Yes, yes... I haven't been able to update in a while, but I'll explain that after the chapter. For now, just read, okay:)

School: Croatan High School.
Time Spent In Band: Currently in second year of marching.
Time Spent In Guard: Currently in fourth season of guard.
What I Do: Dance, flag, rifle, and sabre.

"Not a problem! You girls have fun!"

Alex and I watch Alex's mom drive away. We walk up the sidewalk to the door leading into the cafeteria. Tonight is the last night. The last general night involving the band as a whole. The upcoming week was the hectic concert week, and winterguard had started as of last Tuesday. But tonight was a much more… together night.

Tonight was the traditional band dance night.

Alex and I walk into the cafeteria. We're a little early; I only see ten or so people setting things up. We walk over to the foosball table, and in no less than ten seconds, we're playing a game of foosball with two other band kids. We win, of course.

I notice Taylor walking around the table towards me. He pulls me to the side.

"I need to tell you something important, but you have to promise you won't tell anyone." He waits, and I nod. He rolls his eyes. "Promise?" He puts out his hand. I roll my eyes in turn and take it.

"I promise. What is it?"

"Chris is gonna propose to Ashleigh tomorrow."

I've always been great at hiding my emotions. No, not when it gets entirely drastic and I absolutely must let out something, but otherwise I'm the master. I give an "Oh…" as if I'm surprised, then sigh as he walks away.

It was bound to happen sooner or later. I'd rather it not happen at all, but still. Chris makes Ashleigh happy, even though no one else in the band really likes him. He's not exactly the most polite guy around. Still, her happiness is mine.

I walk over to Mandy, whom I'm always happy to be around, and sit down next to her.

"Look, Dunkin is here."

I look up. Sure enough, the new kid walks in the door. Dunkin is in percussion, and has already gotten the nickname 'Donut'. Take a guess as to why.

I smile. I've had the smallest crush on Dunkin after hanging around him at a party only a week earlier. I've gotten the hint from other girls that he's a bit of a man-whore, but he's never acted like that around me.

I turn to Mandy. "Wanna go stuff our faces?"

She laughs and nods. We get up and head to the table where the food is. Let me tell you, the band knows how to provide nourishment. We fill two small plates with a variety of food, and turn to see that many more band kids have entered the cafeteria. The DJ is done setting everything up, and someone turns off the lights. Oh God…

We sit at the table we were sitting at before, and Ben, Erin and Dunkin sit across from us. Dunkin sits directly across from me. I put a deviled egg into my mouth before muttering, "I hate dances…"

Dunkin grins. "Why's that?"

I shrug. "I dunno. I can't dance, much less in front of people I know."

Dunkin nods. "If I'm around people I don't know, I can go crazy. But other than that, it can't happen." I smile and shake my head. Dunkin? The guy who was joking around with me like crazy this morning? I couldn't believe he wasn't one to dance. But then again, I wasn't one to assume.

Two hours go by, and I haven't danced yet. Actually, half an hour of that time I spent in the bathroom, unable to face anyone else because of my red eyes and wet face. Ashleigh… and Chris…

I hate Taylor for ruining my night. I'm no longer in a partying mood. I finally walk out and sit at the same table as before. Before I know it, I'm crying again, mostly because Teardrops On My Guitar starts playing. Mandy sits next to me, and I try to look away. Tough luck.

"Brittany, what's wrong?"

I shake my head. She moves closer and lowers her voice.

"You're not fine. You're crying. What's wrong?"

"I can't tell you… I was… kinda sworn to secrecy."

"And yet you're crying."

I sigh. Mandy doesn't look away. Finally I look around to make sure no one else is in earshot.

"If I tell you, I can't tell you here. No one is supposed to know yet." She nods and pulls me away from the table. We walk to the bathroom and stop behind the very small "hallway" into it. I take a deep breath.

"Okay, well, it's not terrible, it's just upsetting for me. Chris is -" Mandy stops me and looks around me. She rolls her eyes and pulls me down to the other end of the bathroom.

"Taylor is eavesdropping." I growl. No, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone, but I trust Mandy, and Taylor has no right stopping me. It's not like she's not going to find out anyway, right? I shake my head and sigh.

"Okay, Chris is going to propose to Ashleigh tomorrow."

Mandy's face falls, and I immediately feel her sympathy. I smile a little. She shakes her head.

"I've never liked him. He's just… so rude and annoying… I can't stand him."

I nod as Erin walks into our presence. I sigh.

"You wanna know too, don't you?" She smiles and nods.

"But only because I love you so much, and I saw you crying. What's up?"

I bite my lip. "You guys cannot say a word, okay?" They nod, and Mandy mutters something about still being hungry, and she leaves. I look at Erin.

"Chris is proposing to Ashleigh tomorrow."

She gives the same reaction I did, and after a small chat, we leave the bathroom. I sit at (once again) my same seat, this time with another plate of food. I tend to eat a lot when I get depressed. I'm finally done, and I look up to see Dunkin sitting at the next table over, legs on the wrong side as he watches the dance. I get up and walk over to him, nudging him to get his attention. He looks at me and gives a fake-hurt look.

"Ow… I think you scarred me…"

I smile. Goofball…

He smiles back and pokes my side. I squeak in surprise. Not many girls can tickle me for some reason, but guys can do it without sweat. His eyebrows lift, and I curse myself for being ticklish. He grabs my left side with one hand and my stomach with the other, moving his fingers around. It's driving me insane, and I squirm around, trying to grab his hands to get him to stop. He does, at last, and just as Melissa comes over to give him a lap dance. Lovely…

I roll my eyes and get up. I walk over to Amanda and Alex, who are dancing to the crazy song that's playing. They have their hands up in front of their faces (out to the sides a little) and their fingers are linked. Their feet are just going up and down, back and forth, doing some crazy ass dance that I've never seen before. They see me walk up and invite me to join. I laugh and tell them I can't dance.

