I pulled the pillow over my head as Sara resumed her coughing fit.

“I’m dying. I’m going to die,” She said, and got up to go to the bathroom. I peeked out from under the pillow and checked the clock. It was 3 am.

“Damn you Sara. We’ve got a concert tomorrow night,” I shouted to her. She came out of the bathroom and got back into bed.

“Maybe it will go away by tomorrow. I’ve already had it for two days,” She sniffed and pulled the sheets up to her chin.

“If you’ve had it for this long, you’re still gonna have it in two days. Who the hell are we gonna get to fill in for you?” I said aloud.

“I’ll stuff aspirins down my throat and wash it down with Benedrill. I have to feel better by then,” Sara said and turned over to go to sleep.

I couldn’t fall asleep. My throat was hurting. I didn’t tell anyone. I don’t want to be stuck in bed sick like Sara. I can definitely get to the concert and still feel well.

Hours passed and I slept restlessly. At 8 o’clock we heard a pounding on the door.

“Let us in! It’s eight! Let’s go to breakfast!” Kate screamed through the door. I got up and opened it.

“Wow, Liv, you look like shit. What’s the matter?” She asked me. Nice. Very nice.

“Nothing, I’m fine,” I said as I surpressed the need to sneeze.

“Where’s Sara?” Kate said as she came into the room and looked around at the tissues thrown at the basket and the cough medicines decorating the night table.

“She’s sick too. Can’t talk,” I spoke for her. Kate groaned.

“So if she’s sick, then we have to find someone else. She probably won’t be well in time, and I’m not making her sing if she’s got a bad throat. It’ll damage her throat,” Kate said, walking back to the door. “We’ll bring you back something. Bye.” She said, and left.

“Oh, great. Now we’re quarantined. I’m calling room service for more tea,” I said, and picked up the phone.

SCOTT

“Here’s a list of medicine you can get for us while you are gone, Scott,” Bob said to me, and handed me a slip of paper. He and Clint were getting sick.

“Don’t forget cough drops!” Clint shouted from the bathroom.

“They’re on the list,” I shouted back and walked to the door where Dave was waiting.

“No, you have to get the little teddy bear ones, they come in grape. They are like candy. Please get those?" Clint whined and sat in front of the TV.

“Uh...right. And while I’m at it, I’ll get the chewable aspirins,” I said sarcastically.

“Oh, would you? I love those things,” Bob said happily and took another tissue. He sneezed painfully.

“Ow...huwwy, Scott. We’re dying,” Bob said in a stuffy nose. I left the room and walked to the lobby with Dave, to where the girls were waiting for us.

“Sara and Liv sick yet?” I asked them. Kate nodded her head.

“Sara can’t talk, but Liv is starting to get strep I think. What are we gonna do about the concert?” She said wondered aloud.

“I don’t know. We can’t cancel it. This is a really big one. Should we get backups?” I asked.

“Nah, we don’t have enough money to. We’re depleted after the Tower shoot,” She said.

“Um, could we play together?” Nati asked. Kate and I looked at each other and shook our heads.

“I don’t think so. We’d never be able to get through it alive,” Kate said. What is that supposed to mean?

“No, Nattie’s got a good idea. I mean, we both know each others songs. We could just play all of our stuff together. We could do that, right?” Dave said. We’re those words actually leaving his mouth?

“But we’d kill each other! It would never work," I said, trying to think of something else we could do.

“Yeah, you want me to sing Girl Of My Dreams with you? I think not., Kate said with a flip of her hair. We rounded the corner to the little coffee shop and opened the door.

“Well, I don’t want to sing Happy Thoughts either, but we’ve got to do something,” Dave said. He’s right. There’s no other better option.

“Goddamn those guys. Of course they had to do this to us,” Nati said and we took our seats in a little booth.

“It’s the best we can do. I’ll talk to Dad when we get back and just tell him the plan,” I said, hoping he would be ok with it.

“Fine, then you guys don’t plan anything for the next couple of days. We need to practice,” Nati said, and drank some water the waitress gave us.

