Now that Nick is in charge of management, Rose seems surprisingly more in-the-present and left the planning for him to do so she can either turn the idea down or make room for it because she likes her schedules to be tight. Thus, she created the 'Idea Journal' from a red composition notebook for us all, but mostly Nick, to jot any events, places, or lyrics down in and that is how the two mostly communicated so far. They haven't done much talking in person yet because it's still sort of awkward having him here considering he looked through our assignments at one point. And she talked smack about him. I'm not complaining about his company because it's my fault and there is this sort of determination he possesses for this band's success.

I thought of several reasons as to why he would care so much, such as for the money, for fame, to win the Gorillaz' respect and whatnot. But I want to believe he loves an underdog story of passionate musicians jamming out together and being admired for doing what they love, which is the kind of vibe I'm getting from his genuine demeanour. Except we're not really underdogs and most of us aren't exactly passionate about it. I'm just glad that he didn't decide to move in with us. He usually comes in right after each school day and does his own thing on weekends. He never elaborates on what he does in his spare time... I'm too self-aware about my constant questionary, so I'll just accept it. When we all hung out in the living room still holding our instruments, I asked what he does in his spare time, of course, to which he dodged. However, more was revealed than all of us were prepared to know.

"I'm more concerned about you guys," Nick chuckled. "You guys are so set on band stuff. Practice, practice, practice. What do you guys do for fun? Do you even breathe?"

"You're new here," I replied. "We shop together, had a sleepover once, we went golfing..."

"Yawn. I guess I can't blame you guys since you haven't even been a band for that long, but now there's a guy here. We are definitely going out for a hike one day. Or lazer tag."

"You are such a kid," Rose laughed. "Although what we did wasn't any less childish, I'll give you that."

"Hey," May jokingly defended. "Golf is okay."

"I guess so, what'syourname," Nick replied to her. I paused.

"You forgot our names already?" I asked him.

"I'm better with faces," he replied. "I know all of your names except hers and I feel like the worst person ever. Missy? Mary?"

"May," she corrected. "It's also my birth month."

"I don't think I've ever called your name or seen your student ID picture for attendance. You stand out with that purple hair, too."

"That's strange," she admitted. "I guess you can't remember everybody. Even for your age."

He then suddenly raised his hand to pat May's head as an apology for guessing her name. But as soon as his hand made contact, he quickly jerked it away as a result of something poking it.

"Ow!" Nick shouted. "I-I'm sorry, May. I wasn't thinking."

May's eyes widened for a second. Before quickly fixing her hair, a small, pointy, red bump sprouted out, visible to all. It almost seemed like she was hiding horns. Everyone stared at her in confusion but Rose wanted to break the silence.

"Ew!" she overreacted. "Was that a giant cyst?!"

"You don't have to cover for me," May replied. "Everyone saw my demon horn."

"What?!" Rose exclaimed, still playing it off and nervously laughing. "What are you talking about...?! I shouldn't have said anything so they would have forgotten that they saw it, but you didn't have to explicitly admit that they were horns." May shook her head.

Nick, Sam and I sat there petrified. I remember my father warning me about demons... And whales, but that's beside the point. Could that explain her devilishly good guitar skills? Sam's strong moral compass instantly gave her second thoughts about involvement.

"I thought you said you were Christian, Rose," she murmured.

"I didn't say I was a good one, now did I?" Rose shot back. "What matters is that she can play. We're gonna go places and she'll be a factor of that."

"I... Don't think I can do this anymore," Sam stood up.

"If you quit, Sam, your parents are gonna find out exactly why you did," Rose threatened. "You'll snitch on us and we'll pay the price, but you won't get away with it."

"You guys should see my parents if you all think I'm scary," May smirked.

"Were you even a student at the school?" Nick asked her.

"I was never enrolled in any school," May shrugged. "I only went to bug some students. I'm also pretty good at vanishing before any adults caught me. Watch this." She vanished in the blink of an eye with a violet fog that trailed her and reappeared just as fast. "At this point, I'm just showing off, but it just feels so good to get it out of my chest. That fog is a bit annoying, though. Surprisingly, nobody catches that either."

"I knew this band was bad news," I stated. "But not this bad. And I got others into this. How could I be so naive? You really are desperate, Rose. My dad might have gotten Stockholm Syndrome, but not us."

Rose wasn't prepared for this at all. One by one, her members were quitting her band except for May. She finally snapped.

"Fine!" she yelled. "I was afraid of this, so I made a hologram recording of us doing our best run-through. I don't need you guys anymore. All I wanted was a traditional band to perform my songs for. I didn't want to turn to technology for live performances, but you leave me no choice."

"We are not going to be seen playing with you," I argued. "I'll make sure that recording is destroyed. Being in a band isn't your dream. All you want is attention."

