| THE ROCK AND ROLL LIFESTYLE | E.PRESLEY | COMPLETED

5 | MERCHANDISE

     "SO, MY NEW business manager?" Jamie smiled, looking at her father. "Newburn enterprises. At least they remembered the last part of the name this time."

Her father smiled only slightly, since that paper, he has hated how their last name had been reduced only to 'New'. It was a constant reminder of what happened to his daughter while he was not there to protect her.

More songs were released by the pair, some they did together. One of Jamie's most popular songs was released during this time, called Before He Cheats. Many girls who had been cheated on came to love this song and many men took it as a challenge to be the beat boyfriend the girl ever had. What was funny is that, although rumors spread claiming that Jamie had had many boyfriends in her life, she and those close to her knew that she had never had one ever before.

Jamie sat in Elvis' new pink Cadillac, driving to a new home that he had bought. It was huge, named Graceland, which was a very fitting name. He immediately offered two extra rooms for Jamie and her father. It took a lot of convincing for the pair to agree to move in with the Presleys. Elvis was so excited that he now had the money to provide for his family and offer them luxuries that had never had before.

Cadillacs

A brand new home that they could decorate however they want

The latest new gadgets and toys

Animals, plenty of animals

Clothes

Jewellery

However, something were very overwhelming. Gladys was not always a fan of how Elvis spent his money. Jamie wasn't aways a fan of how Elvis would over work himself for his shows.

Jamie had been able to find a way to take in his new lifestyle. Her father had always been a good business man, so he was good at keeping track of her money. She had learned how to look after herself for her shows, she had noticed how others in the music industry seemed to rely in substances over actual sleep.

Jamie kept a good sleep schedule along side her practice, writing and recording. Elvis didn't know how she managed but she did and he admired her for that. Unlike himself who had began to rely on some drugs to ensure he got enough sleep at night.

Elvis almost always had people around at Graceland. Family, friends. Anyone who wanted some fun. He loved hosting for them, he had enough money to do so.

Jamie often kept to herself but every once in a while she would join the fun. She recently found the new go cart Elvis had bought, rather fun to drive around on.

As time carried on, Elvis and Jamie found themselves in movies that would blow up and doing tour upon tour that brought in tones of revenue.

"Merchandise."

Jamie furrowed her brows at the image of her face on a pillow. She was sat beside Elvis, who wore a sailors cap.

"Your faces on every conceivable object, including teddy bears, perfume, plaster busts..."

"Of questionable likeness." Billy chuckled, looking at the plaster bust of Elvis.

"The Elvis Presley Game, featuring Jamie New. Something so everyone can show their love. Grandma Dodger, what is that behind your ear?"

"I hate Elvis. I hate Jamie." Gladys read out two button badges.

Colonel turned to her and nodded. "Yes. I hate Elvis. I hate Jamie. In mu way of thinking, 'I love Elvis. I love Jamie', that's an easy sell. Those who hate those two will do so whether we profit from it or not. After all, what is hate worth if its free?"

Elvis leaned forward to take the badges from the Colonel. He handed Jamie the one with her name on it. She slowly took it and stared at it.

"Oh, yeah." Vernon nodded. "I get it."

Elvis smirked. "Snowman strikes again."

"Merchandise, promotion. Diskin, what else do we have?"

Jamie sank into her seat slightly, staring at the badge. Of course, she knew that there were people out there that didn't like her. Many of whom were girls, but she didn't think that it would be a good idea for her to preform if she saw those badges littered in the crowd. Then again, she did understand that those people pay to see her just to give her hate so, why not make money from it?

The first time the pair appeared on television, well, it was quite a shock. Elvis decided to sing his cover of Hound Dog while Jamie sang her most popular song, Before He Cheats. There was a clear difference in the cheers the audience gave when the two sang their songs separately. But the network also wanted then to sing a song together. That is when the cheers mixed into one.

What the pair didn't know, was that there were powerful people that had begun to hate them. For their movements and lyrics. Elvis being accused of being too sexual and too black. Jamie seemed to be getting more of a backlash, being called every offence name under the sun. Whore, slut.

Elvis didn't mind the backlash that he got, but what Jamie was facing made him mad. Jamie, however, brushed it off as best as she could.

Jamie claimed she was sick the next time they preformed on television, but she decided to watch Elvis' performance. But when she turned on the television, she did not expect to see her best friend in a suit with tails and stood beside a literal hound dog.

The girl was paying no attention to what Gladys was saying about Elvis performance, she was staring off into space. She felt like life was going too fast for her to keep up. She had only been doing this for a couple of years and yet she felt ready to retire.

"I am not!" Elvis suddenly shouted.

Jamie looked over to where he stood. Gladys slammed her hands on the kitchen table.

"You're loosing yourself, Booby! Look at Jamie! She's not the same since she started this thing."

"Awh, hell, mama-"

"Satin knows." The two sighed. "The way you sing and move, it's God given. So there can't be nothing wrong with it."

People soon came barging into the house, asking Elvis tones of questions in a matter of seconds. This only angered Elvis who shouted for everyone to get out.

"Mama, you ain't ever happy. No matter what I do, no matter how much I give you, it ain't never enough. And, I wish you would not drink so goddamn much. Its not good for you."

Elvis stormed out the house, getting into his purple Cadillac and driving away as quickly as he could.