Violet Sunshine

Chapter 14: Our Second Task is So Much Worse than Merpeople or Gillyweed

And now Danny told us exactly what that was, a grimace on his face as he turned back around in his chair, set up with his laptop at the recording desk, squinting back at the screen. "The flashmob portion tests the band's live performance as well as its spontaneity and ability to control and attract the attention of an audience. The requirements are as follows," Danny read the email Berklee had sent us aloud. "The song must not be an original of the band's — it must be a cover of a widely known song so that others may join in. It must be in a heavily populated place, such as malls, busy thoroughfares, etc."

"They want us to start playing in the middle of a public place and just hope for the best?" Olivia started again indignantly. "What the heck is that?"

"Hope that we don't get kicked out, more like," Danny muttered.

Only Ryder didn't seem to be too bothered by the ordeal ahead. He's taken to tapping his drumsticks on the hard cement ground, the sound dull and echoing in the relatively empty garage. "Well, it's almost like practice for the real thing, right?" He said hopefully. "If we look at that way..."

Danny gave him a look. "Yeah, except that if and when we perform in front of a live audience, they're expecting our performance, not having it suddenly thrust upon them while they're shopping for their groceries."

Ryder shrugged. "Even so, we have to do it, right?"

Danny looked away, back to his laptop without a word, and I could tell he was trying to suppress an annoyed expression, his lips pressed into a thin, hard line. Olivia has her arms crossed, glaring at the ground as if it was at fault. Meanwhile, Will glanced over at me, and my mind was a whirlwind.

A flashmob. That's what they wanted us to do next. A sudden live performance on a bunch of unsuspecting onlookers. Which would mean parading around with all of our instruments and equipment, being very loud in a very public space, and of course, performing with all eyes in the vicinity on us.

Olivia and Danny have their own problems with it, and for reasons that make sense — that we could get kicked out of said public place, and that it was a pretty disorganized way to get ourselves known. We always met on our next moves as a band; ECHO never took forward steps without Olivia's ultimate planning skills, combined with Danny's knowledge and guidance and Ryder's enthusiasm and willingness to do whatever it took. Sometimes, when I took a step back and appreciated all they contributed to ECHO — their heart, sweat, and tears — I sometimes wondered if they were better off without me. The thought is fleeting, but it always came at a time like this; a time when I doubted my ability to go through with it despite all their efforts.

I still felt Will's gaze on me as I crawled into a dark corner of my mind, but I refused to look up to meet it. He must have known what I was thinking, or close to it, anyway. I told him, in a few words, my problem with performances. I just prayed that he wouldn't slip a word about it to the others. The last thing I wanted to do was let them down.

"What song would we even cover?" Olivia asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. "We've never even attempted to do a cover before."

"Well, we would have to ensure it fulfills the requirements," Danny said briskly, tapping away on his computer, searching a few things, as if happy to get back to business. "It would have to be a song that most people know, so we're talking an older song."

Ryder flicked a hand toward me. "Isn't that Evanescence's department?"

I pulled a face at him for calling me by my old nickname. "Well, there's a ton of options, but not many of them are very viable. Like, there's no way I'm attempting a Queen song."

Ryder quirked an eyebrow.

"You want to try replicating Freddie Mercury's vocals?" Olivia snapped at him.