Dane and Zion

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

~Dane~

       Zion and I were at the studio, trying to get one song fully recorded since we were satisfied with the lyrics we had. We even showed it to Dolores and Donny, and both of them liked it. Zion seemed excited to get the song recorded but once he was in the recording booth, he could not focus.

       Even though he had the lyrics in front of him, he was constantly messing them up. Not only that, but the timing was so off as well. I've never heard him sing like this before.

       Eventually, I had to cut off the music and stop the recording before leaning towards the microphone to talk to him. "Zion, is everything okay?"

       "Yeah," Zion said. "For sure. It's just, you know, the first time recording in this studio. Maybe it's the acoustics or something that's messing me up."

       "You and I both know that's not true," I said. "If you don't feel like you can record this today, we'll book another day to record it. I'm sure you don't want to produce something you're not proud of."

       "No, I promise I can do it," Zion said. "Maybe I just need to sing one of my already recorded songs as a warm up or something."

       "Alright, we'll do that," I said. "Which song do you want?"

       After telling me the song he wanted to sing, I put the backing track on for him, hoping that maybe he really did just need a warm up or something. Though, deep down, I knew it wasn't true. There was just something else going on.

       And him singing this song pretty much confirmed it. He was still messing up the lyrics and his timing was still off. It was like no matter what song he sang, he just couldn't focus.

       I cut off the music once again. "Zion, what's going on?"

       "Nothing," Zion said.

       "Does this have to do with that text you got?" I asked. "From your biological mother? Even though you told me it wasn't a big deal, I could tell something was up."

       Zion sighed, taking off his headphones and hooking them on the microphone before leaving the booth. He sat down on one of the chairs in the room. "Yeah, that's what's bothering me. I really don't like talking to, or about, my biological parents at all. I thought they've given up on contacting me but... Nope."

       "If you don't mind me asking, what did she want?" I asked.

       "Money," Zion said. "She apparently saw that music video that we made and figured that I was making some money from music or something." He sighed heavily. "I was adopted when I was three. My parents went to high school with my biological parents and were friends for a bit. They stopped being friends after my biological parents tried selling me for drugs."

       "S-seriously?" I asked.

       "Yeah," Zion said. "My dad found out and called child services and when I was taken away, I was adopted by my parents. I pretty much grew up with them so I was already comfortable with them. And I'm so glad they're my parents and not those other people. But... It's like my biological parents only saw me as a way to make money to feed their drug addiction. And considering I was asked for money, that's still how they see me." He stood up. "You're right. I don't think I can focus on the song today. We should probably just book another day."

       "If that's what you want," I said, turning off the sound system. "I'm sorry, by the way. That you had to go through that."

       "It's okay, I guess," Zion said. "It's been a few years since either of my biological parents tried contacting me so it's not like I have to go through it often. Want to hang out at my house for the day?"

       "Yeah, sure," I said. "We can do our homework together there."

       "Suddenly, I don't want you to come over anymore."

       "Oh, don't be so dramatic. There's not that much homework anyway."

       "Any amount of homework is too much homework."

       Part of me wanted to agree with Zion, to be honest. Why did we even have to get homework some days? I understood if it was because we didn't finish our work in class, but why did some teachers have to assign homework?

       Probably to understand the lessons better, but still.

       Zion and I left the recording room and before we left the studio, we booked another day. Zion wanted to do it in a few more days just in case he was still affected by the text message he received. He wanted to be able to focus completely on his music, nothing more.

       Once we had a day and time booked, we left the studio and went to his house. As soon as we walked inside, Zion's mom said, "I thought you two were working at the studio today."

       "We were," Zion said, taking his phone out of his pocket. "But I couldn't focus. I got this today at lunch." He handed his phone to his mom.

       And she did not look happy to read the text message. "How did she even get your phone number?"

       "I don't know," Zion said. "I'm not replying, by the way."

       "That's good," she said. "She's not even allowed to contact you. You should block the number."

       "I will," Zion said, doing just that once he got his cell phone back. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you as soon as I got the text."

       "Hey, don't worry about it," she said. "Do you want me to contact your social worker to let him know?"

       "Yeah," Zion said. He then looked at me. "Alright, Dane, let's go to my room and do anything but our homework."

       "We're doing our homework," I said.

       Zion groaned. "But I don't want to. It's too much work. I have to think and write down answers? That's just insane."

       "You'll survive."

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i agree with zion. any amount of homework is too much homework. like thinking and working? that's insane.

also we do not stan zion's biological parents, thank you.