Jamie-Lee Burke yawned as the alarm on her phone woke her from a
dreamless slumber. It had been a long week, but it was now Friday- a
chance to relax and let her hair down, which she had every intention of
doing that night, surrounded by all her friends.
"Morning, sexy," Jamie whispered in the ear of her still-sleeping
fianc?, who mumbled incoherently as he slowly opened his eyes.
"Does it have to be morning?" Stuart moaned, eliciting a small giggle
from Jamie.
"'Fraid so," Jamie said. "Come on, we've both got work today." Stuart
smiled as Jamie gave him one more kiss, before watching, enthralled, as
his fianc?e swung her smooth, soft legs out of bed and padded toward her
en-suite.
----------
"Morning, sexy," Nikki Thomas heard a familiar voice whisper in her ear,
waking her from a dream about her future wedding day. "Some of us have
work today!"
"So rub it in more, why don't you?" Nikki retorted, making her fianc?e
giggle.
"I thought your surgeon said I couldn't do that until three months after
your operation?" Sarah said, making Nikki stick her tongue out at her.
"Speaking of..." Nikki sighed as Sarah handed her a small washbag
containing a tube of hand sanitizer, a larger tube of lubricant jelly,
and the four long, thick tubes that had quickly become a regular feature
of Nikki's life.
"Best get this over with," Nikki sighed as she sanitized her hands,
before placing a dollop of lubricant jelly on her chosen tube and slowly
inserting it into her vagina. "God, this still feels so weird..."
"You had a penis for nineteen years," Sarah sighed. "You've only had
your new 'parts' for what, ten weeks? It's bound to still be weird.
Still, you heard what Jamie said, after a few months, it'll be like you
had a vagina your whole life. It's been two years for her, I wonder if
she even remembers what it was like to have- well, to NOT have a
vagina..."
"Well I WON'T be asking her on the way to work today," Nikki quipped,
earning a giggle from her fianc?e.
"Even for two girls who share as close a bond as you two?" Sarah asked.
"The only bond I want," Nikki replied, "the only bond I've EVER wanted,
is with you. You know, I almost can't believe we've known each other for
a quarter of our lives."
"Five years..." Sarah sighed dreamily. "Never imagined when I was
fourteen that when I was nineteen I'd be studying fashion at university,
be friends with a group of celebrities AND be engaged to the girl of my
dreams!"
"When I was fourteen," Nikki replied, "I never imagined that when I was
nineteen- well, I never imagined any of this. Especially, well, THIS."
Sarah giggled as Nikki gestured to the light blue tube that was poking
out of her crotch.
"I'll jump in the shower while you're, well, THAT," Sarah said, giving
Nikki a quick kiss before jumping out of bed and heading into her en-
suite. "And you know Jamie, I'm sure she wouldn't mind you asking
personal questions, she's always been willing to help you."
"Yeah, I know," Nikki sighed. "Assuming she doesn't spend the whole day
talking about you know who..."
----------
"Steph!" The middle-aged man yelled, waking his daughter from her
slumber. "Wake up! You'll be late for work!"
"Mmph," Stephanie Abbott moaned as she slowly opened her eyes. "I'm
awake, I'm awake..."
As she padded toward her bathroom, Stephanie mused on how many twenty
year old women throughout the country would be woken by their parents in
the manner she had been, either to go to work, to college or to
university. Stephanie was confident, however, that none of those young
women would be going to the job she was going to- and very few of them
would have spent the first nineteen years of their life living as a man.
After applying her make-up and dressing in a comfortable black
miniskirt, dark red long-sleeved top and funky black patterned tight,
Stephanie coolly strode downstairs to where her father was waiting to
give her a lift to work.
"Honestly, Steph," the young woman's father sighed. "The more time you
spend as a woman, the LONGER it takes you to get ready in the
morning..."
"I have a public image to maintain," Stephanie shrugged. "I'm a member
of one of Britain's biggest girl bands, I can't exactly leave the house
looking a tramp now, can I? And besides... I need all the 'help' I can
get if I want to be feminine."
"Not THAT much," Mr. Abbott said with a warm smile. "Your manager
wouldn't have selected you for the band if you weren't drop-dead
gorgeous, would he?"
"...I guess not," Stephanie giggled. "Pity not everyone agrees..."
"Well you just keep, um, keeping your distance from those people," Mr.
Abbott advised his daughter. "You have REAL friends, don't you? The kind
who won't judge you based on things that happened in the past?"
"Yeah, that's true," Stephanie said with a smile. Ten minutes later, her
smile widened as she arrived at the office complex that contained her
recording studio and saw a tiny, blonde-haired girl waiting outside for
her.
"Hey Steph!" Kayla Ford squeaked as she gave the brown-haired transwoman
a hug. "Hi, Mr. Abbott!"
"Hi Kayla!" Stephanie's father chuckled. "Your mum and I will be out
when you get home tonight- though as tonight's Friday, god knows what
time you'll actually be getting home, heh!"
"Thanks, dad," Stephanie said, before following her best friend into the
recording studio, where the rest of the band were waiting for them.
"Hey Steph! Hey Kayla!" Becca Milton and Adeola Benedict- the band's two
de facto lead singers- said in unison as they saw the two women enter
the studio.
"Hey Steph," Lauren McTavish- the final member of the band, a petite,
flame-haired Scottish girl- said in a cautious tone, before all five
women took their place behind the microphones that had been carefully
prepared for them.
"Morning, ladies," Stuart said from his seat in the control room. "We're
going to be going over tracks 3, 4 and 6 today. In your own time..."
Stephanie took a deep breath as the opening bars of the song she'd sung
endlessly for the previous few weeks floated through the recording
studio, before launching into song alongside her four bandmates.
----------
"Morning, ma'am!" Nikki giggled as she pulled up outside the vast
mansion where Jamie lived.
"Oh give me a break," Jamie retorted as she climbed onto the back seat
of Nikki's car. "Stop 'ma'am'ing me, I'm not even 25 yet!"
"No," Nikki agreed. "Only ten days to go, though! I called the studio
you're going to this morning, they have everything set up and ready to
go, but they had to draft in a different model to replace one of the
ones you were expecting."
"Huh," Jamie said. "Did they explain why?"
"Nope," Nikki replied. "Didn't ask. Offered to step in myself, though
obviously as it's a lingerie shoot, that might have been awkward..."
"Scars still not faded yet?" Jamie asked with a grimace. "Don't worry, I
guarantee that they will. And if they don't, there's always my 'secret
weapon'."
"...Which is?" Nikki asked.
"Hey!" Jamie yelled. "Nikki's vagina! Heal faster!" Nikki giggled so
hard that she snorted, and had to take several deep breaths before she
composed herself.
"That's still so amazing to actually hear," Nikki sighed. "'Nikki's
vagina'... Jamie, um, can I ask you, like, a personal question?"
"I just asked you a question about your vagina," Jamie replied with a
giggle. "I think you're good to ask away."
"It- it's kinda about your, um," Nikki stuttered.
"My vagina?" Jamie asked. "You know I don't mind you asking anything you
need to know..."
"Does- does it ever feel, you know, normal?" Nikki asked, making Jamie
sigh and giggle.
"Yes, yes it does," Jamie replied in a soft voice. "Honestly... I've
almost forgotten what it was like to ever have a penis. You will get
there, Nikki, I promise you. Sooner than you think, too."
"I hope so," Nikki sighed.
"Getting back to work is the first part of the return to normality,"
Jamie giggled.
"Yes ma- miss," Nikki said. "And it helps that everybody's treating me
just the same- though that's because everybody just treated me like I
was a real woman before my SRS."
