What a question to ask, Elise thought as she composed herself again, using the distraction to blink away her tears. She had to leave it to Felix, at least he had caught on pretty quickly. He hadn't struck her as that type before.

"It's nothing to worry about," she said before anyone else could say something, her voice still choked, but she could pass that off as a side effect of her asthma. "What did you get us?"

Felix eyed her closely, seeming unsure if he should really go on like nothing had happened. But none of the others said anything, so he closed the door behind himself and sat down backwards on the nearest chair. "Remember the club we played at last month? Friday & Tuesday?" The others nodded, and Felix continued, "I talked to the owner and they're doing a festival with a few small bands. So they invited us."

"Paid?" Shine concluded.

"Yep! Not much, but money's money." Felix grinned. "We're playing a twenty-minute set. They're asking for our own songs only, but we've got enough, right?"

Elise exchanged a glance with Jen, then hastily looked away and did a quick math. They had Welcome To My World, Ground Breaker, Overthinker, Crack!, and…?

And…that was it so far. Each song was about three to four minutes. Of course they still needed to factor in a few minutes for crowd interactions, but even Jen couldn't possibly talk to the crowd for six to eight minutes in a twenty-minute set, right?

"We need at least one more," she said. "Two would be better, though."

Felix tilted his head to the side. "You guys can do that, you still have four weeks," he said. "And one more thing."

They all blinked. He had lifted a warning finger into the air, smiling meaningfully as he made a dramatic pause. Beside Elise, Jen gave an impatient huff, looking more than ready to smack him upside the head.

"They said there might be label scouts there," he declared when Jen seemed a split second away from jumping to strangle him. "So if we put on a really good show, we might just get signed!"

The others gasped. Different emotions crossed all their faces. Shine simply looked baffled; Jen's eyes had lit up with a fiery glow, clearly excited at the prospect. Zahir seemed half shocked, half terrified. And Elise…Elise straight-up didn't know how to feel.

A really good performance. For only twenty minutes, granted, and still four weeks from now. But it would still mean being able to sing without getting out of breath, all the while performing with her entire body the same way Jen did.

Even if she wouldn't have to sing the whole songs on her own—even if she'd have more time to catch her breath—could she really do it?

Carefully, anxiously, her eyes flitted to Jen, who had to be having the same thoughts right now. The idea of being signed seemed to excite her so much—what if she decided she couldn't reach that goal with Elise holding her back?

Before Jen could come to such a conclusion, Elise put on a smile and pushed up her sleeves. "Well!" she said. "Guess that means we have to work hard from now, right?"

Jen looked at her closely, clearly sizing her up. Elise resisted the urge to squirm under her prying gaze. Don't worry, she tried to tell her with her eyes. I'm stronger than I look.

She just hoped that was true.

Sneaking to her bag while the others arranged themselves, she took a shot from her inhaler and felt her airways clearing up. From now on, she hoped, things would be fine. After all, she'd have to sing together with Jen again instead of doing the whole thing alone.

"Okay, guys!" Jen declared, clapping her hands together. "We're gonna put on the best performance that club has ever seen! Who's in?"

Cheers from the guys. Jen turned to Elise, questioning. Elise flashed her a thumbs-up, and Jen relaxed ever so slightly. Not fully, not yet. But hopefully she would soon.

"We're playing Welcome To My World again," Jen declared. "I will keep you here till it's perfect!"

Jen made good on her threat. They started the song again and again and again, and each time they barely made it to the first chorus before she shouted into the mic to stop, telling one bandmate or the other to play a passage differently. Then they would start again, and just when she was satisfied with one part, she found something else to improve.

Gritting her teeth, Elise suppressed her annoyance at the constant interruptions. She was used to this sort of thing, of course; she had done drama in high school, and she had some experience in starting the same scene over and over and over until everyone was finally satisfied. Which didn't make it any less annoying, though. They hadn't even made it to the chorus once, and she was sick of spending all their time working on only the first very short part of the song.

Time passed. Jen still found things to improve. Sometimes she would stop mid-tune just to call someone out on playing or singing a wrong note and make them start the passage over, and sometimes she would stop because she wasn't satisfied with her own singing and make everyone else go along. Felix was beginning to look tired. Shine was mysteriously still on board with her constant criticism, but Zahir looked ready to start crying the next time she nitpicked the same part of his playing.

