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The Legal Stuff: Bears Know Best  © 2012 By Tiffany Shar
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright  © 2012 By Tiffany Shar. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Preface
 
It's been a while since my readers have heard from me, and I know that this isn't the book that they expected to be next. The Standing Up to Life series will be concluded, but I had reached a writers block with the series and needed to take a break. Bears Know Best has been that break, and I hope you all will enjoy it!

Like the first three books I posted here on BigCloset, I will be posting a full copy here on BigCloset. I will be posting it up in 28 installments, but that may change if I feel like a posting needs more. The book has a total of 35 chapters and a short epilogue. The full version should be completely posted by September. For those that cannot wait however, I have an e-book version of the full book available from Lulu.com as of today. You may find it at My Store. My assumption is that the majority of my readers would be more interested in this edition of the book rather than a hardback or paperback. There are two types of eBooks available depending on how you wish to read it. One is the ePub format that you should be able to load on any e-reader (you may need an additional app, but I believe all will read it), and the other is a standard PDF formatted file. I believe the PDF is the best way to read it on a computer screen personally. If you enjoy this work perhaps you will consider supporting me by purchasing it ($8.95 for the eBook formatted files).

Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy reading Bears Know Best!

Dedication
I would like to thank and dedicate this novel to the countless authors and authoresses whose tales I have read online. They have given me hope and helped me to understand myself more than anyone else could. Knowing others are out there is probably the biggest source of strength that any of us can draw from! I would also like to thank all of my readers who have given me such great feedback over my previous novels. I hope you will enjoy this new work!

Finally, a big thank you especially to Carla for all of your hard work in editing my long novels!
 
 
Chapter 25: This One Time…
 
TUESDAY MORNING I was glad I put my iPhone on my dressing table across the room, because if it had been next to me I’d have turned off the alarm and gone back to bed! I was a little sore from the first day so the shower felt especially good. As I patted myself dry I stared at myself in the foggy mirror, and tried to decide what to do with my hair. ‘A pony-tail really would be better for today…’ I thought to myself. ‘But I don’t want to be plain…’ I admitted to myself and got to work on my normal hair style. I threw a scrunchie on my wrist so I could put it up outside if it got too windy.

Mom took Alyssa and I that morning to practice again, and I found myself both excited and anxious that day. I really was excited to be there, be playing, and generally having a good time with the friends I was beginning to make from the day before. It was also kind of fun to do the marching, almost like a dance in a way, and I enjoyed it. I was really only worried to see if Destiny would be just as rude that day or not.

Alyssa seemed to pick up on my nerves a little and said, “Taylor, if she does anything else just go talk to Mr. Brandt. It sounded like he almost expected problems after yesterday morning.”

“I don’t like other people solving my problems,” I told her sheepishly.

She smiled, “I can tell.”

As we walked into the room with our horns I saw Cameron coming toward us. I’d never had a chance the last night to give him an answer about Wednesday. Alyssa was smart, taking her horn out, and leaving the two of us for a moment.

“Hi Cameron,” I said to him.

“Hi Taylor.” He said with a smile that I really liked seeing. “So did you ask your mom about Wednesday?”

I sighed, “Yes I did.” I watched his eyes fall, “She said yes,” his eyes widened, brightening to a state that made me want to grin. “But, I have to tell you she doesn’t want this to be any sort of ‘date.’” I said date while making quotation marks in the air with my fingers.

“Okay,” he said, quickly. “Just friends going for lunch together.”

I smiled, “Cool.”

He talked with me for a few more moments before Alyssa decided it was safe to rejoin us. Not long after that Mr. Brandt sent us all outside for more marching practice. We worked all morning on marching “eight-to-five” forwards, backwards, side-to-side, etc. I was tired of it by the time we finally stopped to go inside to practice music about eleven. He had section leaders doing a lot of checking up on us, and even though I knew I was probably doing it better than anyone else in the section, Destiny kept coming up and yelling at me for little things. It was annoying to say the least.

As we sat down to play I had my music on the stand and she ‘accidentally’ knocked it on the floor as she sat down. “Oops, sorry about that,” she said coolly.

I picked it up, sighed, and looked at her. “Can I talk to you in the hallway for a moment?”

Her eyes opened, and I think she wondered if I wanted to fight her or something. She followed me though out into the hallway that led to the bathrooms.

