Center Stage
Copyright© 2025 by Lumpy
Chapter 8
The rest of Monday was a blur, and I passed out as soon as I got home. School itself the next day wasn’t much better. With the craziness around Dakota and then having to rush to LA for Sunrise Edition, I hadn’t gotten to the schoolwork I needed to do.
My biggest problem at the moment was a test scheduled for Friday in history class, but I was going to have to take it on Wednesday since I would be missing both Thursday and Friday. Ms. Parez had given me the prep work the class would be covering between last Thursday and the test, and I hadn’t looked at any of it. That had been brutally obvious during her class, and she’d offered to work one-on-one with me to get ready for the test over lunch period.
While it was a good opportunity, and one I needed, Ms. Parez also wasn’t the kind of teacher you could just say no to. She was big on authority and people listening to her, but other than that, she was a decent teacher. So I skipped seeing my friends at lunch. The gulf between me and them was getting bigger, and I honestly didn’t know what was going on half the time. It sucked.
I was absolutely starving by the time I got home. Mrs. Phillips was gone, so I made a quick sandwich and then found my phone. I’d put off calling Warren on Monday because I’d been so tired, but I wanted to get an update on what was going on with Dakota and the Saunders fundraiser. I just didn’t have a lot of time to do it since I had band practice in an hour. Lyla had texted me and said she had a new song she wanted to show me, which meant I couldn’t bail on them.
“Hey, Charlie, I was wondering when you were going to call,” Warren said when he answered.
“Sorry, I was just too out of it yesterday,” Charlie said.
“I figured. So, I’m guessing you want some updates.”
“Yep. I was hoping, with the spot on Sunrise Edition, we could push the fundraising up another notch. The show’s good, but I’m guessing national TV is better.”
“It is at that, which is why we’re doing much better than I expected. We’ve already raised just over eighty-five grand, enough to get the hospital to schedule the surgery for Mr. Saunders.”
“Really?” I said, a bit shocked. “That’s awesome!”
I hadn’t gone into this with a specific number in mind, so I don’t even know what I would have said was a good dollar figure, but whatever it was, it would have been smaller than eighty grand in a week.
“Yeah. I spoke to Odeta yesterday and she is so relieved. I also managed to find support for them, aside from money, through an LA charity. They’re gonna make sure she has some help with the kids so she can be at the hospital while Sheldon recovers.”
“Warren, that’s fantastic. You’re a freaking miracle worker.”
“I’m just doing my job,” he said, but he did sound very proud of himself. “As for Dakota, I don’t really have much to tell you. She’s out of the hospital and doing well, according to the tabloid news shows pointing cameras at her house, and the tour has confirmed she’ll be there in San Francisco, but that’s about it. She’s basically bunkered up until then, and her agents are blocking anything and everyone from getting to her. It’ll blow over as soon as the next scandal drops, but for now, she’s the gossip news story of the week.”
“That sucks.”
“That’s fame for you. You get fancy dinners and fans, but you also have to deal with the vultures. Anyway, I do have a little bit of good news to balance that out, though.”
“Hit me with it.”
“We’ve found distribution for the album, both in stores and streaming services.”
“Really? That’s great!”
I honestly had given up on finding anything for that until we finally get picked up by a label again. While this didn’t change everything, as long as I could keep our name out there and sales coming in, it would give us the option of being more picky when it comes to who we finally sign with.
I was under no illusion that we could just do it on our own like this forever. Warren was great at his job, no doubt, but he was still only one man. Right now we had a big boost from my win on The Stage and all the publicity behind that, but ultimately, that was being driven by marketing and dollars from GLR. Until this died down, and I knew it would, there would be ads in cities where the tour was coming, late-night show performances, and social media campaigns with my face on it.
We’d eventually need a label. But this at least meant we wouldn’t be desperate while we looked.
“Now, the in-store distribution won’t be anything major since we’re not with one of the big five labels, but it’s a start. The real money is going to come from the streaming services.”
“When is this happening?”
“Streaming’s going to happen fast. Like, end of the week fast. They want to capitalize on the traction you’ll get from your show in San Francisco.”
“Wow, that is fast. What about the streaming we already set up on our own?”
We hadn’t gotten much, but Warren had listed us on some of the bigger platforms. There was no marketing and our cut was terrible, but it was still bringing in some money, again thanks to the add-on marketing from the tour.
“We’ll have to roll that into the new deal,” Warren explained. “It means splitting the revenue with the distributor, but the trade-off is access to bigger platforms and their marketing. Trust me, this will mean more money overall, and it’ll come in quickly.”
“No, I get it. I was just thinking the same thing. Getting in the stores will take longer, though, right?”
“Yeah. It’s in the works but it could be a few months at best. I made sure to get an out clause if we got picked up by a label, ‘cause otherwise we’d have trouble if they wanted to talk about this album being part of it. It means their split is very high, but it gives us flexibility.”
“We didn’t want some of the label deals because their split was too high, but we’re willing to accept it now?”
“Those had you locked in for years. This is not a great deal for you, but it lets us pull out with two months’ notice, which is the only way you’re going to keep viable for a new label deal. Trust me, it was this or no physical media. Plus, we should be on some shelves before the tour is over, which is what we really wanted.”
“Okay, I wasn’t doubting you, I just wanted to understand. It’s still fantastic news, Warren. It means Lyla and Seth will be taken care of, which is what I’ve wanted.”
“Absolutely,” he agreed. “Oh, and one last thing...”
“See, it’s always the ‘one last thing’ that gets me.”
“It’s not as bad as that. We received a call from Emerson King’s people. He’s one of the hosts of Sunrise Edition.”
“I was tired, Warren, but I do remember the hosts of the show I was on.”
“Hey, just making sure. Apparently, you made a really good impression on him. They said that if you can get out early on Friday, before the concert, Emerson wants to set up an event in San Jose for you two to do together.”
“I’m not sure I know where San Jose is.”
“Very close to San Francisco. Like an hour away, tops, so you can just get a car right from the event to your hotel and then on to the venue.”
“Ohh, okay. And what did he say it was about?”
“He has a Bay Area charity event every year, and he wants to bring you in to play some music for it. The timing is great, from his end, since the tour has your face on a bunch of billboards in the area, so they’ll be able to ride some of that marketing, which is probably why they want you. But, they said they’d add the Saunders onto the list of charities, make sure some of the donations go to the family, and they’ll mention the campaign we set up, so it’s a good way to keep the ball rolling. It doesn’t pay, but the exposure will be good.”
“Sure, I’d love to do it. I actually had a good talk with Emerson, after my segment ended, about the charity work he’s doing. He didn’t mention this event specifically, but we talked a little bit about giving back to the community. He seems like a good guy.”
“That’s good. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to make friends with someone on a nationally syndicated show.”
“I guess not, but it’s not about that.”
“For you, it’s not. I’m out here trying to find you work, so for me, that’s what it’s all about.”
“Fine, I’ll be the heart, you be the ambition.”
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