VIP: I'm With the Band

“You ladies look like you’re up to no good.” Kyle appeared in the crowd. He gave Scarlet a hug. “What are you plotting? Taking over the world?”

  “Love him,” Iris mouthed when Kyle hugged her.

  “Just the hotel,” Scarlet said cheerfully. “Your show tonight was amazing! I loved when you guys sang your new single. That guitar solo you did was unbelievable.”

  Kyle’s face flushed slightly. “Zander actually broke his mic, so I had to improvise till he could run offstage and get a new one, hence the guitar solo.”

  “I didn’t even see him leave the stage,” I realized. Jilly and Scarlet coughed, and Iris sneezed.

  “Gesundheit,” Kyle said.

  “Gesundheit?” I laughed. “Who says that?” We all laughed.

  Kyle nudged me and I nudged him back—right into a waiter carrying appetizers.

  “Ooh! Mini hot dogs!” Scarlet snagged two. We all started grabbing, and the waiter’s tray was empty by the time he walked away.

  “Good evening, everyone.” Briggs was standing near the back of the pool, where a microphone was set up. “I want to thank you for coming tonight to celebrate the success of PS.” The crowd roared with approval.

  “I should go,” Kyle said. “We’re announcing the contest finalists. You guys are staying, right?” We nodded and Kyle smiled. “Okay. Cheers, then. I’ll see you in a few.”

  “Yep, he likes you,” Iris whispered when Kyle walked away.

  “I’d like to get the party started with some exciting news about Perfect Storm,” Briggs said as the band approached the mic. Mom was standing alongside Briggs in a beautiful green silk dress. “Lemon Ade has asked the band to stay on till the end of the tour as her opening act!” The party guests broke into applause. Kyle, Zander, and Heath did the “bro” hug. “Hopefully this is the first of many tours you’ll catch the boys on, especially now that they’ve been named one of Wave One’s Top Bands to Watch.” Lola was standing behind Briggs, and her big blond hair flew up and down at the announcement.

  “Wave One has been so generous to the band, as has Z100, who has invited the boys to debut their new single and appear on the famous morning show.”

  Jilly and I looked at each other. Way to go, Mom! No wonder she was smiling. She saw me watching her and gave a little wink.

  “And now we’d like to announce the top five finalists of the PS Fan Moment Contest,” Briggs said. “They’ll be invited to meet the band in New York, and the official winner will be announced on-air.”

  “Wow, that’s so cool! I wish I entered,” Iris said with a sigh.

  Scarlet nudged her. “Dude, you’re here with them now.”

  Who cared who won? I stared at Kyle, watching him grin and laugh at something Heath said. I expected my mind to go into future-Mac mode, like it always did with Zander, but strangely, I didn’t see Kyle and me on a beach. I saw us here, on the road, side by side, doing homework on his tour bus. That could actually happen. Tomorrow, even, on the way to L.A. I felt goose bumps on my arms and rubbed them to keep warm.

  “I will now turn it over to Perfect Storm to announce their favorites,” Briggs said.

  Girls screamed as Zander took the mic. He pushed his mop of hair out of his eyes and gave that million-watt grin that had always reduced me to a puddle. “How you doing, Las Vegas?” he asked the crowd, who went wild. “Perfect Storm is very excited about this contest that is all about our dedicated fans. We’ve spent hours and weeks narrowing down five entries from thousands.”

  “You mean Daddy and Piper narrowed down and gave you a few choices,” Jilly whispered in my ear.

  “Kyle will share the first one,” Zander said.

  I watched Kyle take the mic and wondered suddenly what Kyle’s winning entry would be about.

  “Evening. My heart belongs to one pick only. TabbyCat87, who asked Perfect Storm to help her with her Habitat for Humanity project in Alabama. She’ll be building a home for a family that lost everything in a tornado this past fall, and she thought having the band help build would cheer up the nine-year-old in the family who lost all her possessions. I couldn’t agree more,” Kyle said.

  “He is so deep.” Scarlet clutched her heart. “He is my new second-favorite member.”

