Crystal (8 page)

Crystal enjoyed the compliment for a moment, then asked the question that wouldn’t go away, even after the mind-blowing sex.

‘Have you worked out what you’re going to say to Belle yet?’

Max frowned. ‘I don’t know, I guess I’ll say that we were drifting apart, that I need my own space, that kind of bollocks.’

That wasn’t good enough for Crystal. ‘Do you love her?’ she found herself asking.

Max looked annoyed. ‘Do we have to talk about Belle? Do you think I’d be with you, if I loved her?’

‘But do you think she loves you?’ Crystal persisted.

Instead of answering he took his cigarette and hers and placed them in the ashtray; he pulled her back down beside him and kissed her. She kissed him back, hoping the kiss would block out the questions in her head. Max broke away first and reached once more for his cigarette. ‘Don’t look so worried, babe, we’ll be okay. You’ve just got to be patient.’

Crystal felt a surge of anxiety and guilt run through her. She lay down, her head on his shoulder, Max lightly caressing her back.
Would it really work out okay? Would she and Max be together?

‘Anyway, I almost forgot. I bought you something today.’ He reached under the pillow and pulled out a small velvet box and handed it to Crystal. She opened it to discover a diamond stud.

‘It’s for here,’ Max said, caressing her stomach and lightly touching the piercing on her naval. ‘Will you wear it from now on? And then every time I see you I can think of you wearing it, think of kissing your sweet skin.’

Crystal smiled and, pulling out the silver skull and crossbones stud she was wearing, replaced it with the diamond. She lay back on the bed.

‘Perfect,’ Max said and, reaching for his phone, took a picture of her.

‘No way, Max!’ Crystal protested, trying to grab the phone from him, but he held it out of reach. Then he gently, teasingly kissed her neck, moved down to her breasts, then her stomach, then further still. And Crystal stopped thinking about the phone, stopped thinking about anything except how Max was making her feel . . .

‘
HOW ARE YOU
feeling now?’ Crystal gave Tahlia a sympathetic look, as she returned from the bathroom. Even though they’d made it to the semi-finals, Tahlia’s pre-stage nerves hadn’t got any better. Crystal felt nervous, too, but also excited. She wanted to get out there and prove what they could do.

‘A bit better now I’ve been sick,’ Tahlia answered, looking pale and sorry for herself. ‘Come back to the dressing room,’ Crystal said. ‘I’ll touch up your make-up.’

‘Thanks, Crystal,’ Tahlia said gratefully. ‘Sorry I always get like this.’

Crystal laughed. ‘Don’t be daft, it doesn’t matter, your singing’s always fantastic. I’d think there was something wrong if you weren’t throwing up before we went on.’

In the dressing room Belle was glued to the rest of the competition on the TV. They were up against four other groups. The favourites to win were Northern Dreams, a boy band from Manchester led by Tyler, a rough-diamond, good-looking lad, who all the girls fancied. Bijoux was a group of three women, all over thirty, who were great singers but they lacked a certain something. It was probably sex appeal, Crystal thought – you couldn’t imagine anyone pinning posters of them on their bedroom walls and lusting after them, they just looked like someone’s mum. X & Y were a squeaky-clean group of two boys and two girls who made Bucks Fizz look cutting edge, and who always chose to sing
sentimental songs that Crystal couldn’t believe would be enough to win it for them. @ttitude was another girl band – they weren’t bad singers but they were arrogant, they hated taking any direction and Belle always said that they dressed like hos. They were the girls that they’d had the confrontation with at their very first audition. @ttitude had clearly not forgotten Belle’s bitchy comments and they had gone out of their way to be as vile as possible about Lost Angels. @ttitude were quoted often, slagging Lost Angels off, saying they had more talent in their little fingers and they would never make it, hinting that they had only got as far as they had because of Dallas’s special relationship with them. Tahlia and Crystal refused to comment when tabloid journalists pestered them for a reply but Belle didn’t hold back and called @ttitude a bunch of hard-faced slappers, who looked as if they should be living in a trailer park. The tabloids loved it and had a field day superimposing the four girls’ heads on pictures of some fat white trailer-park women. More insults followed from @ttitude and war was well and truly declared.

