"The Demon King..." Bayley said, reading the cover of the mysterious book she found on Becky's bed. When she heard Becky's footsteps down the hall, she quickly put the book back.
"Hey, I didn't know you were awake." Becky said, entering the room with a smile. She picked up the book and left the room again, while Bayley stood still, thinking. Her phone began ringing. The screen read, "THE BO$$ - Mobile".
Roman and Seth sat in Roman's living room, staring at the backpack.
"So what's your verdict?" Roman asked.
"Hold on, I tried your little trick last night."
"Really? Worked, didn't it?"
"She looked at me like I had 6 heads, then she smiled and ran off." Seth said, angrily.
"You didn't do it right."
"I did exactly what you said!"
"Maybe she doesn't like you." Roman shrugged.
"Maybe she liked me until you told me to do THAT stupid shit!"
"Look, you got more important problems than Charlotte."
"That backpack, is not my fucking problem. That's Dean's problem. If you wanna make it your problem too, go ahead. Me on the other hand? I'm good."
"Real good friend."
"If Dean was a good friend, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Seth shouted.
"WE!? WE'RE in this mess? I thought you were good!"
"Okay fine! I'm thinking, okay! I'm debating!"
"Nah, you're good. I'll handle this myself. It's me and Dean's problem." Roman said, mockingly.
"Roman!"
"No, it's fine! Let Dean die. All you're worried about is your little rockstar-Barbie girlfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend and she has nothing to do with this, Roman, you know that!"
"Well while you're debating, I'll be helping my brother out."
Roman picked up the backpack and started walking towards the door.
"Where are you going!?" Seth asked.
"Don't worry about it."
"This is your house!"
"Then go home." Roman said, walking out and closing the front door behind him.
Seth sighed, sitting alone in Roman's empty house. After a few seconds, he followed Roman out of the door.
"I wanna help!" Seth called out, as Roman kept walking down the sidewalk.
After a few more seconds, Seth began running to catch up with Roman.
"Dude, what's your problem?"
"The three of us have an unbreakable bond, man... At least I thought."
"We do! I just don't think it's fair to us that we have to..."
Seth trailed off as his phone began ringing.
"Answer your princess, Prince Charming."
"That could be anybody."
"Check it."
Seth pulled his phone out of his pocket and read the screen. It read "Charlotte - Mobile". He answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey Seth, we might have to hangout tonight instead of this afternoon. Something came up." Charlotte said, on the other line.
"That's fine, just let me know when you're free."
"Alright cool. See ya tonight."
"Bye."
"So who was it?" Roman asked, as Seth hung up.
"Okay it was her, but that doesn't prove anything."
"Dean would do this for you."
"Dean would do this just because he's Dean. Dean WAS doing this. That's why we're stuck doing it."
"We?"
"Yes! We! I'm helping!"
"...okay good cause I don't feel like walking around with this thing. You wanna give me a ride to Wendy's?" Roman asked, with a smile. All Seth could do was shake his head in disbelief and laugh as the two began walking to his car.
Charlotte walked up the stairs of the abandoned apartment. She re-read the text she received 25 minutes ago. "THE BO$$: Come to the office, I need you". Once she made it to "THE BO$$'S OFFICE", she opened the door. She stepped back, noticing several things catching her off guard. The first of which, was Bayley presence. Bayley was not only there, but looked like she had been there for quite a while. Also, Becky was there, holding all 5 sharpies. The final strange thing that Charlotte noticed, was Sasha herself. The girl looked like she hadn't slept, and she was wearing the exact same clothes from the performance the night before.
"You guys are hanging out?" Charlotte asked.
"We are far from hanging out." Bayley said, sounding annoyed.
"I'm trying to figure out the Sharpies." Sasha said, her tiredness and hopelessness dominating her voice.
"Maybe each color represents a mood, and you have to play a song in each mood for her." Becky suggested, eyeing down the markers.
