by Oli White
‘How are you getting on anyway, Penman?’ she went on. ‘You sure you’ll be able to manage the rest of the evening?’
‘I’m good,’ I said. ‘Never better. I’m not going to let you freaks replace me with Ethan for a second day!’ I’d meant it as a joke, but I could tell by the way Austin caught Ava’s eye that it had come out wrong.
Ella sighed. ‘Oh, here we go.’
‘Come on, mate,’ Austin said. ‘You know how much we had going on last night.’
‘I know, but … Ethan? He looked pretty awkward up there.’
‘He was a bit awkward at first,’ Sai admitted. ‘But then he got loads better.’
‘He actually ended up doing a really good job,’ Ava said. ‘We were lucky he was there.’
‘Apparently his Twitter followers went up by about ten thousand over the course of the evening,’ Austin said.
‘No way!’ Sai said with a laugh. ‘That’s mad.’
I looked at my friends, all raving about Ethan’s triumph on the Total stage. ‘And you guys don’t think it’s just a little bit weird that he happened to know our set list off by heart?’
‘What are you saying, Jack?’ Ella said.
‘Methinks Jack is worried about how easily he was replaced,’ Ava laughed.
‘And all that chemistry between Ethan and Ella on stage … ooh yeah, baby!’ This was Sai, who I could have cheerfully punched at that moment, but I laughed through gritted teeth instead.
A voice from the doorway of the hut stopped everyone in their tracks. ‘Oh come on, you guys, that’s rubbish and you know it!’ It was Ethan. I wondered how long he’d been standing there; how much he’d heard. ‘Jack, don’t listen to them; they’re winding you up,’ he said, walking into the hut. ‘I could never have done as good a job as you.’
I looked at him closely. Something about him was different from the day we’d met him. He’d changed his clothes; shed the skinny-geek gear in favour of a nicer outfit, a patterned shirt open over a white T-shirt and denim cut-offs. It was the sort of gear I wore … in fact it was almost the same thing I’d worn on the first day! What the hell was this guy playing at?
‘Don’t do yourself down,’ Ella said. ‘You were a real life-saver.’
‘You were amazing!’ Ava added.
I’d had enough.
‘Look, sorry, guys, I’ve got an interview in five minutes – can we clear the space, please?’
‘Yeah, we’d best get back as well, troops,’ Ava said, prodding Sai and Austin and herding them out of the door.
Ethan had this strange expression on his face. ‘Oh, OK! I just came by because I had something I wanted to tell you guys. It’s just an idea at the moment, but …’
‘Can it wait till later, mate?’ I said.
He looked pissed off for a moment. ‘Sure, Jack,’ he said, as he followed the others out of the hut. ‘Later.’
The last night of Total Youth was as epic as I’d hoped. Finally, it was time for Harriet Rushworth, our headline act of the festival, our big star name. As the crowd in front of our stage swelled, so did the excitement. It was totally crazy. So much so that I started to wonder if there could be anyone left at any of the other stages. Our audience looked and sounded like it was made up of every single person at the festival: a swaying mass of smiling faces, raised arms and bright colours. It was amazing.
Only fifteen minutes before she was due to go on, I still hadn’t had a chance to speak to Harriet. I’d caught a little bit of her soundcheck, earlier in the afternoon, but had to dash off to do a quick interview for MTV about the GenNext stage. And right after that, I got majorly distracted when I decided to check the Totalyouthtakeover hashtag, only to discover an online Twitter poll posing the question ‘Who’s hotter: Jack or Ethan?’ (I decided not to check the results for the preservation of my sanity.) To be honest, I was also quite nervous about meeting Harriet again, and who could blame me? I mean, the last time she saw me in the flesh I’d just made a total prat of myself in front of a live audience of millions. Sure, we’d talked on the phone since then and everything seemed to be fine, but looking her in the eye was going to be another thing. She was one of the world’s biggest pop stars, after all.
Ella and I waited for Harriet to join us at the bottom of the steps leading up to the stage, excited, but also a little bit sad that our final act marked the end of our stage takeover.
‘I can’t believe this is our last act,’ Ella said. ‘Don’t you feel like you want to do it all over again?’