"That's because you WERE a real woman before your SRS," Jamie said.
"Unlike some people we can mention..."
"Now- can we please not talk about her?" Nikki asked. "Neither of us
know the full story there, I doubt we ever will, either."
"The 'full story' is that Steph lied to us," Jamie retorted. "Told us to
our faces that she was transitioning, taking hormones... When all along
she wasn't even living full-time as a woman. Worst thing of all is that
she lied to her fans. Do you know how many young transgendered girls
look up to Steph as an icon, a role model?"
"If I was fourteen, I know I would," Nikki sighed. "And I'm not excusing
the lies, but- different people handle their transition in different
ways. God knows I'm grateful I didn't end up in a mental hospital due to
my gender issues."
"Assuming that was a genuine thing, her going in there," Jamie snorted.
"And not just, you know, a cry for attention."
"Even if it was," Nikki said, "it, like the lies, is in the past now."
"If you say so," Jamie sighed as the car pulled into the TV studio where
Jamie would be making her latest TV appearance.
----------
"Goddddd..." Becca moaned to her older brother as she led her band out
of their recording studio. "Do you have to work us so damned hard?"
"Yes," Stuart flippantly retorted. "You know we have to get this album
finished quick, because A- it needs to be out for Christmas, and B- I'm
not going to explain to dad why you're deferring yet another year of
your university studies."
"Okay, fine," Becca sighed, grabbing a cup of cold water to soothe her
sore throat.
"Besides," Stuart whispered as his eyes locked onto Stephanie's slender
form. "You know WHY you have to work so hard..."
Stephanie sighed as drew a cup of water from the water cooler that Becca
and Stuart had just vacated. She knew when she auditioned for the band
that it wouldn't just be a case of endless parties and media
opportunities and that she'd have to work hard day after day, but when
she applied, she never thought she had any chance of ever getting in the
band- which is also why she stated on her application form that she was
female, when at the time she hadn't begun the process of transitioning-
and hadn't even spent longer than six consecutive hours in her female
persona.
Stephanie's lies were eventually uncovered by her older brother, one of
the people she had trusted the most, and in an effort to avoid what
would have been a catastrophic confrontation with the management of her
agency, Steph ran away, crisscrossing the whole of Britain for two
months until she was eventually found by the one person who
unconditionally forgave her for her deception.
"They still don't trust me," Stephanie sighed to Kayla, making the tiny
blonde girl smile sadly.
"Their loss," Kayla said defiantly.
"It's been almost three months," Stephanie moaned. "It's obvious I'm not
going anywhere, but for SOME people, that's just not good enough..."
"Just ignore Jamie," Kayla advised. "Eventually that stick up her arse
will work its way loose. Just give her some time."
"It's not just Jamie," Stephanie sighed. "It's Beverly as well... Reckon
if I'd just taken those hormones I'd got off the internet, I wouldn't be
getting ANY of this shit."
"And you'd probably have made yourself so sick that running away would
be the least you'd do," Kayla retorted. "Steph... Honestly. Give them
time. Focus on work if it helps. Do- do you want to skip tonight?"
"If you go, I'll go," Stephanie said, making Kayla groan with
frustration.
"Ugh, put me on the spot, why don't you?" Kayla asked, making Stephanie
giggle. "Okay, I don't really feel like a late night anyway. Night in it
is!" Stephanie smiled as she and Kayla left the recording studio,
heading back to Kayla and Lauren's posh London flat to relax for the
rest of the evening.
----------
"Sometimes I wonder," Nikki laughed as she drove herself and Jamie back
to their respective homes, "whether or not you actually endorse any of
the crap that you peddle?"
"Some of it," Jamie giggled. "You coming out tonight? Just 'cause you're
not healed enough to be back at ballet yet doesn't mean there aren't
other kinds of dancing you can do..."
"I'll be there," Nikki said. "Probably sat in a corner as usual, trying
to keep guys out of my cleavage..."
"Do you and Sarah still play that game where you see who can flirt the
hardest with the same guy?" Jamie asked, making Nikki blush.
"Oh- we did that ONE. TIME," Nikki moaned. "Decided it was a bad idea
very quickly after his fingers nearly went up my arse..."
"Don't know it until you've tried it," Jamie giggled as the car pulled
up outside her vast mansion. "See you later, Nikki!" Nikki smiled and
waved at Jamie as she pulled away, leaving the blonde woman to enter her
home to be greeted by the sound of a baby's laughter.
"Hi Jamie!" Charlotte laughed, giving Jamie a quick hug before leading
the young woman to their living room, where Charlotte's husband and son-
both named Keith- were playing on the carpet.
"Hi cutie!" Jamie giggled at the duo playing on the floor. "And the
cutie's father."
"Ehh... Not unfair," Keith senior conceded. "This just a flying visit
before you two head out?"
"Obviously," Charlotte said with a smug grin as she and Jamie retreated
up the stairs of the vast house, returning 45 minutes later with the
bodies covered in fake tan and extra-thick make-up, their hair
elaborately styled, their slender bodies stuffed into tiny black
clubbing dresses and their feet crammed into torturously high platform
stilettos.
"Do NOT wait up!" Charlotte giggled to her husband, before she and Jamie
got into a waiting taxi, which whisked them to their next stop- a large
dance studio closer to the centre of London.
Jamie and Charlotte watched on with happy smiles as the numerous
teenaged girls (and two boys) filed out of the dance studio, almost all
of them stopping for selfies with the famous pair. Once the reception
area of the studio had emptied, Charlotte and Jamie walked toward the
actual studio itself, pausing with one foot hovering over the polished
floor of the studio and nearly breaking down in fits of laughter as the
tall, blonde dance instructor rushed over to them with a look of fury on
her face.
"God's sake!" Krystie growled. "Every damned week... One of these day
you'll forget and then you actually will walk on this floor in those
heels..."
"Just keeping you on your toes," Jamie giggled as she gestured to
Krystie's shiny pointe shoes. "What's going on, giving some extra
tuition?"
"Huh?" Krystie asked, before acknowledging the eight teenaged students
behind her. "Yeah, just a bit extra for one of the boys in my advanced
class. Who may soon be one of the GIRLS in my advanced class, if you
fancy waving your magical mentoring wand around!"
"Really?" Jamie asked with a tired look on her face. "Of all the ways
you could've worded it, you went for 'waving a wand around'?"
"Sorry," Krystie said, nearly doubling over in a fit of giggles of her
own. "Anyway, think we've just about finished up now..." The three women
smiled as the eight teenagers filed past them on their way to get
changed, whilst their other teacher elegantly skipped toward the trio.
"Bonsoir!" Zoe Renou- Krystie's French teaching partner- greeted the
three women. "We are all getting ready for the night out, yes?"
"Two of us already ARE ready," Charlotte retorted.
"Two of us actually WORK for a living!" Krystie quipped, making all four
women giggle.
"Well the harder you work," Jamie said as she followed Krystie and Zoe
to the changing rooms, where their clubbing dresses were waiting, "the
harder you need to play!" The four women all giggled excitedly as
Krystie and Zoe changed into their clubbing gear, and soon they were in
a fancy nightclub in the centre of London, along with Zoe's
transgendered lover Natalie and their friend Abbey, and were soon joined
by Nikki, Sarah, and their friends Katie and Lauren.
The other Lauren- the member of Out of Heaven- joined them shortly
afterward, as did Becca and Adeola, and before long, the club was
heaving with young men and women having a good time and trying
desperately to get selfies with as many of the celebrities as possible.
