Chapter 5
2 Weeks Later
Things were hectic at G Major. It seemed Tommy's life now consisted of long days at the studio and a never-ending supply of caffeinated coffee to keep him going. Darius's schedule was demanding. He barked out orders every second of the day and the staff of G Major was beginning to feel its toll.
Darius had called an early morning meeting and everyone was present. Even Tommy, who hadn't seen 7:00 am in weeks. He was at the studio until 2 or 3 in the morning and had to be back around 10. He usually got up about 20 minutes before he had to be at G Major and screw Darius if he was late.
Everyone was seated around the round board room table and Darius stood before everyone, looking out at the room.
"Alright everyone, let's get started." Darius said, and began discussing the current record sales. Tommy drowned Darius out, but his interest was caught once again when Jude's name was mentioned.
"Jude's sales," Darius began and let out a sigh. "Are currently disappointing."
"What!" Tommy demanded, and at first, everyone in the room wondered if they had heard correctly.
"You heard me Quincy." Darius said, his eyes narrowing. "Jude's sales have started to drop…not too significantly, but enough to be noted." Darius added and moved on. Tommy frowned at the news. This wasn't good. A decline in sales would only mean a more bear-ish Darius, and no one wanted to be around Darius when he was in a tizzy…more so than usual. Darius continued to blab on and Tommy found his eyes growing heavy and the room beginning to loose focus…until a blunt object landed quick and hard on his head.
Tommy's eyes snapped open and he was instantly alert. Tommy noticed everyone was staring at him and Darius was no longer at the front of the room. Tommy glanced over his shoulder and saw Darius staring at him, holding a stack of folders looking very disapprovingly at his producer and moved on, continuing his speech. Tommy glanced next to him to see Kwest shaking slightly in silent laughter. Tommy glared at his friend and tech and continued to half-listen to Darius talk.
"…and the new Instant Star will be produced by Tom Quincy…" Tommy's attention snapped back into focus. He glanced over at Kwest, his eyes questioning. Kwest shook his head, and began writing down on a piece of paper…
Pay attention!
Tommy glared at his friend and took the paper and wrote back
What was he talking about? And besides, it's not my fault…Darius kept me here until 3 am.
Kwest didn't respond back for a moment, but when he did, he wrote
Instant Star Contest is going to be run again later this week. Darius is hoping to condense the talent search to go only a week or two. Whoever wins, you'll be producing…you'd think you'd pay attention to that stuff!
Tommy frowned when he saw what Kwest wrote. New Instant Star winner? That could be bad…really bad…especially with Jude's already plummeting sales.