Surrendering (Surrender 1)
“Yo Douche, get your hands off my woman.” He jokes back.
Nate lifts his hands in surrender and laughs. “Hey, man, I had to try; this girl is the SHIT!”
“I know. Next time you put your lips on her, you’ll find them busted.”
The room comes to life and they love my idea. Jay compliments me on the whole thing and asks for an outline. I suggest inviting my group over this afternoon to discuss the details. My classmates already discussed doing our project on Sayge, but we had to wait for the bands approval before going any further. I’m working with the same group from last semester since we all ended up in the same class together. I text them and everyone says they can make it here in an hour.
The guys talk about all the cities they will be going to in the upcoming months. There’s a festival in Jacksonville Beach that falls over my spring break. I mention to Declan that maybe we can stay for a few days.
At 5:00, Anna, Brent, Kyle, and Mari all crowd into the living room. I get out my laptop and pull up a few websites to review.
“Okay, before I get started, on a scale of one to ten with ten being the highest, how familiar are you guys with social media?” I ask Declan and the rest of his band.
“To be fair, let’s say five.” Cooper answers for the group.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Each of us has an individual responsibility and we get together each week to analyze the data we’ve collected. First things first, we need footage of you. Not just performance video. I want backstage, practice sessions, maybe even some stuff when you go to the studio. Kyle and Brent are going to do the actual videography. When we get what we want, it’ll be uploaded. We’ll need a lot because I don’t want to have the same clips everywhere.
“Anna and I will create your Facebook and Twitter Accounts, and Mari is going to start a blog. All of these sites will carry similar information, but the goal is to get followers in every area. The webpage is our biggest project. We’ll have tabs that will showcase all things Sayge. Bios, show schedules, upcoming events, pictures, video, all of it. What we’ll do is create the platform and you can be involved with all the creative processes. Once we turn in our data, and the project is over, we’ll know what your biggest success was. Then you can keep it going. I’ll help of course because it’ll just be maintenance by that point. What do you think so far?”
“So what do you need from us to start?” Declan asks.
“We need your participation immediately. As a m
atter of fact, we need to start tomorrow. Anna is going to contact each of you for bio information and I need your schedule. Tomorrow after class, we’ll get started on opening all the accounts. I have enough pictures from Atlanta to upload right now, but I’ll want more by the end of the week. Kyle will be with us on Thursday night and we need backstage access to film your set up. Then he’ll get the show too. I plan to have the Facebook, Twitter, and blog site up by Friday. If this goes as planned, you’ll be announcing that you’re going to be recording the show and to visit Sayge on Facebook during your last set on Thursday night. That should start the ball rolling. Did I miss anything?”
I look at my school friends, but they shake their heads at me.
“I have a question, Angel,” Nate purrs at me, trying to get a response from Declan who glares at him. “Why aren’t you doing the bios? You’re with us all the time.”
“That’s exactly why. Anna hardly knows y’all and can write without being bias. I don’t think I could sit and conduct a serious interview with you at all.”
He shakes his head in understanding.
Jay likes every aspect of the plan and wants to be on our email chain for daily updates. He especially wants some footage so he can get more applications out. We order pizza and my group heads to the kitchen to outline our goals for the week. We also pull some ideas from blogging websites for background and colors. I choose a cool design with deep red and black colors. When I start to show off the design to the guys, they look at me like I’m crazy.
“New rule, Sparkle, you guys choose all the designs, colors, and content. We don’t give a shit about that. You show us the end product and we’ll tell you if we want any changes.” Declan tells me. “Basically, you’re in charge.”
“Okie dokie, are you going to be this laid-back when we plan the wedding?”
“Probably, I only have a few requirements. You and your mom can have carte blanche, unless you take me up on my Vegas proposal.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me.
I join the others in the kitchen and relay his message. Anna looks at me questionably, “Did you say something about a wedding?”
“Yeah, we got engaged over the holidays.”
“That’s so cool!” Mari reaches for my hand to see the ring and shows it off to Anna. Kyle and Brent look very much out of their element and join the others playing video games.
*****
Thursday night rolls around and I’m exhausted. With all my schoolwork, I’ve had to stay up until midnight almost every night so I could help create a social circuit for Sayge. Kyle’s getting the footage of the show tonight and he promised to have the edited versions to me by 10am tomorrow so we can add it to the sites we created.
Sayge is playing tomorrow night at a new bar. That means they’re playing three nights in a row this week. I promised Declan I would go tomorrow since it’s a new place, but I’m taking a much-needed break and having a girls’ night in on Saturday.
I invite Anna to come along with me tonight to The Steamroom. When we arrive, I lead her through the bar to our usual room. Kyle’s in the corner trying to be conspicuous. I know he’s trying to make everyone forget he’s there so the material is genuine. I give a slight wave and get a beer. I don’t see Declan anywhere so I head backstage where I find him talking on the phone.
“You don’t have anything? Really? This is getting too close to home, Finn.”
Silence.