Chapter 3: October

October 1

I got Katie’s home and cell phone numbers from her yesterday and talked to her last night. Mostly we talked about school and classes and people. When I asked her whether she wanted to go to the Homecoming Dance coming up later in the month, she practically screamed her answer at me and told me what she thought of for asking me. Don’t worry, she said yes and thought that I was the most wonderful person in the world for asking her to go to her first high school dance. Her mom heard her screech and asked her what was going on, and I heard even more screeching from her mom. It was hard to tell which one of them was fourteen.

She said that she and her mom were going to go shopping for a dress this weekend, and would let me know what color it was so I could get flowers. I promised to talk to my dad about driving us to the dance, and maybe dinner, and picking us up after everything.

Mr. J. pushed us really hard on both the music and the drill today. It was exhausting. It was also frustrating because we were already doing much better. During a break, I complained to Anna about it and she told me to relax. “We’ve got the Tri-State Marching Competition on Oct. 25, and Mr. J. told the Wind Symphony class yesterday that he thought we could win it. We came in second in our category last year and the big reason for that was that the judges said our marching wasn’t quite as good as it could have been.”

“I do this show in my sleep already,” I groaned.

“Is that why your mom says your sheets are always a mess?” Anna blurted out. We both blushed bright red. “Oh my god!” Anna whispered. “That didn’t sound very nice at all, did it?”

I told her it was OK. It was pretty funny and I enjoyed watching her blush.

After rehearsal, I helped Katie with the tympani cart. We stopped a couple of times on the way back to the band room for a kiss. We weren’t the last ones back with pit equipment, either. Katie told me she was really glad that I’d asked her to the Homecoming Dance; first of all, because she really wanted to go there with me, and second because Ian Williams had asked her during a break in the rehearsal.

“He’s nice enough,” Katie told me “but I didn’t really want to go to the dance with a senior. And I’m glad I didn’t have to lie to him when I told him no because I already had a date.”

“I’m glad you said yes to me,” I whispered in her ear. “I don’t know what I’d do if you wouldn’t go to the dance with me.”

“Why would you ever think I wouldn’t want to?” Katie scolded me. “Aren’t you paying attention?”

My dumb expression was met with a giggle and a kiss.

Katie has been getting her rides home from Anna since they live near each other. I told her I could call my dad, but Anna offered me ride, saying it wasn’t too far out of the way to take me home. She teased Katie and me a little because both of us climbed in the back seat and sat as close together as we could. When we got to the house, Katie gave me another sweet kiss before she got in Anna’s car, this time in the front seat. I watched them drive away before I went in the house.

Dad wasn’t busy in his office, so I asked him if he’d be OK with driving Katie and me to Homecoming. He said he would.

“I might even get the car washed and vacuum the old French fries out of the back seat,” he joked.

“That’d be nice, Dad,” I shot back.

He asked me whether I wanted to take my date to dinner someplace nice before the dance. I hadn’t really thought about it, but it sounded like a good idea to me. Dad had me check the time on the dance and made reservations right then at Carlin’s Restaurant. It’s a nice place. He and Mom go there for their anniversary just about every year.

“Now tell me about this girl,” Dad said.

“Her name is Katie,” I told him. “She plays the oboe in Concert Band, but she’s part of The Pit for marching season. She plays tympani for part of the program.”

“I think I know who you’re talking about,” Dad said. “If it’s the one I’m thinking of, she’s kind of cute.”

“I think she is,” I admitted. How uncomfortable should I be with the idea that my dad thinks my girlfriend is cute?

“There was a woman that helped move the pit on the field at the competition we went to that looks just like her,” Dad continued. “Is that her mom?”

“Yeah,” I said, “that’s Mrs. Schuman.”

“That’s a good sign,” Dad said with an evil grin on his face. “They say that if you wonder what your wife will look at in 20 or 30 years, you just need to look at her mother.”

“Dad!” I groaned. “It’s only a dance and we’re only 14. Don’t get a tux yet.”

“I’d rather rent a tux than have to buy a shotgun.”

He was still laughing when I got up to my bedroom.

October 4

There was a home game tonight. The football team did pretty well. We had to play the fight song a lot tonight. Katie sat next to me again during the game. When the band took its break after halftime, Katie and I headed for the snack bar, but she pulled me around to the side of it farthest from the football field and we kissed. In fact, we kissed a lot. We kissed for a long enough time that we heard the band playing stand tunes again.

“Oops,” Katie giggled. “We’re late.”

We hurried back to the stands. Mr. J. glared at me for being late but he didn’t say anything. The rest of the Pit players were already down on the track and getting ready to move the instruments back to the band room, so Katie gave me a kiss on the cheek and ran off to do her part.

The fourth quarter, as usual, wasn’t any fun.

October 5

Mom and I went shopping for a suit. Mom grilled me about Katie, wanting to know how we’d met and if we had any classes together; all the usual Mom questions. I guess she was satisfied with the answers, because she stopped grilling me about her.

October 11

There isn’t a home game tonight, which is a good thing. All of us in the band are totally exhausted. Mr. J. has worked the band like slaves every afternoon, polishing every little bit of our show to get it perfect. He called me out three times in rehearsals on Monday because I was about a yard from where I should have been, and it was at the same spot in the show every time. He wasn’t nasty about it, but none of us like to hear that whistle in the middle of the show and hear something like, “Barnett, look to your right and your left. You should be in line with those people! Now, let’s go back to measure 234 and run this again.”

When that happens, you feel like an idiot. Then you feel like a jerk for making everybody stop. It happens to everyone sooner or later, though, so the best you can do is try not to keep screwing up like that.

