Charlotte's Playlist

Episode 5 of The Belles of St. Anthony's

"Who put you in charge of music?" I said.

"You did," Charlotte shot back, hunched on the floor over her laptop. "'Nobody else on this committee knows music like you, Charlotte.' Your exact words."

"We voted to not hire a DJ because we trusted your taste. You've got ten thousand songs on that thing. There's gotta be something you can dance to."

"You can dance to this!" She tapped the screen, and a weird, raging guitar solo spread through the air between us like an explosion of electronic noodles. Even Augusta and Helena were wary, and they were used to this from her.

I touched the screen and restored some blessed silence. "Prog rock is not dance music, Char. Nobody's going to like it!"

Charlotte adjusted her glasses, and the glare hid her eyes. "How'll they know if they never hear it?"

"So throw a party, invite everybody, and play it there. You're here for Homecoming, so come up with something for Homecoming!"

Charlotte grumbled.

"Come on, Char," Helena said, sitting beside her, her hair draped to the floor. "You've got plenty of stuff here that could work. You've got Beyonce, you've got Taylor Swift, you've got Drake, you've got Michael Buble. Why aren't they on your playlist?"

"Too easy." Charlotte crooked her fingers as if under torture. "Kids these days don't know serious, complex, deep music anymore! Music that experiments, and breaks new ground! Not any lowest-common-denominator pop."

"You are a kid," I said.

"What about Daft Punk?" Helena said. "I know you have that. You're always going on about them as musicians, too."

"Daft Punk?" Charlotte lifted her head from her shoulders. She started scrolling through her catalog. "How'd I forget Daft Punk?"

"Yeah, like that," I said. "It's EDM, right? What does the 'D' stand for?"

"'Touch' would be perfect."

"You're playing 'Get Lucky,'" I said.

Charlotte groaned with frustration. Clearly another "Too easy" was on her lips. Being a music nerd is one thing, but does she have to be so pretentious? If we weren't careful, we’d have to put up with this when she performed at the talent show.

"Can't I at least have one prog rock song?"

Augusta answered, "Genesis."

"Well, maybe..."

"Phil Collins era."

"Hey, wait a--"

"'Invisible Touch.'"

"That's not even prog rock! It's 80's pop!"

Helena raised her hand. "I move we follow Augusta's suggestion."

"Second," I said.

Augusta, Helena and I all raised our hands.

Charlotte growled, "Tyranny of the majority! We need checks and balances!"

As it happened, the student council president Nash Willard was in the corner, talking with the kids in charge of decorating. "Hey Nash," I called. "We just voted, and decided Char can't use any prog rock except Genesis. You cool with that?"

He gave a thumb's up.

"He doesn't even know what prog rock is! Or Genesis!"

"Still," I said, "if anybody has a veto, it's him."

Helena sighed and sagged her head so far down her forehead almost touched the floor. "Fine. I'll just have to save King Crimson for another day."

"You know we love you, Char," Helena said. "It's just you've got to consider your audience."

"Yeah, sure. So by 'Invisible Touch,' did you mean the album or the song?"

"The song," Augusta said. "It's a real banger."

I take no responsibility for any earworms that may result from this story.