Sold Out (15 page)

Well, morning comes and I’m ready to blow this joint. Okay, it’s really a nice hotel, but I’m thinking, “Get me outta here! I wanna go home!” And then the phone rings. I hear my dad pick it up, and I stop shoving stuff into my backpack and just freeze, straining to listen.

“Is that so?” I hear him say. “Maybe you should talk to Chloe.” Then he’s calling out to me to get the phone.

I pick up the receiver in my adjoining room and say, “Hello?”

“Hey, Chloe, this is Eric. Whazzup?”

“Not much.” It bugs me when grown-ups say “whazzup.”

He kind of chuckles then. “Well, I just thought you might like to know that we want to offer Redemption a contract.”

Just then my knees turn to Jell-O, and I’m not sure if I can speak coherently.

“Chloe? You still there?”

“Uh-yeah. Did I hear you—?”

“You heard me right.” He laughs. “This is always the best part of my job. I love hearing the reactions.”

“But did you actually say—?”

“I’m saying that we want to offer you girls a recording contract. I’ve asked your dad to postpone your return flight until tomorrow so we can bring you back over to Omega this afternoon and go over some things.”

“You’re kidding?” I think I’m actually screaming now, and I hope I haven’t permanently damaged his hearing.

He laughs again. “Nope, it’s really true. Now I’m going to call Willy and start hammering out some of the preliminary details. I’m guessing you might want to go tell the rest of your band.”

“Yeah, of course, you bet. Thanks! Thanks so much. This is so—” Now I’m actually starting to cry. “This is so cool!”

“I couldn’t agree more. And I honestly think Redemption is going to be a really big hit.”

Then I hang up and start walking around my room in crooked little circles, muttering, I think, something that probably sounds unintelligible, but really I’m sure I’m thanking God.

“You going to tell the others?” Dad is standing in the doorway watching me with an amused expression.

I run over and hug him, tears streaming down
my face. “Can you believe it, Dad? Can you believe it?”

He laughs and nods. “Yeah, I think I almost can.”

“I’ve got to tell Allie and Laura,” I scream, close to hysteria again. It’s all just so unbelievable. Somehow I make it to their adjoining rooms, and the next thing I know we’re all three in the hallway, jumping and yelling and totally going nuts while the three adults stand around and smile. Well, except for Laura’s mom. She’s not really smiling. Actually she looks just slightly bewildered.

“It’s like a dream,” says Allie with tears in her eyes.

“Somebody pinch me,” says Laura.

So I do.

“Youch!” But she laughs.

“I’ve gotta call my mom.” Allie suddenly bolts for her room.

“I’ve got to call Dad,” says Laura to her mom.

“We better call your mom too,” Dad reminds me with a wink. “She might want to start looking for the right lawyer to go over the contract.”

Willy waves his hand. “Don’t worry. We won’t have to sign anything today. We’ll just meet with the folks at Omega and go over a few things. Then we’ll take copies of the contract home to read more carefully at our leisure. Since the kids are
all minors, they need to have their parents sign. And it might not hurt to have a lawyer go over everything.”

And then everyone disperses to use the phones and change flights and schedule appointments, etc., etc. When Dad gets off the phone I must remember to call Mike at the Paradiso like I promised. Will he really call the newspaper? Maybe I should tell him to hold off until we know more about what exactly is being offered to us. Although the mere idea that Omega is offering anything at all is enough for me.

Anyway, I’m back in my hotel room just feeling totally stunned and overwhelmed as I write all this down. It’s so unreal. I mean, we’ve dreamed of this day, and we even believed it could happen. But now it feels just like Allie said, like it’s all a wonderful dream and someone’s going to come in here and wake me up and tell me it’s time to go to school or mow the lawn or something.

We’re flying home now—first class again—and this time we’re no longer pretending to be celebrities. Okay, maybe it is a little premature to start thinking we’re all rich and famous (heh-heh), but it is more than just a fantasy now. And slowly, it’s starting to feel less like a dream and more like reality.

