DESTINY

Ten Months Before...

Destiny closed the room to her door, sweat dripping down her forehead and down over her sports shirt and shorts. She immediately threw off her sneakers before flying onto her bed, sighing.

'KNOCK KNOCK!' A gentle hand knocked from the other side of her door. "You good, girl?"

"I'm just... fine."

The door slowly opened, revealing a teenage girl with long, blonde hair, an over-sized blue hoodie and jeans, as she questionably peeked into the girl's room. Her blue eyes reflected around small freckles and a generally smooth face, but was definitely old enough to be a young adult's elongated and grown face. "You don't sound fine, Des. I know you're not the best at acting, but still..."

"It was one slip-up!" Destiny whined. "And I wasn't even an important character in the play! Why do you still keep holding it over me?!"

"Cause you'll always be the main character of that play to me!" The teenager laughed, before sitting on the edge of the bed to look at Destiny. Immediately, she noticed wear in the young girl's face. "What happened?"

"Nothing! Just..." Destiny bottled up, unable to admit what she was trying to say. After the teenager placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, she took a deep breath and continued. "I... don't like any of the people on the team. They're all... weird."

"Weird?!" The teenager looked down, before flicking the younger girl in the forehead. "You're gonna have to be more specific than that if you want any help."

"Ow! Okay! They're just... they won't work well as a team, no matter what I try to do to help."

"You're not being pushy, are you? I know this freshman in band who wants to help the leaders, and she is just getting on my nerves with how much she's pushing us."

"No! Or at least... I don't think so..." Destiny slouched further into her blanket. The teenage girl looked glumly below, trying to figure out anything to say that could cheer up Destiny.

"Look, maybe... they're just not the right team for you."

"But I thought you said-"

"I know what I said: a great leader can make it work with anyone. It's the best advice I'll ever GET to give. But... being a good leader, you have to recognize that there will be people out there you just don't click with."

Destiny looked up a few degrees from her blanket, recognizing the teenager. "Then... what about band? What's it like in band?"

"Well, that's a special case, Des. I don't know what it is about band kids, but for some reason..." She looked up, as though the stars were right above. Whimsy filled her lungs, and a sense of nostalgia even she had been unfamiliar with made everything crystal clear. "Band kids have this ability... to work together like the best family in the whole world."

"Really?" Destiny looked up, wonder in her eyes.

"Yeah, it's not like any team you'll ever be on. You might have disagreements with people, but on the field, you all celebrate for the same cause. In most sports, you just play to win. Nothin' wrong about that, but Marching Band is a sport impossible for the selfish, so all who remain will have your back until the end of the show."

"That's awesome!" Destiny grinned, showing her teeth to reveal one of her left side teeth were a bit dented.

"Geesh, what happened to you?"

"Ball to the face."

"Figures."

"Hey!" The two began to play-fight on the bed, laughing and struggling the whole time. After a few seconds, the two broke up, and the teenage girl stood up.

"Well, you're fine now. I need to get my homework done before the game Friday, so..."

"Night', sis!"

"...Night, Des."

Present Day...

"Charity!" Margaret called over to the Senior, making her way through groups of band kids as they made their way to the front of the room, lining up in concert order, or essentially, the section of the smallest instrument, to the section of the biggest instrument, Flute and Sousaphone respectively, with a few exceptions. As Margaret glanced through the line to make sure the rookies were lining up with their proper sections, the blonde teenager made her way up to the Drum Major, smiling.

"What's up?"

"So..." She looked to her friend inquisitively. "How's the new section?"

"Well... I can't judge too much yet. Since most of the Baritones are new, it'll take some time for me to get to really know them."

"No favorites, then?"

The blonde sighed in questionable frustration. "You... you can't do this to me, you know?"

"She's that pumped, huh?"

"Yeah, my sister's always been like that, I guess... I just hope she's as quick as she is eager." Charity smiled back at the Drum Major, thinking about her motives. "Why do you ask? Met anyone crazy?"

"No one crazy, just..." Margaret looked to the front of the line, noticing Arthur awkwardly stranding around with the other flutes. "Someone just reminded me how much Marching Band can change you, you know?"

"Change?"

"You know, like... no one would've looked at me Freshman year and said, 'That girl's gonna be a Drum Major'! But... I dunno. I have a feeling that, even if we did nothing... these kids are gonna run one crazy band."

"I get ya." Charity smiled while thinking about it, looking towards the back of the line where her younger sister was, talking to some of the other upperclassman while working to handle her Baritone without breaking a sweat. "I see it in my sister, and I think I'll start seeing it in the rest of them too, hopefully."

"That depends." Margaret laughed.

"How so?"

"It all depends on whether or not we shit on this year like the last one."

"That..." Charity immediately realized the concern, losing her smirk and a bit of her eye's twinkle. "Is a valid point, Marge. But then again, if they're as good as we hope for, then there's nothing to worry about, right?"