Chapter 40

My first stop, once I pulled out of the bank parking lot, was to go see the band. This was going to take some time, even if Chef could pay us in cash, which meant no one was getting paid today. I also noticed my gas tank was low, which was a problem, because I had absolutely no money until I got the cash from Chef.

We didn’t usually practice on Mondays, since we just finished playing all weekend, but everyone was home when I got there. That was the other reason I had to come here first. Lyla went out Monday nights after getting paid, and I didn’t want to show up late to find that she was already gone.

“I was starting to think you weren’t going to show,” Lyla said when she opened the door for me. “I told Tabitha I was taking her drinking tonight. Boys, it’s payday.”

It wasn’t a huge house, and Seth and Marco were in the living room just off the front entryway, playing video games, so I wasn’t sure what the point of yelling was, but she did it every time.

“Excellent. The place was packed all weekend, so today’s going to be good,” Marco said.

We’d fallen into this routine pretty quickly and he and Marco kept playing their games. Normally, I’d just set the envelopes I put their money in on the table, and they’d work it out, so there wasn’t any reason for them to stop just because I was there. Of course, that was normal.

“Guys, can you pause the game for a minute?” I said.

After a second, Seth did and asked, “What’s up?”

“Some stuff has happened, and there isn’t a really good way to say this, so I’m just going to say it. You know that my dad has been around and is causing problems, at least for me, right?”

“Yeah,” Lyla said, sitting down on the couch next to Marco.

“I filed for emancipation a week ago Friday and I just found out that his retaliation was to clean out both the band bank account and my personal bank account. Since Mom is a signer on both accounts, he was able to do it through her. I want to make it clear that, so far, you guys aren’t out any money. The money that was in the account was held there so we had cash if we needed to pay for something and so I could cash checks. We aren’t due our first royalty payment until next week, so only the money I left in the account was taken.”

“What does this mean for when the royalty payment is made, though?” Marco asked. “Will that get taken as well?”

“I don’t know. I just found this out and I stopped to talk to you guys after I called my lawyer. I’m going to see what I can do about getting our royalty payment another way, but it might mean the payment is delayed a month, at least until I’ve had my emancipation hearing.”

“So we aren’t getting our royalty payment,” Marco said, standing up. “That’s bullshit. Just because your life is shit, doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay us. I knew we should have set up something else for our money. You guys convinced me it was okay to let a kid be in charge of all the money. I told you it was a bad idea, but no one listened.”

“That’s not fair, Marco,” Seth said.

“No kidding. Charlie’s paid himself less so he could have money in the account for when we needed it, and he’s the only one who lost anything so far. Don’t be an ass,” Lyla said.

“Stop taking his side all the time, Lyla. I don’t know why you’re always defending him, but this is bullshit, and you know it.”

“Marco, I get that you’re pissed,” I said, wanting to defuse the situation. “I would be too. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you get everything you’re owed, even if I have to pay you out of my own pocket. The only thing that’s happening right now is the money from this weekend will be a little delayed. I know that sucks, but we still have the money coming in from Chef for playing there every weekend, so it’s not the end of the world.”

“Fine. Give us the money from this weekend then, and I guess we’ll just stretch it out a month until you fix your shit.”

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“What?”

“That’s the other problem. With no money in the account, I can’t cash the check from Chef. I’m headed there next, but the banks are already closed, so it could take a day to get paid for this weekend.”

“Jesus Christ. Is there anything you don’t fuck up?” Marco said.

“You know what, Marco?” I said, finally having enough of his shit. “If you don’t like it, find another band to play with. I’m done putting up with your shit. I’ve sat back and let you rip into me any time you’re even slightly inconvenienced but I don’t have the energy to put up with that shit right now. Oh no, you have to wait a day to get paid from our regular gig that I fucking set up. Boo fucking hoo. Did you hear the part where I have to file for emancipation from my parents? My life is a fucking shambles, but do you see me whining about how it’s so unfair? No, I’m handling my shit. You have to wait one fucking extra day to get paid, and you lose your mind. What the fuck. I am very literally broke right now, because he took everything from both the band account and my personal account. I’m driving on fumes and might have to walk back from the Blue Ridge, but you know what? I’m still going to take care of my shit. My first concern was how to make sure you guys get paid, because I know this isn’t your fault and I’m trying my best to make sure you don’t get screwed over either. So what is it going to be? You want out? Just say the word.”

He didn’t say anything and just folded his arms, pouting like a small child.

“It’s okay, Charlie,” Seth said. “We understand, and we can wait. We trust you. And I’m really sorry things are so bad.”

“Do you need anything?” Lyla asked. “I can spot you some money.”

