Rising Star: Book 3 of The Orion Series

Life Goals

They're wrong

My biggest fear is nothing

My biggest regret is not leaving a mark on the world

They shove us in seats, shove pills down our throats

Tell us it's time to turn that frown upside-down

We are the young and no so innocent

We are past the point of no return

And we've been sitting here awhile now

If my name could be the forsaken

To make up for the babes that have been taken

Shoved into this den of lies and deceit 

Learn from your mistakes, least you repeat 

--from the song Nothing But Fears, lyrics by Orion Bauwens

"What are your goals as a band?"

This is surreal. We're in a conference room at EMI Records with Gloria. It's the following day, and she was eager to get started right away. She certainly was a go-getter.

The three of us look at each other.

"Have you thought about that before?" she asks.

"Uh," Orion says, "we haven't--we haven't explicitly discussed anything..."

I nearly smirk. It just cracks me up how Orion has a great vocabulary when he's working. Yeah, sure, his grades might've sucked, but I'm starting to realize he's actually pretty smart...If only he would have applied himself. But then again if he had, I wouldn't be sitting in a conference room at EMI Records right now.

"Alright," Gloria says. She writes something down on a yellow pad of paper and underlines it. "Lets spitball. And just so you know I am going to take notes, and then move those notes into a document on my tablet so it is concise."

I grin. I really, really like this woman. She smiles at me before casting her gaze equally to Orion and Ben. "So. Start shouting things out."

"Fame!" Orion literally shouts.

She laughs, shooting him a look. Had this happened years later on she probably would've thrown her notepad at him. But we hadn't gotten that comfortable with each other yet. "I didn't mean literally..."

He grins at her. "I'm a very literal person, Mrs. Gonzales."

"Oh please," she says, waving her hand, "call me Gloria. All of you. Once we start touring you'll be seeing me more than your own families, so please, cut the formalities."

"Okay but really," Ben says, "I want to be the best band out there."

"Yeah," I say, "I want to be a legend."

"Up there with the Rolling Stones and stuff!" Orion says excitedly.

I can tell she's trying not to laugh. She shakes her head, muttering to herself though we can't hear her. "Aye, I forgot how young these kids are..."

She looks at us and smiles. "Sorry, I wasn't specific enough. I need you to hone in on things--tangible things. Milestones you wish to accomplish. Once we do that, we can go down the list and create a timeline--what we can accomplish now, what we can do in a few years, what we can do down the line. We can also discuss what you all want, and what's a practical dream and what isn't. And I'm saying this because everyone wants to be the best."