“This is going to be hellish,” Kate said.

SARA

“You want to what?” I shrieked. I held my throat in pain and gulped down more tea.

“There is no possible way. How are you going to do it?” Liv said, shocked when Kate and Nati told her that Scott, Dave and they were going to play the concert by themselves.

“It’s the only solution! We can’t afford backups. And we still need to give the concert. We’ve got to just learn each others songs and play together,” Nati said.

“But who’s gonna sing my songs? Scott sure as hell isn’t,” Liv said, folding her arms across her chest. I knew she was going to do this.

“Well then I have to. You’ve got to trust us Liv,” Kate said.

“No, you’re not singing my songs. I don’t care. None of my stuff. I won’t let it be chopped to pieces by you people,” Olivia said.

“Most of the stuff is yours! Oh, just let us do it. We have to do it anyway. Frank ok-ed it. And we’re gonna practice this afternoon to get it right,” Kate said to her.

“Uh uh. No way. My music, not yours. Mine,” Liv pouted. Kate looked like she was ready to pounce and throttle her throat.

“We are using your music and there is nothing you can do about it,” Kate said very deliberately and slowly.

NATALIA

“No! That’s a B minor Scott! Get it right!” Kate shouted at him. He looked frightened.

“Sorry, this is very frustrating. Try it again,” She said, and Scott started the song over again. He dropped the pick in the acoustic guitar.

“Sorry,” He said, face red. He turned the guitar over his head and tried to get it out. Kate looked at me and laughed.

“Oh god, I knew this would happen,” She said. I nodded.

“Why don’t we try one of your songs, Scott?” I suggested. Scott nodded and put his guitar down. He took an electric one from the side and plugged it into the amp.

“Ready?” Dave asked. “Let’s do ‘Written All Over My Heart.’ That’s a fun one.”

Kate smirked at me. I already knew it by heart. I gave the cue and Scott began to play.

“Here I go again...Well I can’t hold it anymore. I can’t hold in the pain...the pain has knocked down this old door,” Scott sang loudly and a bit off key.

“I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do. About you,” Dave sang along, trying to correct his brother’s fright.

“It’s written all over my heart, my soul, I can’t let her know, I can’t let it show, I can’t let it go. It’s written all over my heart and soul, if I could I’d let her know. I’d let her know," We all sang.

“SHA!” Kate and I said. We burst out laughing and had to stop the song.

“What the hell was that?” Scott said, looking over at us like we had nine heads.

“Oh, um, you say that on the CD. You say SHA. And I know how to play it on the drums,” Kate said, trying to catch her breath. “SHA! SHA! SHA!”

“She lost it,” Dave murmured.

“Shut up Dave. Kate can kick your ass,” I said, laughing my head off. He looked sadly at the keys.

“Frank says, there will be no ass kicking in the studio tonight,” Kate said, between laughs.

“Can we do it again, please? And this time, no SHAs?” Scott asked.

“Only if you SHA for us when you sing,” Kate said seductively.

“Fine, whatever. Let’s do it again, since you obviously know the song,” He said resentfully. We played the song, Scott was not off key this time, and he did SHA for us, true to his word.

“Ok, I vote for Misery next,” Kate said, waving her hand in the air.

“He’s obviously not going to do the little dance, Kate,” I said, hoping he would anyway.

“No, I’ll do it for you,” He said with a smirk. Dave rolled his eyes.

“No, please don’t. Do you know what it’s like to see your brother strip for an audience of girls night after night?” He shrieked.

“And you could join him if you only took off the DAMN BLUE SHINY SHIRT!” I shouted. Dave needed to show some skin and I was not the only one who thought this way.

“She does have a point Dave,” Scott said, scratching his head. “You need to get more into the crowd.”

“Oh, no, have you seen Dave get down behind the keyboard? He’s into the crowd enough,” Kate said.

“Whatever. Let’s just play the song alright?” Dave said, and Scott did his little dance.

