Chapter 12:

The night was going by quickly for the bands. One by one, round by round, the band number grew smaller and smaller until two remaining bands were left to battle head to head. Mike Fox and the Hell-bent Crew and the Pinheads were left to duke it out. Or rather, Mike win and the others lose. Besides, winning wasn't everything… unless you're Nix's uncle Charlie.

Marty and Nix had relocated to a small booth in the corner of the club with the other band members from the Pinheads. She was resting her head on Marty's shoulder. She started to feel light headed and not right.

"How you feeling?" Marty asked, putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Shitty…" she said, sniffling.

"Listen, we can just drop out and be done with it if you don't feel good," he suggested.

"Nix, if you don't feel good, we can just stop playing," Rob suggested.

"Winning is not everything ya know," Chris said.

"We can go home, it's no big deal," Dan added.

"No, no, its fine," she insisted, "I'll be well enough to play."

The guys all exchanged glances of concern and worry. They didn't want anything to happen to Nix. Even though they just met her, and won't ever see her again, they were still worried about her. She did get sick kinda quick.

"Nix, we totally don't want you to do anything that'll make you even sicker," Chris said, "So we don't have to play. It's just a stupid contest."

"Besides," Dan added in, "Mike deserves to win. He's really good."

Just like some mystic force knowing that someone was talking about him, Mike had walked over.

"Speak of the devil…" Rob muttered before happily saying, "Hey, Mike."

"Hey guys," he smiled, "You guys ready to go head to head?"

"We don't think we're going to perform the last round," Marty said.

"How come?" he asked crossing his arms.

"Nix doesn't feel good right now," Chris said.

"We don't wanna make her do something that she doesn't want to," Rob said.

"Guys, I'm fine," she interjected.

"The guys are right, Nix," Mike said, "You shouldn't go on if you don't feel right. That one little thing can screw you guys over. Besides, you guys were really good."

"Thanks…?" Rob said, very much confused.

"Well, I'll see ya around, we're on now."

Mike had smiled to them all with a damn smile that could send chills up someone's spine. Nix enjoyed seeing her younger dad, but preferred him back in 2012 when he wasn't a totally ass-bag. She liked the calmer, fatherly Mike better. Besides, no one likes an ass-bag.

"Guys, really, I'm fine," Nix insisted once more.

"Yeah, we don't think so," Dan said.

"Right," the others said in unison.

"Once Mike is over, I'll take you back home," Marty said, rubbing her shoulder soothingly, trying to keep her calm.

"Where do you live, Nix?" Chris asked.

"I'm visiting my Uncle Emmett for a few days," she lied through her teeth.

"Cool," they said.

Thank god they bought it, she thought.

Mike's band went on and played another song. She perked up a little as the familiar beat floated into her ears. It was the song from the video Channing had shown the family. This was "Johnny B. Goode"! The infamous song that made her dad… lose the contest. Nix elbowed Marty lightly.

"What?" he asked.

"Marty, this is the song."

"What do you mean?" he asked in a low voice.

"The song that he looses with…" she said in a whisper, followed by a small sneeze that sounded like nothing more than a squeak.

"Bless you," all the guys said in unison.

She sniffled, "Thank you."

"You know what," Marty said, "Let's just drop it and have Mike win? I mean, it's us against him. He'll win and then he'll shut up about it. Besides, we need Nix to win and she's not even capable of hitting any note right now besides a sneeze."

The others mulled over what Marty had just said. He did have a point. They all nodded and agreed to just forget about it and try some other time when Nix was feeling better, or they'd find a singer from that era.

Rob volunteered to go tell the club owner what their deal was. He had said that their singer wasn't feeling well all of a sudden and they had to drop it because they believed in the phrase "one for all and all for one" from the Three Musketeers. The club owner understood and then went on to announce the winner, AKA, Mike Fox.

Once the song was over, the club owner walked up onto the stage again, "Well, since of a late drop out by the Pinheads, the winners are Mike Fox and the Hell-bent Crew."

The audience clapped and cheered for them, even the Pinheads. Nix was happy for the fact that her dad had won and that was the main goal of the trip. But why did she still feel like shit?

"Come on, I'll take you back to Doc's," Marty said, assisting Nix out of the booth.

Once out she grabbed onto him from falling over and landing on her face. Marty held her close and she didn't mind one bit, it just got a smidge awkward when Mike decided to pop by.

"Hey, Marty, Nix. Sorry to hear about you guys dropping out. I hope you feel better, Nix," he said with a warm smile.

"Congrats on winning," Marty said, "You deserve it."

"Thanks, Marty. I don't like winning like this, but it's better than nothing. Hope we could duke it out for real some other time," he smiled.

"Totally," Marty said.

"Well, I can see you two are leaving, so I'll see ya guys around then."

"Bye, Mike," Marty nodded.

"See ya," Nix said.

Mike walked away and Nix added quietly, "much later."

Marty couldn't help but laugh.