“No!” They started waving us onto stage, but Jared didn’t move, still waiting for my answer. I couldn’t think of a good excuse, and I couldn’t avoid him forever either. “Fine, we’ll have coffee. Now can we go?”

We followed the other guys on stage, waving and smiling at the audience. This was the real trick to being an entertainer: pretending everything was great while your life was falling apart around you. Our lives were covered in gold foil, but if you scratched hard enough, you’d see the rust underneath.

We lined up with the other bands just as we’d practiced earlier, and Ray opened an envelope. “The first band to be saved is…The Quiet Battles!” Everyone clapped, and the many members of the folk band hugged each other. The wait was killing me, and I nearly grabbed Jared’s hand but restrained myself. Instead I wrung my hands over and over while Ray took his sweet time announcing the next name.

“The second band is…As We Die!”

That was the Christian heavy metal band—leaving us and the reggae group for the elimination. Please don’t let us go home yet, I silently prayed.

“And the final band is…Villain Complex!”

Relief swept through me, and I almost jumped up and down, except that would be bad for my ankle. Instead we cheered and hugged each other, and the three bands still on Team Dan left the stage in a whirlwind of applause and bright lights while the reggae band said their goodbyes behind us. We were safe, for one more week anyway.

Jared and I agreed to meet three blocks from the hotel at a small hole-in-the-wall coffee shop where no one would see us. He was already sitting at a table in the corner when I arrived, playing with the lid from his cup and gazing out the window. I ordered a coffee and sat across from him. I didn’t know what to say or think or even what I hoped would come out of this conversation. When his blue eyes met mine, I was torn between wanting things to go back to the way they were and recklessly wanting to kiss him again.

“Maddie, about last night…”

In that pause I heard it all. I clutched my cup so hard the lip popped off and coffee spilled over the edge and onto the table. Jared handed me a napkin, and I mopped it up.

“Sorry,” I said. Did these kinds of things happen to other girls, or was the universe just mocking me now?

“It’s okay.” He sucked in a breath, but I cut in before he could start again.

“I already know what you’re going to say, and it’s fine.” If I said it, it would feel less like he was rejecting me and more like I’d decided this myself. Which I had. Really.

“You do?”