After our celebration dinner yesterday, we three girls made a pact. Eric and a couple of the other “suits” (who were really quite nice despite their somewhat intimidating appearances) took us to this really fancy restaurant. And anyway, we three girls made a pact in the rest room—of all places—and we promised that no matter how famous we might become (and who knows, we might), we will
never
let the success go to our heads, we will
never
become demanding divas, we will
never
forget our old friends, and we’ll
always
keep our friendship above the music.

And I’m writing all this down today just in case any of us ever forgets! Not that I think we
will, but you never know. I remember what happened in the movie “That Thing You Do!” and how everyone started turning against each other. But really, I don’t think that could happen to us. We have God to keep us glued together, and we love each other like sisters!

But anyway, here’s what happened when we went back to Omega. We were ushered (all six of us) into the president’s conference room, where we all sat in sleek black leather chairs around a dark wooden table that was as shiny as glass. I could actually see my reflection in the surface.

Mr. Sallinger, the president of Omega (the oldest of the “suits,” with gray hair) was at the head of the table. And Eric was sitting to his right. “We’re so pleased here at Omega to have the opportunity to record your music. We were all very impressed with Redemption yesterday, and we think you girls have what it takes to go the distance.” He studied our faces. “To be honest, we’ve never recorded a girl band before, but as you can see—” he waved his arm to the numerous photos displayed on his office walls, one band in particular that I recognized because they’ve been extremely popular in both Christian and regular circles—”we’ve recorded some of the best musicians in the industry.” He smiled broadly. “So you’ll be in good company. And we think you’ll fit in just fine. Eric has the
contracts all printed up for you. It’s our boilerplate contract—”

“That means it’s basically the same contract that we offer to all our first-time recording musicians,” Eric quickly explained.

“That’s right.” Mr. Sallinger smiled at Eric. “And naturally, if you have any questions or concerns, we’re more than happy to answer them. Eric’s your man for that.”

Now Eric was handing each of us a thick yellow legal-sized envelope. “We can go over some of the preliminaries while you’re all here, if you like.”

Mr. Sallinger stood. “Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I have an important meeting already scheduled, but I just wanted to take some time to welcome Redemption into the Omega family.” He nodded with what seemed genuine satisfaction. “We’re so very pleased to have you joining our recording family. And it’s plain to see that God has blessed you girls with some outstanding talent. Now, I’ll leave Eric to field your questions.”

Then we all opened our envelopes and I just sort of blinked at the stack of typed pages—single-spaced and filled with lots of words I don’t even know. And I usually think of myself as having a fairly decent vocabulary.

“This looks like Greek to me,” said Allie with a goofy grin.

Eric laughed. “Hey, you’re not alone there. The truth is most people can’t make heads or tails of recording contracts. Let me just take you over the highlights.”

And the highlights were (if I can remember) that we sign with Omega for one year, with an agreement to two more years (if things go well), and we three girls will equally split what sounded like pretty huge sum to me (even if it wasn’t the “million” that Allie was hoping for), but which Willy told Eric “is yet to be determined.” And I was thinking, “Watch it, Willy, we don’t want to blow this deal before we even get signed up.” But, thankfully, I kept my mouth closed. After all, he is our manager. And last but not least, we must be willing to tour for six months of the year.

“
Six
months?” exclaimed Laura’s mother as if we were being assigned hard labor or a prison sentence.

Eric nodded. “Yes, that’s standard. To sell albums we must promote albums. The girls have to create a name for themselves. The only way to do that is to tour and perform live.”

“Six months?” she said again. “But what about school?”

“Tutors.” Eric looked at her evenly, and I could tell he was wondering if she was going to be the wrench in the works. I know I was getting worried.

“I’d like to be tutored,” I said brightly.

“Me too,” echoed Allie.

Laura remained silent, just watching her mother.

