Singing in Seattle (10 page)

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Authors: Tracey West

BOOK: Singing in Seattle
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AJ opened up the folders Lily had given her and Aly at the start of the round. Each folder held a photo of the contestant, plus music and lyrics sheets for each song the contestants had performed. AJ spread out the folders for Josh, Austin, and Claire on a folding table in the office.
“All right,” she began. “The band likes Austin and Claire the best. It's going to be tough to choose between the two of them.”
“But Josh was really good tonight,” Aly pointed out. “I dug that sound. What were those lyrics? The purple mist of morning?”
AJ found the lyrics sheet. “Here it is,” she said. Aly picked it up and started singing the song.
“Can you see me,
Or do you look right through me?
Fading into the purple mist of morning.”
Aly put down the lyrics sheet and frowned.
“What's wrong?” AJ asked. “That sounded nice.”
“I know,” her sister said. “But there's something . . . where's the sheet for Claire's prom song?”
Aly shuffled through the papers in Claire's folder until she found what she was looking for. She quickly scanned the words on the page.
“Here it is!” she cried finally. “Listen.”
“I'm fading into the background.
Surrounded by my dreams.
Shadowed by the purple mist of morning.”
AJ gasped. “Are you kidding? I didn't know those words were in Claire's lyrics, too,” she said. She grabbed the sheet from Aly. “This is too much of a coincidence. How could Josh and Claire both have the same phrase in their songs? I mean, who thinks up a phrase like ‘purple mist of morning'?”
“Someone who likes purple,” Aly said. “Someone who is good with lyrics.”
AJ nodded. “I think we've finally figured things out,” she said. “Come on. I want to clear this up before we make our final decision.”
The girls left the office and headed for the backstage area. They saw Jim walking down the hall, headed for them. Heather walked by his side.
“I found her hanging around the backstage door, just like you thought she might be,” Jim said.
“So?” Heather protested. “Is there a law against that? I haven't done anything wrong here!”
“You might not have done anything wrong, Heather,” AJ said, looking her directly in the eyes. “But I think you know who did!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
CONFESSION
Heather looked down at her leather boots. “I don't know what you're talking about,” she said.
“Yes, you do,” AJ said. “You know that Josh stole Claire's notebook. You were hanging around backstage the day the notebook was returned, and you saw Josh do it. That's why he's giving you free pizza. It's his price for keeping you quiet.”
“Listen, I—” Heather began. But then the angry look on her face faded. “I . . . I shouldn't have gotten messed up in all of this. I was upset. You'll have to talk to Josh.”
“We will,” Aly said. “And I think you'd better come with us.”
Heather reluctantly followed them backstage. Claire looked up, her face pale and nervous, when she saw them.
“Are you going to tell us who won?” she asked.
“Not yet,” AJ said. “We have something to straighten out first. One of you is going to be disqualified—for cheating.”
Claire let out a gasp. Josh's face looked bright red. And Austin looked perplexed.
“What do you mean?” he asked. “Not the notebook again!”
“Yes,” Aly said. “We know who took it. It was Josh!”
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Josh said coolly.
AJ began to pace back and forth across the room. “You saw Claire's open guitar case the night of the first round,” she said, ignoring his protest. “You knew Claire was a favorite to win the contest. So you stole the notebook. You thought you would shake her, maybe even make her quit.”
“But you didn't,” Aly jumped in. “Claire did even better in the second round. You knew we were looking for the notebook. So you returned it. And you decided to sabotage Austin next.”
“You loosened the screws on Austin's guitar,” AJ said.
Josh shook his head. “You guys have no proof,” he said.
“But we do,” Aly said. She held up the lyrics sheet for his song. “We knew it was you when we saw your lyric—‘the purple mist of morning.'”
“Hey, that's
my
lyric,” Claire said.
“Exactly,” AJ said. “Josh must have seen the words in your notebook and used them himself.”
Josh's face was starting to turn red again. “How do you know Claire didn't steal the lyric from me?”
“For a couple of reasons,” AJ began. “Number one, Claire's favorite color is purple. Number two, that's a really cool lyric—something that Claire would write, not you. And—”
“Number three, we have a witness,” Aly interrupted. “Heather saw you put the notebook back in Claire's case.”
Heather looked down at her boots again.
Then Jim stepped between them. He held Josh's leather jacket in his hand. “And something tells me if someone were to check your pocket, they'd find a screwdriver there—a screwdriver that fits the screws of Austin's guitar.”
“All right! All right!” Josh cried out. “Obviously I can't win here. I did it. I stole Claire's notebook. I messed up Austin's guitar.”
Aly and AJ grinned at each other.
Josh ran a hand through his hair. “I didn't mean to,” he said, sinking down into a chair. “I just wanted to win this so badly. I knew I didn't have as much of a chance as some of these other guys. And Claire's notebook was out in the open . . . I just grabbed it. I didn't even think. I thought maybe I could get some inspiration from it.”
