Solo Star

by Cindy Jefferies

  “Yes, please,” agreed one of the senior boys, who Chloe knew played guitar. He looked at his fellow musicians and they all nodded.

  “Okay. Good.”

  Next, Judge Jim turned to the singers. “You’re more of a problem,” he said, “because Mr. Player tells me you are all soloists.”

  “I’m happy to sing with Rob,” one of the girls volunteered right away.

  “Sounds good to me,” Rob agreed.

  Mr. Player looked pleased.

  “Thank you,” said Judge Jim.

  “If one of the bands needs a vocalist, I’d love to do that,” said the other boy.

  “Yeah! Come over here!” yelled one of the guitarists, and everyone laughed.

  “Excellent!” Judge Jim joined in the laughter. “You two are in your final year, aren’t you?” he said to a couple of the other singers. “Both Mr. Player and I feel you ought to have a solo slot each, using the backin’ tracks you’re used to.”

  That left just two older girls and Chloe, who was getting more and more worried about her own act.

  “Right,” said Mr. Player. “It’s all coming together well. Now, you three . . .” He looked thoughtful. “I don’t think you’d make a good trio,” he said to the older girls. “Chloe’s voice is too different. It just wouldn’t be a good fit.” He was beginning to look a bit concerned. “How many acts have we decided on so far?” he asked the other teacher.

  Judge Jim counted them out. “Two bands,” he said, “two solos, plus Rob and Ayesha’s duet. That’s five out of the six we need.”

  “Hmm,” said Mr. Player while Chloe held her breath. If only they would let her sing solo. But then what would the other two girls do? And Mr. Player had just said that they wouldn’t make a good trio. Trying to fit everyone into so few acts was turning into a nightmare.

  “I know,” said Judge Jim at last. Chloe and the others looked at him hopefully. “We have a vocalist for one of the bands, but not the other. How about lettin’ Chloe sing with the second band?” he suggested. “Her voice is plenty strong enough. Then you two can sing a duet. Would that work for you?”

  The two older girls looked relieved and so did Mr. Player.

  “Good idea,” he agreed.

  Chloe was silent, but inside she was shouting, What about me? What about what’s right for me? Chloe had never been a vocalist in a band before. Surely now wasn’t the time to try something so different? She glanced over at the musicians and felt even more worried. She knew that most of them were into rock music, while she was a pop singer who was used to singing along to bright and breezy backing tracks. How would she cope with heavy guitar solos and earsplitting drums and cymbals?

  This was supposed to be her big moment, but she was going to have to perform in a way she never had before. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

  No! Chloe wanted to shout out in protest. I can’t do it. I don’t know how. It’s not fair! But she didn’t say anything. What was the point? It had all been decided. She was the most junior singer, so of course the older ones should get first choice. Chloe tried her hardest to feel pleased for everyone, she really did. But she simply couldn’t be happy for them.

  She glanced over at Danny and caught his eye. He looked less happy than he had a few minutes ago. He was probably worrying about how Chloe was going to perform as part of a rock band.

  “You’d better go to your classes now,” said Judge Jim. “But try to get together with your fellow artists as soon as possible to discuss what you’re goin’ to perform. We’ll give you all the help you need, and of course you’ll have priority for rehearsal rooms. Go ahead. And good luck!”

  As Chloe made her way toward the door, one of the guitarists grabbed her arm. It was Zil Gibson. She knew that Danny had always wanted to work with him, but Chloe had never thought she’d have to. “Hi,” he said. “It looks as if you’ll be with us. We’re having a band meeting at lunchtime in the library. Is that okay with you?”

  Chloe nodded numbly.

  “Good,” said Zil. “Don’t be late, okay? Come right after the last class before lunch. We have a lot to talk about.”

  “Okay,” agreed Chloe nervously.

  She couldn’t avoid walking to English with Danny because they had class together, but she didn’t really want to talk.

  “You all right?” he asked.