“But the girls are so young,” she continued. “Why, Laura’s the oldest and she’s only sixteen and a half. And as her mother I’m not entirely sure I want her traveling all over God’s creation, doing who knows what with who knows whom, on some broken-down bus that—”

Eric loudly cleared his throat. “We provide a top-of-the-line motor coach with everything these girls could possibly need—including full bathroom, TV, VCR, full kitchen, microwave. It even has a washer and dryer. We cover all expenses including the cost of one adult chaper-one.”

“Sounds great to me.” I smiled at Eric, not wanting anything to spoil this deal. Frankly, I was thinking the whole touring business sounded like a really exciting vacation.

“Well, I don’t know.” She shook her head.

“Mom,” began Laura slowly. “I’m not a baby anymore. And I really want this.”

Her mother gave her a sharp look, then quietly said, “We’ll talk about this more when we get home.”

Eric continued to go over a few more things, and I’m afraid I wasn’t paying close attention
just then because I was too busy imagining us on tour, performing in exciting places and staying in our luxury tour RV. Finally, Eric asked if we had any more questions.

“I think my wife wants to have an attorney go over the details,” my dad explained. “How soon would you like to hear back from us?”

“I can understand wanting to have a lawyer look into this. That’s fairly normal. But just the same, we don’t like these things to drag out. Would two weeks be fair?”

I was thinking two days sounded more than fair to me, but once again, I kept my mouth shut.

“Two weeks should be just fine.” Dad slipped his copy of the contract back into the envelope.

Eric turned to Willy now. “How about you, anything else you’d like to know?”

“Nope. I think you answered most of my questions over the phone when we spoke this morning. I’ll go over this more carefully on our flight home tomorrow.”

Eric stood and shook hands with everyone. “We are really excited about Redemption.” He grinned. “We don’t even want to change your name.”

“Do you usually change names?” I asked.

He pointed to the picture of the band I had recognized. “Do you girls know who these guys are?”

“Of course,” said Laura. “That’s Iron Cross. Everyone knows them.”

“Do you know what their original name was?”

None of us knew.

“The Baxter Boys.”

“The Baxter Boys?” I laughed. “That sounds like something right out of the fifties.”

Eric grinned. “Well, you probably know that two of these guys are brothers, Jeremy and Isaiah Baxter. But when they started doing music they were just little kids, and that’s what everyone in the neighborhood called them. It was okay for church socials and playing around town, but a little hokey as they got older and more sophisticated.”

I nodded. “Yeah, they do not look like the Baxter Boys.”

“Will we ever get to meet them?” asked Allie with that dreamy look again.

“As a matter of fact, we’ve been talking about the possibility of a joint tour. You girls could possibly open for them.”

“
We’re going to open for Iron Cross?
” I hoped I wasn’t acting too starstruck, although I couldn’t really help myself. Just the same, I did remind myself of Allie.

He nodded. “If everything goes as planned, I’d say it’s a distinct possibility that Iron Gross and Redemption will be appearing together.”

“Cool.” Allie was still staring at the photo.

Laura just shook her head in amazement. And
I could tell that despite her mother’s less-than-enthusiastic response, Laura wanted this as badly as Allie and I did. And then we left. But instead of cramming into a taxi like we’d done to get there, we found a big stretch limo waiting to take us back to the hotel. Talk about cool! It had leather everywhere, two TVs, and a minibar (complete with sodas, juice, and water), and we honestly felt as though we’d really made the big time.

And I guess, all things considered, we didn’t make complete fools of ourselves the other day. I’m still a little concerned about Laura’s mom’s reaction. I’d hate to think that she’s going to be the spoiler here. I’m sure Omega would NOT be interested in signing me and Allie and Willy. And even though Willy plays a pretty mean bass, somehow it just doesn’t look quite right to have two teenage girls and this old dude.

