Rise

- Chapter 5: Guardian -

 – Chapter 5 –

Lex

Guardian

          Lex sat back, his eyes surveying the scene before him. Travis was still trying to get his idea on board. The gig tonight was bigger than they had thought. Travis hadn’t told them about the deal—that they would have to vacate their studio. If they won, they got everything, but if they lost, they would lose everything.

          Alec was still cussing Travis out for having made such a discussion without talking it over with him. He was the manager after all. Lex rolled his eyes.

          “Enough,” he said loudly, standing up as Alec began forward, his fist raised. “Alec, enough. You, too, Travis. You’re the oldest out of all of us. Don’t act like a little kid.” They both turned to him.

          “You think we can master a new song within a couple hours?” Alec demanded.

          “You’re the manager, as I recall,” Travis butt in. “You don’t have to do anything.”

          “What song?” Lex asked patiently.

          Alec threw up his hands. “Not you, too!”

          “Stop yelling, Alec. Why do you think we need to learn a new song?”

          Travis ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “The song we were going to sing is really elementary. We need something big if we want to beat Lo’s band. Fahrenheit’s not going to cut it for this one.”

          “This is to be our own creation, by the way,” Alec added.

          “What?” Lex stared at Travis. “I’m with Alec on this one. A couple hours to write, practice, and master a new song? I highly doubt that’s going to happen.”

          “Thank you! I—“

          “If we manage this,” hissed Travis, “Our band’s reputation will shoot up.”

          “If we totally screw up, we lose everything, including our reputation,” Lex pointed out.

          “Use her,” piped up a voice from the corner.

          “Use who?” Travis looked as if he had forgotten Hanley’s presence.

          “Oh, you’re right.” Akin was grinning. “Nice one, Han.”

          Hanley shrugged. “Someone has to use common sense around here.”

          “Can someone explain what’s going on?”

          They all turned to the doorway, where Aline and Evira were standing. Lex realized that he, Alec, and Travis were all standing in hostile positions. They quickly drew away.

          “We were thinking,” said Akin, standing up. “Since you write songs quickly, and develop them quickly, could you give us a hand?”

          Evira looked around. “Me?”   

          “Yeah!” he said enthusiastically. Alec looked sullen and Travis looked skeptical.

          Lex felt like they were being rude. “So we have this gig tonight,” he began. He explained about how they had to write a completely new song and have it mastered by nine o’clock. “Can you help us out?”