At 6am the following morning, Isabella’s alarm clock went off and she woke up. After turning it off she got ready and made sure she had everything she might need, including her camera, headphones, iPod nano and iPhone, in addition to her smaller notebook where she wrote other poems that she was particularly proud of.
She made herself a quick breakfast, brushed her teeth and then posted a new status on her Facebook.
“Odd phone call last night. Interesting, but odd. Going to NYC today.”
“That should draw Rebecca’s attention in a couple of hours.” She thought out loud with a chuckle.
Isabella then just had to wait for her dad to come get her, which he did around 7:30am. After she was dropped off she made her way to the ticket booth and bought a one-way ticket. She’d buy her return ticket at Port Authority, which wasn’t the norm for her, but she didn’t know if she could use a ticket bought today tomorrow.
Since it was starting to become a decent day, she decided to go and stand outside in line. It was starting to become her lucky day because she was the first in line, which meant she’d also have her choice of seats. She took out her cell phone and updated her status via a text message and then put it away in her purse. She took out her iPod to keep herself entertained while waiting. By this point, more people had begun to line up and the bus opened its doors. She boarded the bus, handed the driver her ticket and chose the first window seat on the boarding side.
She updated her status again once the bus was moving for kicks and then phased out into her own little world, distracted by what was about to ensue.
An hour and a half later the bus was pulling into a parking spot in Port Authority. As soon as she got off the bus and through the doors to the building she took out her cell phone. She sent Brian a message saying she made it, but she didn’t get a reply until she was outside on the sidewalk.
“Great. Go to Times Square.”
“That was cryptic, but okay.” She replied. She didn’t know what to really make of his message.
About ten minutes later, she was in the heart of Times Square near the NYPD Sub-Station. She texted Brian again.
“In Times Square. At NYPD.”
Since it was a nice day, Isabella didn’t mind waiting outside, of course she didn’t know who she was waiting for or what direction they were coming from. She eventually received another text from Brian.
“Look for Leighanne. She’ll find you.”
“Oh, good gravy!” She said out loud to herself and then looked around for Brian’s wife. While waiting she updated her status again.
“A beautiful day in Times Square.”
About ten minutes later she spotted Leighanne and their son, Baylee, walking towards her.
“Brian was a little cryptic.” Isabella commented.
“Yeah, he told me what he said. It was odd.” Leighanne agreed. “He would have given you the address, but he didn’t know it.” She added.
“Makes sense now.” Isabella commented. “Lead the way.”
“It’s a quick walk, so don’t worry.”
“It’s not a problem. I’ve once walked from Penn Station all way down to the World Trade Center site with my friend, Christal, and her whining seven-year-old.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, Sarah’s nine now, but same attitude.” Isabella commented. “Her little cousin, who is now five, is a whole lot better.”
Leighanne let out a small laugh. A few minutes later they arrived at the building.
“Well, this is it. Are you ready?” She asked as she opened the door.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready, but it should be interesting.”
“Yeah. I’ll bring you up, but then I gotta go. There’s too many people in there now and I want to be surprised when I hear the final cut.”
Isabella smiled and followed her into the elevator and continued to follow her until they reached the room that she’d be in with the guys. Before Leighanne opened the door, Isabella stopped her.
“I shouldn’t have any reason to be nervous, right?” She questioned. “I mean, it’s not like they’re going to ask me to record also, right?”
“Why? Can you sing?”
“That’s debatable.” Isabella answered.
“If you don’t tell them, then they won’t. Then, I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Isabella said relieved.
The two then walked in the room and Leighanne and Baylee said their goodbyes and walked out leaving Isabella to contend with the guys on her own.
“Shall we get started?” Kevin asked.
“Sure. Isabella, you can sit here next to Shawn.” Brian said as he pointed to a chair. “Just don’t hit anything.” he joked.
“No problem there.” She replied as she sat down.
“So, this is how it’s going to work,” AJ started, “We’re going to record up to the first chorus and if you like it, we’ll record the rest of the track. If not, tell us what you want to change.” Isabella nodded and smiled in agreement. “Great.”
The five went into the studio and prepared by putting on their headphones. Shawn started the music and handed Isabella a copy of her poem, but in song form, on a clipboard so she could take notes. Immediately she liked the instrumental track so she knew it was going in the right direction, or at least she hoped it was. The guys sang and recorded up to after the first time the chorus was sung and Shawn stopped the recording and turned to her.
“What you think?” He asked her.
“Sounds perfect actually.” She answered as she looked at the guys who were now smiling. “They can go on if they’re up to it.” She then added.
“Guys?”
“We’ll go on.” Howie answered.
“Okay, well you want to hear the playback and record as it continues?” Shawn asked them.
“Yeah, sounds great.” Kevin answered.
Shawn did as he planned and played it back from the beginning, which Isabella now noticed had a long introduction. She didn’t write that note down, but she kept it as a mental note. Howie continued with the song once the chorus was done and they all kept recording their parts. After they were done, they came out and had Shawn play the whole thing.
“Does it normally take you less than an hour to record a song?” Isabella asked them once that was over.
“No, but we’ve been working on this for a while.” Brian answered and then got wide-eyed.
“So I can assume before you asked me permission yesterday?” She questioned realizing he wasn’t supposed to say anything.
“Yes.” He admitted.
“Are you mad?” Kevin asked her.