"Grady was up for an audition of a lifetime. And he nailed it!" Mom said. She squealed happily before continuing. "A new boy band is forming and he," she squeezed his arm, "is going to be a member!"
"A band?" I asked, confused. "But he doesn't have any bandmates. How does that work?"
"Well," Mom said, "it's simple. Some bands have... certain members who aren't as talented as the others. The label wants to avoid that. They decided they would simply find five very talented young men and form the band themselves. You've got such major backing, honey. This is going to be huge!"
"A boy band?" Grady repeated. He shook his shaggy hair back, out of his eyes, as he thought about this.
Mom nodded. "I didn't want to say anything until we knew for sure. It's a little bit of a secret that this band didn't come together on it's own." She looked at me as if she regretted having said anything in front of me. "There's nothing wrong with what they're doing." She hurried to add. "It's just that it might not be the image they necessarily want to project."
"So they're going to create a backstory for us?" Grady asked.
Mom nodded. "It won't be very different. You'll be going to rehearsals quite a bit. In fact, on Monday, you'll get to meet the other boys. I think," her hand remained on his arm and I saw her squeeze it slightly, as if trying to relay to him the importance of her next words, "you should try your best to get along with them. It's imperative."
Grady shrugged, tipping his chair back. A small grin appeared on his face. "I don't think that will be a problem."
I didn't either. Grady was one of the most popular and well-liked kids I knew. He got along with just about everybody. In fact, I couldn't imagine a better role for him than as a member of a boy band.
"Then what?" I asked.
"Well, then they'll enter a talent show in a few months and after that, the sky is the limit!" Mom smiled again.
"So is Grady just going to drop out of school?" I asked.
My mom tilted her head. Uh oh, I thought, bad news. Grady is going to drop out of school. "There's only a few weeks left of this school year and then the boys will be rehearsing and getting to know each other for the rest of the summer. We'll interview some excellent tutors along with the other parents and come Fall, Grady will be studying and working with the band."
Grady's grin faltered and his chair landed on the floor with a loud thunk. "Oh," was all he said.
"Now Grady, this is the chance of a lifetime. You can't turn this down just to go to that school and play a few sports. You'll still have all your friends and get to see them whenever you want."
All three of us knew at least part of that wasn't true. His friends would be in class most of the day and leading a life totally separate from Grady's the rest of the time. A normal life.
Grady thought a moment and then nodded. "Yeah," he said, his voice quiet. "I guess you're right."
"Of course, I am," Mom said. "Would I lead you wrong?"
I twirled my spoon in my bowl, imagining a future without Grady. It didn't seem so bad not to see him and Mom on a daily basis. Weekend visits will be fine with me, I told myself. But I did suddenly feel a bit lonely.
"What about Lindy?" Grady asked, nodding towards me. I was surprised to hear what sounded like concern in my brother's voice.
"Lindy?" my mom repeated my name as if she didn't even remember I existed. I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, Lindy," Grady said again. "Is Dad going to quit traveling and stay here with her?"
"Oh," Mom waved her hand through the air as if it didn't even matter, as if she were swatting an pesky problem away with barely a thought. "Lindy will be coming with us."
As the news traveled through the air, I felt for a moment as if I were watching the scene from a distance. My body and brain went numb, frozen with shock. In that moment, I tried to tell myself to be calm and to reason with Mom. But by the time the information reached its destination, I was anything but calm and rational.
I was mad.
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