The Right Chord

by James Ponti

  “The kitchen,” Lorraine and Caitlyn blurted out at the same time.

  “This might just work,” Mitchie said, getting more excited.

  They all trooped to the kitchen once more.

  “What’s next?” Shane asked.

  “ ‘Go-Go out the Doors,’ ” Mitchie said.

  “Okay,” Shane said. He smiled. “Out the doors we go.”

  The six of them walked out the double doors that led toward the lake. When they were outside, Mitchie read the next step.

  “ ‘Journey to Four Tops near Eagles nest.’ ”

  They thought about it for a moment and looked around the camp.

  “There,” Shane said, pointing across the lake. “The picnic pavilion has four tops, like a sand castle.”

  “And it’s right by that eagle’s nest,” Colby added, pointing to a small island in the middle of the lake. “We’ve got to go there.”

  It was getting late, and their families were due to arrive at any moment. But the group didn’t care. They were on a mission. Together they hurried down to the dock, hopped into a pair of canoes, and started paddling. They were on an actual treasure hunt, and it was thrilling.

  “Can you believe this?” Mitchie exclaimed, paddling as fast as she could.

  “No, I can’t,” Shane answered from his spot in the back.

  Mitchie smiled at where the day had brought them. It felt right to be out on the water one last time with Shane. She had so many fond memories of taking canoe rides with him. But this ride was like no other.

  They were all panting and short of breath by the time they had reached the island and pulled the canoes up onto the shore.

  “What’s the next clue?” Tess asked excitedly.

  “ ‘Where Earth, Wind and Fire meet. Look under Styx.’ ”

  Mitchie figured this one out.

  The camp was old, and years ago there had been a caretaker’s cabin on the island. The cabin was gone, but its brick chimney was still standing. Brown had taken them there for bonfires a few times over the summer.

  “The chimney,” Mitchie said. “That’s where Earth, Wind and Fire meet.”

  The others nodded and smiled. They were getting really close. They hiked down the trail to the chimney.

  “Now ‘look under Styx,’ ” Mitchie said, reading the last step in the directions.

  Next to the chimney was a pile of kindling sticks that Brown used when he started the bonfires. Mitchie kneeled down and pushed the sticks aside.

  “What’s under there?” Caitlyn asked.

  “I don’t know,” Mitchie said. “I only see bricks.”

  “Bricks?”

  Mitchie looked at them for a moment and noticed something. There was writing on the side of each brick.

  “The bricks have names on them,” she said.

  “Names of bands?” asked Lorraine.

  “Singers?” said Colby.

  “No,” Mitchie replied. “Each brick has one of our names on it.”

  This caught them all by surprise.

  “I think that means they’re for us. We better dig them up and bring them back to camp,” Caitlyn said.

  Shane slumped and let out a groan. “This is what the shovel was for. Too bad I left it back on Brown’s porch.”

  Mitchie laughed, and they started digging the bricks out with their hands.

  “We better hurry up,” she said. “It’s almost time for the concert to start.”

  By the time they had dug up the bricks and paddled back across the lake, the parents had already arrived. Shane’s family couldn’t make it, but he had a good substitute. His bandmates, Nate and Jason, had arrived in their tour bus. The band would be heading out to play a few end-of-summer gigs, but Nate and Jason hadn’t wanted Shane to miss out on this last event. They would leave right after.

  Caitlyn beamed when she saw the family RV in the dirt parking lot. “They made it,” she exclaimed happily.

  Mitchie’s father had arrived unexpectedly to surprise her. He greeted her with a huge hug. Then she introduced him to her friends.

  Brown and Dee were giving a quick tour to Lorraine’s parents, and Connie was giving Colby’s father a container of Apple Brown Betty for the road.

  “Trust me,” she said. “This will come in handy if Colby gets cranky on the trip home.”

  “Look who finally showed up,” Brown said when the six of them reached the theater. “Are we going to be able to squeeze this show in?”

  “Definitely,” Mitchie said. “But first, will you explain the bricks.”

  Brown nodded. “Those bricks used to be part of a wall at the Fillmore. That was the premiere concert venue in San Francisco. Every act played the Fillmore. All the people we’ve talked about today—any classic rock band you can think of—played the Fillmore.