Anna Jones has been giving Katie and me rides home after our marching rehearsals. On Tuesday her little sister, Evie, rode with us for the first time. Evie plays cello in the orchestra. She and Katie have known each other since grade school, which isn’t surprising since they live in the same neighborhood, but aren’t super close friends. Still, Evie seems to be as nice as her sister. She’s also a big joker, as I discovered when Anna stopped at my house to let me out.

“Get out and say goodbye to him, Katie,” Evie urged her. “We’ll drive around the block a few times and come back for you. Will two hours be enough time?”

Katie was blushing furiously as Anna and Evie giggled. We did take a couple of minutes to kiss goodbye, though. When Katie got back in the car, Anna and Evie were holding up papers with the number nine written on them.

“Only nines?” Katie asked.

“You still have clothes on,” Anna joked as she and Evie laughed outrageously.

October 12

Mom and I went to the florist and ordered Katie’s flowers for next week’s Homecoming Dance. Since Katie told me it was a strapless dress, Mom suggested I get a nice wrist corsage for her. She thought it would be less embarrassing for us both if I didn’t have to, in Mom’s words, “fondle her in front of her mother and risk sticking a pin in her breast,” since this was essentially a first date. The dress was navy blue, and the florist suggested a lighter blue shade of flowers – “to compliment the dress,” they said.

October 18

The homecoming game was pretty much just another football game to Katie and me. There were more people in the stands because a lot of alumni were there. Several people came over during the game to say hello to Mr. J. and their former classmates in the band, but other than that it was the regular routine until halftime.

After we did our marching show and got the band and pit off the field, they presented the homecoming king and queen and their court. The homecoming queen was head cheerleader Alison LeClair. I think it was the blonde hair and the big boobs that won her the title. You could see the anger and disappointment in Abby Kowalski’s face. Three of the four guys that made up the king and princes for the court were football players. The other guy was a sophomore baseball player that I had gone to middle school with. The freshman class princess was the first chair flute from Concert Band, Laurel Birch.

“Princess Laurel,” snorted Katie. “They got that one right.”

The band took its usual third quarter break, which Katie and I spent making out behind the snack bar. We made it back before the band was supposed to play this time.

When the fourth quarter started, Katie gave me a hot kiss and told me she’d see me on Saturday for the dance.

October 19

Mom had helped me pick out the flowers for Katie, and we’d ordered them from the florist last week. We bought my suit two weeks ago, plus a new dress shirt, a tie and some nice shoes. Other than that, the day was pretty quiet. Katie had texted me to let me know that she was going to be busy all afternoon with appointments for her hair and nails. I ended up hanging out in my room until it was time to get ready.

I took a shower, shaved off the peach fuzz on my face and went back to my room to get my suit and tie on. Once I was all dressed, I went downstairs to the living room where Mom and Dad were waiting for me.

Mom was having trouble holding back the tears. “He looks so grown up and handsome,” she gushed.

She insisted on getting some pictures before Dad and I left, so I posed. Some of the shots were by myself; others were with Mom or with Dad. We even dragged out the tripod and used the self-timer to get pictures of all three of us.

When it was close to six o’clock, Dad and I were happy to escape. Dad drove me over to Katie’s and came in with me to meet Katie and her mom. Katie loved the corsage. My dad and her mom took a bunch of pictures of us before Dad suggested we get going. He drove us downtown to Carlin’s Restaurant. Katie was impressed.

“I’ve never eaten here,” she told me. “Mom has been here with some people from work, I think. I hear it’s really nice.”

Dad had reserved us a table for two and arranged for the bill to be covered. He told me we could have anything on the menu we wanted. His treat. He waited in the bar while we ate at a cozy table for two by the big window that overlooks Johnson Park. Katie thought it was quite romantic, and I had to agree. Seeing her in that strapless dress with her hair pinned up and the candlelight sparkling in her eyes was romantic indeed. We shared a shrimp cocktail appetizer, then our salads came, hers with ranch dressing and mine with Carlin’s house dressing. It’s mostly vinegar and oil with lots of herbs and stuff in it. For the main course, I had a small steak with a baked potato. Katie had something called Chicken Oscar. It was a chicken breast rolled around a crab stuffing and a tasty looking sauce over it. There were asparagus spears with it. Katie said it was delicious.

Around eight o’clock, Dad drove us over to the high school for the dance. It was more fun than I’d expected. Lots of people we knew were there. Anna was there with Joe Lyman, one of our tuba players. Her little sister was there with a boy I didn’t know. Katie said he went to middle school with them, and that he was in the Orchestra with Evie. Abby Kowalski was there with her boyfriend Chris. We didn’t see Ian Williams, though. Katie commented that maybe he had struck out, which was too bad. He’s actually a pretty nice guy.

We hung out with Anna and Evie and their dates, plus a few other kids we knew, most of them from band, and we also danced a little. I’m not a dancer, but Katie didn’t seem to mind as long as I held her close during the slow songs. I didn’t mind it either, because holding Katie always feels really nice.

Dad had said to call him when we were ready to go. It was all arranged with Katie’s mom that he would drop us off at her house and she would let us unwind there after the dance and then bring me home before midnight.

Dad dropped us off at Katie’s a little after ten o’clock. Her mom had fixed us some snacks and left a note telling us that there were sodas in the fridge and she would be back at 11:30. We did what all good teenagers would do: We had a snack, popped open a couple of sodas, I took off my suit jacket, set an alarm on my cell phone for 11:15 and we started making out on the couch.