Calypso High - Band Camp
Marianna DeSka was sitting in the shade of the Layla:) Public High School entryway, slathering on SPF-50 waterproof, sweatproof sunblock, and wondering if that would really keep her from getting sunburned, when a tall, skinny girl with short dark hair sat down next to her on the stone bench.
Marianna eyed the other girl warily. The other girl smiled.
"Hi, I'm Doreen. Are you Marianna?"
"Depends. What do you want?" Marianna wasn't about to let down her guard.
"Tianne told me to come over and introduce myself. I'm transferring this year from Newshregsburg Private." The girl was starting to look nervous as Mari continued to size her up.
"How do you know Tianne?"
"Lynette Today introduced us. And Dava Jini."
Mari bristled at the mention of Dava, and at the fact that he was rapidly approaching, trumpet case in hand. "Well, great to meet you, I gotta go help put flags on poles. Bye!" Mari leapt off the bench and dashed to the auditorium doors, the shortest route to the color guard closet.
"But, wait! Marianna!" Doreen called after her. "Tianne said I should talk to you about joining color guard!"
But Marianna was gone. Doreen sighed. Interesting first day, that.
* * *
In the color guard closet, Mari found Tianne explaining to the captains that she wouldn't be in color guard this year. Mari groaned. Tianne had recruited her last year, and now she was going to leave Mari to face the evil captains alone? Lovely.
Marianna's sister Daniela was sitting on the counter, helping to put practice flags on poles. "Mari, I ran out of tape. Can you go into the cabinet and get me some more?" Daniela said.
"You mean the cabinet right below you?" Mari replied, raising an eyebrow. "The one that you could very easily reach if you bothered to get off of the counter, where, by the way, you don't belong?"
"Yeah, that one," Daniela replied. "Unless it's the one next to it, I can't remember."
Marianna decided to take her time getting the tape, first stowing her sunscreen in her cooler, then pulling out the first of many water bottles. She took a few quick sips, then tied the icy bottle to her waist. Only then, as Daniela prepared to whine (or get the tape herself, one could never tell with Daniela), did Marianna deign to bend down and root through the cabinet. Off to one side, she found a box with one roll of tape in it. She pulled it out and handed it to Dani. "There you go, brat."
"Marianna, did Doreen find you?" Tianne asked, appearing at Mari's elbow as she stood up. "I told her to talk to you first, since you're a flag and she's going to be a flag... the funny thing is, her last name is Flagg. Isn't that weird?"
"Tianne. You're getting completely off subject," Mari said. "And, yes, she did find me. But I had to come in here. She's out talking to some guy."
"Some guy? Marianna, you know every guy on campus. Who is it? Doreen only knows Inda and..." Tianne caught Mari's mild glare. "Oh. Dava."
"How does she know Inda?" Mari asked. "I doubt that Lynette, Dava, or you could have introduced her to him."
"They work together over at the Newshregsburg Seafooderie. Dava works over there now, too."
"TIANNE! Let's work on this. I do not want to know about Dava," Marianna said, very slowly. "Feel free to tell me about Jens Herrkauf, or Paul McCartney, or even... George Washington! But not, repeat not, Dava. I am not interested in his life."
"Um, okay. You could have just ignored it." Tianne was trying to back away without being obvious. It wasn't working.
"I don't like hearing his name." Mari paused. "Unless I'm bitching about him. Excuse me, I have to talk to Burry and the other evil captains."
Burry, who was actually lowest on the captaining totem pole, but had taken over just about everything due to her abrasive personality irritating the hell out of people until they gave up, was now in the hall, berating a girl who'd shaved her head over the summer. The girl was in her second year of color guard, same as Mari, but she was a year younger. (Daniela, for reference, was a year younger than that, but she would never take crap from Burry.) Mari figured she'd have to save this girl, if only through turning Burry's wrath upon herself.
"Hey, Burry, we're almost out of tape," Marianna called, immediately catching the attention of the evil captain.
"Whose fault is that?" Burry demanded. "And when can we get more?"
"Fault of whoever used tape over the summer, probably the whole damn rifle line," Mari said casually. No sense in letting Burry get to her, not on the first day, anyway. "I can put in an order with my father tonight and we'll have it by Wednesday."
"Can we live without it until then?" Burry was getting increasingly agitated, searching the cabinets, lockers, and cubbys for extra rolls of tape.
"Probably." Marianna left it at that. Daniela was in the closet, perfectly able to reassure Burry, or at the very least tell her to shut her yap. If there really was a tape emergency, there were plenty of people who could drive to a hardware store and get more of the necessary white electrical tape. It was just cheaper to buy it by the box from Mari and Dani's father.