‘Apart from the bit where I was spewing my guts up, yeah!’ I laughed. ‘Anyway, we’ve still got Harriet to go, and the final after-party. That looks like it’s going to be pretty amazing.’
When Harriet finally appeared from her cabin, she was wearing a beaming grin as she strode towards us, and all my nervousness instantly melted away. She looked incredible: her long red hair had been teased into massive wild curls, and she was dressed in an epic jungle-themed outfit to match our stage, with leopard print, feathers, rips and sequins everywhere. There was even a giant tail fanning out from the back of the dress, like a peacock’s.
‘Why, Jack Penman, I do declare: you’re even more handsome than I remember.’ She was playing that Southern charm for all it was worth – and I didn’t mind a bit. ‘And you must be Ella. Gosh, I feel like I know y’all so well already.’
I’d never seen Ella look star-struck, but there it was, right in front of my eyes. Harriet kissed her on both cheeks and she went the colour of a strawberry.
‘Harriet … Wow! It’s so good to meet you. And so good of you to do this for us … really.’
‘Oh please, honey, I’m doing it for myself,’ she laughed, smoothing down the fabric of her crazy outfit. ‘I know what my young fans are watching, and it’s not American Idol. They’re all tuning in to GenNext. You guys are hot property. So thank you for having me, baby.’
‘Harriet, I really think you should come and be the GenNext spokeswoman,’ Ella said.
‘Keep the job offer open, and if my next album bombs I’ll know where to come,’ Harriet said with a wink.
Bloody hell, I was in awe of Harriet Rushworth. I mean, she wasn’t much older than us, but she just had this way about her. Total confidence, total charm.
‘OK, are we ready?’ she said, just as a crew member dashed up and handed her a radio mic.
‘We are if you are,’ I said.
A cacophony of cheers and excited screams broke out amongst the crowd; they knew what was coming and they were totally up for it. Ella and I looked at one another and nodded.
‘Let’s do this,’ I said, and up we went.
It was no surprise that Harriet nailed it. Her hour-long set was a smart mix of the best tracks from her new album plus all the hit singles the crowd were dying to hear – and she held them in the palm of her hand all the way. Nearing the end of her performance, she called out over a sea of happy faces and illuminated phone screens: ‘So how are y’all feeling about the GenNext Total Youth takeover?’
A roar of approval filled the air, just as Harriet launched headlong into her final encore, belting out her biggest hit of all, ‘Jeopardy’, with the audience singing along at such a volume that you could barely hear her over the top of them. As she took her bows, she thanked her slick young band and her backing singers. Then she dived straight back into a final chorus of ‘Jeopardy’, spinning around the stage and giving it every last drop of energy she had, while the lights strobed and lasers fired from the eyes of our other-worldly jungle creatures above the heads of the crowd. On the final chord, Ella and I bolted in from the side of the stage just in time to see the glitter cannons fire into the sky, showering everyone below.
‘HOW WAS THAT, PEOPLE?’ I shouted over the mic. ‘GIVE IT UP FOR HARRIET RUSHWORTH!’
Another mass cheer went up. Harriet smiled and blew kisses at the crowd. Then we were joined on stage by Austin, Sai, Ava, Suki, AJ and even Lily, all waving and whooping like crazy, eager to celebrate
this amazing moment as a team: the epic finale of our three-day takeover. Unprompted, Harriet shouted into her own mic.
‘Hey, y’all! Put your hands together for our amazing hosts: Generation Next!’
The crowd went mental; the noise was completely deafening. By now, I had a lump in my throat and my eyes were stinging. I looked around at the team, who were all grinning from ear to ear, totally buzzing. We had smashed it.
As the noise continued and the GenNext team took their bows and waved at the audience, AJ sidled over and shouted into Ella’s ear. ‘Ethan’s over there at the back of the stage. He won’t come on; says it’s our moment, but I think he should, don’t you?’
‘Leave it to me,’ she said, and I watched her run over to where Ethan was standing clapping politely. I was just telling myself that I didn’t care and that even bloody Ethan couldn’t ruin this moment when Harriet grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me to the front of the stage.
‘Let’s hear it for the gorgeous Jack Penman!’ she squealed, lifting my arm up like I’d just won a world heavyweight title. Then she leaned forward and pecked me on the lips. I felt myself redden, and turned away just in time to see Ella leading Ethan by the hand towards the front of the stage.
