Rolls and Rivalry Summary: A YA Band Romance
Rolls and Rivalry: A Rivalry Played Out in Step
Senior year at Glen Vale High School begins with a familiar routine for color guard captain Hazel Buchanan: marching band season, a section feud with percussion, and one last shot at a Superior rating.
Then Max Coleman walks back into the band room.
Three years after moving away, the quiet boy Hazel once played board games with has become a quad-drummer in the rival percussion line.
Kristy Boyce’s Rolls and Rivalry follows what happens when old friendship, section loyalty, and a shared love of tabletop games collide across one fall marching season.
TL;DR: Quick Briefing
Rolls and Rivalry is a YA contemporary romance set during a single high school marching band season. Its central arc is a long-running feud between the color guard and percussion sections, escalated by bets, water balloons, and a rivalry between Hazel and Max that keeps shifting into something else.
- Premise: A childhood crush returns to town as a rival section leader.
- Setting: Band camp, Friday night football games, regional competitions, and a Sunday night D&D table.
- Core tension: Hazel wants to lead her guard to state while keeping her relationship with Max secret.
- Key tropes: Childhood friends to rivals to lovers, high-stakes bets, tabletop gaming bonding.
- Tone: Fast, banter-heavy, warm, with undercurrents of anxiety around pressure and expectations.
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Book Details at a Glance
- Genre & Subgenre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance / High School Romantic Comedy
- Core Narrative Tropes: Childhood friends to enemies to lovers, extracurricular rivals, high-stakes bets, reunited childhood crush, tabletop gaming group bonding
- Tone & Atmosphere: Energetic, humorous, banter-driven, warm, slightly anxious
- Primary Conflict: Hazel balances color guard leadership and perfectionism against a section war and rekindled feelings for Max
- Pacing Style: Chronological, episodic, event-driven across the fall marching season
- Book Structure: 36 chapters, first-person from Hazel Buchanan, followed by acknowledgments and an excerpt from Dating and Dragons
- ISBN: 978-0593899229 (ISBN-10: 0593899229)
- Pages: 384
Rolls and Rivalry Summary: The Full Story (Spoilers Ahead)
Spoiler warning: the following section recounts the plot in full, including the ending.
Hazel Buchanan enters her senior year as color guard captain at Glen Vale High School, expecting a normal season focused on earning a Superior rating at state. On the first day of band camp, her childhood crush Max Coleman returns after a three-year absence.
Max is no longer the introverted boy she remembered. He is now a confident quad-drummer in the percussion section, which has a long-standing feud with the color guard.
After Hazel and her best friend Nova Walsh tie to win the band’s annual drill down marching competition, Max and percussion section leader Brody make a bet with Hazel. Hazel wins, but Max delivers a box of unfrozen, liquid Popsicles and claims he satisfied the letter of the deal.
The rivalry peaks on Water Balloon Day, when percussion douses the color guard with vinegar-filled balloons. After Brody speaks down to freshman guard member Li Xiang, Hazel raises the stakes.
If the color guard wins Best Overall Auxiliary at a regional competition, percussion must learn and perform the guard’s choreography in front of the whole band. If percussion wins Best Overall Percussion first, the guard must clean the stadium’s men’s restrooms at season’s end.
Meanwhile, Hazel’s parents, both longtime tabletop gamers, restart their Sunday night D&D campaign with Max’s mother, Melanie. To ease the awkwardness, Hazel agrees to run a Sunday campaign for Nova, Li, snare drummer Felix Jackson, and Max.
At the gaming table, the group agrees to an absolute truce. They play Nova’s gnome ranger Stump, Li’s elf druid Ellywich, Felix’s elf druid Elrid, and Max’s dual-axe dragonborn fighter Axolotl.
As the campaign progresses, the real-world hostility between sections begins to thaw. Max also challenges Brody for the percussion section leader position after watching him humiliate younger players like Felix and Niko, and Max wins the role.
Hazel and Max grow closer during an ice cream date at DairyFreeze, itself the result of another playful bet, and on a trip to a game store in Scottsville. There, they trade confessions about Max adjusting to his parents’ separation and Hazel managing her competitive mother’s expectations.
