Days Like Masquerades

Gustavo struts into the studio with a smug smile on his face. “I have great news!” he shouts. “Griffin just approved of the new campaign to help sell your upcoming album.”

“What is it?” Kandi asks.

“It has to do with Genevieve.”

Kelly covers her ears and turns around.

“You see, Genevieve, we're going to hold auditions for a duet off the new album,” he says slowly. “But...this singer has to be male.”

“Okay.”

He purses his lips. “This said male singer is also going to be allowed to have an all-expenses-paid date with you.”

I stare at them.

> >

“A duet? Then I'll audition,” Kendall says. He pauses and blushes. “I mean, if you're okay with going on a date with me and all that stuff too, that is.” I laugh, and he turns even redder. “I mean, it's all about the music, right?”

My expression turns serious. “You can't audition.”

His eyes widen. “Why not? Do you have something against me auditioning?”

“No. It's because anyone under the Roque Records label is automatically disqualified from this contest. It's in the fine print.” I point to the TV commercial's minuscule details. “I'm sorry, Kendall; I'd love to have a duet with you, but it's just that there's no way to do it.”

“If there's a will, there's a way. I'll find a way out of this; I promise.” He runs out of the room, and I shake my head. Katie waltzes into the living room with a smile on her face.

“So, he seems to be moving on fairly quickly.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, he got over Jo pretty fast.”

I look at my hands. “Yeah. He did, didn't he?”

“It's not a bad or anything,” Katie replies. “It's kind of nice to see him not moping around.”

“That's good.”

“So, have you seen Jo?” Katie asks.
“No, why?”

“Oh, no reason.”

I raise my eyebrows as she walks away. I really don't want any drama between Jo and me; I don't like her much, but there's no need for drama. There's never a need for drama. I'm not too sure how well this is going to work out for me, but I'm going to try my best to not have superfluous problems everywhere. It's so hard not to hurt anyone in anything you do; it's either destructive to yourself, or to someone else. It doesn't even matter whose fault it is. Things just seem to always come back and bite me in the ass.

As I'm reading The Catcher in the Rye by the pool, a shadow casts over the pages. I look up to see Jo hovering over me. She glares. “So, this thing called the friendship code.”

“Didn't you say whoever came up with that is an idiot?” I put down my book.

“I only said that because I was angry. Besides, how fair is it for a friend to immediately start dating a friend's ex?” she asks, her voice rising.

“We're not dating, and I don't know what you're talking about.” Camille trudges over to us. “What's wrong?”

“Things are just not going as I planned. That stupid new girl, Kandi—she keeps taking Logan away from me!” She frowns. “Whenever he's not singing, or doing homework, or hanging out with the guys, he's hanging out with her. He isn't even acting himself around her!”

“Camille, calm down. Things will start looking up; if it really concerns you, then you should go tell him,” I say.

“I will!” she shouts.

Jo shakes her head. “Whatever. I guess talking about this was a stupid idea.” As she walks away, James slips into the seat next to mine.

“What was that about?”

“Nothing.” I make a face. “It was girl-talk.”

“Hey, you can tell me anything.” James puts an arm around my shoulders. “I care about you, Gen.”

“I don't even know what's going on.”

> >

In the recording studio, Will, Guitar Dude, Kandi, and I practice our music. During our break, Will comes over to me. “So, what's going on with this date thing?”

“I don't know.” I start playing scales. “It's none of your business anyway.”

Will frowns. “It's not nice of you to get testy with me.”
“Why don't you shut your face, pretty boy?” Kandi shouts. “All right, let's do what we're supposed to be doing and practice.”

We play the music we wrote, a total of one and a half songs. Better than nothing, but it seems pretty pathetic. After an hour, we take a break, and Gustavo comes in as I try to finish our second song. He sits down next to me on the piano bench and takes in a deep breath.

“Gen, I know it doesn't sound like fun to go on this dating thing, but...” He glances over his shoulder to gather some encouragement from Kelly. “But...uh, it's uh, good for the band.”

“Yeah, whatever, Gustavo.”

“Don't 'yeah, whatever' me!” Kelly clears her throat in the doorway. “...Anyways, I just want you to know that the guy you'll be on a date with won't be just any shmuck.”

“He'll be the shmuck of your choosing.”

“We're both going to be judges.”

“Okay, Gustavo.” I wave my hand. “Lemme get back to finishing my song.”

His face turns red, and Kelly ushers him away. Kandi comes back with some flavored water in her hand, placing the bottle on the piano. “So, you should chill out with Gustavo. Don't try to make him mad, girl. He's always fuming as it is.”

“I can't help it. The minute Kendall and I are this close, he takes that away from me.” I frown. The only thing I can think about is how Kendall and I were so close that night at the party. We were content with our lives, and after learning about this stupid idea, everything that had climaxed to this point meant nothing. All our feelings were wasted; we were so happy only to be disappointed again. I hate how they did this to us. This is so miserable. Our flames were doused in water the minute they started to flare.