"Sarah? Can I see you please?" the teacher asked.
Sarah nodded and stopped as the rest of the class left the room. Jim signaled that he would wait for her.
"Sarah," said Mr Morgan. "As you know, we've had some guest speakers in to talk about different career opportunities and such."
"Yes..."
"Okay, well, as you may have noticed, being a performing arts school, most people here are interested into getting into performing arts. I was hoping you could arrange for one of your relatives to come in?"
"Uhh, well, I could ask."
"Great!" he said, fishing out a card. "Whoever it is, give them my card and we'll talk."
"Okay."
Sarah left then.
"What was that about?"
"He wants one of my rels to come in and talk to us about careers."
"Sounds like fun."
"Depends on who I ask."
Jim laughed.
"I'll pay that. Say, do you suppose we can go around your place for practice?"
Sarah had joined Jim's band. Other than Jim there was also Grant, Nick and Bobby. Bobby was a girl, but only by a technicality. Truly Sarah had never met a bigger tomboy and she put it down to the fact that Bobby's mother was dead and she grew up with her dad, her uncle, her four brothers and two male cousins.
"Umm," Sarah hesitated. "We don't really have the facilities at our house for a band practice. For a long time the sole purpose of the place was simply as a place to stay when someone was recording. The idea was to get away, not continue."
"What about the garage?"
"Zac and Kel have a motorcycle collection in there. And they have a bunch more back in Tulsa. There's at Isaac's house, I think."
"How many do they have?"
Sarah chewed her lip and thought for a moment.
"I'm not sure. There's eight in the garage, and Avie's car, of course. Umm... I'm not sure how many are in Tulsa. Haven't been there in ages, but I know they're there because Zac didn't bring them all to LA."
"Hmm... so, what about studio time?"
"Ji-im you know how I feel about that! There's no point if we don't have something to record."
"Ahh, it doesn't hurt to ask."
"Next thing I know, you'll be asking me to get us signed. Not that it would matter. Zac would treat us like any other band, you know. He even told me when I mentioned I joined the band. I won't get any special favours like that just because I'm family. Not that I would expect them or ask for them."
"So, what you're saying is that if we're going to get signed, we have to earn it."
"Yes. And I personally, wouldn't want it any other way."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. You'd hate it if you know you got in the easy way and spent your time going 'did I really deserve this?' Especially when you look at all the amazing artists out there."
"Exactly," she sighed.
He hugged her.
"Don't worry. The only favour I want is free studio time."
Sarah laughed.
"I'm sure that when we're ready - and actually have some sort of plan of action to show Zac - we'll get some."