“Look, Destiny, I know you and I have gotten off on the wrong foot here. I don’t feel like playing these games with you until you graduate. I’m sorry for showing you up yesterday, is there a chance we can call a truce?”

“Why on Earth would I care about that?” She snarled, “You think because you came in owning your own marching horn you should get special treatment?”

“Did I ask for special treatment?”

“Obviously, look at where you’re sitting. Second chair! That shouldn’t be your spot.” She said loudly enough that I noticed a few faces peeking out from the band room to the hallway. One of them was Alyssa, and another was Cameron.

“Would you like me to be first chair, the spot playing wise I will be in the school year?” I asked sweetly.

“You’re NOT that good,” she told me.

“You’re right,” I told her. I watched her face change slightly, “I’m better than good. I practice a lot, and honestly can play circles around you. And,” I paused, “I think you do know that.”

“You’re just here to ruin my senior year!” she said with a few tears in her eyes.

I shook my head, “I’m not either,” I assured her.

“But you’ll end up taking all of the solos this year…” she was crying, I could see. “This year was supposed to be my chance…”

“I don’t have to take any solos,” I told her.

She looked at me in shock. “But, if you’re the best, and they’re given to you… why wouldn’t you want them?”

“Because, if they mean that much to you I don’t want to make your life miserable by taking them. Trust me, I play plenty of solos all of the time.”

“You’re just saying that now.”

“Well, if you do a bad job at them, then I’m sure Mr. Brandt will think otherwise. But if you play them well I don’t have a problem giving them to you.”

She stared at me for a moment. “You really do mean that, don’t you?”

I nodded.

“You’re a weird little girl,” she told me, and felt like the tears were going away and maybe there was a hint of a smile there.

“You don’t know the half of it…” I said with a smile.

“Why did you move here anyway?” she asked. It wasn’t as bitter of a tone, and I thought maybe this might be a step in the right direction.

“My dad remarried a couple years ago, and I had enough of living with the wicked step-mother, so I moved up here to live with my mom.” I told her honestly.

“I know that feeling,” she said sadly.

I wondered what all was wrong in Destiny’s own life that she felt like she had to lash out. I decided it was time to try this again, I stuck out my hand, “Hi, I’m Taylor.”

She glared at my hand as bad as she had yesterday, but tentatively put her own hand out there, “I’m Destiny.” She seemed to chew on her lip for a moment before saying, “And you are by far the weirdest little fish here,” she smirked at.

It seemed like maybe things would be going in the right direction now. The band had just started the warm-up when we went back inside, and I sheepishly took my seat. Like yesterday I played everything without issue, and even managed to keep up with the upperclassmen in the band on playing it by memory at the end of the rehearsal. “I’ll see you all after lunch,” Mr. Brandt told us, dismissing us after the rehearsal.

“So what did you do to Destiny?” Breanna asked as she rushed up to me after rehearsal. We were going back to her house again for lunch.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you two disappeared into the hallway and we were sure there was going to be fists flying or something, but when you came back in she wasn’t glaring at you anymore.”

I smiled, “We just talked for a few minutes.”

“Right…” Alyssa said.

I went on to explain on the car ride what we’d said to each other. Breanna’s mom looked at me as she opened the door to their house, “Taylor that was very mature of you, I’m glad it sounds like you did the right thing in getting things worked out.”

“Thanks,” I told her with a smile and a bit of a blush as she gave me a small hug.

Lunch was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that day. Definitely not the greatest thing in the world, but I appreciated her taking the time to make lunch for the four of us. We sprawled out in the living room for a bit afterwards before we had to get back to the school. “So what are we doing this weekend?” Alyssa asked.

I shrugged, “I’ve only been thinking about next weekend, no real plans for this weekend… Well, I guess I do have a lesson on Saturday.”

“You’re taking lessons with someone in the orchestra, right?” Danielle asked.

I nodded.

“That is like so cool!” she told me.

I smiled, “It’s a little crazy.”

“What time is your lesson?” Alyssa asked me.

“I think at two, but Mom was supposed to be getting hold of a lady that runs an honors band thing there, to see if I could do an audition with her this weekend too.”

“Are we ever going to see you?” Danielle asked jokingly.

“Of course!” I smiled. “We could do something Friday night?” I suggested.

“Don’t we like have a band thing till nine that night?” Breanna asked.

I pulled out my iPhone and looked at the picture I’d taken of the schedule, nodding, “We have some sort of barbeque, but after that how about a sleepover or something?”

