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  “But . . .” Betty floundered.

  “Now!” Ms. Marcos insisted, herding them onto the stage.

  Stumbling forward, the girls hurried to man their instruments. Betty barely had time to strap on her guitar before the curtains parted and the lights came up. There was a man’s voice announcing over the PA system. “Ladies and gentlemen, The Candy Hearts!”

  Chapter 9

  A giant roar from the audience crashed over The Candy Hearts as they tried to get their bearings. Betty stared at the standing room only crowd. All the girls froze.

  “Play something!” Ms. Marcos yelled from the wings.

  Tina held her sticks over her head, clicked them together, and counted off. “One, two, three, four!”

  The first song on The Candy Heart’s playlist was “Surfer Boys.” At least it was supposed to be. Betty could barely hear the other members of the band over the racket the audience was making. Suddenly her guitar made a weird “pling!” noise and Betty jumped back, slightly startled. She looked down at her instrument. “That was weird,” she said to herself. Then she felt a small pain on her head. Something was definitely wrong. Betty looked over to see Nancy flinch as she was hit in the cheek with something.

  Oh no, Betty thought. Some kids from Central High must be trying to ruin our show by throwing stuff at the stage.

  Another projectile came zooming at her and Betty ducked out of the way. She got a look at the strange pellet as it went skittering across the stage floor.

  Suddenly she understood. They were not being harassed by kids from Central High intent on ruining the show. She’d just been targeted with a pastel candy heart.

  The candies rained down, hitting faster and harder until The Candy Hearts were trying to perform in a hailstorm of treats. As “Surfer Boys” came to a ragged close, Nancy held up her hand to shield her face. “This is awful! Why are they doing this?”

  “Try to think of it as a compliment,” Tina called from behind the drums. The candy hitting her cymbals was keeping a steady rhythm.

  “It’s hard to think of people whipping candy at your head as a compliment!” Nancy shouted back.

  “What do we do?” Betty asked as she put up a hand to try to ward off the sweets.

  “Keep playing!” Tina insisted.

  “Really?” Betty was surprised. It didn’t make sense to just stand there and let rabid fans use them for target practice.

  She couldn’t even imagine why fans would think pelting them with edible hearts was a good idea. Maybe it was actually a sneak attack from their rival high school? If that was true, it was a pretty clever way to go about doing it.

  But no, the crowd was cheering. They wanted to see The Candy Hearts play. They somehow thought whipping candy at the band was a good idea.

  “BFF! BFF!” the crowd chanted again.

  “Hey, girls,” Veronica shouted as she pulled a candy out of her hair, “are we taking requests?”

  “I say if they want the song then we give it to them!” Tina shouted back.

  “Fine by me!” Nancy added. “At this rate, I don’t think we’re going to make it through our playlist!”

  A candy heart bounced off Betty’s temple, dangerously close to her left eye. She felt her nose begin to burn and her eyes starting to water.

  She didn’t want to be a baby about the whole thing, but she just couldn’t help it. Forming The Candy Hearts was supposed to be about having some fun with her best friend. Now Veronica hated her, plus she was trapped onstage while rabid fans used her for candy target practice.

  “Betty!” Tina called, breaking her out of her tearful reverie. “Pull it together! We’re going to play ‘BFF’! One, two, three, four!”

  Betty stepped up to the microphone and sang:Finally hit the weekend

  Hanging with my best friend

  Listenin’ to the radio

  Recognizing the opening strains of their favorite song, the crowd went wild. The number of candy treats that were being thrown at the stage tripled.

  Veronica tried to shield herself from the deluge by half turning her back to the audience. “This is ridiculous,” she growled to herself, barely able to continue playing her keyboard.

  Either the candy shower had to stop or the show had to stop, but she wasn’t going to tolerate being pelted to death by pastel-colored treats. Suddenly the C and D notes on Veronica’s keyboard jammed. She’d depressed the keys, but they wouldn’t rise again. Between the painful downpour and the malfunctioning instrument, Veronica lost her place in the song. She struggled to find it, but then gave up and stopped playing completely.

