The Sacrifices We Make

Chapter Two - Present Day

Present Day - London

Once everyone had stuffed themselves and Madison had paid, they made their way across the street to the conference room where, Madison had a feeling, things were going to get a bit more intense.

Lunch had been lovely. Everyone chatted about their respective summer vacations, telling stories of friends falling off yachts and the beautiful Mediterranean sunsets they had experienced. Phones with pictures of adorable nieces and nephews were passed around with comments about how this one had grown so much or how unbelievably cute that one was. All the while Madison was keeping an eye on any interactions between Jade and Perrie, or more like, the lack thereof. They weren't rude to or blatantly ignoring one another. Jade commented on how cute Perrie's dog, Hatchi, was when a phone with his picture had been passed around the table. And in turn, when Perrie had been shown a picture of Jade's nephew, she fondly told the story of how he had dumped her as his girlfriend in favor of Jesy. But these comments were never made to one another, but rather in a general, to-the-group sort of way. And any eye-contact they made was sweeping- across-the-table to everyone, but never direct.

If Madison's suspicions were right – and they usually were – she had her work cut out for her. It appeared there was some sort of animosity between the two and if they were to promote their fifth album with any success, this had to be sorted out prior to its release. The meeting they were about to have was going to be awkward, to say the least, and maybe even painful. But she was willing to endure that for the good of the group – and her job.

Once in the hotel lobby, they were shown to their conference room and Madison took a seat at the head of the table. Perrie and Jesy sat on one side while Jade and Leigh-Anne took the other.

Madison was never one to beat around the bush. That's why she was good at her job. She never sugar-coated. She prided herself in always telling her clients the truth.

"You lot left Syco because they only saw you as money-makers who didn't actually care about making you bigger and better, if it ain't broke don't fix it, right?" The girls nodded.

"Fifth Mile is different. We see potential, I mean maximum potential, and we work with our clients to achieve that. If we push you, it's because we know you can do better. Little Mix should be the biggest girl group in the world. You have the talent, you have the work ethic and you have the drive. Now, don't get me wrong, you are hugely successful. But I know you can reach a level of greatness no girl group has yet seen. And we're here to help make that happen. But in order for us to achieve this, we have to take a look under the hood, as it were, and make sure everything is running smoothly. I've done all the research I can do on my own – but now I need your help with dissecting what I've found. Are you ready to be honest and open with me?" She paused and looked at each girl.

Jesy responded for the group, "Yes! Let's get on with it!"

"Fan fatigue," she started and looked around the room. The girls looked back with blank expressions on their faces, "do any of you know what this means?"

"I've heard it used in the movie industry with certain genres of film. Fans get tired of seeing the same thing over and over and stop showing up to the theaters," responded Leigh-Anne.

"Yes, that is one use of the word, thank you Leigh-Anne. How do you think the word relates to your fans specifically? Do you think they experience this in any sort of way?" Madison waited for the reactions to this.

"What, you mean like our fans are getting sick of us?" Perrie questioned, the outrage to the thought evident on her face, "I don't think that's true at all." The other girls nodded their heads in agreement.