  “Heath here! Rock on, Vegas! My top two pics—and yes, there are two—include Reeses-Pieces, who is trying to save her inner-city park from turning into a convenience store. She is hoping a benefit performance from PS will help raise awareness. I’m in,” he said, and held up a tattoo-sleeved arm to rally the audience. Then Heath grinned wickedly. “My second pick is more selfish.” Everyone laughed. “TinyDancer45 wants to take me and the guys to Disney World as dates to her sister’s wedding. Sounds like fun to me!”

  “And here are my two picks,” Zander told the audience as he grabbed the mic from Heath. I took two mini quiches off a tray and munched happily. I finally had my appetite back. “First off is a YouTube video from StarryEyedPSGirl. She is suggesting that PS take over a cruise ship and do a benefit concert on board, with all money raised going to our favorite charity. She, of course, would like a room on the ship because it was her suggestion.” The audience laughed. “I could use a tan, so this sounds good to me! My second choice is Sabrina from New York, who created this stellar drawing of Perfect Storm along with a poem asking me to her first middle school dance. Let me read it to you.”

  I dropped my second mini quiche on the floor.

  Jilly, Scarlet, and Iris spun their heads around so fast they looked like that girl in The Exorcist (which I have seen only in clips on TV, because that movie is way too scary to watch—just like this moment was turning out to be way too scary to live through).

  “Is that yours?” Jilly asked as Zander read a particularly painful line about needing him more than a fish needed water. I nodded.

  Blood. Draining. From. My. Face.

  “But how?” Scarlet asked. “We checked Yahoo! We checked the spam. There was nothing.…”

  Jilly slapped her head. “We’re such idiots. Of course there’s no e-mail yet. They’re probably calling or e-mailing the winners now.”

  Iris nudged me. “Check that e-mail address again! Now!”

  “I can’t,” I said. “My hands are shaking.” I felt numb and heard a whooshing sound in my ears. “You do it.”

  Both Scarlet and Jilly went straight to their phones and pulled up Yahoo! Within seconds, they looked from each other to me. “Sabrina has an e-mail from the Perfect Storm fan club,” Scarlet said nervously. Jilly held out the phone for me to read it.

  Sabrina–

  Congratulations! You have been selected as a finalist in the PS Fan Moment Contest and have been invited to meet the band in New York. Please contact the firm of Zwanger and Wilder as soon as possible. They will go over all contest paperwork and make travel arrangements for you and a guardian.

  Good luck, and know that Perfect Storm loves you!

  —The PS We Love You Official Fan Club

  “That drawing is wicked,” Heath was saying as Zander held up my entry for the whole roof to see. “Look at the detail on my face. This chick can draw.”

  Kyle leaned in to give the poster a closer look, and I held my breath. “She certainly can. The artwork looks kind of familiar, actually.”

  Aah! Kyle was going to figure this out.

  I had the sudden urge to become alter-ego Mac and rappel off the side of the building, using the velvet rope behind the pool as a climbing device.

  “We’ll now take a few questions from reporters in the audience,” I heard Mom say, and I was never so grateful to hear my mother interrupt a conversation before.

  “We were wondering if you guys had a favorite entry yet,” someone said.

  Zander looked at my mom. “Well, obviously I can’t say, other than that all five girls’ entries are winners in my heart.” I heard a collective “awww.” “But if I had my choice, it would be Sabrina. I want to meet the girl who can draw me looking like a Greek god.”

  Kyl
e ran his finger along the poster. My heart was beating out of my chest.

  “Of course you want to win,” Heath teased, but there was an edge to his voice. “You always want to win the top prize. I say go for the girl who wants all of us to go to Disney World. Now, that sounds like fun. Not you as a solo act at some middle school dance.”

  “Disney World!” Zander snorted. “Can you believe this guy? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He sleeps with a Tigger stuffed animal on the tour bus!” The audience laughed. Heath looked ready to smash something.

  “Oh yeah? Well, this guy sleeps with a night-light in his hotel room!” Heath shot back, then kept going. “And the real reason he doesn’t ride escalators isn’t because he lost part of a toe in an accident. It’s because he’s afraid of how fast the steps are moving!”

  Zander’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

  “Um, guys?” Kyle started to say. My mom tried to grab the mic.

