They're wrong

My biggest fear is nothing

My biggest regret is not leaving a mark on the world

They shove us in seats, shove pills down our throats

Tell us it's time to turn that frown upside-down

We are the young and no so innocent

We are past the point of no return

And we've been sitting here awhile now

If my name could be the forsaken

To make up for the babes that have been taken

Shoved into this den of lies and deceit 

Learn from your mistakes, least you repeat 

--from the song Nothing But Fears, lyrics by Orion Bauwens

"What are your goals as a band?"

This is surreal. We're in a conference room at EMI Records with Gloria. It's the following day, and she was eager to get started right away. She certainly was a go-getter.

The three of us look at each other.

"Have you thought about that before?" she asks.

"Uh," Orion says, "we haven't--we haven't explicitly discussed anything..."

I nearly smirk. It just cracks me up how Orion has a great vocabulary when he's working. Yeah, sure, his grades might've sucked, but I'm starting to realize he's actually pretty smart...If only he would have applied himself. But then again if he had, I wouldn't be sitting in a conference room at EMI Records right now.

"Alright," Gloria says. She writes something down on a yellow pad of paper and underlines it. "Lets spitball. And just so you know I am going to take notes, and then move those notes into a document on my tablet so it is concise."

I grin. I really, really like this woman. She smiles at me before casting her gaze equally to Orion and Ben. "So. Start shouting things out."

"Fame!" Orion literally shouts.

She laughs, shooting him a look. Had this happened years later on she probably would've thrown her notepad at him. But we hadn't gotten that comfortable with each other yet. "I didn't mean literally..."

He grins at her. "I'm a very literal person, Mrs. Gonzales."

"Oh please," she says, waving her hand, "call me Gloria. All of you. Once we start touring you'll be seeing me more than your own families, so please, cut the formalities."

"Okay but really," Ben says, "I want to be the best band out there."

"Yeah," I say, "I want to be a legend."

"Up there with the Rolling Stones and stuff!" Orion says excitedly.

I can tell she's trying not to laugh. She shakes her head, muttering to herself though we can't hear her. "Aye, I forgot how young these kids are..."

She looks at us and smiles. "Sorry, I wasn't specific enough. I need you to hone in on things--tangible things. Milestones you wish to accomplish. Once we do that, we can go down the list and create a timeline--what we can accomplish now, what we can do in a few years, what we can do down the line. We can also discuss what you all want, and what's a practical dream and what isn't. And I'm saying this because everyone wants to be the best."

At my side, Orion sinks down a little, and I can tell he's embarrassed. Gloria catches it, too, and smiles at him.

"It's okay, I'll help you out. My fault, I didn't explain myself well. Let's start simple--how many records are you hoping to sell this year?"

Once again we look at each other. Orion looks at her out of the side of his eye. "Uhhh...a lot?"

She smiles. "You guys know nothing about the industry, do you?"

"If you'll excuse me," Orion says, abruptly getting to his feet and rushing out of the room.

I watch him, alarmed. "Orion..."

Gloria looks upset. "I didn't mean anything. I'll go apologize--"

"No," I say, getting to my feet. "Uh. You'll have to excuse him. You've signed up with a really, um, emotional front man." Before she can reply, I rush out of the room.

"Orion," I say, finally finding him in the bathroom.

He was standing at the mirror with his sleeve up. He quickly yanks it down. He's crying. Worriedly, I go to him.

"Hey."

"I'm such an idiot. I h-have no idea what I'm doing."

"It's okay," I tell him, rubbing his shoulder. I laugh a bit in an attempt to get him to calm down. "None of us do. That's what Gloria is here for."

"She must think I'm stupid."

I frown at him. "Stop it. I'm sure she doesn't. You're being too hard on yourself. It's literally day one with her. Don't get so spooked, okay? We got this."

He doesn't look convinced and like he might cry some more. So I grab him by the shoulders, shaking him until his head flops around. "We got this, damn it!"

He laughs. I grin at him and let go. "There. Now splash some water on your face and get back in there."

"Okay."

I start to leave.

"Hey Jake?"

I stop at the door, peek my head around the corner. Orion gives a half-smile. "T-thanks."

I grin and go back to the conference room. Gloria still looks worried as I sit.

"Is he okay? I feel terrible."

"He's fine," I reply smoothly. "He'll be back in a minute."

Sure enough, after a minute Orion slinks back in. He looks embarrassed. He glances at her, slipping low into the office chair. "S-sorry."

"I am so sorry," Gloria apologizes. "I didn't mean to upset you Orion. Please--if there's anything I can do to make it up to--"

Orion sits up, clears his throat, and folds his hands on the table. Business Orion has returned, and he looks at her evenly. "It's not your fault. I got overwhelmed. But, this is what I want--really, it is," he assures her. He then smiles a little, tilting his head. "Fake it til you make it, right? Let's continue."

Gloria beams at him and the meeting continues.

"Alright, for record sales this year we'll just put what's in your contract, and that'll be your goal. If you sell more, that's all gravy. Speaking of--how is the record coming?"

"We're twenty percent done with it," Orion replies immediately.

Ben and I look at him, surprised.

"We have recorded two tracks, one track to completion, it only needs the final edits. For the other song I have recorded the vocal track, Ben has provided the drum based on that recording, and last will be Jake's overlay. The remaining five tracks shouldn't take too much longer to record. From there I'll be doing the final edits and it'll be ready for distribution."

Gloria was furiously writing all this down. "Have you thought about an album cover?"

"Here," Orion says, putting his backpack on the table and pulling out a sketchbook I've never seen before. He flips to a specific page and slides it down the table. Gloria raises her eyebrows.

