Tenney in the Key of Friendship

A Star on the Rise

The week before the benefit dissolves into a blur of school, last-minute planning with Jaya and Holliday, and rehearsals with Logan. Tenney comes home exhausted every evening, but still finds energy for family dinner, homework, and polishing her newest songs.

On the morning of the concert, Tenney wakes buzzing with energy, dresses, and zips through breakfast while the rest of the family is still working through grits and bacon. She packs up her guitar and sets it by the door, eager to get the day started. Mason teases that somebody’s excited. “There’s just so much to do!” Tenney exclaims, snatching Dad’s keys off the wall and laughing, until Dad plucks them back and ruffles her hair, declaring they’d better hit the road before Tenney self-destructs.

Mom calls from the porch that she and Aubrey will bring the food truck an hour before the show to sell snacks. As Dad drives down Woodland Avenue, he asks how Tenney’s doing. On the drive over, she admits to Dad how badly she wants the concert to succeed, worried they won’t raise enough for Mina’s school, but pushes the thought down as they pull into the lot behind Dad’s shop, where Holliday and her dad, and Jaya and her mom, are already waiting.

Jaya arrives with her arms full of blue fabric, a banner she and Holliday designed to hang above the stage, though she won’t show Tenney the finished result yet. They spent days cutting out felt birds and guitars for it. The morning turns into a whirlwind of hauling furniture and lining up chairs until Zane and Logan show up. Tenney checks the clock, alarmed. Barely an hour and a half is left.

Holliday and Jaya wave off Tenney’s worry, saying their parents have the cash box, ticket stand, and audience handled, freeing Tenney and Logan to focus on their music. Grateful, Tenney hugs them both before retreating to warm up while Logan taps out triplets on his drum pad. Between songs, worry creeps back. Did they put up enough posters? Will her classmates actually show? Should they have sold tickets in advance? Too late to fix that now.

Portia checks on them, teasing that Tenney looks about as cheerful as a chicken on the chopping block. When Tenney confesses she’s just hoping they sell some tickets, Portia laughs and tells her to look outside. Tenney and Logan head to the front of the shop and stop short. A real crowd, more people than Tenney has ever seen there, stretches well past the windows.

Zane and Dad are already talking about it when Jaya and Holliday come running up, breathless, reading aloud a message Belle posted online. “Sad I won’t be able to make a great show today @ 1 p.m. at Grant’s Music and Collectibles in East Nashville. Please go show your support for Patty Burns, Logan Everett, and my friend Tenney Grant! She’s a star on the rise!”

Tenney panics, wondering if every one of Belle’s three million followers is about to show up, but Holliday guesses they’ll at least sell out, since more than 300 people are already waiting outside. Tenney whoops and high fives Jaya, but Dad’s expression is pinched with worry. He and Zane have realized the shop, with a legal capacity of only 125, can’t safely hold anywhere near that many people. Turning away so many fans after all this work feels wrong, but it might be the only option.

As everyone starts talking over each other, Tenney glances around the shop. Suddenly, an idea clicks into place in her head. “I know what we can do!” she blurts out. “But we all have to work together, fast.”