Danielle nodded, “We could use the pool at my house and hang out there,” she suggested.

Everyone seemed to think it would be a good suggestion. Of course we all had to ask our parents, but we knew they would say yes. Breanna’s mom agreed without a problem to prove our point. Back at the rehearsal we sat down to work on more music from our shows for the year. We were going to have three different sets of music, and it was all pretty fun to play. About two hours into rehearsing that afternoon, Mr. Brandt sent us off into different directions to work in sections.

He seemed to give Destiny and I a longer glance than the others, but didn’t say anything to us. She led us to a corner of a hallway past a bend, close to the auditorium, and motioned for us to stand in a circle. “Okay, Mr. Brandt wanted us to work on this song first,” she said pointing to the one that had made her look really bad yesterday.

She bit her lip, and asked, “Taylor, can you play it again for us?”

“Sure,” I said with a smile.

When I finished one of the girls, Camille, that sat closer to Alyssa asked, “How do you play like that?”

Destiny flushed a little bit, but I answered, “I practice a lot.”

“You make that sound so easy,” Cassie said with a shake of her head.

“All you have to do is…” I explained how to make it work, and we all worked together through each measure until the section could all play it. I did my best to take a total backseat to Destiny though; I didn’t want to restart the turf war. She was amazingly courteous throughout the afternoon, so I hoped we had managed to bury the hatchet. When we returned to the normal rehearsal it seemed like the rest of the section was doing better on the music.

Just about an hour before the afternoon practice was to end, Mr. Brandt gave us all a ten minute break. “Taylor and Destiny, may I see you please in my office?”

I groaned and it sounded like Destiny did the same next to me. I turned and gave her a thin smile, which amazingly she did return.

“Come in please, and shut the door.” He told us.

“I wanted to talk to you this morning, but never had a chance… it seemed like yesterday there were some issues…” Mr. Brandt seemed to dance around the issue quite a bit himself.

I was impatient, and needed to go to the bathroom during the break myself, “Mr. Brandt?” I interrupted as politely as I could.

“Yes Taylor?”

“Yes, I think there might have been some initial misunderstandings, but I think the two of us have worked it out?” I looked at her to my side as I said that.

She nodded slowly, “Look, I didn’t like the fact that she came in with a horn I mistakenly thought was mine… and we got off on a bad start. We talked earlier, and I think we’ve cleared things up between us. I’m still not happy that she’s the size of a nine-year old and can outplay me…” she said with a bit of a smirk, “but I can’t stay mad at her. She’s probably the nicest person in the band already,” she added.

I blushed. “Umm… thanks.” I told her.

“So everything is good?” He asked.

We nodded.

“Thanks for being so mature about this,” he told us both, but I felt his eyes linger on me.

I smiled at him, and we were able to escape. I found she was also walking towards the bathroom, “Thanks Taylor,” she told me as she opened the door.

“Thank you actually,” I told her.

“For what? I was a total bitch to you…”

“For being willing to let it go and not hold a grudge… I was really worried that this was something we’d be fighting every day…”

Something in her eyes told me that’s probably what she had intended. “If you hadn’t talked to me it might have… Which is why you’re way cooler than I gave you credit for when I met you.”

“So are you,” I told her with a smile. We both headed into empty stalls and arrived back into the band room about the time Mr. Brandt wanted to start again.

Mr. Brandt worked the band hard the rest of the rehearsal, and had us ‘mark-time’ while we played our music to get used to moving our feet in time. It was something that I picked up easily it seemed, and while he corrected a lot of other people, I don’t think he ever said anything to me but ‘good job.’

“Okay, ladies and gents.” He said as he was wrapping up rehearsal. “Tonight I’m hoping to start learning our first show. Section leaders, I expect you to pick up your section’s drill cards before rehearsal, and help them find their first three sets during the first ten minutes of our rehearsal. I’d love to be able to get the first song done and on the field with music tonight!”

I heard some murmuring from some of the seniors, but couldn’t make it out.

“Please make sure you bring a water bottle tonight, and also make sure you’re wearing tennis shoes, no flip-flops!” He reminded everyone. I don’t know why anyone would need to be reminded though, he’d been pretty angry at a senior girl who had been wearing flip-flops earlier. “Also, don’t forget we have the end of camp barbeque on Friday. Please invite your parents, as we’ll hopefully have at least a few things to perform for them that night!”

