Rose eventually set her songs aside in favour of performing Sam's songs first. I'm rather scared of the fact that Rose, who I assumed to be a huge ego-maniac, is cracking and supposedly losing confidence in her creations if she had any. I guess it's too difficult to hide anything from roommates. Perhaps it's all an act so she can manipulate us and the audience into thinking she's a good person underneath; as I said, she's very unpredictable. She likes to think ahead for the band and doesn't really elaborate on how to achieve those goals. If we want to get the word out, we'll need some help from advertisements or a sponsor of some sort. I hate the thought of selling out or automatically becoming famous so I'm not as determined as Rose is to become noticed but would still appreciate a head start for even a fake manager after our first few performances. My wish for behind-the-scenes management was granted unfortunately soon.

I was shopping with Sam for groceries and a figure with blue hair caught my attention across the dairy aisle. It's a popular opinion to despise seeing familiar people at a store when you just want to purchase items and go, to which I agree, but I was sort of enlightened to finally see that person again after his disappearance. It was none other than the interesting yet still sort of creepy Nick. I guess I'm only happy to see him because I'm full of questions as always. The boy-crazy Sam quickly stopped crushing on him in favour of another attractive guy proceeding his absence, so she wasn't too nervous about seeing him again. She wasn't planning a conversation with anyone there and I had to think of what exactly to ask him, so I tried to avoid eye contact for a bit but was spotted by him anyway because I guess I'm hard to miss. (Now I sound like the ego-maniac, but it's true.) He walked over and eagerly greeted us not as students, but as mates.

"Hey!" he shouted. "How have you guys been?"

"The band has been pretty productive, actually," I replied. "Where did you go?"

"Oh, I quit being a sub."

"What?! That was quick! Why? What are you gonna do now?"

"I'm glad you asked. I want to join your band. Thank goodness for supermarkets being the best way to find friends and stuff when you least expect it- Forget I said that."

That sounds a bit suspicious if you ask me and I don't believe that he quit just to do something he'll most likely not get paid for any time soon. I may become notorious for constantly overthinking and asking tons of questions, but I think it'll save someone's life one day. Who knows?

"You haven't been coming here every day in hopes of finding me, have you?" I worried.

" ... Is that a bad thing?" he hesitated.

"Well, it was nice seeing ya. Goodbye." I said before sharply turning around to escape from the conversation.

"Wait! I know I kinda ruined how you see me as a person and I rushed in like an idiot, but I want to start over. I don't have any of your contacts, and I can safely assume that you don't check your e-mails, so I had no other option but to come here, by the way. I'd hate to have you think I'm some creep or something, which I'm not. Surely you have the heart to forgive me and find value in me as a band member."

I didn't want to give in to his plea, but I can't help but see the good in everyone. Even shady scumbags like him. Believe me when I admit that I'm rather indecisive with people, however. Luckily, I have Sam and her two-cents whenever I can't count on my judgement.

"He seems desperate," she whispered to me.

Okay, maybe she isn't that straightforward, but I still appreciate the effort. I recalled how I thought the band might need some behind-the-scenes backup. "I guess we could use a little more help with things," I told Nick. "How do you plan on assisting us once you're in?"

"Well, er," he replied. "I could be the band manager."

"Oh! Do you think you're qualified to be a manager?" I asked.

"Probably not."

" ... You know what? I'll call the leader of the band Rose and ask her. I don't care as much about you being qualified as she does."

"Thank you so much for giving me a chance, No-Eyes ... Random question: Wouldn't you rather have a cooler nickname? 'No-Eyes' is not terrible, but it could be better. Just saying; I'd rather call you Elizabeth or Ellie."

I laughed and shook my head at him. I left Sam alone with Nick while I was dialling Rose's number and the two had a seemingly harmless ice-breaker chat. Rose didn't take long to answer.

"What?" Rose irritably asked through the phone.

"Hey, Rosie," I replied. "What do you say about a new addition to the band?"

"Oh, absolutely! Who is it?"

"It's a guy named Nick. He wants to be the band manager."

"'A guy?' This is going to be interesting- I mean that's cool; I don't have to manage too many things anymore. Bring him over."

"Er, that's good to hear, I guess. Later." I hung up and muttered to myself what have I done?

"She said 'yes?!" Nick gasped.

"Yeah. She also wants you to come over to our apartment." I replied.

"Once we're all done shopping, we can meet up at the parking lot so you can follow us home," Sam added.

