Chapter 14

As soon as we got to the location of our band competition, a group of kids started running towards our bus. I recognized them all immediately. Smiling widely, I climbed over Callum since he insisted that I took the window seat and jumped out of the bus, hugging the three tightly. "You guys are competing here too!"

"You bet we are!" Regina, the head drum major of my old school, said as she hugged me back tightly. "We missed you Anna."

"Woah, who are these people?" Callum asked, holding Koda in his arms as he climbed out of the bus, the rest of the band behind him.

"We’re the drum majors from Lincoln Park." Maya, a sophomore girl who was in trumpet line last year explained.

"No way! You guys are from Anna’s school?"

"That we are." Sooki, who I think was a color guard member last year, explained. "She’s one of our best."

"Is Naomi enjoying herself there?"

"Yeah. She’s probably hanging out with her boyfriend in drumline." Maya said, shrugging.

"Of course she would have a boyfriend in drumline." Angie, the head drum major of our band, said as she and Vicky, the other drum major, said, walking up to us. Angie turned towards me. "Are these the Lincoln Park drum majors?"

"Yeah."

"Nice to meet you guys." Vicky said, nudging Callum’s arm. "We gotta get dressed though since we’re one of the first bands to perform."

"What’s your show anyway?" Regina asked kindly.

"The Art of Animation." I said quickly. "When do you guys perform?"

"We’re the first one in the afternoon group." Sooki said excitedly. "We’re excited to see you guys perform."

"Us too. I’ll definitely see your show." I said, waving as my old bandmates walked away.

"Okay, let’s get Koda to Alvarez." Callum said happily.

"Why give the dog to your band teacher when we can take him?" A voice behind us asked. Callum and I turned around to see Edward and a guy with light skin and straight brown hair, awkwardly fiddling with his hands.

"What are you doing here Edward?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

"You know, that’s a good look for you, Andrews." Edward said jokingly. I knew exactly how I looked. My hair was held back in a messy ponytail and my bangs were pinned back since the drum majors had to wear fun costumes for the show since we were doing songs from different old animated movies. Since I was conducting the How To Train Your Dragon section, my costume was based off Astrid. I didn’t feel the need to even try to get dressed so I was wearing a pair of fluffy pajama pants with cat/unicorn hybrids on them and a pink shirt with small holes in it. I haven’t even bothered to try and do a braid for Astrid on the bus ride over so that I could at least have that part done because of Callum constantly moving around next to me on the five hour bus driver here.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay Asshat, very funny."

"You know Ed, if you really want to get with someone as cute as her, you might not want to insult her." The guy next to Edward said, putting an arm around Edward playfully.

"Shut up Damian." Edward grumbled.

"Oh, that’s Damian." I muttered to myself.

"What are you doing here, man?" Callum asked.

"Damian’s band is performing today too and he forced me to come along." Edward explained, sighing heavily. He looked over at Koda, holding out his arms. "Gimme the dog. I can watch him."

Koda looked at me with a puppy dog stare as I looked over at Callum, nodding my head. "Hand Koda over Callum."

"Take good care of him dude." Callum said, handing Koda to Edward.

"Don’t worry, I will."

"Come on. We gotta get ready." Callum said, grabbing my arm and dragging me to the trailer to go grab out bags.

The other female drum majors were already in the bathroom getting in their costumes, Angie getting dressed in a Steamboat Willie outfit and Vicky getting dressed in a Poppy costume. I started braiding my hair as Vicky smirked at me in the mirror. "So… How do you know Edward Potter?"

"We talk. We have a class together. Why?"

"Just curious. He’s pretty cute. You two dating?"

"What? NO!" I said, feeling my face become red for a reason I didn't quite understand.

"You sure about that?"

"YES!"

"Vicky, leave Anneliese alone." Angie said, rolling her eyes. "We don’t need to pry into her private life. It is her private life, after all. She probably just wants to keep things private."

"There’s nothing to say about me and Edward." I said, finishing my braid as I grabbed the rest of my costume and started putting it on. "We’re just friends."

"Sure..."

"We are!"

"I guess that newbies stick together-"

"I’m not that new… I have been here for almost a month. I don’t think I’m that new anymore."

"You’re gonna be the newbie for the rest of the school year."

"Vicky, hush!" Angie said strongly.

"I’m just stating a fact."

"Ya don’t gotta be rude about it though." I said bitterly.

