Cui Bono

XV

The Battle of the Bands finale was well under way by the time Ricki showed up. She looked around the crowd for Katherine—so far, to no avail. At one moment, she wondered if the crowd was violating the fire marshal's code in regards to maximum capacity in buildings.

She saw Donna, in the distance, talking to a young man, who she thought she had seen compete in the Olympics; she turned around, and, at that moment, saw Katherine.

"What do you think?" Katherine asked.

"I think you've outdone yourself this year."

"Come on." Katherine led Ricki to the bar, where Amelia and Celeste were having drinks. They grinned when they saw Ricki.

They stopped talking long enough to take in the rest of the show. Katherine saw, from time to time, people voting for their favourite bands, using the voting panels on the walls or their cell phones. She also noticed people buying digital recordings made by previous Battle of the Bands winners. She smiled.

Meanwhile, three men and three women converged on Donna and Enrico; Donna, who recognized them as members of the Santelli family, tried to keep the expression of panic off of her face.

One of the men, Bernardo, gazed at Donna, and smirked. Then he turned to Enrico. "Having fun?"

Enrico nodded.

"New friend?"

Again, Enrico nodded.

"Um...can you not say anything about seeing me? My dad..."

Bernardo and the others each raised one eyebrow, then Bernardo nodded and led the others away.

"Are you ashamed to be seen with me?"

Donna looked at Enrico. "People are seeing us together now. But I don't want my dad to know about us, because he'll forbid me to ever see you again."

Enrico sighed, cast a look of disappointment in Donna's direction, and walked away.

Donna stared after him, trying not to cry. She faced the direction away from Enrico as soon as he disappeared into the crowd, and headed towards the snack bar, where Amy was chatting with a young man.

Amy excused herself from Randy, and turned her attention to Donna. "Hi, Donna. Is everything all right?"

"I'm fine, Amy. I just need...something."

"Well, take all the time you need." Amy grinned at Donna, and returned to her conversation with Randy.

From another part of the new youth centre, Jocelyn grinned as she observed Amy, Randy, and Donna.

Donna finally decided on a chocolate-orange cannoli, paid Amy, sat on a stool practically out of Amy's view, and started to eat.

"Business seems to be going well. Should I get lost?"

"You do what you want. As long as I can focus on the task at hand."

"Of course." Randy winked at Amy, and disappeared into the crowd.

People approached the snack bar throughout the night; it was busy, but not so much so that Amy couldn't keep up. She caught glances of Randy in the crowd from time to time; he appeared to flirt with some young women, but Amy didn't spend too much time thinking about it.

Donna observed the crowd. She ordered a lemonade at one point during the night, but otherwise made herself scarce.

Neither Donna nor Amy paid attention as the winner of 2176's Battle of the Bands was announced.