What a whirlwind ride these past few days have been. When we arrived at the airport (late Friday night), we were met by reporters as well as family and friends. It seemed that Mike had told everyone at the Paradiso about our pending contract. But I must admit that it was pretty cool being greeted by reporters and photographers (even if they were only from the local paper), and it was fun seeing balloons and signs of congratulations. And Cesar even brought me flowers (as did Ryan and Taylor for Laura and Allie). I was a little disappointed to see Taylor there (so much for Cesar’s attention span theory). But I tried not to let that get to me, and I must admit Allie looked totally thrilled to see him.

Sunday, at church, was a little more of the same. The youth group had a big sign and Krispy Kreme donuts to celebrate. And after that I went home and had a late lunch with my parents and Josh, and then pretty much crashed, catching up on lost sleep since it seems I hardly slept at all in Nashville.

I woke up to Allie knocking on my door. “What
are you doing sleeping?” she demanded when she walked in.

I sat up and yawned. “Why not?”

“How can you possibly sleep when life is so totally exciting?”

I shrugged. “You gotta sleep sometime. What’s up?”

“I just got done at the Paradiso, and Mike reminded me that we promised we’d perform this week, so I kind of agreed that we’d do it Tuesday night. Does that work for you?”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m booked that night.”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking we could use a little practice session.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So I called Laura and she’s working all day tomorrow, so I told her why not this evening.”

So we practiced all evening. Well, we mostly practiced. It seemed we spent more time than usual just gabbing about everything that’s been happening and what’s going to happen next.

It’s been decided (by Willy) that we’ll have a “business meeting” on Thursday evening. All parents will attend, and it’ll be a time to ask questions and voice
concerns.
Willy will take notes, and
my
mom will tell everyone about the lawyer’s initial reaction. And I guess we’ll just take it from there.

“It doesn’t seem fair,” said Allie.

“What?” I asked as I tuned my guitar.
“That the grown-ups have all the power.”

“All the power?” I peered over at her.

“Yeah, to make the decisions and sign the contract. But then we have to do all the work.”

“Yeah,” Laura agreed. “We should have an equal say.”

“I thought we did.”

“Not according to my mom,” said Laura.

I considered this. Maybe they were right. “Well, I guess Thursday night is a good time for us to let them know what we think.”

Laura nodded. “But we’ll have to be tactful. If we start acting rude and uppity my mom will turn against us like that.” She snapped her fingers. “If you haven’t noticed, my mom is from the ‘old school’ where kids are supposed to be polite and respectful at all times.”

“Yeah, I kind of noticed,” I admitted.

So we decided to present our case, but not in a way that would get any of the grown-ups mad. We decided our best defense would be to act very mature, like we’re old enough to handle these kinds of decisions and responsibilities. And I think we are.

We had a blast playing at the Paradiso last night. And it was packed out. But there was this
one weird moment, just as we finished a song, when I suddenly remembered how totally freaked I’d been last fall—the first time I’d ever played in public—and how I’m so completely comfortable with everything now. Somehow it just struck me as slightly amazing.

We only played for an hour, then pretty much enjoyed ourselves with everyone who was there. And it seemed everyone was there. And everyone came up and congratulated us and acted as if they’d always been our very best friends. Including Tiffany Knight. And it was a little irritating too because it’s like she wouldn’t back off. She just kept hanging on as though we were best buddies. And I just don’t get that. Has she no pride at all? There’s no way I could act like that to someone I’d treated so poorly. I kept reminding myself of how people treated Jesus, and how He still loved and forgave them—and how we’re supposed to do the same. So maybe Tiffany Knight is my “cross to bear.” It figures.

Caitlin and some of her college friends were there too. Naturally Josh was sitting with them. I went over to join them for a while, and even told Beanie about what we’d said about having her as our wardrobe consultant.

“Seriously?” she said.

“Yeah, if you’d like to. I guess we’ll have to make sure it’s okay as far as our contract goes,
but I don’t remember them saying anything about our clothes, and even if they did, we could tell them we want you involved.” “That’d be so cool.”

Josh grinned. “I still can’t believe my baby sister is almost famous.”

