Suzie’s House 431 : No Go

If she groveled a little, that might be fun. Bruce had never seen Tracy grovel before. Of course he’d be disappointed now, too, so it was just as well he didn’t really care.

“Why?! We should just go anyway.” Tracy threw her hands up in disgust.

Everyone else just leveled one of those looks at her, like she’d totally lost it this time and why couldn’t she understand.

“No means no,” Justin said. “If they can’t get permission from their parents to go to Chicago, then we aren’t going to try to do the gig.”

“But what about the record deal?” Tracy looked from one to the other, taking in everyone in their band’s practice room.

“That’s just what Uncle John says.” Bruce didn’t think he really needed to point it out at this stage. Even Tracy must see that his uncle couldn’t be trusted. There was nothing enigmatic about it. “The only thing we know for sure is that he thinks he’ll get some money out of it.”

“But…. All right, I get that we can’t trust him,” Tracy said grudgingly. “But what if…”

“I don’t really want to go anyway,” Gene said.

They all turned toward him in surprise.

“Don’t want to make a go of this?” Tracy focused on Gene, then turned the question on all of them. “Don’t you all want to go pro? I mean, we’re good. Really good,”

“If you don’t say so yourself,” Justin muttered.

“You think we aren’t?” Kate spoke up from behind him. She’d been quiet since she and Emma dropped the bomb about not being allowed to go. Now she gave Justin a look like there was something faulty with his wiring.

“We’re good, but we’re still just a garage band. Besides, I’m not going to drop out of school just to be in a rock band.”

“Well of course not. None of us are dropping out of school.” Tracy said it, but she bit her lip so Bruce wasn’t too sure about her.

“We’ve got four more years to graduation,” Justin said. “There’s no rush here. I’m sure we’ll get another chance for a record deal. So let’s just keep going like we have been. At least for now.”

“Right.” Tracy agreed with everyone else who nodded, but the way she looked at the floor when she said it made Bruce wonder. It was as if she thought time wasn’t on their side.

Bruce, for one, took Malaprop seriously. When he first joined the band, it was only to get his foot back into a lot of doors that had closed to him. The band was a stepping stone on his way to his own band.

But not this time. This time he wouldn’t let the band fall apart. He made a mental note to stay after practice today and have a little talk with Tracy.

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