Out of Tune

Chapter Twenty-Three

Musicians don't retire; they stop when there's no music left in them—Louis Armstrong

The first day back at school following their performance on The Diane Furley Show was a surreal experience for all of the members of Imagine Reality.

They'd arrived home the previous afternoon. It had been a long flight, over six hours, but due to the time change between California and New York, they stepped out of the airport into the mid-afternoon sun.

The rest of the day; however, had passed in a blur as they'd gotten home, unpacked, and prepared for the school and work week to begin. Lennon had barely had time to process all that she had been through when she'd found herself walking back into Los Altos High.

It was almost as if the weekend had been a dream, some sort of alternate universe. She had convinced herself that the band being featured on national television wouldn't be a big deal. The band's popularity had been steadily rising anyways and things had hardly changed at school aside from the mild gossip and questions she sometimes received about upcoming performances.

Most people in her own senior class year hadn't really seemed to care too much when Imagine Reality got a regular spot at Quincy's. Perhaps it was because they'd grown up with Spencer and Zeke or else had been in class with Miles and Charlie since the start of high school. Lennon had been the shiny new thing at the start of the previous semester but now, seven months after arriving in Los Altos, she was hardly interesting.

Which was why Lennon was absolutely stunned when there was a crowd of people waiting around her locker when she arrived on Monday morning.

Immediately, Lennon was bombarded by questions. They wanted to know what it was like being on television, was Diane Furley as nice as she seemed, was she really in a relationship with Jay Dawson and, if so, could she convince him to come to the Prom?

It took Lennon almost ten minutes to get her books from her locker and escape from the crowd, but even then the questions and the stares didn't stop. Four giggling freshman girls followed Lennon all the way to her homeroom Spanish class on the other side of the building. She was relieved to fall into her seat next to Taylor – the freshman girls having been halted at the door and forced to turn away for their own classes.

"Rough morning?" Taylor asked.

"This is insane," Lennon said. The class was mostly empty, just her and Taylor and a few others who weren't paying them any attention for which Lennon was grateful. "I won't lie, I did expect some people to start acting weird today but I didn't anticipate getting ambushed at my locker."

"You should have seen the group around Spencer's. And Zeke and Charlie's, for that matter."

"Miles didn't get swarmed?"

Taylor cut a sharp grin at Lennon. "Oh, he would have had he not panicked and hid in the janitor's closet while I grabbed his books."

"You should be affected by this too. You were there."

"But not on television. I'm the faceless band manager and social media guru coordinating the five of you from behind the scenes. Also, I'm not the one rumoured to be dating Jay Dawson."

Lennon groaned. "Don't remind me. I've had to field at least a dozen questions already this morning about whether his eyes really are as green as they look in the Glory Days trailer."

"What did you tell them?"

"I told them that I had to get to class and then I half-ran all the way here."