Kyle put out his hand to shake Cody’s. “Thanks for your help, mate. It couldn’t have been easy to rat out your brother like that.”
Cody shrugged. “It felt pretty good, actually.” He laughed. “Jeremy has been bossing me around for years. I’m sorry about your song, though.”
“I’ll write a better one,” Kyle said, and looked at me. “I actually have some ideas right now, in fact. Anyone got a pen?” he asked.
“Want some help?” Cody asked. “Least I could do.”
“Why not?” Kyle said with a smile. “Meet you in the greenroom in five.”
“Awesome,” Cody said, and then turned to Jilly. “I’m sorry we started out on the wrong foot.”
“Then let’s start over.” Jilly extended her hand. “Hi. I’m Jillian Pepper, daughter of Briggs Pepper, Perfect Storm’s manager.”
Cody smiled. “Cody Callum, future songwriter and brother of Jeremy Callum, who may or may not still have a career in music.”
I smiled. The storm had passed, for now at least, and it would be smooth sailing for the rest of the tour.
Monday, July 11 (It’s one AM!!!)
LOCATION: On the tour bus outside El Tortilla Factory Restaurant in Miami Beach, Florida—POST-VICTORY PARTY!
Operation Take Down Bad Kitty was a total success!
We were so excited, we had to celebrate, which is why, after Perfect Storm played a SOLO concert, we headed to El Tortilla Factory. The restaurant was near closing, but Briggs persuaded them to stay open. He even got the mariachi band to keep playing, and Perfect Storm jammed with them. None of us wanted to go back to the hotel yet. Mom, Briggs, Mikey G., PS, Jilly, me, some of the roadies, and even Cody were still ordering guacamole and eating tortilla chips and fried ice cream. Briggs was finally taking Iris’s advice and having PS go on The Morning Mash Up in the AM to talk to Nicole, Ryan, and Stanley T. so they could give them the full scoop on what happened with Thunder and Lightning. We were all in a celebratory mood because WE WON!
Heath, in an oversize straw hat, was leading a conga line with a pair of mariachis, when Kyle pulled me out of the line to talk to me.
“I have a present for you,” he yelled over the singing and rattling from the mariachis.
“WHAT?” I shouted back because I couldn’t hear him well at first.
Kyle took me to a corner of the outdoor seating area where there was a fountain and hanging twinkling lights. It was really pretty.
“I said, I have a present for you,” Kyle repeated, and then he offered me a box wrapped with polka-dot paper.
Kyle had bought me a present? My knees felt like they might give out and not because the small rectangular box was heavy. What could it be? “Thank you!” I quickly unwrapped the box and gasped. It was a silver case with an electronic keypad on it. “You got me a lockbox for my journal?”
“Actually, it’s a lockbox that is a journal,” Kyle said. “It has a safelike coating that keeps anyone from cracking it open, and you seal it with a combination that you change every month. I know you love the journal you had, but I thought you might feel safer with this one.”
I stared at my new journal (which is what I’m writing in now!) and was in total awe. “This is the nicest thing anybody has ever given me. Thank you.”
“I’m sorry we were so hard on you about Thunder and Lightning,” Kyle said. “I know you would never do anything to hurt our band, Mac.”
Now I was feeling misty. I would not cry in front of Kyle. I would NOT cry in front of Kyle! “You guys are the most amazing band in the world,” I said, and he blushed. “I would never EVER do anything to hurt you guys. I want to see you take over the world.”
“Well, maybe with this new song, we can,” Kyle said, and he whistled to someone. I watched Cody walk toward us with the mariachi band in tow. “Now, it’s pretty rough, since Cody and I just wrote this a few hours ago, but I still think it’s brill. I’m calling it ‘Unstoppable,’ because that’s what you are.” Kyle took a guitar from one of the mariachi guys while Cody took a pair of maracas. Then the two sang the most beautiful ballad I’ve ever heard. Briggs, Mom, Zander, Heath, and Jilly walked over, too.
“Looked across the room that night
I saw you standing there beneath the light,
A shadow cast across your smile.
Took a chance, walked up to you,
Looked in your eyes, and it was then that I knew
We’d be standing here together.
Together we’ll be unstoppable
Anything we wanna be
Together you’ll see we’ll be unstoppable
You and me.”
They sang one more verse, but I was in such shock that I don’t think I heard it. All I heard were the words “together” and “unstoppable.” Together. Did that mean Kyle could see a future in Paris with me, too? I glanced at Mom, who was smiling. There was no way this dream would happen tonight, or tomorrow, or a hundred tomorrows from now, but it could happen someday.
“So? What do you think?” Kyle looked nervous.
“I think it’s aces and brill all wrapped into one,” I said breathlessly.
“Me too, man!” Heath clapped. “That’s the song we’ve been looking for.”
“Me too, but, um, Cody’s not actually going to sing on it, is he?” Zander asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
We all laughed.
“No, man,” Cody said. “We’re waiting to hear back from the label on what’s next, but I know for me, I want to be a songwriter, and writing for you guys is the best gig I could ever get.”
“This calls for a toast!” Mom announced.
