[A/N]: Okay this chapter was going to be much longer, but since lots of you have been getting me to update quicker, I've decided to cut the chapter and make two individual chapters instead. I'm really sorry for taking around 2 months to update, but like I said, I WILL GET THIS STORY FINISHED.

A little update on myself: I officially moved out of my parents' house. I've also been constantly looking for a job for the summer. So yeah - I'm pretty busy. As always, thanks for keeping up with this story, and please leave a review when you reach the bottom of the page! Thanks.

Chapter 19: You and Me

Drum Major Jessica

"Where'd she go?" I heard Christian's voice on the other side of the door.

The Arcana seniors have been trying to corner me all night and I was surprised I made it without being noticed this far. Thanks to Tracy, I still kept my secret but I now had to explain everything to her.

"She already got on the bus," she answered the drum major. After a few seconds, the door of the building opened again and Tracy slipped in. "You better explain yourself or I'm going to tell Trust about everything."

I panicked. "No. Please, don't do that! It's my senior year and I don't want to be kicked to the curb..."

"Jessica, are you hearing yourself?" she countered. "It's my senior year, too! It's Alex's and Christian's. We don't need this kind of shit happening right now. We all trusted you, Welling. I actually believed you when you said you were going out of town with your parents! And this whole time you were marching with Kingston?"

"No, not the whole time," I tried to explain, but my words kept getting tangled. "Mr. Waylan is blackmailing me!"

"Sure he is." Her disbelief was burning and aching my insides. "You're full of shit, Jessica."

"I tried to quit. I did. I really did. I promise."

"Yeah? Well, it doesn't seem like it worked, did it?" Without letting me have another word, she left the building leaving me alone in a cold empty room with all my frustrations eating at me.

When I got home, I found myself pacing back and forth contemplating on how to fix this mess. I was afraid that Tracy would tell everyone about my betrayal. I couldn't just quit Kingston; Waylan would make it so I wouldn't be able to compete at all. I couldn't tell Mr. Trust about this situation either. After I witnessed him kick Andrea off the Arcana Marching Band, I didn't want myself to go through that. I knew Mr. Trust would tell Christian and from there, Christian would hate me.

I was confused about Christian and my relationship. I didn't know if he liked me; I didn't know if I liked him. He tortured me with his ego and pride, and yet I was still able to look passed that. But every time I give him a chance to redeem himself, he goes and kisses Courtney.

But what if I told Christian myself? What if I tried to explain everything to him? If I was honest with him, maybe he would help me out. Maybe he wouldn't be so mad as I presume he would be.

Drum Major Christian

Alex threw another one of his silly parties, but I didn't feel like going. Instead I found myself sitting in front of my computer hoping to see Jessica's username pop up on my instant messenger. To be honest, I wished she had been at the game tonight performing the field show with me. Since we conducted together, like really conducted together, I couldn't get my mind off of her.

I remembered when we first met that I was instanty attracted to her, but upon finding that she was my competition, I forced myself to hate her. But she wasn't so horrible. And I think I may... might actually... really... like her.

DM4RHS has signed on.

Subconsiously, I double clicked on her username.

ChrisGuti: hey

ChrisGuti: missed you at the game

ChrisGuti: freakin' kingston stole a few pages of drill we had

ChrisGuti: can you believe that

The silence was beginning to make me uncomfortable. I was probably bothering the hell out of her with my constant instant messages.

DM4RHS: can you come over?

My heart panged. Sure, Courtney had invited me over to house plenty of times before, but I never got a rush out of it. Not like this.

ChrisGuti: right now? thought you were outta town

DM4RHS: got home early. can you come?

I hesitated to answer.

DM4RHS: i need to tell you something.

ChrisGuti: ok. gimme a few min. i'll be there soon.

ChrisGuti: should i use the front door?

DM4RHS: come through the back.

DM4RHS has signed off.

I didn't know what to think of this. If it had been Courtney to ask me to come over, it was predictable what we'd be doing as soon as I got there. But Jessica was mysterious - anything could happen. What did she need to tell me?

In a matter of a few minutes, I was out the door and in my truck on my way to Jessica's place. When I parked in front of her house, I noticed all the house lights were off except for Jessica's room. It was expected being it was almost midnight. Following Jessica's instructions, I sneaked into her backyard using the side gate door. There was a climbable tree right by Jessica's balcony and I ventured up there and jumped onto the balcony platform with ease.

Jessica was laying on her bed when I peaked in from the glass door. My knock startled Jessica awake. As she let me in, her quietness made me nervous. She was cutely dressed in her pajamas and her hair up in a messy bun. I loved the way she looked like this. She was simple.

I sat on the edge of her bed and waited for some explanation to why she wanted me to come over so late at night. She seemed exhausted and stressed. I reached out to grab her hand. I noticed her swallow hard as she looked down at our hands and then at me.

