“Don’t be an ass,” Jared said, hitting a button that lowered the garage door, locking me in with them. “Of course she’ll play.”

The time had come. They were all waiting, and if I was going to be their guitarist tomorrow, I had to show them I could actually do it. There was nowhere for me to run now. I flexed my fingers and placed them on the guitar. They hadn’t told me what to play, and I felt too self-conscious to perform one of their own songs for them, but nothing else came to mind either.

I remembered Carla and Julie’s suggestion earlier, to pretend I was playing for them if I got nervous. If we were sitting on our couch right now, what would they want to hear? Something mellow. Something fun. Something they liked to sing along to. My decision made, I tapped out a beat and started Incubus’s “Wish You Were Here.” It was a perfect choice because right now I did wish they were here with me.

The song was off at first, every chord sounding like it was being ripped from my hands instead of flowing smoothly. Turns out, playing for three hot musicians in their garage-turned-studio was nothing like playing in my apartment for my two best friends. But once I got into it and stopped thinking so much about how they were watching me, my fingers knew what to do. The music poured out of me as it always did, from my body into the guitar, out the amp, and then back to my ears again in a perfect cycle. I never felt this way when I played the violin or clarinet or even the piano. With those instruments, I was precise and controlled and didn’t get lost in the music. Those were work, but this—this was like breathing.

When I got to the chorus, Jared sang the lyrics, more to himself than anyone else, and I caught the other guys nodding along, too. Eventually I’d played enough, and Hector raised a hand to stop me.

“Okay, that wasn’t bad,” he admitted. “But do you actually know our songs?”

Not bad? I’d take it. Kyle gave me a reassuring smile, too, so he must not have thought I was horrible either.

“I know them,” I said.

“Told you she could play,” Jared said, moving in front of the mic. “We’re doing ‘Behind the Mask’ for the audition. Let’s run through it and see how it goes.”

I nodded, relieved. Jared had already heard me playing that song and must have approved, or he wouldn’t have asked me to join them. All bands performed one of their original songs during the audition, even though the bands used cover songs during the actual show. “Behind the Mask” was a good choice because it demonstrated the band’s sound, plus it showed off Jared’s impressive vocals and had a catchy beat.