The Defeat of the Undefeated

Tonight was the fateful playoff game, Reynolds vs. Tabor, the game which put us out of the running to win the state championship; this was ironic because we beat Tabor by quite a bit (if I remember correctly) earlier in the season. We lost 22-26; we were very close to making a last touchdown which, like at the West game, would have led us to an amazing victory. However, the ball was intercepted, and the game ended with Tabor students pouring onto the field.
We did get to play our half-time show tonight, which was nice; my dad and Daniel showed up to watch. Banks did an odd thing just before the second quarter ended which I shall remember, for whatever reason, for a long time, just as I still remember the smallest gesture that Peter and Genevieve made in fifth grade. It was the day of the Fairy Tale Ball, and when Taylor and I stepped forward into the middle of the gymnasium floor, I heard my name whispered; I looked over to see Peter and Genevieve sitting together on the floor against the wall with the rest of Mr. Esstmen's class. Genevieve said, "Good luck," and Peter gave a quick thumbs-up.
But anyways, I digress. There was about a minute left in the second quarter; I was standing just inside the fence, next to Ol' Bessie (the xylophone). Mr. James, on the other side of the fence, gave Banks the order to get the band assembled near the touchdown area. The band filed in, Banks near the middle, wearing his white drum major uniform. He passed me but then doubled back and held out his pinky finger. Uncertain of how I was supposed to respond, I took hold of it with my own pinky finger, and there was a solemn moment before he went to direct the rest of the band. Nothing was said and shortly after this a touchdown was made, putting us ahead of Tabor (alas, for only a short time).
Then we rolled everything to its respective place and performed the half-time show; my dad stood just on the far side of the fence and periodically yelled things like, "That's my baby!" and "You rock, Hon!" Afterwards he asked me if he embarrassed me. I told him, "No," to which he responded, "Well, I guess I wasn't yelling loud enough, then."
In the third quarter, we did a track show; I got to borrow Alex's second bass and it was fairly awesome.
On the bus on the way back, we sang our Alma Mater as usual, the words of which I will include in this post so that I don't forget them: "Amid the pines she proudly stands, to her our voices rise. We always shall love her, dear old Reynolds High. Our school of great tradition gives us all ambition; Alma Mater, Alma Mater, hail our Alma Mater!" We also exchanged jokes. Also, random unrelated news: today was kick a ginger/hug an Indian day. Before we all left the band room to go our separate ways, we exchanged hugs. A lot more people said that they would probably be at the movies tomorrow, most likely because they view it as a "farewell-to-marching-band" sort of thing. Shannon will also attend this event, bringing with her Charles, her new boyfriend, and his twin brother John. It will be quite the event.
In any case, this is all the news that I have to report tonight.