"Carrot Top, just hand me my markers and leave if you're gonna say stupid shit like that." Sasha managed to say, rubbing her forehead.
Becky sighed, and handed them to Charlotte.
Charlotte stood frozen as the 3 girls stared at her for an idea.
"Boss, have you even slept since the performance?" she asked.
"A lot of stuff has happened since the performance. I don't wanna talk about it. Do you have an idea or not?"
"No."
"Maybe you're supposed to color your guitar strings." Bayley suggested.
Sasha looked up at the ceiling, before looking at Bayley.
"There's 5 Sharpies and 6 strings, genius."
"Yeah, that means you leave one clear, then all the strings would be different colors."
Becky and Charlotte turned to Bayley, slightly impressed.
"That makes no sense, why would I do that?" Sasha asked, dismissively.
"AJ's a very unorthodox artist, you know that. You got the high E, the B, the G, the D, the A, then the low E. Maybe her mind doesn't work like that. Maybe she practices with colored strings, and she memorizes them as the blue string, the red string, and so on."
"That's stupid."
"That's the smartest thing anyone's said in the past hour." Becky yawned.
Charlotte looked confused.
"You guys discussed this for an hour before inviting me over?"
"Blondes aren't known for being notoriously smart." Sasha shrugged.
Bayley grabbed the guitar and began coloring the top string with the pink Sharpie.
"I'm gonna send AJ a pic when you're finished. If you end up making my guitar look stupid for no reason, I swear to god I-"
"That's not your guitar." Charlotte said, with a smile.
Sasha simply rolled her eyes in response. Eventually, Sasha began to zone out. As she began to fall asleep, she envisioned what happened after Seth dropped her off. The sound of her mother's terrified screams in her head was interrupted by the 5'10 blonde girl standing in front of her.
"Boss!?" Charlotte yelled.
"Huh? What? I'm... I'm here, what's going on?"
"All done." Bayley said, holding the guitar.
Sasha frowned at it, before taking a picture and texting it to AJ.
The 4 girls waited a few minutes, until Sasha's phone vibrated.
"She said, 'wow... under 24 hours, you're quick. Meet me with your band members at 7 PM at 619 West Burberry Ave'."
Charlotte found it weird that Sasha didn't even crack a smile. She simply turned around to plug her phone charger in.
"You're welcome. Let's go." Bayley said, walking towards the door.
"We'll be back at like 6:30." Becky said, with a smile, following Bayley out of the door.
Sasha turned back around, expecting the room to be empty. Instead, she once again saw the 5'10 blonde girl, standing there.
"What happened last night?" Charlotte asked, sitting down on the bed.
"If I was gonna talk about it with someone, you'd be the last person."
"...well... I was the only one today that's noticed there's something wrong with you... I mean... you look like you haven't slept, you're wearing the same clothes from last night, you're in an even worse mood that usual-"
"Why do you care?" Sasha asked, cutting her off.
"Because... because I'm a good person."
"You're not a good person, morality is a spectrum."
"Oh, so now the thief is gonna give me lesson on morals."
"You thought I was homeless, and instead of giving me all of your money, you bought a guitar you didn't need, and gave me $10. Was that being a good person?"
"I didn't have to give you anything."
"But you did, because you're a 'good person'. But you didn't give me ALL of your money, because you're not THAT good of a person."
"What's your point? And by the way, you never gave us that $10 back."
"And I'm not going to. My point is, not everything can be separated into good and bad so easily."
"Okay, I guess I agree but that doesn't answer my question. What happened last night?"
"My dad caught my mom trying to sneak me in last night, and he beat her up in front of me... and when I tried to run into the house and help, he stood over her with a bat and said that if I stepped foot in the doorway, he was going to bash her head in with it... so I left."
"WHAT!? ARE YOU OKAY!?" Charlotte yelled in shock, running over to hug her. Sasha pushed Charlotte away.
"Don't." Sasha said, coldly.
