THURSDAY - JUNE 10,1976

Sarah and Trish sat in the backseat of the car on the way back from picking her and Sam up at the airport. Sarah was telling Trish all about their trip when she stopped and looked at Sam and Georgie, curiously.

"Why are they talking in French?" Sarah asked Trish.

Trish shrugged her shoulder. "I don't know. They must be talking business. Sometimes they do that. Georgie is probably telling him what's been going on. There have been some changes.."

She stopped when she saw Georgie look at her in the rear view mirror. "I'll tell you later." She whispered to Sarah.

Sarah looked out the window, trying to pick up anything she might understand from the conversation in the front seat. But she had no understanding of the French language. She caught her name in there a couple times and Gisette's name was sprinkled through the conversation quite a bit.

There was confusion at the motel in St. Louis when Sarah and Sam walked into the lobby with Georgie and Trish. The members of their entourage were sprawled out in chairs around the lobby, waiting for Gisette to settle things.

Gisette was at the desk, trying to keep her patience, as she spoke with the clerk, who was shaking his head, trying to understand her. Georgie and Sam walked up to stand beside her and Trish led Sarah over to a spot against the wall.

"What's been going on?" Sarah glanced over at the band members spread out through the lobby.

"Gisette is making changes again." Trish narrowed her eyes as she watched the three of them at the desk. "One good thing is that there will be less practices. I mean, they"ll still do sound checks but they won't be working all the time. She wants them to spend more down time together. But she wants to cut our budget, so we are getting shittier places to stay."

"Cut the budget?" Sarah looked at Trish, her face showing astonishment. "But their father is paying for it all, right?"

"Yeah, he is, but Gisette wants to look good, so I think she thought this might help her image. Georgie says she's been on shaky ground. Julien isn't happy with the way she and Sam are fighting all the time. It's not exactly good for the morale, you know? He really tore into her shit, I guess. She's been a lot friendlier, even to me."

Sarah watched as Georgie and Sam took control at the counter. She noticed Gisette leaning towards Sam, whispering something in his ear.

Sarah watched as Sam smiled down at her, and said something back. She felt icy trails go down her spine as she watched Gisette take Sam's hand as she talked to him, drawing him in closer to her.

"Well, at least we got rooms for everyone. That dumb ass clerk had us all doubled up in rooms." Sam threw their duffle on the bed.

Sarah walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She heard their door open and recognized Gisette's voice. It was a low murmur but she knew that accent. She heard Sam's laughter then his voice murmured something in return.

Sarah recognized the flirting tone in their conversation. Finishing up, she hurriedly opened the door. Gisette was sitting on their bed, leaning back on her hands, Sam stood in front of her, his hands were shoved in his back pockets. They spoke in French, as usual, and their conversation definitely had a flirtatious vibe.

Sam turned from where he stood smiling down on Gisette. "Gisette has something to tell you, sweetheart."

"Ok," Sarah said, uncertainly. She walked over to Sam and tugged his hand out of his pocket. She felt him give her a reassuring squeeze as they linked their fingers.

"Sarah," Gisette sat straight, clasping her hands and began nervously. She flitted a look at Sarah, then looked down. "I just wanted to apologize for the way I have been acting towards you."

Sarah narrowed her eyes, somehow the other girl just didn't sound sincere. The way that Gisette refused to meet her eyes when she apologized. Or maybe it was the way her fingers were pinched white to the knuckles as she held them clasped in her lap. Something told Sarah that she was being forced to do this. Sam put his arm around Sarah's shoulders giving them a little nudge.

"Sarah, she's saying she's sorry. " He whispered in a stage whisper, loud enough for Gisette to hear. He squeezed her shoulder and brushed his lips against her temple. "C'mon, it's all water under the bridge."

"Yeah, sure. We're cool, Gisette." Sarah stepped back as Gisette stood and glided to the door.

"Bon." Gisette closed the door quietly behind her.

Sarah turned to Sam, the doubt showing in her face. "So, that's it? She's going to just start being nice?"

Sam leaned forward and kissed her lips, lightly. "Yep, she can be nice when she wants to. Give her a chance, Sarah, no more talking behind her back with Trish. It makes her feel left out. This will be good for the band."

"Okay." He didn't notice the puzzled look on her face as he relaxed his shoulders and turned towards the bed.

"Now, get your bikini on!" Sam tore through the duffle bag, throwing clothes on the bed. "No practice means more time for us to play. And this place at least has a pool!"

The pool was in front of the motel, a small, fenced in rectangle, set amidst a square of concrete, and surrounded by lounge chairs. A table and 4 chairs sat in one corner of the concrete apron, loaded with towels and coolers.

A radio was on a chair beside it, blaring the music loud enough to be heard over the yells and screams of the guys.

Sarah found Trish, lying on one of the chaises, and sat on the one next to her. Trish raised her sunglasses to look over.

"This is more like it, don't you think?" Trish adjusted the top of her skimpy red bikini, and took a swig of beer, motioning towards the pool with the bottle. "This is just what they need."

Sarah laid back and watched the group through the dark shades of her sunglasses. They were all like little boys, jumping in the water and splashing each other.

"Where's Gisette?" Sarah had noticed her absence.

"I think she's doing some business things in her room." Trish stretched. "I took some rolls of film to the one hour photo, down the street. We can walk down there and get them later if you want."

"Yeah, sounds good." Sarah laid her head back, pushing back all the warning signals that rang through her head. She would try to relax, and enjoy this change.

The sound of whistles and catcalls penetrated Sarah's brain. She looked around and realized she had dozed off. Trish's chair was empty and looking around, Sarah didn't see her.