"Vicky, shut up." Angie said, rolling her eyes as I walked out of the bathroom at the same time Callum was, readjusting his Woody hat.

"Howdy Pardner." Callum said jokingly.

"Howdy." I said, stuffing my glasses into a pocket that was hidden inside my skirt.

"Let me guess," Callum said jokingly. "Vicky was getting on your case about Edward?"

"Wow! How ever did you know?"

"I could hear the embarrassment from next door. Ease up on the sarcasm, okay?"

"What? I’m only joking."

"And that’s what scares me."

Rolling my eyes, I walked back towards the band, crossing my arms as I stared at the field. "You got an idea on what Graves is gonna make us practice?"

"Probably the dancing for the fourth movement. You gotta admit, Can’t Stop The Feeling could use a bit of work, especially since we’re gonna be dancing while conducting."

"Right..."

"We are gonna be fine, okay?"

"I know we are, but still. The fact that we’re switching main drum majors with each movement is insanity."

"No, what’s insanity is the fact that the color guard coach managed to choreograph you joining the color guard so that you can get to the back of the field fast enough for You Got A Friend In Me."

"Let’s be real: this show is fun, but it’s also on drugs."

"Specifically steroids."

"Obviously."

"Drum majors, please lead the band to the warm up area!" Mr. Graves said about an hour before we were supposed to go on.

By the time we were done warming up, everyone was exhausted. As we marched to the field, listening to opening ceremonies, I looked up at the stands and saw my dad sitting up in there with some red haired lady. Recognizing who it was, I elbowed Callum since he was right next to me. "You may wanna look at this."

"What?" Callum whispered, keeping his gaze fixed on the field in front of him since we weren’t supposed to move or even talk.

"Fifth row, part of the stands that’s with the announcer’s box. Aisle closest to us. Who do you see?"

Callum’s eyes flicked over, his eyes widening a bit. "Is that Aunt Beth sitting with your father?"

"Just wanted to make sure that I wasn’t seeing things."

"Why are they-"

"Why would I know Callum? I mean, let’s be logical here. I didn’t even know that he was coming."

"Thought you had more details than me."

"You don’t think-"

"Why would they? Your dad is just going through a divorce!"

"He is not divorced yet. It’s temporary."

"Yeah yeah yeah, I know, but still. I knew they worked in the same building, but I didn’t think that they knew each other."

"I didn’t know they knew each other either!"

"Will you two shut up?" Vicky asked. "We’re about to go on."

Callum shot me a cautious side eye as we marched onto the field. By the time our show was done, Callum and I quickly undressed and met back outside by the bus. Callum was ruffling his red hair nervously. "How are we gonna do this?"

"I am gonna run some recon." I said, handing Callum my glasses.

Callum’s eyes seemed to bulge out of his face. "Are you crazy? You are gonna get caught using your powers before college!"

"Not if I close my eyes while doing it." I said, noticing Dad and Beth walk over. "Okay. It’s showtime."

"Anna!" Callum hissed as I ran towards my dad.

"Dad!" I said excitedly, throwing my arms open as I jumped up and hugged my dad, making sure that at least one of my hands was touching some exposed skin. "I didn’t know you were coming!"

Closing my eyes tightly, I saw Dad and Beth, holding hands while they walked through some city that looked familiar, yet I couldn’t place what city it was they were in. They paused in the middle of the bridge they were walking across, then slowly leaned in towards each other-

"-ory short," Dad said as I flashed back to reality, my eyes blinking rapidly. Were they about to kiss? "I had some free hours today before I’m needed back at the conference center, so I decided to come here to cheer you guys on when I ran into a familiar face from work."

"Yeah, I can tell." I said nervously, seperating from Dad. I looked over at Beth. "Hi Ms. Baxter."

"You already know Bethany?"

"Yeah. She’s Callum’s aunt."

"Hi Aunt Beth..." Callum said, finally catching up to us.

"Right. Callum." Dad said, remembering who Callum was.

"Hi kiddo! You guys did a good job out there!" Beth said happily. "Did you two see us in the stands?"

"We saw everything." I said uncomfortably. "That being said, we gotta go find Edward and his friend Damian since they’re watching Koda."

"Okay. Remember, I’ll be home tomorrow evening. Be good until then, okay my little princess?"

"Okay Dad..." I said, grabbing onto Callum’s sleeve. "Let’s go find my dog right now."

