Arthur and Eve and smiled at the quick claps the others gave the two.
"Okay, guys..." Maya called out excitedly. "I'm really impressed with the progress we're making. But, we've still got two more things to tackle: marching and attention with your instruments in hand. Go get some water from the pavilion, and meet back here in three minutes. Let's go, team!"
As the group of flutes made their way around the concrete to the pavilion, Felicity looked towards the other flutes in confusion. Did she miss something? Far there a power beyond her comprehension that the others just plainly received? Or was it...
"This is dumb," Felicity whispered next to Maria, as the shorter girl drank some water from a large pink bottle. "I don't get why everyone's so worked up over this Section of the Day thing, you know?"
"Actually, it's a lot of fun!" The lazy girl smiled, sealing up her bottle before shuffling it up against the concrete back to her supplies. "I don't like the pain I'm in right now... but this reminds me of the activities we do in church! We're all not really the best of friends, but we have a goal, and we have faith!"
Felicity's jaw dropped, dumb-founded.
"Just the other day you were complaining about coming!"
"Yeah, I was. But I like it, and at least everyone else likes it too."
Felicity turned to Eve, who was standing up and preparing her stuff. "You have to agree with me, at least?!"
Eve simply shrugged. "It's not hurting anybody."
The rest of the group began to shuffle back to the corner of the field, as Felicity sat and wondered.
"You want to lead someday, right?" She whispered to herself. "Then you have to set the example! Not Arthur or anyone else!" She patted her cheeks, letting the sting rest on her skin for a few seconds to wake her up. After taking a deep breath, the girl put her own bottle back down before making her way back to the group.
"Okay, everyone!" Maya cheered, re-exhilarated from the moments of rest underneath the pavilion. "Now it's time to learn about the biggest fundamentals of all- marching!"
With everyone back in their lines, Maya set up on their left side, faced the right side, and got into a relaxed position. "Sal, would you do the honors?"
"My pleasure, Ms. Flute Section Leader. ... MAYA... TEN HUT!!"
"HUT!!"
"Ready..." Sal called out, clapping her hands to a casual rhythm. "One, two-"
"PUSH AND STEP!" Maya began marching to the beat of the clapping, her legs stiff but posture still strong. With each step, the teen made sure to be consistent in her approach, before tapping her right foot down and rolling into a complete stop on the ninth count.
The group of flutes clapped, causing Maya to jokingly bow in celebration. "Thank you, guys. Now, what can you tell me about the marching I just did?"
Arthur raised his hand first. "Everything you did was consistent, from your timing to posture and s-such."
Without hesitation, Felicity bolted her hand up next. "You kept your legs stiff while marching. It wasn't like walking or anything."
"Nice catch, Felicity!" Maya nodded in agreement. "One of the biggest things with marching is that we as a band use straight legs to march. Some bands lift their knees, but not us!"
"Then how do you make the move?" Eve questioned.
"You know how when you're at attention, you rest on the front of your feet?" Everyone nodded. "Well, that's actually to help with marching! Can everyone try standing up on the ball of their feet? Not your toes, but the muscle right below?"
As the upperclassman effortlessly bounced up and down with the muscle on their feet, the Freshman immediately began having trouble. Arthur, in particular, winced in pain as soon as he began to attempt the move.
"You alright, Arthur?"
"Yeah... just still f-feeling a bit of pain from the running I did earlier." Arthur took a deep breath before pushing through the pain, lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"Well, everyone... why do we do this, do you think?"
"To fix our posture?" Jewel questioned.
"While that is technically correct, in terms of marching it does a bit more than that. Actually, I can just show you."
Maya stood out in front of the group once more, lifting up from the balls of her feet. Once up, she lifted up the toes of her left foot and began to swing her leg forwards and backward. Due to the other foot being on the balance point, her other leg was high enough to swing without touching the ground.
"When you use this method while marching, your steps will be smooth while allowing you to step without bending your knees!"
"Don't let that fool you," Taylor interrupted, dead-serious. "Doing all of this individual will be easy enough, but even some seniors still find it hard to put it all together."
For the next thirty minutes, Maya worked with the flutes on combining their individual skills together with the complete marching experience, making everything from their posture to their timing as perfect as they could be with just an hour or two of practice.
