Encore to an Empty Room Read Free Page B

show every two weeks, practiced every other night, and is set to record an EP right after the holidays. Like Maya and me with our first semester project, the EP is a huge part of the band’s PopArts grade. Not to mention our first chance to release some music.
    I’m applying to colleges, too. Well, “applying” makes it sound like I’ve actually worked on the applications . . . but I will! Soon! I’ve still got twelve days until they’re due.
    Plus, Val’s living at Caleb’s and working to get her GED online. She doesn’t want to enroll in school because then her mom might be able to track her down. Matt is helping her with the math bits because even though he’s a freshman he is some kind of genius at math.
    None of that leaves much time for sleuthing, and with every week that goes by, the doubt inside me grows: What if we’re really just on a wild-goose chase?
    Val sighs. “I keep thinking about the Eli on that ‘Exile’ tape. He was already a mess, and that was before he ran off with my mom. Good ol’ Melanie couldn’t even remember to pick me up from school most days. It’s just hard to imagine that he really followed through on writing, recording, and hiding the other two songs.”
    â€œIt does sound like a stretch,” I say quietly. Val’s mom, Melanie Fowler, was Eli’s girlfriend at the end of Allegiance. Actually she was Kellen’s fiancée first. Hello, band drama! Val doesn’t talk much about her, but I know that Melanie was bad enough to make Val run away a year ago, after a fight on Christmas turned violent. And though Val’s never said, it seems pretty clear that wasn’t the first violent incident.
    Add that to a list of doubts about Eli that already includes a heroin addiction, and the fact that he was about to be sued by Kellen and the rest of his band, along with Candy Shell’sboss Jerrod Fletcher, for lost royalties and tour money. . . . Is there any way Eli really could have come through on the tapes?
    But still . . . “It probably sounds cheesy,” I say, “but we can’t give up yet.” Finding the songs is such a big opportunity for the band. And for Caleb . . . I think he really needs it. Ever since he found out about Eli, he’s been torn up inside. I hope it will help him deal with those demons that have been swirling around in his head since last summer.
    That’s why tonight, I’ve called in an expert witness.
    â€œThere he is,” says Matt.
    A wiry figure has entered the restaurant. He walks with a hunch like he should work in a mortuary, like he would know dark tales. Both of these things are kinda true. Slicked-back salt-and-pepper hair, shoulders slumped, hands shoved into a black jacket that looks like something he’s owned since the 1980s.
    This is Vic, the server at Canter’s Deli in Hollywood who knew where Eli’s first tape was located.
    He spies us and heads our way.
    â€œYou ready?” I say to Caleb. He eyes Vic worriedly and makes this expression that I call Fret Face. “Sure.” He gazes at me and I can see it all there: the hope, the fear, the trust in this idea and in me that I feel like I barely earned. I have a strong desire to grab him and kiss him hard, but I settle for another quick peck on the cheek, and holding his hand tight beneath the table, as Vic arrives.

2
    Formerly Orchid @catherinefornevr 5m
    Can’t wait! RT @mermaidassassin Supreme Commander takes the stage in twenty minutes at the Meltdown!
    â€œYou wanted to meet,” Vic says when he arrives at our booth.
    â€œThanks for coming,” I say.
    â€œSure.” Vic looks around, as if he feels the cloak-and-dagger vibe, too. He grabs a chair from a nearby empty table and sits down. “How you holding up?” he asks Caleb.
    Caleb musters a smile. “Not too bad.”
    Vic nods and stares into the table.