by Tina Wells
Chloe, Jasper, Marcus, and Landon found her. Of course, Kathi and Jen were nowhere around. Phew!
“You were amazing! Totally the best!” Chloe gushed.
“Good show!” Jasper said. “That was definitely worth putting my book down for!”
Landon punched Zee in the shoulder. “Awesome!” he said. Then he held up his phone and took her picture. “I’m going to show everyone when you get famous.” It wasn’t long before Mr. P and Zee’s parents arrived with Chloe’s mom. Mrs. Carmichael was clutching a tissue.
Mr. P looked at Zee. “It’s nice to see a few friendly faces after you perform, isn’t it?”
Zee could barely breathe, let alone answer her teacher. Her mother had her and Adam in a group hug that had somehow turned into a Zee squash. “My babies,” Mrs. Carmichael said, finally releasing her children to breathe again.
At the end of the audition, John Rock tore open the envelope in his hand. “The winner…of the…Los Angeles Region Teen Sing…is…”
E-ZEE: Guess what? I’m a star!
19
The Band
SPARKLEGRRL: U WON!!!???
E-ZEE: No, a jr named Carina Wyatt did.
SPARKLEGRRL: I’m sorry.
E-ZEE: It’s OK. It would have been awesome 2 b the Teen Sing champion, but it was definitely the best nite of my life.
SPARKLEGRRL: Don’t give up on ur dream.
E-ZEE: No way. Never.
The next morning, Zee did a double-take as she walked into music class. She nearly didn’t recognize the man at the front of the room. Mr. P looked like he’d gotten a great night’s sleep for the first time since school had started. Actually it looked like he’d gotten an entire makeover. His hair was carefully groomed, the bags under his eyes had disappeared, and his button-down shirt was neatly tucked into his ironed dress pants.
“What’s going on?” Zee asked suspiciously, walking sideways to her seat. She didn’t take her eyes off Mr. P.
“Nothing,” Mr. P answered. “Why?”
Zee decided it would be inappropriate to tell Mr. P that it looked like a secret government squad of spa technicians had reprogrammed him. “No reason.”
Chloe was already there. She looked at Zee and shrugged, then said, “I still think you’re way better than Carina.”
“You even wrote your own song,” Jasper added.
“Yeah, but Carina does have an incredible voice,” Zee pointed out.
“By the time you’re a junior, yours will be even better,” Marcus said.
Zee smiled. “I hope so.”
Brrrrng! At the sound of the first-period bell, Mr. P stepped to the front of his class. He took a deep breath. “I have big news for everyone.” Big news? Zee thought about seeing him near Chloe’s mom the night before. A knot tightened in Zee’s stomach, and the worst thought bounced into her head. Was Mr. P about to say good-bye? Did he look better now because he was happy to be leaving?
What was Zee going to do without him? He was the one who had made her want to keep going when she was ready to give up. She blurted out, “Did you get fired?” Immediately, she slapped her hand across her mouth, afraid more words might escape if she didn’t.
Mr. P laughed. “No,” he said calmly. “This is good news. Actually, great news.” Every student’s eyes were locked on him. Even Kathi seemed interested in what he was about to say. “I was really impressed with the performances I saw last night. And I know that even those of you who didn’t compete have a lot of musical talent.”
The curious kids looked at one another. No one knew what Mr. P was going to say next. “A lot of people offered suggestions to make this class the best it can be,” he continued. “I listened to their ideas, and they listened to mine. We collaborated to come up with a solution. And now I want you to collaborate.” What was Mr. P trying to say? Zee wondered. “You’re going to be a band.”
“I thought we already were,” Kathi said.
Mr. P nodded. “A different kind of band.”
“Like a marching band?” Marcus asked. “Because it would be hard to march with a piano.”
“And a cello,” Chloe said, giggling.
“No, you’re going to be a rock band. You’ll play your instruments—and sing.”
Kathi twisted up her face. “A rock band? But—”
Mr. P held up his hand and cut her off. “We’ll also focus on the fundamentals of music—scales, études, whatever it takes. When I went to Juilliard—”
“You went to Juilliard?” Kathi cut him off this time. She was clearly impressed with Mr. P’s credentials.