"Sweet! I can't thank you both enough. I'll meet ya there."

So we did just that afterwards. Sam and I found out that Nick was a motorcyclist, so I jokingly warned her to not develop a crush on him again after that because she digs that kind of stuff. Before anyone asks, I don't drive at all. It's not that I don't trust myself behind the wheel; I'm just forbidden to do so because of my eyesight, so Sam drives me places in her tiny yellow electric car whenever we go places together. As we arrived, Nick glanced in awe of our practically run-down, shady apartment building. If he is that amused by the strange places of this city, I can only imagine how he reacts to beautiful places. This is coming from someone used to and is bored of that scenery, but still. At least he's positive, though. We all walked upstairs with our groceries and I knocked on our door for someone to let us in. May shortly opened the door after looking through the window for a second. The three of us dropped our items off at the small kitchen area for May to store away (I felt bad for doing that to her but she didn't seem to care) and then spotted Rose approaching us. She and Nick gave each other the first impressions I predicted.

"Oh," Nick smiled. "Hi."

"Hi," Rose said in disbelief.

"I remember you from Art class that one time. From what I've seen, I think you're really good at drawing. Especially the outfit designs."

Dodging the compliment, Rose glared at me. "Are you kidding me? When you told me that it was a guy named Nick, you didn't tell me it was Mr R! Do you know how awkward that is?!"

"Should I get going or ... " Nick asked in concern.

"Mr R?" I looked at him. "What does the 'R' stand for?"

"I'd rather just go by Mr R," he answered. "It's a really long last name. You didn't see the whiteboard?"

I tried to forget about that incident and wanted to explain to her. "Look, Rose. He really wants to be in the group-"

"You can be a groupie," Rose told him. "Manager is a strong word for you."

"I'll do anything," he explained. "I don't even care about the money right now."

"Why not?" she asked, looking suspicious.

"Er... I'm not working for the school anymore, but I see a lot of potential in you guys as friends or mates; whatever you call it here. I just want to give you guys ideas or tips to help you become successful like that band Obungus. Where to go, what to do, anything... Unless you were planning on mooching off of the Gorillaz' success or something-"

"I'll never mooch off of them. You're in."

"You won't regret this, Rose. Thank you."

Shortly, I suggested for everyone to sit at the dinner table to do what I consider part two of or "Get to Know One Another" session that could have had a better part one. Unlike last time, more questions were asked. He repeated some facts about himself that he revealed to me back then for us all to hear.

"Do you live nearby?" I asked him.

"Yes," he answered without hesitation.

"How are you still alive?" May asked as if she knew him.

"... Reasons," he replied.

"What music genres do you like?" Sam inquired.

"I actually don't care about music genres as long as the lyrics are good. The only thing I might change from your songs is to add any powerful lyrics if they lack any, which I doubt would be a problem," he explained.

"So you think you can manage, produce, and edit?" Rose speculated.

"Yep," he replied. "I really will do anything for you guys. Ideas come to me like vengeful underground pirates- That was a weird, specific comparison I just did there, but you get what I mean..."

All of a sudden, Sam's eyes whitened and her necklace vibrated to reveal Amy's head that popped out to chime in.

"Are you single?" Amy smirked.

She hasn't revealed herself to anyone else except me and Sam yet, so Rose and Nick jumped from their seats in fear while May still sat with her arms crossed and face barely lifted in surprise.

"Mum?!" Sam shouted in embarrassment.

"Whoa, what-?" Nick murmured.

"What is that thing?!" Rose worried.

"Ouch," Amy sarcastically said. "Nice to meet y'all, too, I guess."

"This is my mum, Amy," Sam irritably explained to everyone. "She's also in the band, so she's harmless. Her timing is just bad." she cleared her throat and Amy scoffed as the rest of her body escaped from the necklace.

"... Okay?" Rose stared dumbfounded.

"Cool," Nick added.

"Not another person to learn about," May complained.

"Guys, I swear I'm not making this all about me." Amy clarified. "I had to come out eventually. I'm your local amateur rapper at your acquaintance. I will love you all like my children if Sammy's okay with that."

"You know I don't like to be called 'Sammy,'" Sam ducked her head.

I always find it entertaining watching people confront each other for the first time. Taking in all of the info about all of the band members, this six-person band to me looks like it'll really make an impression once we do our first appearance on stage. There will be some confusion and maybe intimidation, but amusement nonetheless. Amy then turned to Nick.

"So you are single?"
...