She stormed out, followed by her entourage, who either gave us looks of sympathy or ignored us completely. The door closed, and we were alone again.

“This is all my fault,” I said, my shoulders slumping. “She’s going to send us home because of me.”

Jared ran a shaky hand through his hair. “No, if anything that was my fault. Shit, what have I done?”

“I can’t believe you said that to Angel,” Kyle said. “Even if it was true.”

He sighed. “I know, it was stupid. I just can’t stand bullies, and when she yelled at Maddie, I lost it.”

There he went, being my big brother again, but this time I didn’t mind as much. I placed my hand on his arm. “Thanks.”

“What do we do now?” Hector asked. “We’re screwed.”

There was only one thing we could do. We had to nail this song and hope for a miracle.

CHAPTER TEN

We arrived at the Nokia Theater early on Sunday for a quick soundcheck, followed by an hour of hair and makeup. We got to pick our own outfits for this show, and of course we all wore black. I had on a low-cut top with leather pants, of all things, and after about ten minutes, my crotch was sweating and I was cursing Julie in my head. But I had to admit, I did look pretty hot—and we needed every advantage we could get tonight.

We filmed a clip about what it was like being mentored by Angel, and we’d forced smiles and lied through gritted teeth about how great it was. We’d decided being honest wouldn’t help us if the show was trying to cover up what she was really like. Now that our battle with The Static Klingons approached, I found it hard not to bite my dark red nails and tear out my extra-volumized hair. We already knew Angel was going to pick The Static Klingons no matter what happened today, and our impending doom hung over us through every step of our prep work.

Our gear had been transported to the theater and carted away, and it made me realize how much we left it in the hands of others. I hated giving up my guitar to strangers and trusting they wouldn’t mess it up or misplace it, but bands on tour did it all the time and The Sound had this down to an exact science after so many years.