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T hey say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned . I’d never quite understood that saying until I woke up the day after Zack had brought Ava to practice.

Deep down inside, I wanted to know what the hell was wrong with me that he’d choose plastic Ava over me? Was it because I was a little too shy?

And I couldn’t say shit the next day at school because he and Ava were together being kissy-kissy.

They even disappeared at lunch, leaving Braden, Cy, and me alone.

By that point, I had no problems speaking my mind.

The guys didn’t seem to care either way, but I ended our lunch conversation by saying what Zack had done was unprofessional .

All I said to Zack that day in English class was “Can we have our next practice just be the four of us?”

Zack gave me a weird look. “Yeah. My mom’s gonna be home.”

I didn’t understand what that had to do with it. “Okay. She doesn’t bug us while we’re practicing.”

“Ava didn’t, either. ”

Even I knew I sounded like a stupid bitchy high school girl, so I shut my mouth for the time being—but by Saturday afternoon’s practice, I’d built up enough suppressed rage that I was ready to blow.

“I want to play this new riff for you guys,” Zack said.

“We need to talk first.”

Braden lowered his head and Cy rolled his eyes as if to say, “Not again.”

Zack looked up at me from his guitar with a cocked eyebrow. “About?”

“Our last practice. Having Ava here was unprofessional and rude. Especially without asking our opinions first.”

“I did , Dani.”

“After she was already here. What were we supposed to say?”

“I already told her if you guys didn’t want her watching us practice, she’d have to hang in the living room or my bedroom and watch a movie till we were done.”

“Yeah, but you shouldn’t have put that on us. You should have told her she couldn’t be here. It was uncool, Zack.”

He broke eye contact with me to address our other two band members. “You guys feel the same way?”

Cy shrugged. I could tell he just wanted this shit over with. Confrontation wasn’t his thing. Braden, though, surprised me. “I don’t know, Zack. It was kind of strange and unexpected. Nothing against Ava.”

“Cy?”

“I don’t care either way.”

Zack turned his attention back to me and I could feel anger coming off him for the first time ever—and I didn’t like it. “You’re making a mountain out of a molehill, Dani.”

“Am I, Zack? Let’s say the tables were turned. Let’s say I brought a guy I was dating to practice and asked if you guys minded. ”

“I’d tell you straight up.”

For several seconds, I pursed my lips to stop myself from spewing emotional bile. I was losing this argument when I really shouldn’t have been. I was right and he knew it. After taking a deep breath, I said, “Yeah, and what would you say exactly?”

Zack’s eyes narrowed; his face tightened. He knew if he lied I’d call him on it. “I’d say no way .”

“Exactly.” My molars hurt from clenching them together, but I felt like I’d won a battle. Until Zack continued.

“Which was what I expected you to do if you objected to Ava’s presence. What the hell, Dani? You guys used to be good friends and now you have a problem with her just hanging out and supporting us?”

“She wasn’t just hanging out , Zack. She was watching us practice. I guess I can’t speak for the guys, but it made me nervous. I wasn’t expecting anyone and I wasn’t ready. I don’t want anybody but you guys to hear when I fuck up.”

“But you didn’t, Dani. You kicked ass.”

“That’s not the point, Zack. I didn’t have a safe space to feel like I could.”

I could see in his eyes that he was thoughtfully considering my words. After a few more seconds, he said, “Fair enough. I’ll ask before next time.”

“That’s all I want.” It wasn’t, but I’d take what I could get.

I could almost feel a collective sigh of relief wash over the room—and that night we had one of our shittiest practices ever. But I’d said what I needed to say, and some nasty part of me deep inside felt like I’d had the last laugh on Ava.

Not so fast, said the universe. Zack took Ava to prom while I sat home on the couch, moping and watching stand-up comedians online, but they couldn’t get me to even crack a smile.

I got through it with a little ice cream, a phone conversation with Braden, and the little self-esteem boost of having not one but two guys invite me even if I hadn’t accepted.

I’d told both of them I wasn’t into dancing and I couldn’t afford a dress.

Only I knew the real reason. I couldn’t bear to see my current best friend getting way too intimate with my former bestie.

By graduation, though, they’d broken up. I didn’t know if Ava had grown tired of him or vice versa, but she had a scholarship to CU-Boulder…and Zack had other plans.

We didn’t speak of my old friend again.

