battle of the bands (and babes) ~ camila/you

chapter twenty five

"So, what kind of music do you guys play?" Mr. Lortz asked us. Nate, Lauren, Ash, Camila and I sat in front of the owner of the Stone Pony, the only venue to get an opening act at if you want to emerge into the music scene.

"It's rock. Alternative rock. Technically, it's a little bit of everything." Ash explained.

"Except country." Nate added. "We don't do country."

"Well, Animal House, you've got the gig. March first- you're opening for Carpe Nocem." Mr. Lortz revealed to us a stack of flyers and posters. "The sales and promotion team says if you get enough people to come, maybe, and I mean it when I say maybe, you could have your own show here."

"How many people do we need?" Lauren gulped.

"At least five hundred." Lortz replied. "If you can bring in a crowd that really digs your music, we'll see what we can do for you in the future."

"Thank you, Mr. Lortz." I shook his hand. "We'll try our best."

Walking out of the venue's offices, Camila grabbed a flyer from Ash's hands.

"Five hundred people?" Camila scoffed. "Not a problem."

"Quit being so arrogant." I joked. I didn't mean that at all. It was so hot when she was determined.

"Camila, are you sure you can find that many people?" Nate asked. "Maybe we should just invite Dinah's extended family and hope for the best."

"Who doesn't want to go hear some good music for a low price of ten bucks?" Camila asked. "I'm gonna plaster these on the walls of the Hibachi Jose's bathroom."

"You'll get fired." Ash told her, chuckling a little.

"One of my only two wishes will be granted." Camila shot back, grabbing my hand. "The first is for Y/N to teach me how to play clarinet."

"Yeah, that's not happening. I hate clarinet." I told her, watching her pout.

"You guys need to tweet about this, post it, snapchat about this- Get people to come!" Nate announced.

"As exciting as this is, we need to practice religiously for this. And arrange a setlist." Lauren ordered.

"We have to perform Oceans." Nate remarked. "That song is incredible, and I had this cool idea that we could do a drum battle during the bridge."

"What about Back To Me?" Lauren asked, hinting at the song she was in the process of writing. "I just need to figure out the first verse."

"I'll help out, if you want?" I offered. "I'd love to perform Back To Me."

"We should perform a cover or two." Ash added.

"Sure, what can you play?" Nate inquired.

"Anything." Ash replied.

"She's not just being cocky when she says that." Camila laughed. "She can literally play anything."

After the meeting, Camila and I went to the diner to have a dinner with both of our families. We took up the longest table in the restaurant, and Dinah was serving us.

"And I thought my family was big." Dinah laughed.

I liked the idea of us as a collective whole family. Our families were both very different, but each side brought something different that somehow fit perfectly together. The Cabellos and Allens discussed about many things, especially Mulligan and the court case.