Chapter 8

The next day was the bands first practice with Sam. Everyone was excited to start working, especially Sam. Everyone arrived at Dewey's place around the same time and were ready to start making some music. But Summer had different plans than everyone else.

"Okay guys." She said calling in their attention. "Now first, welcome Sam to our first band practice. You are officially a member of the School of Rock." She smiled and everyone cheered.

"Thanks Summer." She replied.

Summer took hold of her notebook she carried with her. "I know that you guys would want to start playing already." She said as everyone agreed with her. "But…" she began. "We can't get started because we need to go over this competition in a couple months. And after that we'll contribute our ideas to some songs. That's when Tomika and Sam," she pointed to the two of them. "You two should brainstorm how to write those songs. Then when they're done the rest of you will have to talk it over with them about the music." She said as everyone started to complain.

"Ah man you serious?" Zack whined.

"That'll take forever!" Katie exclaimed.

Lawrence planted his head in his two hands perched up on his knees. "I admit, I was also looking forward to playing some things today." He said, disappointed.

"Do we gotta do it this way?" Tomika asked, turning around to Dewey who was sitting in the back of them.

Dewey nodded. "I'm sorry guys, I wanted to rock out today too." He said, moving to the front of the group. "But Summer did tell me about all of this and it makes sense to do it her way." He said, standing next to Summer. The whole group moaned at Dewey's agreement to Summer's plans.

"So how long will all this take?" Freddy asked. "Before we can start to play?"

"Well, if we go along schedule," Summer said, picking up her planner and rummaging through some pages. "I think that it should take us about…" she paused and looked at her planner. "3 or 4 rehearsal times." She said as everyone went into shock.

"What!" Katie yelled.

"Man, that's like forever!" Zack said loudly.

"And we'd probably end up talking about all this as it gets closer to the performance too." Summer told them, adding on more disappointment to the group.

Freddy ran both hands through his hair and lifted his head up. "Well, so what do we gotta do first?" He said, trying to get the ball rolling.

Summer smiled at the fact that at least one of them didn't hate her for what she was doing. "Okay, I made a PowerPoint to show you guys all the things we need to know about this gig." She said. Lawrence and Dewey helped her hook up laptop to a screen projector Dewey used a few years back at a party. He borrowed it from a school Ned was working at, and never made time to take it back. Lawrence positioned the projector so that it would be shown on a blank wall opposite of the couch everyone was huddled around. Sam, Zack and Freddy sat on the floor. Katie, and Tomika saved a seat on the couch for Lawrence, and Dewey grabbed a chair and sat next to them. Summer closed the blinds and turned off the lights so they'd see the screen better.

"Okay." She said as Dewey adjusted the projector. "So first of all, I guess telling you guys the name of the competition would help." She said, pressing a button on the controller for the projector. "The competition in which we'll be competing in is called 'Young Artists of Today'." She told them. A picture appeared on the wall of building with big flashy letters reading 'Muzic Stashun'. (Music Station). At the top of the slide read the title of the competition. Summer turned to the group to hear some 'oohs' and 'awes' about what the place looked like.

"Where is it?" Katie asked.

"Good question." Summer replied and pushed another button on the control. The next slide that was shown just had words on it. "This is going to take place in New York." Summer said as everyone reacted positively.

"Wow, New York?" Tomika said. "I've never been there." She said happily.

Zack sat up straight. "You mean New York City, New York?" he asked Summer. Summer nodded and everyone was excited.

Summer continued to tell them about the performance. "We have a dress rehearsal up there on December 20th, that's a Monday. And our actual performance is on December 25th." She slurred her words together.

"What?" Zack said, starting the commotion in the room.

"You mean we're gonna be up there in New York on Christmas?" Lawrence asked a bit worried.

Dewey stood up from his chair as more mumbling and comments were said. "Okay guys, hold up." He said raising his hands. "Let Summer finish explaining. I'm sure she knows what she's talking about." He said and turned to Summer. "You're sure you know what you're talking about right?" he asked her. Summer replied by simply giving him a 'death' glare. "Okay, okay, I got it." He said returning to his seat.

"I know you guys probably don't wanna miss Christmas and spend it in New York." Summer told them. "But here's the thing: the competition is Christmas night!" she smiled. There was a sense of ease that went around the room. "So you guys can spend Christmas morning with your families and all." She said. "But we'd have to start packing up our stuff and drive to New York in the early afternoon. It'll take us a couple of hours to get to New York City for our competition." Summer said.

"So we'd still be able to spend Christmas morning with our families?" Zack asked for reassurance.

Summer nodded. "Yep, we'd all have family time on Christmas." She said.

Summer continued to tell them more about what they'd be doing there at the competition and how they'd be judged. Since it was a contest against people their age, they all had a pretty good feeling that they'd do well. Since their band started in elementary school and they kept on playing through middle and high school, they've had the right amount of experience to take on this competition. Everyone except Sam felt this confidence when Summer told them about it.

Freddy noticed the worried look that Sam had. "Don't worry, you'll do fine." He said smiling at her. "It's just one song, we'll do fine." He said. She smiled at him for being the only one that noticed she was feeling uncomfortable about the whole thing.

