Rhythm and Ray: A DJ’s Journey

[Chapter 12: Spring Break]

"Spring Break?" Ryan was momentarily taken aback. Schools generally took a break during Easter, which was what Spring Break was all about, typically happening in late March, roughly equivalent to the time off for Memorial Day, but lasting about a week.

"Exactly! As this is the last Spring Break of our high school careers, the seniors are planning a trip to Panama City Beach. You should join us!" Abigail invited.

"Really..." Ryan fell into thought. Joel had mentioned before that Florida as a popular travel destination, has a plethora of nightclubs, and the DJ scene was thriving. Not to mention, the Ultra Music Festival was held in Miami during Spring Break. It was definitely worth checking out. Group activities meant that the costs would be divided among everyone, making it a fantastic opportunity.

Ryan caught a glimpse of Abigail persuading Taylor to join as well.

"I might not have the time," Taylor replied with a shake of her head.

Ryan made his decision. "Joel might have other nightclub gigs lined up. If there's nothing else going on, I'll definitely go."

He wasn't lying. Universities and high schools around the country took a break at the same time, making it peak season for nightclubs.

Hearing Ryan's reluctance, Abigail visibly became a bit downcast, while Taylor's expression remained neutral.

After dinner, Taylor waved for the waiter to bring the check and tipped generously, lighting up the waiter's face with a beaming smile.

Taylor's mom had already left early in the afternoon. Originally, Abigail planned to drive Taylor home, but Taylor insisted that Ryan give her a ride since it was on the way. It was clear she had something she wanted to discuss.

...

Before long, a two-door Dodge Challenger pulled up in front of Taylor.

"Nice ride," Taylor remarked casually as she opened the door and climbed inside.

"I spent almost all the money I earned from modeling last year on this car," Ryan said as he started the engine. He had poured all his earnings into spending, losing his ability to withstand any financial risks, which forced the original owner, unable to secure work, to leave New York and never return. Coincidentally, it was around this time that Trey visited the original owner's mom. Under her suggestion, the original owner moved to Nashville to audition for Nashville Star, later to leverage Taylor's connections -- this led to their current situation.

As Ryan pressed the gas pedal, the car sped through the night.

On the way, Taylor brought up Abigail, as Ryan had suspected, mentioning that Abigail had a crush on him.

"She wants me to create opportunities for you two to be alone together," Taylor bluntly revealed.

"Sounds good to me," Ryan pretended to ponder.

"You're not allowed to flirt with her, you can't be alone with her, and definitely no sleeping together, including during Spring Break," Taylor immediately retorted.

"Are you getting jealous?" Ryan laughed.

Taylor took a moment to respond, "I just don't want her to get hurt."

...

When Ryan returned to Trey's house, instead of going to his room, he headed to the study and opened his computer. Unlike before, Ryan wasn't thinking about quickly and easily finishing the song in his mind. Instead, he seemed to be aimlessly using various functions of his DAW software and experimenting with different plugins. Of course, he inevitably ended up paying some bills with Trey's credit card.

...

Since he was wearing headphones and deeply focused, Ryan didn't notice someone quietly push open the study door and approach him from behind. When Trey saw Ryan expertly using her card to pay, and then log into her email to delete the payment reminder, her face twisted in anger. But then she found it somewhat amusing, and ultimately turned to leave him undisturbed as he focused.

...

By 3 AM, Ryan had produced a brand new remix version of Tremor and uploaded it to social media.

...

The next morning, Ryan opened his computer in the school library and found that Taylor had already posted a new social media update as promised. She summarized the previous day's experiences with a series of pictures, including returning to school, a close-up of her diploma, watching the football team practice, and dining with her closest friends. Ryan appeared in three of the pictures.

In the caption, Taylor described her day, then casually mentioned her upcoming EP and new album set to drop later that year, also teasing that next week she would open for a certain country band at a concert in Nashville. Finally, she introduced and tagged Ryan, declaring that his "party music" was fantastic, and added a short preview link at the end.

Although it was just a couple of lines in a lengthy post, the benefits for Ryan were evident. Within hours of Taylor sharing his music, his MySpace follower count skyrocketed into the quadruple digits, with projections reaching into the thousands in the days to follow.

Additionally, the quality of his music contributed to rapidly catching attention. Ryan noticed many comments asking when this Tremor would be available for sale. He decided to upload it to various paid download platforms that night. Those platforms welcomed new music, and the upload process was simple, allowing him to be considered an independent artist.

...

Just then, Abigail, along with a few girls, entered the library and noticed Ryan at the computer. After talking with her friends, she separated from them with a sneaky laugh and walked over to him.

"Good morning! What a coincidence, are you here researching?" She strolled over and patted Ryan on the back.

As Abigail chatted with Ryan, she set her backpack on the table and began putting away her books on the shelf. Finally, she pulled out a few notebooks and handed them directly to Ryan.

"I've been looking for you! These are my class notes from the past few years. I don't need them anymore, so they're yours," Abigail said with a smile.

Ryan, who was a year younger than graduating Abigail, thought those notes were valuable. He accepted them without hesitation, flipping through a few pages in front of her, realizing many of the notes were quite messy and hard to decipher.

"Do you have time this afternoon?" Ryan suddenly asked.

"What?" Abigail didn't catch that at first.

Ryan gestured to the notebook. As a transfer student, he needed to spend more time catching up on study progress. Unfortunately, he didn't have much time in the evenings, so he had to find a way to catch up quickly.

...

In the following two weeks, Ryan followed a highly structured routine. He attended classes in the morning, dedicated two afternoons to football team training, two afternoons for tutoring from Abigail, and two afternoons working on remixes, including Tremor and current popular songs. While these remixes might not have been as ear-catching as the originals, they quickly improved his software skills.

In the evenings, Ryan would arrive on time at the nightclub with Joel. During four hours of performance time, the two of them took turns onstage. Ryan brought his Tremor and rapidly boosted the nightclub's popularity, leading to a point where reservations were necessary to secure a table. The nightclub manager hadn't stopped smiling, and Ryan's extra pay increased daily, rising from an initial $100 to $300.

Meanwhile, Ryan's MySpace follower count had officially surpassed 10,000. Tremor was uploaded to several paid channels as an independent artist, with Taylor's assistance in spreading the word resulting in near 1,000 paid downloads on its best day, despite it still being a semi-finished product.

As Ryan took his first steps into his DJ career, Spring Break approached closer and closer.

*****

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