  “And during all those concerts, their music echoed off the walls. Off these bricks. Think of the incredible music that these six bricks have absorbed.”

  Mitchie got goosebumps and looked in wonder at the object in her hand.

  “But how are we supposed to use them?” Shane asked.

  “Tonight, during the show,” Brown said. “We’re going to line them up on the stage. That means your music is going to bounce off the same bricks. Your sounds are going to blend in with the sounds of all those amazing groups. And when you go home, you’re each going to take one of the bricks with you.”

  “Wow!” Mitchie said. “That is so amazing.” True, she didn’t have a unique piece of history to perform with tonight like the others, but this was more meaningful. This she would cherish forever.

  “Of course, that will only happen if you all get onstage and perform,” Brown added.

  “Okay, okay. We’re going.”

  Just then a limousine pulled up. The back door opened and T. J. Tyler sprang out. She was all alone. There was no entourage. There were no photographers. There was just Tess’s mother.

  “Did I miss it?” T. J. asked. “Am I too late?”

  “No,” Tess said, beaming. “You’re right on time.”

  CHAPTER

  TEN

  For as long as she could remember, Mitchie Torres dreamed of being a performing artist like the ones she saw on Hot Tunes. And for as long as she could remember, that dream seemed like a far-fetched idea. But now, at least for one night, she was just like them.

  She was dressed like one of the Go-Go’s and singing with someone wearing Bono’s hat. Her best friend was mixing the concert on the same equipment that Jam Master Jay used to mix Run-DMC’s records, and one of her newest friends was singing into Aretha Franklin’s microphone. And to top it all off, the boy of her dreams was winking at her while he played Paul McCartney’s guitar. Even Nate and Jason had gotten into the act and were providing backup vocals.

  There may have been only a dozen or so people in the audience, but it didn’t matter. To Mitchie it felt as if she were playing with all the great acts that had ever played before a full house at the Fillmore or any other rock venue.

  Although Brown had thought they would each perform solo, the six campers had another plan. They told Brown they wanted to spend the concert performing as a group, blending their styles and personalities and giving the summer a proper ending.

  Lorraine brought the house down when she walked onstage wearing platform boots, a sequined jumpsuit, and Elton John’s sunglasses. And Mitchie’s mom surprised everyone when she came out of the audience and joined them on the Go-Go’s hit song, “We Got the Beat.”

  When Mitchie held that final note and the music faded, everyone in the crowd jumped to their feet and gave them a standing ovation. Leading the way was Brown Cesario. He had wanted to give them a memory to inspire them, and he had achieved that—and so much more.

  And in return, they wanted to give him something.

  “We have one more song we’d like to play,” Mitchie said into the microphone. “That is if Dee was able to find the music for us.”

  “I’ve got it,” a voice c
alled out.

  From the back of the auditorium, Dee came running up with a stack of sheet music. She handed it to Mitchie, who then passed it out among the others.

  Lorraine was at the piano and Shane and Colby were on guitar while Tess and Mitchie shared Aretha’s microphone. Even though one was wearing a blinding array of eighties colors and the other was in an elegant black-and-white gown, they somehow fit together perfectly.

  Shane leaned into a microphone and said, “This one’s for all the kids sitting in their rooms, listening to music and dreaming big.”

  He counted out a beat, and Colby started playing a bass line. Soon they were all going, all five of them singing, while Caitlyn worked the mixing board. All five of their voices came together in perfect harmony. All different eras of rock and roll combined to make one beautiful sound.

  They sang the Beach Boys tune that Brown had listened to thousands of times when he was growing up. The song that had hooked him on rock and roll.

  At one point in the middle of singing and playing and dancing, Mitchie looked toward the front row where she saw Brown. His eyes were closed as he traveled back in time listening to the song.

  And though it was hard to see past the stage lights, Mitchie was pretty sure she saw some tears rolling down his cheeks.

  That was when Mitchie stopped worrying.

  She knew that she didn’t have to wonder what would happen now that Camp Rock was over. The camp was only what brought them together. It wasn’t what held them together. They didn’t need to be sleeping in cabins and taking classes together. They were connected by something much more important. Something that wasn’t going to end when they headed home.

  They were connected by the music, and that would always keep playing.