Fanfare (Country Roads #2) - Chapter 42

The next morning I woke up in agonizing pain as my back started spasming, the muscles clenching and unclenching to the point it felt like my spine was going to snap in half. Thankfully, Mom hadn’t gone to work yet and heard me screaming. She’d gone to the pharmacy at some point while I’d been asleep and picked up the muscle relaxers and pain medication.

The muscle relaxers did the job and at least made the spasming stop, although it couldn’t do anything about the rest of me. Everything hurt like I’d been hit by a bus, or at least a pair of baseball bats. I tried to do some stretching like Chef showed me, hoping it would work out some of the bruising and soreness in the muscles, but after a few minutes, it hurt too much to try and keep going. I took the painkillers Mom had picked up, and slowly made my way towards the front of the trailer, holding onto the wall as I walked.

It hurt like hell, but it was a noticeable improvement over the day before when I could barely put any weight on my legs at all. Mom, however, about had an aneurism when she saw me.

“What you are you doing out of bed? You need rest so your muscles can heal. Getting up and walking around will only make this take longer.”

“I’ve been lying down for more than an entire day, and I was starting to get back spasms. Rest doesn’t mean being immobile. I’m taking it easy and moving slow, but unless you want to get a bedpan for me, I had to at least walk as far as the bathroom.”

“Fine, but you’re done now. Go get back in bed.”

“I just wanted to move from laying down to sitting down. My legs are feeling a lot better today.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Fine, sit on the couch, but don’t get up again for a little while, okay? I don’t want you moving all over the place.”

“I won’t,” I said, and meant it.

My legs may have felt better, but I was still pushing myself pretty hard and by the time I dropped onto the couch, which also hurt, I was shaking and sweating again.

“Do you want some breakfast?”

“Yeah.”

I’d only had hospital food the day before, and not very much of it, because until they gave me the anti-nausea medication I hadn’t been able to hold anything down.

“I’ll make you something light and we’ll see how that goes,” she said and started to head towards the kitchen when there was a knock at the door.

I could hear her talking to someone, but couldn’t make out what they were saying or who it was, other than it was a male voice, at least until she stepped back a moment later, letting Coach Dean into the trailer. He walked through the kitchen and dining area in the middle living room area of the trailer, holding his worn baseball cap in his hands.

“Hey, Charlie, how are you feeling?”

“Terrible, but I’ll live.”

“I already talked to your mom yesterday, but I wanted to come by and apologize to you personally. I know you’ve been having a lot of issues with some of the other kids, but I never imagined it’d go this far, and I feel we are somewhat responsible because Coach Cooper asked you to stay behind and help move equipment off the field, which is why you were out there all by yourself.”

“It’s okay, Coach. There was no reason for him to think anything was going to happen, and if he had, I know Coach Cooper wouldn’t have let me go out there on my own."

"I know some folks from the school district are going to come out to see you this week about the attack, since it happened on school grounds and they’re going to tell you all of the ways the district isn’t at fault for what happened. It could cost me my job, but if you plan on suing the district, I’d be willing to testify that there has been a hostile environment in the months before the attack and we’d had enough incidents to know something was coming.”

“We aren’t going to sue the district,” I said.

I hadn’t actually considered that as a possibility until that very moment, but I instantly knew it wasn’t something I wanted to do.

“Charlie, don’t you think we should …”

“No, Mom. I mean, you’re the boss here so I guess if you say we are I can’t stop you, but I don’t think we should. We can see if they’ll cover my medical expenses which, if they think us suing them is on the table, we might be able to get; but I don’t want to go after anything else. After the whole restraining order thing, I’m sure I’ve already got some kind of reputation up there, and I still have two more years to go. I need to graduate and hopefully not have anything following me around that makes it harder for me to get into college. Besides, the district is poor and that money would come out of the money the school uses to teach all of us. I’d only be hurting the rest of the students in the district. They have insurance which should be able to cover our medical bills, so that’s different, but I don’t want the district’s money.”

I don’t think Mom had considered any of that. The not wanting to take away resources from other students’ thing didn’t seem to sway her, but she hadn’t considered how becoming a continual thorn in the district’s side might make it harder for me to graduate and get college recommendations.

Coach Dean understood what I was saying, though.

“I’m surprised. These days most people would prefer to sue and get their big payday, regardless of the cost to everyone else.”

“I’m not only trying to be altruistic. I have to use those resources, too. I promised Mom I’d graduate college, so it’s just as much selfishness on my part as anything else.”

“Okay. Well, I wanted you to know that, regardless of what you hear over the next week from the school, the coaching staff knows how bad of a hand you’ve had to play this year, and we have your back. As do several of the teachers. You’re not as alone at Carr as you might think you are.”

“Thanks, Coach. I’m just sorry I won’t be there to help the team, today. One more game and we’re on to state.”

