Fame's Revenge

Chapter 13: Then

Liz watched Shay pace back and forth in front of the low wall she was sitting on. It wasn't the reaction she'd anticipated when she'd told her about submitting the demo. "Come on, Shay," she said with a sigh. "You know you're the one who suggested this in the first place."

"That's not it!" she half-shouted. Liz fought the urge to jump. She paused, seemed to be listening to something, shook her head, and looked at Liz. "No, only sending it to one company. That's the thing. If you really want to get picked up by a label, you need to play the field, you know?"

Liz pressed her lips together. She really didn't want to be, but she was going to do this much. "I'm only sending it to the one place because I don't really care." Not the whole truth, but Shay didn't need to know everything. She chewed on her lip. "I already sent it in, by the way," she said in a quiet voice.

"You what?" Shay all but screeched, causing several people in the school yard to look their way.

Liz picked at her nail. "I sent it in. They haven't gotten back with me yet."

Shay lowered herself onto the wall next to her. "Let me know when they do," she said, sounding almost resigned.

Liz agreed, something she forgot later on that day when her phone rang. When she answered, a woman said, "Hello, Elizabeth. This is Rebecca Farland from Fourth Man Records here in Nashville. I was calling to see if you could come by tomorrow? I have a little recording contract I would like to discuss with you."

She couldn't speak. This was something she'd never thought would ever happen. "Um, o-okay," she managed.

"Great! Come to our main offices around 2 o'clock and tell the receptionist you're here to visit me and he'll give you directions."

Shortly after hanging up, Liz flopped back on her bed and let herself freak out. She pressed a pillow to her face to muffle her scream. After several seconds, she tossed the pillow and sat up. Her gaze landed on Sylvie. Her eyes filled with tears almost right away. "I did it," she breathed. She stood and walked over to her guitar. "I did it," she whispered. She dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands as her shoulders shook from her sobs.

---

Liz's knees ached and her legs were stiff when she finally stood and dried her face. Her heart hurt, but there wasn't anything she could really do about that, she knew. Only time and maybe a little distraction would help.

But she had plenty of distraction.

She emerged from her room, hoping her parents weren't home just yet and she'd be able to get her face to not look like she'd been crying for a half hour. She padded down the hallway to the bathroom to rinse her face. Once done, she made her way back to her room and shut the door. It was going to take a lot out of her to make it through this. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to go through with even that meeting.

What was she going to do?

She picked up her phone and went to Shay's contact, but she couldn't make the call. Her heart felt like it fell through the floor when she thought about it. Instead, she went to her laptop and researched what the meeting would be like and searched for a standard contract so she could see what she'd have taken from her. Or would she even get to look it over? Should she bring her dad's attorney?

She rubbed her face. She had no idea. She'd would just have to look it up.

---

Shay walked into Liz's room, looking at her suspiciously. Liz could feel Shay's eyes on her back as she put her guitar on its stand.

"You're just now telling me this," Shay said. "Just now, when you went to a meeting a week ago and have your first official recording session tomorrow."