Meanwhile, in a large flat not far from the city centre, Stephanie and
Kayla spent the evening relaxing, playing videogames and watching
Netflix, and trying to forget all about Stephanie's anxieties.
None of the women realised that their lives, as they knew them, were
about to change forever.
----------
"Mmph," Jamie moaned as her phone's text message chime pierced her
hungover skull. "Jesus... Stu, if this is you I swear I'm dumping you."
When Jamie checked her phone, she was surprised to discover that the
text message wasn't from her fianc? (who'd spent the night at his
parents' house), but from Joshua Benedict- the manager of the agency
with whom Jamie, Stephanie, Nikki and all their friends were signed.
'Meeting today 1030 at the office,' the message read. 'Urgent news.'
Jamie's eyes went wide as she headed into the shower to cleanse her body
and try to clear her head of her hangover. After emerging, Jamie applied
a full layer of make-up and dressed in a smart yet sexy white bodysuit,
think black tights and a pink pencil skirt suit with matching stiletto
pumps. As she emerged from her bedroom, Jamie was unsurprised to find
that Charlotte had dressed similarly in a red skirt suit- and was
wearing the exact same concerned facial expression as Jamie.
"You got the message too, huh?" Charlotte asked her BFF.
"Yep," Jamie replied. "No idea what it could be... I've been signed to
Joshua five and a half years, and he's never been as urgent as this.
Well, apart from once- when Spencer and Hall wanted to sign me."
"I remember," Charlotte whispered as she mused on her own brief career
with Spencer and Hall- one of very few talent agencies in the UK that
could claim to be bigger or more prestigious than Joshua's- and how it
had nearly destroyed her friendship not just with Jamie, but with the
rest of the girls as well.
"Have you heard from any of the other girls?" Jamie asked. "I doubt
it'll be just you and me..."
"I texted them, not heard back yet," Charlotte replied. "You okay to
drive?"
"Is Keith okay to get Keith junior up?" Jamie retorted, making Charlotte
giggle.
"Just go," Charlotte laughed. "Sooner we're there, sooner we're back
home and I can actually try to enjoy my weekend!"
"Do- do you suppose this is it?" Jamie asked. "The Angels being
cancelled?"
"Even if it is," Charlotte replied as the two women got into Jamie's
shiny Maserati, "we'll still have plenty of other work. It's not like
Joshua will simply fire us because we're not on TV anymore, we're still
his most profitable clients."
"True," Jamie shrugged as she drove the two women to the agency's office
building, where a large crowd had already assembled. Jamie bristled as
she walked past Stephanie, but her face lit up again when she saw the
smiling face- and heavily pregnant body- of one of her oldest friends.
"Hey Mary!" Jamie giggled, before crouching down and whispering into the
Irishwoman's swollen belly. "And hey, Natasha! Not long to go now!"
"Sure, the sooner, the better!" Mary laughed. "Forgot how much the last
few weeks of this sucks..."
"So no hurry for number three, then?" Jamie asked, giggling as Mary
stuck her tongue out at her. "No idea why we're here?"
"Nope, but there are plenty of us here," Mary said. "Krys is bringing
Hannah and Viks, Out of Heaven are all here, sure, there are people here
even I don't recognise!"
"Joshua..." Jamie whispered. "You- you don't suppose he's finally
retiring, do you?"
"He wouldn't suddenly announce it and drag us in at short notice on a
Saturday morning," Mary said, shaking her head. "When SOME OF US were
out late last night!" Jamie looked back over her shoulder, grinning at
the pretend hurt expression on the face of Krystie, who had just walked
through the door.
"I am perfectly capable of holding my drink," Krystie said, making her
BFF snort derisively.
"That's good," Mary said. "Seeing as you've been drinking my share for
the whole of this pregnancy as well!"
"Someone has to," Krystie shrugged, making Jamie giggle again.
"Look at Hannah," Mary said, gesturing to the tall blonde model stood
behind Krystie. "Her BFF gets pregnant, she quits drinking altogether!"
"Why is it," Krystie sighed, "that I'm the only actual teacher here, and
yet I'm surrounded by swots?"
"Viks," Jamie asked, trying to stifle her laughter. "Do you or your
other half know why we're here?"
"Not a clue," Viks sighed as she rubbed her own small, pregnant belly.
"Jon got the text, same as the rest of us."
"Joshua's own adopted son doesn't know?" Krystie asked, taking a deep,
nervous breath as Viks nodded. "This doesn't bode well... Is Adeola
here?"
"Yes," Mary replied, "and she doesn't know either, despite both being
his adopted daughter AND still living with him!"
"Hey everyone," Nikki said as she approached the group in her own smart
suit and heels. "So... Why am I wearing my best skirt at 10:30 on a
Saturday morning?"
"No idea," Jamie sighed.
"Though in fairness," Krystie said, "it IS a nice skirt. Goes well with
those tan tights."
"Thanks!" Nikki beamed.
"Maybe they're announcing the fourth series of the Angels, and you're
going to be the main star, given that you're the most fashionable of us
all?" Hannah teased the blushing nineteen year old.
"Stop teasing her," Jamie laughed as she gave her prot?g? a calming hug.
"Whatever it is, I think we're about to find out." Jamie's heart rate
increased as she pointed to the top of the stairs, where the agency's
owner had just appeared, with a look of worry etched onto his dark-
skinned middle-aged features.
"Follow me, please," Joshua said to the crowd in a voice infinitely more
subdued than his typical half-Nigerian half-cockney bellow. Wordlessly,
the assembled crowd followed Joshua into one of the agency's large
rooms, which was usually used as a photography studio but for this
instance had been filled with seats, almost as though Joshua was hosting
a conference in the room.
The crowd quietly took their seats and waited as Joshua opened his
briefcase and took out his laptop, hooking it up to the room's projector
before placing a seemingly blank DVD into the laptop. Almost
immediately, the projector sprang to life, and mere seconds later, the
tension levels of many in the room had risen to dangerous levels.
"Coming soon to a TV screen near you," the video announced in a grand
voice, "Britain's newest and most exciting modelling super group- meet
the eight young women who will soon be your new celebrity idols!"
"Kelly Watson," the video announced alongside the image of a dark-haired
young woman, whose features betrayed a mixed Chinese and Caucasian
heritage- and one other fact about her genetics. "When she was born, HE
was called Kevin. Now SHE is not just a woman, but a supermodel, and is
ready to take the modelling world by storm!"
"Jade and Mia Cooke," the video continued. "Both former finalists of
Miss Merseyside, these sisters have already set runways alight on six
continents!"
"Saraya Hallett and Niamh Robinson," the video stated. "Former finalists
on the X Factor and ready to take the charts by storm!"
"You bitches," Becca whispered just loud enough for Stephanie and Adeola
to hear- both of whom concurred with Becca's outburst.
"Katya Witkowska and Ciara Nichols," the video continued, before the
final face of the new 'clique' appeared on the screen, causing Nikki to
nearly wet herself in fear.
"No," Nikki whispered, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. "Please, god
no, not her..."
"...And Dannii Samson," the video announced to loud protests from the
entire room. "Together, these eight young women will take the whole of
Europe by storm, and you'll be able to follow their exploits in a new
reality TV series coming this spring on ITV2!" All six of the Angels
groaned as though they were in pain at the mention of the network that
had, for the previous three years, broadcast their own reality TV
series.
Silently, Joshua ended the video and ejected the DVD from the drive,
before standing in front of his assembled clients.
"They ripped us off," Krystie whispered, breaking the silence. "They
fucking well ripped us off!"
"That is exactly what they did!" Joshua angrily snapped. "I received
this disc two hours ago from a courier. I do not believe it was put
together any more than 48 hours ago."
