Indigo Blues (22 page)

"Of course I will." She sugars up her voice and flashes
him a huge, freshly lip-glossed smile.

Mr. Edmonds heads back to the controls and everyone
else assumes their assigned spots. I look at the clock on the
wall and realize that the entire student body is seated in
homeroom now, waiting for my TV debut. I wonder what
Tripp will say? Will he whisper to his football buddies and
talk smack about me? Or will he pretend that we never
crossed paths?

It's the thirty-second countdown, and Alan points to
Key. She's holding a piece of paper with the school news.
"Good morning, fellow Raiders, and welcome to Raiders'
Pride. We have tons of stuff going on this week..."

Usually I zone in and out of the announcements, but
today my eyes don't move from Key. I stare at her big beaded
necklace and the hair on her arms. I can tell she takes her
job very seriously. I know that she actually wants to work
at a real TV studio when she graduates from this mock one.
"And coming up after the weather with Jenna, we have Krista's exclusive interview with Indigo Jackson!" She says my
name extra loud, making sure to wake up anyone that might
be using the morning announcements to catch up on some
ZZZs.

It's a beautiful day outside, so Jenna is done with the
weather in less than thirty seconds. Not even enough time
for me to take another sip of water, but enough time for
Krista to hiss, "Remember, you owe me!"

In my eyes, I've already won, so this interview is just to
keep the peace and get everyone off my back.

"Hello, fellow Raiders." Krista gives the camera a small
wave. "I know you all know me, so I'm just going to jump
right into the interview that the whole school has been bubbling about. I have Indigo Jackson here on the hot seat."
She stares at me.

Bubble, bubble, bubble. "Good morning." I smile.

"Indigo, so glad you could join us."

"You're welcome," I say through clenched teeth.

"How long did you know Adam Spade before he wrote
`Indigo Blues' about you?"

"About a year."

"And at what point did you break his heart?" For added
drama, she holds her hand over her chest.

"That never really happened."

"Really? Let me quote directly from the song: You drew
me in like a figure in a coloring book. Colored me blue, then
ripped out the paper and tossed it away." Then, for more
special effects, she pulls a piece of paper from the desk next
to her and rips it in half.

Luckily Cat and I rehearsed endless scenarios of how
Krista could try to make me look bad, and I have an answer
for anything that she might pull out of her bag of tricks. "A lot of it's to hype up the situation. In order for a song to
sell, you need to really heighten the emotion."

She raises her eyebrows. For someone so groomed, she
has some fuzzy caterpillars. "Are you accusing Adam of
being a liar?"

"Absolutely not. All I'm saying is that you ripped that
piece of paper for effect. Everyone does it." I feel like I've
been accused of some petty crime and I'm sweating it out
in the principal's office. Is this how Adam felt when he was
interviewed on Wake Up, America?

"Let's move on." Krista shuffles her note cards. "Have
you apologized to Adam for the heartless way you treated
him?"

Okay, so she wants to play dirty. I've got an answer for
that, too. I roll up my sleeves. "What about you? Do you
ever apologize for the heartless way that you treat half the
student body?"

Alan laughs from behind the camera. Krista snorts.
"By avoiding my questions, you only appear guiltier."

I could say the same thing to her, but I can see that
Mr. Edmonds is growing impatient and I don't want to be
the joke of the school, either. Plus, I look over at the clock
and we have one minute left until we're off the air. How
much damage can be done in sixty seconds?

"Listen, Krista, we all make mistakes. It's how we grow
from those mistakes that really matter." I secretly thank
Cat. That line was all hers. I know she's smiling from the
potter's wheel in ceramics class.

"Well, what do you make of this?" Krista has a ginormous grin spread across her face. She holds up a page from
the New York Post. It's a picture of Adam and some girl.
Puke alert! Alan zooms in with the camera for the whole
school to see.

I have now entered operation do-or-die mode. Nothing fazes me. There will be no stops, no hiding behind
road blocks. This is me, Indigo Jackson, you get what you see.
Kristalight, I've got enough steam to barrel right over you.

I take a deep breath, stare at the photo, and force myself
to smile. Adam with some model named Hannah-with
breasts the size of Texas! No wonder he never called me
back, just sent me that lame blow-off text. I've been replaced
by Happy Hannah.

Happy Hannah, Adam's all yours, and if you act now, I
can throw in Tripp Warner free of charge!

"Well?" Krista asks again.

Curve ball, but I can handle it. "When life dumps a
frappuccino on your head, you just have to deal." I grin.
That one I thought of myself.

Alan points at Krista and holds his hand up to signal
five seconds left on the clock. Krista squirms in her seat.
"Indigo Blues, a name that you will carry with you forever." She fake smiles and waves good-bye to the camera.

She's right about one thing. That name has become a
part of me. Now I just need to get used to it.

I sit there frozen until I know for sure that the camera
is no longer rolling. Then I quickly get up from my stool.
"Well, thanks for having me," I say to the group. Alan's putting away equipment with Mr. Edmonds and Key and
Jenna are cleaning up the desktop. Funny that Krista is
doing nothing.

Krista clicks her tongue. "Don't think you got away
with anything." She's still clutching the photo of Adam in
her hand.

