Homecoming week was dull and uneventful, despite the hype among the other students. Emily had band functions everywhere, and she had never been fond of the parade. For the second year in a row, she had to march between Mike Johnson and Jerry Farley, who both criticized her marching skills. Her legs weren’t quite as long as theirs and she sometimes had trouble keeping up--and when she did catch up, she over-compensated and got ahead. It was very frustrating. Farmingville won the homecoming game, and Emily was quite convinced that they would make it to the playoffs that year.

 Emily took Ben to the homecoming dance and tried her best to avoid him. She wore a long, velvet black dress that dragged on the ground a little, with black sandals. Ben did not give her a corsage, so she wore a fake purple one that Tim Casey had given her the year before. She had her beloved string of pearls around her neck and her purple crystal earrings, and she left her hair down with soft curls. She danced with Ben a couple times, but generally went around and grabbed up a wide variety of guys to dance with. She danced with Nick, Steve, Dennis and several others. All in all, she had a good time.

 One day, Emily got a phone call from Hudson’s, a department store in the nearby mall. She had almost forgotten about putting in an application there. She hadn’t really been looking for a job, but Mr. Minuzo had made the job announcement, so Emily decided to try. She did need some resume experience. After all, it was only a temporary job through Christmas.

 “You’re hired!” said the woman that Emily was talking to.

 Emily smiled and said, “Great!” She was to go in for her job orientation and training in a week. She had to dress up, and she mentally picked out her blue skirt and white sweater to wear.

 There were plenty of people at the orientation that Emily knew. Alisa Gutierrez, Jodie Harris, Leslie Brantford, Carl Wilson and Paul Murray were among the several other band members that had also applied for jobs. They were led into a back room behind the main office and seated at a long table to fill out the paperwork. Emily quickly read over and signed several forms, then gave up her driver’s license and social security card to Anna, the supervisor. Anna took all of the forms and cards and left the room. At first, everyone was quiet.

 Finally, a familiar-looking girl whose name tag said her name was Rachael spoke up. “Do you think they’re listening to us?”

 “Maybe,” said Paul.

 “I like that lady,” Alisa said confidentially to Emily. “She’s nice.”

 “Yeah, but I heard that the one that does the register training is a real... witch,” Rachael smiled, watching what she said.

 “I can deal with witches,” Emily smiled. “Hey, weren’t you in my gym class last year?”

 “Maybe,” Rachael replied, turning towards Emily while everyone else kept talking. “Did you have Miss Williams, fifth hour?”

 “Yep.”

 “Then I was in your class.”

 “What grade are you in?”

 “I’m a senior.”

 “So am I. Wonder why I never heard of you.” Rachael had dark, somewhat tousled hair; she had bright blue eyes beneath her glasses; a crooked, comical smile; and her ensemble was a daring and creative one.

 “My brother kind of overshadows me. Nobody ever hears about me.”

 “Who’s your brother?”

 “Darian.”

 “Callaway?”

 “Yeah.”

 “Are you two twins?”

 “No. I’m supposed to be a junior. I got skipped ahead a year. See, I’m the weird one in the family. Darian’s this big great football player and he’s going to a good college, and I’m... different from him.”

 “Well, it’s okay. I used to have a crush on him.”

 Rachael gave Emily a strange look, then continued. “Darian only likes stupid, pretty girls. That’s why me and him don’t get along. What department are you working in?”

 “Kids.”

 “Me, too. Maybe we’ll get to work together.”

 Anna returned with everyone’s licenses and cards, then sent half to register training and the other half to their respective departments. Emily and Rachael were separated--Emily was sent to her department, while Rachael went to register training.

 Emily had a crash course in register training from her young co-worker, Tamara. She also learned how to fold clothes and straighten shelves of shirts and pants. Tamara handled the cash register while Emily tackled problem areas like the racks of socks, pantyhose and mittens. It was not a hard job to do, but she was still quite tired when she went home at nine o’clock that night.

 She worked with her supervisor on her schedule the next day. There were still a few more football games and the chance that the team would go to the state playoffs--and, in that case, the marching band would have to go to those games, as well. She started work at five on the days she had practice, and four on the days she did not. Emily told the supervisor that she could work all hours on weekends.

 With that, Emily had her first job. She got her first paycheck two weeks later and was very proud to take it to the bank and start her own account.

 Emily wished she had not worn her brown dress the night of the Michigan State University Symphony concert. The November night was freezing and the dress, although short and very becoming on her, did not keep her very warm. The band had taken the trip to the concert to fulfill one of the class requirements--to attend one outside symphony concert each semester.

 The bus ride to Lansing was not uneventful. Two buses were taken, and Emily was not on the bus that Mr. Minuzo was on. When she got on the bus, she sat in a seat towards the back, by herself, planning to sleep through the trip because it was too dark to read or write.

 However, someone sat next to her. A younger, blonde-haired, good-looking kid named Andrew Thompson. Emily knew his older brother, Eddie, who was in her class. Andrew was a freshman.

 Emily and Andrew talked and got to know each other. For that night, Emily forgot about Nick and Aaron, surprised at the attention she was getting from this adorable freshman. Andrew was obviously attracted to her, and Emily was glad that, in that respect, she had worn the brown dress. At times during the night, she even forgot their age difference. Andrew was fourteen; Emily was seventeen-and-a-half.

 They sat next to each other at the concert and whispered occasionally about the music or the players. When the concert ended and they got on the bus to go home, they decided to keep each other warm. Emily cuddled up to Andrew, and he used her head as a head-rest--he was considerably taller than she was--and snoozed during the bus ride. When they got home, Emily scribbled her phone number on a piece of scrap paper dug from the bottom of her purse, and gave it to Andrew.

 Andrew and Emily called each other for a couple days, and then stopped. Both came to the realization that “senior-freshman relationships” very rarely work out. They both decided to look for people their own age, and Emily was not very disappointed.