More than Music

18

After the auditions, the next step was The Sound’s Battle of the Bands. Basically, the mentors paired off the six bands on their team and had them compete against each other by performing the same song. The mentors chose the winners and also got one rescue that they could use on any band eliminated from one of the other teams—leaving four bands on each team for the next show.

Usually there were two battle rounds, but this season had been shortened to only six weeks and moved to the summer instead of the spring, probably because ratings had been dropping steadily. Maybe they hoped a shorter season would keep everyone on the edge of their seats the entire time, or maybe they thought the show would have less competition in the summer since there was nothing else on TV.

We found the meeting room for Team Angel just as four guys with skinny jeans and identical shaggy haircuts walked over. They had that combo of nerd-meets-hipster down, and two of them even had black-rimmed glasses to complete the look.

“Are you on Angel’s team, too?” one of the guys asked. He had a boy-next-door kind of face, with broad shoulders and sandy blond hair. Definitely the best-looking one in the group.

“Yeah, we’re Villain Complex,” Jared said, and we all made our introductions.

“Sweet name,” the cute guy—whose name was Sean—said. “Wish we’d thought of it. We’re The Static Klingons.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the Star Trek pun. “That’s awesome.”

Sean grinned at me. “Yeah? I think you’re the only person who’s gotten it so far.”

“We probably should go in now,” their bassist said, scowling at us like we were the enemy. Technically we were, even though we were on the same team.

Sean opened the door and stepped back, waving me inside. “After you.”

I smiled at him and entered. The room had identical chairs lined up in rows, facing a podium at the front. A camera crew was already set up so they could film clips for next week’s episode. Judging by the clusters of people in the chairs, three bands had already arrived. That meant one more had to show, and Angel was nowhere to be found either.

I picked a spot in the fourth row, and Kyle and Hector filed in next to me, with Jared going around to sit on my other side. The Static Klingons sat two rows in front of us, and Sean turned around and grinned at me before saying something to his band.

Jared leaned closer to me. “He likes you.”

“What?” I said it a little too loud, then blushed and lowered my voice. “Why do you say that?”

“I saw the way he looked at you.”

“This is the real reason why having Maddie in the band is a bad idea,” Hector said, smirking. “Now we’re going to have to fight off hordes of horny guys going after her.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll be okay,” I said, but I was secretly pleased Hector thought I would attract so much attention. Or that he would actually fight them off for me. Not that he’d need to because one boy smiling at me one time did not equal “hordes of horny guys.” Nor did it mean that this one guy was interested in me that way. Sean just seemed friendly.

Jared didn’t seem to think Hector’s comment was amusing at all. “You said it was a bad idea to let Maddie join because I’d—how’d you put it?—‘bone her and then break her heart?’”

“Oh, god, you said that?” I asked Hector.

His face turned almost purple. “You have to admit that is your style.”

“Give me a break,” Jared said. “One time with Becca and—”

“Knock it off, you two,” Kyle interrupted, giving them each a warning look. “This is so not the time for this.”

“I wouldn’t do that to Maddie anyway,” Jared muttered.

“We’ll see,” Hector said, leaning back and crossing his arms.

Jared turned away but didn’t say anything else. Tension created a concrete wall between them, with me and Kyle stuck in the middle. I was relieved Jared wouldn’t do that to me, but also a tiny bit disappointed he didn’t see me that way, even though I knew it was for the best. I didn’t want to mess up anything with the band, and getting involved with Jared would do exactly that.

The last band arrived, with hair spiked into mohawks and chains hanging from their leather jackets. Definitely Angel’s type. The one girl in the band wore a chainmail bikini and very short shorts, and I recognized her as one of the people Jared had talked to before our audition. She caught his eye and winked, and I almost threw up in my mouth a little. The rest of her band glared at everyone and sat down.

While we waited, Kyle and I quietly discussed the other bands and tried to figure out what kind of music they played. I started to wonder if Angel would ever show or if we’d all been given the wrong time or what.

Hector was lost in his sketchbook, and I leaned over to ask, “What are you drawing?”

“Just working on ideas for my next graphic novel.”

“Can I see?” Kyle had once mentioned Hector went to art school, but I didn’t know much else.

“Sure.” He passed me the sketchbook, and I flipped through it. There were lots of random doodles, but also rough sketches of comic panels with lots of action. He was good—like professional-level good.

“Wow, this is awesome,” I said. “What’s your graphic novel about?”

“It’s called Misfit Squad, and it’s about a group of teens who have really uncool superpowers, so they band together after the other superhero groups won’t let them in. Like the main character accidentally breaks things, and at first it seems like a curse, but then she learns to control it.”