  Chloe looked at him miserably. “No,” she admitted. “Not really. It’s okay for you,” she went on. “You’re used to playing with other people. You’ll fit in fine. But I won’t. I thought it was going to be so great being a Rising Star, but it’s nothing like I imagined. How am I going to learn to sing rock music in a band? I’m a solo artist. And I’m a pop singer, not a rocker.”

  “It’ll be all right,” Danny told her encouragingly. “Judge Jim thinks you can do it, right? It can’t be that difficult.”

  “Judge Jim isn’t my singing teacher, is he?” Chloe snapped. “And you’re a drummer, so what do you know? It’s not as easy as you think.” She wanted to cry, but took refuge in being angry instead. “I should have known that you wouldn’t understand.” She hurried away from him before tears could start trickling down her face.

  When she got to class the lesson had already started, so she didn’t have to explain to the others what had happened.

  On the way to the next class, though, Pop and Lolly wanted to hear how the meeting had gone. Chloe was noncommittal. She was trying to feel positive, but it wasn’t easy.

  “You must be so thrilled,” Pop said. “It’s such a cool thing to be a Rising Star.”

  “Ye-es,” Chloe agreed. “But it’s scary, too. There’s a lot to think about.”

  “I don’t know how you can think of singing with the boys,” said Tara scathingly when she heard what had been decided. “You’re not a rocker!” Tara played bass and was always trying to tell the others that rock was much cooler than pop. “You don’t even have the right clothes,” she added with a laugh.

  “Don’t be so horrible!” Lolly told Tara. “Don’t pay attention to her, Chloe. Tara’s only jealous. You’ll be fine singing rock for a change. It’ll be fun. The hardest part is over now that you’ve won your place. All you have to do is sing!”

  Chloe gave her a tight smile. She longed to have some time alone with Lolly so she could tell her best friend how she really felt, but she’d have to wait until later in the day for that.

  As the morning passed, Chloe began to calm down. She felt sorry that she’d snapped at Danny. He’d only been trying to help. And Judge Jim might not be her singing teacher, but he had tons of experience in the music industry. Besides, wouldn’t Mr. Player have intervened if he’d thought she wasn’t capable of singing with a band? He was her singing teacher and had been there while it was being discussed.

  Maybe Chloe had overreacted, but she still wasn’t happy. She didn’t want to sing with a band. She didn’t want the responsibility that came with it. She was happier on her own. However, she decided that if this was the way it had to be, she simply had to do her best.

  At the end of morning classes, Chloe made her way to the meeting thinking hard. It’ll be a challenge, she told herself, looking on the bright side. And I won’t let it beat me. Maybe it’ll even be fun!

  3. Disaster

  As soon as Chloe, Danny, and the others met in the library at lunchtime, Zil Gibson took control. “Let’s see if we can make a few decisions right away,” he said. “What type of songs do you like to perform, Chloe?” he asked.

  “I always sing pop songs,” she told him.

  He grimaced and exchanged glances with the rest of the band. They looked totally unimpressed, while Danny avoided catching Chloe’s eye. He was looking almost as worried as she felt.

  “No way!” said Zil with a decided shake of his head. “We’re into rock. We can’t have a pop singer as our vocalist. Your stuff would be much too light for us. It would sound terrible.”

  “But—” said Chloe.

  “You should be si
nging to a simple backing track, not performing with us,” Zil told her.

  “I know that,” agreed Chloe miserably. “That’s what I thought I’d be doing. But it’s not my fault. I didn’t ask to share an act with a group of rock musicians.” Her heart sank. It had obviously been a mistake to think that this might be fun.

  “That’s true,” agreed Danny, and Chloe looked at him gratefully. “So can’t we make the best of it?” he went on. “Can’t we come up with some kind of compromise?”

  “But that would mean none of us would be able to perform the kind of music we like best!” protested Lenny Parsons, the rhythm guitarist.

  “That’s right,” agreed Zil. “We don’t want to play pop. Look, we outnumber you, Chloe. You’ll just have to make the best of it.”

  “Um . . . I’ve got an idea,” said Danny quickly.