"Guys, I think we need a break," Elise said as Jen was just about to make them start over again. "The guys are tired, they can't play well like this. And I need some water, my mouth's getting dry."

Spinning towards her, Jen looked almost ready to lash out. Elise shrank back. Should she have kept her mouth shut? She had already been holding her back earlier. Was she making it seem like she didn't care enough about this whole endeavor?

Then Jen's eyes softened, and she let out a frustrated huff. "Okay, fine," she said. "I'm…pretty thirsty too, actually. Five-minute break!" she told the others. "And then we're gonna go on!"

Like a director, Elise thought irritably. A prima donna director who was never satisfied with the actors' performance, so she bossed them around. At once she chided herself for the thought. Jen was simply serious about this. As she should be. To her, getting signed wouldn't just mean one step closer to making it in the music world—it would mean not having to worry about money so much anymore.

Taking a big gulp from her water bottle, she watched as the guys set aside their instruments and reached for their own drinks. Shine gulped down a whole energy drink before reaching up to open the window, letting out the hot, used-up air. Zahir collapsed weakly into one of the chairs, looking like he was on the verge of giving up and leaving.

"Hey, Z!" Shine said as he sat down next to him, looping an arm around his shoulders. "I thought of the perfect way to play that part you're stuck on."

Zahir looked up in surprise. "What?"

"Look here. Hang on." Reaching for his bass again, Shine rested the instrument on his legs, strumming a few chords. "You've been playing it like this, right?"

Zahir nodded.

"And I've been playing it like that," Shine continued, playing a different set of chords. "But if we both played it like this"—a third set of chords that, to Elise, was virtually indistinguishable from the first two—"how do you think that'd sound like?"

Eyes widening, Zahir stood up, reaching for his guitar and imitating Shine's motions. "Like this?"

"Yep! Let's try it. One, two, three, four!"

The two of them played together. Zahir's mouth gaped open in awe. "That—"

"Yeah! Just like that!"

They jumped. Spinning around where she stood, Jen pointed an excited finger in both their direction. "That's exactly what I'm looking for!" she exclaimed. "How did you figure that out?"

Shine laughed out loud. "Hey, it's not that hard," he said. "I just went by the stuff you kept trying to explain to him."

Now it was Zahir's turn to look baffled. "You got that?"

"What," Shine said smugly, "like it's hard?"

"I didn't get it either," Felix remarked. "Can you translate for me too? Ow!" he added, rubbing his arm where Jen had smacked him. "What was that for?"

"You've known me long enough," Jen remarked, crossing her arms. "Understand it yourself."

Elise relaxed a little. The tension in the room had relaxed; Zahir now looked excited to play again, and Jen herself seemed less stressed too. Now, she thought, they might just be able to make some progress.

And sure enough, after the break, they finally made it to the chorus and beyond. Shine and Zahir played together more naturally now, and Felix was adjusting to them both with growing ease. Elise was feeling refreshed too, her lungs no longer troubling her; but her vocal cords were getting tired, and she couldn't keep going like this forever. All the same, she didn't say anything. They finally had some momentum now, and she didn't want to be the weak link in the chain yet again.

It was late when they were finally done, much later than usual. But Welcome To My World sounded better than ever, and Jen looked satisfied. Tired, but satisfied all the same.

"Thanks, Ellie," she said as they were walking back to the station together. "If you hadn't called for that break, I would've kept going forever! But we all needed one."

Elise smiled. "Happy to help," she said. "Should I keep an eye on that sort of thing? You know, in case you forget again or something."

"Yeah, yeah! Please do," Jen replied. "I always forget to take breaks when I'm really in the zone. But you guys feel it when you get tired."

Elise snorted. "You don't?"

"Not when I'm doing something I really like."

"Okay, wow," she answered with a small laugh. "I mean, that's cool, but that doesn't sound healthy."

"It's probably not," Jen admitted, looking sheepish. "Sometimes I forget to eat all day. Or don't go to sleep until five A.M."

Elise let out a mom friend gasp. "What!" she exclaimed. "That's awful, go to sleep!"

Laughing and talking, they squabbled back and forth for the entire way to the station, and it was feeling almost like usual. They even started bouncing ideas for a new song—for now tentatively named The Zone—and everything was fine. So fine that Elise almost forgot about the stress earlier.

At least, until she pulled out her phone and found herself face to face with countless missed calls and text messages from her worried parents.

Oh, right.

That was another thing she should probably deal with.