OLIVIA

I handed Sara a little note, because my throat hurt too much to say anything.

“Pass the tissues,” it said. She threw the box at me and it hit my arm. Ow...

We sat there, not able to talk. I needed company. Vocal company. I wrote another letter.

“We’re going to visit Clint and Bob. Now,” I gave the note to her. She nodded and we got together a bag of tissues, cough medicine, and anything else we would want. I motioned to the door and we left.

We walked down the hall in our pajamas and stopped in front of Clint’s door. Sara knocked. About five seconds later the door opened.

“Hey,” Clint squeaked. He must not be able to talk either. Sara and I just waved and walked in.

“We can’t talk,” I handed him a note and he nodded.

“Neither can we,” He wrote back. This was going to be a long day.

There was another knock at the door. Clint went back and opened it.

“Hi honey. How are you feeling?” asked Sheila. Clint just shook his head and sat down on the bed.

“Oh, you girls are in here too? You probably gave it to Bob and Clint,” She said, not noticing the menacing looks they gave us after they heard that.

“Come on, I’m taking you all to the doctor. We need you to feel better as soon as possible,” Sheila said, and we got up to go with her to the rental minivan.

DAVE

“We’re getting nowhere!” Shrieked Scott. We were getting on each others nerves. Especially Scott and Kate, they were ready to kill each other.

“THAT’S NOT HOW YOU DO IT!” Kate yelled at him and yanked the acoustic out of his hands.

“Shut up Kate! You don’t even play guitar!” Scott yelled at her, but let her use the guitar anyway.

“I used to, and I know the song better than you do so shut the hell up and let me show you so you don’t mess it up again!” She said, giving him the look of death. Natalia and I looked at each other, not knowing whether to laugh or run for our lives.

“Give...me...the...guitar...NOW,” Scott said through clenched teeth. He doesn’t like it when people touch his guitar.

“No,” Kate said, and began to play a song, one that we hadn’t heard before.

“I HATE YOU....I HATE YOU...I HATE YOU AND I WISH THAT YOU WOULD DIE...” Kate screamed into the microphone. I never saw her rock out like that. Natalia put in a drum fill and began hitting the drums like a madwoman.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?” Scott screamed above the noise. Kate stopped playing and looked at him expressionless.

“I’m a bitch, I’m a lover, I’m a child, I’m a mother...” She began to sing and play on the guitar again. Natalia burst out laughing. Scott threw his hands up in the air and sat cross-legged on the floor.

“I don’t think this is practicing,” Dad said. Wow, I didn’t notice him come in.

“Uh, hi Dad,” I said and Scott got up.

“Are you guys gonna be ready to play this concert by yourselves? You don’t seem to be focused,” Dad said skeptically.

“No, we can do it. We’ve just been doing it for a long time,” Nati said, sighing.

“Here Scott, here’s the sheet music for ‘Imagine This’. Try that,” Kate said, rolling her eyes.

“The guitar?” He said, and put out his hand. She thrust it into his palm and picked up her bass guitar.

“Let’s try it. Again,” She said, and Nati hit the cues. Dad left us, but watched from the window. “Imagine you, imagine me, imagine us for eternity...” Kate said, with boredom. I could tell this was annoying her immensely. We finished the song perfectly.

“You know, that’s not a slow song. It sounds weird,” I said. Natalia pointed to me and smacked her forehead. Kate started to laugh.

“Natalia wrote that song, and she wrote it as a fast one. But when Olivia wrote the music, she wrote it as a slow song. So Nati had to write the drums over again and she’s very happy you think it should be faster,” Kate said. Natalia nodded her head. Um, is she gonna talk today?

“Then why don’t we make it faster?” Scott asked.

“Olivia would kill us. She doesn’t think it sounds as good. She says there should be different chords if its faster,” Nati said with an impatient sigh.

“And that’s another thing. How come its all chords? There isn’t any picking,” Scott said, pointing to the sheets.

“Olivia doesn’t like to pick. So what?” Kate said, blowing the hair out of her eyes.

