Girl vs. Boy Band Read Online Free PDF Page A

magicians’ convention. We told him we’d let him backstage at our first concert if he let us borrow his trick cuffs. Pretty funny, eh?”
    The guard gave Donna a sheepish smile. “The boys talked me into going along with the prank,” he confessed. “They’re very charming kids, as I’m sure you’re aware, so I couldn’t bring myself to say no. They said their new manager would get a real kick out of it.”
    â€œKick out of it?” barked Donna, her eyes flashing. “They nearly gave me a heart attack!”
    The guard’s smile faded and he flushed with embarrassment. “If you folks will excuse me, I’ve got to hurry along. Just heard over my walkie-talkie that some teenage girl passed out.”
    Ollie let out a snort of laughter, and Lark shot him a warning look.
    â€œThank you, officer,” said Donna, looking relieved.
    Only now did Lark notice that the crowd who’d assembled to hear “Dream of Me” had completely dispersed. Not a single onlooker remained in the vicinity to witness the handcuff trick. She was sure her mother had cleared the area the second she’d spotted her protégés being escorted by law enforcement. How she’d managed it, Lark could not imagine, but she knew that her mom would
never
allow anything even remotely resembling bad publicity to tarnish the up-and-coming band’s reputation.
    And now that it was clear that the up-and-coming band in question wouldn’t be spending the rest of the day in jail, Lark relaxed and took a moment to study the boys out of the corner of her eye.
    Aidan was rubbing his un-cuffed wrists. He was dressed from head to toe in black—mostly leather—just as he’d been in the video. Even though he’d been part of the joke, something in his expression told Lark he wasn’t as naturally lighthearted as the other two. He had a mysterious, brooding air about him.
    Max, on the other hand, with his broad smile and warm green eyes, seemed to think the whole world was a good time just waiting to happen. “Still sulking?” he said to Aidan now, throwing a friendly elbow to his bandmate’s ribs. “I can’t help it if that girl who was flirting with us the whole flight turned you down when you asked for her number.”
    Ollie laughed. “That ‘girl’ you’re talking about was the flight attendant, who was probably twice your age. And she wasn’t flirting with any of us; she just was doing her job.”
    â€œShe gave me an extra bag of pretzels,” Aidan pointed out with a wink.
    Donna pursed her lips impatiently. “I’m sure she thought you were all adorable. But this kind of thing simply can
not
happen. Traipsing around in handcuffs is
not
going to get you to the top of the charts.”
    â€œLoads of rock stars have served time,” Ollie quipped. “Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney . . .”
    Lark rolled her eyes. Did he really think this was funny?
    â€œLet’s get the luggage,” her mom suggested. “The sooner we put this nonsense behind us, the sooner we’ll be on our way to making you three the world’s next big teen sensation.”
    As Aidan and Max followed Donna, Ollie turned to Lark. “I wonder what they’ll think when they hear I made the first pretty girl I saw in LA faint.”
    â€œThey won’t think anything,” Lark seethed. “Because they’ll never know. Understand? Not one word to my mom, your ‘mates,’ or any other living soul, because—”
    Lark stopped walking. Had he just called her a pretty girl?
    Yes, he had.
    She scowled. So on top of being cocky, Ollie was sarcastic, too. Great. Just great. She shook the thought out of her head and tromped onward. “Just keep the fainting to yourself.”
    Ollie laughed. “I’ll take it to the grave,” he promised. “By the way, what’s your