Hazel insists on keeping the relationship secret to avoid distracting her guard or triggering backlash.
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After the guard wins Best Overall Auxiliary at its third regional competition and earns a spot at state, the secrecy collapses. When percussion members confront Max about his closeness to Hazel, he publicly denies dating her and calls his behavior “trying to be the bigger person.”
Brody then reveals that back in August, Max briefly took the color guard’s equipment shed key as part of a bet. Feeling publicly dismissed and betrayed, Hazel ends the relationship.
Hazel redirects her energy into her group. She hosts a pizza dinner that brings color guard members and percussionists like Felix and Niko together, breaking the toxic section rivalry.
At the senior awards ceremony, Nova wins the Most Valuable Member award. Max confesses to band director Mr. Hicks, known as “Sire,” that he was the one who mislaid Hazel’s shed key back in August, clearing her record.
Hazel also has an honest conversation with her mother. She learns that her mother’s intensity grew out of her own chaotic life rather than conditional love.
On Balloon Day, the Friday before state, Max and members of both sections surprise Hazel on the practice field. Using the band, Max performs a routine that forms a heart, a triangle like a nacho chip, and the number 20 for a Natural 20.
In front of the whole school, he confesses his love and admits he threw the earlier Glare game just to look at her. Hazel forgives him and they kiss publicly.
At state finals the next day, the band delivers a strong performance. The color guard formally forgives the remaining bet, ending the feud between the sections.
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Characters in Rolls and Rivalry
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| Hazel Buchanan | High school senior, color guard captain, and Dungeon Master of the Sunday D&D campaign. |
| Max Coleman | Senior quad-drummer who returns to Glen Vale and becomes percussion section leader. |
| Nova Walsh | Senior clarinet section leader and Hazel’s best friend; plays the gnome ranger Stump. |
| Brody | Former percussion section leader who instigates the feud and bullies younger members. |
| Li Xiang | Freshman color guard member; plays the elf druid Ellywich. |
| Felix Jackson | Sophomore snare drummer; plays the elf druid Elrid. |
| Mr. Hicks (“Sire”) | Head band director at Glen Vale High School. |
| Faith | Color guard director and Glen Vale alumna. |
| Mrs. Lewis & Mr. Jenkins | Assistant band director and percussion instructor. |
| Hazel’s Mom | Competitive 4-H club advisor and veteran Dungeon Master. |
| Hazel’s Dad | Former band member and supportive father. |
| Kelsey Buchanan | Hazel’s younger sister, involved in dance camp and 4-H. |
| Melanie Coleman | Max’s mother, navigating a separation from Max’s father. |
| Yori Fujii | Returning junior color guard member; plays the orc barbarian Oof. |
| Zoinks (“Zelda”) | Nova’s Old English sheepdog and the real-life model for Stump’s animal companion. |
Quotes from Rolls and Rivalry
“You shouldn’t make bets you can’t win.” — Max Coleman to Hazel Buchanan
“One. Two. There, that was two seconds. Probably even three.” — Max Coleman to Hazel Buchanan
“One of my favorite things about being back is getting to be a nerd with you again.” — Max Coleman to Hazel Buchanan
“Top Nacho, Hazel. Never forget you’re Top Nacho.” — Max Coleman to Hazel Buchanan
“I didn’t have a strategy—I just couldn’t look away.” — Max Coleman to Hazel Buchanan
“Hazel is my very favorite person in the whole world.” — Max Coleman
“Show up! Show out! All in! No doubt!” — Hazel Buchanan and the Glen Vale Color Guard
Books Like Rolls and Rivalry
Dating and Dragons by Kristy Boyce — Set in the same author’s universe, sharing tabletop gaming, high school romance, and fandom culture.
Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce — Blends high school extracurricular subcultures with tabletop gaming and sweet romantic tropes.
Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon — Two competitive seniors in an academic rivalry navigate organized challenges and unexpected feelings.
Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter — Centers on childhood connections, witty banter, and romantic schemes between two high school neighbors.
Geekerella by Ashley Poston — Celebrates nerd culture and finding community and romance through shared geeky interests.
