A/N: I am so sorry for the extremely long hiatus that this story took. But seeing as I was in Europe (BEST TRIP EVER!!!!!!), and then had to cram to catch up for exams, it was unavoidable. But now exams are almost over (just math on Friday! Whoot whoot!) and summer is almost upon us, so I'm assuming that I'll be able to finish this story fairly soon. I'll miss writing it, but it will be nice to start another. Yes, I have more up my sleeve! But those don't come yet - must finish this one first! So, hope everyone likes this chapter!

Chapter 11: How Tomika, Marta, and Alicia were silenced

Carmen's letter was the next one to arrive at the camp. She clutched it all through dinner the night it came, wanting to be back in her cabin so she could tear it open. She knew her mother had a good voice - Tomika used to sing her to sleep when she was a little girl. But her mother had never sang in public since before Carmen could remember. She wished she knew why, and hopefully, this letter would provide her with the answer.

After dinner, she could barely contain her excitement. Instead of returning to her cabin, however, she took a walk down by the lake. No one was around - the sun was starting to set, and everyone was probably at the huge game of football the guys had decided to start. She ripped open her letter, settled herself in the sand, and lost herself in her mother's words.

FLASHBACK

Nervously, Tomika made her way into More Music, the CD store around the corner from her house. Trying to look as discreet as possible, she walked casually over to the 'New Releases' section. There it was - her CD. A picture of herself smiling shyly in front of an orange background graced the cover. She'd been to the store every day for the past two weeks, and still hadn't had the courage to buy it. It would look really desperate, she thought to herself, buying your own CD. Like the record company was so bad, they hadn't even given you a copy! Well, she thought bitterly, they hadn't. When she'd gotten signed on by Memorex Records, she'd been extremely excited. She'd spent two months of weekends and after school time in the studio in New York, recording twelve tracks. Sure, their studio was a dump, and they didn't have the best recording equipment. And yeah, they had been so lousy, the didn't even give her a copy of it. But none of that mattered. Almost three months later, it was here!

Shaking her head, she grabbed a copy of the CD. Don't be silly, she told herself, just buy it! There was a new guy working at the counter, probably not much older than she was, so he didn't know her. If the pulled her baseball cap down low over her eyes, maybe he wouldn't recognize her from her picture on the CD cover.

Tomika walked over to the counter and placed the CD on it, not meeting the boy's eyes. He picked it up and scanned it, then flipped it over to look at the back. "Haven't rung this one in before," he commented.

That hurt Tomika just a little. It had been in stores for at least two weeks, and this was the first copy that had been sold? She felt like a pin was poking into her side, slowly letting her confidence seep out.

"Really," she said, more to be polite than anything else. She just wanted to get out of that store.

"Yeah," he said. "But hey, I'm not surprised. I've never heard of this girl. And most people don't go out and buy new CDs unless the girl on the cover is really hot."

That hurt even more.

"Oh, yeah?" she asked, her voice wavering slightly.

"Of course!" the guy exclaimed. "Come on, this girl's a dump. And she's huge! No matter how good her music sounds, no one's gonna want to go and see her jiggle her way around the stage."

Okay, she had to get out, and fast.

"Keep the change," she mumbled, grabbing the bag with the CD. She tore out of the store and kept running. She ran all the way back to her house, slamming open the front door and dashing up the stairs. She heard her mother call, "Tommi, is that you?" but she ignored her.

Tomika's tears didn't start to fall until the reached the safety of her own room. She pulled the CD out of the bag and looked at her picture. The guy in the music store was right - nobody bought CDs of ugly, fat girls. She hurled the CD across the room, yelling as it went. It slammed into the wall and landed on the ground. Hopefully, Tomika thought bitterly, the stupid CD had broken.

She collapsed on her bed. She wiped at her eyes furiously. What did it matter? So a guy thought she was fat. So what? His opinion didn't matter anyway. But secretly Tomika knew it did. Apparently other people thought so too - not a single copy had been sold! She buried her face in her pillow and let the tears come once more.

END FLASHBACK

Leah's letter came next. The very next day it was given to her. Excitedly, she pulled it open. She didn't really care that she had to be at rehearsal in five minutes, and it took at least seven to walk to the staff lounge. They'd excuse her for being late just this once, she was sure. Her mother's familiar cursive leaped out at her as she unfolded the letter.

FLASHBACK

"Mom, you're going to be here, right? You can't miss it!" Marta insisted, wrapping the phone cord around her finger. After a second or two of static ("Stupid cell phones," she thought) she heard her mother's voice reply.

"I'm trying, Marta, I really am. I'm just coming down the interstate right now, breaking just about every speed limit there is," she laughed, but Marta could tell her mom's voice had a little edge of stress in it.

"All right, as long as you're hurrying. The recital starts in ten minutes!" urged Marta.

"I know, I know. I'll be there, I promise. I wouldn't ever let you down."

"Thanks, Mom," smiled Marta.

Her mother began to speak, but she abruptly cut off. From the other end of the line, Marta heard the squealing of tires, a woman's scream, and a loud CRASH. "Mom? Mom? MOM! What happened? What's going on?"

Static.

Marta stood in a line at the front of the church with her father, younger brother, and older sister. She ran her hands down the sides of her black knee-length skirt, wiping the sweat from them. Shaking endless hands was really tiring. All she wanted to do was curl up on a back pew and never get up again.

She looked up to see who was next in line. It was Freddy.

"Freddy? What are you doing here?" she asked, shocked. It had been a month and a half since the band broke up, but she thought Freddy was still serving in the juvenile detention centre.