  The rest of the band petered out quickly after that. There were a few seconds of absolute quiet and then the audience started to boo.

  “What’s going on?” Betty’s voice cut through the noise.

  Veronica looked up sharply, ready to tear Betty’s head off. But then she noticed that there were tear tracks on her best friend’s face.

  “My keyboard’s stuck,” she said in a much kinder voice than she had initially intended to use. Feeling around the notes to figure out the problem, Veronica discovered a pastel heart that had wedged itself beneath the black half-note between the C and D. Prying out the sweet, Veronica was about to cast it aside when she noticed something.

  The letters written on the heart were BFF.

  She was standing on a stage, struggling through a song that her former best friend wrote about their friendship while a crazed audience chucked candy at them.

  The heart that stopped the show suddenly reminded Veronica of all of Betty’s good qualities. She really and truly was her best friend forever. And here Veronica had been letting petty arguments about the band ruin their friendship. The entire situation was just too ludicrous.

  The whole thing suddenly struck Veronica as being very funny.

  Veronica started smiling and then she started laughing. All the anger and hurt feelings she felt toward Betty just melted away. She instantly understood that whatever petty grievances had come between them were more than likely just simple misunderstandings. Veronica suddenly felt very silly for not realizing this fact in the first place.

  The crowd grew impatient and started up their chant again. “BFF! BFF!”

  Veronica knew they needed to go on with the show, but she was laughing so hard she found it impossible to straighten up and play.

  Tina yelled at her, “What are you doing? Get it together! You’re ruining the show!” The statement was so ludicrous it made the keyboarder laugh even harder.

  “BFF! BFF!”

  “Betty!” Veronica called across the stage. “Hey, Betty!” Betty looked up and Veronica waved her over. “Come over here for a minute. Will you?”

  “BFF! BFF!”

  Her face stained with tears, Betty hurried across the stage. “What is it?” she wondered. “What’s wrong?”

  “Well we’re in serious danger of being pelted to death by candy hearts. That’s not so great,” Veronica told her.

  “What?” Betty’s blue eyes glistened with tears under the spotlights.

  Veronica realized that the guitarist was in a very fragile state and it wasn’t the time to make sarcastic remarks. So, instead, she held out the key-jamming candy heart toward Betty. “Here, look what got stuck in my keyboard.”

  Betty squinted at the treat. “Yeah, a heart candy. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re everywhere,” she explained as more candy went whizzing by her head.

  Even so, Veronica gestured at the heart. “Well read this one.”

  Looking down, Betty mouthed the letters BFF.

  “As in you’re my BFF,” Veronica explained.

  Betty looked up, her eyes wide. “I am?”

  Rolling her eyes, Veronica laughed. “Of course you are!” Then, becoming more serious, she added, “I’m sorry I got so angry with you. I think I was mostly jealous because you were spending so much time with Tina.”

  “Well I’m sorry if I made you feel jealous. Tina’s just so
demanding about writing songs and working on the band. Plus you know I have trouble saying no to people.” Betty smiled sheepishly.

  Veronica acknowledged this statement with a nod. “I know you do. I should have been more understanding.”

  “Me too,” Betty added. “And I shouldn’t have let Tina take over like she did.”

  “Can we please just forget all that and start being friends again?” Veronica asked.

  “Of course!” Betty threw her arms around Veronica’s neck and they hugged. “You’re my best friend!”

  The crowd was reaching an earsplitting noise level. “BFF! BFF!”

  “Betty! Veronica!” Tina shouted from behind her drum kit. “What are you guys doing?! There’s time to chat after the show! We’re on stage right now playing a gig.” She pointed toward the audience. “Remember?”

  “BFF! BFF!”

