In the live room, we played through the song together a few times, and then we each recorded our part of the song alone, too. When it was my turn, I played my guitar with the headphones on, just me and the music, the sound clear and beautiful while everything else faded away. Jared went last, recording the vocals while the rest of us watched, his eyes closed as he emptied his soul into the lyrics. I’d never seen someone who could channel emotion like he did every time he sang, like each word was being ripped out of him. His voice stirred something deep inside me, a longing that was almost painful, a desire I couldn’t ignore. I ached to pull him into my arms and press my lips to his, to feel him pour that same passion into me.

Saturday was our last practice before the battle, and it was starting to look like Angel would be a no-show for that, too. I grabbed some coffee during our break and prepared to settle in for our last three hours of rehearsal. We’d gotten the song down, and now it was only a matter of practicing until we felt confident we wouldn’t make any mistakes tomorrow.

We still had about ten minutes to relax before we started again, so I sipped my coffee and played with my guitar picks. Hector was sprawled across the floor drawing in his sketchbook while Kyle and Jared talked quietly, heads ducked close together. Brother stuff, I guessed.

The door banged open, and a stream of people entered with cameras and other equipment, followed by Angel and her assistants. The four of us just gaped at them as they set up around the room.

“All right,” Angel said. “Let’s hear what you’ve got.” When none of us moved, she snapped her fingers a few times. “I only have a few minutes, so hurry it up.”

Unbelievable. She didn’t show all week, and now she acted like we were wasting her time? Still, we each scrambled up and got in place while she grabbed a stool and sat in front.

“Any day now,” she said.

Jared scowled, but he adjusted his mic and we started the song. We were all off this time, the pressure of the camera crew and of Angel’s gaze making us each mess up. When she turned to me, I lost place of where I was in the song, and I had to make my mind blank for a second to find where we were so I could jump back in.

“Stop, stop,” Angel said, waving a hand at us. “You on guitar, what happened there?”

“I—I just got distracted, sorry.”

“Whatever, just get it together. And you,” she said to Jared. “You need to step it up.” She flicked a hand at the camera crew. “Okay, let's film this one and get this over with.”