Normally laid-back and care-free, Alex was usually one to let certain things slide by. However, when it came to one of the loves of his life, he took it very personally.
That little drummer had quite the devious mind at times. Hidden behind his curly hair and wild-boy exterior was the mind of a genius. Although he was usually rather well-behaved, when Alex plotted, he made sure that his plans would be carried out in a most epic fashion. When Alex schemed, he made sure that he schemed big.
But even tiny, plotting geniuses like himself hit a road block here and there.
After setting eyes on their competition, the Wolff Brothers quickly fled the scene, whisking the band off to practice as quickly as possible. Fortunately for Nat, Trent politely declined Rosalina’s invitation to watch the band practice. Unfortunately for Alex, Craig was scheduled to pick up Jesse for a date later that night.
Craig – 1, Alex – 0.
But Alex wasn’t about to let himself lose simply because he had fallen a step behind. It only meant that his first step would have to be twice as big.
Much to Alex’s frustration, however, Nat was being less than helpful in planning the downfall of their competition.
“Come on, Nat! You have to focus!”
“Focus on what?” he asked, having been completely spaced out. While Alex had been sitting quietly on his bed trying to think of a plan, Nat had spent the last 45 minutes laying on the top bunk and staring at the hypnotic flicker of a light bulb on their ceiling which they were too lazy to replace.
“Do I have to spell it out for you? We have to find a way to get rid of those stupid Amazing Grace Brothers!”
“You know, we can’t actually get rid of them Alex.” Nat was trying to take the whole ordeal in stride. Rosalina was, after all, already his girlfriend; he had much less to worry about than Alex.
“Of course we can!”
“But they’re Rosalina’s friends. Wouldn’t she notice? And they are pretty famous. If she doesn’t notice, I’m sure someone else will.”
“How can you be so calm about this? Some guy out there is trying to steal your girlfriend!”
Leaning over the top bunk, Nat wrinkled his brow and glanced over at Alex. “You really think she’d fall for that guy? I mean, Rosalina and I have been going for over a year now.”
“Come on, Nat. He’s way hotter than you. Just look at him!”
Alex whipped out his laptop, which Nat didn’t realize he was looking at this entire time, and stuck it in front of Nat’s face. On the screen was a video of the Amazing Grace Brothers practicing in the school’s dance studio. The video was dated to have been taken last year. Even though the brothers were fooling around in the studio and not taking it too seriously, it was obvious that the two had a lot of talent.
“Wow,” Nat muttered. “They really are the best dancers at Amigos.”
“That’s right. Now are you going to let a guy like that steal Rosalina from you?”
He said nothing at first. After a moment of thought, he shrugged and hopped off the top bunk. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Like I said, Rosalina’s already my girlfriend. By the way, Alex, I invited the guys over for a movie tonight.”
“Sure,” he said, thrown off by his brother’s impulsiveness. He wasn’t usually like this. “What’s the occasion?”
“Nothing, really. I just felt like it. They should all be here in about twenty minutes.”
“Okay.”
“By the way, Trent’s coming,” he said quickly and rather nonchalantly.
“He’s what?!? Are you crazy, Nat? You’re just going to let him in the house like that? With Rosalina in the same room?”
“Well, yeah. They’re good friends. I thought maybe we could get to know him.”
Alex threw his hands up in the air, defeated. It was obvious that Nat was too far out of his mind to convince otherwise. The young drummer would have to wage war by his own means. “Whatever, Nat. Just do whatever you want, but don’t come crying to me when Trent swoops in and steals Rosalina from right under your nose.”
He left the room to get ready for the others to come. Meanwhile, Nat stayed in the room, smiling to himself. Alex was right about one thing – Trent was quite the heartthrob. He was cute, kind, and full of unimaginable talent. He must have also been trustworthy and smart enough for Rosalina to trust with her editor’s job when she wasn’t around. However, Nat had another trick up his sleeve. Trent may have been smart, but Nat was going to be smarter. Alex may have been a mastermind, but he had overlooked one key strategy. Nat was going to keep Trent right where he could see him.
He was going to keep his friends close and his enemies closer.
