Griffin often made Gustavo work at a furious pace, so two days to record a finished track didn't seem impossible to him. The boys were still not fully aware of the danger, though they were trying to be more obedient: no pillow fights, no distractions, and no other subtle ways of pissing off the irascible composer.
"Hurrah, at last!" Gustavo exclaimed happily, and the boys left the studio, satisfied.
"Do you think we have a chance?" Logan asked, trying to quell his indecision. He didn't believe in sixth sense, but today something was turning inside him. Maybe he was just overexcited.
Kelly smiled and gave them an approving thumbs up. "You guys were on top of it. It's going to work out."
"Well, can we put the song on the music platforms without Griffin's permission?"
Kendall's question puzzled the others a bit, because Gustavo really didn't seem to have the right to do that.
"Yes, you can! When Griffin sees what he's losing, he'll forgive us quickly. Let's do it!"
"Don't, it's risky," Logan warned.
"Technically," Kelly began. "You will not be allowed to interact with the platforms until you sign all the papers. Your boy band hasn't broken off its relationship with Rocque Records yet, so there's a risk of proceedings with Griffin, but we're not likely to get sued."
Logan scratched the back of his head and looked at the others. There was no other choice, so everyone smiled affirmatively. He thought to himself but tried to force a confident expression on his face. Judging by the wavering eyes, Kelly wasn't thrilled either, but she preferred to keep quiet and hope for Gustavo's talent.
"I told you, three hundred thousand listens in twenty-four hours. We're awesome!" Gustavo said cheerfully, updating the web page almost every second. "You're not going anywhere, and I'm still your composer, dogs."
"We're good," Kendall said approvingly. The other guys were crazy happy too. It seemed like it wouldn't be long before everything was back to normal. That Kendall would inspire the others to do new things again, that Logan would make up with Camille, that Carlos would be able to dive with his helmet back into the Palm Woods pool, which had become iconic. James felt a particular relief that brought a familiar blush to his cheeks.
"You shouldn't think so, Gustavo," said Griffin, who had been watching the team from the sidelines for the last couple of minutes. "You know, I always get notifications about changes on my account, so even yesterday I saw your track."
"But, boss—"
"I wondered what would happen, if a miracle would happen. And it turned out to be what I expected."
Kelly was stunned and even approached the director. "Griffin, this song has three hundred thousand listens."
"The last one had five hundred, the one before that something like a million. Remind me, how many were on the songs on the first album?"
"Unfortunately, the graph only goes down," Griffin's subordinate pointed to the curve, which was sliding steadily lower and lower. Then she drew the number of listens to the last song on the graph, and it was at the bottom.
"Is three hundred thousand so bad?" Kendall intervened. "A lot of up-and-coming artists have never seen numbers like that in their entire career!"
"A lot of artists don't work for my studio, don't pay for the expensive equipment, sets, costumes, facilities..." Griffin continued calmly, smiling unkindly again. "Oh, yes, and the huge staff. Hundreds, thousands of people who have to be paid, too. Any questions?"
There was a dead silence in the hall. No one had at least one valid argument that could change the boss's mind. Gustavo didn't even try. He couldn't imagine what kind of reprimand awaited him for violating the terms of the contract.
"And what about you, Gustavo?" Griffin said, pacing slowly around the room. "I won't fire you. But only because I need you for the songs of a new rising star. It's too dangerous to divulge details around here in case some of the guys want revenge. We'll talk about it when Big Time Rush gets back to Minnesota."
Griffin winked clearly at the guard, so the guard caught the signal and started pushing the guys out of the studio. Kelly only gave them a desperate stare. She knew that the only right thing for them to do now was to go home, but she could hardly hold back the tears.
Gustavo stared silently at the door, still unwilling to believe in failure. He, a great composer, had failed to make a hit. Maybe it was the sunset of his career, time to end his creativity? Once again, he didn't say goodbye to the dogs properly... Gustavo almost did not listen to Griffin, although he realized how risky it was for his career. He was thinking only of one thing: that now it was definitely the end.