Violetta (Violet) Jackson has big dreams. None of which happen to include sitting in detention for a week straight for a lab disaster that wasn't even her fault. That's all thanks to Will Hawthorne, his friends (one of whom she unfortunately used to...
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I'd barely made it to school the next day when my phone started to vibrate with texts from Olivia, Ryder, and Danny.
I locked up my bike and glanced down at my screen, my heart beginning to pound as I saw the messages.
Monday 8:20am
Danny: Just got an email from Berklee. ECHO beats Royal Flush in the first round of battle of the bands by 4 points.
Ryder: YOOOOOO
Ryder: HELL YEAH
Ryder: did we get more views than them?
Danny: They ended up with more views, but we got more points from the judges for originality and theme.
Olivia: Oh thank GOD
Olivia: Don't know if I could face Royal Pains in my Ass if they topped us...
Olivia: Can't wait to gloat in their faces.
Danny: We've also got our second task.
Ryder: damn, feels like goblet of fire all over again.
Ruder: hopefully no merpeople to fight off or gillyweed to forcibly choke down, tho.
Olivia: What is it?
Danny: I think we should all meet in person on this one.
Olivia: Okay, can we meet at Will's tonight?
Danny: Violet?
Violet: I'll check with him. Should be fine though. I'll be at work but I'll get off at 7. Be there by 7:30 or so.
☼ ☼ ☼
"A flashmob?" Olivia exclaimed in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me."
Ryder, Danny, and I all glanced at her, then to the ground, all deep in our thoughts. We sat around the mat in the middle of Will's garage, the mics put away in the corner for now as we met and planned on our tactics for battle of the bands: round two.
The rest of the school day had been wasted on me the second I got the texts that morning, as the only thing I could think about was what our second task — the second stage of the battle of the bands contest — could possibly be. It was the longest school day imaginable, and when the bell finally rang at the end of history, I was the first one out, despite sitting near the very back of the classroom.
The rest of the day was another shift at La Promenade — Jackie wasn't there that day — and then I had biked as fast as I could over to Will's. I texted him as soon as I got the message from Danny, and Will willingly granted us the use of his garage space even on a day we hadn't previously agreed on; with the stipulation, of course, that he was in on everything we discussed. He stood by his usual spot in the entryway to the house, shoulder leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed. There wasn't much I could do about him listening in at this point and, to be honest, I didn't care much about it anymore — all of my attention was now on knowing whatever the second round was.