“It’ll be okay. You’ve done really well in the postseason, and we’ll miss you out there, but I guess this is one of the reasons it’s good it’s a team sport. Just get better in time for state, okay?”

“I’ll do my best,” I said.

He and Mom spoke for a few more minutes outside before I heard him drive off.

“What was that about?” I asked her when she came back in.

“Nothing,” she said, but I knew that wasn’t true.

Mom didn’t lie to me, but sometimes she wouldn’t tell me something if she thought it was in my best interest.

“Mom, I really don’t want to go through suing the district. For one, we aren’t going to get someone to do it for free, and we’re going to have to pay upfront. We can’t afford that. It’s okay to make the suggestion and maybe hint that you wouldn’t if the district takes care of my injuries, but I really don’t want us to go further than that.”

“I heard you,” she said, which wasn’t the same as saying ‘okay,’ I noticed.

“So do you have a meeting with the district?” I asked.

She hadn’t said anything about it and I honestly hadn’t thought about it, or even the regionals game today, since the attack. I’d been too focused on missing the audition and how much I hurt to think about anything else.

“Yes. I’m supposed to go talk to the school, tomorrow.”

“Why didn’t you say anything to me?”

“Because you’re not going. Sometimes you need to remember that I’m the parent and in charge. You need to stay here and rest. If I remember right, you still have to play at Prom this weekend, right? Schools done and you don’t have anything till Friday. I want you to spend every last minute of the week in bed or sitting in one of these chairs. Mrs. Phillips or one of the girls has offered to come help you with anything you need, but you aren’t to move. I’m a big girl, Charlie. I can handle the school people on my own.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to overstep. I just know that sometimes you go all 'mother bear,' and I want to get through the next two years as painlessly as I can, then get away from all the petty small-town bullshit.”

“Don’t be in too much of a rush to grow up. I know you’ve had your challenges this year, but you’ve made some great progress in other areas. Your final grades were much better, you’ve been doing really well in baseball, and you’ve made all these new friends. Enjoy it before you have to go out in the world and start working.”

“I’ll try.”

About thirty minutes after she left I started feeling sick as hell and spent most of the rest of the morning either puking my guts out or lying on my bed, trying to will my stomach to calm down. When Mom came home, since it was Sunday and the doctor’s office was closed, she called this nurse line thing we had access to through her insurance. Between this and getting sick and the hospital after they gave me something for pain, the nurses concluded that I had some kind of bad reaction to the narcotics. Not an allergy, since I only had nausea, but apparently a percentage of people just get sick whenever they take even a small amount of pain killers.

The bright side was that the nausea went away and never returned, since I didn’t take any more painkillers. Of course, it also meant I just had to deal with the pain, which wasn’t great. I took some ibuprofen, which took a little of the edge off, but not much.

After such a terrible weekend, the rest of the week turned out to be one of the most boring weeks of my life. Mom had made it clear that if I even thought about picking up my guitar until after my doctor’s appointment on Friday, she’d snap it in half and I’d never be allowed near a stage again.

It was a bit dramatic, but she did get the point across. Monday I thought it wasn’t even necessary, since my arms hurt so bad I couldn’t pick anything up, anyway. But I started to feel better on Tuesday. By Thursday I was sore but much more operational. If I was being honest, I probably would have started playing again by then, just to relieve the boredom.

The last day of school was Wednesday, but Hanna and Kat came by every day after school and basically hung out with me all day on Thursday and part of Friday morning before Hanna’s mom took me to my doctor’s appointment. I could have probably driven myself, but Mom had gone into 'hyperactive parent mode,' and was forbidding just about everything.

I weirdly found I was upset about missing that last week. Education-wise, not being there didn’t really matter, since finals had finished the previous week. The last days of school were mostly getting missed stuff turned in, and goofing off. The thing I did miss was the whole yearbook signing thing. Being homeschooled, I’d never actually done that before, but I had seen it in movies and it was one of those quintessential school moments I kind of wanted to experience.

Hanna was nice enough to take my yearbook with her and get people to sign it, but that wasn’t quite the same thing.

She did bring back one school-related piece of gossip. Rhonda made varsity cheer and co-captain with one of the upcoming seniors, a girl I’d never really met. It was apparently the first time a junior had made co-captain and the first time anyone made captain or co-captain their first year on the squad. I’d heard enough about all of the drama and politics of cheer when we were dating that I kind of understood how big of a deal it was. I would like to say I was happy for Rhonda, but I was pretty sure this was going to confirm for her that all of her decisions had been right. She was already pretty well lost into the worst version of herself, but this would end up making it permanent unless something major happened.

Thankfully, the doctor’s appointment went well. Although I still looked like I’d been in a car accident, physically, I was mostly recovered except for the bruised ribs and the nose, both of which would take a few more weeks to recover. I got a smaller splint and lost most of the padding that had been on my nose, but it still added up to the whole car accident vibe I had going.

