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“-So there I was, in the WORST smelling bus of my life!-” Peter continued with his DCI tales, enthralling the rookies and annoying the veterans. Why could this man not stop talking about the Red Angels? First, it was the auditions and meeting the rest of the Red Angels during morning stretches and basics block, then it was how much ~better~ and ~cooler~ the music and drill for “Spiritglow” was and how it would be ~soo awesome~ if they could play it next year (“You know we won 1st place in the world championships? I just think that says something about the music and drill. Y’know. Unlike the current drill written by a certain band director-”). Every water break, he’d mention something called a “Cow” and how everyone would drink from it or fill their water jugs as fast as they could before having to run back to their drill dots, at one point earning a grossed-out sneer from Clark and him commenting on how unhygienic that was. He horrified the freshman and Poptart when he told them how many times people threw up in a single session of practice, and Alex, for whatever reason, backed him up wholeheartedly, stating that his brother was tough as nails for being able to endure that and how this band camp is nothing but a nap for him. Cadence had to quietly tell Aaron that he was about to snap his drumsticks while Peter continued to brag.
And now it was dinner break, and Peter was holding up the line while explaining to a rookie how the Red Angel’s travel schedule was handled. Cadence could feel the tension building up in the band and new that a riot may very well break out if she didn’t get the line moving soon enough. Thankfully, Garth had just been released from his guard practice, and he marched up to Peter, his hostile attitude thinly veiled with a smile.
“Peter! Don’t you think it’s time to get your dinner and find a seat? There are others waiting behind you.”
“Right, right. You know, when I was in the Red Angels, we-”
“Please get your food and go, Peter. We are all hungry.” Garth’s tone sharpened, and everyone who was in the building felt chills run down their spines. Garth sure was scary when he needed to be. At least it was effective when dealing with Peter in the short-term, but in the long-term… Well… When Garth wasn’t around, it was impossible to get Peter to stop talking about the Red Angels. The section leaders were practically begging Cadence to do something about it.
“You’re the drum major, maybe he’ll listen to you. Band hierarchy and all, he seems to like that, according to his Red Angels stories.” Doug looked hopeful at his suggestion, probably because he couldn’t afford to keep getting distracted by Peter’s stories and didn’t want Aaron to snap at him again.
“I’m going to kill him. I’m really gonna do it this time.” Olivia’s fists shook as Poptart hastily started offering her his pocket snacks.
“Yeah like he’ll listen to someone who wasn’t in a Drum Corp,” Clark rolled his eyes, “And since Cadence was never in DCI, he won’t even consider it.”
“Drum corp is just adult marching band, isn’t it?”
“It’s brass and drumline only.” Clark’s tone was practically poisonous. Cadence needed to do something fast. She looked at Tom as a last-ditch effort.
“You’re his best friend. Have you said anything to him?” Tom’s expression didn’t give her the highest hope.
“I tried, dude, seriously, but he was all ilke “you just don’t get it cause you weren’t there,”” The section leaders and Cadence all snickered at Tom’s impression of Peter, and Susie put a hand on Cadence’s shoulder after she grabbed her food.
“Alright, girlie, I’m gonna go sit with Eugene and the low-brass today. Good luck!”
“Wait, I thought we were going to hang out.”
“Well, yes…” Susie looked apologetic and sheepish, “But Peter’s stories are really annoying, and I’d like to be able to contribute to the conversation with more than just a couple mhmms and “oh really? That’s soooo interesting, tell me more-” when I honestly don’t really care enough to hear him talk about it for an entire day. You’re always welcome to join me and the rest of the low-brass though! In fact, maybe I can sneak you in my sousa.” Susie lowered her voice to a devious whisper, and Cadence laughed.
“I would very much appreciate that, but I think as drum major, I have to deal with this before there’s a mutiny and a sacrifice or something.”
“Alright, but if you ever change your mind, just say the word, and I’ll come running to kidnap you and bring you to the low brass’ safe haven!” Susie said as she left, and Cadence mentally prepared herself as she made her way over to Peter’s table, holding back an irritated sigh as she heard Peter continue to talk as he ate. She wondered if he had breathed since he got his food.
“-And don’t even get me started on the slew of competitions! It was absolutely insane! But totally worth it. I’d do it again if I could. What about you, Cadence?”
“What about me?”
“If you could, would you do Drum Corp? Would you join the Red Angels or another corp like the Massachusetts Monarchs or Vigor of Austin?” Peter looked at her expectantly, and Cadence realized with some surprise that he was actually expecting her to answer instead of him launching into another story of his. She could practically see her possible responses in her head as she mulled over her words carefully.
I really don’t care to begin with. No, no, she probably shouldn’t say that. Not only would it offend Peter, but she didn’t want to get into a whole argument with him about that. It wasn’t worth it to her. Especially when she wanted to eat.
