SHATTERED

nine

alex

it's been a few days since our band met with laura in her office. since then, miguel's mom, who is a lawyer, has been reading over the copy of the contract.

yesterday, she told us that the contract didn't have anything in it that should make us not sign. she did tell us though that we have to "keep up a good public image," and not do anything to damage our image.

i feel like that is going to be annoying as hell.

besides that, there wasn't anything that we should worry about. we're not "selling our souls," as miguel's mom put it.

so, once we thanked miguel's mom, we called laura back, and we let her know that we want to sign the contract. she was very pleased that we decided to, and she told us to come in the next day, which is today.

"bruh, move over," i grumbled as i pushed saylor to the side some. "you're taking up the whole damn sidewalk."

"you're the one who's tryna fit four people across the sidewalk! either walk ahead or walk behind us!" saylor argued as she glared up at me.

"you do it," i rolled my eyes. "i'm tryna have a conversation with jessie."

jessie, who had previously been looking at their phone as we walked, looked up at me. her brows furrowed. "huh?"

"lying ass fucker," saylor muttered.

"the fuck did you just call me?" i arched a brow as i looked down at her.

"i said that you're a—" she started to repeat boldly.

miguel cut her off as he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back towards him. he narrowed his eyes at the both of us. "could you two chill out for one day?! you really think they're gonna sign us if you two are acting like damn fools right in front of the building?!" he asked rhetorically.

"he's right," jessie nodded in agreement. "you two need to calm down."

"whatever," i scoffed.

we eventually made our way into the building, and we were soon met by laura. she greeted us with a professional smile before she led us up to the twenty-eighth floor again. we went back into the conference room we were in last time. laura took her seat at the front of the table, and we all sat around her.

she opened a folder, and she got out a stack of papers. "so, you've all made up your minds? you want to sign with us?"

we all shared a final look before we nodded. laura smiled. "great! let's get started on that now then, shall we?"

•

"and... there we go," laura smiled as we finished dotting the i's and crossing the t's. she stood up, and she held her hand out towards me first. "i'm looking forward to working with you guys."

we all shook her hand with smiles. she told us that we could start using the studios here as soon as thursday. she then told us that she'll be contacting us soon on our next steps.

we all kept our composure as we made our way out of the building and down the block to get to miguel's van. once we got off the block that the building was on, we all started getting excited.

"fuck yeah!" jessie exclaimed loudly with a laugh.

we probably looked stupid jumping around all excitedly on a random sidewalk, but that didn't stop us.

to be fair... this is new york city, so it's really not something out of the ordinary.

after i brought miguel and jess into a hug, i turned to saylor with a grin still on my face. i hesitated for a moment as i looked down at her. i gave her a fist bump, cleared my throat, and turned back to miggy and jessie.