Standard Disclaimer – I do not own Twilight or any of the characters from the story. All song selections have been provided by my amazing beta, NoWayWithWords. She is the greatest!

The song for this chapter is "Better Days (And the Bottom Drops Out)" by Citizen King.

Chapter 2 – Rock Bottom

The radio station that was responsible for putting our band together had us come in and talk to the morning show DJ before our fourth gig. Nate gave the guy a copy of our Promises to Renee CD. Before we went live, he skipped through the CD really quickly. He finally found something that caught his attention so he made a few notes and talked to the other two people in the room about shifting some music around so they could play our song after our interview.

The interview went relatively well. Alonzo and Jessie completely froze up, so Nate and I did all the talking. When it was over, the DJ played our song, "Dirty Boy."It was a song about a boyfriend who manipulated every situation and conversation into something sexual. The song had me singing, of course, and Alonzo whispering dirty things in the background. It was a good song that got a lot of attention when we played it live.

Once our mics were off and the song was playing, the DJ said, "Thanks for coming out. I recommend you invest in a lot more CDs before your next gig. I think you are going to get a lot of attention from this song. If the response is good, and the listeners request it, I will keep playing it for the next few weeks. This should help draw some attention to the festival."

The entire time we were talking, the phones were ringing off the hook. I could hear the intern answering the phones and repeatedly telling people where our next show was, what the name of the band was, and that they would have to see us live to get our CD. It was cool.

-/MMI/-

We practiced hard and played as often as we could. We were really starting to become a good team. We could set up and break down our equipment in record time. We didn't need to give cues about what we were planning to do next or where we needed to be on stage, we just knew. It was becoming second nature to us. Our confidence was growing each time we played, so we may have gotten a little cocky. We didn't expect that the festival would be absolute chaos.

There were eight bands playing on two stages. The stages were set up on opposite sides of a large park downtown. Each band was to play four of their best songs. The radio station decided what order we were to play in based on the reactions to the interviews and our songs. Two other bands, besides ours, had made CDs. The others performed a song live in the studio at the radio station.

The festival coordinator told us we needed to set up at the east stage before he ran off to yell at some lighting guys. After a brief discussion and asking around, we identified which direction was east and started hauling our equipment toward the stage.

Once we got there, we found an assistant coordinator who told us we would be the last to play on that stage. She instructed us where to stack our stuff and explained that the first band would play on the other stage. Once they finished, the radio DJ would come on stage over here and talk a few minutes while people shifted their focus. The first band on this stage would play. When they were done, the next band on the far stage would play. Basically while the band was playing on the other stage, our stage would be switching out equipment and vice versa.

She suggested we save the song played on the radio as our last song. She also told us we should set up a table near the gate to sell our CD or any other merchandise we brought to sell. We'd brought several boxes of CDs but hadn't put much thought into how we were going to do that. We also didn't have any other merchandise to offer.

I called my best friend, Angela, and asked if she could come help us out. She yelled something that I couldn't understand before she hung up. I was pretty confident she was coming to help because she sounded excited, but I wasn't sure. I was relieved when she showed up 20 minutes later with a card table, a lock box, her camera, and a photo printer that her parents gave her for Christmas last year.

She had us sit on the ground in front of our equipment and took a few pictures. Once she took one we all liked, she plugged in the printer backstage and started printing pictures. Since we had nothing better to do, we stayed there and babysat the printer while she manned the merchandise table.

I watched it print 20 pictures then took them to Angela. There were a couple guys buying CDs when I got there. I was surprised when one of the guys asked me if I would sign his CD. Angela handed me a permanent marker from her purse so I could sign the CD. She then asked me if I could get the guys to sign some of the pictures so she could sell them for more money. I told her I would ask and headed back to the stage.

We printed 50 pictures and signed 30 of them. By the time we were setting up on stage, Angela came by to tell us she had sold every CD and every picture. Unfortunately we were out of photo paper and would have to talk to the college about making more CDs for us.

The guys were pumped and couldn't wait for the other band to shut the hell up so we could play. Since Angela had already stowed the table and had the money locked away in the trunk of her car, she was hanging back stage with us. While the others went onstage to wait for us to be announced, I hung back a second to go through my mental checklist. Clothes look good – check. Hair and makeup done – check. Remember which songs we are playing – check. Remember the words to those songs – check. Wearing sexy panties – double check. I had picked up a new pair of red silk panties that morning as a good luck present to myself. They cost more than I could afford, but I hoped they would make a difference.

I felt the rush of adrenaline when the DJ on our stage announced our band and the crowd started to cheer. The sun had gone down a few hours before so the lights seemed extra bright when they shined in my eyes. I couldn't see the audience but I could feel their energy. Nate started the beat. Alonzo and Jessie joined in and I felt the first wave of energy surge through me. I could really feel it when I started singing and dancing. I flirted with the audience and had the time of my life.