"Oh please," Alex laughs. "It's not even dancing! Just move around and stuff!"

I start to think about it when Bradly walks up. He stands next to me and looks down – he's at least two inches taller than I am.

Bradly. The gorgeous, silent percussionist. Everyone in the damn band has flirted with him, and I don't blame them. He's extremely good looking, I'll admit, and he's really cool. But flirting the way some girls have is just wrong. I've hung out with him on many band trips, and he's an awesome friend.

Bradly holds up his hand like Alex and Amanda are, and I laugh and take it. He links his fingers with mine, and I do the same with Amanda. And we dance. We dance like crazy, not caring who the hell is watching.

The song ends, and Amanda and Alex walk off somewhere else. Bradly stands with his hands in his pockets, and I scratch my neck. Bradly looks at me for a second, then puts a finger on my forehead. I raise an eyebrow and look from his finger to his face. I have a question mark written all over my expression. He just looks back at me, and I grin. I lift my hand and put a finger on his forehead. We stand there for a moment. Before I know it, we're in a competition of who can keep their hand up the longest. Person after person walks by, trying to get one of us to quit. We ignore them, though, and sabotage each other's concentration. He flicks my finger again and again, and I try to bite his. I don't mean it at first, but after I feel a bruise coming on my finger, I growl playfully and nip the tip of his finger. He looks at me like I'm crazy, and I stick my tongue out at him. He jerks his head up and bites down on my finger. I squeal and nearly pull my finger back, but I quickly remember the battle and I glare evilly. Oh, he will pay…

The DJ announces a new song coming up, and Bradly gives an exasperated look. I tilt my head.

"Expecting a song?"

"Yes! I wanted him to play Numb by Linkin Park…"

"Oh, I love that song!"

He nods and groans. I smile at him. Bradly was definitely an interesting character. Finally, after another three-minute song and continuous forehead pointing, his song comes on. He pulls his finger down and excitedly goes to dance with his friends. I laugh at him and walk away. Two more songs go by, and before I realize it, the dance is over. People are already leaving, and I realize I need a ride home. I walk around and ask who lives which way and everything, but no one can seem to give me a ride. Finally, I come up to Bradly.

"Hey Bradly, which way do you live? Left or right, going out of the parking lot?"

"I'm not going to my house, I'm spending the night at Nick's house." I groan. He looks at me for a minute and asks, "Do you need a ride?"

I nod, then say, "Well, there is someone that said they'd give me a ride home, but I really don't want to ride home with them." I nod at Andrew, and Bradly laughs.

"Yeah, I can imagine why. Well, I can call Nick and ask him." And he does so.

"Would it be okay if we gave someone else a ride?" He pauses. "Um… I don't exactly know her name." I give him a look of disbelief, and he gives an innocent look.

"I'm sorry! You've never told me your name before!" I blink. He's right… I never did! I start laughing, and Cade walks up. Bradly laughs and asks what my name is.

"Okay, okay, her name is Brittany." I nod, still giggling. He smiles and shakes his head. He finally finishes his conversation and hangs up.

"His mom said she would, but she's been driving around all day and really doesn't want to waste anymore gas." I sigh and nod.

"Oh, okay. Thanks for trying anyway."

As we wait for my first ride to finish cleaning and his ride to get there, we go outside and talk. Not about anything important… we just talk. Nick is standing with us, soon joining our conversations, one of which involving how strange it is for guys to stare at something and daydream about it.

Nick laughs. "Yeah, like I'm staring at Brad right now. I'm thinking about you Brad… whoooo…"

I burst into laughter at Bradly's expression. "Well, I'll stare at Bradly and do this." I put my finger on his forehead, and he laughs, then stops.

"Wow, your hands are cold." I tilt my head and realize that they are. I hadn't even noticed that it was around forty degrees outside. I grin and put the back of my fingers on his cheek. He shivers.

"Oh yeah. They're cold." He puts out one of his hands, and I feel his hand, my eyes widening.

"How are your hands so warm? Ugh, I envy you!" He laughs and bends by fingers so it's in a fist, then covers my hand with his. I grab his other hand and he does the same with that one, laughing at me. I smile. His hands are warm.

We begin to talk about more random things. I find out quite a lot about Bradly. He's very… fascinating. At last, we can leave. Both of our rides are ready to go. We walk down to the parking lot. I grin at Bradly and bounce over to him.

"Gimme a hug before you go!" He smiles and returns the hug I give him. I consider myself rather special; Bradly isn't the type of guy who just gives out hugs. I pull away and walk over to the car Andrew is already in.

"Hey, do you have myspace or facebook or what?" I turn around. Bradly is facing me, awaiting an answer.

"I have both, but I only use myspace to talk to people who don't have facebook. Facebook is awesome. I think myspace is for whores." I smile as he laughs at me once again.

"All right, I'll add you when I can." I nod and wave to him.

"See you!"

"See you."

I climb into the car, and as we're driving to my house, all I can think about is getting on facebook.

I deeply apologize for not updating for such a long time! I've been exceedingly busy lately. Yes, band season is over, and I certainly can't remember the last few days of band, but maybe I'll continue this into this season of winterguard. Until then, this shall be the last chapter of "Plights". I felt the need to post this because it seemed like a decent closure to the fic.

Thanks for reading!