When I got home I picked up my guitar for the first time and was a little rusty, since this had been the longest I’d ever gone without playing. I was able to drive again, although both Kat and Hanna insisted on riding with me. Hanna had taken the week off of work, so she needed to go anyway, but I think both of them had been convinced by my mother that I was still going to fall apart at any minute.

I was apprehensive all the way there, since other than one short phone call, and that had been before we missed out on the audition, I'd been out of contact. Although they probably knew that I was coming, I was still hoping I’d make it and everyone kind of pretend like we hadn’t seen the dream go up in smoke. I was nervous and a little scared about how they’d react now that I’d let them all down.

“Holy shit!” Lyla said, very loudly, when I walked into the Blue Ridge. “You look terrible!”

I let out a short burst of laughter and most of my tension went away. I liked that I could count on Lyla to keep things from getting too serious.

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to avoid looking in mirrors. How’s everyone doing?” I asked tentatively.

“Just happy you’re alive and on your feet,” Seth said. “Hanna called us when you first went into the hospital and said you’d been almost killed.”

“It looked worse than it was. A head wound bleeds a lot, so from her point of view, it probably did seem like I’d almost been killed,” I said, and then paused to build up the courage to say what I really needed to say. “Guys, I’m really sorry about the audition. I know you all joined because you thought there was this big opportunity, and it must seem like I did a bait and switch. I’d completely understand if you wanted to go your own way and never speak to me again.”

“I joined because you kick ass on the guitar,” Lyla said. “It would have been cool to get a shot, but you’re good enough that you’ll get us another one. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yep,” Marco said.

“Same,” Seth said.

“So, no pressure then,” I said with a small laugh. “I appreciate you guys sticking with me even though we didn’t get the break. I promise I’ll do my best to get us another shot.”

“Hey, we still have a paying gig tomorrow night, right?” Seth said. “And we’re playing tonight. You’re bringing in more steady work than I’ve ever had with any other group. Why would I give this up?”

“Damn. Well, I appreciate it, guys.”

“Fine; enough of the girly shit,” Lyla said. “Let’s rock.”

It wasn’t the best practice we’d ever had, mostly because I kept missing timing cues. Everything felt off just a little bit, but the more we played the better we got. I wasn’t in any real pain anymore, but everything was sore and I was just feeling off.

We played a set that night, the first I’d done in two weeks, and the house was packed and included a lot of our regulars. Everyone was pumped up and the energy from the crowd was great. It was, honestly, a really good way to get back on the horse. On the way off the stage, multiple people stopped to tell me they were happy to see I was okay and back performing. I’d gotten to know the regulars who’d been coming out to shows over the last year and I knew they liked my music and supported me, but it was nice to have that extra validation.

I was surprised when Rowan’s face appeared out of the crowd.

“Hey; I thought you had to be in LA?” I asked.

He’d mentioned on the last practice before the attack that he had another session with Linda Chapman this week in Los Angeles, and he’d been planning to leave as soon as the day after we performed for the music scout. I guess it was possible for him to have finished and come back out, but he was a busy guy. He and Mr. French were friends, and he’d been incredibly nice to me, but we weren’t exactly friends. He’d made it a point to stop by when he was in the area, but this was a one-off trip, and really unexpected.

“I was, but I was strong-armed into coming back out to hear you play today,” he said, and it was in that moment I realized who the woman in the baseball cap was.

Linda Chapman was a pretty well-known face and I’d already met her the one time, so I knew what she looked like. It was wild that just wearing bulkier clothes and a baseball cap with her hair pulled a little forward, I hadn’t been able to recognize her at first.

“Hi,” I said, awkwardly.

“Wow, he wasn’t lying, you are seriously banged up.”

“Yeah. I had kind of a run-in last week.”

“I know, Rowan told me what happened and how you missed the set you were going to play for Tony. He mentioned you were playing again tonight, and I had a few free days, so I strong-armed him out to show you some support. Man, you were good at the festival, but in a small place like this, you really wail. My manager always tells me I need to be better at working the crowd when I play. He’d love you.”

“You came out to see me play? Man, that’s so nice of you.”

“It’s his fault. He’s been telling us for a few weeks about his new wunderkind.”

“I’ve never used the word wunderkind in my life,” Rowan said.

It had taken some time to get used to his incredibly dry sense of humor. I’m glad I had or I would have had no idea he was making a joke right then.

“I’ve still got a lot to learn. Besides, only one of us won this year’s best new artist.”

“Ahh, none of that stuff matters. This is what it’s about,” Linda said, waving her hand across the milling crowd in explanation.

“She says that now, but she’s an absolute diva when someone messes up her green room requirements.”

“Hush.”

“Tell him your surprise.”

“Surprise?” I asked.

