Heart of American Marching Band

I was going through old school stuff the other day and I found this former story I wrote. Based off true events. Please excuse the writing. I was but a wee freshmen.

09/30/10

“The band with the highest score in the 2nd division is!”
The announcer’s voice boomed over the stadium. Nikki squeezed her friends’ hands. This is it, she thought. She watched her drum majors on the field below with bated breath. Did we beat the other schools?

It was the Heart of America competition at the University of Kansas, KU. Marching bands from across the midwest came to compete. Nikki played the flute. It was her first year marching with it out on the field and she enjoyed it a lot more than she thought she would. She glanced over at the other schools in her district: the hawks, the ravens, and the falcons. So often, she felt they looked down on her school of eagles. The ‘getto’ of the city was what they were nicknamed, she hoped this competition could turn it around.

Hand in hand, each eagle in Nikki’s band waited with bated breath as the announcer drew out his pause. “We sacrificed so much,” Nikki whispered. “Worked so hard.”

“The winners are the hawks from Overthere High School!”

Shock slapped Nikki in the face. Her friends beside her froze as one of the other schools roared with cheered. Disappointed settled like a blanket on the eagles.

One of Nikki’s friends shook her head. “I don’t understand. I was sure it would’ve been us.”

Nikki frowned and stepped up on the bleacher seat in front of her. The hawks were jumping up and down on their section of the bleachers, instruments raised in the air, and laughter on their faces. Nikki clenched her fist. Out of the four schools from her district, the hawks were the most stuck-up. The most boastful about all the competitions they won. “Just wait.” She turned to her friends. “They couldn’t have beaten us by that much. So, just wait for the next competition. We’ll wipe the field with them.”

In the KU competition, the hawks beat the eagles by a mere .5 points. They faced each other again a month later. This time, the eagles became Grand Champions by beating the hawks by a full 7 points. They brought home pride for their school and burned the fires of rivalry that much hotter between them and hawks. Until the next competition, we bid ado.