Four Boys in a Band

xii. repercussions

"My dreams were finally taking off, and now they're crashing back to the ground," Reggie wailed.

"What's up, Reggie?" Jacob asked. It was the day after the first B.O.B. performance, a Saturday. Jacob was up early again, as was Louis, and apparently Reggie. Everyone else was still asleep. Louis and Jacob were giving email another shot when Reggie burst into their room and let out this last comment. Consequently, he woke up Calvin and Wes, who now stumbled groggily over to find out what was wrong.

"I finally figured out a way to propose to Kat," Reggie began.

"Awesome, dude! Congrats!" Wes slapped Reggie on the back.

Calvin pretended to wipe away a tear. "They grow up so fast."

"So, what's the issue?" Louis asked Reggie.

"I wrote her a song, but now I can't find it," Reggie explained. "I put my heart and soul into that song; it's typical that something so emotionally valuable would disappear." The talent manager collapsed on the couch melodramatically.

"Do you think maybe you accidentally threw it away?" Jacob suggested.

"No! I would never! But I know that I meant to go record it at the studio today, and when I got there I realized I had grabbed your guys's song, not mine, and so I raced back here to grab the correct lyric sheet, and that's when I realized it was missing. I tore our apartment apart. It's just gone." Reggie put an arm over his eyes.

Wes paled. "Oh, no."

"What? What is it?" Reggie sat up.

"I . . . I think I may have taken your song lyric sheet thinking it was our song lyric sheet." Wes rubbed his neck uneasily.

"Where is it?"

Wes pulled it out of his back pocket and handed it to Reggie. Reggie gaped at the paper. Everything he had worked so hard on, all the lyrics he had put so much thought into, all of it was scribbled out and erased, changed from a heartfelt ballad into a boyband hit.

"I'm sorry?" Wes offered.

If Reggie was a cartoon, he would have steam coming out of his ears. "I cannot believe you . . . my song . . . completely ruined . . ."

"Not to rub salt in a wound or anything, but do you like Wes's version? I thought it was awesome!" Calvin said.

Wrong thing to say. Reggie balled up the paper and threw it in the trash, before storming out of the room. Wes grabbed the paper from the trash can and said: "We need to go record Reggie's song. Now."

"What? Why?" Louis asked.

Wes looked at his bandmates. "Because I'm not sure what Reggie will do. All I know is that if the talent manager is mad at the band, bad things happen. But if we can record this song and get Reggie to listen to it, he might cool down."

"I see your point," said Calvin, stroking his nonexistent beard. "But how can we get out of the hotel? We're grounded."

"We'll need a diversion," Wes stated.

Jacob's face lit up. "I got that covered."

Wes stuck out his hand, and the others put theirs on top of his. "Operation Angry Monkey is a go."

*

Avery was craving chocolate. After scouring their hotel room to no avail, she told her fellow Angels that she was going down to the vending machines for a Milky Way bar. Brooklyn and Emma said "okay," but Taylor was silent. She had been acting strangely since her hamster died. Avery decided she would get Tay a chocolate bar as well.