Crystal (3 page)

‘This is well posh,’ Tahlia whispered to Crystal, her eyes wide with astonishment.

‘We’re meeting in the dining room,’ Jenny’s voice echoed through the hall as she indicated the room they should go into.

‘Some dining room,’ Crystal whispered to Tahlia as they walked into a room the size of small football pitch. Dallas was standing by the fireplace.

‘Come and find a seat,’ he called out, gesturing at the rows of chairs that had been arranged to form a semicircle in front of him. Waiting only a few minutes for everyone to get settled, he began his speech.

‘Welcome to Phoenix Manor, your home for the next week. I hope you’ll have everything you need, but don’t make yourselves too comfortable – you’re here to work!’ Dallas addressed the eight bands that would become four in five days’ time. ‘At the end of the week I will be deciding who I want to keep in my category and I’ll be judging that on the performance you give on Friday. Good luck everybody.’

Crystal, Belle and Tahlia looked at each other; they all knew how important this week was. Their first audition had been two months ago and since then they’d been rehearsing harder than ever, determined to get through to the next round. Crystal had mixed feelings about having Dallas as their mentor. He was an extremely hard man to please and she knew if they were to get picked they would have to excel.

Dallas strode out of the room, leaving his staff to show the groups around. Lost Angels were sharing a large bedroom on the first floor. It was more luxurious and spacious than any room Crystal had ever stayed in but as soon as the door closed Belle started moaning: ‘God, I always have my own room, I hate sharing, I
must
have my beauty sleep.’

‘For God’s sake, Belle, it’s only for a week!’ Crystal replied in exasperation. ‘Tahlia and me will share the double and you can have the single bed.’

Belle curled her lip. ‘I really wanted the double, actually.’

‘Well, you’ll have to share it with one of us and, as you hate
sharing, that’s not a great idea, is it?’ Tahlia said patiently.

‘Actually, I’m going to ask Dallas if I can have my own room,’ Belle replied petulantly.

‘Come on, Belle, don’t piss him off!’ Crystal exclaimed.

‘I won’t piss him off, he likes me,’ Belle snapped back. ‘And there’s no harm in asking’, and to Crystal’s astonishment she applied another layer of gloss to her already glossed lips, brushed her hair and sauntered out of the room.

‘Bollocks!’ Crystal exclaimed, throwing herself on to the bed. ‘That’s all we need! Dallas is hard enough to impress without him thinking that we’re a bunch of spoilt prima donnas.’

‘Oh, don’t worry, Crystal. Come on, let’s go and look round, we’ve got a few hours before we have to meet for cocktails with Dallas,’ Tahlia answered, checking through the itinerary they’d been given. ‘We could always go for a swim if you like.’

‘Good idea,’ Crystal answered, rummaging through her suitcase for her bikini.

She and Tahlia spent the next few hours hanging out by Dallas’s fabulous indoor pool and fending off the three members of a boy band who were flirting outrageously with them. They were sweet enough lads but neither Crystal nor Tahlia had the slightest bit of interest in them.

‘They just remind me of my kid brother,’ Crystal confided as they watched the boys showing off by diving flashily into the pool and wrestling with each other. ‘They’re just boys. And frankly I need a man.’ As she said that an image of Max rose up in her head. She’d met him a few times now and every time the attraction she felt for him had grown stronger, until it had reached a point where it was such sweet torture to be near him that she almost couldn’t bear it. She had cried off on the last occasion when they were all supposed to meet up. Max had wanted to give the girls a send-off from the club, before they went to boot camp. Crystal invented a bout of food poisoning and was stunned when her mobile rang and it was Max.’

‘Are you really ill?’ he demanded.

‘Yeah, I feel terrible.’ Crystal tried to put on a croaky voice.

‘Well, that’s a pity. I wanted to see you.’ He paused, and Crystal’s stomach flipped. ‘I’m disappointed you’re not here.’ Another pause where Crystal nearly said,
So am I.
‘Good luck, Crystal. I’ll be thinking of you.’

He was obviously waiting for Crystal to say that she would be thinking of
him
, but much as she was tempted to, she simply thanked him and said goodbye. She knew she’d made the right decision not going to the club; somehow she had to beat her obsession with Max.

‘Oh, there you are,’ Belle called over to them from the other side of the pool. ‘I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to be in the suite next door to you, so come up and I’ll show you round.’ And with that she turned and walked away, her high-heeled sandals clicking loudly against the marble.

