Melody 5 - Rising Stars

Chapter 10 (i) - Rhian

--- RHIAN ---

Rhian had never worked before, except for being in the band, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Rhian, can you show this lady where the table cloths are?" boomed Amy's dad, Maurice Anderson.

"Sure," smiled Rhian, praying she could remember where they were. As the customer followed Rhian through the huge Carpet Magic superstore, Rhian assumed she must be heading in the right direction, otherwise Mr Anderson would have stopped her by now. They passed rugs, throws, novelty cushions and then to Rhian's relief tablecloths miraculously appeared.

"There you go, madam," smiled Rhian, and then quickly nipped away before the woman could ask another question.

Rhian had been working at Carpet Magic for one month now and she still found it confusing - the most confusing thing being why it was called Carpet Magic. It didn't just sell carpets, but loads of other stuff too. Amy said her dad had started out with carpets and then branched out into soft furnishings. Why didn't he change the name to Soft Furnishings Magic then?

"How are you getting on?" asked Amy, as she wandered by carrying a ridiculous number of spreadsheets, invoices and order forms.

"Fine," breezed Rhian, not wanting to let on that she found the whole thing intensely boring. She knew she should be grateful that Amy's dad had given her a job.

Two months after the Melody Vibe video had gone up online and hadn't cause the major splash they were hoping for, the girls had all agreed they had to get other work so they could start paying Amy's mum and dad something towards the rent and food, plus they still had travel costs and band costs to cover. So for the past month Rhian and Amy had been working at Carpet Magic - Rhian on the shop floor and Amy (much to her horror, but her parents' delight) was in the office with her dad. Kat was waitressing at a coffee shop; Molly was teaching some dance classes at Infinity Dance Studios; and Jadine was helping her mum look after her nephews, who'd been temporarily allowed out of care, and she was pulling some bar shifts at The Granite Rooms. There was no doubt it was tough as all the girls were now being pulled in different directions but they were all determined to keep going and somehow keep the band together. Plus, Lena had organised tons of live gigs for them - although most of them were in were shabby low-rent venues. All the girls had commented on the fact that it would be a miracle if anyone influential 'spotted them' at one of the gigs. Even so, Rhian was gradually learning to overcome her stage-fright, which could only be a good thing.

"I've got to go to a meeting with a supplier with my dad," groaned Amy. "So I can't give you a lift home tonight."

"No worries," said Rhian. "I wasn't going to head back this evening anyway."

"Oh?"

"A friend of my mum's is visiting London and I said I'd meet up with her."

"Really?" said Amy, skeptically.

"Really," said Rhian, hoping she was pulling off a breezy and casual air.

"This isn't some excuse to meet up with Kyle is it?" asked Amy.

"God, no!" shot back Rhian. "I haven't heard from him since..."

"Since, he stole your life savings?"

"Thanks for the reminder," pouted Rhian.

"Sorry," smiled Amy. "But you're the baby of the group. We need to keep an eye on you."

"Well, I'm not meeting Kyle," reiterated Rhian. And it was true, she wasn't meeting up with Kyle. She was meeting up with Psylence.

He'd found her on Facebook and sent her a message after the girls' gig at The Granite Rooms saying he loved her voice and wanted her as a guest vocalist on one of his tracks. She'd been excited that someone as cool as Psylence was interested in her - but she knew Jadine would flip out if Rhian didn't prioritise the band and if she had anything to do with Psylence. But as the weeks rolled by and the number of hits for the next songs and videos they'd uploaded online were only slowly increasing, Rhian decided to at least meet up with Psylence.

From the get-go, he'd made it clear he fancied her, and Rhian had had to use all her will-power to stop herself from immediately heading straight back to his flat - it was only the thought of a very narked Jadine that stopped her. But she'd given him her number and found herself on familiar territory - sending and receiving secret flirty, sexy texts.

Eventually he'd convinced her to sing the backing vocals on his latest song - 2 On It. A sexy bump and grind number which he said her sultry yet innocent vocals would sound perfect on. Originally he'd asked some girl called Arianne Blixx, but apparently she hadn't worked out.

They weren't exactly the most demanding lyrics in the world...

I'll do it

Get down 2 It

I'll get on it

2 on it!

But at least she was singing and she'd even recorded it in a proper recording studio with a producer sat behind a glass partition. Once again she'd managed to resist Psylence's smooth but increasingly insistent advances, but she'd made the decision that if he came on to her again tonight, then she might consider giving in. After all, he wasn't a delinquent scally like Kyle; Psylence was a serious rapper and a grown up guy who respected her. He hadn't called her a 'frigid bitch' when she'd refused to send him some sexy photos of herself and so as a reward, she'd sent him some anyway.

And now tonight they were filming the video for the track they'd recorded. It was going to be under some disused railway arches in East London. Psylence had told her to wear something street and sexy and she'd decided to mix up her own white pleated mini-skirt, knee high socks and retro hi-tops with a couple of saucy items she'd 'borrowed' from Amy's wardrobe - a skin-tight midriff-baring hoodie and push up bra. Much sexier than what she'd worn for the Melody 5 vids and a million times cooler than what Sherri's dreadful stylist Milano had forced her into. She hoped Psylence liked the look. He'd already compared her to a young blonde Tinashe - a comparison Rhian couldn't help being flattered by.

"What time will you be back tonight?" asked Amy.

"Not sure," smiled Rhian. "But don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

As she headed towards her dad's office, Amy didn't look convinced but Rhian gave a secret smile and couldn't wait to find out what her evening with Psylence held in store.