Totally Amp'd: Tyler's Story

You had to admit, they didn’t sound all that bad… Sure, they didn’t sound as great as some acts out there – but man, for something that wasn’t even rehearsed properly, they were awesome!

            The track they’d just recorded came to an end. A smile spread over Ty’s face, and he noticed the others smiling, too, as he glanced around the recording studio they all stood around in. The XMP! Entertainment studio seemed kinda old now, since the company had moved to better digs, but that didn’t make it any less impressive. And Ty was very impressed by the fiddly thingamabobs on the recoding console outside the booth he’d just been singing inside.

            But back to the people: to him, they looked like a bit of a misfit bunch… There was that little girl, the (drama-queen) blond and her friend with the dark hair, and the dude who’d raved about his sick dancing skills earlier.

            But, for a bunch of misfits, they lay down a pretty awesome track.

            “…I’d love to manage all of you. If you’re game.”

            Wait, what?

            Ty’s wasn’t the only head to snap up when the XMP! Entertainment lady, Zoe, said that. The blond girl’s mouth practically hit the floor.

            But then, Ty wasn’t the best to judge, he thought. This lady was like, a manager or whatever for the record company. And not just any record company, but XMP! Entertainment. She knew what she was talking about, so maybe they really would be better as a group. Whatever. Ty took her word for it.

            “The bad news is, we’ve got two weeks until the contest deadline to be Charlie Fever’s opening act.”

            ‘Charlie Fever’s opening act’… Man, those were a few words Ty never thought he’d hear. Sure, okay, he’d entered the “Talent Scout” XMP! was having – but he hadn’t actually expected this to really happen! He’d sent in his demo as – well, as a joke, pretty much. His friend had suggested it, and he’d had nothing to lose.  But now everything was skyrocketing.

            This “Shoot For The Stars” contest was huge, no joke about it. He tuned out while the others – the blond diva, Madison, especially – voiced their shock at having to work together. As a group.

            It sounded crazy, sure. But no way was he passing up an opportunity like this, even if they did have to work in a group. It didn’t bother him that much.

            This was crazy in the best way.

            Not to mention that girl with the dark hair – Aria, that was her name, right? – was really cute. Even her name was cute.

            Almost as though she knew he was thinking about her, she caught his eye for a split-second. Ty smiled to himself; no way was he going to let himself get stuck in the Friend Zone with this girl. No way. That was not going to happen to him again…

            Ty’s thoughts automatically snapped back to just a week ago – back to when he’d sat in music class, next to Emily, who’d been the girl of his dreams and had been like, the only girl he’d been able to think about for months. He knew he should probably forget all about her, but he couldn’t help but reminisce…

“What’re you writing?”

            Ty slammed his notebook shut before twisting around to see Emily pulling out the chair beside him. She dropped her purse on the table with a heavy clunk. What did girls even carry in their purses, anyway? Ty practically shuddered just thinking about it…