Chapter 12

After eating at Hanna’s house again, I made my way back across the creek to the trailer to wait for Mom. Lately, I’d been so tired after a whole day of school followed by an intense workout that I was asleep before she got home, so we hadn’t gotten a lot of chances to see each other except for briefly in the morning, but I didn’t want to wait to talk to her.

There was an outside chance that she would veto my playing with Willie’s band on Saturday nights. Considering the face she made every time she saw me practicing and the regular comments about how I should focus myself on something more productive, she’d left no doubt that she wouldn’t be a fan of me following in my father’s footsteps, which this definitely was a first step towards.

So I knew this would be an uphill battle. I spent the time while I waited finishing up the last of the homework that I didn’t do at Hanna’s while her mom had made dinner. I always made sure to do the math first while I was there because it was the thing I needed the most help with. I finished off the last of the readings I had to do for history and then spent the remaining time practicing the songs Willie had been teaching me, now that I knew they were actually songs he’d want me to play with them when the time came.

I wasn’t sure if he’d started teaching me these songs because it was convenient, since he knew them well, or if he’d already been planning on having me play with them, but either way, I wanted to be ready. The worst thing I could do would be to choke up. Getting this far and not being allowed to play with them a second time would have been a hit to the ego that I didn’t think I was ready to take.

At eleven, I packed up my instrument and sat waiting, since Mom could be home at any point after that. I didn’t think her seeing me staying up late practicing would help my cause very much.

I sat on the edge of the couch for about ten minutes, going over what I was going to say when I finally heard her pull up.

“Charlie, what are you still doing up?” she asked as soon as she was in the door.

“I needed to talk to you about something, and I didn’t want to wait.”

“What happened?” she asked, immediately jumping to worrying I had a problem or had done something.

“Nothing. Nothing bad, at least. Put your stuff down and come sit down for a minute, please.”

“You’re worrying me, Charlie,” she said, setting her things down and coming over to sit next to me.

“It isn’t bad, at least I don’t think so, but I wanted to get your okay on something before I accepted.”

“What is it?”

Her tone had changed to a different, non-concerned version of worry as she looked around. I was almost certain she was looking for my instrument. She knew me well and probably suspected, with how serious I was, that this had to do with music.

“I’ve been given an opportunity at the Blue Ridge, but I won’t take it if you really think I shouldn’t. Chef needs someone to come in Saturday mornings to help getting set up for the day, and he offered for me to start working the morning and lunch shifts, instead of the dinner shift. One of the reasons for this change is Willie has offered to let me sit in with his band and play on Saturday nights.”

“Charlie, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why?”

“Charlie, you saw how that lifestyle ended for your father. I want you to have a real chance of making it. Right now, that means focusing on school.”

“Mom, I’m not letting this interfere with school. For one, the first thing that I do when I go by Chefs in the afternoon is my homework. He requires us to stay on top of it. He’s made it clear that homework comes first. I never practice or do anything else before I finish. I’m just talking about Saturday nights. I’m not saying I want to drop out of school or not go to college. If I can make something out of this, great, but I’m not counting on it.”

“Your father said a lot of the same things when we were younger.”

“Mom, am I Dad? Do I act like he did? I’m going to make mistakes, but I’m not going to make his mistakes. I love music because I love it, not because I want to follow in his footsteps. I want to be my own person and follow my own interests. I appreciate you want me to work hard and take care of my responsibilities, but I’d hope you’d also support my dreams as well. If I loved football, would you say no to joining the football teams? If I loved acting, would you forbid me for going out for theatre? Why is this any different?”

“It’s different because I’ve seen how addictive that life is. It’s easy to say you won’t let it take you over, but once you’re on stage, it’s a rush that’s hard to say no to. But,” she said, stopping me from making another rebuttal. “You’re right. If this was something else, I’d support you. So, I will agree to this, with some rules attached.”

“Anything,” I said.