Now, it was getting closer to the time when practice should start, but of course the band director had to talk to them all for a few hours in the auditorium. Mari decided to head in and see if there was anyone interesting to sit with this year. With Tianne quitting (and, thankfully, already departed), Mari had no real friends left in color guard. She might have to put up with the new girl, she reflected... of course she'd heard Doreen calling for her to wait, how she wanted to join up, but... how could she sit there and pretend to be all nice to Dava? She knew he was doing his thesis on her!
A quick glance around the crowded, noisy auditorium showed Frogman, Tomas, Cueball, Dava (sigh), Doreen, and Suki sitting in the back corner. Frogman and Tomas were violently debating something, probably having to do with the brass section. Suki was trying to draw pictures in Cueball's sunburn with her dragon-lady fingernails. Mari debated as to whether she wanted to keep these friends, then decided that, hey, she had to sit with someone on the band bus. Daniela wasn't exactly the greatest seat-mate. Dani was way more rambunctious than Suki could ever be. Mari started making her way across the auditorium.
* * *
Twelve hours later, Marianna sat in her parents' mini-van, with Daniela chattering away a mile a minute about how much her sunburn hurt and why didn't her SPF-15 sunblock work as well as it did on the beach. Mari leaned back in her seat, trying to find a position that didn't hurt the mild sunburn on her neck, and found her other sister Pandora's feet next to her head.
"Da-ad! Pandora's got her smelly feet on the seat again!" Marianna shouted.
"Eeew! Smelly feet!" Daniela cackled. "Let's amputate!"
"My feet are not smelly!" Pandora whined. "And I can put them up on the seat if I want to!"
"Feet down, Pandora," Dad said. "It's only five minutes to get home. Surely you can behave yourself for that long!"
Grumbling, Pandora put her feet back down on the floor where they belonged.
Mari leaned back again, eyes closed, concentrating on the soreness in her muscles. "Anybody mind if I get first shower?" Mari asked.
"Go ahead," Daniela said. "I don't feel so good, so I'm going to wait until morning."
"Don't feel good?" Mari asked, sitting up. "Like what?"
"Besides the sunburn?" Dani replied. "A headache... I feel like I'm going to puke, too."
"You got sun poisoning. You should take a shower first. Lukewarm. And use a soft wash-cloth and regular soap, not the smelly stuff. You need to get the sunscreen and sweat off, and drink a lot of water when you get home, too. I don't think you were drinking enough today--"
"I'm fine, I just had a busy day and I have a headache!" Daniela protested. "It happens sometimes."
"But not in conjunction with a sunburn and the entire day on a football field in ninety-degree heat," Mari countered. "Dad, am I right here?"
"Didn't that happen to you last year, Marianna?" Dad asked.
"Yep. I thought that because I never got a tan, that I didn't need sunscreen. Man, I was sore the rest of the week," Mari nodded.
"You should take a shower before you go to bed," Dad said to Daniela as he pulled into the driveway. "Your mother will say the same thing."
Daniela grumbled, but she didn't outright say "no". At least, not until she got inside.
Marianna was still lugging in the cooler of empty water bottles, melted ice, and her sunscreen, and had just stepped onto the porch when she heard Daniela yelling.
"I don't want to take a shower, I just want to go to bed," Daniela sobbed. "Leave me alone!"
Marianna sighed, dropping the cooler and resting her arms. Pandora was adding to the cacophony, vehemently expressing that her feet were "not smelly, and I'm not going to wash my feet!" Of course, Daniela would take a shower, and Pandora would wash her feet. Marianna just wished they'd get it over with now, so she could take her own shower and get to bed without having to listen to that constant griping. Mari sat down on the porch steps, reveling in the nice, low, seventy-degree breeze that was coming in off the water of Calypso Bay. In a moment, the wind would start to plunk goose-pimples onto her skin, since she was somewhat sunburned despite the SPF-50... but for now, the best place to be was out there, enjoying the cool air.
* * *
Okay, the next episode is going to be the one about the first day of school, I guess. Well, it's mostly going to be about lunch, since that's where everyone managed to get together at the same time. I know this "skipping weeks at a time" thing is sort of irritating, but this is pretty much how I remember high school. Big skips of time with some interesting stuff mixed in. If anyone has any memories to share, remember that guest-written stories are always welcome. Like, I don't feel like writing any Dream-and-Uly stories. Or someone who didn't go to school with us can make up something. That would be cool. :)~
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