Bo got the emergency call from Mackie at ten-thirty that night.

"Walter, I'm trying to sleep here," he said.

"I can't do it," Mackie said. "I just called Mr. Riggins."

This got Bo's attention. "You...called...Mr. Riggins, AT HOME?!"

"So what--I had to!" said Mackie. "He's in the phone book, he lives in Santa Monica."

"And you told him what, exactly?"

"That I wasn't getting up there tomorrow. And if that wasn't all right, then he could go ahead and throw me out of school."

"Un...believable," said Bo. "So what'd he say?"

"He was, I don't know, different. Sort of understanding. He asked me if there was anything  he could do to change my mind."

"So you told him there wasn't."

"I told him I'd play if I could bring my band with me."

"What?!"

"So that's why I'm calling you," Mackie said. "The assembly's at
2:20--7th period."

"Wait a second--Walter--you can't just sign us all up like that, cold!"

"What, cold? We've been practicing like maniacs for the Jasper gig. And it's just one song."

"Uh, man, you're throwing me a giant curveball here," Bo said. "It's too late to even notify everyone."

"All's we need is my keyboard and your guitar. We can use the school drums. Tell Jenny and Melissa and Jimmy at lunch, that's all."

"Walter, I have to admit, you're starting to sound like me," Bo said. "Okay, so we're doing 'Brown-Eyed Girl', right? It's our best song."

"I was thinking 'I Fought the Law'. I like my solo on that one. Plus Green Day did a version of it, so everyone might not think of it as an oldie."

"Dang, dude," said Bo. "Of everything you could have chosen, that's our least polished song."

"You know what?" Mackie said. "We'll deal with it. Goodnight."

"I got to hand it to you Walter," Bo said. "First the marathon run, now standing up to Mr. Riggins. You may be a geek, but you have some serious backbone."

"Gee thanks, Bo. I think."
********************************************************
Jimmy was eating a barbecued  chicken sandwich at the picnic tables, talking to Myers and Allison Sturgeon, when Bo got there.

"The thing about fly-fishing," Jimmy was saying, "it's a slow sport, but it's an exciting one at the same time, if that makes sense."

"Hmm," said Myers.

"More important than that right now," said Bo, "is you better get your act together. We're playing 7th period."

"Come again, dog?"

"You see Jenny and Melissa before I do, tell 'em," Bo said, and he took off.

"What was that all about?" Allison asked.

"I don't know--but I think I probably do," Jimmy said.

"I Fought the Law" had a strong, driving intro that Bo had extended from four to eight bars, to hopefully grab an audience before the verses began.

Now he was up there singing the first line:

"Breaking rocks in the...hot sun, I fought the law, and the...law won"

and it felt like the audience--the Huckabee student body and teachers--was actually paying attention.

Jenny and Melissa came in on the refrain, and Mackie's solo was next. Bo glanced over, Mackie took the cue, and he began. He started with a couple bars of the straight melody, progressed to a  country riff, then turned it into lightning-fast boogie-woogie piano, before bringing it back to the melody and leaving it there just right for Bo to begin the second verse.

You couldn't hear the first couple lines of the verse though, because people were clapping and cheering and whistling for Mackie. After the final refrain, the band repeated the eight bar intro, and that was it.

Mr. Riggins came up on stage smiling.

"That really was...something special!" he said. "Let's here it for Walter Mackie and The Z Street Band--YOUR Z Street Band!"

The applause continued, and when Mr. Riggins motioned Mackie to come up front, it got a little louder.

"You guys have to play the dance!" said Allison Sturgeon, as the band was breaking down.

"Seems like I might of heard that before, someplace," Jimmy said.

"Really, you should," Marty Zuckerman said. "I'll admit I'm envious that it's not me up there, but you rocked!"

"I liked the tempo of that song," Dirk Lefroni said. "The way you kept everyone kind of, like, off-balance."

"Thanks dude, appreciate it," Bo said.

Eva Loggerman was off to the side talking to Mackie as he was folding up his keyboard stand.

"What was that, Walter?" Jimmy asked when she left.

"Oh, not anything really," Mackie said. "She plays classical too."

"We know, we heard her at the talent show," Bo said. "That all she wanted to talk about?"

Mackie didn't say anthing.

"Walter, you're turning red!" Jenny said.

"Dudes, seriously, we need you at the spring dance!" said Jason Bruno, as he passed the stage. "That was off the hinges!"

"He's right," Rachel Wainwright said. "Mel, we need to have a special committee meeting tomorrow and talk about it."

"The only problem being," Melissa said, "I'm in the band."

"Okay then, but I'm going to talk to Mr. Riggins first thing tomorrow, and try to make this happen," she said, and was gone.

"When is the dance, anyway?" asked Mackie.

"A week from Saturday," Jenny said. "The 28th."

"The good thing about playing school dances," said Jimmy, "is we don't have to play them."

"This one might be different," Bo said. "Just maybe, we're back in business."
*****************************************************************
Friday night they were jammed into the front booth at In-N-Out, celebrating.

"Things have a way of working out, don't they?" said Jenny.

"All that's gone down," said Adler.

"You can say that again," said Melissa. "This has been some roller coaster ride."

"What I like," Jimmy said, "is we don't have to fill up the whole two hours and start repeating songs, since they got us rotating with the DJ."

"Is THAT what you like, Ringo Starr," Bo said.

"Ridley, after this is all over with, you know what I'm probably going to do to you?" Jimmy said.

"Who's the DJ?" Jenny asked.

"Pablo, the same guy we always have," said Melissa.

"Any chance he has anything to do with--our two friends?" asked Mackie.

"No, he's older," Melissa said. "I think he goes to the JC."

"So, everything says this should be a clean gig, right?" Adler said.

"Not 'should be'," Bo said. "Dude, will you stop worrying? The Z Street Band is in the house!"

"Okay, everybody, hands in," said Jimmy. "One--two--three..."

And they all belted out: "Z STREET BAND!!"

For a split second, In-N-Out went silent and people looked around. Then it went back to being a normal Friday night.