"As far as I'm concerned, we're even." I sling my backpack over my shoulder. It misses Krista's head by a fraction.

"You still owe me thirty dollars," she says.

"Of course." I head toward the door. "I'll get right on
that." Right after I call Candi Campbell and let her know
that she can set up a webcam in my bedroom, no holds
barred.

is do or die today! Ready or not, we're laying down the
tracks to "Sugar Rush." Then after that we have to get
moving on the rest of the songs for our new album. It seems
like Gina's master plan is working, because we've been getting some good buzz lately.

I'm cleaning up my pad a little before it's studio time.
Then I can come home and totally collapse after the marathon session we have planned for today, which of course
includes beer.

I pull out my Swiffer and mop the kitchen area, all five
feet of it. Whoever invented this mop is pure genius. I'm
singing "Sugar Rush" and my blood's pumping. And that's
my phone ringing ... if it's Hannah, I'm going to have to call her back. Don't bother a man when he's cleaning, because
you never know when he's going to clean again.

Eli Jackson? Why's he calling me?

I Swiff with one hand and pick up the phone with the
other. "Hey, what's up?"

"Adam?"

"That's what they call me." I'm stuck on a grape juice
stain on the floor. I squirt more liquid and press hard, back
and forth.

"How are you? It's Eli."

"I know. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to ask you if you'd be interested in
doing an interview."

"With you?" I set the Swiffer down and move on to
the counter.

"Heck no. With Sabian Lime on the E! network."

"Sabian? How would you score that?"

"I already did."

"Geez, I should've hired you as my publicist. How did
you pull that off? Nobody picks up the phone and just calls
Sabian Lime."

"I emailed first. Then got to talking with one of his
PAs. Then Sabian actually called me a few days later about
a show idea they were already planning. He said it was perfect timing."

"About?" Sounds too good to be true. This kind of
exposure would be amazing for the band-over a million
homes, easy.

"It's an expose called `Twisted Love."'

"And how does Blank Stare fit into that?" I run the
sponge through the tap and squeeze out the excess water.

"Well, actually, it's not for the whole band."

"Just me?" More squeezing.

"And Indigo..."

"Huh?"

"We're talking Courtney Love, Avril Lavigne, Britney
Spears ..."

"Whoa. Indigo would never go for this."

"I'll handle that. So, if she says yes, will you?"

"I don't know. I saw her website. I have no idea what
you guys are up to.

"Ah, sorry, that was my fault. I was trying to set something up to satisfy the media, but I got a little carried away."

"Still. I don't know." I look up at a photo of Blank Stare
on a wall. It was taken during our senior year of high school.
Battle of the Bands. We won first place. We look so young,
so innocent. "This could backfire. Make me look like a
dumb-ass."

"No, Sabian's pretty tame, and think about how many
people watch the The Sabian Lime Show."

"I know." I pace back and forth. "Gina might be down
for this," I mumble.

"So you'll do it?"

I throw the sponge up in the air. It lands on my keyboard. Damn. "What the hell, if Indigo's game. I'm in."

"Awesome! You won't be sorry."

"Okay, buddy. Hope you're right."

"Listen, I gotta get back to class. I'm on a bathroom pass, but I'll call you later with the deets. Just mark your
calendar for a week from this Sunday."

"Sunday?"

"Sabian's trying to cram in a bunch of tapings before he
goes on vacation. His sister's getting married in Hawaii."

"Right, sure."

But immediately after we hang up, I'm not so sure.
With my luck, this could be the worst day of my life. They'll
probably change the name of the expose to "Star Losers" or
even offer me my own show, Down Low with Adam Spade. I
guess I can always call back and cancel.

I wash the few dishes that are in the sink and make my
way to the studio. When I get outside I hit the train station, but decide to keep on walking. There's no thinking
room when you're crowded up down below with random
people staring at you. I need to get back into the "Sugar
Rush" groove.

It's about a fifteen-minute walk, so I head west. A little
tougher with my guitar, but periodically I switch shoulders.
I still want to be able to play when I get to the studio. I picture myself hanging out with Sabian on his huge lime sofa.
Talking about how Blank Stare got started in Zach's basement, then got bumped to his garage and finally to a warehouse before we moved to Manhattan. And how before we
hooked up with Gina's brother, Scott, we just played in our
apartments.

It all goes well, until I picture Indigo next to me. I
thought I knew her until she and Eli put up the website. Maybe she's just waiting for this on-air opportunity to publicly blast me for writing the song. She seemed chill when I
listened to her voicemail, but still, I need to be cautious.

Gina's the only one in the studio when I arrive.

"Hey, are you ready to record?" she asks after I grab a
water bottle and take a seat next to her.

"All set. Feeling charged."

"Well, you all sounded great the other day. I have a
good feeling about this tune. You guys have really grown in
the past few months."

I pat my stomach. "Yeah, I better watch my beer
intake."

"Somehow I don't see you going haywire."

"No, probably not." I reach down to tighten my shoelaces. "But I did manage to score an interview with Sabian
Lime."

"Really? How did he get ahold of you?"

"Actually, Indigo's brother Eli set it up."

"What? I'm confused."

Zach walks into the room and asks what we're talking
about. I explain what I've told Gina so far and then let
them know the premise for the show. About the other big
names that will be on the segment, too.