“We do this every weekend,” Lacey says. “I wanted to do lunch proper, but Reid insists it has to be after your shift because of some… rule book? I don’t even want to know.”

I blink. “You’re here every Saturday?”

Logan touches his hair so much I’m not even sure he knows he’s doing it. “Chao Down is our No Music zone, where we can focus on Survivor and not get sidetracked by band stuff.”

I had no idea Reid managed to drag his friends into his Survivor fandom.

Or that he talks to them about anything besides, well, band stuff.

“I know what you’re doing,” Reid says, nodding toward our back booths, his raised eyebrows screaming I know you’re up to something!

Lacey drums her pale pink manicure on the table. “Misery loves company. It makes sense.”

I shake my head. “We’re not—”

Reid cuts me off. “—against the band.”

Of course, he has to let me know he heard every word.

Before I respond, he shoots me his most condescending smirk. “What a relief.”

I press my lips together to silence my rage scream.

“What Reid means to say—” Logan says, brushing his hair out of his eyes for the umpteenth time “—is let us know if there is anything we can do to help.”

That is not what Reid means and Logan is absolutely too nice to function.

“Noted.”

I return to the booths before I can give any more away, with a mission to bring down the volume without snuffing out the passion or looking too sketchy. I slide into the opposite side of my booth so I can look over the restaurant and keep tabs on Reid and The First Chairs.

“It’s Survivor Saturday. Allegedly,” I say, my voice low.

Henry exhales a dramatic sigh. “See. Not everything Reid does has an ulterior motive.”

Fitz shakes her head. “Really? Sounds fake.”

Makayla raises her hand. “Not to be that person—”

“You are literally always that person,” Arjun interjects.

“—but less than forty-five minutes until HIIT.”

“Maybe we should reschedule,” Fitz suggests.

I shake my head. “We’ll never get this many of us in the same room again. They’re far enough away that we just need to take it down. Do not project.”

“Is that not a bit much?” Arjun asks.

“Reid and The First Chairs can’t overhear this,” I say, my voice just below normal dinner table volume. “I’ll skip the exposition and get to the point. Would you be down to join forces with one proposal that we bring to Mrs. Mulaney and the school committee as a united front? A proposal for something that combines elements of all our interests and lets our clubs live on in some form? I think we can build a stronger case together. Make it impossible to say no.”