Detentionaire Chapter Four: Management.
Three-forty five, Music Room.
"And this is the music class room. Band class is held in the gym, but the schools' very own Dudes of Darkness practice here whenever they feel like it. It sounds like they came in today. Let's have a look inside, shall we?" Chaz asked the camera with a cheesy, too big, smile on his face. He opened the door and went in. "Gentlemen, what a nice surprise. We're doing a documentary for the new student, Song Ping, and for future new students. How about a quick interview, huh?" Chaz asked.
"Sorry, man. But we can't. We're about to pack up and go. Gotta get some real practice in at the studio. Our sponsor wants a new song in two weeks." Tanner said, leaning away from Chaz and the toxic fumes his head exuded. "And then we gotta get to studying."
"Yeah, we gotta get our grades waAAYY up." Waylan said sadly. "There's just never enough time in the day."
"Still think you don't need a manager?" Song asked, stepping out from behind Chaz and Steve the cameraman. "All you need to do is take out the things is your schedule that you don't need. Like, well, why did you come to the music room to practice, while knowing you had to be at the studio to practice again? You could make one trip to the studio."
"We had our instruments here. After battle of the bands, we left our gear here over the weekend." Cyrus explained with a shrug. "We were tired and the school was secure enough."
"But you could have loaded it up that night after the concert was over. Tired or not, you should never leave the care of your gear to people you don't know and therefore do not trust." Song pointed out. "Secure or not is not the issue. Having your instruments stolen is one thing. Having them destroyed and left here is another."
"What's the difference? Stolen or destroyed, can't play 'em either way." Matthew said, shrugging dismissively.
"You don't think there's a difference? Alright, let me explain the difference, between 'stolen' and 'destroyed for you to find the next time you need them.'" Song said. "Here's how it is, a person comes in, sees your nice, shiny, guitar and decides they want an authentic piece of the Dudes of Darkness, so they take it and keep it mounted in a plexi-glass case for the next fifty years, or they sell it in twenty years, after you guys have made it big and then fell out of the spotlight. Memorabilia sells for big bucks, especially for the greats. Now here's where we diverge from the stolen and/or destroyed similarities. Some whack job comes in, sees your guitar and thinks to himself; 'I'm crazy jealous of that guy Matthew. He gets to go onstage with the D.O.D. and gets all the attention. Well lets see how he feels after I've destroyed his only guitar.' And cue blatant and horrendous acts of violence upon the poor innocent guitar. Left as a morale dropper just for you. That's the difference between theft and destruction." Song finished her narrative and looked at cluster of boys expectantly. Chaz turned to the camera.
"And that, viewers, is how to keep your things safe from theft and vandalism." Chaz said with a smile meant to charm. Cyrus looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Guys, band conference, now." Cyrus said, he and the others huddled in the corner and whispered for a few minutes.
"We need a manager and I don't want one sent from our sponsor. They only want us to sell Green Apple Splat. Our music never mattered to them. She's got a good, slightly sarcastic and paranoid, head on her." Cyrus said in a whisper.
"You only want her to be the manager, 'cause you're sweet on her." Tanner pointed out. "Haven't you ever heard of Yoko Ohno and the Beatles?"
"She won't be like that. She probably doesn't even like our kind of music. Look at her. She probably likes techno and underground electronic stuff." Cyrus pointed out, not bothering to deny that he had a thing for Song.
"And what if she drives us into the ground?" Tanner asked worriedly.
"Cut her loose and build ourselves back up." Cyrus said simply.
"What if you and her start going together and you start to forget what we're doing?" asked Waylan, not really suited to whispering.
"You guys are asking a lot of what ifs. What if she's the one who gets us our big break? What if she gets us more sponsors? Better than Green Apple Splat. I'm not going to leave the band. She's not going to split us up and she won't drive us into the ground. As for going together, she's with Chaz right now." Cyrus explained. "We'll give her a couple weeks. If it turns out that she's no good at managing, then we'll cut her loose. How's that? No one will be out anything more than a few days."
The other band members nodded in agreement, then turned back to Song, Chaz and Steve.
"Okay, the band has come to a decision. Song, we would like to ask you to be our manager. You only have to try it for a week or two." Cyrus said hopefully.
"Uh, manager? Wow, my first day and I've got a job, a romantic interest and an outlet for my slightly sadistic tendencies." Song said with a giggle.
"Sadistic outlet?" Chaz asked blankly and a little worriedly.
"Cam Martinez. I've been working his psyche over for years." Song said with a satisfied grin. "So, when did you guys want me to start?"
"Tomorrow too early?" Cyrus asked with a smile, internally he was shrieking like a maniac.
"I'll need your cell numbers and calendars. My dad worked in legal for a while, he'll know what to do about a contract and terms." Song said, as the boys sent her their cell numbers.
"Terms?" Matthew asked.
"You don't think I'm going to do this under the table, or free, do you? A manager always gets a cut. And that cut is usually a haemorrhage. I won't pull something like that on you guys. You'll have the contract at the end of the week. You should talk to your parents about getting the band a lawyer. They come in handy sometimes." Song said as she went through her phone, then went into her bag and pulled out a tablet to sync her phone with it. "Okay, just by looking at your schedules, I can already tell where some time wasters are. Which of you is attending a Jewish after school program?" she asked looking at the name.
"Me." Waylan said a little sheepishly.
"Is it important to you?" Song asked pointedly. "I won't make changes till next week, if that helps." Waylan thought for a moment.
"I was only going 'cause my parents wanted me to balance my dads' religion and my music. I haven't been into it for months." Waylan said. "I'll tell them I don't want to go anymore."
"And if that doesn't go over well, we'll have to sacrifice Friday night parties. Friday and Saturday will be either hard core practice days or gig days. Sunday will be daylight gigs only, no night shows. School is after Sunday. Homework…I'm getting ahead of myself."
Song said, blushing and looking away.
"Not at all, Babe. All that sounds great. That's all done in your first five minutes." Cyrus said encouragingly, and getting slanted looks from his band mates. "How about you call me tonight and we'll go over a few more changes, 'kay?" he asked hopefully, ignoring the groans.
"Sure. I'll talk to you later. Chaz still has to show my the rest of the school and then I have to head home." Song said and left with Chaz and Steve. Cyrus waved slightly as they left then turned to face his band, who were all giving him a sceptical look.
"What? She's hot. And that's a wig. She doesn't do crazy things to her hair, the way other girls do." Cyrus said, oblivious to the strange looks now.
"How do you know that?" Matthew asked.
"Didn't you see the girls in the gym? Her hair was black. Now it's black and pink. And way too shiny." Cyrus said, grinning a little too much.
"So, when do we start practicing love songs?" Tanner asked with a wicked grin.