Read Online More Than Music by Elizabeth Briggs - Free Book Online Page A

relationship can survive such fundamental differences in musical taste.”
    “Please, we all know you’d be lost without me,” Hector said.
    “True.” Jared grabbed him, and they wrestled until the elevator door opened. I rolled my eyes. Guys .
    The lobby was all smooth bamboo and stainless steel trim, and my shoes squeaked loudly as we walked across the shiny floors. Some of the people checking in or sitting on the couches were business people or tourists, but the rest had to be musicians on the show, with their dyed hair, faded band T-shirts, and guitar cases. Many of them were sizing us up, too.
    “What do you think the other bands on Angel’s team are like?” I asked the guys.
    Kyle shrugged. “Who knows? Last season she had all kinds of music.”
    “Yeah, but she tends to go for harder stuff usually,” Jared said. “Punk, emo, heavy metal.”
    “Last season she had one pop band that almost won though,” I said.
    “True. I just hope she picks a good song for us to play in the battle.”
    After the auditions, the next step was The Sound ’s Battle of the Bands. Basically, the mentors paired off the six bands on their team and had them compete against each other by performing the same song. The mentors chose the winners and also got one rescue that they could use on any band eliminated from one of the other teams—leaving four bands on each team for the next show.
    Usually there were two battle rounds, but this season had been shortened to only six weeks and moved to the summer instead of the spring, probably because ratings had been dropping steadily. Maybe they hoped a shorter season would keep everyone on the edge of their seats the entire time, or maybe they thought the show would have less competition in the summer since there was nothing else on TV.
    We found the meeting room for Team Angel just as four guys with skinny jeans and identical shaggy haircuts walked over. They had that combo of nerd-meets-hipster down, and two of them even had black-rimmed glasses to complete the look.
    “Are you on Angel’s team, too?” one of the guys asked. He had a boy-next-door kind of face, with broad shoulders and sandy blond hair. Definitely the best-looking one in the group.
    “Yeah, we’re Villain Complex,” Jared said, and we all made our introductions.
    “Sweet name,” the cute guy—whose name was Sean—said. “Wish we’d thought of it. We’re The Static Klingons.”
    I couldn’t help but laugh at the Star Trek pun. “That’s awesome.”
    Sean grinned at me. “Yeah? I think you’re the only person who’s gotten it so far.”
    “We probably should go in now,” their bassist said, scowling at us like we were the enemy. Technically we were, even though we were on the same team.
    Sean opened the door and stepped back, waving me inside. “After you.”
    I smiled at him and entered. The room had identical chairs lined up in rows, facing a podium at the front. A camera crew was already set up so they could film clips for next week’s episode. Judging by the clusters of people in the chairs, three bands had already arrived. That meant one more had to show, and Angel was nowhere to be found either.
    I picked a spot in the fourth row, and Kyle and Hector filed in next to me, with Jared going around to sit on my other side. The Static Klingons sat two rows in front of us, and Sean turned around and grinned at me before saying something to his band.
    Jared leaned closer to me. “He likes you.”
    “What?” I said it a little too loud, then blushed and lowered my voice. “Why do you say that?”
    “I saw the way he looked at you.”
    “This is the real reason why having Maddie in the band is a bad idea,” Hector said, smirking. “Now we’re going to have to fight off hordes of horny guys going after her.”
    “Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll be okay,” I said, but I was secretly pleased Hector thought I would attract so much attention. Or that he would actually fight them off for