Free Music Notes by Lacey Black

amount of curves, and you have what wet dreams are made of. Too bad they haven’t seen the vile lurking from within. Give it time. She’ll show her true colors to everyone eventually.
    “Good luck today,” Corie says with her arms extended.
    “You, too,” I reply, returning her friendly hug just before she breaks off from our group to gather with the rest of Team JoJo.
    I congregate with eleven other hopefuls on Beau’s team just outside of the hotel. Our van is the third one in line. As we slowly make our way towards it, I feel a warm hand on my lower back. I turn, startled, and see Ben’s smiling face looking down at me. The look he sends me is…what? Interested? Adoring? I don’t know, but it leaves me feeling slightly unsettled.
    I take a half step forward and turn my body slightly so that his hand disconnects from my back. He doesn’t say anything, and neither do I, as we make our way into the van. Of course, since he’s standing right behind me, Ben takes the seat right next to me. Great. His arm casually rests of the seat behind my head. If I move it the slightest, my neck will brush against it. The problem is that it doesn’t send those chills of awareness through my body. In fact, my body doesn’t respond to him at all which is a shame because Ben is a good looking guy. I just feel nothing but friendship when he’s around.
    Note to self: Consider developing a fake boyfriend. Those always come in very handy when trying to get rid of a date seeker at the bar.
    It doesn’t take us long before our caravan of big white vehicles makes their way to the studio. Nervous energy buzzes around inside the vehicle much like it did on audition day. Girls chat uncontrollably, legs jump up and down to an imaginary beat, and breathing seems to be deeper and slightly labored. Yeah, nerves are definitely showing today.
    Except for Shawna. She just stares at the cell phone in her hand, ignoring everyone and everything around her. She purposefully throws her long blond locks over her shoulder every chance she gets, much to the annoyance of the poor girl stuck sitting next to her.
    We file out of the van like sheep and are led inside the studio by a petite woman with a clipboard. Her dark hair is pulled back in a no nonsense bun and her black, wrinkle-free skirt suit matches the glasses perched on the end of her button nose.
    “This way, Team Beau,” she says as she opens a heavy wooden door leading to a large studio.
    I’m in awe at the magnificent room. It’s not that it’s flashy or glamorous, it’s the fact that I’ve never actually seen the inside of a rehearsal studio before. The walls have white soundboard on them. A large, shiny black piano sits along one wall, and two microphone stands are positioned in the middle of the room. Stools are spread out atop the tan with brown and white patterned carpeting. This is the room I’m going to rehearse in before I go on live television.
    I think I might throw up.
    Ben grabs my hand and leads me towards the stools in the center of the room next to Troy. I notice instantly that Ben doesn’t drop my hand as we take our seats, so I gently pull my hand free. I use it to adjust myself comfortably on the wooden stool so it doesn’t appear that I’m just being rude. Troy and Ben instantly start chatting while I take in the others around me. Shawna is in the front row, dead center, of course.
    “My name is Gabby Phillips. I am the production assistant assigned to your team so you will receive your instructions and directions from me. If you have any questions along the way, you would direct those to me as well. I am expecting Beau any moment, but before he gets here, let’s run over a few ground rules. I’m sure you all read over the lengthy contract before you auditioned, but now that you have advanced to this stage of the competition, there are a few we should go over.
    “You will always conduct yourself with professionalism and grace as you are representing this show