The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth - Alexandra Robbins [13]
At Johnson, her peers teased her for not partying with them because she didn’t drink. They laughed at her ADD and her clothes. People who didn’t know her well joked about how she was “sunshine and rainbows,” naïve and innocent, even as Wyatt and the Divas spread rumors that she was a slut. Regan took Middle Eastern dance classes as often as she could afford to. People at school suggested that Regan was too uncool for such a sensual activity.
Classmates had called Regan weird as far back as elementary school, when during recess she sat against the corner of a fence and daydreamed instead of playing kickball. (When people asked her what she was doing, she would answer, “Going to my imaginary world.”) Her parents worried about how she usually had only one close friend at a time. But Regan felt that once she found someone who understood her, she would stick with that person forever. And she had; she’d made lifelong friends back in Vermont. Although she was gregarious, she inadvertently separated herself from people because she was so often inside her own head, focusing on her creativity. From an early age, she knew she was “different” sexually too, though for a while she dated boys, confused about what she wanted.
Once, in elementary school, she told her aunt that students made fun of her. “Always be yourself and don’t change for anyone,” her aunt said. “When you get older, you’ll be glad that you did.” So far, her aunt had been right. It was hard to be excluded, but gratifying to be herself. She explained, “I’ve had issues with being the odd one out my entire life, so it’s nothing new to me for people to think I’m a little off. It’s always been that way. God, I make myself sound like I’m socially awkward or something. I swear I’m not. I just . . . well, to put it in Johnson lingo, ‘I do me.’ ”
The principal droned on. For no apparent reason, Mandy turned and glared at Regan.
NOAH GIANCOLI, PENNSYLVANIA | THE BAND GEEK
Noah stood at attention exactly three-quarters of a yard beyond the 46-yard line, scoreboard side, tingling with excitement. His crisp white uniform sparkled, the blue-and-gold sash sliced gallantly across his chest. He looked up at the stands, packed with hundreds of spectators, and scanned faces for family, friends, and teachers. He could see them shouting, their voices commingling into a chorus that swelled to a crescendo as the band took the field.
Few band experiences were as exciting as the moments just before the first performance of the year. Noah tensed and relaxed the muscles he used to grip his flag at a precise 45-degree angle. The ceremonial flag, which Noah would keep motionless in the air for the entire show, was heavy and he knew his arms would ache before the fifteen minutes were up. The drum majors raised their hands to ready the band, and the noise of the crowd drifted into silence as if the wind had swirled it away. The drum majors counted off the first four beats, and the band erupted.
Noah, a junior, was fiercely proud to be a member of the Redsen High School Marching Band. The group of two hundred students was so talented that it had been chosen to participate in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year, in the band’s first year of eligibility. Noah treasured the band because he’d met his closest friends there. In middle school, Noah joined the band as a saxophonist. He immediately fell in love with the camaraderie and the sense of belonging to something grand. In high school, however, Noah didn’t have room in his schedule for band class. When he asked the director if he could play sax in the marching band without taking the class, the teacher turned him down.
Freshman year had been difficult. Without the band label to identify him, other students pigeonholed Noah with a more limiting label: Asian. Actually Noah was multiracial, although he had his mother’s Chinese coloring. Both parents were raised in the United States. But as a smart, hardworking student—currently he was the class salutatorian