  Betty and Veronica both turned and looked out at the crowd. “Come on,” Veronica said, her arm still slung around Betty’s shoulder. “Let’s do this.” Betty was about to head back across the stage to her own microphone, but Veronica stopped her. “Hey! Where are you going? Stay here and sing with me.”

  Veronica leaned forward and said into the mic, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m afraid we’re going to have to call a do-over.” Light laughter rippled over the audience. “If you would please hold your cheers and the throwing of candy hearts until after the show, we would appreciate it.” This made the audience chuckle a little harder.

  Tina held her drumsticks over her head, clicked them together, and counted off. “One, two, three, four!”

  The song started. Betty and Veronica leaned into their shared microphone and sang: Finally hit the weekend

  Hanging with my best friend

  Listenin’ to the radio

  Talking fast and cruisin’ slow

  Doesn’t matter where we go!

  When they got to the refrain, Betty glanced over at Veronica. Her best friend was smiling back at her and Betty knew everything was going to be all right. And when they sang the chorus, she knew they both really meant it.

  ’Cause you’re my best frie . . . hend!

  You’re my best frie . . . hend!

  You’re my best friend!

  XOXO

  The Candy Hearts took their bows in a hailstorm of sweets and then ran for the wings of the stage.

  “You know,” Veronica said, shaking a few candies out of her hair, “if they’re going to throw something, why don’t they throw jewelry?”

  Betty laughed. “Or maybe we should have gone with Kitten Heel because then they’d throw shoes.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Nancy said, unstrapping her bass. “Shoes hurt.”

  “So listen,” Betty said when she had packed up her gear and had a moment to speak to Veronica alone, “I hope you’re not going to be mad, but I think this was my farewell performance with The Candy Hearts. I love playing music, but I find all the gigs and the obsessive fans way too stressful.” Betty gave her friend an apprehensive look. “Are you mad?”

  “No.” Veronica broke into a smile. “I’m not mad at all. To be honest, I was thinking the exact same thing. Being in The Candy Hearts just isn’t that fun anymore. I mean, I’m going to be really bummed about not being in a band and I’m going to miss a lot of the attention, but I’ve got to keep my grades up for college. Plus, besides playing, I don’t feel like we do anything for fun anymore. The Candy Hearts just feels like too much work.”

  “That’s a relief,” Betty said, returning her smile. “I was nervous about telling you. I should have known you felt the same way.”

  “I guess we’d better tell Tina and Nancy.”

  Betty sighed, not looking forward to Tina’s reaction. “Yep. Let’s get this over with.”

  “Where is Tina, anyway?” Veronica asked, looking around. “Nancy, have you seen Tina?”

  Nancy looked up from wrapping cords. “No. She said something about a meeting, then disappeared. That was about ten minutes ago.”

  “Well I guess we can just tell you first then.” Veronica walked over so she could look Nancy in the eye. “Betty and I have decided that we want to leave the band.”

  “What?” Nancy’s big brown eyes went wide with surprise.

  “Yeah, sorry.” Betty joined in. “I just can’t handle the fans anymore and with school about to start . . .”

  “No, no, no,” Nancy interrupted her. “I didn’t mean what as in bad, I meant what as in good.”

  Her comment perplexed the other girls. “What?”

  Nancy let her shoulders sag with the relief of finally confessing. “I’ve been wanting to quit the band for like a month, but I didn’t know how to break it to you guys.”

  “Okay good,” Veronica said. “Then we’re all in agreement: We’re going to break up the band.”

  “What?!” Tina shouted, storming over to them. “Did I just hear what I think I heard? You want to break up the band?!”

  Chapter 10

  All three girls were startled by Tina’s outburst, but Veronica was the first to find her voice. “Um, yeah. We were just talking about it. I’m sorry, but being in The Candy Hearts just isn’t that much fun anymore.”

  Betty stepped in to support her friend. “Plus, school’s starting again, and, you know, that’ll mean studying and school activities and stuff.”

  “But the band can’t break up now! It just can’t!” Tina insisted. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. “I was just coming over to tell you guys some fantastic news and now you’re all here trying to mutiny!”

