After signing the contract, we were taken to a small waiting room and told we’d be going on in ten minutes. Hector stretched his neck and arms while Kyle texted someone, probably Alexis. Jared ran through some vocal exercises and paced back and forth, like he was about to burst through the door and take on the crowd by himself.

I sank onto the couch, the room suddenly spinning. Now that the big moment was almost here, I didn’t know if I could go through with this. My stomach threatened to bring up everything I’d had today—which, granted, had been only a small coffee. Maybe I should have eaten something this morning. Great, I was going to blow this entire audition because I hadn’t thought to grab a muffin before I left.

“How are you doing?” Jared asked, sitting next to me. “Still not okay?”

“Very much not okay.” I took off my glasses and cleaned them on my dress, my movements quick and shaky.

Jared placed his hand on mine, and I nearly jumped off the couch. But then his hand was gone, so fast I almost questioned whether it had actually happened, except that his touch left a lingering warmth on my skin.

“Relax,” he said. “We’re all nervous, but we nailed it during last night’s practice. We’ve got this.”

I nodded, but I had no doubt the rest of the band would be great. They’d all performed on stage together before, many times. I’d played with them in their garage for a few hours. Not the same at all.

Kyle dropped onto the couch, squeezing me between the two brothers. “I don’t blame you for freaking out, Maddie. This whole thing is terrifying. But I’ve seen you perform a dozen times, you’ll be great.”

“That was different,” I said. Today I’d be playing guitar in a rock band in front of hundreds of people and the four amazing musicians we needed to impress to get on the show. Musicians from bands I’d grown up listening to and had fangirled over for years. And if we got on the show, our audition would be aired next week for the entire country to watch. Including my mother.

“Just don’t screw up and we’ll be fine,” Hector said.

“Gee, thanks for the pep talk,” I said, and the other guys laughed. Even Hector grinned, and that sense of belonging—that feeling that this was right—struck me again. I was a part of this band now. I could do this.