The Hush Society Presents... by Izzy Matias (best desktop ebook reader .txt) 📕

it shouldn’t take long. All they have to do is drain the petrol tank and clean it up. We’ll have to load up on petrol again though."

"Petrol ain’t cheap," I say, sinking in my seat. I would know, since I helped Cassie a few nights ago with the tour budget. The guy who struggles with maths helping out with the finances? I may not be good at maths, but when it comes to practical uses of money, my dad taught me well. "How much is the repair going to cost?"

"At least ninety-nine pounds," Amber says.

I curse. "Maybe we should have gone with option one—buy the equipment ourselves."

"Out of budget?" Benji asks.

"Way, waaaay out of budget."

"It’s better we went to a repair shop," Cassie says. "We don’t want grease on our musicians’ hands before a show. Not a good idea."

"But this is a costly option," I protest. "It isn’t too late to cancel."

"Don’t worry, we’ll find a way," Cassie reassures us.

"Okay. I’ll see what we can do to offset this," I say. "As long as we don’t encounter any other run-ins."

"Ha." Amber says. "Now you just jinxed it."

"Think positive," I counter.

We get out our car and stay at the centre’s waiting lounge. The gals are off to look for a café to grab us snacks.

"So, Amber, huh?" I ask Benji.

He sits to my right whilst Eric grabs free coffee at the reception area. He laughs, but nods at my unspoken inquisition. "She’s lovely."

"Glad you’re moving on from Amanda. Amber seems to think the same about you, mate."

"Eh…can’t be too sure. She’s giving me mixed signals."

"No reason to rush into anything yet."

"You better get a move on, too."

"Oh, but I have," I say and tell him Cassie and I have been talking a lot the past couple of days though I have yet to ask her about her no-musicians rule. "She makes deep topics feel so light, y’know?"

"Really? I never noticed."

"Ha."

"Hang in there, mate," Benji says and I thank him.

"So, about our first video, is it ready for consumption?" I ask. My nerves come alive thinking about it.

"I want to show it to you and Eric before I hit publish. I was able to upload it whilst in transit earlier…well, before our unfortunate bump in."

"We are the fortunate only, after all." I attempt a feeble joke.

"Incoming," Eric says, coming with three cups of steaming elixir from the vending machine. I take one from him and set Benji’s on the coffee table in front of us. "Show us already!"

Eric sits on Benji’s opposite side and Benji slides the screen to reveal Lily’s dim warehouse lit up with holiday lights.

"Our first gig." My eyes shine bright. "Plaaay!"

The black screen comes alive as our band logo animates on screen. It fades out and in comes our song title "Electrified" before the logo of The Hush Society along with its episode number flashes on screen.

Eric is centre stage on his drum throne. Benji is on his right behind a piano synthesiser and I’m on his left. The crowd’s hoots and cheers minimise until there is complete silence and then we begin.

The video’s only three minutes and seventeen seconds long, but it feels much longer than that. I’m proud of what we’re trying to accomplish here. It’s a step forward in the right direction. I can feel it with certainty.

If only Dad could see this, maybe he’d appreciate what we’re trying to do.

"Let it go live," I instruct Benji, who presses publish.

And there it is: a piece of us in the Internet. Ready for anyone willing to listen and give us lads from the small town of Beverley a chance.

"Hells yeah! I’m sending it to everyone in my contact list," Eric shouts.

"I’m sending it to Judy, Nate, Tamara, Mum... Heck, I’ll even post it on our College group." I join in Eric’s suggestion. "And I’ll Twitter it, too."

"Tweet," Benji corrects, laughing.

"E-mail me the link, would you?" I decide I’ll forward it to my Dad too.

"You have to start living in the twenty-first century mate," Benji says.

"And someday, we’ll be on the same level as The Gramophones," Eric says with a dreamy look.

Speaking of them, I forgot to tell my best mates important news about our progress as a band.

"We may not be on the same level yet, but I honestly can’t believe I forgot to mention this earlier," I begin. "Cassie was telling me that Callum Ford noticed us. He loved ‘Brick Walls’!"

Benji and Eric erupt in shouts of elation. Everyone around us glares at us.

"We have to send the link to Callum," Eric says clasping his hands. "Then he can share it and more people will know about us." He shouts in glee once more.

"How's that for a shameless plug?" Benji teases Eric. "I can't believe you didn’t tell us earlier, Cameron. Man, oh, man. This is golden!"

"Send the link to Callum?" I repeat. They're right, of course, but I’m not ready to share it with someone I look up to that much. I couldn’t bare the idea if he says its utter shite…even if he saw a snippet of our performance.

I can't think of an excuse to counter their argument, so I remain silent.

"You could tweet it to him," Eric shouts with excitement.

"What? No!" I protest.

"If you won’t, then one of us will," Benji agrees with the same level of enthusiasm. "Better yet, using our band account."

"Musicians nowadays have to be active on social media and interact with their fans online," Eric educates me. "Especially since you’re our lead singer…you gotta start acting like it on social media."

"Isn’t my stage presence and talent enough?" I feign hurt. There is no way out of this, is there?

"You’ll need a better smartphone if you want to keep up with the times," Benji says.

"It’s not like I could choose what mobile I wanted." I roll my eyes at him. This was Dad’s old mobile before his office gave him a new one. It’s a constant reminder that all the more this band has to work out