At practice in early June, Zack said, “Mom and I just ordered the van. I’m not sure when it’ll be ready, but I want to put it to good use as soon as we can.”

We all agreed wholeheartedly.

“There’s one problem, though. All the places we need to play are over an hour away—and the best places to play are hours away.

” I conjured up the image of our last show at Harry’s in Denver and knew this was no exaggeration.

“The van won’t be a gas guzzler, but it won’t be cheap.

So I want to offer a proposal to you all. ”

“What?”

“Follow me to my room.”

Although it was a weird request, we tended to obey Zack in general. He was, after all, our leader.

When he opened the door upstairs, I felt a little nervous.

I’d never been in a boy’s bedroom before, even if the reason was perfectly innocent.

It smelled like cologne but there were traces of vanilla, just like in the living room and bathrooms, and I figured it was something his mom must have sprayed around the house to make things smell good.

Or else it was a cleaning product she used, but I loved it.

His twin bed was covered with a plain black comforter, but his windows were covered with white curtains. The desk up against one of those windows held a laptop and that was where Zack led us. In one corner stood a guitar stand, holding his dad’s old axe that he’d played when he first started out.

That seemed like such a long time ago—and, in terms of my life up to that point, it was.

Zack sat in the wooden chair while Braden plopped on the edge of Zack’s bed; Cy and I stood behind our friend, hoping to get a good view of the computer screen.

He opened up a document and just let us look at it for a moment.

At the top was the word DENVER underlined, and under that, were short phrases and words and, after a moment, I thought I knew what I was looking at.

As I took in The Ogden and Bluebird Theater , Zack said, “Guys, there’s no limit to where we can play.

” He started scrolling down the list, and I saw COLORADO SPRINGS, CASTLE ROCK, MONUMENT, AURORA, BOULDER, brOOMFIELD, THORNTON , FORT COLLINS, and more cities, but what was impressive was the amount of venues listed underneath each city name.

“A few of these places won’t take us unless they know we have a following, but I have a plan if you want to hear it. ”

“Of course.”

When he turned around from the computer, he chuckled. “Sit down, guys. You’re making me nervous.”

“You? Nervous? ” Cy laughed, but he held out a hand, indicating he’d let me find a spot on the bed. But I shook my head and moved away, sitting on the floor, my back against Zack’s dresser. Rolling his eyes, Cy sat on the bed as far from Braden as possible.

“In the Denver metro area alone—we’re talking a fifty-mile radius—I was able to find over two hundred venues for live music.

” He waited just a second to make sure the enormity of his words sank in.

“Do they all like hard rock? No. Do they have live music every day of the week? Nope. Do they all take inexperienced fucks like us? No way. But, guys, I checked out a ton these venues online—not just in the Denver area but still big enough to be worth the trip, like Castle Rock and Monument. And…I think it would be in our best interest to move where the scene is.”

We stayed silent for several more seconds as we absorbed what he was saying. Braden broke the silence. “Like all of us—move to Denver?”

“Yeah. Rent’s expensive, though. Fuckin’ expensive and we couldn’t move in without deposits and shit like that. But I found some decent three-bedroom apartments in the thick of things, and if we all worked our asses off this summer, we could head up there and take a stab at making it.”

I didn’t need to ask why he was looking for three bedrooms instead of four. I’d never heard of a four-bedroom apartment, although I knew they must exist, but I imagined they were few and far between—and even more “fuckin’ expensive.”

“Now, if you’re all in, then we keep practicing over the summer and writing new songs.

I want us to have a solid repertoire of original songs.

One or two covers is great, but we don’t want to be known as a cover band.

Cover bands don’t get recording deals. In the meantime, I’ll figure out how to get us a website, and we’ll start taking a few pics and stuff, but I’ll also set up some social media pages.

And I’m not gonna book any more shows till we’re up there, ‘cause I want us hungry.” Braden nodded, so enthusiastically that it made his brown hair fall back in his eyes. “So who’s in?”

Braden’s lips spread into a big grin. “You know I’m in, dude.” Cy gave a small nod with as much enthusiasm as he usually mustered—but, for him, it was solid.

All three guys looked over at me.

As if there had ever been any question. “Hell, yeah!”

“Then we’ve got work to do. Let’s get it done!”

We knew at that magical moment that our lives were about to change; we just had no idea how, but the promise was as ripe as a Rocky Ford cantaloupe on the vine, soft and fragrant, ready to devour.