The Rockstar Chronicles

Again

"Again!" Sarah screamed. Her voice had steadily grown more shrill as practice progressed. It was obvious she was near the end of her rope.

I sat in the corner, my knees drawn up to my chest as I gasped for air. The boys stood in front of Sarah, facing the long wall of mirrors. Lucky for me, we were done with the numbers including back-up dancers and had moved on to their choreography.

I had managed to do well through practice. Once I memorized the sequence, the steps seemed to click in my mind. It was like I was in a world of my own and I enjoyed it. But I knew if I was still practicing, I would be making mistakes, too. I felt bad for the guys.

I watched them, trying to figure out what they were doing wrong. Ryder was doing too much. His movements were jerky and I could tell he struggled with the footwork. Bridge moved slowly, almost shyly. It was odd to watch. I couldn't believe someone who was so confident and carefree in life was having such a hard time expressing himself through dance. And poor Tom was completely lost, following the reflection of the other boys in the mirror and staying consistently one beat behind.

Grady and Hardyn were by far the best, but even they looked terrible as they tried to slow down and keep pace with the others. Whenever they sped up, disaster occurred as the other boys tried to keep up and the whole dance fell into shambles.

"Tom!" Sarah yelled, throwing her hands up in the air as Tom spun left into Hardyn instead of right like he was supposed to. Hardyn grabbed his shoulders, balancing him before shoving him in the right direction. "Fine! Whatever. I'm through with you today. You obviously don't care."

I couldn't believe what Sarah was turning into. She had always seemed so nice. As she paced the room, lecturing the boys as they gulped water, I could see the frustration on her face. Her hair was coming down, frizzy around her sweat-streaked face.

She turned, spotting me, and my heart sank. "Lindy," she called, "get over here! You need to hear this, too."

Standing up was excruciating. Every one of my muscles burned and I was half-bent over in pain. I looked like a little old lady. After only a few steps, though, my muscles began to stretch and relax. Sitting in the cold corner after all that exercise had definitely been a bad idea.

Sarah waved me over impatiently and I picked up my pace. Ryder scooted over, making room for me, and I joined the group reluctantly.

"I don't even know how to make you boys understand," Sarah said, clasping her head in both hands. "Don't you know what's going to happen if you don't get it together? We are ALL going to be fired. All of us. Not just me. And if you think I'm bad, wait till you see the others ready to take my place." She paused, chewing her lip as she stared at the ground. "You've just got to do better."

"We'll try," Bridge said, "but most of us aren't really dancers. I'm a musician. So's Tom. And Ryder's only an actor. No offense."

Ryder grinned. "He's right."

"Well, you better learn to act like you're members of a boy band," Sarah said. "Or we're all going to be through."

Kandee opened the door and stuck her head inside, waving at us. Sarah froze, the next insult on the tip of her tongue. "Sorry to interrupt," Kandee said, "But Mr. Kane wanted to talk to you."

Sarah remained motionless and then, slowly, she nodded. We all exchanged glances. As Sarah followed Kandee out the door, I felt suddenly as if we were all watching someone on their way to the guillotine.

The door swung open again and we all held our breath, ready for the call of the next victim. But it was only my Mom and everyone else's assistants.

"Get your stuff together," Mom said. "I have a lot of work to get done."

"Band meeting. Tonight." I heard Ryder whisper to Grady as my brother stuffed a towel into his backpack. He glanced at me and our eyes met for only a second before he turned, grabbing Tom's arm as he walked to the door, and told him the same thing. One by one, each boy nodded, agreeing to meet later. Bridge whispered that he would let everyone know a time and a place. I acted as if I didn't hear, but as I watched Ryder pass on the message to the other boys, my heart stung a little.

I followed Grady out the door, my bag in one hand and my half-empty water battle gripped tightly in the other.

"Kids? You ready to go?" Mom asked as she slipped her arms around our shoulders.

I nodded. I had never been so ready for anything in my life.

*** Ok guys, I'm going to be revealing information about one of the boys in the band meeting. Remember to vote on my website on who you want more backstory on. Grady, Tom, Bridge, Ryder, or Hardyn. ***