"What time do you call this?"
Jem folded her arms, shooting her hapless younger sister a dark look.
"Practice is at two, you know that. This is the third time, Kimber, and
it isn't good enough. You know we can't run through much without your keyboard
part. And what exactly are you wearing?"
"Stormer and I went shopping...I lost track of time." Kimber responded
apologetically, taking her place behind her keyboard as she did so. "I'm
sorry, Jem. I didn't realise how late it was. We were trying on clothes and
doing makeup and my clock still isn't working..."
"Well, she is here now, so we can start, ¿no?" Raya Alonso, the
band's percussionist put in hurriedly, for she hated conflict. "Aja says
you have a new song for us, Kimber."
"Oh, I do! Well, I mean we do." Kimber shot Raya a grateful grin
for the subtle change of subject. "Aja and I worked on it together. It's
very upbeat, plenty of drum solos for you, Raya, and I have to admit I think
the lyrics are kinda catchy. It probably needs us to play through it a couple
of times and polish up edges here and there, but I don't think it needs
too much work."
"Well, lets see it then." Jem held out her hand for the manuscript and
her sister obediently handed it over. "Wow, you guys are adventurous! Sure
we can learn all of these chord sequences and key changes in time to perform
it at our next concert?"
"You only have to learn to sing it." Aja observed quietly. "Besides,
Kimber and I already know the piece backwards. It's basically half way there
already."
Jem shot Aja a confused glance at the hidden barb in the other girl's
tone, but made no comment, realising that the guitarist was sensitive about
her hard work.Instead she shrugged.
"Well, I say we give it a go." She said finally. "How about you guys play
it through for us, give Shana and Raya and I a chance to check it out?"
"Sure." Kimber nodded her head. "Raya, I hope you don't mind that we wrote
you in certain sections of drumline. I know you like to work out your own
beats, but it just seemed to fit, and..."
"I am sure it will be fine." Raya assured her. "May I look?"
"Here." Aja passed her a copy of the manuscript. "Do you reckon you can
work with that? Of course, you can tweak it..."
"I'll do my best." Raya dimpled. "Shall I try along with you and Kimber,
see if I can set the beat?"
"That would be outrageous, Raya." Kimber nodded. "Okay, Aja, you ready?
Then let's rock!"
Once the song was finished, Shana grinned.
"Woo, nice writing." She observed, clapping her hands. "You weren't kidding
about upbeat and catchy - I think it's just the kind of song we need to spark
a new album. I just hope that the bassline isn't too complex. I...well, don't
have a lot of time to practice this week. Regine and I have the fashion show
this Saturday."
"We took that into consideration." Kimber grinned at her. "Don't worry.
And I'm glad you like it. It'll sound better with your bassline, though,
and Jem's vocals, of course. The bassline isn't too tricky, it just adds
an extra dimension to the backing."
"Dare I ask to see it?" Shana's brown eyes danced with amusement. Kimber
laughed, nodding her head.
"Of course." She agreed, as Raya held out the manuscript Aja had loaned
her. "Whaddya think?"
"Looks okay." Shana skimmed it over. "Yeah, no problem. I can get that
down."
"The drumline was easy enough to handle." Raya added at that moment. "I
like it very much as a song, and I can see a couple of places to make more
of the beat, so we keep it up tempo. I think it will be a big hit!"
"Well, the key changes for my bass aren't grotesque, which is a nice thing
to know." Shana laughed. "Jem, what do you reckon? Is it a go-er?"
"It sounds very good." Jem said slowly. "Very catchy, upbeat, easy to
listen to and I think our fans will love it."
"Why do I get the feeling the word 'but' is marching towards this sentence?"
Kimber asked.
"Well, I'm just a little curious about something, that's all." Jem picked
the manuscript off Kimber's keyboard stand, spreading it out on the table.
"I know I'm not the best reader of music in the world, but as I understand
it, that's Shana's bassline, that's your keyboard and that's Aja's guitar.
Right?"
"Yep, that's right." Kimber nodded her head. "What of it?"
"Well, if that's my vocal line - and it obviously is, what the hell is
that?" Jem pointed to one line of music. "Or are you playing two lines on
the keyboard at once?"
Aja and Kimber exchanged looks, then Kimber shook her head.
"It's a counter melody." she explained. "Shall I play it for you?"
"Sure." Jem nodded, and carefully Kimber ran through the segment of music.
"Well, it's pretty." Jem said. "And it'd fit great with the melody, and
all...but who's going to play it? You're out of instruments, unless you
can handle both on keys."
"Not unless I grow another pair of arms." Kimber responded with a grin,
though her eyes held an apprehensive look. "No, we, um, kinda had another
idea."
