Chapter 11
I
travelled with the band to Brisbane on January 12th. We went by
train – a first for me – because anyone who could’ve driven us up was too busy.
Plus nobody we knew would’ve been prepared enough to drive seven very hyper 14 and
15 year olds up to Brisbane for a meeting that could irreversibly change our
lives.
Lisa
met us at the train station. “Hi, Lisa,” Zarah said, struggling to pull her
oversized backpack onto her back.
“How
are we supposed to get to the meeting?” Cameron asked. “Josh’s ankle’s not
better yet.”
“I
drove a minibus here. Come on, let’s go.”
The
meeting was pretty straightforward. Lisa introduced us to the executives, and
they asked us a mountain of questions – why we wanted to get into music
professionally, our impressions of the industry, questions along those lines.
Then we made some requests.
“We
planned to record Memory from the
musical Cats,” Cameron said. “Josh
has performed it at two different occasions, and we had agreed to record it if
we got a contract.”
“I
think we can get permission,” agreed Matt. “Anything else?”
“One
more thing,” I added. “Each and every time we perform Memory, we dedicate the performance to my twin brother. Wouldn’t it
make sense to dedicate our album to him, and name it Justin’s Star?”
“It
makes perfect sense,” Lisa agreed. “You’ve decided for us. Welcome to the
team.”
Zarah
let out a yell of triumph. “Whoa, calm down,” Taren said. “We actually have a
small problem. We’re all still at school, so would it be possible to record the
album in between cheerleading and soccer practices and music lessons, and also
to do it locally?”
Lisa
nodded. “We can arrange that for you.”
When I got home that afternoon, I checked the time in the US and decided against calling. Instead, I jotted down a short note.
Taylor,
Well, I’m keeping my promise. I told you I’d write and give you
an update – we got our contract! We start recording as soon as school goes
back. We’re all really excited about it. It’s gonna be a blast. We won’t begin
touring until we’ve finished school, and the album will probably take longer to
record than Middle Of Nowhere did, since you did it almost non-stop and
we’re going to be recording it in our spare time. Now you have to keep your end
of the bargain – I want all the gossip you can gather.
Luv Kat.
- x -
It
felt strange going back to school at the end of January. I was still Katia
Ajana Andretti, still a member of Currumbin High School’s star cheerleading team
and still very much reeling from the knowledge that I was about to start
working on my band’s first album. But I’d changed. We all had. I thought that
Joshua had it hard, losing the person he’d grown up with, but I understood his
pain much better now. What he went through each time he sang Memory, having to go past Justin’s open
doorway on the way to his own room, knowing that Justin had wanted to be in the
band more than any of us. It would have given Justin his freedom, something
he’d never experienced. Karen had never let him.
I
met Josh at the school gate the first day back. He looked incredibly forlorn
without Justin beside him – head down, slouched against the fence. “Josh,” I
said when he was within earshot.
He
looked up. “Hi, Kat,” he said quietly.
“Are
you okay? You don’t look too good.”
Josh
shrugged. “I’m just really stressed out.” He slid to the ground. “I can’t take
this anymore, Kat. I can’t be in the band and
go to school.” He looked up at me. “I’m quitting the band.”
I
helped Josh to his feet. “It’s only the start of the year, Josh. Sit it out.”
“Kat,
my grades slipped after Justin died. I had a B minus average, then I slipped
right down to an F minus average. Mum’s thinking of pulling me out of school
and letting me study by correspondence again.”
“You
really think that’s wise?”
“Well,
I did do correspondence for a long
time, Kat.”
He had a point. “Well,
if you’re sure…”
“Of
course I’m sure.”
The
first lesson of the new school year was English. Josh and I sat together as we
usually did – we’d been doing it since our very first day of school the year
before. “As your first assignment, you are to write a letter to someone you
know. Hand it in by the end of the week,” instructed our teacher.
“Who’re
you writing to?” I asked Josh as we began work.
“Probably
Zac,” he answered. “I haven’t heard from him in absolutely ages. I’ll rewrite
it and send it to him if it’s decent. You’ve got their address, don’t you?”
“Which
one?”
“Their
home address, dimwit.”
“I
knew that. Shouldn’t you have it, too?”
Josh
shook his head. “None of us do. Not even Mum.”
“Bit
silly.”
“Not
when two of us hated each other. Justin wanted nothing to do with any of them after
he and Taylor had their fight. Mind you, he was
a bit wary of Taylor, what with them having the exact same birthday as each
other.”
Josh
started work on his letter. I still hadn’t started mine when the bell went for
the next lesson.
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