PROLOGUE

Suppressing back a sigh, I pulled my hair back from my hot face, and slouched into the chair behind me.

"Kris?" asked the tinny voice from the intercom.

"Yeah?"

"Ready??"

"Yeah." I mumbled, hauling myself out of the folding chair, and stood, mouth poised near the microphone.

"On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese..." I began to sing raucously.

"Be serious." the intercom told me.

I rolled my eyes as big as I could. "Fine."

The opening chords to 'For All I Know' buzzed in my left ear, and I softly began to hum.

I was starting the first track from my new album, Loud Silence. This album was going to be different from the last, Looking All Around. The songs were funkier, a blend of everything, and the we were doing solos. I had 4 other solo songs out of the 13 tracks.

The music faded, and I sighed loudly into the microphone, no doubt startling the people in the listening booth. "Good enough?"

"Hang on..." answered the voice. "...might as well come in here to listen..."

"Sure." I answered, yanking my headset off, and walking out of the soundproof room. Walking down a short corridor, turning left, I came into the recording booth.

Houton, the new manager, stood behind Rick, the sound recorder, and stared at the sound mixer board, as if willing it to mess up. He made me nervous, but I could stand him more than I did the last manager, Reagent.

He glanced up at me. "Let's see, shall we?" he asked.

You and your damn perfect grammar, I thought. "Yeah."

Houton raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. He looked about fortyish, with graying hair, dark brown eyes, and had a serious air to him.

"Okay. Got it." Rick announced.

"Roll it." I directed.

With the flick of a switch, my voice filled the tiny room.

Rick's eyes popped out as he heard the song. I laughed so hard my ears popped. Earlier, before Houton came in, we were singing Disney songs. It was a gas.

Rick's hands flew over the control board, trying to find the right clip.

Houton frowned. "We are not here to do rehashes of Disney animations, Miss Harmont."

"Classics, Houton. Classics." I gasped, bent over.

The song faded, and the right song began to play. I straightened to listen.

Houton frowned harder.

What now?! I thought. "Something the matter?" I asked politely, wiping tears from my eyes.

"Sounds too strained." he told me. "Try again."

I bit my tongue to keep from retorting. I had been playing music since I was 9. I knew what sounded good, and that song sounded great.

Rick glanced up at me, giving me an incredulous look. He knew I had done this song over and over for the past 5 hours non-stop.

Houton glanced at his watch. "I've got something to do, but I'll be back." he said, and left.

"While you're gone, clean out your ears, old man!" I restrained from calling after him, and only muttered.

"He's such a tight ass." Rick said, turning back to the huge sound mixer.

"Got that right." I said. "Well, let's get back to work, shall we?" I mimicked, making Rick laugh.

"Sure. Get to it. You have the hard job. I'm getting paid for only moving these controls."

I grimaced painfully, and trudged back to the recording booth.