"But who's doing this?" Charlotte asked. "Surely they must know they
can't take down an established brand like the Angels?"
"The disc is labelled 'Property of Spencer and Hall Talent'," Joshua
said in a dark voice, prompting another loud groan from the crowd.
"If anyone can compete with us, it's them," Jamie sighed. "When- when
did Dannii even, you know..."
"No more than a week ago," Joshua whispered. "I was offered a very
generous offer to buy out her contract, I accepted... A condition of the
buy-out was that the buyer remain anonymous. Now I know why."
"They obviously only wanted her because of her behind-the-scenes
knowledge of this place," Sarah spat, earning a stern stare from Joshua.
"And the fact that she is six feet tall and has a near-perfect bone
structure!" Joshua retorted. "But you are not wrong, Sarah. Ever since
the Angels debuted, Spencer and Hall have seen me as a growing threat to
them. Tried to split me apart more than once."
"I- I actually received another offer from them a month ago," Hannah
whispered. "A third one. I turned it down, because, you know..."
"Loyalty," Jamie said, finishing the blonde woman's sentence for her.
"Everyone in this room is loyal. Isn't that right?"
"Yes," the room said in a firm, unified voice.
"You don't know how good it is to hear you all say that," Joshua said
with a smile.
"But that's still the end of our show, isn't it?" Mary asked. "Natasha's
birth, Jamie's wedding..."
"I haven't heard back from ITV2 yet," Joshua sighed. "But I am already
looking for alternatives, different channels... I would recommend that
all of you begin aggressively marketing your online presence over the
coming few weeks."
"Not easy when we're back at uni in a couple of weeks," Sarah sighed.
"Not easy when you're dropping a baby in the next couple of weeks!" Mary
protested.
"This- this new band," Adeola mumbled. "Are they- are they targeting us?
I mean, Out of Heaven?"
"It's a duo, not a band, from what I can tell," Joshua answered his
adopted daughter. "And your band has over a million likes on Facebook.
They're not going anywhere. I expect the five of you to continue the
work you've been doing these past few months." Jamie bit her lip to stop
herself from speaking out as Stephanie cleared her throat and prepared
to speak.
"Does- does Dannii..." Stephanie stammered, feeling the eyes of the room
heat up the back of her neck. "Does she know, you know... About me?"
"...Nikki?" Joshua asked, causing the young transwoman to freeze in fear
as she was put on the spot.
"I, uh, I- I don't know," Nikki stuttered. "I mean, I didn't tell her,
but I told other people, I don't know if they-"
"Who exactly did you tell?" Stephanie asked, her fear giving way to
anger. "Am I going to end up plastered all over the front pages? I kinda
have a right to know!"
"Well maybe if you hadn't lied about your status in the first place, you
wouldn't be in such a panic now!" Nikki retorted.
"Ladies!" Joshua snapped. "This is NOT the way we respond to this!"
"Then how DO we respond to this?" Kayla asked. "This is clearly big
news, you wouldn't have called us all in here otherwise."
"We ARE all looking to you for leadership, Uncle Joshua," Jonathan- who
had been stood at the back of the room, behind his pregnant wife- said
in a soft, quiet voice.
"And I will lead you all through this," Joshua said. "I didn't want any
of you to know before any of the others, hence why you're all here. This
news is not insignificant. But it's not the end of the world either."
"Not yet, anyway," Stephanie mumbled, earning a stern stare from her
manager.
"Go and try to relax," Joshua ordered. "I'll keep you updated if
anything happens and you have any questions, you know where to find me.
Go!" The assembled men and women all nodded as they left the room,
though tensions remained high as they walked through the spacious
reception area.
"Well, this is shit," Krystie sighed. "Thank god the studio's doing
well..."
"We should focus on that," Charlotte announced, trying to calm the
crowd. "We're all still in work. Yes, this new quote-unquote 'super
group' will try to eat into that, but that doesn't mean we have to let
it."
"Easy to say when your whole identity isn't at threat," Stephanie
sighed, prompting groans from both Nikki and Jamie.
"If there's something you want to say to me," Nikki growled, "I'm all
ears!"
"How about," Stephanie retorted, "stop gossiping about my private life
and find something better to talk about?"
"How about," Nikki snapped as she menacingly approached Stephanie, "stop
lying about your private life and don't give us anything to gossip
about?" Incensed, Stephanie shoved Nikki in the chest, sending the
taller girl stumbling back on her stilettos, before both girls launched
themselves at each other with clenched fists, only being stopped at the
very last millisecond by Jonathan and Dan stepping between them.
"NO!" Jonathan snapped. "This- right here- it ain't happening. We are
NOT breaking this down into a war! Do you hear me? Now apologise. Both
of you!"
"...Sorry," Stephanie mumbled.
"Sorry," Nikki grunted.
"You heard the boss," Jonathan said in a stern voice. "Go home. All of
you. Try to relax. We WILL sort this out, we WILL work through it."
"Tonight..." Charlotte said hesitantly. "If- if enough of you want a
traditional Saturday party we'll have one, but..."
"I'm not really in the mood for a party tonight," Becca mumbled.
"Or me," Nikki said.
"Well- okay," Charlotte sighed. "We'll skip the party for tonight. See
you all on Wednesday if not before."
"Jamie," Nikki whispered quietly. "Can- can I have a word? You know, in
private..."
"Sure," Jamie said, leading Nikki, Sarah and Charlotte out to their
cars. The four women were soon back at Charlotte's house, where their
weary bodies collapsed onto Charlotte's plush sofas.
"Keith and Keith have gone toy shopping," Charlotte explained as she
poured glasses of wine for the four women. "Maybe I should text him and
tell him not to hit the credit card too hard..."
"I can't believe Dannii," Nikki sighed as she sipped her much-needed
wine. "When I- when we first met her, she was obsessed, totally obsessed
with getting signed to Joshua. I just don't get how she could stab him
in the back like that..."
"It's not like she was short of work, either," Jamie said. "I always put
in a good word for her when I was doing TV shoots... Guess to some
people, fame is more important than loyalty."
"You don't suppose she'll actually spill Steph's secret, do you?" Sarah
asked. "I mean, she's bound to know..."
"Steph dug her own grave," Jamie replied in a cold voice. "What's
important, Nikki, is that you don't blame yourself for this as it's not-
I repeat, NOT your fault."
"Yeah," Nikki sighed. "But the fact is, if we'd treated her more like a
friend than a colleague-"
"No," Charlotte said firmly. "No buts. Besides, Dannii's only one of
eight girls. Spencer and Hall would've formed their group with or
without her."
"Yeah," Nikki mused. "But would that other final member have had the
same intimate knowledge of the Angels?"
"Doesn't matter," Jamie said confidently- though deep down, she began to
wonder whether or not Nikki HAD played a part, however small or
inadvertent, in the formation of the new group.
----------
"Goddddd..." Stephanie moaned as she kicked off her heels and collapsed
heavily onto her sofa. "This is a DISASTER."
"No. It. Isn't," Kayla tried to reassure her friend. "You heard Joshua,
Out of Heaven is established. There's nothing this new band can do to
change that. And maybe Dannii doesn't even know your 'secret'."
"I'll bet you a tenner she does," Stephanie sighed. "Nikki's always
going on about what a cut-throat bitch she can be. I bet you this is how
it went down- Dannii went to Spencer and Hall, said 'I'll give you info
about Steph from out of Heaven in exchange for a nice, fat contract'."
