by Oli White
‘Ava, hang on …’ Suki stood up, but Ava had spun around and was halfway down the stairs in a matter of seconds. I followed, calling after her, but she ignored me and kept going: past the room where the party was in full swing and down yet more stairs that led to God only knew where.
‘Ava, where are you going?’ I shouted. ‘That’s not the way out. Ava!’
When I finally caught up with her, she’d made her way into an enormous room housing a full-size indoor swimming pool, with several lockers and changing rooms on one side and some poolside furniture and a jacuzzi on the other.
‘Bloody hell,’ I said, as I emerged into the room behind her.
‘I know. Who the hell is rich enough to have a frickin’ swimming pool in the cellar?’ she said angrily.
Suki came down the stairs after us, her insanely high heels clattering on the wooden slats. She didn’t look like she was feeling guilty, though. She looked angry.
‘Ava, what’s going on? Why are you behaving like this?’
‘How exactly would you like me to behave, seeing you like that with Olympia?’ Ava snapped.
‘Like what?’ Suki said, folding her arms. ‘What do you think was happening there?’
‘Well, it looked like a pretty compromising position to me,’ Ava said, fighting tears. ‘Wouldn’t you say, Jack?’
‘Don’t look at me,’ I said, stepping back. ‘This is between you two.’
‘Well, I know what I saw,’ Ava said. She turned to push past Suki back up the stairs, but Suki grabbed her arm and spun her around so that they were facing one another.
‘I was upset, that’s all, and Olympia was comforting me. I was upset because all I’ve wanted to do, all evening, is speak to you. You, Ava! But every single time I’ve tried, you’ve given me the brush-off, like you don’t care …’
‘But—’
‘But nothing,’ Suki said, her voice bouncing around the pool area. ‘Just remember, Ava, you were the one that broke up with me, not the other way around. You’re not the only one with feelings and an ego, you know. I was hurt. It wasn’t what I wanted. Remember that.’
‘So what do you want then?’ Ava said.
‘I want to be with you, of course, but not like this,’ Suki said. ‘If we’re ever going to be together again, you need to sort yourself out and accept me – and my job and my lifestyle – for what I am. You need to shake off that insecurity and accept that I love you whatever. If you can’t do that … well, there’s really no point, is there?’
Ava closed her eyes, saying nothing. Suki sighed and turned away. ‘Right. I guess I’ll see you later, then.’ Her heels echoed once again as she started back up the stairs.
‘Ava. Call her back!’ I said, but Ava shook her head.
‘I’m too tired to argue, Jack. I just need to think. And to sit down for a minute.’
She sat on the edge of the pool, took off her shoes and plunged her feet into the water, swishing them back and forth.
‘What are you doing, you nutter?’ I said, looking around to make sure no one else was watching.
‘I’m paddling,’ she said. ‘I’m paddling and “sorting myself out”, and I think you should do the same.’
So I sat down next to her, took off my shoes and socks and slid my feet into the water next to hers.
The feel and sound of the water gently splashing against my legs was quite soothing. It was a good couple of minutes before either of us spoke again.
‘OK,’ Ava said. ‘What now?’
I thought for a moment. ‘Well, now we go home and regroup,’ I said, thinking about my own situation as well as Ava’s. ‘But first … we dry our feet.’
THE FIRST EPISODE
On the Monday night that the first episode of Emerge was due to air on Channel 4, Ava and Ella rounded up the troops and organised a get-together at their apartment so that we could all watch the show. Even though I was still on shaky ground with Ella after our argument about Ethan’s message, and Austin and I still weren’t talking, Emerge was a massive leap forward for us, and it was too big a night for GenNext not to be together when the first episode aired. Plus, Ethan wasn’t going to be there because he was watching the show with the Owl TV bosses at their offices, and I was very happy about that.
‘Come on in, boys!’ Ava greeted Sai and me warmly at the door of the girls’ apartment. ‘We’ve got drinks and nibbles aplenty.’
‘That’s an understatement,’ Ella said, giving me a quick kiss as I walked through to the living room. ‘There was nothing but tumbleweed left in the Waitrose party food aisle by the time she’d finished.’
AJ and Lily were already in attendance, perched on the large L-shaped couch, while Austin was hunched awkwardly in the very cool 1960s leather chair in the corner. He seemed twitchy and uncomfortable, like he didn’t want to be there.
‘All right?’ he said, nodding vaguely in my direction.
