trouble is a friend

If there was anyone who needed their ass kicked, it was Derrick...as far as Zac was concerned. He was so mad, he couldn't even talk.

Here he was all excited about a concert, at the school no less..and then... to be opening for some other band seriously pissed him off. How could Derrick have done this?

And here Derrick's old friend was trying to take everything apart and redo what ever it was that Zac thought they had going for them.

"OK, what I think, you guys should do, is...pull you up front, Zac. After all, you are the front man, right?" Mitch kept his eye on Zac. The dude was serious about these changes. "And I'd let someone else play keyboard."

Zac grimaced. This was totally wrong.

"And..try not to be so dark. I mean, you guys are playing for a high school crowd." Mitch kept his arms crossed as he moved on to Fish. "I want Fish to play keyboard."

"What?" Fish kind of cracked a laugh. He looked to Zac as if the keyboard was Zac's baby at his fingertips. Zac had practically gone to bed with that keyboard since he got it.

"Why not?" Mitch glared at Fish.

"He doesn't know how." Zac told him.

"Well,  I can teach you." Mitch shrugged as if it were no big deal. "And then you can practice, and Zac can practice on his vocals." Problem solved, obviously.

But Zac was seething. He didn't know if he could take much more of this. He just didn't get why they needed Mitch.

"Syreeta's really good." Fish gave in. Zac could see Fish didn't even want to be here.

"So Syreeta is our go to girl? Is that it?" Mitch smiled at Syreeta, but he wasn't finished with Fish. "Look, just try... before you give up. You, might really like it. Maybe we can find some sounds that'll keep everything in sync and the crowd happy."

Zac rolled his eyes. He let out of breath. If it wasn't the band he was worried about, it was the way Sawyer looked at Syreeta. Zac looked back at Syreeta. Why did she have to look at Sawyer that way? What else could go wrong?