Everyone was. The class buzzed with excitement. Zee’s musical career really was beginning.
E-ZEE: This is better than winning Teen Sing.
SPARKLEGRRL: Really?
E-ZEE: I get 2 b in a band w Landon.
SPARKLEGRRL: LOL. U can combine ur 2 fave things—singing & Landon.
E-ZEE: C? Perfect. And the diary Adam gave me has a lock & key.
SPARKLEGRRL: Do u think he made a copy of the key?
E-ZEE: No. He can just read my mind instead of my diary. I’m an open book!
More than anyone, Ally already knew that. After all, even thousands of miles away, she still had Zee figured out.
Online Glossary
@
At
1
One
2
To; Too
2day
Today
2nite
Tonight
4
For
4get
Forget
8
Ate
ARFN
Au Revoir For Now
B
Be
BC
Because
B4
Before
BFF
Best Friend Forever
C
See
Every1
E-zee
Everyone
Easy
Fave
Favorite
G2G (or GTG)
Gotta Go
Gr8
Great
H8
Hate
HW
Homework
IDK
I Don’t Know
K
Okay
LOL
Laugh Out Loud
LYLAS
Love You Like a Sister
M
Am
Mayb
Maybe
Nite
Night
OMG
Oh my God
Pls
Please
R
Are
Sez
Says
Tho
Though
Tru
True
U
You
Ur
Your; You Are
Urslf
Yourself
W
With
W8
Wait
Y
Why
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I must thank Mackenzie’s godmothers—Catherine Onder and Phoebe Yeh, who helped me breathe life into this series. Thank you for only giving me the best and making this book all it could be. Special thanks to the rest of my book team: Susan Katz, Elise Howard, Kate Jackson, Diane Naughton, Cristina Gilbert, Jim McKenzie, and Megan Howard. You’ve made this experience such a pleasure. And a special thank-you to Michael Segawa for bringing these characters to life.
To my A Team: Kate Lee, you are so much more than a fabulous agent. Thank you for believing in me and Mackenzie. Andre Des Rochers, thank you for being more than a great attorney. Thank you for speaking for me when I couldn’t speak for myself at those most critical times! And to Melissa Breaux, my wonderful manager, thank you for organizing my mess of a life and making everything fall into place. And an honorable mention must be extended to the greatest quarterback of all quarterbacks, my dear friend Marissa
Nance. Thanks for always pushing me when I needed it and introducing me to the people who made my dreams come true.
Mom and Dad, can you believe this? I want to say, who would’ve thought I’d end up here, but somehow I know you knew all along, and every day whispered words of encouragement to me, and offered prayers for me that I didn’t even hear. I will never be able to thank you enough. Okay, one last note of thanks, for creating my best friends in the world: Adrianne, Erica, Marcus, Lisa, and William. You’re the best friends and confidants a sister could ask for.
And finally, to the people who keep me sane: Michelle Moragne, Monica Rush, Nurys Iza, Suny Rodriguez, Jackie Fucini, Melissa Nasir, and Tina Pittaoulis—thanks for being the best friends a girl could ask for. Here’s to more shopping trips and lots of laughs.
About the Author
Tina Wells founded Buzz Marketing Group at the tender age of sixteen. She’s spent the last decade keeping her finger on the pulse of what’s hot for tweens and teens. Prior to becoming America’s youth expert, she earned a B.A. in Communication Arts from Hood College, and she’s currently a student at Wharton School of Business. Her many honors include Essence magazine’s 40 Under 40 Award, Billboard’s 30 Under 30 Award, AOL Black Voices Black Women Leaders in Business top ten list, and the 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. She was also named one of Inc. com’s Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30 and one of Cosmopolitan’s Fun Fearless Phenoms. Tina serves on the boards of Friends of the Orphans and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Mackenzie Blue is Tina’s first book. She resides in southern New Jersey with her vast collection of shoes.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Credits
Cover art by Michael Segawa; copyright 2009 by Mackenzie Blue, LLC
Cover design by Sasha Illingworth
Copyright
MACKENZIE BLUE. Copyright © 2009 by Mackenzie Blue, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition April 2009 ISBN 9780061858949
Version 02152013
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