Marching Band: A Short Story

Truth or Dare?

I walked along the sidewalk during my sophomore year with my good friends from Marching Band. Friendships were really important to me We all wore our long black rain jackets: “Governor Mifflin Marching Band” was written in maroon inside of the pointed hoods. We walked in unison, the cold wind chilled our noses as we huddled together.

The wind blew into our faces, colorful leaves flying about. The temperature dropped and we were quivering, teeth clicking. Oh boy, we did not want to perform that Friday night. I kicked some leaves as I walked.We all hurried inside the local pizzeria named, “Rosa’s”. It was known for being the home of the marching band students because they had amazing deals for pizza. Two giant cheese pizza slices

I looked at them, but especially at Ellen. Our eyes meeting, feeling unsure about this question. I couldn’t lie or anything, it would be wrong. Sure, I had some feelings but I was already in a long distant relationship. Feelings were all too fuzzy back then and I was still too young to understand things. Rumors have been going around that we were dating, but we were really just close friends. So hearing a question like that really didn’t surprise me nor Ellen. I believed it didn’t hurt to say the truth, since I was quite attracted toward my best friend.

“I would if I could,” I answered honestly.

Paige and Lilah nodded their heads and we all carried on with the game. What I didn’t know was that Ellen, who was sitting next to me turned quite red. Something just seemed off, it was awkward. I could feel her body temperature warming up in the already cozy atmosphere as she sat beside me.

“Are you alright?” I looked at her, caringly.

“Y-yeah, I’m totally fine.” She spoke quietly as she pushed some strands of hair away from her

But I did hide some things from her because I was unsure of how she would view me. Which really proved that I didn’t have enough trust in her as my best friend, I was just really afraid. I openly told her the truth about my own sexuality and that I was in a relationship. I could just tell by her facial expression. She looked really happy for the first part but quickly she shyly looked down when I brought up being in a relationship. I pictured her having thoughts such as, ‘I’m too late! Liz already has someone!’ Maybe I was being hopeful that she would have feelings for me but my thoughts were confirmed correct when I asked her about this exact moment later along the years. She smiled brightly at me, covering up her disappointment, expressing how happy she was for me. That day we resumed our day during the trip, enjoying ourselves while knowing that we created a stronger bond in our