Summer continued telling them more about the competition and what requirements they had to meet.

"So we have to send in an audition tape first?" Lawrence asked Summer.

"Yep, which means the sooner we get to work, the better chances we have. Although they don't do the first come first serve thing, the sooner we send a tape in it shows that we're serious about it, we can get things done on time." She told them hitting a fist into the palm of her hand for emphasis.

"And what if we make it past the auditions?" Katie asked.

"Then we'd have to go up to New York for a dress rehearsal with all the other bands up there too. That'll be on December 20th, Monday. We'd already be out of school for break."

"What's the dress rehearsal for?" Zack said.

"That's so we get a feel for the stage and know our surroundings. So when we actually go up there on Christmas day, we'll be familiar with the area." She told them. "Oh and don't worry, the other bands won't be able to listen in our practice either." She said when she saw Lawrence's hand go up. He nodded and smiled at her for answering his question before he asked it.

Dewey ordered pizza for lunch while Summer continued to talk about the Young Artist of Today competition. When the pizza arrived they put the TV on and watched VH1. They all needed a break from all this information Summer was throwing at them.

"Tell me this," Zack said as he put down his plate with his pizza. "Who in the world came up with MTV?" He asked gesturing with his hands.

Katie nodded to his comment. "Seriously, they basically only have reality TV on it now, not that it's not fun to laugh at it." She said, chuckling to herself.

"Man, tell me about it!" Dewey cried. "Damn, I remember when MTV first came out, it blew my mind that people actually bought into this thing." He said, obviously not in favor of MTV. "You guys know the first thing they played on MTV?" He asked them. All of them shook their heads or replied with "No", all except Sam.

"Uh… "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles, right?" She said, putting the cap back on the liter of Pepsi and walked back towards the group. Everyone turned around to look a her, surprised she knew the answer.

"Wow, how'd you know that?" Dewey asked her.

"My mom listens to that music. I like it too, it's oddly catchy music." She laughed.

Katie nodded. "Cool Sam, you're full of surprises. That's cool." She smiled then turned to Freddy. "Don't you just love surprises Spazzy?" Katie teased, emphasizing the word 'you'.

"Shut up." He mumbled to her so that Sam wouldn't hear, even though she did. Sam smiled to herself and lifted her head to watch some TV.

After lunch Summer spent another hour and a half explaining to them more details about the gig. In no time it was already 2:00, and practice was officially over. Everyone was glad that they were done for the day, even though they didn't really 'practice', it was still tiring listening to Summer for almost 4 hours. Before leaving Dewey's place they all decided to go down to Danny's just to hang out for a while before they all headed home. Lawrence and Summer drove everyone to Danny's.

After spending about 2 hours down at Danny's, everyone wanted to head on home. Zack and Freddy were going to walk home from there and they asked Sam if she wanted to go along with them. Sam agreed to walking home with them, but stopped to have one last conversation with Tomika before they all left.

"So you're gonna come over tomorrow right?" Sam asked her again.

"Yep." She nodded her head. "I'll call you tonight to find out what time I can come over." Tomika said.

"Okay, see ya tomorrow." Sam said, waving goodbye to everyone as they got into their cars. She turned around to head on home with Zack and Freddy. It was quite a walk back home for all of them, but they didn't mind it. Zack didn't want to get home to do any of his homework, Sam could wait to finish cleaning her room, and Freddy was afraid he'd have to help make dinner. They all took their time walking home, which meant they had enough time just to catch up on what's been going on with all of them.

"So what are you guys getting in AP U.S. History?" Zack asked. He felt very confident that he'd be getting the highest grade out of the three of them, or at least he'd beat Freddy.

"B-." Freddy stated. "I mean we've only had a couple of assignments, but that first quiz I took didn't turn out too well." He said.

Zack looked at Sam and asked her the same thing. "What about you Sam?" He was curious if those rumors were going to be proven true.

"Oh, uh, just ya know," she said. "An A." She slurred together.

Zack dropped his shoulders in disappointment. "Ah man, an A!" he said. "Damn, I'm getting an A-." He said with a sad look.

Sam put her hand on his shoulder to try to make him feel better. "Zack, grades don't really matter. That's just a sign for what a teacher thinks of your work. I'm sure you'll end the year with an A, it's still the beginning of the year anyway." She smiled.

"Yeah man," Freddy added in. "You always do good in socials studies classes like this. Don't worry, you'll do fine." He reassured him.

"Well, I guess. It is the beginning of the school year." He sounded more confident about raising his grade than any other time Freddy had heard him talk about his grades.

"And you can raise your grade to an A too!" Sam exclaimed now putting her hand on Freddy's shoulder.

"With some tutoring I might." Freddy grinned, giving some hints to Sam.

Sam caught on quite quickly to what Freddy implied. "Anytime." She smiled.

"All of us will do great this year!" Zack said happily.

"We sure will." Sam said and moved her hands to put her arms around the both of them. In return both Freddy and Zack put their arms around Sam and the three of them walked on by like they were three best friends that have known each other forever.