"Come to my house and get a shower."
"Okay."
Charlotte looked shocked. She didn't expect Sasha to agree so quickly, considering how stubborn she'd been since they met a few days ago.
"Uh... cool, let's go." Charlotte said, leading Sasha out of the room.
"Pleasure doing business with you, boys." Vince said, with a smile.
"You too sir." Roman said, with an awkward smile. Seth grabbed the backpack, and the two boys left the house.
"Why does Dean even do this shit?" Seth asked.
"It wasn't that bad. He seemed like a nice old man. A little on the weird side though."
"Whatever man. I gotta get ready, I kinda have a date with Charlotte tonight."
Seth's phone began ringing.
"Speaking of." Seth said, with a smile.
"Cute." Roman replied, rolling his eyes.
"Hello?"
"Hey Seth, we can't hang out. Something came up."
"What came up?"
"I uh... music stuff. I really can't reveal any details, but it's really important. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be cancelling."
Roman looked skeptically at the phone.
"Uh... okay, we'll hang out another time I guess." Seth said, failing to hide his disappointment.
"I'm sorry..."
"You're fine. Bye."
"Bye."
Seth hung up.
"...'I uh...music stuff'? Dude, she's totally lying."
"Shut up." Seth said, getting into his car.
After a long silent walk, Sasha and Charlotte arrived at the Flair residence.
"I'll be right back." Charlotte said, as soon as they entered the house.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm getting your shower ready and everything."
As Charlotte went upstairs, Sasha nervously sat on the couch. She began looking around the room, immediately hating the environment. It looked like a sitcom house to her. Cheesy family pictures on the wall, stairs in the living room leading up to what was probably an even more cliche looking second floor. Sasha noticed one of the family pictures was at a beach. She grabbed it to take a closer look. In the picture, she recognized a little girl, who she assumed to be Charlotte, and a man, who she assumed was her father. She also saw a woman, a boy with dark hair who looked about 15, and a very little boy, who looked almost identical to Charlotte. Sasha put the picture back when she heard footsteps coming down the staircase.
"Hey..." Ric said, confused, as he slowly entered the living room.
"Hey, I'm the guitarist from your daughter's band."
"MY DAUGHTER'S WHAT!?"
Just then, Charlotte started coming down the stairs.
"This sounds like a family issue, I'll be in the bathroom." Sasha said, going up the stairs.
"Family issue? What's going on?" Charlotte asked, confused.
"What are you doing in a band!?"
"Band? I'm not in a... I mean... okay, now that I think about it guess I kinda am."
"Charlotte, we discussed this!"
"You said I could do the open mic, you just weren't paying for it."
"I didn't expect you to go out and get the money and join a band, I expected you to pout about it in your room for a little while, then get over it!"
"Then maybe you don't understand just how serious I am about this."
"Understand how serious I am. You're NOT in that band anymore."
"You're making me quit?"
"I'm quitting for you."
"Dad, you can't just-"
Before Charlotte could finish her sentence, Ric left the house through the front door.
"Ambrose. Phone."
Dean looked at his cellmate and nodded, as he picked up his silent phone. The name read "Papa De Drogas". He answered it.
"Hola?"
"Usted no es un comediante. You're not fucking funny." Del Rio said, on the other line.
"Relax. What are you so uptight about?"
"You had a very important order scheduled today, I-"
"Vince, rich guy, 94 12th Street? He got his shit."
"What!?"
"He got his shit, call him and ask him."
"You... you got it to him!? How!?"
"I told you, I'm not gonna let you down. In here, out there, there's no difference."
"Usted no está todavía lejos de los problemas. You're not safe just yet."
"Yeah but I will be."
"You better hope so."
"You'll get your fucking money, okay? I don't have any interest in dying or changing my identity and moving overseas."
"One month."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I gotta go."
Before Del Rio could respond, Dean hung up and called Seth.
"Hello?"
"Hey, you made that run for me, right?"