"You're being paranoid," Kayla sighed. "Or you've been watching too much
Game of Thrones. One of the two, anyway. Besides, you've been going on
about how Jamie hates you for months now, and she hasn't spilled your
secret, has she?"
"Only because she respects Joshua, not me," Stephanie retorted, making
her best friend sigh.
"You know what I think you need?" Kayla asked. "A traditional Saturday
night party."
"After we just established how much Jamie and I hate each other?"
Stephanie replied.
"I didn't say 'a traditional Saturday night party at Charlotte's', did
I?" Kayla giggled. "Let's start a new tradition. Saturday nights from
now on are you and me, and Becca, Addie and Lauren if they want to join
us, sat on one of our sofas, drinking wine, gossiping, watching TV...
And yes, playing videogames if the mood takes us!"
"Sounds PERFECT," Stephanie giggled.
Later that evening, four of the five members of Out of Heaven were sat
on the plush sofas in Kayla & Lauren's flat, relaxing with glasses of
wine in their hands as they awaited the arrival of their final member.
"That'll be her," Kayla said as she heard her doorbell ring.
"Sorry I'm late," Becca sighed as she entered the flat and dramatically
flopped onto the sofa next to Adeola. "Had to go straight from the
agency to my sister's place."
"Not more bad news, I hope?" Lauren asked.
"Only for her waistline," Becca giggled. "Guess who's going to be an
auntie again...?"
"She is, and you're the one who's pregnant?" Adeola asked, earning a
playful shove from her best friend.
"Seriously?" Lauren asked. "Everything that happened today, and you're
making jokes?"
"How much competition do we already have?" Adeola retorted. "We ain't
even an A-list girl band, but we're doing alright. My bank balance has
never been healthier, I can upload a photograph of a pencil to Instagram
and it'd get tens of thousands of likes."
"Hundreds of thousands, depending on where you put the pencil," Becca
said, earning a playful shove of her own from Adeola.
"Point is," the dark-skinned girl continued, "Spencer and Hall's new
band are just gonna be a drop in the ocean. Yeah, it's a well-backed
drop, but it's still just a drop. We'll still go into work on Monday,
we'll still release an album by the end of the year, we'll still go on
another tour next year, we'll still be sexy, successful and, most
importantly of all, rich young women."
"Who hopefully WON'T try to get into a fight with their colleagues,"
Becca quipped, making Stephanie cringe.
"Ugh," Stephanie spat. "I just want to forget today ever happened..."
"Sounds like someone needs more wine!" Lauren giggled, pouring Stephanie
another glass as the conversation moved onto happier topics, where it
stayed for the rest of the night.
----------
Jamie smiled as her eyes fluttered open of their own accord, without any
prompting from her phone's alarm or from her fianc?, who was slumbering
in bed next to her. The extended sleep had refreshed her and made her
feel less anxious about the threat the new 'super group' posed to her
career, though as she showered and dressed in a comfortable white
bodysuit and grey pinafore dress, her anxieties returned one by one.
Would her work drop as much as she feared? Would 'The Angels' be a thing
of a past- or even worse, split apart? And worst of all, would this
'Kelly' girl replace Jamie as a role model for transgendered girls?
"Mmph," Stuart moaned as he woke from his slumber. "Morning,
gorgeous..."
"Morning, sexy!" Jamie giggled. "Let me guess- we're going baby shopping
for your sister today?"
"She's not due until April, we've got ages," Stuart snorted.
"Ah, as if the rock-hard penis in your shorts wasn't enough proof that
you're a man!" Jamie giggled as Stuart got out of bed and slowly made
his way to the shower. "Take it you're looking forward to finally being
able to deflate your implant?"
"I would say 'you have no idea', but we both know how inappropriate and
incorrect that would be," Stuart retorted, making his fianc?e laugh.
"If not shopping, then how about we just go out somewhere for lunch?"
Jamie asked. "We live in the biggest, most diverse city in Europe,
there's bound to be somewhere or something we haven't tried. Other than
us making use of that implant, hehe!"
"Why are you so eager to head out?" Stuart asked. "After yesterday, I'd
have thought you'd want to wait by your phone for any news?"
"Ugh," Jamie spat. "Believe me, that's the LAST thing I want right now.
I just- I just want to forget all about these wannabe Angels, especially
this Kelly girl..."
"Does seem a bit blatant," Stuart mused. "A modelling clique with a
transgendered girl as their centrepiece... Spencer and Hall never struck
me as a 'follow the leader' type, though."
"They follow money, same as anyone in this industry," Jamie sighed. "The
last two seasons of the Angels have turned into 'Mother and Baby' time.
Don't get me wrong, I adore Keith junior and I know I'll adore Natasha
and Viks's kid, but still..."
"I get where you're coming from," Stuart said. "TV bosses want girls,
but the six of you are now women."
"So Spencer and Hall find eight girls and make tons of cash out of
them," Jamie said. "And poach probably Joshua's hottest future prospect
in the meantime."
"I don't think I've said twenty words to Dannii in all the time I've
known her," Stuart sighed. "Never would have picked her for a traitor,
though. Wonder how Nikki's taking it..."
----------
"Feel any better after a sleep?" Sarah asked her fianc?e as she padded
down the stairs and slumped onto the sofa.
"Barely," Nikki sighed. "It's like- you know, I still blame myself? I've
known Dannii three years, and-"
"Stop. Right. There," Sarah ordered her fianc?e. "Jamie told you that
it's not your fault. And it isn't It. Is. Not. Your. Fault. Dannii's
always been ambitious. Overly ambitious, she's always put her own
interests above those of her friends. Hell, she's always put her own
interests above HAVING friends. She's no loss."
"You're right," Nikki said. "Though you gotta feel sorry for Lauren, I
mean, she's known Dannii for what, eight years?"
"People grow apart," Sarah shrugged. "Well, the unimportant ones do,
anyway!" Nikki giggled as Sarah leaned in behind her and gently nuzzled
her bare, slender neck. "So yeah, professional worries aside, as far I'm
concerned, with Dannii it's good riddance to bad rubbish."
"God, I wish I could be as calm as you are," Nikki sighed.
"Nah, don't you dare change a thing about yourself!" Sarah said, before
giggling as Nikki withdrew one of her stents from her dilation kit.
"Well... Don't change anything from now on, hehe!"
"Same goes for you," Nikki laughed, before putting the stent away. "I've
already dilated once this morning, anyway. What you got planned for
today?"
"Just more-" Sarah began, before being interrupted by her fianc?e.
"Apart from pre-course reading," Nikki laughed, making Sarah giggle. "I
actually kinda want to go and see Lauren, see how she's coping."
"...So do I," Sarah said. "Assuming we can fit the visit between you
shoving things into your vagina, that is!" Sarah laughed as Nikki stuck
her tongue out at her, before snuggling up next to her fianc?e on the
sofa. "And NO MORE FIGHTS, agreed?"
"More than agreed!" Nikki laughed, blushing with embarrassment at the
previous day's confrontation.
----------
"Good morning, Steph!" the twenty-year old singer's mother said in a
cheerful voice as Stephanie padded down the stairs. "Did you have fun at
Lauren & Kayla's?"
?Yeah,? Stephanie sighed as she sat down at the kitchen table. ?Pity the
morning before??
?Stop worrying!? Mrs. Abbott chastised her daughter. ?You?re not the
first person to have reacted badly to bad news. Just as long as you
learn from your mistakes and don?t repeat them, that?s the important
thing.?
?I know, I know,? Stephanie moaned. ?It?s just embarrassing, that?s all,
I?ve never really had a problem with Nikki before? Dunno if the same
could be said the other way round, though.?
