I smile at her. “Not at all. I mean, as long as you don’t have other plans.”
She sits down on one of the chairs. “I don’t, unless you count homework.”
Beck frowns. “Never in a million years would I ever consider homework as plans.”
That makes us laugh.
Beck hits his drumsticks together. “Are we ready? Leo, put the phone down, man. Don’t you see we have a guest and she’s dying to hear us play?”
Leo keeps his eyes on his screen. “Dude, I think Lilah is going to break up with her jerk of a boyfriend.”
Jasper groans. “Not that again, bro. He already threatened to punch you. You wanna go for round two?”
He shrugs. “He doesn’t deserve her. She’s too good for him and needs a guy who will treat her right.”
Beck snorts. “And that would be you?” He rolls his eyes. “Maybe when the sky turns yellow.”
Leo scowls at him, then turns to Raven. “You believe in me, right, Raven? I could be a good boyfriend.”
“I think all of you will be awesome boyfriends,” she says.
Leo pumps his fist in the air. “Yes! See, Raven speaks the truth.”
“Can we start practice?” Jasper whines. “Another second of his obsessing over a girl he shouldn’t have is like nails on a chalkboard.”
Leo shoots him a look. “Whatever.”
“Is Ky even here?” Beck’s eyes move to me. “You’re so quiet, man.”
I shrug. “Just thinking about the song we chose.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“I’m not really feeling it.”
“Here we go again.” Jasper faces Raven. “These morons can never agree on a song.”
She just laughs. “You guys are really funny and entertaining.”
Beck stands from the drums and does an exaggerated bow. “We aim to please.”
“Let’s try the song and see how we feel about it,” Leo suggests.
Beck sits back down, I swing my guitar over my shoulder, and we start playing. We have the music and lyrics down, but something is missing. I don’t know what it is, but it’s just not popping out like some of our other songs have.
After a bit, Beck calls for us to stop. “Ky’s right. This song stinks. What else you got, Leo?”
He reaches for his tablet, where he made a list of potential songs. As he reads them off, the rest of us frown. None of them seem good enough.
“What do you think, Rave?” Jasper asks. “Was the song okay?”
She taps her chin. “You guys sound amazing, but it doesn’t pull the person in. Sorry if I’m offending you.”
“Not at all,” I tell her. “We appreciate your honesty.”
“If we suck, we need to know,” Leo adds.
“Dude, she didn’t say we suck,” Beck says.
