Several hours had passed, and Ryan, Richie, and Connie were at a loss for what to do next. Kid and the girls had not only left the room, they'd left The P*lace as well. They weren't at the garage or the basketball court, and they hadn't told Riley a thing.
Ryan was beginning to feel sheepish. He had done the exact thing he'd tried not to do: allow himself to become insecure and show it to the others. For all their arguing, Connie and Richie were clearly counting this as his foul.
But honestly, had he been any bossier than Renee? Why was it not a problem when she told them what to do? Things were never this way when Gloria was still around. What had changed?
Finally, the other half of the band filed into The P*lace.
"Where have you guys been?" asked Richie.
"We had a discussion." The Kid answered.
"You couldn't have a discussion within a 5-mile radius?" said Ryan.
"Very good!" Renee teased. "It took Mickey longer than that to realize that he missed us."
"Mickey again. Guy's been gone for two years, and he's still here!"
"Do you want to hear what we've decided, or not?" Stacy asked him.
Ryan crossed his arms. "So, what did Renee decide for you – oh, sorry – I mean, what did you decide?"
"We realized that the three of us leaving really wasn't the answer." said Kid.
Renee stepped up to join him, but when she spoke, she looked only at Ryan.
"So you're leaving."
The P*lace had been closed for hours, but the sound of one sentence still resonated throughout its halls.
Ryan broke the silence. "You've got to be kidding."
No one smiled or laughed. "No." Renee said simply.
“Don’t we even get a vote?”
“Oh, we voted.” explained Stacy. “It was unanimous.”
"You wanted to know how we dealt with Mickey - this is it." The Kid added.
"Well, what about us?" asked Connie. "We didn't get to choose."
"You made your choice." said Renee. "You chose to stay here."
"Well, I'm not staying here now!" said Richie. "If Ryan goes, then I'm going."
"Me too!" Connie added.
"Fine." said Renee, but Stacy and The Kid stared at her.
“Fine.” echoed Ryan, and Connie and Richie stared at him.
And just like that, it was over.
Ryan sat on a bench in the basketball court, his back to the fence. His sunglasses blocked the sunlight, but they couldn’t shade him from what had happened. Every time he took them off, he saw Richie and Connie looking back at him.
“I told you, you can go home already!” he said.
“No, Ryan,” said Connie, “we said we’d stick with you, and we are.”
“Even though it cost you the band?”
“We didn’t think you were really going to leave!” said Richie. “They couldn’t possibly kick us all out, now could they?”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Rich, I hate to be the one to point this out to you…but seeing as how we’re sitting outside, I think it’s safe to say they did!” Richie just shrugged.
“What’s going to happen to the band?” Connie asked. “We can’t have one without them.”
Suddenly Ryan had an idea. “Who says we can’t?”
Renee sat at the vanity in the storeroom, staring into the mirror looking for answers that her reflection didn’t have. What the glass did show was Stacy and The Kid glaring at her back.
“Sure is quiet in here.” Kid said to no one in particular. “With just the three of us.”
“It wasn’t my fault!” said Renee to the mirror.
“It wasn’t your brilliant plan working perfectly, either!” Stacy snapped. She went over to the vanity and flipped the mirror over. “We were only supposed to send Ryan packing.”
“Well, he “packed” up half the band and took it with him!” added Kid.
“I never told Connie or Richie to leave!” said Renee. “That was their decision.” She stopped the mirror from swaying back and forth and set it straight. As she began cleaning up the storeroom to avoid looking anyone in the eye, she added, “If they wanted to come back, they’re free to do so – but do you see them anywhere? No.”
“So now what?” asked Stacy. “We’re half a band and we’re not even the half that plays the instruments.”
“Got another bright idea, Renee?” Kid asked her.
As Renee lifted a stack of newspapers, she came upon the box of records. “As a matter of fact,” she said as she picked one up, “I think I just might…”
Stacy and The Kid stood on the very empty stage with absolutely no clue what they were doing there in the first place.
“This is stupid!” Kid complained for the fifth time. “I’m out of here.”
“Well, wait for me!” Stacy added. Her sister was muttering to herself backstage. “Renee, how are we supposed to have a rehearsal if there’s nothing to rehearse and no one to rehearse it with?”
“That’s what you think!” Renee poked her head out. She was clearly struggling to bring something out on stage.
Kid reacted first and ran back to help. “Hey – the Singing Machine!” Together, the three kids managed to drag out a rolling cart on which the old proto-karaoke machine was sitting.
“All the tapes are still there. It’s like he knew we were going to need them!” gushed Renee.
“Isn’t everyone gonna notice?” asked Stacy.
“Oh, we’ll just pull the curtains down over it. Besides, it’s bound to be better than what they’re doing!” Renee said with a chuckle, but she quickly stopped. Everyone went quiet.
“They’re not coming back, are they?” Kid said softly.
Ryan watched the clouds and once again prayed it wouldn’t rain on them. He knew that Renee wouldn’t come after them herself, but he had secretly hoped she would send Kid or Stacy to tell them how much everyone was missed.
Richie and Connie grumbled a bit when he told them of his plans, but he’d done his best to build a band from almost nothing. Guitars he had several of…but they were all electric except the oldest one. Richie still had his very first set of drums…but he’d gotten them at six years old.
“This is dumb!” said Richie as he chased a broken cymbal and tried to stick it back on for the third time. “We need real instruments!”
“We can’t get the real instruments.” Connie reminded him. “They’re at The P*lace.”
“So what? They didn’t kick us out of The P*lace!” Richie protested. Quietly, he added, “They just kicked us out of the band.”
“Well, if you want to carry a drum kit on your back, Richie,” said Ryan, “you go right ahead. Get me the amps while you’re at it.” He shook his head. “Hey, we’ve done all right for ourselves, huh? We’ve at least got this stuff. We can still sing. No one’s even gonna notice the instruments!”
Ryan did have one thing right. No one was noticing the instruments or the people playing them. Most everyone walked right by the basketball court without stopping to hear them. When a familiar face went by, Ryan jumped up to investigate.
“Hey, Gina!” he said, grabbing her arm.
But Gina pulled away. “Ryan, I’m sorry.” she said. “I’m not getting involved.”
“Gina, I thought we were friends.” said Connie as she and Richie came running to join them. “We haven’t seen you in a week. Where do you dance?”
“Anywhere we can!” said Gina. “Look, the dancers all had a discussion, and we agreed that we’re not taking anyone’s side. We’re a part of the band, too, and this is hurting us all. Until you all start stop arguing with each other, you can do your own dancing. None of you have been thinking about anyone else but yourselves. I thought we were friends, too.”
“Did you tell that to Renee and them?” said Richie angrily.
“Brian went to talk some sense into them before their ‘show’ starts.” answered Gina. “If you all want to make fools out of yourselves, go right ahead.”
“What show?” asked Ryan.
Gina sighed. “I don’t know. Something about the classics. They’d probably be great if they weren’t always screaming at each other.” She started to leave. “You all would.”
Part 3