  Chloe felt close to tears. She looked at her friend anxiously, eager for any help he could give.

  “Haven’t you been working on a song that Charlie Owen’s dad wrote?” Danny asked Chloe.

  She nodded. “Yes. It’s on their latest album. But I’ve been giving it a very different treatment.”

  “Now we’re getting somewhere,” said Zil a bit more enthusiastically. “What’s the song?”

  Chloe told them. “But when I sing it, it’s a light ballad,” she protested. “Mr. Player has changed the tempo and everything. I couldn’t possibly sing it as a rock anthem.”

  “At least you know the words!” said Jeff Crocker, the band’s bassist. “It’s a good start. And if you like the song, you can’t be totally antirock.”

  “I’m not,” said Chloe. “It’s just that I don’t like the idea of singing the song that way.”

  “Can everyone get to a rehearsal after dinner?” said Zil, ignoring Chloe’s last remark. “We need to have a run-through of the song as soon as possible. I can lend you a copy of the CD if you don’t have one,” he added to Chloe. “You’ll need to listen to how the vocalist sings it, won’t you?”

  During dinner, Chloe tried to imagine herself singing the song as heavy rock, but the gentle arrangement Mr. Player had created for it was the one that filled her mind. She’d just have to hope the boys would tone down their version a little, and come up with something she could cope with.

  Chloe didn’t want to be late for her first rehearsal, but somehow her feet dragged as she made her way over to the Rock Department, where they had decided to meet. When she got there, the band was set up and jamming together. They were obviously getting along fine musically. It was impressive, because it was the first time they had all played as a band and they sounded good. But Chloe was completely excluded. All she could do was wait until they had finished the song they were playing.

  “Great!” said Zil when the song came to an end.

  “With a little work we’ll be fine,” agreed Lenny.

  They all seemed pretty happy, but then Zil turned to Chloe, who was standing awkwardly nearby.

  “You’re late,” he told her.

  “Sorry,” she mumbled.

  “Why didn’t you join in?” he said accusingly. “Don’t you even know that song? We chose a very famous one so we could all try to get comfortable with each other.”

  “Sorry,” she said again. “Yes, I do know it, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to. . . sorry.”

  Danny was giving her a sympathetic smile, but Chloe couldn’t return it. She felt terrible. She didn’t have any problem with confidence when she was performing alone, but she couldn’t possibly have simply marched in and started singing along with the boys. She had no idea that this was what they had expected her to do.

  Nervously, she put her bag down and went up to a spare microphone mounted on a stand. While she fiddled with it to make the stand the right height for herself, the boys played a few riffs. Standing among all the amps and cables, Chloe could feel a little ripple of the excitement that went with electrified music, but it was far outweighed by her fear. She was used to a large, uncluttered space in which to sing, but here there were guitar leads to trip over and Danny’s drums right behind her. The neck of Zil’s guitar seemed worryingly close to Chloe’s head and it moved around at the edge of her sight when he played. It was bound to ruin her concentration.

  “Okay. Let’s try your song, then,” said Zil. “None of us have played it before, so don’t expect perfection.”

  It’s not my song, thought Chloe resentfully. Don’t blame me if you can’t play it. I didn’t choose it, did I?

  But there was no time to argue. Zil nodded at Danny to count them in and they were off.

  Danny set a galloping pace and everyone had to scramble to keep up. After the first couple of bars he slowed down a little, but the tempo was still much faster than Chloe was used to singing the song at. It was true that she knew the lyrics really well, but she was unable to put any sort of feeling into her voice. It was simply a matter of getting the words out.

  When they’d finished the song, there was a short silence. “Well, it’s a start,” said Zil in a resigned voice, unplugging his guitar. “I’ve got to go. Same time tomorrow?”

  Everyone nodded and Chloe went to pick up her bag. As she was heading for the door, she heard Lenny speak to Danny.

  “I thought you said she had an awesome voice,” he said.

