Until I Come Again

Chapter Three | Say That Again

"Wait. I'm sorry say that again." 

We were sitting in a small dorm room with just enough space for one bed and a desk. The door was closed which made it even worse but Matt (the second guitar player) had claimed it was for our own good considering he had a crazy roommate. 

Sam (the drummer) and Jade (the bass player) were lounging on Matt's bed, her head on his lap as he wrote something in a notebook. It didn't take me long to find out they were a couple. 

Ilana was sitting opposite Matt on the tiny circular rug that framed the walls of the room. 

I stood by the trash can next to the door, my arms crossed, staring at the four of them in disbelief. 

Ilana exchanged glances with Jade. "We just think this may be the best way for us to level the playing field. You said it yourself, we should defend ourselves."

I looked at her, wide-eyed. "Yeah. But I meant more like cutting some of their wires or something." 

Ilana shook her head. "No. You don't understand. They're super rich. Any material we ruin they could get ten more of. Besides, we want to do something bigger and better than just taking the strings off their guitars." 

Matt looked at me. He was less positive than Ilana but just as enthusiastic about their insane idea. 

"This plan makes sense when you think about it. We send someone inside their life, get to know them, keep them totally unsuspecting. Then when we have our leverage we make a move," Matt said, his eyes brightening with excitement. "It's not like we're asking you to do any scheming, were just asking you to get information for us. Think of it like...research."

Ilana nodded her head enthusiastically at that summary. 

"I'm sorry but I want no part in your weird feud with some random family. Find someone else I'm sure there's someone crazy enough to do it. Like how about one of you guys," I offered pointing at them. 

Sam shook his head from the bed. "Nah. We can't because they already know us. The whole point is to be unsuspecting, so don't you think it'll be weird if we're suddenly all cool with them?"

"It really isn't anything too bad. All you need to do is hang out with them somewhere or talk to them. Anything works really," Ilana added. 

I stared at them, slightly deflated, my mind spinning. 

The information was settling on me like a warm ocean breeze. Their idea was totally crazy. Like, completely insane. 

And who even comes up with something like that? What does that say about them?

But the more I thought about it, the more I felt a tingle of excitement. I would talk to them and for once I could just be a normal person, someone other than myself. 

And I don't know, maybe I was crazy enough to do it. 

I stared at Ilana and sighed. 

"So how would I even do this?"

Ilana's face lit up with joy and Matt smiled mischievously at me. 

"Don't worry we have a whole plan," Matt said. 

Jade looked up from cleaning her fingernails. "So you're in?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I guess I was. Because once I started showing interest none of them let me back down. 

They had developed a whole plan with all the information they've ever known about the Hunters family. 

I learned that the family consisted of a young girl aged 16, another girl aged 20, and an older boy aged 22. The parents had been in a popular cover band when they were younger, winning many awards and even going on to perform at popular music festivals like Coachella. That's what inspired them to make a band out of their kids. 

The band was comprised of five people. Three of them were the Hunter kids while two others were professional players that they hired. The band was called Started to Speak (which personally I didn't understand).

From what they told me, Start to Speak was pretty popular, playing in many venues around the city as well as opening for a famous rock band last summer.  

They never went into detail about why their two bands had a feud and when I asked they exchanged awkward glances and said "It doesn't matter."

I didn't push it for now but I knew I would be coming back to that topic eventually. 

The plan was to get a job at their record store downtown and possibly run into one of the family members while working there. I could make a good impression and learn more about how they run their business and family. 

As far as plans went, I'd heard worse. In fact, I was almost surprised at the normality of their current plan. It almost seemed too simple. 

It was Wednesday by the time they finished running through all their information with me. 

"Remember, you want to know everything about they but they shouldn't know anything about you," Matt was explaining late Wednesday night as we all were getting ready to disperse. 

I nodded. "Seems simple enough. Tomorrow I'll apply for a job at the record store and not take no for an answer." 

"Perfect," Matt responded nodding. 

Jade's eyes were filled with a mischievous light. "It's showtime." 

*

A/N  As Jade said: It's showtime! Here's chapter 3. Things are about to get started :) Comment and like if you enjoy!