“One, your grades must not slip. If you start having trouble at school, you’ll be done playing there at all. Two, you don’t skip out on any of your other responsibilities. I don’t want you to tell me you can’t do something because you have to get ready to play a gig. Three, if I hear a hint of drugs or drinking, either while you’re off playing or through school, or anywhere else, you’re done. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” I said, although I wasn’t as confident as I’d been a few minutes before.

I didn’t see maintaining my responsibilities to be that big of a problem, and there was no chance I was going to touch drugs or alcohol, not after seeing how Dad had ruined his life, I’d decided a long time ago that I’d never get high or drunk.

The grades, however, were a problem. I was already struggling, and unlike history, I couldn’t blame it on the teachers or anyone else. I was still way too far behind in some subjects, and I didn’t think I was ever going to catch up. Of course, if I told her that now, she’d just say no, and that would be that. My only option was to take the deal and make sure I caught up, somehow.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that, but it was my only real option.

The next day after English, I walked with Rhonda to her lunch table. We didn’t talk about it, but I wanted to ease the blow of my declaration the day before that I wasn’t going to eat with her and her friends. I regretted the decision within minutes of sitting down.

“I see you traded up from the poor kid lunch,” Camille said as when she sat down, looking at the lunch Mrs. Phillips had packed for me.

“Camille...” Rhonda started to say before I interrupt her.

I was pretty sure she was feeling guilty about how I described her friends, and she felt pressured to stand up for me. While I wasn’t going to force myself to deal with them regularly, I didn’t want Rhonda to feel like she had to defend me every time either. Besides, I could handle Camille.

“It’s okay,” I said to Rhonda. “I’m sure Camille didn’t mean anything by it.”

“No,” she said with a fake smile. “I just noticed you had a little better lunch today.”

“See, she doesn’t mean to be a bitch, it just comes out that way.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she said angrily.

The rest of the table had stopped talking and started paying attention as she raised her voice.

“It’s not supposed to mean anything. I mean, I’m sure you didn’t mean to make Abigail feel bad the other day when you said she’d worn her slut outfit to school. Something about picking up cheerleader cast-offs. I wasn’t really paying attention, but see, I know you like to joke around, friends just busting on each other.”

Abigail had been late for lunch that day. Camille couldn’t seem to help herself. She seemed to take shots at the others at the table any time one of them was late. Of course, I was the only one who she took shots at to my face. Not that the rest were blameless. They all laughed and joined in the jokes. I couldn’t figure out how none of them realized they got mocked too. Did they think they were somehow immune from the shots she took at everyone else?

“Slut outfit?” Abigail demanded.

All attention was off me now as Camille tried to backpedal and make it sound like she hadn’t been a catty bitch. Having watched the group for a while, I was actually pretty sure she’d pull it off too. They were all too scared of becoming ostracized from the group to really stand up for themselves.

Of course, I’d made an enemy of Camille, but she already didn’t like me. I was pretty sure she’d made comments to Rhonda when I wasn’t around about not going out with me, but I hoped Rhonda was strong enough to make her own mind up. If she was willing to let Camille decide to not go out with me, then that was probably best in the long term.

As the rest argued, Rhonda tried to get my attention, but I played dumb and just ate. This went on for most of the lunch period until I finished my food. Rhonda was too distracted trying to get her message across to me to participate, but the rest of her friends had waded hip-deep in finger-pointing on who was a worse backstabber than the rest.

I collected my lunch and motioned Rhonda to follow me. Dumping my trash, I walked her just outside the cafeteria.

“Why did you do that?” Rhonda demanded when we were outside.

“For one, she deserved it. She insults every single one of you when your back is turned. Okay, I don’t know if she insults you, since I’m never there when you’re not, but do you really think she doesn’t?”

Rhonda didn’t say anything, but stopped walking and crossed her arms.