“Oh, then she’ll never know if I put it in,” Scott said. “I’ll add in some soloing into the song. It can be faster, and it will sound interesting.”

“That’s a very good idea Scott. You are very smart,” Natalia said, mocking him.

“Let’s try it again, but can we go faster?” I said. Natalia counted off the cue and we started playing.

“And we’d be so happy together, we’d be our own perfect dream...” Kate belted out, with a big smile on her face. This is how we’re supposed to be.

CLINT

“Well, its strep, that’s for sure. As for how long this condition will persist, about a week to ten days, providing you take care of yourself,” The doctor told us. I could hardly breathe.

“So I guess that means, we can’t do the next couple of shows,” Bob said hoarsely. Oh damn it.

“Oh, well thank you Dr.Thompson. We leave out this door?” Sheila asked him. He nodded and we left the clinic.

“Oh this is perfect. We can’t do the next couple of shows. How come? We’ll probably be feeling better in a few days,” Olivia screeched.

“Don’t talk. Well, if you’re on stage under the bright lights and you’re still sick, most likely you will faint. We can’t have that happening. And if you’re getting over strep and you sing, you could damage your voice. We can’t have that happen either. So no singing for the next couple of weeks. Scott, Kate, Nati and Dave can get along without you,” Sheila explained. Sara rolled her eyes and went into a coughing fit.

“Oh, no. I forgot to get the medicine. Clint, hold this? Just wait right here. I’m gonna run back to get the prescription,” Sheila said, and handed me her purse. I nodded my head and she ran back to the clinic.

“We’re fucked. Those guys are gonna go crazy if they have to do concerts alone together,” I said.

“And what are the fans gonna do? We’re gonna be upsetting so many people,” Sara said.

“We have to do something to make it up to them. Like, put in extra songs or whatever,” Olivia said.

“No, we can’t do that. Those guys have enough to do with learning each others music,” Bob said, shaking his head.

“They can do it,” Olivia said.

“No, it has to be something else. Maybe autograph signings?” Sara said. Oh, she’s thinking smart.

“That’s a good idea. If we can’t be there, we can make it up to them by having those guys do extra autograph signings,” I said. They would agree to that, right?

“Are they doing a little bit of both of our songs?” Olivia asked aloud. Are they? I don’t know.

“I think so. They should be anyway. Gotta make everyone happy,” Bob said. That’s right.

Sheila came running back. “Ok, I’ve got the medicine. Now we can go.”

SCOTT

“Oh god, I don’t know why I’m feeling so sick. I didn’t think I would be this nervous about playing with the girls,” I said as I held my stomach and tried to decided whether or not I should run to the bathroom.

“Dude, Scott, its gonna be ok. Just calm down,” Dave said. “It’s just the girls. We’ve known them for a couple of years. It’s not like we’re playing for the first time with Metallica.”

“I know but I think that’s the problem. We’ve never played with them before and we have to see them afterwards. If something goes wrong we’re gonna be hearing about it for a while,” I said, and took a TUMS.

“Oh, and like they aren’t gonna mess up. They are probably about as nervous as you,” Dave said cynically.

“Yea, ok,” I said and laid back the bed, hoping the butterflies would go away in my stomach.

Someone knocked on the door. Dave got up and opened it.

“Hey you guys. Um, showtime in about half an hour. Why don’t you get to the main backstage with the girls?” Dad said to us. I gulped down another TUMS and we left our dressing room.

“Hey. What’s wrong Scott?” Kate said when she saw the pained look on my face. I slumped down in a chair and looked up at her.

“He’s nervous. He’s got stage fright,” Dave said, very calmly. He’s always seen me when I have stage fright. He doesn’t care anymore.

“What? You’re kidding me? Well, we gotta do something,” Kate said, suddenly panicking.

“Nah, it goes away when he gets onstage. Don’t worry,” Dave said, and picked up a magazine from the table.