I knew she spent her money as fast as she made it and she hadn’t gotten paid since last week, so that would almost certainly be taking her last dime. I did absolutely need money, but I couldn’t take it from her. Especially with Marco in the room. I didn’t need him to have something else to throw back at me the next time he was annoyed.

“No, I’ll be okay. I’m headed to talk to Chef next. I still have the check. I’m sure he can pay us in cash, and I bet we can get it tomorrow, but it might be Wednesday. I’ll call Kent next, and see if there is anything we can do about the royalty payment. I’ll be upfront with you, there’s a chance there won’t be. I’m a minor, so my mom signed everything and is actually the one who gets to make the decisions, which now also includes my dad. If they have to deposit the money like normal and Dad takes it, I will pay you guys back every penny. It will just take time, but I will make sure you don’t lose anything.”

“Charlie, you don’t have to do that,” Lyla said. “This sucks and is unfair, and you shouldn’t be the one to have to lose everything.”

“The hell he shouldn’t,” Marco said, unable to contain himself.

“Shut the fuck up, Marco,” Lyla said.

“No, he’s right. If this was a band problem or a fight between us and the label or something, then it’d be right to split the losses among all of us, but this is a personal thing between me and my family. If we lose anything, it should come from me and not you guys. I just wanted to let y’all know first what was going on and that I will make this right.”

“We trust you, Charlie,” Lyla said. “Go do what you have to do. We’ll still be here.”

Marco made a face that said he wasn’t sure if he would, but I honestly didn’t care. At this point, I was ready to dump Marco. He and Seth were best friends, and I liked Seth and we needed a drummer, and Marco was a really good keyboard player and had contributed a lot, but I was sick of his attitude. But, I had enough shit to deal with at the moment, so as long as he kept his mouth shut and stopped making demands, I’d just ignore the eye rolls.

My next stop was Chef.

“This is what I meant by ‘unexpected consequences,’” Chef said after I told him everything that had happened.

“Honestly, I should have expected this,” I said. “I really should have seen this coming, and I’m mostly pissed at myself for leaving money in the bank accounts Mom has access to after he took money the last time. In hindsight, it’s so obvious.”

“It always is, in hindsight. Don’t beat yourself up too much. The entire idea of emancipation can be hard, and you have the physical confrontations between you and your father on top of that. It was inevitable that you’d miss something. All you can do now is try to deal with it.”

“Yeah, that’s the hard part. I still have the check you gave me, since I didn’t want to put it into the account and wait to withdraw it. Dad would expect that and just take this money, too.”

“Probably. I can pay you cash, but it will be tomorrow after I can get to the bank.”

“Thanks. I thought you could, and I expected it would take another day, but I didn’t want to assume. I already stopped by and talked to the band and told them there’d be a delay in getting paid for this weekend.”

“Were they okay with that?”

“Yeah,” I said, seeing no reason to throw Marco under the bus. “My bigger concern is our royalty payment from MAC. It’s coming next week, and Dad knows it. I’m going to call Kent after I leave here, but if he can’t do anything this is going to be really bad. Mr. Eaves said that Dad is entitled to take everything if he wants to, as long as I am his dependent, and even if I get emancipation, I probably won’t be able to get that money back. This is going to be our largest check, and think he’s going to take every penny of it.”

“You’re probably right. Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah. It’s just money, right? I mean, this sucks and it’s going to be very annoying, but as long as we can play here on the weekends, the guys will have enough to pay their bills and I don’t really have any bills, since I live with Mrs. Phillips. It will make it hard for me to start paying you back now for helping to pay for Mr. Eaves, though.”

“Don’t worry about that, Charlie. We’ll deal with that later. Right now, I just want you to focus on making sure you are safe and healthy. Everything else can be taken care of eventually. I’ll start getting money out on Fridays to pay you guys in cash Sunday nights. I don’t like keeping that much money around, but it’s why we have a safe. Hell, we used to have cash like that all the time before everyone switched to credit cards. It’ll be okay.”

“Thanks, Chef, I really appreciate it.”

“Do you have enough money right now? You said he cleaned out your bank account,”

“Mostly. It will cost me some fees, but I can pay late on my insurance and cell phone bill. Next month, hopefully, this is all over, I’ll be emancipated, and I’ll have a bank account in just my name, and none of this will matter. Uhhh ... I hate to ask, but I’m driving on fumes, though.”

“Sure,” he said, reaching for his wallet and pulling out forty dollars. “This is all the cash I have on me at the moment, but I can check the bar and see how much came in over lunch if you need more.”

“No, this is great. I promise I’ll pay you back.”

“Charlie, stop worrying about paying everyone back. We know you’re good for it. Right now, just worry about yourself, okay.”

“So, what do I do about a bank account? Do I just keep a bunch of cash lying around?”