‘She obviously didn’t piss Dallas off then,’ Crystal muttered, then had a thought. ‘You don’t think she did anything with him do you?’

‘What do you mean?’ Tahlia asked.

‘Like a blowjob-for-suite scenario?’ Crystal whispered, not wanting the boy band members to overhear.

‘No way!’ Tahlia shook her head, too sweetly naïve to imagine such a thing, but Crystal couldn’t help wondering. Dallas was known to prefer blondes and Belle was quite capable of giving the odd favour if it got her what she wanted. . .

And when the two girls saw Belle’s suite Crystal wondered even more. It was palatial – high, moulded ceilings, glittering chandeliers, an ornate four-poster bed in the bedroom, an imposing stone fireplace. Adjoining the bedroom was an elegant living room with yet another impressive fireplace; an HD TV set, several huge vases of lilies giving off a heady perfume, and a well-stocked drink cabinet. It was the kind of suite Crystal expected a fully-fledged pop star to have.

‘So how the hell did you get him to give you this?’ she exclaimed.

‘I just explained how badly I sleep if there are other people in the room,’ Belle replied, ‘and he was very sympathetic.’

‘I bet you manage when you’re with Max,’ Crystal said dryly.

‘We don’t sleep much when we’re together, know what I mean?’ Belle said smugly. And Crystal shut up, not wanting to hear any more.

‘And Dallas didn’t mind you asking?’ Tahlia said.

‘No, he was an absolute sweetie about it,’ Belle replied, flicking back her hair but avoiding eye contact with the others. ‘Anyway, I’m going to get ready now. I want to look my best for tonight as I think we’re being filmed.’

‘How was your first day?’ It was Max on the phone. Tahlia was in the shower. Crystal’s heart raced as it always did at the sound of his voice.

‘Great,’ she replied, wondering why he was calling her.

‘I’ve just spoken to Belle but she’s too busy getting ready to talk so I thought I’d call you,’ Max continued. ‘Are you feeling better?’

‘I’m fine,’ Crystal replied, having totally forgotten that she’d invented an illness.

‘Yeah, I thought so,’ Max said laughing. ‘There was nothing wrong with you, was there?’

Crystal suddenly remembered and tried to protest, but Max wouldn’t have any of it. ‘Just make sure you see me when you finish boot camp.’

‘I’m sure we’ll all meet up soon,’ Crystal replied, trying to play it cool. ‘See you, Max.’

She felt distracted for the rest of the night, obsessing over Max when she should have been focusing on what she was here for. Mind you, if there were any prizes to be won for sucking up to Dallas, it looked like Belle was on course to get one. She stayed by his side, hanging on his every word throughout the champagne cocktails and three-course
dinner that Dallas had laid on. While he didn’t give much away he seemed to enjoy the attention; Belle was extremely pretty and an accomplished flirt when she wanted to be. Crystal did not think this was a good thing. She had overheard several of the other groups gossiping about Belle’s behaviour round Dallas and knew it would make Lost Angels extremely unpopular with the other contestants, who were bound to think they would have an unfair advantage with Dallas. The boy band kept trying to flirt with Tahlia and Crystal – the vast amounts of alcohol they’d knocked back had made them bolder. But Crystal and Tahlia were watching their intake – limiting themselves to a couple of glasses of champagne, wanting to be fresh in the morning. Also Crystal didn’t want to look pissed as they were all being filmed for the show. The other groups apparently didn’t have the same concerns; they were drinking like it was going out of fashion. At midnight the two girls decided to go to bed; by now all the other groups were hammered, singing and dancing along to the Scissor Sisters blasting out of the stereo. Belle and Dallas were nowhere to be seen.

‘God, I hope she knows what she’s doing,’ Crystal muttered to Tahlia as they made their way up the staircase.

They were woken at seven by a loud knocking at the door. Crystal dragged herself out of bed to open it and was handed a piece of paper by one of the production team. Yawning, she quickly read it. They had to be downstairs in fifteen minutes, ready to start rehearsing their songs.

‘Shit!’ she exclaimed, telling Tahlia to go and wake up Belle and running into the shower. When she emerged five minutes later, Tahlia said, ‘I knocked and knocked for Belle but there was no answer, and when I tried to open the door it was locked.’

‘Well, maybe she’s gone jogging,’ Crystal answered, thinking it highly unlikely; Belle was not known to be an early riser.

