Sold Out (11 page)

It’s funny. Last week I didn’t really want school to end. But then we learned about this recording thing, and suddenly it’s like I can’t get out of there quick enough. Like adios, amigos, see ya in September! Just the same, I did really make an effort to stay connected to my friends and not appear as if I was overly eager to just blow the joint. Even though I was.

It’s amazing how fast the word spread about our audition. Thanks to Allie, I’m sure. Not that I blame her exactly. And not that I even mind. It was actually kind of fun having kids treat us like celebrities.

“You guys are lucky,” said Torrey as we were leaving choir today.

“Yeah.” Cortney made a face. “You’ll probably get so rich and famous that you won’t even remember the little people anymore.”

I had to laugh at that—“the little people”—everyone knows that Torrey and Cortney are at the top of the Harrison High food chain, at least in our class. And even though there was a time I could barely stand them as well as their somewhat
preppy ways, I must admit I kind of like their attention now. And this bothers me a little. But I could tell that Laura and Allie liked the attention too.

“It’s not a done deal,” Laura reminded them. “It’s just an audition. The recording company might hate us.”

“Or Allie might barf on my guitar.”

The girls standing around us laughed. “Did she really do that?” asked Torrey.

I nodded.

“That must’ve really stunk,” said someone from behind us. I turned to see Tiffany and a couple of her friends listening.

“Yeah, it did.” I glanced at Laura. “Speaking of Allie, didn’t we say we’d meet her for lunch?”

Cortney patted us both on the backs. “Well, you guys stay in touch. Let us know how it goes. We want to be the first to hear if we know someone who’s becoming famous.”

I laughed. “Even if we do get a record deal, that hardly means we’ll be famous.”

“Around here it does,” said Torrey. “Nothing like this ever happens around here.”

“Tell you guys what,” I said as Laura and I moved toward the door. “If we actually sign a contract, we’ll do a special gig at the Paradiso to celebrate. I’m sure Mike won’t mind.”

“Cool,” said Cortney. “Let us know.”

“Yeah,” said Tiffany from behind her. “Let me know too.”

I nodded. “Yeah, or maybe you’ll just see us on MTV.”

This made them laugh, then Laura and I started heading to the cafeteria. Since it was the last day of school, Allie and I wanted to sit with Cesar and the others, but Laura really felt she needed to sit with her old friends.

“It’s okay,” Allie assured her. “We’ll be spending plenty of time together in practice next week and then off to Nashville.”

“Yeah, and LaDonna got seriously mad at me yesterday,” Laura explained. “She keeps saying I’m going to leave them all behind now that we’re almost famous.”

“Yeah, that’s what Spencer’s been saying too,” said Allie. “It’s like suddenly he’s our best friend.”

“And when I think of the bad time he’s given me over the year…” I said. “Then again, he was the first one at high school who actually tried to be friendly to me,” I lowered my voice, “even if it was to offer me a hit.”

Now I’m thinking it’s funny how “friends” start getting really chummy when it looks as if you’re coming into something big. I’m starting to understand how people might feel when they win a bunch of money. Suddenly everyone’s your new or old best friend. And it’s confusing. How can you
be sure who’s sincere and who’s not? And even though Torrey and Cortney have been nice to me lately, they pretty much thought I was invisible when school first started last fall.

But the fact is, I used to hang with them as well as my old friend Jessie back in middle school. And all three of them dumped me just when I needed them the most. I guess I’ve mostly forgiven them for that. But then there’s Tiffany. After everything that girl’s put me through, she’s suddenly acting as if it’s all hunky-dory between us, as if nothing was ever wrong. And I know I said I forgave her. And God knows I’ve tried to forgive her a bazillion times. But sometimes I just don’t feel like it. And I really don’t feel like being her “friend”—ever! For that reason alone, I am so relieved that school is over.

First official day of summer break. Ahhhh. I slept in until ten, then dropped by the Paradiso to say hi to Mike as well as tell him we might need to postpone our next gig since it looks as if we’ll be in Nashville that week.

“Yeah, I heard the news.”

“You’re kidding? You already heard?”

He nodded as he wiped down the counter. “Jill heard it at the grocery store a few days ago. Don’t you know that Redemption is the talk of the town right now?”

