Chapter 5
We all looked at each other speechless and finally Fred yelled at us, "Well, get dressed!" We all laughed at him and dug into our bags to change into our formal clothes for the meeting. I pulled out a grey pin-striped pencil skirt, a pink button up collar shirt, and a grey pin-striped blazer. I put on white fish-nets and a pair of black pumps. I put my hair up in a bun and put on natural makeup that accented my features and brought out my blue eyes. I looked in the mirror and smiled. My golden hair was shining and smooth, I put on dangling crystal earrings and left the bath room. The rest of the boys were in varying stages of dress up. Sam was in full business attire like my self. He looked really good in his black pinstripe suit with white shirt underneath. David was wearing jeans with dress shoes, a button up white shirt and a black jacket. Seth wore black slacks with a dress shirt and no jacket. Peter was wearing black slacks, a red button up shirt, a sliver tie, sneakers and his jean jacket. "Peter, that jacket is attached to you, I swear!" Cried Sam from the other side of the room; Peter laughed and adjusted his jacket.
I walked over to George and he put his arm around my waist and said, "You look very professional, ready to get your contract in order." I smiled and he leaned in a whispered in my ear, "You should dress like this more often, you've no idea what it does to me." I laughed out loud and kissed him lightly on the lips. I then said, "There'll be plenty of time for that later." Then I went to talk to the band.
"Hey Hannah, you got to help us end this debate. Who is the better band, The Beatles or the Rolling Stones?" Seth asked me, and Peter was with him. They are always debating on things.
"Well that is really hard. They do such different types of music and appeal to different crowds. But my personal preference is the Beatles. But you know me, I like the older stuff."
"Ha!" Peter cried, "I told you! The Beatles are so much better than the Stones. The Beatles single handedly created the genre of rock-and-roll."
"Hey, they're good, but I'm not sure I would say that." Peter was about to start arguing with me about this comment when the door opened. Standing in the door was the secretary from the 5th floor. She told us that Ms. Shelby was ready for us, and if we would just follow her we would start the discussion of the details.
Ms. Shelby's office was impressive. It was large, but not too large. She had a smart desk that was obviously used and loved, but was very neat. She was sitting behind her desk working on her computer. As soon as the door closed she looked up at us. "Welcome, please have a seat." There were not enough seats for all of us, so I stood while David, Peter, Seth and Sam took there seats. I was ready to stand throughout the entire meeting but Sam saw what I was doing and said, "Oh no you don't, you don't get to be the martyr, come here." And he motioned to his lap. I smiled and accepted. When we were all finally settled Ms. Shelby began to speak.
"You are truly a fantastic group it is obvious that you have been playing together for a while. How long exactly have you been playing together?"
"About 6 years Ma'am." Replied David.
"Well it really shows. Your key changes and transitions were smooth and seemed to have been well worn. So about your music; what genre would you put yourselves in?" We all looked at each other at this question. We had never really thought about what genre we were.
"Well, to be honest Ma'am," I began, "we have never really thought about that. I guess we would be in either, the Rock/ Pop or Soft Rock/ Classic Rock genre. But more towards the Rock/Pop genre. Do y'all agree?" The boys looked at me dying to make fun of my use of 'y'all' but they nodded and bit their lips. Thank God for small favors. I thought. That could have been ten minutes of mindless banter.
Ms. Shelby nodded and made a note in her book and then said, "I was thinking the same thing. Now about your contract; how much school do you have left? Sam, you're the oldest right, 18? And Hannah and Peter you are the next oldest, 17 I believe? And then David is 16?"
"Yes Ma'am that is correct, but you forgot Seth, he too is 18." Said David.
"Oh, my, I am so sorry Seth. Your age was not on my list. Please forgive me."
"Don't think of it Ms. Shelby. You didn't tell me your age either so were even." I couldn't help myself, I laughed at that as did the rest of the boys. Seth just shrugged his shoulders and went back to drumming a beat on the arms of his chair. We just laughed harder. Soon Ms. Shelby joined us and we laughed for a good while. After that we were all comfortable and the rest of the time spent in her office was more intimate. By the time we left we were joking with her like we would with each other and she had some pretty good comebacks. As we left her office she said, "Granted today we did most of the grunt work, but I do have to send it upstairs to be approved and then you will have to come back and iron out the details, but that won't be for another few weeks so don't worry yet Sam. I will contact you by owl when it is time. Thank you so much for coming, I am really looking forward to working with you. Say good by to your friends for me. I would show you out, but I am swamped with work."
We all nodded and told her we would. When we came back to the audition room George, Fred, Oliver and Lee (who had apparated back for a class she had forgotten about) had packed up all of our gear and were playing a card game. They all stopped and looked as us as we entered. Oliver was the fist to speak, "Well?" the boys and I looked at each other and in unison screamed, "We got a contract!!" And beaming I ran into George's arms and gave him a huge hug and kiss. The kiss got some cat calls from the boys but I didn't care. None of us could stop smiling as we carried everything back down stairs to the car. I even waved good bye to the mean receptionist.