The guys were still in the pool but their horseplay had stopped, as they all watched Gisette come across the parking lot and enter the gate, into the pool area.

Gisette walked slowly along the concrete apron, her face nearly covered in large dark sunglasses. Her black hair was swept up on top her head, strands hanging around her neck. Her long legs and perfect body were on display, fully.

The black macrame she wore just barely covered her nipples, her lush curves showing around the edges and spilling out over the top. The bikini bottom was barely a string woven into a minute triangle in the front. As she slinked by, Sarah saw the back of it barely covered her ass, the woven strings were ruffled, flipping against the smooth round cheeks. The ruffle flowed down, hugging the crack, narrowing to slightly there as it curved into the gap between her thighs.

Sarah looked at the pool and saw several of the guys were hanging on the edge, calling out to Gisette. Her eyes searched the group and she found Sam leaning against the opposite side of the pool talking with Georgie, but his eyes were following Gisette. He watched her walk to the table, then turned to Georgie as they kept talking. Sarah laid her head back and closed her eyes. She told herself. "He's just being nice. I have to be nice too."

Gisette ignored them all, setting her towel on the pile that was on the table. She walked back and sat in the chair that Trish had vacated.

"They can all be so rude." Gisette pouted, then she turned a smile on Sarah. "Are you enjoying the sun? You look a little red, maybe you shouldn't stay out so long."

"Thanks, but I'm used to the sun." Sarah laid her head back and closed her eyes, hoping Gisette would get the message.

"Yes, that's right. Sam told me you grew up by a lake." Gisette opened the magazine she had brought, looking through it as she spoke. "A small town, he said. I'm sure that's a boring life. This must seem pretty exciting for you. Little Sarah gets to follow a rock band."

Sarah sat up suddenly and swung her legs around, planting her feet down firmly. She leaned forward and said, fiercely. "I don't give a shit what you think, I am not a groupie."

"Don't get carried away by all this. You know, you won't be here for the whole tour." Gisette looked down and pretended to be reading. "Sam will get tired of you. You aren't his type, you know. I know Sam. Very well." Gisette said, smugly. "I know that you don't have what it takes to make him happy in bed."

"Get this through you're fucking head, bitch. It is Sam and me now. Not you, you hear me! Not you!" Sarah hissed then stormed over to the gate, and across the parking lot, to their hotel door.

Sam entered the room just minutes after Sarah, his hair dripping and a confused look on his face. "What the fuck just happened out there?"

"Nothing, Gisette and I were just talking." Sarah didn't want to tell Sam what Gisette had said. She already regretted losing it in front of Gisette like that. "I decided to come in here and lie down for awhile."

"Gisette said that you made a comment about having to ride the bus. Sarah, you know we can't help that, we have to go with them. I can't believe you are giving Gisette a hard time about it. Please, we are trying to get along here." Sam explained with exaggerated patience.

Sarah whirled around in surprise. "What?" She saw the anger and confusion in Sam's eyes and knew he believed Gisette. She took a step back.

"Sam, do you think I would complain about it to her?"

"Well, no.." Sam shook his head, then exhaled through his fingers. "I don't know what was said out there. Evidently Gisette took it the wrong way." He ran his hands through his hair and Sarah saw they were shaking. He must have really hated having to come in and confront her.

"Sam, I'm sorry." Sarah wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest. "I promise I'll try to be nicer." She felt his arms go around her and she leaned back to look at him. "I love you."

Sam laid his cheek against her head, murmuring. "I love you, too.

Trish knocked on the door, calling out Sarah's name and they stepped away from each other.

"Just a minute!" Sarah called out, her eyes stayed focus on Sam's. She lowered her voice and forced herself to speak normally.

The words didn't want to come out, she couldn't believe she was saying them. "I'm going to the photo place with Trish." She forced a small laugh, hoping it sounded genuine. "Go play in the pool. I'll be right back.

Trish watched with a concerned look as Sam slid past her with just a nod. "Is he okay?" She swiveled her head back to Sarah. "Are you okay?"

Sarah pulled her into the room, closing the door, quickly. "You have got to tell me what's going on. Has everyone all of sudden taken some new drug?"

"What do you mean?" Trish stood waiting while Sarah got dressed.

"All of a sudden, Gisette is everyone's hero. They are all worshipping at her feet out there, like she's some kind of fucking goddess. What the hell happened while we were gone?"

Trish raised her eyebrows and smiled, wryly. "She's done a complete turn around. Georgie said she broke down crying at the meeting they had yesterday. She told everyone she was trying as hard as she could. She admitted she was making mistakes, but she wanted their help to change things. Somehow, she has talked them all into going along with her on whatever she says. She's the helpless princess trying to prove her worth to her father. They all feel bad for her."

"There was a meeting while Sam was gone? Why would she do that?" Sarah was trying to piece it all together in her mind.

"She said it was an emergency. She couldn't take it anymore." Trish looked at Sarah and raised her palms, shrugging. "The band is getting along, things seem to be better, so maybe we should just see what happens."

Trish sat down in the chair, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them. "I know she really wants this band to succeed. It would look really good for her in her father's eyes. Georgie said that Gisette told him she would try harder to get along with Sam." Trish bit her lip and looked at Sarah. "And with you."

She went on in a rush. "He wants us to give her a chance. He just talked to me, outside. He says that Gisette was upset about something you said at the pool. I'm supposed to talk to you about it."

"Do you believe it? Do you seriously think that Gisette would be upset about something I said? She doesn't give a flying fuck about me!"

"Sarah, I don't know what to think. I just think we have to give her another chance. For the band." Trish shrugged her shoulders.