“I have a hard time believing that the great Scott gets stage fright. Stage fright is something Liv gets,” Nati said. Well, you’ve never seen me get it.

“Oh, that’s right. You guys are onstage when he goes through the stages. It’s pretty funny actually. First he gets jumpy and snappy. Then he gets sick, like he is now. Then he goes through the ‘I can’t do it, you can’t make me’ stage. Then finally Dad bribes him with money and he agrees,” Dave said, expressionless.

“You’re kidding. You’ve got to be,” Nati said. I hunched over in pain and shook my head.

“So what the hell are we gonna do? We have no money to bribe him with,” Kate said.

“It’s ok. It’ll go away. It always does,” I said, pulling out the package of TUMS. Dave pulled them away from me.

“Hey! I need those,” I said, frowning.

“No, you’ve had two already, if you take another you’re gonna get food poisoning,” He said. I’m gonna get sick if I don’t have them!

“Scott, honey, are you addicted to TUMS?” Kate said sarcastically. I shook my head yes.

“I think you need to go to rehab,” Nati said.

“Hi, my name is Scott, and I’m a TUMS-aholic,” I said, regaining good humor.

“Ten minutes!” One of the crew guys called to us. Oh god...

Dave recognized my facial expression. “Scott you have to. Think of the fans.”

“Fuck the fans! I can’t go on. I’m gonna mess up and no one will buy our records anymore,” I said.

“Yes they will. It doesn’t matter if you mess up,” Kate said.

“Easy for you to say. All you have to do is a Britany Spears move and they’re hooked,” I spat back.

Kate’s mouth dropped open and she looked like she was about to smack me. Dave stopped her.

“He usually doesn’t know what he’s saying when he’s like this. Just let it slide,” Dave said. Fuck him. I’m not doing this show. No way.

“Scott look at it this way. You don’t go out there, you don’t get to see me do the Britany Spears move,” Kate said. Ohhh, I hate her.

“Good point,” I said. “Ok, fine. But only if you keep your half of the bargain,” I said, grinning.

“Get to your places!” The crew guys yelled at us. I took a deep breath and positioned myself with Dave on one of the wings. The girls waited on the other.

“Are you ready?” The announcer shouted to the fans. A roar of appreciation come from the crowd. Dave grinned at me and we got ready to go on.

Kate walked out onto the stage in front of the waiting crowd. She plugged in her base and smiled. “Hey all you people out there! I’ve got a riddle for you. What do you get when you take half of the Moffatts and half of Nine Lives?”

The audience erupted in giggles and shouts. They talked to each other about what would happen. Kate looked over to the wings. That was our cue to come on.

Natalia waved to the audience and got behind the drums. Dave came out, and got ready behind the keyboard. I walked out, stomach flipping a million times over. I plugged in my guitar and grinned.

“This is what happens,” I announced. Natalia hit the cues and we started “Happy Thoughts”, one of Nine Lives’ peppiest songs.

We finished the song perfectly, much to the delight of my stomach. I stepped up to the microphone and opened my mouth to speak.

“Hey you out there. You like what you see?” I asked them. Screams and shouts hit us even from the back of the arena.

“We gotta tell you something,” Kate started.” We’ve got some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that Clint and Bob from the Moffatts, and Sara and Olivia from Nine Lives are all sick from strep throat.”

The crowd got quieter after they heard the news. I hoped no one would leave because half of our bands were gone.

“However, we don’t want you guys to feel cheated because half our bands are out sick. So to make up for it all, we’re gonna have an autograph signing after the concert,” Nati told them. The crowd erupted with screams of delight. Good, now they won’t be upset.

“But you still have us!” Dave contributed.

“Yeah, you still have us. And four people is better than none at all. We’ll be playing different songs from both bands, so don’t worry! Have a great time and enjoy this combination!” I shouted as we got ready to plan another song.

“My heart is bleeding can’t you see, I wish that you could hold me, touch me, feel me,” I sang into the microphone, and I really got into the song. Squeals erupted from the fans and I knew everything was going to be ok.