"Yeah. Quick question. What do you get out of this?"
"Del Rio buys the drugs from over the border, gets them smuggled into the country, finds some runners to sell it for 4 times the price he bought them for. He gets three fourths, runner gets one fourth."
"Wait, we get to keep some of the money!?" Roman yelled.
Just then, Dean and his cell mate heard the guard walking down the prison hall.
"Duh, why the fuck else would I do it? Look, dinner is soon. It's mystery meat night again, I gotta go. Peace."
Dean hung up and threw the phone into his pillow case.
"Slop hall, come on." The guard said, opening the cell. Dean and his cellmate followed him.
AJ sat at a desk, quietly strumming on an acoustic guitar almost as big as her entire body.
Her bodyguard entered the room.
"Hey AJ, there's-"
"Blonde hair, brown hair, pink hair, orange hair?" AJ asked, cutting them off.
"Uh... yeah."
"Let 'em in." AJ said, putting her guitar to the side.
The bodyguard left. He returned with Charlotte, Sasha, Becky, and Bayley.
"Where's Plus One?"
"She's taking guitar lessons. Her class is right now." Charlotte said.
"Cute. Pop quiz. Who's the most important member of the band?"
"Uh..." Charlotte began.
"That would be me." Sasha smiled.
"Wrong." AJ said, coldly.
The girls looked confused. Charlotte nervously raised her hand.
"Me?"
"What's your name, orange?" AJ asked.
"Becky."
"Becky is the heartbeat of the band. If you guys are performing a mile away from me, the first thing I'm gonna hear is Becky. She determines the tempo, if she screws up, everything falls apart."
The girls stood in silence, thinking about what AJ was saying.
"Everyone that's taller than 5'5, please leave the room." AJ said.
The four girls turned to each other, again, confused. Charlotte, Becky, and Bayley slowly walked out of the door and closed it.
"Have a seat, Boss."
Sasha nervously sat in the chair in front of the desk.
"Let me let you in on a little secret. You're not gonna believe me, but... I'm God."
Before Sasha could even fully process what she'd just heard or ask any questions, AJ continued speaking.
"I know this because whenever I pray, I'm the only one that hears it. And whenever I pray for something to happen, it only happens if I make it happen myself. Makes sense, right?"
"I... I guess when you put it that way." Sasha shrugged.
"You think I'm crazy, don't you?"
"I think you're a genius. All geniuses are crazy. Sane people can't make art. When they do, it's boring."
"You're really good at this whole brown-nosing thing."
"I'm not brown-nosing, I know you're batshit crazy. But I also know you're the best at what you do. I'd listen to you ramble on for hours if it gave me the opportunity to get a fraction of your talent."
"You're still a little starstruck, but I can tell you're different than the other girls." AJ said, with a slight smile.
"What do you mean?"
"I see the little swagger you carry yourself with. You call yourself 'The Boss'. You have a bit of an attitude to you. I like it. The other girls? They're too nice. Nice people get stepped on in this business. Musically, Becky's the leader, but in real life, it's you."
"Thanks." Sasha said, with a slight smile.
"Steer them in the right direction. Don't let them do anything stupid."
Sasha silently nodded.
The two girls sat in silence for a bit, until Sasha broke it.
"So what now?"
"Impress me. You guys got my attention."
"That's it?"
"What'd you expect a record deal and a contract? You're under my wing. You have my number. Call me for advice, send me videos of your performances, all that good stuff, and I'll keep an eye on you."
"Right. Thanks."
"God is omnipotent. Do you know what that means?"
"All knowing."
"Very nice. Smart girl. I see and hear everything. Be careful."
The two girls shook hands, and Sasha left, to see her bandmates waiting outside of the door.
"What'd she say?" Charlotte asked.
"Mind your own business, Trust Fund."
Sasha walked past the girls.
Becky, Bayley, and Charlotte looked at each other in confusion before following her out of the building.