Chapter 2

Melody rubbed her eyes and yawned. She stretched and used her arms as pillows, tilting in her chair.

"I hate exams!" High School was a joke compared to this shit. She looked over at her bed thinking if she laid down now if she'd be able to get up in a matter of hours. Her schedule was the same: Work in the morning at a restaurant, College at night, and on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays she had her band she played in. She was the lead singer of "Mirage" (not to be confused with the 60's British band). They were working on a new name anyways.

Busy, Busy.

She yawned again looking at her room. Her one-bedroom apartment was clean enough. Dirty laundry on the floor of the bathroom since the hamper was full, dishes needed to be done, trash needed to be taken out. She had a few hours before band rehearsal the next day so she'd do it then… or she could watch anime and drink some soda, maybe order a pizza so she'd have something to eat for lunch and dinner. Pizza- the college kid's savior.

"I need someone to talk to…" 11:00 P.M. Who would be up? She dialed Mika. Her best friend picked up on the second ring.

"Get back to studying, Mel" with that she hung up. How did she know she was trying to procrastinate? She pouted a bit and decided to try again with the studying thing. But English was hard! So was Math! History was the easy one with her music class. Her second semester was getting her down about the next year. A nice breeze pushed her curtains back from the window separating her desk from her full-size bed. She had found the bed frame in the trash. People just don't know the value of things, so what if the frame was cracked and missing two legs? That's what cinder blocks were made for and the mattress was free to, kind of springy but she covered it up with a bedspread and extra padding. It made the bed just as comfy as her couch. She went to her little kitchen for a drink. She opened up a soda just for the caffeine kick, she looked around. She needed more furniture. In the kitchen she had a square folding table with two barstools as chairs for a dining room table, a couple of plates, all her cups were from restaurants, a few things of silverware (some of which were plastic), and the basic appliances. From there, there was the living room that only had a small bookcase that was stuffed full of unorganized books and movies with some sticking out, a couch with its broken leg, and a TV on a stand with a DVD player. Her bathroom that divided the kitchen and bedroom was much better having only the bare essentials in it.

"Damn..." she looked at her night shirt that she had dribbled some soda on; she grabbed around for some paper towels then remembered she was out. She went to the bathroom and discarded the shirt in the floor with the rest. She looked around at the decorated mirror with a smile. She had taped pictures of her and her family and friends to the edges all around. She liked one in particular, she was with her mom and her brown hair was shorter then. She washed her hands and looked at the floor. She picked up a black top, sniffed it, shrugged and tugged it on over her underwear. Didn't smell to bad, but she'd have to shower in the morning. She went back, got her drink and went to the desk with a little lamp and her guitar on a stand next to it.

"Alright let's get to studying…" with a sigh she opened her book back to the right page, as the wind had shifted it some to land on some other chapter.

She opened her eyes to the sound of her phone buzzing.

"'ello…" she asked groggy.

"Melody…" her boss was irritated, "what time is it?"

"Breakfast time?" her stomach growled.

"How about '10 minutes before your shift starts' time?" her boss knew she would be late, mostly because she was almost always late.

"Wha…?" something was hitting her face. She peeled it off and looked around. She had fallen asleep at her desk (again) and had a page with drool now smearing the words. "Oh crap! I'll be there in a minute!"

"Right" she hung up agitated.

After a quick shower and throwing her hair up in a messy bun on top of her head, she was out the door. She was hopping on one foot, with a pop-tart in her mouth, putting on her non-slip shoes when she realized she hadn't closed the door or grabbed her bag. She ran back, grabbed it, locked it, and ran to the stairs taking two at a time. She was dressed in black slacks and a blue top that she needed to button up over her undershirt. She jumped on her bicycle and pedaled hard.

"Melody… your 20 minutes late. Again" Her boss and Aunt, Missy, had her out in the hallway away from customers, "To top it off, you don't have on a name tag or visor… why do I put up with you?"

"Because I'm adorable and do a good job in the time I'm here?" she said trying to be cute and give her 'the look'- The one that made her irresistible. It wasn't working.

"Guess what you're doing today?"