I’m more of an Apparition Order kind of girl. That would only make him talk more about it. It’d make the problem worse, not better.
Why don’t you take your fancy corp and shove it up your- NO. That was the hanger talking. Cadence took a deep breath as she tried to get her thoughts straight again. And then, in an instant, she thought of a response and had to hide her smirk behind a poker face. It was out of pocket and likely to offend Peter, sure, but it was sure to be very funny in the least. If she couldn’t get him to stop talking about the Red Angels, she could at least make it worth her time.
“I dunno if I’d want to be in a cult like that.” The table goes silent, and Cadence shoves a forkful of food into her face as Peter stares at her with an expression of genuine shock.
“... Excuse me?”
“Well- y’know-” Cadence takes another bite of her food as she prepares her argument, and by the time she swallows, she knows she’s ready. “You have to pay thousands of dollars to be a part of an exclusive group that won’t even consider you if you’re not on their level and/or don’t play the quote-unquote “correct instrument,” Cadence could feel some of the other tables looking at her, but she knew she had to keep going. She couldn’t back down. “You’re put under borderline inhuman conditions to train to the point where multiple people would become sick and yet were forced to continue working despite their exertion,” She saw Susie covering her mouth and whispering to Tom and Eugene out of the corner of her eye, and she knew she had to bring it home. “And all you really get out of all that training is a little bit of clout that only a small percentage of people are even going to understand. If you try to tell anyone outside of a marching band circle that you won championships in a marching band competition, they’re not going to care. They won’t even know what a Red Angel is, and yet you’d pay all that money and make yourself sick for basically nothing? That doesn’t really sound like my thing. I’m not really into cults like that.” She glanced at the time and quickly started eating her food again while Peter sputtered and scrambled for a response.
“I- but- y- why are you drum major then!?”
“Because I have friends here, and I’m in high school, where I don’t have to pay thousands of dollars to be told that I can’t play the flute if I wanted to. What about you, Peter? Why are you here if you claim the Red Angels are so much better? Are you settling?” Boom. Homerun. The whole dining hall was buzzing with a special kind of hushed energy as Cadence finished her food and stood up. “Sorry, but I just remembered that Mr. Wiley asked me to help him with something. I’ll see you on the field!” She gave him a polite smile as she dumped her trash and quickly made her exit, picking up Bandit on her way out so she would look like she was legitimately doing something instead of coming up with an excuse. She skillfully dodged Bandit’s scratches as she rushed to the faculty room, and Wiley looked at her with concern and confusion as she slammed the door shut behind her with the writhing raccoon in her hands.
“Cadence! You should know better than to bring Bandit in here during dinner break. She begs for scraps, and she’s so darn cute, it’s hard to resist her.”
“Sorry, Mr. Wiley, I just needed an excuse to not be in the dining hall for a few minutes.”
“... Did it finally happen? Did Peter’s Drum Corp talk finally cause a riot? Are they trying to sacrifice him to the rain gods as we speak?”
“Not- exactly…” Cadence clears her throat and looks away. “I think I might’ve gotten Peter to stop for a bit by…” her voice lowers to a mutter as she clutches Bandit to her chest, “telling him that he joined a cult.” The silence was deafening in the room for all of a split second before Wiley burst into laughter.
“That’s it? Oh, thank god, I thought I’d have to actually intervene in something while I was eating my food! Well, if that’s it, then I’m going back to my dinner. You should too if you haven’t already.”
“Yes, sir,” Cadence sighed with relief, and after a few more seconds of tense waiting, she hesitantly left the staff room, immediately squeaking and dropping Bandit when she saw the crowd gathered in front of the door. Susie was the first to run up to her and hug her, squealing.
“Oh my GOD, I can’t believe you said all that! That was so crazy!!”
“Was it…?”
“You missed the look on his face when you left. It was pretty great.” Sam quietly agreed, and even Clark seemed pleased.
“I doubt he’ll say anything about drum corp now. At least for the rest of the week.”
“Thank you, Cadence. Someone had to put him in his place. Although, that was pretty out of pocket. I’m surprised you even said it to begin with.” Garth smiled as Sabrina nodded next to him.
“Ah, you know how it is at dinner time and all. I was really hungry… Is he mad?”
“Don’t worry, bro, I’ll make sure things get smoothed over by tomorrow morning. Just don’t take it too personally if he gives you the stink eye for the evening block.” Tom gave a thumbs up, and after a few more minutes of talking, the group dispersed to tell their sections where to go.
***
The evening block was finally the quietest it had ever been now that Peter was silent, and even though Cadence found that Peter’s unwillingness to look at her was more than a little cold, she knew she could breathe easy knowing that the band was no longer at risk of sacrificing one of their own to the rain gods. After all, it looked like the band was going to be blessed with rain in the next afternoon according to all the local weather apps…