As I was leaving he motioned for me to come over to him. “Taylor, whatever you did with Destiny… thanks. I really appreciate you working things out, it’s not usually that easy with her,” he told me softly.

I looked at him and smiled, before saying, “See you tonight!”

Mom was again waiting for me outside, but we went out for dinner that night. She asked me about my day so far and I told her basically everything, including about working things out with Destiny. She’d given me a hug then and said, “Good girl.”

I smiled, as her praise really did seem to make my day better. About half-way through the meal, when I felt like the Spanish Inquisition was done, I remembered, “Mom did you happen to call that lady?”

She nodded at me, “She said normally they don’t make any exceptions like this, but Mr. Fark I guess was pretty persuasive. She’s willing to meet you at her school Saturday morning before your lesson to hear you play.”

“Cool,” I said with a smile, before feeling my stomach lurch a little bit, I had not been practicing my concert horn at all this week so far. Getting to band early in the morning and staying there till late at night was not helping things there!

I was thinking about all of that as she drove me home to kill the last half-hour or so before band, when I asked, “Can you take me back to practice now?” She looked at me weirdly, “I want to take my concert horn and get some practice in… I don’t want to fail at my audition on Saturday, and I don’t know when I’ll find time to practice unless it’s during the breaks…”

“Do you think it’s okay to take your horn…?” She asked me with concern.

“Mom, it’s insured.” I laughed, “The only person who would have been a problem I seem to have made up with. I won’t leave it there overnight.”

She looked at me unconvinced, but shrugged, “I guess you have to when school starts anyway. Go grab it and I’ll drop you off,” she told me.

I smiled, ran downstairs, made sure my music was in its’ pocket, and ran back upstairs to get into the car. Mom smiled at me as we climbed in the car, and I just felt ‘good’ that she cared enough to basically do anything for me. She dropped me off and I was grateful that Mr. Brandt was already there.

“Hi,” he said. “You know you’re early…”

“I know, but I need to practice, so I thought I’d get some in now.”

“And you haven’t been practicing all day long?”

I shook my head, “Nope, just warming up!”

He laughed at me. “Well, go ahead.”

I sat down in my chair and pulled my horn out and warmed up just a small amount since I’d been playing so much all day. It felt weird playing my concert horn after playing the marching horn for two days… ‘I guess I know what Mr. Fark was talking about now.’ I thought to myself. I played all twelve of my major scales, my chromatic scale, and then decided on movements, of two solos, to play for the director.

I was mid-way through the first one when I sensed I had an audience. I kept playing though, and ignored them. I knew this was inevitably going to happen, and couldn’t afford to get side-tracked. When I finished that movement I noticed four people sitting in the chairs around me staring.

“Oh my God!” Cassie said. “You’re like amazing!”

“Why in the world are you going to our high school?” Another girl, who I didn’t know, asked.

I shrugged, “I moved in with my mom this summer.”

I proceeded to turn my horn to get the spit out of the horn, and emptied the slides out too. “You have the prettiest horn,” I heard Destiny gush off to the side of me.

“I think so,” I told her with a smile.

“So what else can you play little girl?” She asked me with a smile, and I knew she wasn’t being mean.

I pulled up the other piece I was going to play for the audition and started playing it. By the end of it the band room was filling with more and more people that seemed to all be gawking at me. Cameron had come and found a seat near me too, and I felt like I was some sort of alien or something. Granted, the band wasn’t that great compared to what I came from… but I didn’t really care. I did band itself as much for the fun of playing as anything. I figured I’d always get quality playing time in with Mr. Fark and maybe this honors band thing. No one else in the room seemed used to the idea of a really strong player though.

There was actually applause when I finished playing that piece, and I found myself flushing red from embarrassment. I noticed it was about time to be heading outside, so I put my horn back in its’ case and set it beneath my chair. “So why were you practicing after playing all day?” Destiny asked me on the way outside.

“I’ve got an audition on Saturday…” I explained to her.

She gave me another one of her looks and asked, “So does that mean I might have to put up with you on Saturdays too?”

“You play in the group too?” I asked.

She nodded and proceeded to tell me besides Cameron and her, there were two flute players that played in the group. After a slight glare she shrugged and said, “You should be in the group. I wouldn’t mind it if you took Megan down a peg or two while you’re at it!” She actually laughed. I learned that she was seventh chair, and Megan was a first-chair prima donna that felt like she was better than everyone else in the universe.

