Welcome to Hayleywood

Chapter Twenty-Three: What You Do To Me

There’s nothing worse than getting yelled at by Stacy. You know that the people who’ve worked at The Scene for years on end are right when they call her a ‘bitch in high heels’. I can’t help but totally agree with this and from that moment on, I’ve tried not to get on her bad side. I thought she had it out for me when I saw her walking up to my cubicle, her new assistant, Jamie, trailing behind her.

“Hayley? May I have a word with you?” she stares me down. I quickly finish typing up the last sentence of the We the Kings interview and look up.

          “Yeah, sure.”

          “There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you-a favor, actually,” she takes a deep breath. “A good friend of mine, Katherine, is going to having a small party for her 21st birthday at her beach house down in Malibu. She’s been asking me if I know any good bands to play at the event, and since you’re so great with this music scene, I’m asking for you to find a band to play at her party.”

          I was about to jump out of my seat when she said this. Booking a band for a party sounded like something I was born to do. “Wow, that sounds so exciting.”

          “Yes, it is a big responsibility and it’s all up to you. Now, here’s a list of some bands and numbers, call their managers and see which one you can get,” she flings a manila folder at me. “Oh, and she wants something a bit more low-key, you know? So don’t go and book The Black Eyed Peas or anything like that. And the party is tomorrow so make sure you have them booked by then!” she starts to walk away.

          “Wait!” I call after her.

          “What?” she twirls around.

          “What kind of music does Katherine like?”

          “Anything that’s hip and youthful. It doesn’t have to be a band that’s well-known, but it has to fit her needs.”

          “Okay, sure, no problem,” I sit back down and open the folder she’s given me. A bunch of papers spill out and I stack them neatly. I begin to look through the stack and quickly skip over the big names. There has to be something good in here. I skim through a list of local bands and even look up some of their music, but nothing appeals to me.

          This is definitely a lot harder than I thought it would be. It would’ve been a lot easier if this was my party, not somebody else’s. But wait, the last thing Stacy had said “but it has to fit her needs”…What were her needs? All Stacy had said was hip and youthful. Hip and youthful was not enough to determine what Katherine really liked.

          I put the papers aside and found a purple sticky note along the back cover of the folder. It had Katherine’s full name, phone number, address and the party details. I could just call her, but I didn’t want to seem too straight-forward…Instead, I looked her up on Facebook. I scrolled down to where it showed all her ‘Music Likes’ and clicked SHOW ALL ARTISTS. I went through a long list of hippy and indie bands and was about to give up when I got to the last few names. Foster the People, Young the Giant, The Summer Set… Yes! The Summer Set was the perfect choice. Their music was fun, catchy and definitely hip and youthful.

          Now, the only problem was getting ahold of them. I search their Facebook page left and right and up and down but couldn’t find a single thing. No contact info or even their manager-what was this??

          I sigh and lean back in my chair. I take a few deep breaths and tell myself that I would have this all figured out soon. I sit up and check the clock: 4:30-it was time to get going.