4th February 2021

The usually quiet practice room was humming with the soft conversations of dozens of people. Musicians warmed up their instruments, straightened their sheet music and adjusted their chairs.

Tony and his esteemed guests lined the edges of the room, along with some of the orchestra's admin staff.

He'd jumped at my suggestion that we have the full orchestra play for them and they'd flown straight in. We were broadcasting the entire performance on secure networks for those producers and executives that couldn't attend live.

The only one missing was Genny.

Her editor was pushing her and the rest of the publishing team to get the book ready so that they could release it alongside the film. That included running through an improved draft before it went to the printers.

I pulled out my phone and checked her message for the tenth time.

Genny: Sorry I can't be there :'( but tell the boys good luck. You're going to kill it!!

I smiled; it was the first text we'd ever shared. She was such a private person that even that was big news. It was humbling that she had let me in and it gave me confidence. Genny St Clair was a perfectionist. If she liked my song, if she had faith in us, then I knew the producers would too.

Tony separated from his group and headed in my direction.

"Look out, Tony's coming over to give Sam one of his pep talks," Jaxon joked before making himself scarce. Tori smiled, but remained by his drum set.

Talk about throwing your friends to the sharks.

"Sam, how we feeling?" Tony put a hand around my shoulder and ushered me to the other end of the room. Musicians and workers separated like the red sea around us, not wanting to get in Tony's way today of all days.

He was decked out in a sharply cut suit with small guitar shaped cufflinks. He wasn't a natural born musician, but he could shred on an electric guitar. But it was his uncanny ability to pick up talent that had made him big.

When we had auditioned, we hadn't realised that Tony was the newly appointed music director and the reason they needed so many new staff members was down to the old one, leaving and taking several team members with him.

According to the older members of staff who had stayed, the old director had practically run the orchestra into the ground. But in just two years it wasn't just back, it was better than before, all because of Tony, and his ability to pick out gems of talent.

It was amazing to think that he considered Jaxon, Tori, and me to be in that pool of people.

He had been the one to give me the project. His faith in me had been unwavering, and I only hoped that I could fulfill it.

"We're ready," I said, strong and confident.

Tony watched me closely, scrutinising my face. I wasn't sure what he found, but he exhaled harshly.

"I don't have to tell you how much this film could do for us, Sam. It needs to be perfect. Not that I want to add any pressure." He smiled weakly.

"It will be Tony."

He raised his hand to his hair but changed his mind at the last minute, dropping it back to his side.

"You said that Miss St Clair approved of the last song?" He fiddled with his cufflinks, seemingly unable to stop moving his hands.

I had never seen Tony looking so frazzled. But then I don't think I'd ever felt so confident. By all rights, I should have been a bag of nerves, but I wasn't. I believed in my songs, there was nothing else. If the worst happened and the producers didn't like what I'd written, then at least I could hold my head high.

"She did," I agreed.

"Phew. If the writer likes it, then that's a good sign." Tony turned and surveyed the rest of the room. "Everyone knows what they're doing?"

I nodded towards Stan - the conductor - who nodded back. He was meandering between the orchestra members, drilling them on their parts and offering guidance.

I may have composed the songs, but it was Stan that knew how to keep everyone in line. I could barely keep Jaxon and Tori in time with our songs, nevermind a full orchestra.

"Stan's seen to it."

"Good, this is a big idea to get everyone in to run through the songs. Some would say risky." He glanced at me briefly.

"Perhaps, but this is why they came to us. We've got the complete package." It was the same thing he'd been telling us for two years. We could do classical, pop, rock, background music, original compositions and covers, and a multitude of other disciplines.

He smiled widely. "Absolutely we do." He clasped me on the back and walked away, more of a skip in his step than he had before.

I headed back to Tori, Jaxon materialising next to him now that Tony was safely back smooching his VIPs.

"Chicken."

"Cluck-cluck." Jaxon deadpanned back to me. "I'm not messing with Tony today."

"I rarely agree with Jaxon but Tony does seem highly strung today." Tori cringed as Tony's booming laugh echoed through the room.

"Well, someone needs to laugh at their jokes," I reasoned. "Would you rather deal with them?"