  “Your tattoos are fake!” Zander blurted out. “He wears tattoo sleeves.”

  “You watch Bubble Guppies!” Heath shouted.

  “So do you!” Zander fired back. “And Life After Life.”

  I pictured Mac Attack halfway down the side of the building and hearing this fight break out. She’d probably find a way to climb back up the building and then use that velvet rope to tie up the boys till they stopped fighting. But I just stood there watching the train wreck.

  “I don’t need this crap,” Heath hollered. “I’m out of here!”

  “Good! You can easily be replaced,” Zander shouted.

  “Breakup alert! Breakup alert!” Scarlet freaked out.

  Iris grabbed my arm as Heath pulled back his own and prepared to deck Zander. Thankfully, Mom stepped in just in time and took a jab to her right arm. She did not look thrilled as she pulled the boys offstage and away from the party.

  Neither did Briggs as he quickly took the mic and said, “Are those three hams or what?” He gave a fake laugh. “We’ll have more details on the Perfect Storm Fan Moment Contest on the band’s website later this evening. For further questions”—people in the audience started raising their hands—“please contact the band’s label publicist, Megan Earles. Thank you, and enjoy the mini hot dogs. They’re out of this world!” Then he ran off the stage.

  From a distance I could see Mom herding the guys into an elevator. They were still yelling at each other. I thought Kyle made eye contact with me, but the doors closed.

  “Um, guys?” Iris sounded nervous. “Did our favorite band just break up?”

  The four of us looked at each other. We were too afraid to answer.

  Tuesday, March 22

  LOCATION: Los Angeles, California, city of broken dreams

  Yes, I know I sound miserable, but I have a good reason.

  I think my poster just broke up Perfect Storm!

  The sun was shining brightly outside our hotel room window, and the day off meant Universal Studios was calling our names, but we could barely muster the energy to brush our teeth, let alone leave the room. That was pretty sad because Iris and Scarlet were still with us, and the three of us had never been to Los Angeles before. We had changed Iris and Scarlet’s flight home after the PS Fight Heard Round the World. Iris told her mom that it was a “life-or-death emergency that Mac needed help with,” and thankfully, Mom backed that up with a phone call to her as well. I have no idea what she said, but it was somehow enough to convince Iris’s mom (who thinks our love of PS is a phase) to let her stay on for a few more days, since it was still their spring break.

  “Another tweet coming in,” Jilly announced as we sat huddled together on my bed. “Pop-Wrapped says: ‘Did Perfect Storm implode before they ever got off the ground?’ And then there is an article link.” Jilly opened it up and groaned. “Another eyewitness of the party.”

  “Half these people weren’t even AT the party,” Scarlet barked. “A girl on Instagram claims she has a photo of Heath and Zander hitting each other, but I KNOW this picture was taken from their YouTube channel skit they did last May called ‘Boys Gone Wild,’ so HA!” Scarlet’s hair looked like a tornado had gone through it. None of us had unpacked our bags or knew where a comb was.

  “No word from your mom?” Iris asked tearfully.

  “I’ve barely talked to her since Las Vegas,” I said. “She is in crisis mode.”

  She even rode a separate tour bus from me. My mom said only Kyle was on it. Heath and Zander both got rides from other people to L.A. to avoid each other.

  “I keep telling her that we need to talk privately, but she is too busy to. I need to tell her that I’m really Sabrina, so I can get my entry disqualified.”

  “I wouldn’t bother,” Scarlet said dejectedly. “It looks like the band is breaking up anyway.”

  “And it’s all my fault,” I whispered.

  I had tried texting Kyle to see if he was okay, but he hadn’t replied. I knew he had a lot going on, but I was still worried about him. Was he as mad as the others? Did he know that Sabrina was really me? “Have you heard from Briggs?” I asked Jilly.

  She shook her head. “I’ve been texting and texting and getting no reply. His assistant is the only one talking, and it’s just to give me updates on where Dad is—a meeting, another meeting, and a third meeting with Piper and the label publicists.”

  “Another tweet!” Scarlet groaned. “This one is from someone who says she knows someone who is best friends with Zander, and Zander is going to go solo.”

  We took in the news silently.