"You worried about the competition tomorrow?" I took a guess, squeezing her hand. "You'll be fine, you know. You're one of the best spinners I've met."

"Why is it you're only nice to me when no one is looking?"

Her question caught me off guard. There was an uncomfortable silence that fell between us. Jessica seemed utterly tired mentally and physically, but I didn't know how to fix it. I was speechless.

"After I told you everything about Aiden, I thought we had a moment. I thought that there was a chance that you liked me."

"I do like you," I found myself speaking up.

"Then why don't you show it? I feel like when we're in front of the band together, you're ashamed to be seen with me."

I pulled her towards me and she sat on the bed. "I don't know, okay? It's just going to take some time to get used to, you and me."

The bed shook while she positioned herself under the bed sheets. "So there's a you and me now?" she yawned.

"Only if you want," I answered in a whisper, noticing her eyes begin to shut slowly. "I thought you wanted to tell me something."

"Later," she murmured.

"Okay, I'm gonna head home now." She then slipped her small hand into mine. I felt a tug as if she wanted me to lay with her. So I kicked off my shoes and let my back feel her soft bed on top of the sheets. She slept peacefully as I stared at the ceiling. We had our fingers entwined and this was the first time I felt like home. My eyelids began to shut and moments later I was in a deep sleep.

Drum Major Jessica

My clock blinked 4:00 am when I awoke to quiet snoring beside me. This was the second time we slept beside each other and each time it felt like we were getting closer.

Fortunately, the competition today did not include Kingston High School, so I could completely focus on one band. I realized I still had the Kingston drum major uniform laying out on my computer chair. So hurriedly, I put the uniform back in its garment bag before Christian woke up. At the closet, I pulled out my Arcana uniform and helmet and began to pack for the long day ahead. After a shower and brushing my teeth, I returned to my room finding Christian sitting up in my bed.

"Hey," he whispered in a tired voice. "I'm going to head out. Do you want me to pick you up for the competition today? Call time is at 5:30 right?"

"Sure," I answered with a smile.

After pulling on his shoes, he came over to me and slipped his arms around my waist. Our noses touched which reminded me of the first time he helped me get out of the school uniform in the percussion closet. I was frozen waiting for him to close the gap.

"Jessica?" we heard my mom call from downstairs. Christian took a step back and mouthed "I should go." I nodded and watched him climb down the tree next to my balcony.

"Jessica!" I heard my mom call again. "It's time to get up, competition day!"

Christian honked his truck horn outside indicating his arrival. My mom made a huge breakfast for me before the competition and apologized that she and my dad wouldn't be able to make it today. She gave me a "break a leg" before I was out the door with my bag, mace, and uniform. Christian and I were silent on the way to Arcana High unsure of what to say. We were officially a "you and me" which opened up lots of complications with how we should act around each other. But when he reached for my hand, I knew that was one thing I could easily and comfortably get used to.

When we reached Arcana, there were already a number of band and guard students waiting by the buses. Christian and I got out of his truck and made our way to the trailer where the pit was loading up their instruments.

"Jessica!" I heard Tracy's familiar voice. Something was different though. Her voice was hard and shallow, almost painful to hear. "You should've been at the game last night! We beat Kingston easily. I noticed their band took some pages of our drill; I wonder how something like that could've happened. You wouldn't happen to know something about that, would you?" Her sarcasm pierced my heart, but I deserved it.

I was a traitor.

Tracy's focus turned to Christian. "I'm starting to think Andrea wasn't the only spy in this band."

"What are you talking about?" Christian asked, then shrugged the whole topic off his shoulders. "We should probably start getting into the buses. Band in one bus, percussion, guard, and left over bandies in the other."

The entire time Christian was talking, Tracy and I were glaring directly at each other. I didn't want her to say anything. Christian and I were finally, maybe a thing. I was supposed to tell Christian the truth last night, but after he made it official that we were a "you and me," I didn't want to ruin that.

Once everyone piled into the buses, Mr. Trust took a head count and we were off to our first band competition. The host for this competition was Woodbury High School which was approximately an hour and a half away.

Christian and I sat together at the front of the bus. We did not hold hands or show any means of affection. I was okay with this because we needed to focus on the competition today. Since the Woodbury competition included both parade and field, Christian let me lead the parade. I had been practicing constantly between the Arcana and Kingston rehearsals. Thankfully, I pride myself on being a great spinner, so I believed there was nothing I should worry about. As for the field show portion, Christian and I have been working well together since the first time we conducted. I had no doubts that Christian would place as a field conductor.

Despite my conflict with Tracy, today's competion seemed like a piece of cake.

[A/N]: Thanks guys! Yep, it's pretty much just a filler chapter... there is more meat in the next chapters so stick with me! Click the pretty button below to leave me a review. I will love you forever and always... and a day.