"Yep, this is my bad," Blaine whispered. Now that he knew, he was being extra careful not to alert his friends. "Apparently I forgot to actually exit our Discord call after the fact."

"Bad?" Noah asked, shocked that Blaine would word what happened that way. "This is awesome! I mean, listen to them! They could solve our bad instrumentals problem..."

He held up his hands to make a snapping motion and to say, "Like that!," but quickly cut himself off at the sight of Luke's annoyed expression.

"Lu, I'm sorry. I know I promised a two piece at the start, and then a three piece after that, but..."

"I know, I know, we need them." But Luke said this with an aggravated sigh. "I'm sorry for giving you a hard time, No. It's just..." He turned to Blaine briefly before continuing, as if checking to see if he was still in the room. "I wanted this to be different from our last band."

"Oh! That's what this has all been about?" Noah laid a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "You don't have to worry about that. This is a whole new thing. Ash and Eddie aren't here this time."

"You had a falling out?" Blaine wondered.

"Yeah," Luke responded with a sigh. "Our debut single, 'Break the Code?' I wrote it about my old bandmates."

"I wrote one, too," Noah added. "After camp. It's called 'Phantoms.'" Even Luke didn't know this, so he turned and gave him a surprised smile.

"Oh...well, that's not my girls," Blaine reassured them. "Anita, Rose, Trinity? They're all girls I can vouch for. I've known them since we were in primary school. They're all so warm and kind, and they've always had my back. Plus, I know at least one of them already respects the heck out of you both from back in the day!"

"A fan?" Noah wondered aloud. "Well, when you tell them about the band, tell them we're excited to meet them!"

He looked to Luke for reassurance. Luke nodded.

"Will do!" Blaine said with an excited smile. "All three use she/her, by the way." With that, he moved to the corner to speak to his friends.

Luke then whispered to Noah, "Wait a second: if we're getting new instrumentalists, what are you gonna do in the band? We can't have a rap in every song, can we?"

"I figured not," Noah replied. Then his face morphed into a smirk. "But I never told you about the bass lessons I took back in Wales!"

Luke smiled back. "Between 'Phantoms' and the bass, you are just full of surprises tonight!"

"Oh, I can teach you all the song!" Noah replied. "It might actually be easier on you as the frontman. The first two verses are raps! And given the eerie imagery, I think it could be best to aim for an October release, so we can get 'Static' out first!"

"Assuming you and the girls can put 'Static's' instrumentals together quickly enough," Luke pointed out.

"You don't need to worry about that," Noah reassured him. "As long as you trust us."