"Wow. This is really wonderful. Did you draw this?"

"Yeah."

"Is there anything you can't do?"

Orion explodes into a blush, and he sinks down into his chair again.

"You didn't ask us," Ben says with a huff.

Orion looks mortified. "Oh fuck, you're right, I'm sorry. Gloria, give that back to me--"

Ben laughs. "Chill. I was kidding. I don't care about any of this, I just wanna make music."

"You should care," Gloria tells him seriously.

He merely shrugs.

"Jake?" Orion says, and Gloria moved the drawing pad to me.

I grab it and look down. It's--well, it's a mutant. A green mutant with fairy wings, but they're dripping. Or melting, or something. It's smiling derangedly, it's forked tongue sticking out. In its palm, levitating, is Saturn. The background is space. My eyebrows get higher and higher. Finally I look at Orion.

"This is fucking amazing, Ori."

He blushes again.

"My vote is yes."

Ben glances at it. "Yup, good for me."

"How did you color it, being colorblind?" I ask.

Orion rolls his eyes into the back of his head, showing his whites. He then glares at me. "I can still read, moron, remember?"

Gloria looks at him. "You're colorblind?"

"Yup!"

"Huh. Interesting."

"Alright," Gloria says, swiping up on her tablet and typing some things. She reaches over and grabs the drawing, snapping a picture of it. After that Orion puts it back in his backpack. "And you're keeping your name Saturn Mutants?"

"Yeah," Orion says, "why? Is that a problem?"

"No, I just wanted to make sure. Now--interviews."

Orion gives his nervous laugh. Gloria looks at him. He clears his throat. She shakes her head and looks down.

"Anyway. I don't want to overload you guys, but we really have to hit the ground running. Your song on the radio already had gotten a lot of attention. We want to keep that momentum going."

Orion laughs again. Gloria looks at him. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes," he says, his voice about two octaves higher than normal. "I-interviews?"

"Yes--you guys are going to have to give them."

Orion laughs. She gives him a sidelong look. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"That's his nervous laugh," Ben tells her plainly, which makes him blush.

"I don't like attention," Orion tells her.

She flat out laughs at him. "Then why on earth are you a singer of a band?"

Suddenly he's not embarrassed. Suddenly he's angry. Orion narrows his eyes. "That's different. Large crowds I can hide behind. One on one? Not a fan."

Gloria jots something down with a sigh. "Got it. But I'm sorry, it is part of the whole kit and kaboodle. You'll get used to it. And the more famous you become the less you'll have to give. Now, music videos--"

"No."

Gloria looks at him, surprised. "What?"

"No."

Ben and I look at Orion nervously.

"I'm not doing them. They're hokey, they're stupid, and they're dated. Uh-uh. I'm not doing them."

Gloria rolls her eyes. "I know MTV plays more reality TV shows now than anything, but music videos are still relevant."

"I guarantee they're on the way out," he challenges her. "It costs money to produce. Production firms, just like this one, are always looking to cut costs. In this age of instant gratification, instant consumption, people are going to get annoyed with waiting for a music video to come out with their favorite song."

"Then we release it in tandem with the album."

"I'm not dressing up like a monkey and parading around for people's entertainment."

Ben and I look at each other. This subject had never been broached. I could personally care less, and I don't know where Ben stood on it, but...damn. I had zero inkling Orion didn't want to participate in music videos so vehemently. Especially with how much he loved Queen--they practically created the music video.

"Oh," Gloria says, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly. "So it's a personal preference, then?"

"Sure, we'll call it that," he drolls.

Gloria leans forward, steepling her hands on the table. "Music videos still generate publicity."

Orion smiles at her. I'm shocked at how patronizing it is. Wow. So apparently Business Orion isn't afraid to kick ass and take names, too.

"What happened to yesterday, Gloria, when you said it's the band that has the final say?"

I swallow thickly. Ben shifts uncomfortably in his seat. For a tense moment Gloria and Orion stare each other down. Finally Gloria holds up her hands in defeat. She stoops over, takes out a sharpie from her briefcase, and writes something on the pad of paper. She then holds it up for us to see.

She's written NO MUSIC VIDEOS!!! in huge red letters and underlined it three times. She puts it down and clears her throat.

"Alright, no music videos. The leader has spoken. Moving on. Social media--"

"No," Orion says again.

"You can't say no to everything!"

Orion crosses his arms.

"You yourself even said music videos were outdated," Gloria continues, quickly writing something else down. It's making me very curious as to what her notes are. "Social media is anything but outdated."

"I'm doing this to sing," Orion all but growls at her, "not be tethered to a computer or cell phone."

"Realmente no sabes nada de estra industria...Aye. We can have a PR team manage a Twitter and Facebook account then."

"I just know a lot of famous people do manage their own social media. A lot of fans like the personal aspect," Orion replies, raising his eyebrows defensively.

"Wait wait wait," Ben interjects and we look at him. He grins at Orion. "I have an idea. You love playing video games."

"Uh...huh?"

"Dude! You could totally set up a Twitch account or whatever and play video games with fans!"

Orion doesn't look like he hates the idea.

"Yeah," I join in, "and if you really don't want to deal with fans, you could not even tell them it's you. Join a platform where you can create a new user every time or whatever."

"Or not tell them until the end it's you," Gloria says, looking excited, scratching something out and writing down a replacement note, "that would be a wonderful way to build up a fan base and keep interest. People would want to pop in regularly in the off-chance they actually got a chance to play with you."

Orion is trying not to smile. "That actually sounds like a lot of fun..."

Gloria beams at him.

The rest of the meeting runs smoothly, Orion thankfully not having a reason to break out his Scary Business Orion again.