"No…"

Five minutes later she was in a borrowed visor and name tag. The name tag read "Dumbass" on it which was why she was probably in the back peeling onions, potatoes, cucumbers and anything else. Yes, as the restaurant name stated "Fresh Missy's." Everything was 100% fresh. She peeled and chopped for hours then she was put on pan duty to make sure they shined. Why didn't she fire her? She frowned scrubbing and scrapping at the pans. She was such a mess.

After a long shift she looked at her phone, no new messages but one missed call. It wasn't a number she recognized. Probably a wrong number. She went home and changed into a pair of blue shorts, brown boots, and a poufy sleeved white shirt. It was rehearsal time. She grabbed her guitar from the stand and strapped it to her back. She rode her bike downtown to where Mika was setting up for practice in their rented room in a building Melody didn't even know was there until she needed to be there. Ron, the red-headed drummer, smiled at her as he finished setting up.

"Hey where's-"

"Here" Jessica made her turn.

"I was going to say the beer but I missed you too" she teased.

"Yeah right," she turned to a cooler and tossed her a cold one and opened her own.

Jessica was the back-up singer with Mika but she also played the piano with Melody. Mika was the bass guitarist. Melody was the lead singer and lead guitarist. Ron played the drums. Mika was also a student but was already working as an intern in the legal system, Ron was a bartender, and Jessica was in school for nursing.

"Ron, you ready for all these beautiful ladies?" Jessica joked. Ron was a man of few words until he was mad. But tonight he smelled like smoke and was in a good mood as he nodded and sat behind his drums.

"So Melody, I got a weird call today. Someone looking for you at the bar" Ron spoke up after an hour into practice. Ron worked mornings, opening the bar serving the third-shift people. It helped him mellow out better.

"Hm?" she drank some water, "from?"

"Some guy from a firm. Said he been trying to get in touch with you for a few days now." He showed her the number, it was the same weird number as before.

"Yeah, I was at work and missed a call from that guy… wonder what he wants…" she drank the last of her water and pulled out her phone. 8:00 P.M. whoever this guy was he might answer. She dialed it back. On the third ring there was an answer.

"Yama speaking," Wait Yama… where had she heard that before? "Hello?"

"Yes, Um, My name is Melody. I had a missed call-"

"Melody! Yes of course! I was about to give up."

She didn't like the creepy tone; he made a sound like he was taking a drag off a cigar or cigarette.

"So… what can I do for you?" she was feeling awkward. She turned to her friends who were obviously eavesdropping.

"I heard your band play at your last gig, you were good. And by you, I mean just you. I want you to come and sing for a few of my friends, just you and your guitar. I'm having a private meeting on Friday. If you do, I'll send a car for you, you'll have to dress nice, and I'll pay you-"

He quoted a price that made her juggle the phone, almost dropping it.

"C-can I call you right back?"

"Sure," you could hear the crude smile in his voice as he hung up.

"What did he want?" Jessica asked.

"Well…" she explained the conversation talking with her hands excitedly.

"I don't know" said Ron, he took off his bandana.

"Sounds sketchy as fuck" Mika stated plainly.

"But that money though… you could buy like a car!" Jessica was just as excited as she was.

"So I guess I'm going," Melody stated already opening her phone.

"Woah, we need to talk more about this. We need the details. We need a solid plan," Mika grabbed her hand before she hit redial, "So if you take this gig, we need to know you're not going to disappear on us."

"Aw, you do care" she smiled.

"This is serious!" Mika caught her by the cheeks, making her face scrunch up like a fish.

"OK, OK!" she moved away and looked at her. Mika was right as always. "I'll go ahead and call him, get the details and we'll plan, alright?"

They nodded.

"And get the money up front!" Jessica shouted just as the phone started ringing.

She dialed the number. Mr. Yama picked up on the third ring like before.

"Miss Melody?"

"Yes, um, Mr. Yama? I'll come on Friday."

"Great, I have your address and I'll send a car to get you on Friday at 6 P.M. When you get here there will be a door down the hall on the left. Knock on it and Jerry will let you in."

"Um, may I have the address?"

"You don't trust me?" he chuckled taking a quick puff of whatever he was smoking.

"No, sir, just being prepared"

"Sure" he gave her a quick address.

"Also, can I have the money up front, no offense intended, promise" she gave a nervous laugh.

"Of course, see you Friday." With that he hung up.