33

Scarlet

"Okay, who knows what a biotope is?" Nikki raised her hand.

"Would Maya and Alex Mckoy like to come to the principal's office with The Family?" Michelle's voice came over the PA system. We looked at each other and stood up. Once in the hallway, the conversation started.

"Why do we have to go to the principal's office?" Brooke asked. We weren't too worried. We've built up a good relationship with the principal over the past two months. Auriana felt her head start to pound and she put her hand to her head to ease the pain.

"I'd like to know that too, Brooke," Renee said. We all looked at Jeremy.

"Jeremy, what have you done now?" He seemed shocked that his friends immediately thought it was his fault, but then he also remembered that it was almost always his fault when they were in trouble. So he could relate.

"Nothing at all…this time," he mumbled the last bit. Maya and Alex said nothing. They had already a suspicion what this was about. We walked down the stairs. Our biology lab was on the third floor and Principal Nickolas' office was on the ground floor. Brooke and Jeremy slid down the banister. Emma, ​​Renee, and I were in a race to see who could get down the fastest. The others were busy talking when they finally reached the front desk. Renee and Emma stood next to me, out of breath.

"You guys really need to get in shape," I laughed. Renee and Emma looked at me. Jimmy took Brooke's hand and gave her a reassuring smile. She squeezed it back.

"Hey Michelle, do you know why we had to come?" Michelle shook her head and looked at the door behind her.

"No, sorry Scarlet." We sat down in the waiting room outside the office.

"What's taking so long?" Skylar asked after a while. Nikki looked at her phone.

"Indeed, ten minutes have passed."

Principal Nickolas

Ten minutes earlier, Michelle walked into my office.

"Tina, Mr. Mckoy is here."

"Thank you Michelle, let him in." Mr. Mckoy walked in.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Mckoy." I held out my hand, which Mr. Mckoy shook.

"Of course." He let go of my hand and sank into one of the chairs at the desk.

"What are you here for? Your daughters are doing great." I didn't like parents just showing up at school without a good reason.

"That's not what I came for." With my hands clasped together, I sat back down at my desk and looked at him with interest.

"What are you here for then?"

"I'm here for Brooke Taylor, Auriana Williams, Skylar Jackson, Emma Johnson, Nikki Simon, Renee Dawson, Scarlet Carson, Jimmy Bender, Jake Matthews and Jeremy Walker." Now my interest was piqued. Of course I already knew that this group of friends was extraordinary and I wondered why he wanted to talk to them.

"I'll just ask them to come over." I was about to press the intercom button to Michelle when Mr. Mckoy spoke again.

"And can you ask my daughters to come down as well?" I was slowly losing my patience with this man.

"Of course," I said sweetly. Who does he think he is, he's acting like he's the boss of this school instead of me, I thought to myself.

"Michelle, would you like to ask Maya and Alex Mckoy to come to my office with The Family?" As soon as I let go of the intercom button, he spoke again.

"The Family?" He looked at me questioningly.

"They're like one big family." Now Mr. Mckoy's interest was piqued.

"How so?" He folded his hands together in his lap.

"Brooke is funny, Auriana is honest, Jeremy is creative, Jimmy is positive, Jake is cool, Scarlet is athletic, Skylar is friendly, Emma is loyal, Nikki is smart, and Renee is generous."

"But why family?" I really had to try not to roll my eyes and remain friendly.

"Because they treat each other like a real family." There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" I had never been so relieved to see Michelle and that I no longer had to deal with this horrible man. He had bought his way in so his daughters could go to school here. The donation was generous but not for the right reasons.

"Madam, Maya, Alex and The Family are here." Maya, Alex, Auriana, Brooke, Renee, Nikki, Jake, Jeremy, Jimmy, Skylar, Scarlet and Emma walked into the office.

Auriana

"Hey dad," Maya said. We looked surprised and stood together on the other side of the office.

"Why did we have to come?" Renee asked. She didn't want to beat around the bush so she decided to be blunt and ask him directly.

"Mr. Mckoy wanted to talk to you." Maya and Alex stood next to their father.

"I wanted to tell you that we received a CD of your songs and to be honest I thought they were great!" My friends and I looked at each other happily.

"Thanks," Emma said. We still didn't know exactly why we had to come now. What we did know was that Mr. Mckoy owned a major record company.

"Me and my team have decided to form a band." I felt dizzy and held my head.

"A band?!" Renee asked. Mr. Mckoy nodded and wanted to continue his story but his daughter beat him to it.

"Yes, there is already a name and a few songs have already been written," Alex said. We couldn't believe our ears.

"You will get your own studio, dressing rooms, a manager, your own stylists and so on." Renee had the feeling that this was too good to be true. She knew she had to be on her guard.

"If you agree, you will get your own floor at Mckoy's records," Maya said. Renee's face told her that they didn't trust it at all.

"You'll get a contract, a luxury tour bus, stay in luxury hotels during tours and get everything your heart desires," said Mr. Mckoy. We started talking over each other.

"A contract?!"

"Our own stylists!?"

"Stay in luxury hotels?!"

"Our own studio and our own floor?!"

"A manager?!" we all shouted at once. We were extremely excited.

"Will we also get our own dance studio?" I asked. Maya, Alex and Mr. Mckoy nodded.

"Sir, I don't want to be annoying, but couldn't this wait until after school? These students are missing out on important lessons," said Principal Nickolas. She couldn't believe that he was depriving them of the education they would desperately need next year for something like this. Also because she knew that biology wasn't everyone's best subject. We were busy discussing.

"Yes, it has to be now." Principal Nickolas gestured for him to continue. "You're all very talented," Alex said. Mr. Mckoy gestured for us to be quiet.

"What are your names?" he asked. He pointed his finger at Brooke, Emma, ​​and me. We introduced ourselves one by one.

"Nice to meet you." We didn't understand why he only wanted to know the names of the three of us.

"It's nice to meet you too," Brooke said. We looked at each other.

"But what did I actually come for?" Mr. Mckoy said. Maya had always been impatient.

"Dad, hurry up and tell them!" Maya said. Her father looked at her and nodded.

"I want to form a band with you and my daughters." The pounding in my head was getting worse. This isn't a migraine, I thought to myself.

"That's great," Scarlet exclaimed. She was now very glad that they hadn't moved.

"That's really cool!" Emma said enthusiastically. We were all discussing what we were going to experience.

"All of us in a band! That's going to be awesome!" Jeremy cheered. Maya and Alex looked at each other.

"Don't get me wrong, you're all very talented," Mr. Mckoy said. Nikki had already sensed that bad news was coming.

"But you don't want all of us," Nikki said. Mr. Mckoy looked guilty. It might not have been wise of him to have us all come to the office.

"That's right, I want my daughters to form a band with Auriana, Brooke and Emma." Emma Brooke and I looked at each other with open mouths.

"Auriana, wake up!"

"Auriana!"

"Auriana, please."