Zoe grinned at him as he, Taylor and Zac came into the garage where they were practicing.
"Yep." She replied.
"This is my friend Oliver." Mackie said. "Oliver, these are our brothers, Ike, Tay and Zac."
"Hi." Oliver said.
"Hey, nice to meet ya." Taylor said. "When you join?"
"February."
"Really? That long and no one told us? I'm hurt." Zac joked.
"Yeah, yeah, how long you've been playing guitar for Oliver?" Isaac asked.
"Six years."
"Cool. How old are ya now?"
"Twelve."
"He's really good at song writing." Zoe put in. "He's helped us our with the guitar parts of some of our other songs, as well as some new ones."
Oliver just shrugged.
"And he was in a band before he moved here." Mackie added.
A little later, the guys were talking to Walker and Diana about it.
"We were planning on having them open for us for at least a month." Taylor was saying. "Have you spoken to his parents about it?"
"Oh certainly." Walker assured him. "We've also made a point of not telling Oliver about you guys planning on signing them. That sort of thing can be a bit dangerous."
"He's a nice boy." Diana put in. "Look, we've told Zoe and Mackie that this new addition to their band may change how soon you get signed."
"I bet Zoe didn't like that." Zac winced.
"Actually, she took it better than we expected." Diana answered. "She admitted that she wasn't so sure if it would work out and figured that touring with you guys would determine whether it was worth keeping him in the band or delaying being signed."
"How old is she?" Taylor joked. "This is Zoe we're talking about right?"
"What does Sarah think?" Isaac asked. "I know she wants to join the band."
"I believe Sarah went off and sulked for a while. Then she declared she was gonna start her own band." Walker answered, obviously amused. "But that blew over a few weeks later. She's taken up learning bass as well."
"Back to Oliver," Zac said, "Does his parents have any problems with his touring with us?"
"Oh, no." Diana answered. "Fact is, Oliver has spent a lot of time with us. His parents are often working late and going off on business trips and the like. They won't be able to tour with him as they might like, but they do trust us to look after him."
"Well, that's good. Well, good that they don't mind. And I think Zoe has the right idea. Let's think of this touring thing as a test to see how things work out with Oliver." Taylor said.