She met Aja's gaze once more, looking for reassurance, and the guitarist
winked at her.
"Oh?" Jem's eyebrow went up. "Please tell me you aren't going to ask Rio
to play. He's a sweetheart, bless him, and he's great with our stage show
but music is not his forte."
"God no! No, not Rio, don't worry." Kimber shook her head.
"We thought it would sound good on a saxophone." Aja added quietly.
"We don't have a saxophone." Jem pointed out. "Nor anyone who plays one."
"So we'll ask Jetta, then." Shana suggested. "She plays, and plays good,
far as I can gather."
"That was our thought too." Aja nodded. "Kimber, did you ask her about
it yet?"
"No-o-o-o not yet." Kimber admitted. "I spent all morning with Stormer,
though, and I asked her opinion as to whether or not Jetta'd do it. She
reckoned I should ask...and I s'pose it can't hurt. She can only laugh in
my face and say no, right?"
"Well, if Stormer thinks Jetta might do it, then she probably would."
Shana reasoned. "I guess we're settled. Cool. I love it already, you guys."
"Outrageous." Kimber dimpled. "Now I just have to find the nerve to ask
her! Anyone want to come and play moral support?"
"Wait a minute." Jem held up her hands.
"What?" Kimber looked startled. "What's up, Jem?"
"I'm not having it."
"Having what?" Aja looked confused.
"I'm not having a Misfit playing on a Hologram track."
"Whyever not?" Kimber demanded. "We have a truce with them, remember?"
"That doesn't mean we have to be all cosy with them and play together
on record releases." Jem responded. "It's no go. I'm not having Jetta playing
any part in this song, or any of the other Misfits, for that matter. They're
nothing but trouble for us and I'm surprised at how easily you guys have
forgotten it. Besides, they're under contract to Misfit Music. Asking them
to guest would mean additional paperwork and who gets stuck dealing with that?
I already have enough to do organising our next string of shows."
"I can help you with the paperwork, Jem, if it's a problem." Aja offered.
"I know you've a lot on at the moment, but Kimber and I thought of the problem
of the different music companies and I don't mind handling it, if you can't
do it."
"Please, Jem?" Kimber wheedled. "A saxophone would sound just so-o-o perfect
and Jetta's the only person we know who could play it!"
"I said no. I meant no." Jem shook her head impatiently. "End of discussion,
Kimber, we have work to do. We haven't time to be messing around with silly
ideas."
"But what about the counter melody?" Kimber protested.
"It'll have to go." Jem shrugged. "I'm sorry, Kimber, but we don't have
enough instruments to play it."
"We worked so hard on that song." Kimber murmured, picking up her manuscript
and glancing over it, then setting it down on the keyboard stand once more.
"I'm not talking about scrapping the entire song, Kimber. Just that line."
Jem responded. "In any case, I'm sure it'll work just as well without."
Kimber was silent for a moment, then she bit her lip, meeting her sister's
gaze defiantly.
"You don't own this group, you know." She said petulantly. "Aja and I
put a lot into this song and it's not for you to tell us what we can or
cannot play, you know. Noone else minds. Raya hasn't said anything against
it and Shana suggested it herself. I thought we were democratic about these
things."
"Kimber..."
"No. We have a truce to uphold." Kimber shook her head. "Jem and the Holograms
are an outrageous group, right? And why? Because our music rocks, that's
why! Are you really going to let us risk our sound because you don't want
to take a gamble? Life isn't fun unless you're willing to try new things from
time to time!"
"Kimber's right." Aja said slowly. "I know the truce is still very new
and uncertain, Jem, but we have to at least show goodwill and make an effort
if we want the Misfits to do so too. And Roxy did fix our car this morning,
too. I don't think it'd be a problem having Jetta on our track. It'd only
be a one off."
"I'm not happy with it." Jem replied. "I'm not entirely happy with the
truce, either, to be honest. I don't trust those Misfits one bit and I don't
believe I ever will. The last thing I'm going to do is let one of them run
riot round Starlight Music."
"But we want to be friends, Jem!" Kimber exclaimed. "We have got a truce,
whatever you think about it, so get a grip, will you? We can;t be at war
forever!"
"You waltz in here twenty five minutes late for the third time this week,
dressed like God knows what, and you're gonna tell me what to do now?" Jem
retorted. "Never mind how much I already have to do, and how difficult
it is scheduling these practices in between important meetings that the Foundation
and Starlight Music rely on!"
"Jem, calm down! We all know and appreciate how hard you work!" Raya put
out a hand to calm the singer, but Jem seemed oblivious, her attention fixed
on her younger sister.
"And we don't take it for granted, either." Kimber was getting heated
now. "These days we can't do a thing without you getting all queen of the
world over it and it sucks!"