?Maybe it?s something you should talk to Dr Phillips about when you see
her on Thursday,? Stephanie?s mother advised.
?Nikki?s future mother-in-law? Yeah right,? Stephanie snorted.
?There?s no need for THAT attitude either!? Stephanie?s mother retorted.
?Beverly?s always been impartial when dealing with you, regardless of
who she?s related to.?
?I know,? Stephanie sighed. ?Just can?t help but feel that if I?d just
told her from the start that I WAS transitioning, that I wanted
oestrogen, none of this would have happened.?
?Or,? Stephanie?s mother said, ?Without Beverly to confide in in the
early weeks, you?d have ended up being even more stressed out.?
??Probably,? Stephanie sighed as her sweet-smelling breakfast was placed
under her nose.
?And if you?re worried about this Dannii girl,? Stephanie?s mother
continued, ?you still have her number, you still have her on Facebook,
right? Give her a call, drop her a message, talk it through with her,
I?m sure you?ll realise that you have nothing to worry about.?
?Thought about that,? Stephanie sighed, ?but she?s taken me off her
Facebook. From the looks of it, she?s taken everyone else off as well.?
?Her loss,? Stephanie?s mother shrugged. ?Now eat up, want to keep that
voice of yours nice and strong, you?ll be doing a LOT of singing
tomorrow!? Stephanie smiled as she tucked into her breakfast and tried
to focus on her work and her relationships with the friends she did
have, but deep inside, her worried about Dannii- and her potential
?outing? were just as strong as ever
----------
?Hey, girlies!? Lauren Burnett giggled happily as she welcomed her old
friends Nikki and Sarah into her new flat. ?Welcome to the mad house!?
?It?s, um, cramped!? Sarah laughed as she and Nikki walked hand-in-hand
through the narrow hallway. ?Where?s Katie, buried underneath one of
these boxes??
?She?s actually picking up more boxes, hehe!? Lauren laughed as she
cleared a space on her sofa for the couple to sit down. ?We may kinda
have to have a clear out before we?ve even moved in, heh. Then again,
this new place does have two bedrooms, so it's a big improvement on the
old place!?
?Why did you even move out in the first place anyway?? Nikki asked.
?Your parents live in London, so do Katie?s??
?I?m nineteen!? Lauren protested. ?Want some independence, want to live
the proper student lifestyle, y?know? Eating Pot Noodles, staying up
until 2am studying??
?You did that anyway as your mum?s home,? Nikki said, making Lauren
giggle bashfully. ?And you had more disposable income.?
?Yeah, but it?s not the same, you know?? Lauren sighed. ?One good thing
with less disposable income is that I finally quit smoking, especially
living with an asthmatic. It?s funny, though? When I moved out of home,
I always assumed it?d be Dannii that I moved in with.?
?No offence, Lauren,? Nikki said with a grimace, ?but I can?t exactly
see Dannii living in a place like this.?
?Honestly? Nor can I,? Lauren sighed. ?Then again, I couldn?t see her
betraying her friends, either??
?Have you spoken to her since yesterday?? Sarah asked.
?Nope,? Lauren mumbled, shaking her head. ?She?s even taken me off her
Facebook, we?ve been friends on there years, she was my first friend on
there and everything??
?Well, we all know she?d sell her own mother for fame,? Sarah said. ?No
offence, Lauren, but it?s no surprise-?
?Nope,? Lauren said, nodding in agreement. ?No surprise at all. I have
tried calling her but she?s not picking up, might drop round her
parents? tomorrow, see if I can talk to her face to face.?
?Want us to go with you?? Sarah asked. ?Give some moral support? Umm,
even though that might not be such a good idea, I know she?s not that
fond of me??
?And has been a little TOO fond of me in the past,? Nikki mumbled,
remembering the occasions on which Dannii had tried to seduce her-
including one occasion on which the tall blonde girl had attempted to
blackmail her into sleeping with her. Ever since that incident, Nikki
hadn?t trusted Dannii one bit- but Dannii had at least been in a
position where Nikki could keep an eye on her.
??Actually that wouldn?t be a bad idea,? Lauren said. ?A bit of moral
support? Though I wouldn?t blame you if you wanted to back out.?
?We?ll- we?ll let you know tomorrow,? Sarah said as Nikki remained
quiet. ?Anyway, you didn?t call us here to chat, you called us here to
unpack, so let us know where to start!? Lauren grinned as she handed
Nikki and Sarah a box each to sort through, and Nikki returned her grin,
even though inside, she felt more uneasy than ever.
----------
?Are you ready for a big letdown?? Stuart asked Jamie, making the blonde
woman giggle.
"With you? Always," Jamie said, making her fianc? stick her tongue out.
Stuart took a deep breath as he gently squeezed the valve inside his
genitals, before laughing softly as his penis- which had been constantly
erect for days beforehand- slowly became limp and flaccid.
?I can?t believe you have to inflate and deflate it several times a
day,? Jamie sighed as Stuart zipped up his fly.
?I?d have thought you?d be more upset about not being able to ?use? it
for another several weeks, heh,? Stuart laughed.
?Oh no, I?m okay there,? Jamie giggled. ?As long as I get to help you
?inflate?? I?m going to need the practice there anyway!?
?Seriously?? Stuart asked as he and Jamie strolled down the stairs to
the living room. ?After two years of not letting me help you dilate??
?The first few months I dilated you nearly threw up,? Jamie reminded her
fianc?. ?Besides, from now on, THIS will be doing the dilating!? Jamie
let out a playful giggle as she gently squeezed Stuart?s crotch area,
which earned an eye roll from Charlotte as the couple sat down on one of
the plush sofas.?
?Get a room,? Charlotte sighed. ?You?re lucky Keith junior?s at his
grandparents? today??
?We?ve got a room, we just like this one,? Jamie retorted, before
grabbing her iPad off the coffee table. ?Just need to snap this for
posterity?? Jamie smiled as she leaned back into her fianc??s embrace
and took a selfie of the two of them.
?And by ?posterity?, she of course means ?Instagram?,? Stuart snorted.
?My fans want to know what I?m getting up to,? Jamie retorted.
?As long as you?re not putting any photos on there of what you?re
getting up,? Stuart said, making Jamie giggle and Charlotte nearly spit
out her drink with laughter.
?Now I?m REALLY glad my son?s at his grandparents?!? Charlotte said
between fits of laughter as she casually glanced at the screen of
Jamie?s iPad. ?Whose profile you looking at??
?Kelly Watson?s,? Jamie said, earning groans from her fianc? and her
BFF.
?Honestly, Jamie?? Charlotte sighed. ?Don?t let this become an
obsession, okay??
?I?m not ?obsessed?,? Jamie retorted. ?I?m just looking at her
Instagram, that?s all. Call it ?professional curiosity?, I mean, she IS
going to be a rival of mine, even if it?s just on a professional level.?
?Scouting the opposition?? Stuart asked Jamie, who nodded in response.
?That?s some pretty thorough scouting, you?re going back quite a ways??
?She uploads, like, every hour,? Jamie replied. ?Eighty photos and I?ve
only just covered the last month. Did you know she?s going out with
Steph?s ex-boyfriend??
?Who, Kurt?? Stuart asked. ?The transman, the Canadian guy??
?Yeah,? Jamie replied. ?Wonder if Steph knows??
?No,? Charlotte said firmly. ?N. O. Do NOT tell her, that?s a conflict
we do NOT need right now.?
?I wasn?t going to,? Jamie said with mock innocence. ?Just think it?s a
bit weird, that?s all, Spencer and Hall aren?t content just ripping me
off, they want to rip off our relationship as well. Wouldn?t be
surprised if she started going out with him just for that reason??
