Junior Year Box Set

During a break, I received a text from Jett telling me that her band was playing tonight and inviting me to come. I asked the girls if they wanted to go, but they said they’d planned a girls’ night out, and it was made clear that no boys were allowed.

“I bet I can get Jessica to invite me,” I teased Halle and Leah.

Jessica looked at them, and I got an evil grin on my face.

“Come here, my pretty. Let me cast my spell on you … bwahahaha.”

“Begone, demon,” Leah said and made her fingers into a cross.

I acted like it hurt and withered to the floor.

“Help me. A kiss, just a kiss,” I begged in a small voice.

Jessica smiled at me and came to my rescue. I put her into a lip-lock that she wouldn’t soon forget. When I released her, she staggered a little.

“I think David should come with us,” she said.

“Nope, not happening. We’re going to have fun. You don’t need to be distracted as he toys with you all night,” Halle said.

“That might be fun,” Leah admitted.

I almost had them, but Jessup broke my spell and had us do another scene.

◊◊◊

I called Trip to see if he wanted to go with me, but he said Craig was having a party tonight. He invited me to come over after I was done watching the band. Birthrite was doing a short set of four songs on the beach near where Rita’s beach house was. A strip of bars and restaurants collaborated to throw Friday-night concerts to attract customers. Being on the beach meant that younger people could attend.

Fritz and Flo were both going with Halle and the other actresses, at Rita’s insistence, so Jane was assigned to me. We drove to the beach house and walked down to the area where the concert would be held. There were supposed to be three bands playing tonight.

Jane and I had dinner at a little noodle shop. Jett had told me where to meet the band before the show. I saw her before she saw me. I had to grin because the boys I surfed with were trying to pick her and her bandmates up. They weren’t having much success. I stepped up, put my arm around Jett, and gave her a kiss.

Al Faulkenburg had been working on Jett and looked disgusted for a moment, then smiled when he realized it was me. The other girls all greeted me with hugs and kisses on the cheek. Jett kept her arm around my waist the whole time. I expect she wanted to give Al the message to back off.

“When you’re done, do you guys want to come to a party with me? It’s at Craig Wild’s house.”

“Yeah, we can go,” Al said, trying to invite his friends and himself.

“Uh, yeah, sure, why not,” I stammered.

Damn, wasn’t one of my life goals to learn to say ‘no’?

“Sounds like fun,” Jett said.

The girls and I talked about what had happened since we arrived. They told me that Angel, from Tom’s firm, had helped them a lot and they had signed with her. They’d also signed a contract with the record company that was a lot better than the company’s initial offer, thanks to Angel. This was their first gig to get them a little exposure.

I told them about learning to surf and showed them a picture of my new surfboard. I explained that was where I’d met Al and his friends. My movie stuff I really didn’t talk about because Al was hanging on every word and really starting to creep me out.

Birthrite turned out to be a fun band. They did a cover of Blister in the Sun by the Violent Femmes. They’d changed the lyrics to reflect a girl’s point of view. I had to laugh when they got to the line about being the one because Jett pointed to me as she sang it.

The only problem was that her pointing me out made some people realize who I was. I soon found myself surrounded by people wanting to talk to me or get autographs. Jane had to rescue me and help me out of the crowd and back to the beach house. Al showed up with about twenty people. I met him at the gate at the foot of the stairs.

“You don’t seriously believe all these people can come?” I asked.

“I told them that you could get us into Craig Wild’s party, and they all wanted to come.”

“Here’s the deal: you pick three friends to come, and you have to figure out how to get there,” I said.

“You can’t do that,” Al complained.

“You’re right. I didn’t invite any of you. I’ll catch you later.”

“Wait. I’m sorry. I’ll get rid of the rest of them, and we’ll figure out transportation.”

“Meet me out front in like an hour,” I said, and then went upstairs.

The girls showed up, and I invited them to the roof so they could check out the view. They were excited about their set, as they should have been. I thought they did well.

“Is Al a friend of yours?” Jett asked.

“Not really. He surfs where I do, and we’ve gotten to know each other a little.”

“He looks at you like you’re his ticket to something,” Amy said.

She was the one who had multicolored hair and had freaked out on the plane.

“He made it sound like you were best friends,” Hana, the black-haired girl, said.

“You should watch out around him, he seems like a leech,” Jett added.