A Musical Mayhem

29 - Bree (Part 2)

~ One Day Later ~

"Do we need a cake? Maybe we need a cake. Maybe he doesn't like cake. We shouldn't get a cake," I said, anxiously pacing the floor of Arielle's hotel room. It was only one day until Flynn's birthday, and we had nothing except the Jagged Stone concert planned. Something told me that that wasn't enough.

Arielle laughed, shaking her head. "Bree! This is the first time I've seen you so anxious."

I stopped pacing, then blinked. "Huh. Maybe, yeah. But anyway, should we get a cake or not?"

"Let's just buy him pizza or something," Arielle said absentmindedly. "He doesn't like too much attention."

I sighed. "Very well, then. We should go to Toy Story Playland after the show, too."

"Hey, Bree, do you know how old you have to be to attend concerts like these without an adult?" Arielle asked abruptly.

I blanked out. I froze in place. "Uh-oh."

"What?" she said frantically. "What is it?"

"We . . . we have to be sixteen years old. Oh, no," I said, the words barely forming on my lips.

"WHAT?! We have to be SIXTEEN YEARS OLD to go to a concert without an adult?!" Arielle exploded.

"From what I remember, yeah." I slapped my forehead. "I can't believe I forgot. I've snuck out to so many concerts before back at home; I have no idea why I didn't think of that."

Arielle groaned. "What are we going to do? This is a lost case."

"Or," I said, lighting up, "We can bring someone else who's sixteen or older with us. If we have one more ticket. Arielle, check if there are still a few more we can buy online!"

Arielle grabbed her phone and tapped her thumbs furiously on her screen. "There are . . . there is exactly one more ticket left to Jagged Stone's concert!"

"Quick! BUY IT!!" I nearly yelled.

Arielle furiously thumbed her phone again. "Done!" she said a few moments later, her face lighting up.

"Woo-hoo!" I cheered. "All we need to do now is find somebody to come with us. Somebody who's sixteen or older; preferably someone we know well." I bit my lip, trying to think.

"Definitely not one of the summer camp staff," Arielle pointed out. "Let's see, who's sixteen or older around us?"

"No one. All of our chamber group members, for instance, are either thirteen or . . ." All the color drained from my face.

"Not all of them," Arielle said quietly.

"Robert Canterlot," I said, forcing the name out of my mouth. "He's sixteen."

"What do we do? Ask him to the concert? That's impossible," Arielle said, starting to pace around the room along with me.

"Well, who else is sixteen around us? Even though we all know he's a big pain in the butt, there's no other choice. I swear, I'm gonna make Flynn Armani pay back everything we've done for him sometime soon," I said.

"What do we say?" Arielle said, desperate. "He'll probably just say it's stupid or something, anyway."

"We have to force him to. He's a bully, and we can't back down to him," I said, determined.

"Well, how do we tell him?" Arielle inquired. "We don't have his number, and we have no idea which room he's in."

"We have to find another way," I mused. "Oh! Doesn't Archer know where Bob's hotel room is? He mentioned hearing weird music from his room one night or something."