?Whoa, getting paranoid much?? Stuart asked, earning a stern stare
followed by a defeat sigh from his fianc?e.
??Maybe,? Jamie sighed. ?But you have to admit, a new group of heavily-
promoted models, where one of them?s transgendered? How can I not take
that personally??
?It?s an attack on all of us,? Charlotte said. ?And you don?t even know
Kelly, she might be a really nice person. Assuming, of course, that we
ever get to meet her.?
?Any reason why you wouldn?t?? Stuart asked. ?I mean, at least
professionally, for shows or photoshoots, right??
?Spencer and Hall are REALLY protective of their assets,? Charlotte
said. ?When I was signed to them they?d actually pull me out of gigs if
they heard that the producers were even talking to other agencies.?
?Jeez,? Stuart sighed. ?Obviously THEY?RE the ones who are paranoid.?
?They can afford to be,? Charlotte explained. ?They?re the biggest
agency in the UK, producers need them more than they need the producers
and there?s always a long line of people queuing up to do work with
them.?
As Stuart and Charlotte discussed Charlotte?s former agency, Jamie
continued her ?scouting? of Kelly?s Instagram profile, before moving
onto her Twitter feed. The more of Kelly?s tweets she read, the more
Jamie grew to dislike the girl, little realising just how similar Kelly
was to herself- a fun-loving, career-minded girl who sought to use her
transgendered status to raise awareness of transgender issues in the UK.
What riled Jamie the most, though, was that all throughout Kelly?s
twitter feed, not a single mention was made of herself or the other
Angels. To Jamie, it was almost as though she was ripping off her and
her friends, and she didn?t even have the common decency to acknowledge
it.
Rather than allow Kelly to wind her up further, Jamie took a deep breath
and placed her iPad back on the coffee table, where it stayed for the
rest of the night- though before she?d closed down her iPad, Jamie had
taken the time to fire off an email?
----------
?Steph, your tablet?s pinging,? Stephanie?s mother shouted, making
Stephanie sigh and pause her videogame session. ?Have you set it so that
it notifies you if someone?s tweeted you again??
?No,? Stephanie replied, adjusting her bra and tying her hair back into
a ponytail before heading downstairs. ?Only notifies me if I get an
email from someone on my contacts list? Huh, it?s from Jamie.?
?Her, of all people?? Stephanie?s mother asked. ?What does she want??
?Sent me a link to an Instagram post,? Stephanie replied.
?Is that the one that?s like Twitter, only with photos?? Stephanie?s
mother asked.
??Yeah,? Stephanie replied, inwardly sighing at her mother?s lack of
technical savviness. ?Huh, the account?s one of those new girls I was
telling you about? Shit.?
?Stephanie?? Mrs. Abbott asked, startled by her daughter?s outburst.
?Look,? Stephanie sighed, showing her mother the photo of Kelly and Kurt
cuddling in an obviously intimate way.
?Oh- Steph,? Stephanie?s mother sighed, giving the upset young woman a
gentle hug. ?You knew he?d move on eventually.?
?If not him I?m mad at, it?s her,? Stephanie spat. ?Jamie-bloody-Lee
Burke. She?s rubbing my nose in it!?
?You don?t know that,? Mrs. Abbott replied. ?Maybe she just emailed you
thinking it was better that you found out now, rather than later??
?Jamie?s not that altruistic,? Stephanie snorted.
?When you first met her, you thought the sun shone out of her backside,?
Mrs. Abbott reminded her daughter.
?That was a lot time ago,? Stephanie sighed. ?Times change. People
change. Either that, or they show who they truly were all along.?
?Either way, you?re not going to accomplish anything by sulking about
it,? Stephanie?s mother chided. ?You?ve got a long week of work ahead of
you, so forget about Jamie, forget about Kurt and try to relax, okay??
??Okay,? Stephanie mumbled, before slinking back upstairs and trying to
immerse herself in her game. As hard as she tried, though, she couldn?t
shake the feeling of utter panic from the back of her mind.
The mere possibility that Dannii might have known the truth about her
?status? had caused her immeasurable worry, but she knew for a fact that
Kurt knew all about her ?status?, and whilst he?d promised to keep it to
himself out of respect for her and for the relationship that they?d had,
Stephanie knew first-hand that Kurt would do anything to keep his
girlfriend happy- including selling out his ex-girlfriend. After
finishing her gaming session, Stephanie opted for an early night ahead
of an early morning the following day, but despite her best efforts, she
barely got any sleep, and as she trudged downstairs the following
morning in the pink tights and black leotard that comprised her
dancewear, she could barely keep her eyes open.
?Bad night?? Stephanie?s father asked with a sympathetic smile. ?Your
mother filled me in on everything that?s been happening, about Kurt??
?I really, really don?t want to hear his name,? Stephanie said with a
nervous, tired laugh, before letting out a long, loud yawn.
?Bit harsh,? Mr. Abbott said. ?But I guess I can understand. I think.
Maybe.?
?What time are you at work?? Stephanie asked the middle-aged man.
?11,? Stephanie?s father replied. ?Plenty of time to give you a lift to
your dance class. When are you recorded your next video again??
?Umm, start of next month,? Stephanie said. ?We?ve just about got all
the choreography sorted, just need to rehearse it now.?
?Well, I look forward to seeing it,? Mr. Abbott said. ?Me and the other
several million fans of yours who aren?t going to jump ship simply
because some other band comes along. Am I right??
?Umm? You do know that ?flavour of the month? is basically how the whole
entertainment industry works, right?? Stephanie asked her father, who
simply laughed in response.
?As far as I?m concerned, you?ll always be a superstar,? Mr. Abbott said
with a warm smile, before escorting his daughter to his car and driving
her to the front entrance of the Krystie Fullerton School of Dance.
As Stephanie entered the building, stifling a yawn, she was surprised to
see her four bandmates already present, but all of them were wearing
their street clothes, rather than their dancewear.
?Umm? Hi?? Stephanie asked, confused by the attire of her friends.
?Oh, um, hi Steph,? Kayla said in a cautious tone. ?Did- did you not get
the text message?? Confused, Stephanie checked her smartphone, only to
find that its battery had been fully drained.
?Shit, must have forgotten to charge it,? Stephanie mumbled. ?What did
the text say??
?Spencer and Hall have sent out more videos,? Becca sighed. ?Interviews
with their eight new stars? Steph, we, um, we heard about Kurt and one
of the new girls??
?It?s fine,? Stephanie said in a clipped voice.
?Okay then,? Becca said, taken aback by Stephanie?s defensive attitude.
?Anyway, we?re all waiting on the DVD to be delivered here for us to
watch.?
?Why here and not the agency?? Stephanie asked.
?Ehh? Think Uncle Joshua?s busy, doesn?t have time to address everyone
like he did on Saturday,? Adeola replied. ?That, and he didn?t get any
reply to your text.?
?Remind me to apologise to him yet again,? Stephanie sighed as Krystie
entered the dance studio with a DVD in her hand.
?Didn?t get the text?? Krystie asked the embarrassed Stephanie. ?No
matter, I can always give you a private lesson after we watch the DVD,
get you caught up with the other girls.? Stephanie?s embarrassment grew
as she followed her friends into Krystie?s small office, where the tall
dance teacher popped the DVD into her laptop and was greeted on-screen
by a grid of eight names- the names of the models in Spencer & Hall?s
new clique.
?Pick a name,? Krystie said. ?Though I think I know which one you?re all
going to go for??
?Actually I would kinda like to hear from the two new singers first,?
Kayla said, earning quizzical stares from the other girls. ?What?
