Out of Tune

Chapter Thirty-One

Music to me is the air that I breathe, it's the blood that pumps through my veins that keeps me alive—Billy Joe Armstrong

The week following the album's release, one hundred copies were purchased online.

Two weeks after its release, the number of copies sold had exceeded a thousand.

Three weeks and they were pushing fifty thousand.

Four weeks and the album was making waves across the country. Not waves, per se. Ripples. Noise. Being featured on radio stations, fans making covers on YouTube and social media of Imagine Reality's songs.

Five weeks and it had quietly crept onto the charts. Top Albums of the Year. Three of their songs had even placed on The Hot 100 song chart, placing at 96, 72, and 21, respectively.

But none of the band members were prepared for what week six brought.

*~*

"I hear your album is doing well," Paige said to Lennon. They were on the beach with Colby, walking through the surf as gentle waves lapped their feet.

Lennon watched her brother go racing by, collapsing into the water with an excited peal of laughter. A moment later, he was up again and running another few feet ahead of where Lennon walked with her mother before he once again threw himself into the ocean.

"Yeah," Lennon replied. "It's been a bit of a surprise. We've been pushing it all over our social media channels and outlets, so the fans we've accumulated on our channels really took it and ran with it. I was talking with Taylor the other day and she said that she's been fielding requests for live performances and a few interviews, but nothing concrete has happened yet. Just talking."

She bent to pick up a large flat stone and skipped it across the water, watching as it plunked in thirty feet away with a little ripple.

"How's Taylor liking USC? Has she settled in well?"

"I think so. She and her roommate get along, but she says that she's really busy with her classes. A good busy but busy all the same."

Paige paused to give Lennon a cursory glance. "No regrets about taking the year off? There are always programs that start in the winter."

Lennon rolled her eyes. They'd had this conversation before, but it wasn't the tense thing it had once been. Before, her mother had critically analyzed all of Lennon's decisions. This was more like a real and genuine ask, like she wanted to be sure.

"No regrets," Lennon told her. "I think it would have been a mistake to go. If music doesn't work out, I don't know what I want to do. This gap year is to figure that out. To come up with a backup plan."

Because even though their album was doing well, rising slowly on the charts and creating some internet noise, nothing had come of it really. They were still performing weekly but had added a second local restaurant to their rotation where they played on Friday nights. Saturdays were reserved for Quincy's. Zeke and Charlie were driving back weekly from UC Davis for the gigs and Lennon knew that it was slowly beginning to be a lot for the two boys. Even though they'd both deny it, the band plus their schoolwork was really starting to hit them.

So Lennon was starting to devise a backup plan. Just in case Zeke and/or Charlie had to quit and the band collapsed from within. Lennon couldn't envision a future without music in it, so she'd started to consider whether teaching or producing might be an avenue she'd go down if the band failed.