Free The Line by Courtney Brandt Page B

getting almost forty people in a fight. He’d have detention for the rest of his life, not to mention, significantly reduce the chances that his Line would get to go to the indoor competitions in November.
    Jerm raised up his hand like he was ending a cadence, and announced, “Come on, guys. We may have a ‘bitch’ on our line, but at least she can play.”
    He turned to leave. The rest of the Line followed.
    Lucy rolled her eyes, but smiled at the backwards compliment. As she walked away, she stole one more glance of Sam, wishing things had worked out differently with the handsome South Washington drumline captain.
    Riled up from their unspent testosterone, the upperclassmen watched the South show from the stands, ruthlessly picking apart every part of their performance. With halftime over, they made their way to the parking lot. All anyone could talk about was the “bitch” comment. Lucy knew it was only going to get worse when they told the underclassmen on Monday.
    Back at Forrest Hills, Lucy felt she had to get away from the Line. While she was impressed and flattered by everyone’s loyalty, she had a sinking suspicion they probably would have called her the same thing if the situation was reversed. Not pausing to see if Nevada was looking or waiting for her, Lucy jumped in her car and started driving. Before long, she found she had driven herself to where she and Sam had shared their first (and only) date. Parking her car, she moodily walked over to the swings.
    “I thought I might find you here.”
    Lucy recognized the voice and promptly fell out of the swing. She was totally embarrassed when Sam extended a strong hand to pick her up and was glad it was dark out so he couldn’t see how red her face was.
    Sam took a seat in an adjacent swing, and admitted, “I wanted you to know it wasn’t me tonight.”
    “I know. I knew it wasn’t your voice, but your guys were sticking up for you. They’re acting like any good Line should for their captain.”
    They swung in silence. After a few moments, Sam’s husky voice interrupted Lucy’s panicked thoughts, “You know what?”
    “What’s that?”
    “You’re a pretty gutsy girl.”
    Lucy smiled at the awkward compliment and asked, “How do you figure?”
    “Well, meeting my whole Line like that and then telling them who you really were. Then, coming tonight…you didn’t have to, but you did.”
    “I know you have no reason to believe me, but I had planned on telling you the truth as soon as I saw you last week.”
    “But you didn’t plan on everyone being there?”
    Lucy got up and started pacing, and answered, “No! I felt terrible every time I saw you or talked to you. I knew you thought I was someone else, but here’s the thing: I am really proud of my spot on the Line. I worked hard for it and have to work harder than everyone else to overcome the whole ‘girl’ stigma.”
    “You should be proud of yourself. You’re on a really good Line and you can’t just be given a spot on Forrest’s Battery.”
    “Thanks. Anyway, again, I want you to know I’m not the person who usually lies to people, but when I saw that you were probably never going to talk to me that day at the theater, I got a little desperate.”
    Sam laughed out loud.
    “What are you laughing at?” Lucy asked, offended.
    “I’m just laughing because girls have done some strange things to get my attention, but lying about being on drumline may be among the strangest.”
    Lucy smiled and commented, “I can just picture you at band camp. You must make those little Auxiliary girls giggle like crazy.”
    “I respectfully plead the fifth.”
    “Look, I know what my boys go through. Don’t get me wrong, they love it, but usually it’s not anything they want to pursue.”
    Sam stopped swinging and looked at Lucy. He asked, “My boys? Lucy, my dear, is there something else you are not telling me?”
    “My boys as in ‘my friends’? I know you’ve had girls on your drumline,