High school is nearing its final semester and I need a P.E. credit. Actually I need two P.E. credits. If you’ve ever taken the time to admire my physique, it may surprise you to hear that my high school career is lacking in the Physical Education department. Suspend your disbelief for a moment.
I sign up for bowling by correspondence. It sounds easy and I like bowing. One down, one to go.
“Just take color guard!”
Kerry’s an attractive friend of mine who is dating one of my best friends. I consider that to be unfortunate for me, although I don’t exactly have the confidence yet to get a girl like that. More on topic, she is in color guard, and a big fan of it.
I’m not an expert, but I remember seeing color guard on the field during football games. They twirl flags and march. I could do that. It really only comes down to one statistic, though :
Thirty girls. One guy.
I agree to do color guard. I don’t have much choice. My first warning that this may be a bad idea comes quickly. A mischeivious smile finds its way to Kerry’s face and she giggles.
Color guard’s first meeting is after school that day. Mr. Brownlee talks about our costumes for the show as well as our flags. Costumes. I hadn’t thought of that.
By the end of the lecture I find myself emotionally invested in the color of the new flags.
We line up single file and are each handed a small package.
A small package of tights.
It’s then explained to me that color guard in the winter isn’t marching and flag twirling. It’s DANCING and flag twirling. I’m in trouble.
Worse, my tights aren’t even male tights… they’re grl tights. For some reason they make my legs cold when I wear them. They look fabulous with my jazz shoes, though.
As the color guard season progresses, I get into it. The girls are great and I love the flag twirling, especially the tosses. Even the dramatic dance moves we perform sans flag are kinda fun. The song chosen for our routine is Jewel – Foolish Games.
We turn out to be a pretty good team and do very well. At the end of the season I wish there was more to it. I don’t even mind waking up at 6am for practice anymore.
I was the first guy to ever join colorguard in the winter, but I’m told that since then there’s been a guy in it every semester. I’m a trendsetter.
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