  Chloe didn’t wait for Danny’s reply. She pushed the door open and ran out of the rehearsal room. How was she going to get through the next couple of weeks? She had dreamed of being a Rising Star for so long, but now the dream had turned into a horrible nightmare.

  Mr. Player came to the next rehearsal. “I know you’re just getting started,” he said to the band afterward. “But . . . is that the song you all want to perform?”

  “Yes,” said Zil. “It has good opportunities for drum and guitar solos and Chloe already knew the words, so it made sense.”

  “Okay. I’ll work on it with Chloe, then,” he said without further comment.

  But in spite of that, the next few rehearsals weren’t much better and it seemed that even when the others made mistakes, Chloe still wasn’t blameless.

  “You’re not acting like part of the team,” Zil complained one day as everyone stopped playing once again when Chloe faltered.

  “I’m trying to,” said Chloe, close to tears. “But I’m not used to performing with other people. And you skipped the chorus just now! What am I supposed to do when that happens?”

  Zil sighed. “You’re not supposed to just stop! I agree that it wasn’t your fault, but when things go wrong you have to improvise. You can’t simply stop singing and look confused. We all have to cover for each other when we make mistakes. If you forgot your words, I’d probably repeat the riff a couple of times until you got yourself together.” He looked at his watch. “Okay. We’d better finish now. Same time tomorrow?”

  “Sure.” Danny nodded and put down his drumsticks. Jeff and Lenny looked at each other.

  “We’re not happy with the way things are going,” said Lenny awkwardly.

  “Yeah,” agreed Jeff. “If we’re not careful, we’ll run out of time. We’ve got to get this right, and if Chloe can’t gel with us, we’re in big trouble. I mean, we’ve toned down the heavy rock style, but Chloe’s voice still isn’t really working.”

  Chloe waited anxiously to hear what Zil had to say. He was the oldest, and very much in charge, but however hurtful Jeff’s comments were, Chloe knew in her heart that he and Lenny were right. At the moment she was holding them back.

  Zil didn’t look at Chloe. “Don’t worry,” he said to the boys. “It’ll be fine. We’ll get it together. And if we don’t, as a last resort we can always perform it as an instrumental.”

  Jeff and Lenny looked relieved, but Chloe was appalled. Do it without a singer? No! She just had to get this right, otherwise she’d be out of the Rising Stars Concert! Chloe knew that the teachers wouldn’t let her jeopardize the others’ chance and there was no alternative act she could join. She had to make this
work or lose the opportunity to perform on television.

  Chloe went to her singing lesson later that day very downhearted indeed, but Mr. Player was more upbeat about the situation when she told him about it.

  “Remember how determined you were to get a place at this school,” he said. “You didn’t let yourself give up then when the odds were against you and you shouldn’t give up now. You can do this, Chloe. I’m sure you can. It’s just a shame that you’ve chosen to use a song you’ve already learned as a ballad.”

  “I didn’t choose it,” Chloe told him. “Danny mentioned that I’d been learning it, and they decided it would be best. I couldn’t suggest anything else because I didn’t know their favorite songs.”

  “Oh dear,” said Mr. Player sympathetically. “That is a shame. If they’d chosen a song that was new to you, you might have found it a bit easier. You just have to keep at it. It’ll come in the end. And I know you prefer pop, but your voice is ideal for rock, too, you know. Get some of that awesome power going and you’ll be quite a rock chick!” He smiled kindly at her and she tried to smile back, but her mouth turned down and she couldn’t manage it.

  “Wanting to sing the song as a ballad is part of it,” she agreed. “I really prefer your arrangement of the song. But it’s more than that,” she admitted. “I know where I am, singing to the backing track you made on the keyboard. I know every note of every instrument you’ve put on there inside out. I can do what I want with my voice and the track is always the same. But with four other people playing live, it’s so unpredictable. When the others make mistakes, I can’t handle it and I know I’m letting them all down.”

  “It’s good to be a perfectionist,” Mr. Player told her. “But finding perfection in a band means thinking on your feet and adapting to what is happening around you. With five people performing together, the song is bound to be slightly different each time.”