When we transitioned into the last song, "Dirty Boy," Alonzo was right on his marks. He held the mic away from his mouth a little so he wouldn't be too loud. It was perfect. The crowd was singing along. My eyes had adjusted and I could see some of the people in the front dancing and grinding on each other. It actually made me blush a little. I knew the song had some rather risqué lyrics, but I never really thought people would do some risqué dancing along with it.

When the song was over, the DJ came on and thanked everybody for coming out but the crowd wouldn't stop chanting, "Swan Dive… Swan Dive... Swan Dive…"

The DJ stepped off stage and said, "Hey guys, do you have another song for them? They want an encore."

We had played our four best songs and knew the others would pale in comparison, so we decided to play a cover. We went back onstage and the crowd when wild. I introduced the members of the band and myself before we started to play an Edward Cullen song called "Heading Home." We picked it because it was easy and we all knew it by heart. The song was about winding down after a long night of partying, so it seemed like an appropriate song to close out our set.

The audience loved it. At one point I held the mic out to the crowd and let them sing the chorus. It was great. When the song was over, I thanked everyone and told them to be careful on the road. I also suggested they take a cab if they were drinking too much and didn't have a designated driver. The DJ stepped up and said a few words as everyone started heading for the exit.

Some fans hung around to ask for autographs. Some even helped us haul our equipment back to our cars. A cute blond girl was all over Alonzo. I had no doubt in my mind that he would be hooking up with her for the night. Jessie was talking to a pair of tall brunettes while Nate finished loading his drums in the back of his van.

I offered to help them unload everything back at Nate and Jessie's place, where we practiced, but they told me not to worry about it. I suspected the girls would take priority over unloading anything. Honestly, I was kind of glad. I didn't really feel like messing with the stuff anyway.

Angela picked up a bottle of champagne and met me back at my place to celebrate and count the money. I paid her back for all the photo paper we used and gave her a little for her time. I put the rest away because I needed to discuss what we would do with it when the guys came up for air.

Angela and I polished off the entire bottle and passed out. I awoke the next morning to a dry mouth and pounding head. I looked up at the clock. It was almost noon. Angela was in the kitchen cooking hash browns and making enough noise to wake the dead. She gave me some aspirin and water then sent me to my laptop.

"You won't believe what is all over the internet this morning. One of my friends sent me the link. You're going to freak out!"

I stumbled over to the laptop and clicked on the link that was on the screen. A YouTube video cued up and suddenly I was watching myself on stage singing "Dirty Boy." From the angle, it looked like the person recording the performance was standing just to the left a few rows back. I could hear the people around him singing and laughing.

It was strange seeing myself on stage. I looked confident, and didn't sound bad, but my wardrobe could use some improvement. My clothes were baggy and comfortable, which is fine for college, but not so good when you are trying to impress hundreds of people. I made a mental note to head to the second hand store and see if I could find something a little more feminine to wear on stage for our next show.

When the video ended, it pulled up a clip of me singing Edward Cullen's "Heading Home." I had to admit, we seriously rocked that song. Not to brag, but we probably did it better than Edward Cullen himself. Suddenly it hit me… We didn't have permission to play that song. We could get in serious trouble. When we sang it on stage, I wasn't worried about it because I figured he would never find out. Now that it was on the internet, the chances of him finding out increased exponentially.

After discussing it with Angela over breakfast, I decided it would be better to apologize up front about it rather than pretend we did nothing wrong and wait to hear from Edward Cullen's attorney. True, the chances that we would ever be contacted were slim, but I didn't want to develop and ulcer waiting.

I sent an email to my contact at the radio station giving a brief explanation of what happened and asking for an email address for someone that worked for Edward Cullen, like a manager or something. It was a Sunday, so I didn't expect a reply but I decided to go ahead and type up my apology email anyway. I had Angela read it before I added the link to the YouTube video and saved it as a draft while I waited for a response from the radio station.

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Bella Swan. I am the singer of Swan Dive, a small band trying to make a start in Seattle.

Yesterday my band performed live at a festival in front of hundreds of people. We were not prepared when the crowd insisted on an encore. We went back onstage and performed Edward Cullen's hit, "Heading Home." We tried to perform the song with respect and did not intend to break any laws. It was done at the last minute and we honestly didn't even think about asking permission to perform the song before we did it.

It was brought to my attention this morning that someone in the audience recorded the performance and posted it on YouTube without our knowledge. Once I saw the video clip, I thought it would be best if I contacted you to admit what we did and apologized up front for our error in judgment. We promise that we will not perform any more of Edward Cullen's music without his consent and hope that he does not choose to pursue any legal action against us for our mistake.

