"Hey!" Connie surprised them the next day. They were sitting side by side at a table, blowing up balloons, but they refused to speak to one another. "Does this look like a record, girls?"
Mitchie looked up at her, confused. "Huh?"
"I mean a CD." She tended to forget that her daughter's generation didn't know a thing about real music; Mitchie's generation would say the same thing about Connie's generation. "Does this cookie look like a CD. Cause I want it to look authentic next to my eighth note cupcakes."
"Everything looks great, Connie."
"These theme nights are so busy, huh? Oh! I gotta go get the ice cream for my rolling stone cones. See ya later."
"So," Mitchie said to Caitlyn, after they were alone. It was her first time really trying to get their friendship back on track. "Are you signing up for Final Jam?"
"Ugh, yeah."
"So, what are you thinking about doing?"
"This is freaking me out." Caitlyn finally looked her in the eye. "Why are we talking?"
"I don't know." Mitchie admitted. "Maybe I'm slumming. Or maybe I wanted to set you up for that."
The girls laughed, surprising each other. They popped some of the deflated balloons
"So, thank you, for yesterday. But..."
"Hey, I always stick up for my friends." She began to bag up the millions of balloons they had already blown up. She carried the bag to the side of the room.
The next remark surprised her.
"It's fun being friends with Tess."
Mitchie turned back around to look at her, wondering if she was serious. It was fun being friends with Tess, but it was also like if you took one wrong step, you would fall. "How would you know?"
"Because, I was friends with Tess." Caitlyn laughed bitterly. "I know, it's hard to believe."
"More like impossible. What happened?"
She shrugged. "Tess doesn't like competition, and she felt that I was. See, with her there can only be one star. Herself. Look, I know it's fun being friends with her, she can make you feel so important, and she's popular. But, so what?"
"Oh come on, being popular is so not so what."
"No, there are perks."
"Like," Mitchie tried to think. "Well like..."
Caitlyn cut her off. "Like, singing backup to Tess all the time? Like,never getting to say what you really feel? Oh! And those exciting short outfits? Those were real high points. You're right. Sell your soul."
She whacked her with a balloon.
"Hey! I'm on your side." She defended.
"Oh shoot!" Her minute of fun with Caitlyn was over. She was late, again. "I was supposed to go meet up with...We're practicing for...Final Jam."
Caitlyn frowned. "Of course. Her highness awaits."
Shane walked around his cabin, singing out loud. His notebook was tucked under his arm for easy reach whenever he got a new line for the song he was working on.
Hands clappin, hips shakin
His phone began to ring, and he pulled it out of his pocket. Nate and Jason were at Jason's house, hanging by the pool.
"Hello?"
"Hey buddy, how's my birdhouse comin?" Jason asked. The idea was now stuck in his head, no matter how many times the other two band members tried to convince him otherwise.
"Jason!" Nate hissed; they had called Shane to check up on him, not to badger him about something that would never happen.
"Sorry, it's not my fault you didn't ask him to make you anything."
Their argument was just getting started.
"I didn't want anything."
"Well I wanted a birdhouse."
"And what do you need a birdhouse for?"
"Cause' I wanted to see more birds in my-"
"Guys?" Shane was tired of their bickering, the same way they were tired of his attitude. "Guys!"
"Sorry," They said in unison.
"Listen, about me recording with a camper..."
Nate sighed, loudly. "You gotta do it, man. No go backs."
"Yeah. No go backs. It's like, the golden rule."
The argument resumed.
"No dude, the golden rule is tell the truth."
"Dude," Jason repeated. "Then it can be the silver rule."
"Why is it the silver rule?"
"Okay fine, the copper rule."
"Copper rule?"
"Aw, give me a hand at least."
"Guys," He interrupted them again.
"Sorry."
"Sorry."
"Listen I've been thinking about the whole recording thing and I think it's really cool." Shane said honestly. He had put a lot of thought into it.
Nate and Jason shared a look. "Are you getting too much sun?"
"We can bring you a hat when we come to visit."
"I'm fine," He was. He was starting to act like himself again; the version of himself that didn't give a shit about the fame and fortune. "And remember, whoever wins. No go backs. See you guys Saturday."
He hung up, dropping the phone back into his jeans pocket. "Now I just gotta find that girl with a voice."
Nate continued to stare at the phone, in awe of the conversation they had just had with their band mate.
"Was that really Shane Gray on the phone?" He said to Jason, strumming a few notes on his guitar.
"No," Jason replied cheerfully. "That was just Shane on the phone. Not Shane Gray, hothead. Do you think Mitchie has anything to do with the way he's been acting?"
"I think she has everything to do with it,"