Beautiful Catastrophe

The following weeks went quickly. The band found themselves in the studio at all hours; day or night. They were exhausted when it finally came to an end, but satisfied. They were quickly rewarded with the first copy of their debut album.

They had been able to get acquainted with not only their new manager, but also the record label as well. They were taking all the stops. There was advertising, and plugging the band every chance they got. The Suicide Failures were required to drop the name of their opening act on MTV, VH1 and Fuse. The hype was building and even entertainment magazines were recommending the 'highly anticipated band of the season.'

Hawk threw a few fits through the whole thing. He argued with Fisher, Steven and even Raskoph. He was kindly removed from the building each time, telling him to cool off.

"I hate that guy." Wendy was picking at her nail polish while sitting in the waiting room of that very same recording studio they always found themselves in.

"We all do." Monty responded. He was throwing a tennis ball into the air while he lied on the floor.

"Not like I do." Wendy protested, but decided not to take it any further.

The band was on their best behavior, trying not to let the egocentric, prideful and ridiculous token boy get on their nerves. In fact, they'd had a few meetings with The Suicide Failures and only Hawk seemed to be a problem. Philip, the bassist, and Ryan, the drummer, were more than civil and often complimented them on not only their music but their work ethic. Philip even admitted that Beautiful Catastrophe had probably worked harder on their first album than the albums The Failures had put out. Hawk had abruptly scoffed at the notion, but no one took his opinion to heart anymore.

"Alright!" Steve Carper burst into the room from the office adjacent to the waiting room, rubbing his hands together like a mad scientist, "News is, over the past weekend after the release of your album.... drumroll please!"

Trick happily played along by tapping the coffee table.

"You are number TWO on the top sellers over the weekend." Steve held out his arms as if he was God giving the 'good news'.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Monty had just thrown the tennis ball in the air and at the news he let it drop on its own, rolling underneath one of the chairs.

"I'm not kidding. You are number two only to The Suicide Failures live from Chicago album." Steve was smiling from ear to ear, but something about that last statement made the room fall silent.

"What live from Chicago album?" Conrad finally spoke up for the first time.

"Yeah, it was released Tuesday." Steve furrowed his thick greying eyebrows pulled together.

Wendy stood from her seat; she was practically fuming. "They released an album on the same day we did?"

"I, uh..." Steve looked to each of the faces in the room, unsure of what the trouble was.

"You don't see the problem with this?" Monty, the voice of reason, chose to speak again, hoping to bring down the energy level in the room.

"I'm sorry, I don't." Steven looked to Monty sitting on the floor, but it was Wendy's burning eyes that truly had his attention.

"Steve, they didn't tell us that there was a new album being released on the same day... when did this get decided?" Monty was trying to keep his voice as level as possible, but it was hard.

"Its been advertised for about a month now. You guys could have seen it anywhere." Steve was still failing to see the problem.

"We've been in the studio non stop for a month!" Wendy took a few daring strides forward. The short haired girl was dwarfed by the tall manager, but her anger seemed to bring her to his height, "It was fucking Hawk! He knew that we would be out of the way for a month. He talked to Fisher didn't he? He got Fisher to talk to Raskoph. He was competing with us, knowing we'd be the number ONE spot in sales and he couldn't handle that, so he played a game that WE didn't even know was happening!"

Wendy clenched her fists as well as her jaw and stormed out of the office. She slammed the door behind her and stalked through the halls, seemingly trying to get lost;.. which she did. She finally reached the end of a hallway, unsure of how she'd gotten there. She collapsed against a wall, her hands over her eyes. She wasn't crying, but she could be pushed over the edge any moment.

She hated Hawk. That self-centered child had thrown a tantrum to get what he wanted, to be the best. They had worked their asses off for months trying to be the best in the industry only to be placed second to a band who had one member that couldn't handle losing.

"Wendy?" A calm voice, distant, down a hall perhaps, called her name.

"Yeah." she uttered finally, not really wanting to see anyone, but she knew there was no hope in staying quiet.

A figure turned the corner and she quickly recognized it to be Monty's lanky frame. He moved down the hall with even strides, his calm disposition calming her even as he approached her. Monty slid down the wall and sat beside her, not asking any questions. He knew why she was angry. Being a successful female in the punk rock scene came with its struggles and Monty knew it had to be tough.

"We start our tour next week," He started carefully, watching the movement of her hands for indications of stress and anxiety, "We're gonna be great. We are going to blow away the crowds. What have we always said about this?"

Wendy finally brought her pale blue eyes to Monty's darker ones. She sighed and rolled her eyes, then rolled her head back so that it was against the wall.

"What did we always say?" He repeated, sounding like a therapist at the moment.

"We weren't in it for the fame." Wendy muttered, sounding clearly irritated.

Monty got up from his place and held out his hands to help her up. She grabbed them and groaned disapprovingly as he pulled her up. This wasn't the way she expected her day to go.

"One week and we're on tour." He repeated the reminder with a bright and reassuring smile.

"One week." Wendy whispered to herself.