The Lonesome Pine Band festival was one of the largest band competitions Lee High attends. Each band is divided up into a class according to size, so this placed our band in the last competing class. Since we were not scheduled to perform until later in the afternoon, Mr. Harding scheduled an early morning rehearsal. I was very nervous but excited to compete for the first time as a flag girl. When we all arrived at the school everyone looked as though they had crawled out of bed, which was the case for me. The band had only successfully set the first two songs and as we began to practice, the second song began to fall apart. The routine was very difficult because of the slow tempo. Counting is essential in order to stay together in a routine and it became very obvious that no one was counting. As Cheryl began to panic, so did everyone else. The team only consisted of two returning members so for the others this was a stressful moment. After we all took a break and relaxed for a moment things started to take shape.
The morning practice only lasted for two hours and after that was over we were immediately sent to the buses to depart for lunch. The bus ride was very peaceful which was good for relaxation from the stress we had encountered in the morning practice. As soon as everyone was finished eating we loaded up and departed for Wise- Central High school. Little did I know that the craziness that I had experienced in the morning practice would be incomparable to the stress of getting 15 girls ready in under two hours on a bus full of other band members.