"Meanwhile you plot behind my back to bring a Misfit onto a Hologram record!"
Jem flung back.
"We have a truce!" Kimber exclaimed. "And if you didn't like our song,
you could've just said so, instead of getting all snotty about it! The tune
won't work without a saxophone so it's either that or no song!"
"Well, I'm not happy about it." Jem shook her head. "I've not seen
any of the Misfits doing us any good." She indicated Kimber. "Look. She spends
a morning with one of them, and she turns up late dressed like...well...like
a Misfit!"
"Stormer and I were having fun. I'm sorry you forgot what that's like."
Kimber shot back.
"Are we going to spend the whole of this session arguing?" Shana asked
slowly, raising an eyebrow. "Because there are other things I'd rather be
doing than playing referee."
"You keep out of it." Jem snapped.
"Jem, please, calm down!" Raya begged. "It's getting out of hand! We can
settle this later, when we are all of us less tired and more calm!"
"It's all right, Raya. It's about to calm down." Kimber scooped the manuscript
off the keyboard stand, glancing at it and then rolling it up. "I'm going."
"But the practice!" Raya protested. Kimber shrugged.
"Who cares?" She said simply. Then she was gone, the door of the studio
banging shut behind her.
"Brilliant." Shana winced at the sound. "I guess that means rehearsal
is done for today." She rolled her eyes. "Same time tomorrow or shouldn't
I bother?"
"You're not funny, Shana." Jem muttered darkly. "I'll see you later. My
sister and I are going to have words about this."
Once she was gone, the remaining three Holograms exchanged looks.
"She's flipping out." Aja was the first to break the silence. "Success
has gone to her head or something. I don't know, it's starting to really
worry me, how she's acting. Like she wants to control everything we do. And
I didn't see any harm in asking Jetta to play."
"Me neither. I like the girl." Shana shrugged. "Sure she's blunt and offhand
and sarcastic but that's just who she is. She's harmless enough. Bark is
definitely worse than bite, if you get my drift." She carefully replaced her
guitar in her case, fastening it shut. "There's a lot more to her than she
wants people to know, but I don't think she's so bad deep down. I just don't
think she's been as lucky as we have, with having each other growing up and
all that."
"And she's the one to ask if you want a sax player." Aja pointed out.
"Definitely." Shana nodded.
"I don't know." Raya bit her lip. "I do not see a problem with Jetta playing
on the song, Aja, and I like the tune very much, but I am also worried. Surely
the group is more important than one tune? If Jem is not happy, maybe we
should think again? We shouldn't do anything we're not all happy with."
"Raya, you're the sweetest person, and I know you want to please everyone."
Aja smiled. "But I don't know if conceding this time would help anything.
If we're going to keep this truce going we have to make an effort too, else
we'll be back to how we were, and none of us want that. Besides, Kimber and
I did work very hard on the song...and forgive me if it's arrogant, but
I think it'd be a hit."
"Perhaps when she calms down some Jem will realise that." Shana suggested.
"We didn't think she'd react so violently." Aja admitted.
"She is working very hard." Raya observed. "And she had a row with someone
on the phone just before we began to practice. Some business arrangement
or other, I don't know the details. I think it was perhaps just a bad moment.
As Shana says, perhaps when she cools down it will be all made up and forgotten
and everything will be fine."
"I hope so." Aja groaned. "I don't like this living in a time bomb type
situation. We've had our spats before but there's never been such an air
of tension as there is at the moment."
"Practice these days gives me a headache." Shana admitted. "And I could
have used this time, with Saturday looming. If you guys don't mind, I'm
going to head over to Regine's to discuss the show. It's probably safer
at the moment, anyway."
"Sure, no problem. We'll take your guitar back to Starlight Mansion."
Aja offered.
"Thanks, Aja." Shana grinned. "Later, girls!"
"Do you really think things will work out okay?" Aja wondered as she carefully
packed her own instrument away, then lifted the two guitar cases. Raya shrugged.
"I hope." she said simply. "I don't like fighting. The truce with the
Misfits is a good thing, and is important - I hope Jem and Kimber can find
a compromise."
"Well, whether it's Jem or Jerrica who comes back to the Starlight Mansion
tonight, I hope she's in a better mood." Aja said wryly. "If you ask me we've
stopped fighting the Misfits and begun to fight each other."
"Ironic." Raya sighed. "Oh well. I think it will die down. We are too
close for it not to."
Aja gathered up her copy of the manuscript, slipping it into her bag.
"Let's ditch the instruments and go to Pete's for some ice cream, huh?"
She suggested. "I think we need it after that."
"I'm right behind you." Raya nodded, sliding her drumsticks into her stick
bag. "Let's go!"