“Let’s step outside,” she said. “It’s kind of crowded in here.”

I think she noticed a few people making double takes in her direction, which meant she was about to get noticed, and then probably swamped.

“Hey,” I said to Kat, who had been pushing her way through towards me. “Can you find the rest of the band and Hanna and have them meet us around the side on the porch?”

“Sure,” Kat said, not looking twice at Linda.

With Kat, it was impossible to tell if she just didn’t care that Linda Chapman was there, or if she didn’t recognize her.

I led Rowan and Linda outside and around the corner of the building to the part of the wrap-around porch that people hardly ever walked around to, and that couldn’t be seen from the front. It wasn’t exactly private, but it was a lot quieter and with her ‘disguise,’ people were less likely to realize who was out here.

“Sorry about that. After I get off stage, I kind of like being in the mix with everyone.”

“Ohh, I get it,” Linda said. “I used to be the same, but … things change.”

Her stalker had been all over the news last year, including when he got arrested breaking into her house when she was asleep upstairs. I hadn’t noticed him when we were inside, but the short, beefy guy standing off at the corner of the porch just screamed security. For someone at her level, things were definitely different.

“Ohh, yeah. Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Don’t even worry about it. It’s one of the many things that suck about becoming a public face that you just have to accept, or so they tell me. I didn’t come here to whine, though.”

“Hey, Charlie, why are you out here?” Seth said as the band and Hanna followed Kat around the corner.

“Guys, this is …”

“Holy shit, Linda Chapman!” Hanna screamed again, maintaining her inability to retain her cool.

“Umm, Hanna, we’re trying to be stealthy.”

“Sorry,” she said, sheepishly looking at the ground.

“I remember you. Hanna, right?”

Hanna’s eyes got big and for a second I thought she was just going to turn and run off the board, but Lyla was behind her and grabbed her elbow, holding her in place.

“Hey, you rock,” Lyla said, in exactly the same tone she’d say anything to anyone else.

“Thanks. You rock yourself. If I didn’t think Charlie’d kill me, I’d try to steal you away for my band.”

“Sorry Charlie,” Lyla said. “My queen calls.”

Of course, they both knew Linda was being complementary and joking, since she was very publically dating the bass player in her band. Although I didn’t know how much Lyla was joking, because she could be so serious looking, even when I was pretty sure she was joking.

“So, I’m glad you all showed up, because I came with a surprise for you guys.”

“I’m just amazed you’d come all this way to hear us play. That’s enough of a surprise for me,” I said, still feeling strange that she’d made a trip across the country to see us.

“Shut up. I love surprises,” Lyla said. “Is it a pony?”

Linda laughed and everyone else seemed to relax a little.

“No, it’s not a pony. I heard about your trouble and how you missed playing for the scout, and I know how much that sucks. It turns out, I know Tony. He’s the guy who first scouted me and we became friends later on. I remembered hearing you guys play at the festival and Rowan won’t stop talking about y’all. I heard you were playing again this weekend, so I called Tony and told him I was heading home to see Mama this weekend, and I wanted his butt on my plane so we could stop here and see you play. He loves my mom’s red-eye gravy, so I had to promise to take him with me when we leave in the morning, but Mama likes him, so it’ll work out. Anyway, he said you guys really have a ton of potential, and he particularly liked how well the crowd responded to you. He’s going to send it up to his bosses, but he thinks they’ll want to pick you up. Surprise!”

I think my jaw hit the floor, and even Lyla couldn’t manage to say anything, which was quite the achievement.

“Are you serious?”

“I am. Now, you should know this isn’t a sure thing. He makes recommendations only, and you can never tell what the label’s going to do with those recommendations, which is why he never talks to bands after he’s listened to them. He doesn’t want to make anything he says sound like a promise or get the band’s hopes up. He knew I was going to talk to you so he didn’t even really want to tell me, but I forced it out of him. You’ve still got a long way to go, but this is a really big first step.”

“Holy crap,” I said. “I can’t believe you made this happen for us. I don’t think I can ever repay you.”

“Just remember me when you start winning Grammies and getting all famous. Okay, I’ve probably annoyed Tony enough, as he’s being made to sit in the car while I schmooze, so Rowan and I are going to get out of here. Good luck and don’t let the label dicks push you around,” she said.

“I’m gonna be stopping in to see Kevin in a month or so. I’ll stop in and check on you,” Rowan said, patting me on the shoulder as he walked by.

“Thanks, guys,” I said, calling after both of them. “I really appreciate everything.”

Rowan waved over his shoulder and they were off down the steps and into the dark parking lot, trailing Linda’s security guard.

“Can you believe it,” Marco said as we all huddled together.

“I know, right,” I said. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. You heard what she said. It’s just one step. Now we have to see what the label decides.”

Of course, the hardest thing was going to be following my own advice.