Thank you for your time,

Bella Swan

I was surprised to get a response from the radio station about an hour later with an email address for Edward Cullen's people. I added the address to my email, crossed my fingers and clicked send. I was so afraid I would get a horrible response that I shut off my laptop and said goodbye to Angela. Once she was gone, I took a long hot shower and started the process of trying to make myself feel better. It was late in the afternoon when I called Nate and Jessie to see when the band wanted to get back together. Jessie answered the phone and said he would call me back when he knew. From the sound of his voice, I didn't expect to hear from him until sometime the following day.

Monday morning I went to my creative writing class and took tons of notes while the professor told us about a project we were going to have to do in groups. He assigned me to work with three other people. I hated assignments like these. That meant that I had to trust total strangers to get their work done on time and accurately. I wasn't too good at trusting strangers. Usually I ended up doing the entire project then waited to see what the other people provided. If they didn't have their part ready, or their part sucked, we would end up using my version of their part.

I didn't have class on Tuesday and still hadn't heard from Nate or Jessie, so I spent the day working on my project for creative writing. Wednesday morning I had meteorology. I hated to admit that it was one of my favorite classes. I never thought I would care much for weather patterns and cloud formations, but it wasn't that bad and the professor was great.

Wednesday afternoon I spent working on my creative writing project some more. Wednesday night, I called Nate. I was worried that I hadn't heard from anyone. When I didn't get an answer, I called Alonzo.

"Hey, Bella, how are things going there?"

"Fine, I guess. I was trying to reach Nate and Jessie to find out when we were going to try to get back together for practice but they're not answering the phone at the house. Have you heard from them? I was getting a little worried."

Alonzo cleared his throat, "Um… Well, umm… It may be a little while before they can call."

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"From what I can tell after talking to each of them, they brought a couple of girls to their place Saturday night, after the concert. They thought they were going to get laid, but the girls wanted to party some more first, so they all climbed into Nate's van and he drove them to some party that the girls knew about. When they got there, Jessie slipped away with his girl and got high. Nate found him naked in a hot tub with three women.

"Nate was drunk but he was ready to hook up with his girl, so he told Jessie to hurry up so they could get home. When Jessie didn't hurry, Nate left his ass at the party. Nate got pulled over for DWI on his way home and arrested. I think the girl Jessie had picked up stole his wallet. Since Nate took the van and left him stranded, one of the guys at the party gave him a lift home, so he didn't even notice it was missing until late the following day. Now Jessie's bank account is empty and all of his credit cards are maxed out. Needless to say their dad is pissed."

"Oh shit! I can imagine."

"Their dad refused to help them out at all. He said that they're too old to be acting so stupid. At 25 and 26, they should be more responsible. Since they fucked it up, they are going to have to fix it on their own."

"That sounds like something my dad would say. So, what are they going to do?"

"Jessie hocked the amps and both of their instruments to bail Nate out of jail. They filed a police report on the stolen wallet and are working with the bank to try to recover some of the stolen money."

"I have the money Angela collected at the festival. I paid her back for the photo paper and gave her $40 for her time. That leaves $400 left over. They can have it, if it helps any."

"No, that is band money. Let's give them some time and see how they handle it."

By the end of the following week things went from bad to worse. Nate's boss found out about the DWI and fired him. The bank froze Jessie's account and did reimburse him for the stolen money, but he had several bills that were set up for auto-pay out of his bank account that didn't get paid because the account had been frozen. By the time Jessie thought about fixing it, the lights and phone were cut off.

By the end of the month, Nate still hadn't found a job. Jessie couldn't afford to pay the bills by himself. Their father still wasn't speaking to them. Alonzo was still seeing the blond he picked up at the festival, so he hardly ever called. He spent every dollar he made and every spare minute of his time taking her out. I used the $400 I was holding to help Jessie make a payment to the pawn shop so he didn't lose the amps and instruments, but it did little good because the following month he still couldn't cover the cost and lost them anyway.

Nate blamed Jessie for losing the instruments. Jessie blamed Nate for losing his job. Alonzo was a love sick fool who was ready to propose to the blond. The band officially disbanded. I finished the last of my summer classes and realized that I was officially a college graduate with no real direction in life.

I moved back in with my dad, in the tiny town of Forks and got a job working at the diner. It's not something that a college graduate aspires to do, but it would help with the bills until I could find a real job. Moving back to Forks was my worst nightmare. There was literally nothing there to do, unless you like hiking in the rain, fishing in the rain, driving in the rain, or sitting inside and watching TV while it rains.

AN – I hope you like this chapter. I wanted to thank all of the wonderful readers that took the time out of their busy schedules to read my story and leave reviews. I apologize for not responding to them yet. I really did have full intentions of responding, but I've been busy doing something every evening this week and just haven't been home. I hope to do much better with this chapter.

For all of you who are interested in hearing the music chosen for this story, my beta, NoWayWithWords, has generously set up a playlist on YouTube. She will add the music to it as I post the corresponding chapters. I have added a link in my profile page for you.

If you like this chapter please let me know by posting a review. Thanks!