Caitlin playfully punched him in the arm. “She IS famous, Josh. Didn’t you see the Sunday paper? Sheesh, they were all over the front page.”

I laughed. “Yeah, the distribution of that paper must be at least five thousand.”

“Hey, it’s a start,” said Jenny. “We told Danny, you know, that drummer friend of mine from college, about what’s going on with your band, and he was having a hard time not getting seriously jealous. I told him he should come hear you girls before he starts feeling too slighted.” She laughed. “The truth is, Redemption is way better than his band. But I won’t tell him that.”

I was standing as I talked to them, and then Cesar came up from behind and put his arm around me. I’d already told him I’d hang with him tonight after we got done playing. But somehow, maybe it was the look on Caitlin’s face, but suddenly I felt a little self-conscious.

“Uh, this is Cesar,” I told everyone. Then I told him their names, and he politely reached out and shook hands.

“I remember you,” he said to Caitlin. “You went
to visit Jewel in the hospital last year. She was my cousin.”

Caitlin’s eyes grew thoughtful. “That was a hard time.”

He nodded then turned to Josh. “And I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Josh grinned. “That’s scary.”

We all visited a little longer, and I began to relax more. But still I wanted to know what Caitlin was thinking. Or maybe I didn’t.

Finally, Cesar and I excused ourselves and went over to join Laura and Ryan.

“Where’s Al?” I asked, looking around the crowded room.

“She left with Taylor.” Laura peeked at her watch. “Actually, I should probably get going too. I have to work in the morning.”

Cesar laughed. “I’d think you’d be quitting that job, what with your newfound fame and fortune.”

Laura shook her head. “Well, as far as fortune goes, we haven’t seen an actual penny yet.”

“Yeah.” I sighed. “And if we don’t get those contracts signed, we never will either.”

“In the meantime I promised my parents I’d stick to my job.” Laura glanced at Ryan. “And keep my curfews.”

Ryan stood now. “Well, we better not disappoint them.”

And once again, it was just Cesar and me.

“Speaking of jobs,” I asked him, “how’s yours doing?”

He smiled. “I just got a raise.”

“Cool.”

“And they’re putting me on full-time for the rest of the summer.” Then he frowned. “Of course, that means I won’t get to see as much of you.”

“I’m sure we’ll be able to squeeze some time in together.”

He seemed relieved to hear me say this. “Yeah. And mostly I’m working days, except for Thursdays and Fridays when I get the late shift.”

“That’s not too bad. How’s Jake doing? I haven’t seen him around tonight. Or Marissa. What’s up with her?”

“Yeah, I forgot to tell you about Jake. He got hired at Home Depot too. But since he’s new, he got stuck with all evenings.”

“Poor Jake.”

“It might be a good thing. Doesn’t give him any time to be tempted to go partying. Spencer is always trying to get him to go out with him, but so far, Jake’s done pretty well.”

“Is he still staying with you?”

He nodded. “But my parents say he’s got to find someplace else in a few weeks.”

“And he probably doesn’t want to go home.”

“Not at all. He and his dad aren’t even speaking.
He’s pretty sure his stepmom has told his dad all kinds of lies.”

“Poor Jake.”

“But he left a message with his uncle, his mom’s brother, out in California. I guess he’s on vacation now, but he was really close to Jake’s mom, and he told Jake, after she died, to call if he ever needed anything.”

“I’m going to be praying for Jake more than ever now.”

“And I haven’t seen Marissa since last week. But Jake said she got a job at Burger King.”

I tried to imagine Marissa in one of those colorful outfits but couldn’t. “I hope she’s okay.”

We talked some more, but then Cesar admitted that he too had to be to work early in the morning. “Can I give you a ride home?”

“Sure. Just let me go tell Josh that I’m going with you.” So I went back over to the “college” table and informed Josh.

“So is this serious?” Caitlin asked me in a lowered voice. “Between you and Cesar, I mean?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure what you mean by
serious
.”

“Are you guys going out?” she asked.

“Sort of. We like each other, if that’s what you mean.”