Tonight each act had to perform two songs – one contemporary and one classic. The Lost Angels were singing the Sugababes’ ‘Too Lost in You’, and The Three Degrees’ hit, ‘When Will I See You Again?’. They were appearing last which was a good place to be, Crystal assured the others. ‘We’ll be the ones that the viewers remember.’ Northern Dreams had just finished their first song and the audience were screaming their heads off in appreciation. Sexy Tyler had stripped off his shirt to reveal a tight white vest and some pretty impressive pecs which had added to the audience’s appreciation.

‘They’re
so
going to win,’ Tahlia said gloomily.

‘Don’t be so sure,’ Crystal answered, ‘They were flat and I reckon they’re getting too cocky for their own good.’

Dallas was the first judge to comment and as usual he wasn’t one to tread softly. ‘Tyler, you know I think you’re a nice enough guy but that wasn’t up to scratch, was it? You were flat in at least five places. I think you’re losing it; maybe
it’s time to go back to your day job.’ (Rough-diamond Tyler had worked as a scaffolder, hence the pecs and abs that all the girls, and Sadie, lusted after.)

From beside him their mentor Sadie exploded. ‘Absolute rubbish, Dallas! They were all perfect, especially Tyler.’ She appealed to the audience, who cheered along with her and booed Dallas. Northern Dreams were her babies and she was fiercely protective of them. Dallas shrugged dismissively and said, ‘Letting his pecs influence your judgement, Sadie?’

Sadie was clearly about to let rip, but Tess, the bubbly red-haired presenter, obviously wanted to move things on. She managed to cut across Sadie and ask Charlie for her comments. During the show she was generally the good cop to Dallas’s bad and usually never had an unkind word to say about any of the acts unless they were one of Dallas’s. She was full of enthusiasm for the boy band: ‘Boys, I predict you’re all going to be stars.’ The boys blew kisses at her and Tyler shot her a very sultry look that made Crystal think that maybe there was something more to their relationship.

‘Bollocks!’ Belle shouted at the television. ‘They’re going to be a one-hit wonder!’

Crystal wasn’t quite so sure. Good as she knew Lost Angels were, it was going to be hard to get Sadie to admit it and she knew how the audience could be swayed by her opinion. Dallas was a fantastic mentor but the only problem was that he was so outspoken, it often had the effect of turning people against his acts, to spite him. Bijoux were next, delivering a rousing performance of ‘It’s Raining Men’. Crystal thought it was fine but there was nothing special about it – it didn’t have that star quality the judges were so often talking about. Cringingly flat, X & Y made little impact and then @ttitude took to the stage. It was hard to concentrate on their singing as their outfits were such an eyesore – they’d gone for the ho look again in a big way and, dressed in white, they wore tiny leather-fringed mini skirts, thigh-high boots, bikini tops, cowboy hats and full-length fake fur coats, and all of them dripped with fake bling.

Belle was disgusted. ‘Look what the cat dragged in, it’s top of the slags.’ And then Lost Angels were told they had five minutes to go. The three girls immediately formed a circle and held hands. This ritual had started off as a total piss take of diva performers they’d seen in concert. Each of the girls had come up with their own ridiculous, over-the-top saying which they would declare in an American accent before they went on stage. Crystal’s was:
I promise to deliver my best performance tonight
,
not just for myself but for all the children in the world
; Tahlia would say:
This is my chance to change the world and I will take that chance
; and Belle always finished:
It’s not enough to sing the songs, I will feel the songs in my very soul.
But now it had become part of their pre-stage ritual, something that they
had
to do before they performed.

‘If we ever make it we have got to stop doing
this
,’ Crystal said afterwards, ‘otherwise we’re going to look like the twats of the century!’ Belle managed to smile but Tahlia was tight-lipped with nerves.

Tess announced their names and they walked on stage to thunderous applause and whistles, as their music was starting up. Crystal took a deep breath and cleared her mind of everything but her voice. At the end of the song, she knew that the three of them had given their strongest performance yet. She felt exhilarated. It was one of those times when they all clicked together and it felt and sounded so right. Surely the judges would have heard that? But of course Sadie wasn’t going to make it easy for them.