As soon as we were out of earshot, Callum handed me my glasses. "So… Did you find out anything?"

"I saw too much." I said, shivering to myself.

"You have to give me more info than that, Anna."

"You don’t wanna know."

"Yes I do. Why do you think I’m asking?"

"Trust me, you don’t want to know."

"What did you see, them having… Them doing the Devil’s Tango?"

"No..."

"Then what did you see? It can’t be as bad as that!"

"I think I saw them about to kiss."

Callum was silent for a moment. "Where and when?"

"In some city, and I don’t know when!"

"So you can tell the future, but you don’t know when!"

"YES! Time is a weird thing! I can know how something happens, but it’s not like there’s a handy little date and time marker in the bottom corner like there is on security tapes, Callum!"

"So they’re gonna start dating?"

"I guess."

"But you don’t know when?"

"Yes."

"You do know what this means, right?"

"We’re gonna be family?"

"Not what I was thinking, but yes." Callum said awkwardly. "I was thinking that this means that your parents are going to get divorced at some point in the future."

"Fuck!" I said exhaustedly. "I didn’t think about that."

"Yeah. I figured."

"You figured what?" Edward asked as he and Damian walked forward, holding Koda in his arms.

"Nothing." Callum said quickly, looking over at Damian. "Boy, I am hungry. Do you want to go get food?"

"Sure. You want anything Ed?"

"I’m good." Edward said, glancing at me. "Do you want anything?"

"I’ll get lunch later." I said, internally attempting to calm myself down.

"We’ll save you guys a seat." Edward said as Damian nodded, leading Callum away. Edward gave me a concerned look. "Anna, what happened?"

"I triggered a premonition."

"Really? That’s great news!"

"No. No, it’s not."

"Why not?"

"Well, for starters, I had a premonition of Callum running onto a landmine and exploding into a billion pieces last night-"

"You mean you-"

"Oh please, I saw you die too. And now, when we saw my dad and Unicorn sitting in the stands together-"

"Why is your-"

"He had some downtime. Anyway, I triggered a premonition with him and saw my dad and Beth in some weird city about to kiss each other on a bridge in the middle of the night."

Edward’s eyes widened. "Oh my God, Anneliese, I am so sorry. That is… Not the best way to find out ab-"

"And the best part is that Dad doesn’t even know it yet. He doesn’t even know that he and Mom are gonna be getting a divorce and that he’s going to start dating Callum’s aunt. I know and I am kinda freaking out about it. Can you t-"

"Yes, I can tell that you are freaking out about this." Edward said, laughing a bit. "Just breathe, okay? In for four, out for four."

I followed Edward’s instructions as he led me up to the stands to a place big enough for the four of us. Edward smiled at me as I sat down, taking my hand and rubbing the center of my wrist wth his thumb so gently it was like he wasn’t there. "You good now?"

"I’m… Better than I was."

"Good. Now, what do you want to talk about?"

"Anything besides my family life."

"That’s easy enough." Edward said, lowering his voice as Koda curled up in my lap. "So, while we were waiting for you guys to come on, Damian and I were talking about the Herbstreit situation."

"And what did Damian say?"

"He has a couple ideas on who Herbstreit could be. Starmole, Gigabyte, Monarch-"

"So all of his father’s sworn enemies?"

"Just the ones that are male. He did throw Sewage into the mix, but-"

"Didn’t Sewage die after Brain Dump fought him last?"

"He didn’t die, he went missing." Edward corrected. "But I don’t think that that would be Herbstreit because who would be stupid enough to pose as your mortal enemy in front of a bunch of kids who trust you to train them in the way of being a super hero?"

"Someone trying to build an army?" I suggested.

"God, I hate it when you make a good point."

"Which happens often, right?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Edward grumbled. "Anyway, Damian wants to join the team because he wants to know what person is besmirching his father’s good name."

"Wow, somebody used a big boy word."

"Hilarious. I already talked to Becky about it, and she’s on board. You cool with him joining?"

"Yeah. How are we gonna meet with him though?"

"We’ll cross that bridge later. They’re coming back."

"Hey guys!" Callum said happily, a slice of pizza in his hands. "Anything interesting happen while we were gone?"

"Nope." I said quickly. We had to keep this a secret for a while longer. Didn’t want to cause mass hysteria if we could avoid it. We were going to figure out who Herbstreit was, no matter the cost.

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