Jill’s room was neat and in order when her telephone started
to shrill. She waited for 3 rings until she delicately answered the phone.
“Heya!”
Jill squeaked through the phone line.
“Heey
Jill! Guess what?” the other line responded.
“Oh
hi, Gregory,” Jill smiled at Greg’s familiar voice, “What?”
“Brian
and Louie listened to it.”
“To
what?”
“To
your tape. Granted Wish’s tape. Remember how you gave it to me?” Greg waited
for an answer impatiently.
“Greg!
You better not be lying to me,” Jill gasped.
“I’m
not! I swear!” Greg yelled through the receiver.
“Well,
what did they say?” Jill anxiously asked.
“I’m
not sure…” Greg drifted off. “But do you think you can come to the studio now?
With the rest of Granted Wish?”
“Calvin’s
at his cousin’s house. But I think I can get everyone else down there. What
for?”
“I
don’t know. Louie told me to call you up and tell you to come over,” Greg said
nervously.
“Oh.
Okay, where’s the studio again?” Jill laughed.
“34
22nd Street,” Greg replied immediately.
“Yo,
I am totally ready for all those fans,” Francis bellowed, “especially those
chicks.”
“You
mean those chicks that come only to see ME?” Gary butted in.
“Funny
guys…” McKenzie joined in, “but you’re forgetting one little part.”
“What?”
Francis asked dumbly.
“We
need to be famous first,” McKenzie implied.
“Yeah,
but if Jill keeps up with her boyfriend, Greg then we will be famous in no
time!” Gary screamed back.
“He’s
not my boyfriend,” Jill stammered.
“Oh
come on, Jill. You know you liked him last night on the date,” McKenzie
reminded.
“Oh
yeah. Speaking of last night, how did your blind date go with that fag?” Dean
questioned McKenzie.
“He
wasn’t all that bad,” McKenzie said, thinking of Matt.
“Yeah?”
Dean said unbelievably.
“Well
I mean I didn’t like him but he’s not a fag,” McKenzie said. She couldn’t
believe that Dean was already judging Matt when he never saw or even heard him.
“Okay.
Whatever,” Dean rolled his eyes.
The
five of them finally came to a stop at a tall, skinny building on 22nd
Street. Francis gazed at the top of the building and inhaled some air. Gary
pushed the clear door open and held it for the others. Everyone was equally
nervous.
“Hey
guys! You made it,” Greg came rushing toward the five of them. He grabbed
Gary’s hand high-five, and then turned to face Jill. “Excited?” Gary asked
Jill.
“Uh-huh,”
Jill gulped.
“Hey
McKenzie!” a loud scream was heard over the chatter. Matt Ballinger was pushing
himself towards the crowd.
“Hi,”
McKenzie said lightly.
“This
must be dork face,” Dean remarked with a smirk. McKenzie lightly punched Dean
in the back, hinting him to stop his attitude towards Matt.
“Dean,
right?” Matt pointed his finger in Dean’s direction.
“How’d
you guess?” Dean rolled his eyes.
Matt,
Dean, McKenzie, Jill, Greg, Gary, and Francis slowly walked down the corridors
to a little studio in the back of the building. Through the glass window, Jill
could see two men in their middle ages sitting on two stools. One was fairly
plump and had a large mustache that covered his small mouth. The other was very
tall and scrawny with a baldhead.
“You
are Granted Wish? I’m Louie,” the plump man greeted.
“And
I’m Brian,” the other tall man said politely.
“Hi,”
Francis, McKenzie, Jill, and Gary each said. Dean stood in the back of all of
them, checking his watch every other minute.
“We
listened to your song, ‘Til it hurts no more’,” Louie began.
“And
we thought that it was different…in a good way,” Brian added instantly.
McKenzie
had her hands tightly crossed behind her back. Jill’s legs were shaking under
her denim jeans. Gary was praying inside his head, and Francis was imagining a
whole crowd of girls in front of him while he was on a bright-lighted stage. Matt
and Greg were standing next to Dean, behind Granted Wish and had both their
eyes closed shut.
“So
we were wondering if you could do a few gigs for us. We’ll see how the crowd
likes your music, and then we’ll see what happens from there,” Louie suggested.
“Of course, that’s only if you want?”
“Of
course!” Francis blurted out at Louie’s last word. “I mean, sure. It seems like
a good plan…right Jill?” Francis tried to stay calm.
“Yeah.
It’s great, I mean I think we all want this,” Jill replied. “Even though we
might not be famous or anything, we love to do gigs.”
“Definitely,”
Gary nodded his head.
“That’s
great!” Brian nodded his head in agreement.
“That’s
great,” Dean mocked Brian. “Look McKenzie, I’m going now. I have to watch the
Mets play tonight. See you later babe.” Dean kissed McKenzie gently on the
right cheek and made his way to the exit. The rest of them, however seemed to
not notice Dean’s exit.
“Can
you believe it?” Matt asked, “You’re almost famous!” McKenzie gave a smile to
Matt.
“Yeah,
it’s cool,” McKenzie replied.
“Helllooooo
girls!” Francis suddenly yelped as he dashed out of the studio.
“Nah-uh,”
Gary shook his head, “They are mine, Francis! You stay away from them!”
“How
about you take the blondes and I take the brunettes. Deal?” Francis
compromised. Gary shook is head in agreement.
“Losers,”
Jill sighed at Francis and Gary. Greg was walking next to Jill, also laughing
at Gary and Francis.
“Even
though it’s not my say, Dean doesn’t seem too…social,” Matt admitted to McKenzie
as they walked behind Greg and Jill.
“You
just have to get to know him,” McKenzie shrugged her shoulders. “He’s not bad,
you know. He just gets cranky a lot.”
“Oh…”
Matt said lowly.
“You
can’t blame him for being cranky. He gets stressed a lot,” McKenzie also added.
“What’s
your e-mail?” Matt suddenly asked McKenzie.
“[email protected],”
McKenzie replied, “Why?”
“Check
your e-mail tonight, okay? It’s important” Matt urged McKenzie.
“Okay,
but why can’t you just tell me it now?” McKenzie raised her eyebrow.
“Okay..umm…uhh…well,
you see,” Matt began to stutter.
McKenzie
looked down at her watch and noticed the time. “Oh crap! I have to go meet Dean
at his house. Sorry, Matt. I’ll talk to you later.” She turned to face Matt,
whose head was already facing the ground.
“Oh,
sure,” Matt didn’t seem too delighted. “See you soon I hope.”
“Yup,”
McKenzie replied. Not noticing the down tone in Matt’s voice, she threw her
hair back and ran in the opposite direction.