‘Yes, girls, that was really good, and I can’t fault you on anything. But do you know what? It was just
too perfect
for me. Where was the edge? It confirms what I’ve always thought of you. It’s all been too easy for you and you come across as too slick, too polished. I look at you and I see three beautiful girls who have never had to struggle for anything in their lives and I just don’t know if that’s what this competition is about.’

Crystal could feel the anger building up inside her. How dare this multimillionaire tell
them
they hadn’t had to struggle? What the fuck did she know? She was sick of the
way they were being treated in the competition, just because of something that may or may not have happened between Belle and Dallas. It just wasn’t fair. She was supposed to wait until every judge had delivered their verdict before she had her say, but she couldn’t stop herself from grabbing the microphone from a stunned Tess.

‘We might not have worked on building sites, Sadie, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t struggled. You don’t know
anything
about us. Tahlia’s dad died when she was three and her mum had to hold down two jobs to support her.’ Crystal’s voice was shaking with emotion but she didn’t care. ‘Belle’s gran died two months ago but she decided to carry on with the competition because her gran would have wanted it. We’ve been trying to make it for the last five years and this competition is our last hope. Don’t you dare sit there and waste our chances just because you don’t like us.’

She looked defiantly at Sadie who was looking slightly less comfortable than usual. Then Tahlia grabbed the mic from Crystal. ‘And Crystal’s mum left her to bring up her brother on her own when she was only sixteen. We haven’t had it easy, we’ve struggled every inch of the way to get this far.’

The audience erupted. They were up on their feet cheering, whistling and clapping; they loved a confrontation. Sadie tried to speak but couldn’t make herself heard over the noise. Tess had taken the mic back from Tahlia and was also trying to make herself heard. Finally, after what seemed like ages, but was probably only a few minutes, the audience calmed down enough for Tess to ask Sadie for her response.

‘Well,’ she began awkwardly. ‘I have to admit that I had the wrong impression about the girls. I take back what I said earlier; they obviously
do
deserve to be here. And their performance tonight was outstanding.’

Crystal felt her spirits lift;
this could make all the difference.
She looked over at Dallas and he winked at her. Charlie was next. ‘Girls, what can I say? You were brilliant.’ And when everyone had said their piece, Dallas spoke. ‘I’m glad the girls got to have their say. They’ve been professional and
hardworking from the start. They could have played for the sympathy vote, but they never have because they and I believe you should stand and fall by the performance you deliver. And tonight, girls, you did yourselves, and me, proud. You were awesome. You deserve to win.’

Crystal and the girls couldn’t stop smiling as they went back to the dressing room. ‘Oh my God!’ Belle squealed. ‘Thank God you did that, Crystal, otherwise that would have been it.’

The three of them couldn’t believe what had happened and it took several minutes for them to calm down. Crystal tried to bring them back to reality. ‘Come on, we’ve got to focus on performing our next song.’ But it was hard. They all felt wired, longing to get back on stage. Luckily their next song, ‘When Will I See You Again?’, demanded a full-on performance, no holding back from anyone. In rehearsal it had been the one Dallas nagged them about most, saying that they needed to put more emotion into it. After their exchange with Sadie they had emotion in spades. Dallas stood up to applaud their performance. Sadie and Charlie followed his lead. They were definitely not going home that night. It was a playoff between Bijoux and X & Y and Bijoux were voted out.

‘Girls, girls, girls!’ Dallas exclaimed walking into the green room at the end of the show. ‘You were fabulous. I’m taking you out to celebrate.’ As soon as they had finished being interviewed by Hadley, Dallas whisked them off to the swish Blue Bar for vintage Cristal and Beluga caviar. He was full of praise for their performance and for Crystal for having the guts to stand up to Sadie. ‘I really think that might swing it for you. But you can’t be complacent. I’m going to be working you harder than ever this week. You can have tomorrow off but that’s it. We’re going to be working flat out from nine o’clock Monday.’

‘But we’re free tonight, aren’t we?’ Belle asked. Crystal’s heart sank. She’d been so fired up by the night that she’d hardly had time to think about Max but now she was
reminded that it was going to be Belle who would be in his arms and kissing him, Belle who would be celebrating their good news with Max. Surely he wouldn’t have sex with her, would he? Crystal felt a stab of jealousy so sharp that she had to bite her lip to stop herself saying anything. What the hell would she say, though?
Don’t go and see Max. I want him more?