  Yes, Zander was the face of the band. And sure, he had the voice of an angel. Other boy bands had broken up and their lead singer had gone on to be big (hi, Justin Timberlake!), but Perfect Storm was different. Everyone in the room knew it. Heath made the group fun, Kyle gave the group heart, and Zander was their voice. PS wouldn’t feel the same if there was just an S. They worked only when they were together. I wondered if they knew that.

  “We have to talk to them,” I said suddenly.

  Iris sprang up. She was still clutching my stuffed monkey. “Okay! Yes! Talk to them! What are we going to say?”

  “We’re going to tell them they’re all bigheaded idiots who are going to ruin their lives if they don’t get over this stupid fight,” Scarlet said. We looked at her. “Well, we won’t say it like that. We’ll say it nicely.”

  “How are we going to get them in the same room?” Iris asked. “You heard Jilly—their managers and a team of publicists can’t pull that off. How are we going to?”

  Mac Attack could pull this off. I had to think like I was living in my comic book. That Mac would tell the boys exactly what Scarlet just said, even if she had to do it by holding them all hostage. That gave me an idea. “Jilly, do you think you could get Lemon Ade to send a text for us?”

  “Why?” Jilly bit on a pencil she had in her hand.

  “Well, maybe the boys won’t talk to each other, and they won’t talk to Briggs or my mom, but maybe if they each think Lemon Ade wants to talk to them about opening as a solo artist, they’d show up.”

  “You want to lie to them?” Iris’s eyes bulged out of her head.

  “Yes!” I said as Scarlet’s phone pinged with more Twitter updates. “This could be our one shot to get the guys on the same page before they do something stupid and break up.”

  “And ruin our lives,” Iris seconded.

  “You can beg your dad’s assistant to help us,” I suggested to Jilly. “We’re really doing this for Lemon Ade, when you think about it. She needs the guys to stay on the tour because they’re selling tickets.” I thought for a moment. “You can tell Lemon Ade you’re texting for your dad because his phone died.”

  Jilly shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.”

  “Another lie?” Iris cried. “We are going to get in so much trouble if this doesn’t work.”

  Jilly’s fingers flew over her cell phone, and within minutes Briggs’s assistant sent us the number and Jilly sent Lemon Ade a text. Ten torturou
s minutes later Lemon Ade texted her back and agreed to be part of our plan (as long as this never came up in the press—pop stars are so touchy). We agreed and had her send the boys a text asking them to meet in what was really Jilly’s suite that afternoon at 2:45, 2:48, and 2:50 PM, and hoped they weren’t suspicious about the strange arrival times.

  “She says they all said yes,” Jilly shared. We all cheered.

  I took a deep breath and looked at the others. “Let’s do this!”

  A little while later we were waiting in the bedroom of Jilly’s suite when a bewildered Kyle walked in with Mikey G., who we had recruited for our scheme as well. He told the boys he was working security for Lemon Ade for the day, since her main bodyguard was sick. Kyle had bought it. Two minutes later, and on time for a change, Heath strolled in. When he first saw Kyle, he froze, but then I heard him say, “I have no real beef with you, man.”

  “Same here, mate,” Kyle said. “This fight is totally bollocks.”

  And then the two shook hands!

  Scarlet, Iris, and I group-hugged. Look at that! One fight was over, and we didn’t have to do a thing but get them in the same room. Then there was a third knock at the door, and Zander strode in in a cloud of maple-syrup-smelling cologne.

  “What the…,” he started to say when he saw Kyle and Heath. “I’m out of here.”

  That’s when Jilly, Iris, Scarlet, and I jumped out from our hiding place and stood in front of him. It felt very Mac Attack, which was so cool.

  “Go sit down now, Z.,” Mikey G. said in his most menacing bodyguard voice. “And if you ever knock Life After Life again, you and I are going to have to have a talk.” Mikey G. and I high-fived, and I handed him our leftover candy as promised.

  Zander dragged himself to a chair near the couch and folded his arms across his chest. “This is not right,” he said and pouted. “I have nothing to say to him.”

  “And I have nothing to say to you,” Heath shot back. “Dude, how could you tell people my tats are fake?”