Encore to an Empty Room Read Online Free PDF Page A

there.
    â€œOf course,” I say, humoring Maya with a smile.
    â€œHow were the burgers?” she asks.
    â€œFine,” says Matt, and as he does our eyes meet for a moment. Because Maya interns at Candy Shell Records, we decided a while ago that we can’t tell her about the lost songs. It’s not because we don’t trust her. More because we don’t want to put her in a position where she’d ever have to lie to Jason Fletcher, her boss and our nemesis. But then, maybe 1 percent because I don’t trust her not to accidentally spill it.
    Still, I always feel a little sucky when Matt and I are around her and there’s this thing we can’t talk about. It’s not really a lie. Just an omission. But sometimes I wonder if, in a way, that’s worse. It just sits there between us like dark matter, unseen but deadly.
    Luckily, Supreme Commander takes the stage and our attention is focused there. They play a great set. They’ve matured into a solid three piece and are getting tighter all the time.
    As they finish, Maya heads backstage but we stay by the board.
    â€œI can’t wait to see this,” says Jon as the next band, Freaktastique, takes the stage.
    RIP Freak Show, Mount Hope’s hottest band from September to November of this year. The band that once nearly derailed Dangerheart at the Trial by Fire. They were doing great, rising fast, when one day their electric front man, Alejandro, who’d been living with his aunt, had to move back to his dad’s in San Diego. And then Cybil, who we all thought was in love with the bassist, Trevor, quit to form an all-ukulele band with her girlfriend. Trevor and the drummer, Lane, have soldiered on, but neither of them looks happy now.
    It’s crazy how many things can derail a band. When there’s not band drama, there’s life drama. Sometimes it seems like half the key to making it in music is just keeping your band alive long enough.
    Their first song begins with Lane dropping a pretty deep groove, over which Trevor plays broken glass guitar. It’s got a cool feel and a sharp attitude . . . but then the two of them start singing in unison falsetto:
    When we are wearing sweaters
Along the banks of the Seine
I wish we could share a bed at the hostel
But you’re on the girls’ side, and I’m on the men’s
    â€œI feel bad for them,” says Caleb.
    Ooooh ooh ooh you can ride on my handlebars
    â€œIt’s kind of catchy,” says Matt.
    We watch two songs and then go for candy cane cookies. By the time we’re back to our spot, Freaktastique is wrapping up, and we all get a little quiet. I can sense a buzz in the crowd as the next band takes the stage.
    It’s a good thing that Freak Show fell apart, because at Mount Hope High, there’s already another new band gunning for top status. Dangerheart may be the headliner at this show, but this next band has arrived in a big way, considering this is only their second show ever.
    All Hail Minions! didn’t even exist at the start of the school year, but they almost immediately became the second-biggest band at school. And the reason is simple:
    Molly Inez is really, really hot.
    And I’m not just talking about her looks, which are bordering on surreal—she’s been on the local modeling scene since we were all in middle school—it’s also her singing and musicianship. She’s a senior and even as recently as last year, she was one of those strange creatures at Mount Hope: a musician not in the PopArts. She was a classical pianist studying composition and theory in the sad, out-of-date music classrooms in the old wing of the building. But then she came out of nowhere at the homecoming gig with All Hail Minions!, trading in the baby grand piano and cocktail dresses for a slick Nord keyboard, pink hair, fishnets, and a leather jacket.
    â€œEvenin’, everybody,” says Molly in her strangelyeffective country