“To Perfect Storm!” Jilly held up a glass. “Their new single is going to be the hottest thing on the charts!”
“Here, here!” Briggs seconded.
“And to friends like Mac and Jilly, who always have Perfect Storm’s back!” Zander added.
“Don’t forget Scarlet and Iris,” Heath added. I knew they’d love hearing that.
“And Cody,” Kyle added. “You’re a good writing partner.” The two clinked glasses.
“Let’s conga!” Heath declared, and the mariachi band encouraged everyone to join in. The others jumped in line, but I was lost in my own thoughts. Ones where Perfect Storm was the hugest boy band in the world and I spent the next few years touring with them, just like I was right now. Together we would be unstoppable, just like Kyle’s song said. Maybe Paris wasn’t so far off in the future…
“Mac?” I looked up and saw Kyle reaching out for my hand. The conga line was heading our way. “Want to dance?”
“I’d love to!” I grabbed Kyle’s hand and let him lead me to the back of the conga line.
When it came to Perfect Storm, I knew we could weather anything that came our way.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Whether it’s a music tour like Perfect Storm’s or a book like VIP: Battle of the Bands, it takes a LOT of people behind the scenes to make it happen! Thank you to VIP’s road manager (sorry, Mac’s mom!), Pam Gruber, my awesome editor; and Kristina Aven, VIP’s publicist, for keeping the series’ name in lights. Shout-outs to the rest of the LBYR crew—Andrew Smith, Melanie Chang, Leslie Shumate, Maggie Edkins, Wendy Dopkin, and Tracy Koontz—for all they do.
To illustrator Kristen Gudsnuk: I suspect we would have gone to many *NSYNC concerts together if we had known each other as teens! Thank you for having Mac’s back and for bringing her and the Perfect Storm gang to life in such an incredible way.
Dan Mandel, you are a true headliner. Thanks for helping Mac and me have the best time on this road trip.
No tour would be complete without backstage passes, and I have to give them out to boy-band guru Elizabeth Eulberg as well as Kieran Scott, Jennifer E. Smith, Katie Sise, Tiffany Schmidt, and Courtney Sheinmel for all their writerly advice.
Special thanks to my friend Rick Delucia for lending me his song “Unstoppable” for VIP: Battle of the Bands. It’s the perfect song for Kyle, and I’m so fortunate to have a talented friend who can write lyrics!
And to my tour-bus mates—Mike, Tyler, Dylan (and, of course, Jack): Thanks for going on this crazy ride with me. It’s because of you guys—the fab four—that I can do what I do, and I love you all for it.
Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION
FRIDAY, MAY 13: LOCATION: SOUNDESCAPE RECORDING STUDIO—NEW YORK CITY
FRIDAY, MAY 13: LOCATION: HOME (HOURS AFTER I TRIED TO BE BIRD GIRL)
SATURDAY, MAY 28: LOCATION: STONE HARBOR, NEW JERSEY
FRIDAY, JUNE 10: LOCATION: CENTRAL PARK—NEW YORK CITY
FRIDAY, JUNE 10: LOCATION: MY BEDROOM, WHICH I MAY NEVER LEAVE AGAIN!
FRIDAY, JUNE 17: LOCATION: BEACON THEATRE—NEW YORK CITY
FRIDAY, JUNE 17: LOCATION: HOME AFTER THE DISASTROUS BEACON THEATRE SHOW
TUESDAY, JUNE 21: LOCATION: LOVE PARK—PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
SUNDAY, JULY 3: LOCATION: WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA
SUNDAY, JULY 3: LOCATION: STILL WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA* (*I HAD TO BORROW MY JOURNAL AGAIN BECAUSE SO MUCH HAPPENED TODAY! MIKEY G. AGREED TO STAND OUTSIDE MY ROOM WHILE I WROTE, SO HERE IT GOES…)
FRIDAY, JULY 8: LOCATION: THE SUN* *AT LEAST THAT’S HOW HOT IT FEELS IN SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, RIGHT NOW!
FRIDAY, JULY 8—AKA THE NEVER-ENDING DAY: LOCATION: MY WORST NIGHTMARE (OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE HILTON, WHOSE BALLROOM MOM TURNED INTO OUR PERFECT STORM CENTER)
SATURDAY, JULY 9: LOCATION: A TOP SECRET LOCATION IN MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA
SUNDAY, JULY 10: LOCATION: MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA OPERATION TAKE DOWN BAD KITTY IS HAPPENING!
MONDAY, JULY 11 (IT’S ONE AM!!!): LOCATION: ON THE TOUR BUS OUTSIDE EL TORTILLA FACTORY RESTAURANT IN MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA—POST-VICTORY PARTY!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
COPYRIGHT
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Text copyright © 2016 by Jen Calonita
Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Kristen Gudsnuk
Cover art © 2016 by Kristen Gudsnuk
Cover glitter texture © Katrien1/Shutterstock.com
Cover design by Maggie Edkins
Cover © 2016 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at
[email protected] Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
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Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
First ebook edition: July 2016
ISBN 978-0-316-25976-7
E3-20160616-JV-PC
Jen Calonita, VIP: Battle of the Bands
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