"Good luck finding it," she laughed. "What's the use of destroying it anyway? It's not like they care about how we see each other. Should you destroy the recording, your chance of ever being respected by anyone is also destroyed. Once you quit my band, who would want to join yours? What would any of you idiots do without me?"

Pure evil was displayed. The more demonic person was really Rose. She hit where it hurt and it left me so conflicted. Should we stay in the band against our will to build a better resume or should we quit and become obscure in a world where it's harder and harder to become a household name? Sam knows what she wants to be and Nick is adaptable, but what about me? What is my Plan B? Was I just as desperate as Rose herself? I decided that until I've figured out what I wanted to do, my only option is to stay in the band to find myself.

"You're right," I murmured.

"No, she's not!" Sam defended. "You don't know how much you are loved in this world. Music isn't who you are."

"So cheezy," May judged.

"I'll quit as soon as I get a job," I affirmed everyone.

"Well," Sam responded. "I can't leave you alone with these two. You wouldn't do that to me."

"As long as the demon doesn't harm us or anything, I'll stay," Nick stated.

"Are you guys just gonna call me 'the demon' now?" May muttered.

The worst thing about the whole situation is that I let them stay with me. I'm touched by how much they genuinely care, but they don't deserve to be dragged down this selfish path. Rose was speechless. She got what she really wanted using her sharp manipulation, but there was no grin of satisfaction. It was as if she felt spoiled and as if went too far. Was she stumped by the kindness of my peers? I'm not sure what to think of her anymore. She then walked away while none of us noticed except for me.

I questioned if she even made a hologram recording or if she was just trying to scare us? Perhaps I should have had more insight about the decade that I live in sooner, but there's a reason why I didn't: It's what you would expect. Quite a few spectacular events happened, but most notably the slow technology improvement might stand out to you. No flying cars yet. Hologram recordings are a popular phenomenon and are easier on the eyes than cell phone screens, which are another killer. Vaping and fossil fuels are eventually going to be banned globally, it already has in the UK, in favour of the miracle source, algae. Yes, some people smoke algae, but I don't recommend it. There are also timed showers, but those scare me. Now you have some sort of idea on the current general lifestyle.

Nick drove back home and Sam was driven back to her's. The apartment was dead silent afterwards. Rose has been in her room since that event and May was eating cereal at the kitchen table. I laid on the couch, staring at the ceiling to ponder. To make things less awkward, I asked May if she knew about the recording.

"Yeah," May replied with her mouth full. "I know all of her secrets and she knows all of mine. Almost. She honestly has the biggest mouth and you can't trust her with secrets. She's not gonna use the recording anyway because you guys all miraculously decided to stay in the band. We're all suckers here. The recording also makes me look fat... Did you wanna see it?"

"I'm not tired, so sure," I replied.

After finishing her cereal, she dug through the television stand drawer and found the flash drive with the recording in it. It was inserted on my phone that I had lent to her and she made sure the volume wasn't too high. She placed it on the floor for best results and a blue light flashed with a loading screen that took a split second to recover the video. Immediately, there was a two-dimensional projection of us all about to play through each song and there is an option when filming to get rid of the background to only show living things, so that was used. May and I sat on the couch to watch, but her phone suddenly buzzed so she stood up and disappeared to see a text she received privately. And yes, items can apparently vanish with her if she holds it.

I watched by myself, making observations not about how good our performance was but at how happy we look playing together. None of us seemed enthusiastic at all. We just played. Maybe we were just too focused on playing Sam's songs just right. By the way, May doesn't look fat in the recording, she's just surprisingly self-conscious. The recording ended and I turned to my right and was startled to see that Rose had been sitting and watching with me for a bit, sneaking in with her pyjamas and slippers on. I was too into the recording to notice. She made a weak smile.

"I get why you're all mad," she softly spoke. "It wasn't because there is a demon in the band, but because I let that happen out of fear of being a nobody. I guess I am a little desperate. I'm sorry."

Did my ears deceive me? She's actually being vulnerable towards me...? Me and my gullible heart. I didn't want to believe her after what she's revealed about herself to me.

"You don't have to apologise, Rose," I replied just as softly. "I know what you're trying to do here and I'm not falling for it. Not again. I mean it when I say I'm out of here. I'm sorry, too." She stood up to walk away and smiled again.

"You have guts after all."

She seemed so earnest, but I want to challenge myself to not believe her anymore. Her harsh words will always linger. I won't put up with her abuse for long and neither will Nick or Sam. I used to be able to tell who was fake and who wasn't, but my faith in most people is slowly fading with our chances of staying a band. She must be aware of her power. I will admit, though. If we had any similarities, it would be our inconsistency.

...