CHAPTER 1

Mark Time, March!

"Always start with your left foot!" yelled Mr. Shets. "The left foot shouldgo down on the first beat. I know we don't normally start marchinguntil high school, but you need to be ready to march in the parade atthe Magic Kingdom. Let's do it again. Let's play a B-flat scale in quarternotes, and take a step every time you play a note."

"Hey, Jason, he looks a little ticked off," whispered Scooter, who wasstanding next to me holding his trombone. "What does he expect? It'sonly our first day doing this."

"Perfection," I said sarcastically.

"I'm stressed, too. We should have been marching last week, but itpoured every day. Now we're stuck with figuring this all out in a fewdays," said Mariah from the row in front of us as she turned her headslightly backward. Percussion marched just in front of us, and Mariahwas a good snare drummer.

"Mark time, march!" shouted Mr. Shets. That means we have to getready to march. I was glad everyone was in school and couldn't see usmaking fools of ourselves out there. I hadn't fallen yet, but a few peoplehad. Many of us tripped repeatedly over our own feet. Who knew thatmarching would be so hard? I mean, people walk and talk every day.It's crazy how when you add playing an instrument into the mix, youget chaos. I had to think about which foot should be moving while alsoplaying the right notes to the right beat. Yikes.

We practiced for another half hour, marching around the parking lotof the school and just playing scales. In Disney World, there is a paradefor the winning middle school bands. We may not even have to march,but we want to be ready just in case we're one of the top three finishers.I wasn't going to worry about it. We probably wouldn't even be in thetop three. There would be fifty middle school bands at this event. Likewe really have a chance, I thought. I don't even care about that. I'm justgoing to have fun!

At the end of band practice, Scooter asked the trombones if we'dbe willing to stay for part of lunch to practice some more. He was oursection leader, and he was taking his job very seriously. It's rare that aseventh grader is section leader, but there weren't any eighth graders inour section. "I want the `bones to at least get it right," he pleaded with us.

"Fifteen minutes. That's it. I still need time to eat my lunch," Naomisaid. Lydia nodded. They agreed about everything.

"Let's move it, then," I encouraged. I've got Scooter's back. He'salways got mine. That's what best friends do.

We stayed in the parking lot while the rest of the band went inside.Mr. Shets just smiled at us as he walked in. I thought he'd stay out andbark orders at us, but maybe he was just proud we were doing it on ourown.

Scooter wanted us to march while playing scales again, but Lydiainterceded. "I think we all have the basics down. Can we try playing partof the song we'll march to at Disney?"

I was thinking the same thing. "I want to try it with the song. It'llmake it all seem more real."

So we did. We played the John Philip Sousa march called "Stars andStripes Forever." It's a famous song. It was a bit easier to march to actualmusic instead of just scales. It was going to be hard to remember not tostart running when we play eighth notes!

"Good extra practice," Scooter acknowledged. "Thanks for staying."

I smiled. "You know me. I always want to be the best, so let's makesure the trombones are the best. It'll only help the entire band. Oh, andfood would help. Let's go get some!"

* * *

"Can't we please go to Florida too?" whined Polly. "It's not fair thatJason gets to have all the fun!"

"Jason has worked hard for this trip. Not only has he been dedicatedto band, he also spent much of his summer working on the groupfundraisers," Mom reminded her. "Tell me honestly, would you haveweeded those yards all summer long in the hot sun?"

"She'd have one awesome suntan if she'd done that!" quippedTayleigh.

"I know he worked hard, but I've been dedicated to orchestra, too.We only got to go to Six Flags for a day," Polly continued to whine, butthen she changed her tone. "I just want to go to support him. We shouldbe there to cheer on the band."

I slapped my knee and laughed out loud. "That was a good one,Polly. Support me. Right. You're just jealous that I get to go to DisneyWorld before you do."

"I wish we could have taken off work to go watch the performanceand spend a few days at Disney as a family. It's just not a good time forme at work," Dad said. "I'm glad that Leigh and TJ will be able to cheerfor you, even if we won't be there."

"That's it! I could just stay with Uncle TJ and Aunt Leigh," Pollysaid. "I won't even be a bother to them."

"Number one, you're not missing school. Number two, where areyou getting the money for the plane ticket?" Mom said. "Leigh and TJwere able to work this stop around one of TJ's business trips to Florida.Number three, the answer is still no." I was cracking up in my head.Mom was getting upset with Polly's whininess. Score one for me.

"But I have most of the same classes as Jason, and our teachers aregiving the band students packets of homework to do on the bus ride. Icould do that, too."

"Polly," Dad said in that tone of voice when you know you've crossedthe line. "End. Of. Discussion."

"Yes, Dad," said Polly, sighing as her shoulders slumped over and sheslowly walked to her room.

"Well, I'm glad we got that cleared up," I said, a bit too snarky.

"Jason, go practice!" ordered Mom. Maybe I crossed the line.

I ran up the stairs two by two on the way to my room. One wholeweek without any family telling me what to do. No parents to tell mewhen to go to bed or clean my room or eat my broccoli or practice.No twin shadowing me every minute of every day. No big sister actinglike she's the boss of me. I'm not going to lie, I was really excited thatit would be just me and Scooter hanging out all the way across thecountry. I checked it out. I would be 1,201 miles away from BattleCreek, Michigan. I had never been away from my entire family for aweek.

Oh wait, duh, I thought. I had totally forgotten that Bryant wouldbe there too. It was going to be wonderful to spend some time withhim. He'd been at the University of Michigan for the past two years, andI only got to see him a few times a year. He did take me to the firstMichigan football game of the season about a month ago, and I had ablast screaming "Go Blue!" all afternoon. Good thing U of M won, solosing my voice was worth it. I hope he's the chaperone assigned to mygroup, I thought. My friends whose parents are chaperoning don't wantto be in their parents' group, but I like hanging out with Bryant.

I guess I'd better practice. I was third chair, which meant I playedsecond part. Scooter and Naomi played first part, and I played secondwith Lydia. In the high school band, there were six or seven trombonesfor each part, but there were only two of us, so we need to make surewe're good.

I barely got my trombone out of its case when Mom knocked on mydoor. "You were supposed to bring home the final itinerary for the triptoday. Do you have it?"

"Right. I totally forgot. It's in my music folder. I put it there becauseI'd see it when I practiced tonight. See, I had a plan."

"Why don't you get it and come back downstairs so we can go overit together with your father?" Mom suggested. I nodded and grabbed mywhole music...