Chapter 32

Wednesday, I was back in school ... and back in the principal’s office, where, at this point, I might have spent more time than in the actual classrooms. At least I didn’t dread coming to the office anymore. Dr. Wallace had been pretty good about working with me and hadn’t treated me like a leper, unlike the previous administration. I was pretty sure I’d taken care of everything he’d asked me to, but he’d wanted me to stop in before returning to class, which meant sitting under Mrs. Morgan’s watchful eye until he got back from bus duty, getting those kids shepherded inside.

The first bell had just rung when he came sweeping into the office.

“Come on,” he said, almost casually.

I guess he allowed for a bit of familiarity with students who made the office their home, so I got up and followed him back to his office, taking my normal seat across from his desk.

“Well, Mr. Nelson. I have to say I’m impressed,” he said, walking around his desk and dropping into his big leather chair. “According to your teachers, you’ve stayed on top of your schoolwork and emailed all your assignments, turning them in before today when you had to. That shows real dedication and maturity on your part.”

“I tried,” I said, giving what I thought was a non-committal shrug.

In reality, it had been a massive pain in the ass to try to work on the music for the competition, and stay on top of my homework, while everyone partied around me. But I couldn’t see any point in complaining about it.

“I can see that. I’ll admit, I had my doubts that you could really manage your schoolwork on top of everything else you had to do for the competition. That kind of environment isn’t exactly conducive to effective work, and I know you’ve had some struggles with balancing your commitments in the past, so I’m glad to see you proved me wrong.”

It wasn’t exactly fair to say I struggled with commitments. I think if I’d had a fair shake the last two years, I would have stayed on top of everything. The problem wasn’t my commitment or my work ethic. It was the fact that the previous administration had actively tried to make it harder for me to succeed. But again, I didn’t see a point in saying that. He knew my history, and if he still thought my difficulties were on account of my not working hard enough, then there wasn’t much I could say now to change his mind.

Instead, I just said, “Thanks.”

“I also expect you to keep up that same attitude and work ethic for the remainder of the semester. I expect you to finish out strong and set yourself up for success next semester. No slipping on assignments or grades just because the competition is over.”

“I’ll try,” I said.

“Trying isn’t enough, Charlie. You’re incredibly smart and very talented, and we both know you have a bright future ahead of you with your music, but it would be a mistake to rely on that and let everything else slip. The entertainment industry is incredibly unforgiving, so it’s critical you keep your options open. And the most surefire way of doing that is by completing your education.”

He didn’t have to tell me how unforgiving it was, although there was a chance he didn’t know about the struggles I’d had with MAC, both in and out of court.

“My mom made me promise to finish school and go to college before she ever let me get up on stage the first time. She might be gone, but I do plan on honoring that promise.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear it. You’ve only got one semester left with us here at Carr, and I’m sure you’ll be a net positive on the school and your peers. I’m not so naïve as to think this will be the last time you need some kind of special dispensation due to your career, and I want you to know I’m still willing to work with you on that, as long as I see you maintaining your commitment. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” I said.

“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page here. You have a lot of potential, Charlie, and I want to see you reach it.”

“I will,” I said.

“Okay then. Grab a late slip from Mrs. Morgan and head to class.”

I got up and started to leave when he added, “And Charlie. I’ll be watching, so do me proud.”

Any hope that I’d return to classes and go about my day as normal went out the window as soon as I made it to my first class. My lunch friends were, frankly, terrible at keeping secrets, and the news of my initial audition and getting onto the show had spread like wildfire. The reaction hadn’t been huge; I guess because just doing well on an audition didn’t really hit home for most people.

However, while I’d been gone, my friends had kept talking, telling everyone I was off in Hollywood recording a TV show. That might not seem like a big deal to kids in New York or LA, but in rural North Carolina, that apparently put me on some level just below actually being on a TV show.

I spent all morning fielding questions from the nonsensical, like if I’d slept with a list of some of the most famous women in the country, to downright technical, like one of the theater tech crew kids who asked something about if they used ETC ColorSource PARs, which I honestly didn’t even have a clue what that was. Even my teachers were asking questions. While it wasn’t too disruptive, it was a novel experience for me. They were all put to shame by my lunch friends, though. I should have seen it coming after Cameron’s reaction, but I honestly had been so distracted about Chef’s business and how slow things had gotten that I hadn’t even thought about it until I sat down at the lunch table.

“Charlie, you’re back!” Joseph called out as soon as I set my tray down.

“Hey, look who it is; the big TV star graces us with his presence!” Peyton teased.

“You saw me at the party yesterday, Peyton,” I said.

I hadn’t gotten that close to the newer kids at our lunch table, yet, but Mrs. Phillips knew Cameron, Peyton, and Joseph and had invited all three of them to my homecoming party.

“Yeah, but everyone wanted a piece of the superstar yesterday, so I didn’t get to talk to you or grill you about anything. Or give you shit. So I’m making up for it today,” she said, looking pleased with herself. “So spill. What was Hollywood like? Did you meet any celebrities?”

