Jared gripped his bass so hard his knuckles went white. “But we’ve been practicing it all week. And we’ve already recorded it!”

“Did Steve say why?” Kyle asked. “Is there anything we can do to change the producers’ minds?”

Dan shook his head. “He just said there was a problem, and no one can use that song anymore. It really blows, but they’ve done this before in previous seasons. I’m bummed, too. Your version sounded great.”

“Shit. What are we supposed to do now?” Hector asked.

“How are we going to get another song ready by the live show?” I asked, breathless and jumpy, like the walls were closing around me.

Dan yanked over a chair and put on his reading glasses. “We’ll pick another song right now, and I’ll give you the keys to the studio so you can practice as much as you need. I’ll cancel your interview tomorrow, too, so you can use that time to record the new song. I’m really sorry, but that’s the best I can do.”

He suggested we cover another pop song, something unexpected that we could do a rock version of, but none of us knew what to choose. We were still too excited by our version of “Bad Romance,” too in love with the changes we’d made to think about any other song. With that thought, Carla’s words came back to me about how I was so obsessed with Jared I couldn’t think about another guy, and they sparked an idea. She adored Bruno Mars and I’d learned some of his songs to play for her, and I could definitely relate to one of them right now.

“What about ‘Locked Out of Heaven’ by Bruno Mars?” I suggested. The guitar in it sounded like something by The Police and I demonstrated for them, busting out the twangy chords from the verses and then the faster chorus riffs.

“That’s a good one,” Hector said. “It has almost a punk rock beat to it at times.”

“Perfect,” Dan said. “And the ladies at home will love Jared singing it, too.”

Jared scowled, no doubt thinking of why I’d chosen this song. Maybe it was cruel, but I hoped every time Jared sang it he thought about me and what he was missing. He might have argued for a different song, but Kyle and Hector loved it. Dan got it quickly approved by the producers, and it was decided.

We worked late into the night and returned early Sunday for another long day, rehearsing in the morning and recording in the afternoon. By the evening, we all wanted to kill each other.

“The vocals in the second verse are still not right,” Jared said, as we listened to the recording for the hundredth time. “I need to redo them.”

“They’re fine,” Kyle said. “We don’t have time to do them over.”