CHAPTER 12

When the girls reached the attic, the first thing they heard was a song, playing quietly from the CD player.

(Lily's Cafeteria song)

"Hey- that's good!" exclaimed Riley. "For a weird little song, that's really good! Who sang…"

Jack cut her off. You'd never guess. Just keep listening."

The four of them kept listening to the CD. Robin especially paid attention to the parts when Smog was talking.

At the end of the disc, the girls' eyes were as wide as Scott's had been.

"That was really, really…I mean, wow. Who were those kids? They really expressed themselves…and they sort of sound familiar."

Scott and Jack explained the whole thing to them, from the discovery of the old box, to the photo album, to the recorded broadcasts. After they explained it all, the girls looked pale.

"You mean, that was mom's song? Wow, she's musical and everything, but I never would have thought…"

"My dad was Smog? No wonder I knew all those Buddha quotes. I guess our parents are really smarter- and wiser- then we thought they were."

Now the gang knew all about their parents' hardest kept secret. But the thing was, would their parents care? Was it a thing of the past? Or did they have a good reason not to tell?

CHAPTER 13

It was Sunday evening, and Lily, Ray, Travis, and Parker were having dinner at the Roscoe Grill, celebrating Robbie and Eve's anniversary.

Travis cleared his throat and spoke up. "As Buddha once said, 'health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.' So let's raise our glasses and wish the McGraths many more years of health, contentment, and faithfulness."

Robbie and Eve kissed as the others lifted their cups. Eve was beaming.

"This is really nice, Robbie, better than a burnt casserole."

"Aww, I told Robin and Riley not to tell you about that."

"Oh, they didn't. I saw the inside of the oven, it was covered in tuna."

Robbie winced, but his attention was suddenly brought to something else.

"Speaking of the kids, what was so exciting about our attic that they spent 6 whole hours up there?"
"I think kids are naturally intrigued by old junk," said Lily. "Remember when we went to all those thrift shops?"

"True…" Robbie fell silent for a few moments. "I just remembered something. The box with all my old stuff was up there."

"So?" snorted Ray as he shoveled a forkful of steak into his mouth. "It's an attic. You keep old stuff in an attic."

"I meant all my RFR stuff, Ray…including the show recordings!"

"So?" repeated Ray.

"Robbie is right to be concerned," pointed out Travis. "They're young and curious. Who knows what kind of ideas they'd get if they heard one of our old shows, let alone all of them? It's true we should be encouraging them to let their voices be heard…but we put a lot on the line for RFR. We don't want them to think it was all fun and games. It was risky business."

"I wouldn't worry about it," reassured Parker. "Knowing them, they probably got distracted by some old furniture or something. They probably didn't even notice your box."

CHAPTER 14

Riley, Jack, Scott and Robin went to Mickey's while their parents were out to dinner. They had a spare key, so they often came to the café long after closing hours. Jack got drinks while the others sat on the big red sofa.

"Ok…one coffee with milk, one hot cocoa, one fancy Italian thing I can't pronounce, and for me…a chocolate milkshake avec crème de whipped."

Scott instantly gagged after sipping the latte.

"This coffee isworse than your French, Mon ami."

"Hey, at least I wasn't the one who tried to memorize the English-Spanish dictionary just to impress the foreign exchange student!"

"It was the English-Portuguese dictionary! Whatever, let's change the subject!" He saw Riley writing furiously in her notebook, stopping only to erase. "Hey, Ry, what's that you're writing?"

"I'm trying to think of ideas for a song. I don't understand, nothing sounds right at all!" She sighed heavily, then ripped out the page she was scribbling on and crumpled it up. "Did you think of anything yet, Robs?"

Robin shook her head. "No, nothing. Judging by that last song, It might take us a while to come up with anything remotely talent-show worthy."

Robin tossed the wad of paper at the wall and slouched into the cushions. "Then we might as well give up. Who cares if we're social outcasts for the rest of our lives? Who cares if guys never pay attention to us? Who car…"

"Who cares what anyone thinks, Riley!" Robin intervened. "Stop complaining. We're not doing this for the glory, we're doing this because we love music! We will write a decent song, even if it takes up every ounce of our time! We're not giving up."

Riley stared down at her shoes, speechless. After a few moments she looked up and faced Robin.

"You're right, Robin. I'm being too self-conscious. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks of us. C'mon, let's go to my house. We have a lot of writing to do. Later, guys."

Scott watched as the girls left the building.

"You know, Robin doesn't say much, but when she does…she's really expressive."

Jack wasn't listening. He was too busy gulping down the last of his milkshake.