“You know I can’t reveal anything about the competition. It’s the same as with the auditions. I can’t say who did what or what’s going to happen. They made me sign all kinds of paperwork promising to keep my mouth shut.”

“We know, we know,” Cameron jumped in. “But surely you met some famous people who weren’t part of the show, right? You’ve got to give us something here!”

“Honestly, I didn’t have time for anything but the competition,” I said. “It might look glamorous on TV, but we shot like ten episodes worth of material in a week, and that’s just the stuff you see on TV. There were way more hours of rehearsals, practices, and interviews ... it was non-stop.”

“Ugh, lame! I wanted some juicy details,” Lilly said.

“Sorry to disappoint. My life was going to the studio, practice, perform, sleep, repeat.”

That wasn’t entirely true. There was a ton of drama at the house. The partying, Amanda going to the hospital, all kinds of stuff, none of which I could talk about because it was part of the show.

“Fine, if you won’t dish gossip, at least tell us about what happens next!” Peyton said. “How did you do? Who got eliminated? Who are you up against in the finals?”

“See, that sounds a lot like you just rephrasing your question from earlier. I promise, as soon as I can tell you something, I will. Until then, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to keep it quiet.”

Peyton fake pouted, but I knew it was mostly for show. She didn’t love being told no, and this was some of the best gossip she’d ever get her hands on.

“I do have some actual news I can share with you,” I said, changing the subject. “I talked to Chef about setting up a viewing party at the Blue Ridge for when the show airs. He’s getting a whole setup to project it up onto a big screen and everything. There’s going to be food and drinks, and we want to pack the place and make it a big event.”

“Really?” Cameron asked.

“Yeah, Chef and I thought it would be a fun way for everyone to watch it together, kind of a way of giving back to the community for everything they’ve done for me. We’re going to decorate the place, have themed drinks and appetizers, the whole nine yards. It’ll be an event.”

“Okay, that does sound fun,” Peyton said, abandoning her fake pouting.

“And maybe after the show, if you have questions about behind-the-scenes stuff that happened in that episode, and only that episode, at least until we finish the audition and prelim episodes, I can talk about it.”

“Count me in,” Joseph said. “Sounds like fun.”

“I hope so. I love that you guys are so supportive and I really wish I could tell you everything because it’s a lot. But we can have some fun, eat some food, and you can all give me shit for however they decide to edit me.”

“All right. But we’re going to hold you to that,” Peyton said.

While that didn’t end their pestering me, or their trying to weasel details out of me, it took the spotlight off a little bit as topics switched to more standard high school ones like who was dating who and who did what at the last party.

Honestly, it was nice to get back to just being a kid, even if only for lunch.

By the end of the day, I was wiped. It wasn’t just my peers’ excitement, either. While I’d gotten all the assigned work my teachers had given me to work on since I was gone done, they seemed to feel like I hadn’t done quite enough, since they piled on more extra work only I had to do now that I was back. I got their point—that they wanted to make sure I understood everything I did while out in Hollywood, and they didn’t want me to just catch up but get back to excelling—but honestly, I could have done without the extra homework.

I also couldn’t get straight to it when I got home. I hadn’t gotten to talk to Warren at the party, and after the party, I’d gone to bed early to get my sleep schedule fixed to wake up at the crack of dawn for school.

The whole point of doing the contest was to get my career back on track, and now that the first step was done, I really needed to talk to the man I paid to manage that career.

Dropping my bag at the kitchen table, where I’d do homework once I finished, I dialed Warren and flopped onto a chair.

“Hey, I wondered when you’d call,” Warren said when he answered.

“Hey. Sorry we didn’t get to really sit down and talk last night. I was just so busy catching up with everyone; the day kind of got away from me.”

“Don’t you worry about it,” he said with a chuckle. “It was your homecoming party; you were supposed to enjoy yourself, not work. Business could wait. That being said, I’m glad you called. How did the show go? I’m going to guess good, since you seem to be in a pretty good mood.”

“Honestly? It went a lot better than I expected. The whole thing moves so fast, it’s crazy. We had barely any time to prepare between challenges.”

“So, I take it you made it to the finals, then?”

“I did. I actually came in second place on the first challenge and first in the other two, so those episodes should be really strong for me.”

“That’s what I was hoping to hear. Being on the show is good. Getting through to the next rounds is better, but standing out as the talent in the bunch is something I can take to the bank.”

“Well, you may want to wait until you see the footage. The stuff on stage was good, but there were a few altercations outside of the competition that might make your job harder. Apparently, not wanting to drink and being the youngest contestant made me a target for a few of the others. I don’t know what all they’ve got planned, but I can guarantee I’m going to show up in a few of the episodes with stuff not involving music.”

“That’s good. Performance-wise, if you can show you’re better than the other competitors or not, that can matter for getting booked. Everything else just adds to name recognition, and bookers don’t care if it was good or bad. Think about all the musicians who’ve been on the news throwing chairs out of hotel windows and punching photographers. None of that hurts their bookability, and I’m sure nothing you did went that far.”