by Tracey West
“Gigi, what’s going on?” AJ asked.
“I have no idea,” Gigi said. “I walked in a few minutes ago, and all my stuff was here.”
“Did you talk to Melanie yesterday? Maybe she brought it back,” Aly suggested.
But Gigi shook her head. “I went to her school, but she wasn’t there. So I left a note, asking her to meet me here today. Maybe she knew I was suspicious of her.”
“Suspicious of what?”
Melanie walked through the door. “I got your note,” she continued. “What did you want to talk to me about? And why are you suspicious?”
“Because I’m pretty sure you stole my equipment,” Gigi blurted out. “Aly and AJ saw you selling one of my guitars at Izzy’s shop. The red Gibson SG Special.”
Melanie’s eyes widened behind her glasses. AJ quickly jumped in.
“You’ve got it wrong, Gigi,” she said quickly. “Aly and I know—”
“Why would I steal your equipment?” Melanie interrupted, her voice rising. “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard!”
“Then what were you doing selling my guitar?” Gigi yelled back.
“You mean that one?” Melanie asked, pointing to the pile of equipment.
Gigi looked, then got suddenly quiet. She walked over and picked up a cherry red Gibson SG Special.
“Uh, yeah, this one,” she said sheepishly.
“That guitar I sold was mine,” Melanie said. “I sank all my money into my school, but I have no students. I have to pay the bills somehow.”
“Wait,” Gigi said, sighing heavily. “I don’t get it. What is going on here?”
“That’s what we’re trying to tell you—” Aly began, but there was another interruption. Brandon, Christy, and Victor came down the hall, carrying their instrument cases.
“Hey, guys,” Gigi said absently.
“Are you going somewhere?” Aly asked curiously.
“We’re going to find a new practice space,” Brandon said sullenly. “We can’t practice here anymore. Not with lots of loud guitar playing going on.”
AJ stepped forward. “That’s why you stole Gigi’s guitars, isn’t it?” she said, looking Brandon in the eyes. “You were hoping she’d close her school, and you’d still have your practice space.”
Gigi gasped, and Brandon looked away. Victor was blushing, and Christy looked like she wanted to melt into the floor.
“Look, we’re sorry,” Brandon said finally. “It’s so hard to find affordable practice space in this city. The rooms upstairs are perfect, and the acoustics are great.”
“So you were going to ruin my business because of great acoustics?” Gigi asked angrily.
Christy Sung’s face was bright red. “We feel terrible!” she blurted out. “That’s why we returned the equipment.”
“Yes, it was not a nice thing to do,” Victor added.
“We’re really sorry,” Brandon said, and he sounded genuine. “And we’re leaving the building, so you won’t ever have to see us again.”
“You know, a little ceiling insulation might just solve the problem.”
AJ and Aly turned, surprised, at the sound of Jim’s voice. He smiled.
“I came to get our equipment back,” he said. “I couldn’t help hearing everything. It wouldn’t take much to insulate your rooms, Gigi. That would keep the sound of your students down here, where it belongs.”
Gigi didn’t look happy. But she considered Jim’s idea. “I guess I could do that.”
“Why would you even want us to stay?” Christy wailed. “We did a terrible thing to you.”
“Well, you did give me my stuff back,” Gigi said. “And we’re all musicians, after all. We’ve got to look out for one another, right? So I might as well forgive you.”
“You will not regret it,” Victor said.
“Yeah,” Brandon added. “We’ll make it up to you somehow.”
“You won’t even know we’re here,” Christy said.
“Maybe we can all do better than that,” AJ said. She gave Aly a look—a look that Aly immediately understood. They walked into Gigi’s classroom. Puzzled, everyone followed.
“Aly and I hardly ever fight, but when we do, playing together always makes things better,” AJ said, strapping on an acoustic guitar.
“It helps brings the harmony back to our relationship,” Aly added. She’d picked up a guitar, too, and now she was tuning it.
AJ began to play a series of notes. “That song you guys were playing in Central Park the other day was beautiful,” she said. “It went something like this, didn’t it?”
Victor was the first to get the idea. “Ah, yes, yes. That’s very close.” He quickly opened up his violin case and took a seat. Soon he was playing along with AJ.
Aly improvised, adding some chords and a funky little beat to the classical tune. Christy shyly took out her violin and began to play.
Melanie grinned, shaking her head. “That’s pretty cool,” she said. She turned to Gigi. “Okay if I grab a guitar?”
Gigi nodded, and Melanie quickly joined the jam. That left Jim standing against the wall, grinning, and Gigi and Brandon looking warily at each other.
“Might as well,” she said finally. She smiled at Brandon. “How about it?”
Brandon smiled back, looking relieved. “Sure,” he said.
They all played together for a few minutes, until Jim interrupted them.