Ethan smiled and did an old-fashioned little bow, and a short chorus of chants went up: ‘Ethan! Ethan!’ Then he bowed to Ella; she smiled and curtsied back. And although Harriet’s arm was still slung around me, I felt my teeth grind together.
The crowd’s cheering grew and grew as Ella gave shout-outs to all the members of GenNext, and finally we all stepped forward for one more bow.
‘Thank you, Total Festival!’ I had to shout into my microphone to be heard over the cacophony. ‘We are GenNext. Keep watching!’
And that was it. The Total Youth stage takeover was done.
THE AFTERSHOW AFTERSHOCK
If there was one thing I could say about Jason Croft, it was that he knew how to throw an after-party. Behind the main stage, where Drake had just finished the final set of the festival, the VIP area was a mad, mesmerising utopia, full of the most eclectic mix of people I’d ever seen gathered in one place. Jason wasted no time in coming to find us as we all gathered around a cluster of seagrass chairs and couches, grabbing glasses of fizz from passing waiters.
‘Boy oh boy!’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I am so frickin’ glad that I decided to stagger Harriet’s set and Drake’s show. If they’d happened at the same time I would have been in trouble. I mean, yeah, they’re both popular acts, but the buzz on the atmosphere over at Total Youth was insane. I think you would have stolen most of my crowd.’
Ava raised her glass and smiled. ‘I reckon we’d have taken all of it, Jason.’
‘Look, I couldn’t be happier,’ Jason said, shaking hands with us in turn. ‘I think we should talk about next year asap.’
‘Seriously?’ Sai said.
‘Absolutely!’ Jason replied, gradually disappearing backwards into the throng. ‘I’ll catch you guys later and we can discuss it, OK?’
AJ pulled a couch and a couple of the chairs closer to a large bamboo coffee table so we could set our drinks down, then we kicked back, ready to toast our success with all the hard work behind us. I guess you could say we were on a massive high after the epic finale to our show, which had been an incredible moment for all of us. Now all we wanted to do was celebrate together. I’d even been granted a temporary Ethan reprieve, as he’d been called away to do something for Owl TV after the show had finished, so that made me doubly happy. It would have been cool to celebrate with Harriet too, but naturally she had other places to be and was jetting off to somewhere in Europe immediately after the set. She’d been delighted with how her performance had gone, though, especially after Sai showed her some of the incredible online feedback. She’d given each and every one of GenNext a massive hug and kiss to say goodbye – including AJ, who tried his hardest to act cool, but I could tell that even he was dazzled.
As I got comfortable, Ella, sitting next to me, gave me a sharp nudge with her elbow. Glancing to my left, I caught the improbable sight of Sai and Lily, over near the bar, in the midst of what they obviously thought was a clandestine kiss … Well, it wasn’t all that clandestine, because everyone saw and collective jaws dropped around the table. For a few seconds nobody said a word. I don’t think any of us had ever seen Sai kiss anyone, ever.
Once they’d separated, they arrived at the table to find us all looking somewhat stunned. It was obvious to both of them that we’d witnessed their snog, and they blushed in tandem. Ava was the one to break the silence. ‘Er … exactly when did all this happen, guys?’
‘Yes, you’ve certainly kept it under wraps, oh nephew and trusted employee.’ AJ raised an eyebrow, but he was laughing. Probably as pleased as the rest of us to see Sai getting a bit of action.
Lily looked down, her dreads falling over her face. ‘Well, what can I say? I’ve been locked in a truck with him for the best part of three days; I guess he wore me down.’
‘Yeah, they call that Stockholm syndrome, where a kidnap victim falls for their captor,’ I said, causing Austin to spit some of his drink out and launch into a half-coughing, half-laughing fit.
‘I think it’s lovely,’ Ella said. ‘Sai, it’s about time you had a … dare I say, girlfriend?’
Sai and Lily looked shyly at one another. The little sneak. He hadn’t said a word to me, or Austin as far as I knew.
‘So the muscles finally paid off,’ Austin said, holding his champagne up. ‘Cheers, mate!’
‘Shut it, Austin! Lily likes me for my intellect, OK?’ Sai said.