The producers and executives were a collection of unusual people. A mixture of men and women of varying ages. Some were dressed similar to Tony - crisp suits with matching ties - but others appeared to have detoured through Brandy Melville.

"Not an effing chance." Jaxon pretended to cross himself.

Stan tapped his baton against the podium, his signal to get our butts in our seats.

"Now or never." I edged towards my seat at the piano.

Whilst everyone gathered, I lifted the fallboard and played a few notes, my face reflected in the polished wood.

Stan cleared his throat and raised his baton. Someone switched on the projector so that the wall behind us lit up with the film scenes that corresponded to our songs.

A tingle of excitement shot through me as we began.

The room filled with sound. Each part perfectly choreographed and melded together into the world's greatest sound. By itself, each instrument was special, but together they created a magic of their own. It never failed to set my heart racing.

I'd always known the spell that music could cast when I'd played with the band, but it was nothing to what it felt like to play with over sixty people, all of you drawing from the same song, pouring your heart into it.

It was fire.

It was a miracle.

It was the sound of life.

All rolled into one. And I would never tire of it for as long as I lived.

Someone switched the projector off as the last notes drifted away. The silence that was left was heavy with expectation. All the musicians, including me, turned to watch Tony's VIPs.

It was slow to start, but then they were clapping, their faces breaking out into delighted smiles.

Once the silence was broken, we all relaxed. A hum of conversation broke out again as people congratulated each other and packed away.

"Sam?" Tony waved me over. The nerves that had disappeared when I was playing returned as a number of producers and executives confronted me.

"Sam, this is Marcy Boyer, the film's director. Marcy, this is Sam." Tony introduced us.

She gripped my hand tightly. "That performance was outstanding." She complimented me, her false nails digging into my hand by accident.

"Thank you."

"Aye." A man in ripped jeans and a UFO hoodie stepped forward. "There were those who doubted you'd deliver what we needed."

Marcy Boyer nodded. "It was Miss St Clair who really begged us to give you a shot."

"And of course she were dead right, weren't she?" The UFO guy chuckled.

"What you performed today is going to take this film to new heights," Marcy gushed.

"If I was yer, I'd start preparing yer speeches." I almost laughed, thinking that the guy was joking, but he just bobbed his head. "Those songs are going to blow up, yer mark me words." And he wandered off to speak with some of the other musicians.

"Tod, is right. This soundtrack is golden." Marcy started talking with Tony, and I took it as my opportunity to escape.

I headed back to Tori and Jaxon; we talked little, just congratulated everyone as we made our way outside. The entire orchestra had the afternoon off, so we weren't the only ones desperate to get away.

We sat in the car in silence before me, and Jaxon couldn't hold it in any longer, rattling the car with our cheers. Jaxon tapped his hands against the dashboard and I did a jig in the back seat.

"Crushed it. We bloody destroyed it. That was so epic." Jaxon flopped against his seat.

"It was pretty good," Tori agreed, earning himself a punch from Jaxon.

"Pretty good? Just pretty good? Dude, we were electric. I'm surprised Tony didn't have an aneurysm; he was so pleased," demanded Jaxon.

Tori started the car, and we headed home. "That was the tightest we'd ever played. Happy now?"

"Hell yeah, we did," Jaxon cheered.

"One exec thinks they could be hits."

"Our music is going to be heard all over the world," Tori said, a hint of awe in his usually unmoved voice.

"Our music is going to make a difference," I countered.

"Hunter will be spitting nails from wherever he is these days," Jaxon said with glee.

"That's not the point," I said, laughing.

"No, but it makes me feel better." Jaxon shrugged.

Even after two years we still hadn't been able to forgive Hunter for leaving without so much as a backwards look. But we had moved on. His actions had hurt, and it took us a little time to accept it, but we were better off without him.

He could be domineering, egotistical and sometimes down-putting. It wasn't until he was no longer around that we noticed it. Our jamming sessions were smoother, there was less arguing, more inclusion.

"Guys, this is what we've always wanted. We're really doing this." And I leaned back in my seat and just breathed in the success.

I was doing it for Evie. After everything she had done for us, I would make sure this was for her.