Over with the Baritones, they sat by the pavilion with water in hand, trying to cool off even if for just a few minutes. As Charity chatted with the other Baritone players, she noticed Destiny sitting on the edge of the place, watching the other sections practice.
"You alright there, squirt?"
"Yeah, just... I know I still have so much to learn and-"
"Why you worried about this so much?" Charity laughed. "You're doing great, everyone is. Relax, okay?"
Destiny sighed, before letting her back fall onto the floor. "Okay."
Over by the Clarinets, Machiko struggled to hold her instrument up in a playing position while being at attention, the muscles in her hands clamping up tightly.
"Are you sure you don't need to sit out?" Someone asked.
"I'll..." She looked to the far corner of the field, where the flutes stood. While Arthur, in particular, stood out for his continually building confidence, the entire section seemed to have motivation the Clarinets simply didn't have. "I'll keep going."
The Trumpets were the most distracted of the groups that were out practicing, and as such, Vernon pushed for as much discipline in them as possible. He had Margaret close by through a lot of the practice in order to have a second pair of eyes as close as possible. But once she went to check on other sections, he only focused more.
"Sup, nerd?" Clarity walked up to the nervous Junior, winking.
"What are you doing here?"
"Well first, you look like you're gonna have a panic attack watching over all these guys, so I thought I'd stop by, give some of my... 'YAWN', world-class critique, and such.
" Also, I think I need to give my little sis some space, get her to work with the other Bari's a little better. So... what's the problem?"
Vernon sighed, before clapping his hands. "TRUMPETS... TEN HUT!!"
"Hut!" The weak sounds of several trumpets were readily apparent, and if not for their voices, the lack of decent posture from at least five of them was reason enough for concern.
"Weak!!" The girl blatantly pointed out, nearly laughing. "Is this what the Trumpets are all about? You just gonna let the King of Nervousness over here take all the glory?"
A bead of sweat fell down Vernon's forehead, landing on the concrete and dissipating. His nerves just reached an all-time peak, due to Charity doing one thing most band kids wouldn't even dare: make fun of the Trumpets.
"NO, MA'AM!" The majority of them screeched, a fire burning under them. Without warning, Charity tossed a pencil to Vernon.
"You're gonna need that."
"Why?"
"For taking notes. These problems won't be going away anytime soon, so we need to figure out your weaknesses now... and burn them."
Back to the flutes, their growth remained relatively consistent. While not as burning as the Trumpets or as naturally gifted as the Baritones, their consistency was something to be admired.
"We only have a few more minutes until everyone gets together, so get some rest guys!"
"RIGHT!" They all called back, before walking as a group to the pavilions for more water.
"Hey, Arthur." Felicity leaned into the boy as he slowly walked, tired with a decent hunch in the back.
"What's u-up?"
"You're terrible at lining up with the rest of us as were marching, you know what I mean?"
Arthur shook nervously, sensing a tenseness in her tone. "I-I-I'm sorry, Felicity. I just find it hard to keep my head straight and pace myself j-just right."
"... What do you plan on doing about it?"
"... I don't know."
"Well..." She began. "Maya won't be able to help us out with everything. You're gonna have to learn how to figure stuff out without much instruction."
"I know that!"
"Then start today!" She spat, frustrated. "You're not gonna get anywhere near your goal relying on these guys!"
Arthur stopped, near the pavilion. His expression remained blank, but Felicity suddenly knew she had pushed a bit much.
"I... don't agree." She looked to him, confused. "We're still rookies. I have a dream. And I know you're trying to hide it..." Felicity blushed, nervously realizing what Arthur knew. "But you have dreams too. And I know I won't get anywhere without the help of others. Maybe you can, but not me."
Without hesitating, he turned and began to finish his way to the pavilion. Felicity took a breath and followed behind him, conflicted. She was definitely fine doing what she was doing, but Arthur was motivating many more people without any proper social skills, rather relying on his faith in other people.
"That's not how it should be, that's not how people act." She whispered to herself. "It's not... it shouldn't-"
"BAND... TEN HUT!!"
"HUT!!"
The entire band, spread out into sections across the field, turned to Mr. Penn who took center.
"Alright everyone... let's get into F.U.N block!