She and Tahlia were the first downstairs. Coffee and croissants were laid out and the two girls helped themselves
and watched as the other contestants staggered in, stinking of booze, bleary-eyed and looking as if they’d hardly slept.

‘Jesus, I’m wasted!’ one of the boy band members – she couldn’t tell them apart, they all looked the same – said to Crystal, sinking into a chair next to her. ‘We didn’t get to bed until four.’

Crystal smiled sympathetically but inside she couldn’t help thinking
one up to Lost Angels
. Except where was Belle? Next Dallas marched in. He stood at the door surveying them all and then he let rip: ‘So you guys have been dreaming all your lives of being singers. So much so that at the first chance of free booze you lose it? It’s pathetic!’ he barked. He looked round the room, and seeing Tahlia and Crystal looking so fresh he added, ‘Well, not everyone, I see. Well done, girls, you passed my first test. Now where’s that other band member of yours?’

‘Here,’ Belle called out from the doorway and everyone turned to look at her. She was dressed in a white Juicy Couture tracksuit and looked glowing. ‘Sorry I’m late; I’ve just been doing Pilates. Nice gym, Dallas.’ If it had been anyone else Dallas would have hit the roof, but as it was Belle he just smiled and told her to sit down.

‘Yeah, right, I bet the only Pilates she’s been doing was on his face,’ the boy band member whispered to Crystal. He may well be right, but Crystal told him to be quiet – whatever she might feel, she had to show solidarity with Belle.

‘Were you really in the gym?’ Crystal asked as the three of them made their way to the rehearsal room where they were going to meet Kathy, the singing coach.

‘Of course! Where else would I be?’ Belle snapped.

‘Well, everyone noticed you flirting with Dallas last night,’ Crystal carried on.

‘I was
not
flirting,’ Belle replied, turning bright red. ‘I like Dallas and he likes me but it’s a strictly professional relationship. Anyway, if he likes me then he’ll like Lost Angels and that can’t be bad, can it?’

Belle was right, Dallas did seem to like Lost Angels – or at
least he didn’t give them as hard a time as he gave the other acts and every now and then he even praised them. But being his favourites meant the other acts hated them – the boy band had even stopped flirting with Tahlia and Crystal. They obviously felt that the girls were bound to get through on Friday because of Dallas’s relationship with Belle, regardless of their performance. She kept denying there was anything going on, but she often disappeared in the afternoon during their break, claiming she wanted to have a lie-down.

‘It’s who she’s gone to have a lie-down with that worries me,’ Crystal muttered when she and Tahlia were sunbathing outside on the immaculately cut lawn, enjoying a few minutes’ relaxation before they returned to rehearsing their song.

‘Do you think we should say something to Dallas?’ Tahlia asked.

Crystal shook her head. ‘Like what? “Don’t shag her”.’

’No, I meant about the way the other bands think that he’s going to favour us,’ Tahlia answered.

Crystal sighed. ‘I just don’t think that’s a good idea. Maybe we’re worrying too much; hopefully it will all blow over.’

But she was wrong and two days before they were due to perform the song that would decide their fate, all hell broke loose. They were mid-rehearsal when a member of the production team burst into the room and told them to go straight to the dining room. The other acts were already there, and they all turned to stare at Lost Angels when they walked in; their stares weren’t friendly. ‘Do you know why we’re here?’ Crystal asked one of the boy band members, but he just shrugged and turned away, blanking her. Some twenty awkward minutes passed for Crystal and Tahlia; they were aware of people whispering about them. Not so Belle, who was oblivious and kept going on about what they should wear for their performance. Finally Dallas walked in, flanked by the director of the show and one of the producers – all looking serious.

Dallas was the first to speak and his tone was pure ice. ‘I’ve just had an interesting conversation with a journalist friend
of mine. Apparently someone in this room has seen fit to try and sell a story – a story about me and one of the contestants.’ He paused and surveyed the room and he looked colder and harder than Crystal had ever seen him look before.

‘That person needs to know that we will find out who they are and when we do they had better have an explanation.’

The director now spoke. ‘Dallas has assured me that there is absolutely no truth in the story and we will be issuing a denial when the story is published tomorrow. This kind of muck-raking is not what this competition is about and whoever did this should be ashamed of themselves. Now all of you get back to work. Anyone who has a problem with that knows where the door is: believe me, there are plenty of other people who want your place.’