"I get every other weekend out," he said softly. Instead of taking Marta's hand and shaking it, he wrapped his arms around her back. "I am so, so sorry, Blondie," he said, using the band's old nickname for her.

Marta couldn't help but nestle her cheek into his shoulder. Freddy was one of her oldest and closest friends, and it felt good to be in his arms at the moment. She couldn't help it - a tear escaped and ran down her cheek. "It's been four days... you would have thought I'd be over it by now," she whispered into his shoulder. "But look at me, still blubbering away."

"Don't." He leaned back and wiped the tear off her cheek. "Don't ever feel like you can't cry, around me or otherwise. I cried a bit too, actually, when I found out."

"Thanks," she said, sniffling a little.

Freddy glanced over his shoulder and noticed the long line building behind him. "I should keep moving," he said, "but I'll find you after the ceremony, and we can take a walk and talk, all right?"

She nodded, and Freddy moved on to talk to her brother.

"Now we will have Amelia's daughter, Marta, sing for us," announced Reverend Burns.

Marta numbly stood up and went to the front of the church. The music came on, and she began to sing.

"When I think back on these times
And the dreams we left behind
I'll be glad 'cause I was blessed to get
To have you in my life
When I look back on these days
I'll look and see your face
You were right there for me..."

As she reached the chorus, she began to get choked up. It was difficult to get the words out.

"In my dreams I'll always see you

Soar above the sky
In my heart there'll always be

A place for you for all my life
I'll keep a part..."

She couldn't keep singing, it hurt too much. Tears were flowing freely down her face by then. She whispered, "I'm sorry," into the microphone, set it down, and walked out of the sanctuary. She couldn't keep going like this. The one person who'd always cared for her, comforted her, kept her secrets, was gone.

"I miss you, Mom," she whispered.

END FLASHBACK

Nikki was anxious to receive her letter. Out of all the members of Eclipse, she was the only one who still hadn't gotten one. She'd written her own ages ago... why wasn't she getting a reply?

And then she did, two days after Leah's. When she finally read the letter, she was shocked.

FLASHBACK

"Please," begged Alicia, "please, just stay open tonight. I really, really need this gig. You can't cancel on me now."

"I'm sorry, my dear, but we have to close. My son is very sick and I must return home to him," explained the Club Kiwi manager, Mr. Ku.

"You said your plane doesn't leave until noon tomorrow!" she cried. "Just stay open until 11:00 pm. I'll do my set and I'll never beg you for anything else again."

"I cannot afford to pay you our full rate," he complained.

"I'll take half-rate!" Alicia cried quickly. "Please, Mr. Ku, I'm desperate. I really, really need this money."

She could hear him sighing on the other end of the phone, and then have a hurried conversation with his wife in the background. Finally he spoke to her again. "All right - we will stay open until 11 o' clock and we pay you half."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Ku!" she exclaimed. "I'll see you at 9:00 pm!"

Alicia had sang until 10:00 pm, and her set was going great. Everyone really seemed to be enjoying her - there were loud cheers and claps after each song. Granted, she was a pretty girl, and most of the audience was middle-aged men... she pushed that thought from her mind.

She was allowed a 15 minute break to get something to drink, head to the washroom, and rest her voice. After taking a couple of drinks from her massive Evian water bottle, she traipsed to the small, dank women's bathroom.

Alicia squeezed herself into a tiny stall. Man, it is so disgusting in here, she thought to herself. If I wasn't getting paid, I would definitely not be here.

Just as she was washing her hands (actually, attempting to get some soap out of the empty dispenser) when she heard shouts and screams coming from the main room. Curious, she yanked open the bathroom door. Smoke immediately poured into the washroom. She coughed and dashed out the door, trying to see where she was going and what the problem was.

Somehow, she managed to get herself outside. Standing shivering across the street from Club Kiwi (it was a rather chilly night) she watched the smoke pour out of the windows, and flames licking at the building's foundation. The fire department showed up in a matter of minutes, and several firefighters hopped out of the truck and began dousing the club with water.

Alicia sidled up to one of the more sober-looking customers. "What happened?" she asked him.

"Ruddy man lit a cigarette while that girl was singing, fell asleep at his back table, and the whole place caught on fire during intermission!" he said, his face shining with sweat.

"Oh my gosh," she whispered to herself.

The man heard her. "That's for sure. Strange, though. I'd originally heard that the club was supposed to be closed tonight - the owner had to return to Japan or something. But at the last moment it stayed open. Not sure why. Bet old Mr. Ku must be pretty upset now, though. If he'd stayed closed, this never would have happened."

Alicia felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. Because of her, this whole place was burning to the ground. Because of her need for money, Mr. Ku was losing his business. Because of her desperate phone call earlier that afternoon, many people would have nowhere to go on a Saturday night. Because of her stupid need to sing, many people had to suffer.

Why do I even bother? she wondered, feeling absolutely horrid.

END FLASHBACK

"So that's it, then," said Aaron at band practice. "That's the whole story."

"Yeah," agreed Carmen quietly.

"This really sucks," Jordan said.

"Now the question is, what are we going to do about it?" asked Dewey. They all looked at him.

"What do you mean?" Nikki wanted to know. "What can we do?"

"Oh, I just had a little idea..." said Dewey, smirking.

A/N: Well, hopefully this chapter was good and long enough to make up for the insanely long time I've been gone! Like I said, now that I'm almost through with exams and that summer is basically here, hopefully I'll get the rest of the chapters up for you guys soon. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! You guys rock so much! There was 32 of them, so I can't thank everyone individually, but hopefully I'll be able to thank you all after the next chapter! So, happy reading! Read and review!