I laughed. “Well, this week anyway. We’ll see what they say when we come back.” “It’s too bad too.” He sighed loudly. “Too bad?”

“Yeah, I was going to offer you a job for the summer.”

“Really?”

“Yep. I need someone to help out around here.”

“That’d be cool, Mike.” I considered this briefly. “And if I was going to work, I can’t think of anyplace I’d rather be. But right now I feel like I should focus on my music more.”

He looked me in the eyes. “So do I, Chloe. I’m just giving you a bad time. The fact is, I wouldn’t even let you work for me. It’d be morally wrong.”

I laughed. “Well, I don’t know about that.”
Then I thought of something. “Allie says she still wants to get a job this summer.”

“Isn’t she going to be pretty busy too?”

“It’s hard to say. We don’t really know what’s going to happen after the audition. They might just send us packing, and it could be business as usual after we get home from Nashville.”

He brightened. “Then, by all means, tell Allie to drop by and see me.”

“So we’re okay to reschedule the gig for after we get back?”

He grinned. “You’re on. We can use the business since the coffee business seems to diminish a little in summertime. Hopefully, it’ll be a celebration night.”

“Or else a consolation concert.”

“If anything big happens, why don’t you guys call me from Nashville? We’ll put something in the paper about it, and that way we’ll get a little free publicity for the Paradiso at the same time.”

“Right on.”

So I called Allie tonight and told her about the job.

“That’d be cool,” she said. “Guess what?”

“Let’s see…” Allie knows I hate this game, but I tried to be a good sport. “Hollywood just called and offered you a movie deal?”

“Yeah, you bet. No, Willy offered to go to Nashville in place of Mom.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, first he offered to babysit Davie so Mom could come with me, but she said she couldn’t afford to miss that much work.”

“That was sweet of him.”

“Yeah, he’s so cool.” She lowered her voice. “I think Mom thinks so too.” “Really?”

“Yeah, but don’t breathe a word to anyone—I mean it.”

“Speaking of Willy,” I continued on a new note. “I was wondering if he’d be interested in acting as our manager. I realize he’s got his plumbing business to take care of and everything, but he knows so much about music and he’s been so helpful already. What do you think?”

“I think it makes perfect sense. But we better talk to Laura first.”

“I’ll ask my dad what he thinks too.”

“Is your mom still acting weird about it?”

“Yeah. I don’t get her. She acts almost as if there’s nothing unusual going on in my life. Like deals like this happen to everyone, all the time. I’m so thankful that Dad’s excited.”

“Yeah. He’s cool.”

“Did you tell your dad yet?”

She groaned. “Don’t remind me. What a mistake.”

“What’d he say?”

“Oh yeah, he was excited all right. It’s like I could imagine these dollar signs flashing in his eyes—like he’s thinking, ‘Hey, my little girl’s gonna make me a rich man.’”

“That’s too bad.”

“Yeah, and he was acting like he wants to go to Nashville with me. That was before Willy offered. I still haven’t even told him. The truth is, I don’t want him along. I mean, how do you tell your dad that you don’t want him? And besides, shouldn’t he just know that? It’s not as if he’s done anything to help us out lately. He misses most of his child support checks lately, and Mom’s threatening to take him to court and have them garnish his wages.”

I swallowed. It’s always hard to know how to respond to things about this guy. On one hand, he is Allie’s own flesh and blood. But on the other hand, he’s like the scum of the earth.

She sighed. “I guess I better just tell him about Willy, maybe say it’s because he’s managing us too.”

“Yeah, I hope that doesn’t make him too mad.”

“Well, you know what? I kinda hope it does make him mad. It’s like he’s gotten away with so much crud anyway. He’s hurt my mom so many times. Maybe it’s time for him to get his.”

“But you probably shouldn’t be the one to dish it out, Al.”

She grew quiet on the other end.

“Remember last week when Tony taught about how God needs to be the One to make things right in our lives?” I began slowly, not really wanting to preach at her. “He said how things get messed up when we take them into our own hands, instead of asking God to take care of them.”

