Chapter one hundred and fifty nine:

Taylor stopped playing the piano entirely, groaned in frustration into the microphone and slammed his hands angrily on the piano keys.

“Damn it, Zac! You’re off beat again!”

“I am not!” Zac defended, shouting much louder than needed with the microphone on.

Isaac came over from where he had been playing. “What is going on?”

“Zac is late.”

“I am not!” Zac shouted again.

Isaac held up his hands. “Whoa, whoa! Don’t get defensive! Taylor, you need to calm down too. Maybe we should take a break.”

Taylor shoved his hands through his hair. “No, I don’t want to take a break. I want to fix this so the song is tighter for tonight.”

“Taylor, relax. You know it will be better when we’ve got an audience, it always is.” Isaac reasoned. “What’s going on with you?”

“He’s got a crush on a chick.” Zac said, emerging from behind his drum kit, twirling a drumstick between his index and middle fingers.

Isaac raised his eyebrows. “Really? Who?”

“No one.” Taylor said, a little too quickly. “No one you know.”

Zac and Isaac exchanged glances.

“Alright, if you guys want to take a break, I’m making a Starbucks run.” Taylor quickly removed his earpieces and dropped his battery pack on the top of his piano, and jumped off the stage.

“What the hell is up his ass?” Zac demanded.

Isaac sighed. “He needs to get laid.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jen stopped to admire a rack of long summer dresses,  that she thought would look perfect over a pair of jeans.

“No, no honey. Those are hideous!” Christy quickly pulled her away.

Jenna rolled her eyes.

“These would look perfect on you, Look!” Christy held up a green dress. “This would look perfect with your skin tone, it would offset your eyes and it would be really flattering for your figure.”

Jenna touched the dress. It was a little revealing. “I don’t have the boobs to fill it out.” She argued. “And it’s kind of short.”

“Short? What are you complaining about? You’ve got the legs to show off.” Christy argued. “If you don’t buy this dress, I’ll buy it for you.”

“I like that dress too.” Becky said, coming to stand near the rack. “And it’s on sale. Look, twenty-five percent off…”

“At least try it on.” Christy urged.

“Fine.” Jenna agreed. “But if I don’t like it, I’m not buying it.”

“Fair enough.” Christy nodded.

Jenna took the dress from Christy and walked over to the change rooms where Jimmy was flipping through a monster truck magazine. She stepped into one of the stalls and drew the curtains across.

Becky moved to look at another rack, but Christy grabbed her arm quickly, practically digging her nails into Becky’s pale flesh.

“Ow, what the hell?” Becky demanded in alarm.

Christy failed to release her. “I got another letter.”

“What?” Becky asked in alarm.

“This morning, I checked my email… I haven’t told Isaac yet…”

“You have to tell him, Christy. You’ve got to tell Jimmy too!” Becky urged. “Oh my god, if they’re threatening us-“

“Have you gotten anything?” Christy asked.

Becky shook her head. “No… I haven’t checked my email in a couple of days though…”

“What about Jen?”

“I don’t know if she’ll tell me if she did. She’s been kind of distant and weird lately.”

“I know… That’s why I waited until she was… out of ear shot… Maybe we should go back to the hotel.”

Becky nodded. “I think so.”

Jenna emerged from the change room, the dress in hand. “It doesn’t fit.”

“Okay… Jimmy, we’d like to go back to the hotel now.”

Jimmy looked up from his magazine. “Already?”

Becky and Christy nodded.

Jenna looked at them both in slight confusion.

“Come on, we’ll watch some chick flicks on the bus.” Christy suggested, draping her arm around Jen.

“Yeah, okay. Sounds good.”

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