“Look, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be mean or cause problems. I promise that by tomorrow they’ll all be pretending it didn’t even happen. I’m not trying to drive a wedge between you and your friends. It’s why I decided to only sit with them sometimes because I’m not sure I can hold my tongue when Camille takes her little shots. I promise though, next time I’ll just pretend I don’t hear it and keep the peace, okay?”

“I just wish you could all get along.”

“Rhonda, I know we’ve only known each other for a few weeks, but have I ever acted like I didn’t try to get along with people? Have you ever seen me be the first person to throw an insult or say something to upset someone? Aside from how I talked to Camille today, have you seen me say anything negative to anyone?”

“No, not really.”

“I promise I’ll get along with them, but I want you to know that I’m doing it specifically for you because I like you. Now, let’s change the subject. Do you think you can get a ride to the Blue Ridge at around nine? Will your parents mind if you stay out to eleven?”

“Maybe.”

“Check with them. You’ll only be at the Blue Ridge, eating dinner and listening to music. We won’t go anywhere else. If they don’t trust it, I can get the owner to vouch for us. If your sister doesn’t want to stick around and drive you home, I might be able to talk Hanna into taking you home, since she also drives me home after work.”

“I’ll ask. So is that what we’re going to do?”

“Yeah. I know it sounds a little lame, but I promise you’ll have a good time. The house band is great, the food is delicious, and I’ll try and make sure the company doesn’t suck.”

“Okay, I’ll ask her. So are you going to sit with me for the rest of the week?”

“Well, if you can get an answer from your parents, tomorrow I’ll sit with Hanna and your sister and work out details. We can eat together the next day at the bleachers if it’s nice outside.”

“I’d like that.”

The bell rang and we went our separate ways. Camille caught a glimpse of me in the hallway and stared daggers as I passed. I’d say I made an enemy, except she was already pretty hostile to me from the day I first sat with them, so it didn’t seem like I’d changed things all that much.

I did need to watch my tongue, though. I’d promised I wouldn’t get between Rhonda and her friends and if I pulled off more stunts like this again, they’d start putting some of the blame on her for bringing me around.

The rest of the week was, perhaps, one of the best I can remember. Rhonda got permission to meet me and stay out late, but I’d have to feed Jordan, who’d hang out with Hanna while Rhonda and I listened to music. I swore Hanna to secrecy about the changes at the Blue Ridge. She even promised not to tell Jordan that I’d be playing with the band, just in case Jordan let it slip to her sister.

The part that made the week so great was after school each day after I finished my training. Willie announced that the band was going to start meeting up and doing practice sessions in the late afternoons for a week or so. He swore they did these practice days from time to time, but I knew that the real reason was to give me some chances to get comfortable with the band.

He even asked me to add a more contemporary song to their setlist. He said they were starting to get a younger clientele in and they needed to update some things. People liked the classic blues, but they needed something to keep the younger families coming in. I added a pop song that I knew really well and that was reasonably popular but still had a bluesy sound. It was from a British artist who had just started getting air time in the US. Some people might not recognize it, but the sound was a lot more contemporary.

Willie said since it was my pick, I’d also sing it. We slowed it down a little bit and lowered it a half octave, but the music itself wasn’t overly complicated, not compared to some of the songs the band already played.

I’d only interacted with the rest of the band a few times before being allowed to play with them, but they all welcomed me in with open arms. They never talked down to me and treated me like an equal the whole time, even though every single one of them had been a professional musician longer than I’d even been alive.

By Saturday, I was starting to feel comfortable playing with them, at least to the point that I didn’t think I’d embarrass anyone.

Saturday morning itself came exceptionally early. When Chef pulled up to the trailer, the sky was just turning from black to a dark shade of blue. Since he was doing me a favor, I didn’t want to keep him waiting, and had been up since five am. Mom was also up in her housecoat, a smile on her face as she watched me go off to work. I think, despite her comments about me needing to focus on school, she was proud of the dedication and hard work I was putting in.