Page 101 of For One Night Only

“I don’t like that you know what beer smells like,” I say as she pulls back to frown at me. “Does Mom know you’re here?”

Carrie glances at her shoes before looking back up at me. “Mom hasn’t been home in three days. Your manager hooked us up with tickets, including travel, and I was going to surprise you yesterday in VIP. But Mom never showed, and I didn’t want to leave on my own in case she came back.”

God, I wish my mom could focus on her kids for once. It makes me want to fight to enroll Carrie in school here and make her move in with one of us, just so I can watch her, but I know that’s not what she wants for her last year of high school. But Mom needs to know this isn’t okay.

“I’m going to call her right now,” I say.

“Please don’t! I’m here foryou.”

Cameron puts her hands on her hips. “I’m texting Mom that you’re here and you’re safe, and reminding her that even though you’re one of the most responsible kids in the world, she still needs to check on you.”

Carrie rolls her eyes. “Fine. Whatever. But back to my question—do you think Valerie’s stunt had to do with theEpic Theme Songcancellation?”

My heart sinks as what she’s saying really sets in. “When didEpic Theme Songget canceled? I thought it was all still up in the air.” That was the entire point of this charade.

She shrugs. “I don’t know—it was all over the internet yesterday right before the concert started, so I assume the decision happened recently. Maybe even that morning.”

Suddenly, everything starts to make sense. Valerie’s strange behavior at sound check, being elusive, “making calls” when we were supposed to focus—she found out about the cancellation and panicked. But I wish she would have talked to me first before makingsome desperate grab for more Glitter Bats. She should have told me what was going on.

Doesn’t she trust me?

“That doesn’t excuse what she did,” I say, but the back of my neck prickles. Suddenly, I see yesterday in a different light.

“No, but it sucks,” Carrie says. “Wonderfans are pissed. We made fan art and memes and fic, covered songs, signed petitions—hell, we even got it trending in the US and France and fuckingBrazil—but they still canceled the show.”

“Don’t sayfuck,” Cameron and I say in unison.

Carrie laughs. “I’ll be eighteen in like two months. And you say it all the time, Cam.”

Cameron sighs. “Whatever. So you’re saying the show got canceled and you think Valerie…panicked? That’s what all this was?”

“That’s exactly what we think,” Carrie says. “So I saw what happened and put the pieces together, and I only came down because I wanted to make sure Caleb was okay.” She gestures with the keys still in her hand. “But I can drive back if you want.”

“In the dark? Absolutely not. Go grab some pizza and I’ll make up the guest room with fresh sheets. Sebastian Bark has been crashing there,” Leah says.

“Thank you, Car. You shouldn’t have come all this way alone, but I’m glad you’re here,” I say.

“I think you forget because you’re always taking care of everyone else, but you needussometimes too, Caleb.”

My eyes sting, and I pull my little sister into another hug. I’ve been second-guessing my decision to leave the Glitter Bats all summer, drawn in by nostalgia, by the joy of working with my friends again, by Valerie’s allure. But if I’d still been on the road all these years, I never would have known how much my family needed me. Or maybe my sister is right, and it’s more about how much I needed them.

Everything hurts right now, but at least I’m not alone.

Where Is Valerie Quinn?

Mary Kate Hampton, Staff Writer,Buzzword

Ever since the ill-fated Glitter Bats reunion, Valerie Quinn has been noticeably MIA. This is new behavior from Quinn, who has been a mainstay in the LA nightlife scene since she moved here permanently several years ago. Even when she wasn’t partying it up, she was seen slipping in and out of clubs, hanging in VIP sections at shows, and dining in celebrity hotspots. But not now.

For more than a week, Quinn hasn’t been spotted at so much as a grocery store or her favorite coffee shop, much less her usual haunts. No one knows if she’s even in LA. Her social media has been wiped clean. Fans are worried, and rightfully so.

If you’ve been online at all, you know everyone has been speculating about what’s keeping her away—whether it’s shame or fear or a carefully cultivated media strategy—but Quinn is the only person who can answer that question. I join many fans in hoping she’s okay. When I reached out to her management for comment, the only statement I got in response is that “Valerie is taking some time.”

But from what? With the Glitter Bats reunion coming to a screeching halt last week and the news ofEpic Theme Song’s unfortunate cancellation, Quinn’s schedule has opened up.

So maybe this is the real question: What’s next for Valerie Quinn?

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