Aly frowned. “Like the ‘purple mist of morning'?”
Josh shook his head. “Honestly, I didn't steal that on purpose. I must have read it and it got stuck in my head . . . I thought it was mine.” He looked like he was going to cry. “I can't believe I blew my one chance.”
Jim walked up to Josh and gently lifted him up. “Let's get out of here,” he stated. “We don't have to mention anything about this until the contest is over.”
The sisters nodded. A cheating scandal would ruin a happy moment for the other two finalists.
“So does that mean the contest is over?” Claire asked.
“Not yet,” AJ said. “Aly and I have to pick a winner.”
Aly looked at her watch. “We'd better do it quickly.”
They ran back to the office.
“Hey, we were great back there,” Aly said. “Laying out the mystery like that. I imagined I was a detective on a TV show. I liked how you were pacing back and forth. Nice touch.”
“I thought so,” AJ said. “But now that the mystery's solved, we've got to choose a winner. Is it Austin or Claire?”
“Austin's a better performer,” Aly pointed out. “But this is a songwriting contest, not a performing contest.”
“He's a good songwriter, too,” AJ said. “But so is Claire.”
“Let's look over their songs again,” Aly suggested.
They quickly read the lyrics sheets. They looked up at the same time.
“I guess it's obvious,” Aly said.
AJ nodded. “It is,” she said. “But I think I have an idea that will make everyone happy.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
SHOWTIME
“The KeyArena is proud to present Aly and AJ's special guest!” the announcer blared over the speaker. “Please welcome Austin!”
Thousands of Aly and AJ fans cheered as Austin took the stage. They had never seen him before, or even heard of him, but he was a cute teenage boy—and a friend of Aly and AJ's. That's all they needed to know.
“Hello, Seattle!” Austin called out. The crowd cheered again. He grinned, then launched into his song.
The crowd loved it. Austin gave a great performance, dancing across the stage as he sang and played his guitar. When the song was over, he waved and ran off the stage.
Aly and AJ were waiting for him.
“Wow, what a rush!” he said, sweat pouring down his face. “I can't believe you guys get to do that all the time.”
“It's a great feeling,” AJ agreed.
Austin unstrapped his guitar. “I have to thank you guys again for letting me do this. It's completely awesome.”
“We wish there could have been two winners for the contest,” Aly said. “But we had to pick one. We liked Claire's songs a little better. But you're an awesome performer.”
“We'll try to help you get a break whenever we can,” AJ said.
Austin gazed out at the cheering crowd. “I think this is a pretty good start,” he said. “It makes me feel a lot better about losing the contest.”
He looked at AJ. “I'd feel even better if you'd go out with me after the show,” he said.
AJ smiled. “Sure,” she said as Aly raised an eyebrow. “Meet me at our dressing room later.”
“Thanks,” Austin said. His smile could have lit up the entire arena.
Next, some stagehands handed Aly and AJ their electric guitars. Jeffrey and the other bandmates appeared.
“Ready to rock?” Jeffrey asked.
“Let's do it,” the girls replied.
They ran out onstage. The arena erupted in applause and screams. Aly and AJ took their places behind the two microphones at the front of the stage.
“It's great to be back in Seattle!” AJ yelled.
The crowd went wild.
“We're going to open the show with a special song,” Aly told the fans. “It was written by the winner of the Seattle Young Songwriters Competition, Claire Hayden.”
AJ strummed a chord on her guitar. Tommy started a slow beat on his drums. Then the girls launched into Claire's song, “Prom Queen.”
The crowd loved the song. People were standing up and dancing, and by the second chorus, they were even singing along. Aly and AJ smiled at each other across the stage. They had picked the right song.
They played the song's final chord, and the audience clapped and cheered. Aly glimpsed Claire standing backstage. She had a look of stunned happiness on her face.
Aly walked to the side of the stage. “Seattle, meet your songwriter, Claire!”
Aly motioned for Claire to come onstage. She hesitated for a minute. The applause just got louder.
“Come on, Claire!” AJ called.
Claire took a deep breath and stepped out to face the crowd. She gave a shy wave, then hurried back to her hiding place.
The concert had gotten off to an amazing start, and the rest of the show went just as smoothly. The crowd's energy was strong and upbeat all night.
After the show, the girls gulped bottles of water in their dressing room. Then AJ started to fix her makeup in the mirror. There was a knock on the door.
“That must be Austin,” she said. “Come in!”
Austin stepped inside. “Great show, guys,” he said. “AJ, where would you like to go?”
“Anyplace but Howl,” AJ said. “I think I've had enough drama for one week.”
Austin laughed. AJ turned to Aly. “I feel bad leaving you here alone. Do you want to come with us?”
Aly smiled. “You don't have to worry about me.” She looked past AJ, toward the dressing room door.
A boy with brown hair and green eyes stood there, holding a bouquet of daisies.
“Hi, Shane,” Aly said.
Then AJ remembered—it was the cute guy from the fish market. “Hey, I almost didn't recognize you without your orange overalls,” she joked.

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