“Yeah, I remember. And he’s probably right. Besides, I don’t really want to waste my energy on having some big old conflict with Dad right now. I’ve got lots better things to do.”

“That’s cool.”

After I hung up, I prayed about Allie and the situation with her dad. Even though I think he’s a total creep, I don’t want to see Allie become bitter toward him. Hopefully, she’ll handle it okay. I’m sure she will.

Speaking of parents, I then decided to search out my own. So I found them sitting comfortably in the family room. “Dad, what do you think about Willy managing us?”

Mom’s sitting on the couch next to him, her feet daintily tucked beneath her, reading a hardback novel—an Oprah pick, I think. But I can tell by her expression that she’s listening very carefully to this conversation.

My dad just smiled and said, “I think that’s a great idea, Chloe. He seems to know a lot about the music business.”

My mom marked her place and set her book aside. “But what do we really know about him?”

I was a little surprised to hear her actually say something since she acts fairly uninterested, not to mention unimpressed, by this whole thing. “Well, he’s been a good friend to us girls,” I said in Willy’s defense. “And he’s given Allie free drumming lessons, plus he’s helped arrange a bunch of my songs, and with the CD, and the Battle of the Bands, and, well, a zillion other little things.”

“Makes perfect sense to me,” said Dad. “And Ron Stephensen seemed impressed with him too.”

Mom shook her head. “I’m not so sure. A manager gets a cut, you know? How much do you think he’ll take—10, maybe 15 percent? And then I’m assuming the rest will be split three ways.”

I shrugged and looked at Dad. “I guess I haven’t really given the money side of this whole thing that much thought.” Frankly I felt surprised that Mom had. After all, she’s the one who’s been putting down the whole idea from the start.

“We’ll have to cross that bridge when we get there, Joy.” My dad folded his paper and picked up the remote. “I think having Willy along will probably be helpful when we’re in Nashville, Chloe.”

“I think the girls need a lawyer.” My mom stood and started pacing. “I know that sounds a
little expensive to start with, but you’re always hearing about kids getting ripped off in the entertainment industry. We don’t want that to happen to the girls.”

I studied her furrowed brow as she paced back and forth, trying to figure this woman out. “So, Mom,” I finally said, “are you saying that you believe Redemption has a chance to make it—that we might actually get a record contract?”

She looked over at me with a slightly bewildered expression. “Oh, of course, honey. I realize you girls are pretty good…and that it could happen. I’m just not sure that it’s going to be worth all the fuss in the end.”

Okay, I tried not to take offense at her “pretty good” description, although it sounded to me as if she meant: “pretty good for a bunch of silly kids.” I glanced at my dad for some support here.

He frowned slightly. “You’re not making complete sense, Joy. If you don’t think it’s worth all the fuss, then why are you suggesting the girls might need a lawyer?”

“Well, you never know.”

Trying hard to fight off my exasperation I took in a deep breath. “So, Mom, tell me, how do you really feel about Redemption? It seems like you don’t take us very seriously. Like you don’t really believe in us or our talent.”

She stopped pacing and looked at me. “That’s
not it at all, Chloe.”

I could feel her eyes on me, scrutinizing me, as she took in my hair (I recently put a magenta rinse on it, and it has this great sort of purplish brown look) and my piercings and my frayed and holey blue jeans. Even my faded T-shirt was inside out—something she really hated.

“Oh, I get it.” I nodded with realization. “You’d like to change our image.”

She smiled, as if I were actually offering to let her dress us up in cute little matching outfits—kind of like the Supremes back in the sixties. I glanced uncomfortably at Dad again and thought, “Okay, here’s your chance to back me up.” And to my amazement he did. “Hey, Joy, you need to get enlightened. Watch some of the other bands out there. Honestly, I saw a couple of groups on MTV that make Redemption look like nice little prep school girls.”

“Thanks a lot, Dad.” I sank into the couch. Why on earth had God given me parents like this?

“But it’s so—” Mom stopped herself, like she was about to say something really mean. “It’s so sort of trashy looking, Chloe. Can’t you at least wear something that isn’t so—well, so old and worn looking?”

“It’s called urban, Mom. To me it feels honest and creative, and I happen to like it. Besides, it’s comfortable.”