  “Oh, um.” Betty felt her guilty reflexes kicking in. “What’s the good news?”

  “Well,” Tina said after taking a deep breath, “I didn’t tell you guys before because I didn’t want to make you nervous, right? But there was a talent manager in the crowd tonight. He loved the show! He’s offered to rep us and he can book us six gigs in New York City starting next week! Isn’t that fantastic?”

  “Tina,” Veronica said, annoyed, “you knew the rest of us wanted to start playing fewer gigs. Not more.”

  “And not gigs in New York,” Betty said.

  “Yeah,” Nancy added. “My parents will never go for that.”

  “Oh yes they will!” Tina insisted. “If they know how important it is to you.”

  Nancy put a steadying arm on Tina’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, but it’s just not that important to me.”

  Tina was furious. “What are you talking about?! If being famous isn’t that important to you, then what is?”

  “Getting good grades so I can get into a good college,” Nancy said without hesitation. She went on, “Spending time with Chuck before the summer is completely over. I’m sorry, but I didn’t join The Candy Hearts to become famous. I just wanted to have some fun.”

  “Yeah, Tina,” Betty said. “I’m sorry, but I think we all feel the same way.”

  Stamping her foot, Tina pouted. “Come on! Just do the six shows in New York with me and we’ll see how things go after that.”

  Betty shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’m sorry, but it’s probably better if we just end things now.”

  Tina’s face flushed with anger. “Better for you guys, maybe, but not better for me! I can’t believe you’re stabbing me in the back after all the hard work I’ve been doing!” She glared at the three of them. “You have to go to New York! You guys owe me!”

  Caught off guard, Veronica felt compelled to defend herself and the other girls. “Tina, what are you talking about? We’ve all put a lot of work into the band. I mean, you did book most of our gigs, but we all worked hard.”

  “Ha!” Tina scoffed. “You guys have had it easy compared to me.”

  Folding her arms, Veronica leveled the drummer with a flat gaze. “Oh, really? And just what extra work were you doing that we’re all so blissfully unaware of?”

  Tina looked like her head might explode. “Are you kidding me?! I mean, really, are you kidding?!” She began lis
ting tasks off on her fingers. “I book all the gigs. If it was up to you guys, we would have only had a few gigs a month. I had to practically bully you guys into practicing half the time. I nearly wrote half the songs. I named the band. I designed the band’s appearance.”

  “Wait a minute,” Veronica interrupted. “I’m the one that bought all our outfits. I think I deserve credit for the band’s appearance.”

  “You just supplied the plastic!” Tina shouted. “I’m the one that did scouting trips to the mall and then had to figure out different ways to get you there so you’d buy them. And I had to keep Betty from freaking out because of all the money you were spending.”

  Veronica was stunned. “Wow. I didn’t realize you were such a gold digger.”

  “Well I had to!” Tina insisted. “We couldn’t go onstage looking like a bunch of amateurs!”

  Betty’s eyes narrowed with suspicion, but she tried to keep her voice casual. “So what else did you do for The Candy Hearts?”

  “Everything!” Tina replied. “I kept you writing songs. And then I kept you from freaking out just because a few fans started showing you a little attention.”

  “Is that it?” Nancy asked.

  “No, that’s not it!” Tina screeched. “Who do you think built up the fan support for The Candy Hearts? Who do you think was on Facebook and Twitter and Craigslist every day letting the fans know about the shows and where we’d be and what we’d be doing? That was me! I was practically tied to the computer all summer letting fans know everything about us. All you guys did was complain about it!”

  “And what about these?” Veronica picked a candy heart out of the folds of her minidress and tossed it on the ground between them. “Did you have anything to do with these?”

  “You know I did! I practically emptied my bank account ordering them,” Tina bellowed. “Do you know how expensive it is to get custom hearts overnighted to Riverdale?”

  “Uh, yes,” Veronica told her. “As a matter of fact, I do.”