Melody 5 - Rising Stars

Chapter 3 (i) - Rhian

--- RHIAN ---

"So did you have to get your kit off?" smirked Gareth.

Rhian immediately went bright red. "Shut up Gareth," she hissed.

Gareth was rewarded with a clout round the head from their dad. "That's no way to talk to your sister," he yelled.

"I was only joking," said Gareth, rubbing his head, before tucking into his ham, egg and chips. "But all these pop stars always have their bits on show. Look at Rhianna."

"Well, our Rhian, has more dignity than that," said Diane, as poured herself a cuppa from the teapot.

Rhian blushed again. If her mother had seen her in the toilet cubicle on the 13.15 to Cardiff, she wouldn't be saying that. Rhian had chickened out of sending Kyle a shot of herself completely naked, she wanted to save that for a special occasion; but she had sent him another shot of herself in her underwear, this time with her face in the shot, complete with a sultry pout, and a message...

Will show you more later. Promise! xx

She hadn't heard back from him since, and was now worried that she should have just done a full nude shot then and there. What if he was disappointed and had gone off her?

Before she could dwell on it any longer, her Dad encouraged everyone to tuck into the dinner he'd made and asked Rhian to tell him about her day. She told him all about the audition - leaving out the bits about having the hots for Derren McKenzie and sending shots of herself in her underwear to her bad-boy boyfriend.

Just as they were all finishing up their meal, Matt arrived to do some homework with her older brother, Gareth. Rhian had been surprised he hadn't already been there when she and her mother had got back from London. She knew he would be desperate to see her and hear all about her adventures.

"Hiya Rhi," said Matt softly.

Everyone laughed - the whole family knew about Matt's crush on Rhian.

"Hiya Matt," she said.

"Did it go well today?" he asked.

"Yeah," answered Rhian. "Really well."

"Cool. So shall we get cracking?" he asked Gareth.

"Sure," said Gareth, finishing up the last of his chips.

Rhian was even more shocked - wasn't Matt going to sit next to her and ask her all about her day? It wasn't that she fancied him, but it made her feel good when he hung off her every word.

"Do you want a few chips Matt?" asked Rhian's dad.

"No thanks, Mr Jones. I've already eaten."

Something was definitely not right. Matt never refused chips. In fact Rhian thought that sometimes Matt preferred chips to her.

Gareth picked up the school bag he'd thrown by the back door earlier and started to head upstairs, with Matt following behind. Rhian leapt up and went after them.

"Hey Matt," she called. As Gareth continued up the stairs, Matt turned round, but couldn't look her in the eye. Nothing new there though, he was always too shy to look directly at her for longer than three seconds.

"Thanks for the message," Rhian said.

Matt looked mortified. "The message?" he stammered.

"The one wishing me luck," she beamed. "It was really sweet of you."

"Oh, that message. Yeah, it's alright."

Something was definitely wrong. Rhian didn't know what, but she was determined to find out.

"Matt, what's the matter? Have I done something?"

"No," mumbled Matt. "Well, not exactly."

"What do you mean?" demanded Rhian. "Not exactly?"

"Just be careful what you send Kyle Jackson in future. He's not exactly discreet."

Now it was Rhian's turn to be mortified. Surely Kyle hadn't shown anyone her photo message? It was meant to be just for him. He'd assured her - anything she sent him would just be for him. The lying scumbag!

He'd obviously shown his mates. And everyone else. Matt must have seen it. Had Gareth? Maybe that's what his comment had been about at dinner. No. That must have just been coincidence. Gareth might tease and annoy her, but he'd knock someone's head off if they actually did anything bad to her. But if loads of people had seen the photo, then it wouldn't be long before Gareth did.

As if reading her mind, Matt said, "Gareth doesn't know. Yet. Do you want me to tell him before he finds out from someone else?"

Rhian couldn't answer. She barged past Matt, raced up to her room, slammed the door and fell on to her bed, tears of shame falling down her bright red face.

How could he? How could Kyle do this to her? She thought he cared about her. She thought she was special to him. It must have been a mistake. Someone must have grabbed his phone. Jonno or Lee must have taken it and accessed his photos. That was the only explanation.

But in her heart Rhian knew that hadn't happened. She'd trusted Kyle and he'd betrayed her. Now she'd have to go to school tomorrow knowing that the whole school had seen her pouting and posing in her underwear in a grubby toilet cubicle.

The only light at the end of the tunnel was that when Sherri Holt called, Rhian wouldn't feel bad about leaving Kyle behind. She'd be glad.