“I hate to do this, but I’ve got to get Aly and AJ and our equipment out of here,” he said. “We’ve got to get ready for tonight’s show.”
Everyone stopped playing. Aly looked at Jim with pleading eyes. “Speaking of the show, do you think—”
Jim reached into his pocket and took out some tickets. “As generous as you two are, I’ve always got extra tickets on hand. Here you go, guys. Front row seats. Don’t be late.”
Christy took her ticket with shining eyes. “Wow, thanks.” Brandon took his a little reluctantly. Aly grinned at him.
“Better bring your earplugs, Brandon,” she said. “It might get a little loud!”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
DETECTIVES AND MUSICIANS
“Hello, New York!” AJ yelled from the stage of Madison Square Garden.
This time, thousands of screaming fans answered her. She looked at Aly and smiled.
“Aly and I want to welcome you to the very first stop on our tour,” she said into the mic. “We’re totally psyched to be here.”
“We met a lot of great people here in New York!” Aly added.
Another cheer went up. The girls had been stricken with the jitters just a few moments ago, but those feelings evaporated as soon as they got on stage. That’s when adrenaline took over, the rush of the stage, the roar of the crowd. They had their band behind them, their fans in front of them, and there was no better feeling than that.
AJ nodded to the band, and they launched into “Potential Breakup Song.” The crowd went wild at the sound of the hit song.
“La la la la…”
Both sisters smiled as they sang. The bright stage lights were nearly blinding, but they could make out a few familiar faces in the front row. Gigi and Melanie were sitting next to each other, rocking to the music. Brandon, Christy, and Victor sat nearby. Toward stage right, Aly thought she saw Murray with a little girl.
The show went off without any problems. The sisters did their whole set, then came back for an encore. When they finally left the stage for the last time, they were a little sweaty, but full of energy.
“What a wonderful show!” Carrie said, squeezing them both in a big hug. “I’m so proud of you.”
“It was great,” Jim said, beaming. “Now let me get you back to your dressing room.”
Jim ushered them through the maze behind the stage to their dressing room, where cold bottles of water, a fruit platter, and a bowl of Aly’s favorite candy waited for them. They both flopped down on the couch there and slammed a bottle of water each.
“I’ll go
manage the crowds outside,” Jim said, leaving them alone for a moment. It felt strange to be in a room with just the two of them, after they’d just left a space full of thousands of people.
“That was amazing!” Aly said, a little loudly. Standing near the big speakers on stage made their ears a little fuzzy after a show sometimes.
“It was a great start,” AJ said. “I can’t wait for the rest of the tour.”
Jim opened the door a crack. “Feel like seeing some fans?”
“Sure!” both girls answered.
Gigi and Melanie entered the room together.
“That was an awesome show,” Gigi said.
“Totally,” Melanie said. “We just wanted to say thanks for the tickets.”
“And thanks for pointing out how silly we were acting,” Gigi said. “We acted like enemies, but we have so much in common. We like the same music, and even have the same guitars.”
Melanie looked really happy. “Gigi’s invited me to teach at the school with her. So I get to see my dream come true after all.”
“That’s so great!” AJ said, hugging them both. “That’s a perfect solution.”
Shannon and Hana came into the dressing room next, followed by Shannon’s dad and Hana’s mom.
“We wanted to thank you for bringing the girls together,” Shannon’s dad said.
“I’ve never seen Hana so happy,” Hana’s mom added.
The two girls stepped forward.
“We’re going to name our guitars, just like you do,” Shannon said.
Hana smiled. “And we thought of the best names. I’m going to name mine Aly, and Shannon’s going to name hers AJ!”
“Ooh, you girls are so cute!” Aly cried. She grabbed a camera from the dressing room table. “We have got to get a picture. Come on!”
Aly and AJ took a picture with Shannon and Hana. Gigi and Melanie wanted pictures, too.
“I owe you guys big-time,” Gigi told them. “If you ever come back to New York, I’ll give you a personal tour. I think you were too busy helping me out to do anything fun. You two are like detectives, solving the mystery like that.”
“I guess you could say we’re musicians and detectives,” AJ said, grinning at her sister.
“Or detective musicians,” Aly answered. “I kind of like the sound of that.”
“Anyway, I think we got a real feel for New York,” AJ added. “We met a lot of people—”
“—and we ate bagels and real New York pizza,” Aly said. “And don’t forget Central Park, and the shopping…”
Jim poked his head into the dressing room. “Your mom says to tell you not to stay up too late tonight. We’re heading to Miami in the morning.”
“Do you need a ride to the airport?”
Murray the cab driver pushed his way into the dressing room, holding the hand of his young granddaughter. Aly and AJ looked at each other, then burst out laughing.
“No, thanks, Murray,” AJ said.
Aly grinned. “We want to make it to Miami in one piece!”