They?re the ones who?ll be in direct competition with us, won?t they??
?Okay,? Krystie said. ?Think they were Saraya and Niamh, weren?t they??
?Yeah,? Kayla said, watching with a determined look on her face as the
brown-haired, well-tanned face of Saraya Hallett appeared on the screen.
?Hi,? Saraya said with a confident grin. ?I?m Saraya Hallett, I?m 21,
and I?m one of the stars in the new Constellation!?
??Constellation??? Lauren asked.
??Yeah,? Krystie said with a tired chuckle.
?I started singing when I was seven,? Saraya continued. ?First in my
school choir, then in national singing competition- most of which I, of
course, won!?
?Puke,? Becca said in a deadpan voice, making the other girls all
giggle.
?I?ve always wanted to be in a girl band,? Saraya said. ?My main
inspirations are modern bands like Little Mix and The Pussycat Dolls,
and, of course, legends like the Spice Girls!?
?And Out of Heaven, maybe?? Adeola asked.
?I can?t wait to work with the other girls,? Saraya enthused. ?Being
part of a tight-knit group like this is something I never had at school-
most of the other girls were all too jealous of my success.?
?Puuuuuuuuuuke,? Lauren snorted.
?I?m Saraya Hallett,? The girl on the video concluded, ?And this is my
Constellation!?
?Well,? Becca sighed. ?I don?t know about any of you, but I hate her
already!?
?Are we actually achieving anything by watching these videos?? Kayla
asked. ?Other than stressing ourselves out, I mean.?
?You?re the one who wanted to watch her introduction video,? Adeola
reminded her bandmate. ?Can we watch Niamh?s, now??
?Of course,? Krystie said, opening the next video on the list.
?Hi,? The blonde-haired girl on the screen said in a refined Irish
accent. ?I?m Niamh Robinson, I?m 19, and I?m one of the stars in the new
Constellation!?
?Hate her already,? Becca said dismissively, making her friends all
chuckle.
?I grew up in Cork,? Niamh continued, ?but I moved to London last year
to find my ?fame and fortune?. I?ve received tuition in singing and
dancing since I was five, I?ve actually won nationwide competitions in
Irish dancing.?
?Spot a running theme,? Lauren snorted.
?I?m REALLY looking forward to singing with Saraya,? Niamh gushed. ?I
can tell we?re going to be the best of friends.?
?Ah, young one, you WILL learn,? Krystie said with a knowing smirk.
?I?m Niamh Robinson,? The Irish girl concluded, ?And this is my
Constellation!?
?My dad said something this morning,? Stephanie said at the end of the
video. ?That we?ll always have fans who consider us to be the biggest
and the best band around. The same must surely apply to the Angels as
well. The best way we can respond to this isn?t by panicking, or
fighting with each other, but by carrying on the way we have been, by
doing our best, producing the best singles and videos we can.?
?That?s really mature,? Becca said with a proud grin. ?Kinda hard to
believe it came from you, Steph!?
?Hence why you?re ignoring the ?no infighting? thing she just said,?
Adeola teased Becca, who gave her a playful shove in response.
?This whole thing has been a real learning experience,? Stephanie said.
?You?re right,? Krystie said. ?Can we please watch Dannii?s video NOW??
??Go on then,? Becca said, letting out a snort of laughter as Krystie
clicked on the video.
?Hi,? the familiar blonde-haired girl said on the screen. ?I?m Dannii
Samson, I?m 19, and I?m one of the stars in the new Constellation!?
?Yes, we know who you are,? Adeola said in a deadpan voice, making her
friends giggle.
?I?ve been a model since I was fifteen,? Dannii said. ?When you?re six
feet tall and have 41? legs, you kinda owe it to the world to show them
off, hehe!?
?You never had a problem with ?showing off?, did you, Dannii?? Becca
spat.
?I?ve been signed to other, smaller agencies in the past,? Dannii
continued, ?but I?ve never had the opportunity to be part of a proper
team of girls like Constellation. I?m REALLY looking forward to the new
opportunities.?
?Oh, you bitch,? Adeola breathed.
?I?m Dannii Samson,? The blonde girl concluded, ?And this is my
Constellation!?
As the video ended, Stephanie inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, even
as Adeola fumed at Dannii?s flippancy. By dismissing Heavenly Talent as
just another ?smaller agency?. Stephanie didn?t know what she was
expecting to hear from Dannii- whether or not she?d hint at having some
?insider knowledge? of the working of Heavenly Talent- but her apparent
refusal to even acknowledge the agency?s existence led Stephanie to
believe that she, and by extension, her ?status?, would receive no
attention at all from the new group of their agents.
----------
?I?m Dannii Samson,? The blonde girl stated on the small screen in
Lauren & Katie?s front room, ?And this is my Constellation!?
?I am going to tear every hair out of her fucking blonde head,? Nikki
spat as she switched off the video. ?Never been in a proper team?? The
Teen Angels clearly don?t count, then??
?In fairness, I think we only ever did half a dozen things as the ?Teen
Angels?,? Lauren sighed. ?And the Teen Angels only really existed as
Dannii was already signed to Joshua?? Lauren?s voice trailed off as the
other three women in the room stared at her disapprovingly.
?You should be angrier than anyone,? Nikki retorted. ?You were friends
with her for years, the way she was talking it was like she?d never had
any friends in the past!?
?I?m sure she was just talking from a professional point of view,?
Lauren said.
?Putting career opportunities before friends?? Sarah asked. ?Yep, that
sounds like her??
?Oh, you mean the exact same way you two did when you blew us off to
hang out with the Angels?? Katie asked, earning a look of pure fury from
Sarah.
?Girlies!? Lauren snapped, silencing Katie and Sarah. ?Dannii?s made her
own bed, she?s moved on, that?s what people do, okay? Nikki?s still got
her job, the three of us still have our uni.?
??We still get to hang out with the ACTUAL Angels,? Katie interjected.
?Exactly,? Lauren said, nodding in agreement with her flat mate. ?Just
because Dannii?s apparently ?gained? doesn?t mean that we?ve ?lost?.?
??Even though you?ve lost your oldest friend?? Sarah asked Lauren, who
frowned and blinked back a tear.
?I still have three amazing friends,? Lauren said with a warm grin.
?Five, once Jacinta and Ophelia get back from Brighton.?
??So do you still want to go round and talk to Dannii?? Nikki asked.
?Jamie-Lee?s always saying that you can never have too many friends,?
Katie said.
??I do kinda need to, you know, ?know?,? Lauren sighed.
?Okay,? Nikki whispered, before silently leading the four young women
down to her small Renault Clio.
?So, Nikki,? Katie asked with a wicked grin on her face, ?how different
is it driving without a dick??
?Really, Katie?? Sarah asked.
?What?? Katie asked. ?We?re all thinking it, aren?t we??
?I?ll admit I was,? Lauren said, barely suppressing a giggle, ?but I
wouldn?t have worded it like that!?
?I?m just amazed ?driving? is the first time you asked,? Nikki laughed.
?Not walking, sitting, peeing??
??And anything more intimate than that is NOT getting answered,? Sarah
said firmly. ?And if you know what?s good for you, it won?t be asked
either!?
?But to answer your ?driving? question,? Nikki said. ??It?s taking some
getting used to, but that can said of, well, ?it? for everything else,
not just driving!?
?But no regrets?? Katie asked. ?I remember you saying how sore it used
to be.?
?No regrets,? Nikki said confidently. ?Bruises are gone, swelling almost
gone? It?s actually starting to feel normal, heh.?
?I remember her saying the same thing when her