She studied me for a moment then smiled. Okay, maybe it was a forced smile, I’m not sure. Then she
said, “Well, he seems like a pretty nice guy.”

I nodded. “He really is.”

Cesar drove an old pickup that he’s slowly restoring. I think it’s very cool. “You’re doing all this yourself?” I asked him as I admired the new paint job beneath the streetlights. It’s a pale yellow, kind of like butter.

“Yeah. It’s still got a long ways to go, but it’s kind of fun. My dad’s really into it too—it’s something we can do together. And it helps getting my employee discount for tools and stuff.”

“I keep telling my parents I need a car too,” I said as we pulled up to my house. “But they keep brushing me off and telling me I can use theirs when I need to. Except that almost every time I need to they’re gone, along with their cars, or at least their keys.”

“Well, I don’t mind giving you rides.” He turned off his engine.

“Thanks.”

“And I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before you’ll be able to afford any kind of car you’d like.” There seemed to be a trace of sadness in his voice.

“Does that bother you?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so. It’s kind of humiliating to think that my girlfriend is going to be way richer than me.”

I laughed. But part of it was pure nervousness. It was the very first time I’d heard him
refer to me as his “girlfriend.” But at the same time, I did like the sound of it. “If you know me as well as you think you do, you should know that money isn’t that important to me.”

He laughed then. “Yeah, I suppose you’d do the whole music thing whether they paid you or not.”

“You know, I probably would.”

Then he reached over and ran his hand through my hair. “That’s one of the many things I really love about you, Chloe.”

Okay, the electricity was flowing then, and I was just sitting there and staring at him like a dummy. His face looked all shadowy and handsome in the dimly lit truck. And all I could think of was how I wanted him to kiss me. And how I wanted to kiss him back. Now was that so wrong? Really?

But instead of pulling me to him and passionately kissing me, he continued to talk. “I really believe that God brought you into my life for a purpose. Right from the beginning I could tell there was something special about you. And everything that’s happened this year…well, it’s just so amazing.” He laughed. “In fact, my mom is dying to meet you.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, Jake’s been telling her all about you, and she finally figured out that you’re the girl I’ve been interested in all this time. She thinks
you’re the one who got me to ‘go back to church,’ so naturally she thinks you’re wonderful. I haven’t really tried to explain that it had more to do with me and God. But anyway, she’d love to meet you sometime. So would Abril. After that article in the paper, which Jake made certain my family saw, they all think you’re a celebrity.”

“That’s so funny.”

“What’s funny?”

“Oh, you know, that celebrity stuff. It still just cracks me up.”

His face grew serious then. “Well, you better start getting used to it. Your life is going to be changing pretty fast from now on.”

I nodded. “It’s kind of scary. But at the same time exciting.”

“Well, if anyone deserves it, Chloe, it’s you.”

“Thanks.” I looked into his eyes then, and I was thinking, “Come on, Cesar, just kiss me.” But still he didn’t.

Instead, he took my hand in his and said, “You know, I really don’t want to blow this with you. I’ve really been praying and asking God to show me the right way to handle everything. But I’m just not sure. I know I don’t want to rush anything. I’ve been involved with girls before and it’s, well, you know how it suddenly gets all crazy and out of control and then you just end up breaking up and never speaking to each other
again. Well, I don’t want that to happen to us.”

I shook my head. “Neither do I.”

“So, is it okay to take it slow?”

I laughed. “Of course. In fact, I really respect you for telling me this—and that you’ve prayed about, well, us. That’s pretty cool.”

“Do you think you’d like to go out on Saturday night? You know, like a real date?”

I grinned. “Sounds good to me.”

“All right. Around seven then?”

“Cool.”

So I’ll be having my first official date this week. My parents told me a couple years ago that I wasn’t allowed to date until I turned sixteen. At the time I thought that it was totally unreasonable. But now it actually seems kind of funny, because here I am sixteen and finally going on my first real date. Go figure.