I raised my eyebrow at her, “Are you saying I’m a bigger prima donna?”

She shook her head and laughed at me. “No, you’re actually pretty cool compared to her. You just are definitely a much better player.”

Destiny gathered together the horn section outside, and began showing us how to use the drill cards. Each ‘set’ was a set of graph coordinates to look at and showed us where to go. “We used to do this a different way before Mr. Brandt got here last year… honestly we were really bad back then. This new way is a lot easier once you get used to it.” She claimed. We each had a piece of chalk and marked up our spots with our initials and a number.

By the time Mr. Brandt had us start moving together as a band I felt like I knew where we were supposed to go. It was a really tough rehearsal for all of us new to the band, but I felt like I was dealing as well or better than everyone else. By the end of the rehearsal we had learned all ten sets of the first song. As the sun was setting Mr. Brandt had us run it through with our instruments.

I’m not going to lie and say it sounded good… dreadful would be the best description to my ears. I watched people run into each other, and just missed being hit with a trombone slide. Thankfully the guy, a freshman named Chris, who nearly wacked me was much taller that it just passed over the top of me.

“I guess it’s a good thing you’re so little!” Destiny actually joked with me immediately after it.

Mr. Brandt wasn’t in the mood to hear us joking though, and yelled at the band to go back to our spots and do it again. And again! The sun had definitely set by the time he had us gather in front of him. Parent’s cars were waiting in a line along the side of the building already as he talked to us.

“Tonight is better than anything this band has done in a long time,” he told us towards the end. “I know it can be frustrating, but it’ll be worth it every time you perform for the audiences and they have a good time watching you!” I found myself smiling at that. “Tonight we’d like to begin recognizing a section of the day and outstanding member of the day too.” He said.

“So, drum roll please!” he said to snare drummer. “The outstanding member of the day is...” he paused, “Destiny!”

I smiled and was happy for her. I guessed Mr. Brandt was rewarding her for dropping what otherwise might have been a year-long grudge between the two of us.

“And the outstanding section is…” he pointed for another drum roll, “the horns!”

Alyssa and I high-fived, and were joined by the other girls in our section. We were all smiling as we went inside with our instruments and put them up. I had just thrown my concert horn on my shoulders in backpack mode with Destiny came up to me.

“See you tomorrow Taylor,” she told me with a smile.

“See you,” I told her.

I walked out to Alyssa’s mom’s car completely and totally in disbelief over how much had changed with her over the day. Alyssa and I climbed into the car almost totally worn out. “How did today go girls?” Her mom asked.

Alyssa said, “Well somehow Taylor took our witch of a section leader and made her human…” Alyssa’s mom started pestering me for details.

Sometimes it felt she was beginning to feel like a second mom to me, and that night on the drive home certainly felt like that. Once we’d parked her car in their garage she gave me a hug, “I’m very proud of you Taylor, it sounds like you are growing up to be an incredible young lady.”

My eyes glistened slightly as I returned her hug and said, “Thanks.”

I walked into my house a few moments later and Mom greeted me with another hug. ‘It’s like I’m a hug magnet now!’ I thought to myself with a smile. She asked me questions about the rest of my day for a bit before I sat down on the couch to call Dad.

We didn’t talk long, and he sounded as tired as I was, but I felt like I should talk to him. Towards the end of the conversation he dropped hints that made me think he and Rachel were trying to patch things up, but that it was up to her to behave towards me. To her credit she had behaved better from Saturday night on when they were out for my surgery… but I don’t think either of us believed her attitude was real. When I hung up with him I wondered about what I’d do if he did get divorced from her at some point… Would I want to move away from Mom ever again?

I fought with that question in my head for an hour while I took care of my daily task, and then took a shower. I felt so sweaty and grimy that I lay down on a blanket on the floor that night instead of on my bed like normally did while doing the task. After I got out of the shower Mom was waiting in my room. I’d kept my hair dry with a shower cap, so at least I didn’t have to worry about it.

“Mind if I tuck you in tonight?” She asked with a smile.

“Sure,” I told her with my own smile.

Mom pulled out that same story book that she’d used a few times in the last month, and I confess I was just like a little kid in that I was asleep before the end of the story. The next morning I kept thinking, ‘I wish I knew how it ended!’

 
Thank you to all that keep leaving comments, I really do appreciate them!