‘That’s right,’ Lily agreed, putting her arm around him. Mystifyingly, this very cool and beautiful girl did indeed appear to be really quite into Sai.
I clocked Ava looking at Sai and Lily reflectively. She’d been lounging across the back of Suki’s chair, but now she sat up, as if she’d somehow been reminded that she and Suki weren’t actually a couple any more. Austin, meanwhile, was staring down at the floor, looking a little sad. I wondered if he was thinking about Jess. He hadn’t really said much about her since our conversation at the bar on the first day of the festival. His phone seemed to be lighting up every five minutes with a new WhatsApp message, which I’m sure were all from Jess, but he didn’t read any of them.
I was about to ask Sai and Lily a few more questions when Suki spotted someone in the crowd and suddenly jumped up, her eyes bright. ‘Oh look! There’s Olympia Shaw.’ She waved frantically at a young woman standing a few feet away from us, tall and freckly with a mass of glossy chestnut curls. ‘Olympia! Olympia! Limpy, over here!’
Ava looked at Ella and me. ‘Really? Limpy?’ she whispered, rolling her eyes.
Olympia finally turned, lighting up as soon as she saw Suki and heading over to where we were sitting.
They hugged like long-lost family and then Olympia sat down with us. ‘Oh my God, Suki. How long has it been?’ she said.
‘Three years at least, and now look at you,’ Suki smiled.
‘And you, too. You’ve done such amazing things and you look beautiful, as always,’ Olympia said. ‘I was so excited when Ethan told me you were here with GenNext.’
‘I know; it’s wonderful to see you!’ Suki said. ‘Has Owl TV been covering the whole festival? You must have been crazy busy!’
‘I’ve got a good team on board,’ Olympia said with a smile. ‘Ethan in particular has been working really hard. I’ve trained him well.’
Suki shook her head and grinned. ‘I’ll bet. I know what a hard taskmaster you are when you’re in charge of a project. Oh my God! Do you remember when …’
As Suki launched into reminiscences about some project she and Olympia had worked on at university, I noticed that Ava had a familiar expression on her face: the slight frown she always wore when she was trying to process information. As if she were trying to work out what the deal was, or perhaps once had been, between Suki and Olympia. They certainly seemed
pretty familiar with each other. And it probably didn’t help matters that Olympia was very easy on the eye.
‘And how about you guys!’ Olympia said, eventually turning her attention away from Suki towards the rest of us. ‘What you’ve done is just so fantastic. I was at the Total Youth stage earlier and it was incredible.’
‘They’re a smart bunch, Miss Shaw,’ AJ smiled. ‘It’s good to meet you – I’m AJ.’
‘We had a brilliant time up there,’ I added. ‘I’m Jack, by the way.’ I leaned across to shake her hand, and the others followed suit – including Ava, who was still frowning. Once we’d done the introductions, Olympia got her phone out. ‘I must text Ethan to come find us. I’d been hoping to find you all tonight, actually. We’ve got something we want to run past you guys.’
‘Oh really?’ Ella said, sitting forward. ‘What is it?’
Olympia raised her eyebrows and smiled mysteriously. ‘It was Ethan’s idea, so let’s wait for him to arrive.’
I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of this. Ten minutes later, Ethan was on the scene again like a recurring bad smell. He sat down on the arm of Ella’s chair, so close that his thigh was pressed up against her shoulder, and smiled over at me. ‘Hey, Jack.’
I nodded. ‘Ethan.’
‘Wasn’t the finale a buzz?’ he said. ‘I’m so grateful to you all for letting me be involved. Being part of GenNext – even for a couple of days – just feels special, you know?’
‘It was a pleasure to have you on board, mate,’ said Austin. Beside him, Sai and Ava were nodding vigorously. I stifled the urge to stick my fingers down my throat and gag.
Ella jumped in eagerly. ‘So what’s this idea of yours then, Ethan?’
Ethan smiled. ‘I was going to bring it up earlier, but Jack was in such a massive rush that I decided to save it for tonight.’ He winked at me like he was just kidding, like there wasn’t an edge to his words.
As I opened my mouth to explain, he cut me off again. ‘You know that Olympia has been overseeing all Owl TV’s coverage of Total, including the Total Youth stage?’