I smiled back nervously. ‘Hey, Austin.’
OK, it wasn’t much, but it was the most he’d spoken to me in almost three weeks, so I was grateful for small mercies.
‘Right! Who’s for a drink?’ Ella said. ‘We’ve got ten minutes before the show starts, so that should give everyone enough time to eat their own weight in mini onion bhajis and duck spring rolls.’
Sai draped his arm around Lily. ‘Sounds good to me; I’m starving,’ he said.
‘So is anyone nervous at all?’ Ava asked.
‘I am a bit,’ I laughed. ‘It’s like we’re about to be judged by the nation or something.’
‘I definitely am,’ Ella said, on her way to the kitchen area. ‘HD can be merciless, close-up on a large screen.’
‘I don’t think you’ve got any worries there,’ Ava said, winking. ‘Not so sure about Jack, though.’
Sai had already shown us all his rough cuts of the show, so we kind of knew what to expect, but it was one thing watching it on a MacBook and another thing entirely knowing that it was going out to the whole country on primetime telly.
‘Don’t sweat it, guys, it’s going to be amazing,’ AJ smiled. ‘I’ve got complete faith in all of you.’
‘Absolutely,’ Lily chimed in, before planting a massive kiss on Sai’s cheek. ‘Especially you.’
I clocked Austin biting his lip and looking away from the loved-up pair and I suddenly felt really bad for him. Whatever was going on with him, it didn’t seem to be getting any better, despite finding a new BFF in Ethan. I only wished I could somehow get through to him, but …
‘Here you go, Jack.’ Ella handed me a beer and sat down next to me while Ava grabbed the remote and flicked on the TV. It was almost time.
Although we’d all seen the Emerge opening titles half a dozen times already, tonight, flashing in front of us on a fifty-inch Samsung, they looked extra shiny. Extra exciting. Extra impressive. You could feel the excitement in the room as we all put down our plates of food and leaned forward to take in everything that was about to come. And there I was: first on screen with the opening intro to the show and, I’m happy to report, looking pretty decent. Ava and Ella both screamed with excitement as Ella appeared next, explaining the concept of the show along with Ethan. It was weird how we were all reacting to it. We’d seen ourselves on screen a thousand times, but somehow this was very different: slick and polished. Real TV, as Ella might say.
As the show got going, however, I started to realise that something wasn’t quite right, though I couldn’t quite … Hang on … wasn’t I supposed to be doing an introduction piece before this band? Yes, I was; I remembered it from the rough cut. So where the hell had it gone? I mean, where had I gone? Maybe my bit had been moved to after the performance. But no. Straight to the post-performance interview with Ella and Ethan, who, I grudgingly had to admit, were pretty good together. Then on to the next band and another of my intros … but no shot of me. Just my voice-over documentary footage of Ace Love, and then straight to her performance. It was the same with the next performance, and by this time I was flabbergasted,
not to mention furious. Seconds before the first commercial break, I finally appeared onscreen again, cheerfully informing the viewers that we’d back in a couple of minutes … and that was it! I looked around the room, speechless, and I could see from the rest of the gang’s expressions that they were as dumbfounded as I was – even Austin.
Sai was the first to speak. ‘Er … it’s quite different from the rough cut, isn’t it?’
‘Did you see this version at all?’ AJ said, frowning. ‘It’s a bit Jack-light, isn’t it? Did we approve this edit?’
‘I wasn’t in on the final edit,’ Sai said. ‘We were told it would just be a properly colour-graded version of what we’d already seen.’
‘It’s a joke,’ I said bluntly. ‘An absolute joke.’
‘Look, I expect you’ll feature more in the second half,’ Ava said, but I had a sinking feeling that I wouldn’t.
I looked over at Ella and she shrugged, her expression confused, just as the commercials ended and the second part of the show started. Far from Ava’s prediction, this section was even worse. After a quick ‘welcome back’ from me, I as good as vanished until the end of the show: the intros and links I’d filmed occasionally audible over footage of the bands, but never visual. In short, I’d become a voice-over.
Nobody said very much at all once it was over. Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats, trying their best not to make eye contact with me. It was clear that they’d all been surprised by my lack of screen time but didn’t know what to say about it, and to be honest, I was pretty much speechless, too. The worst part about it was that the show itself was fantastic and everything we wanted it to be. It was fast, exciting, professional, and the GenNext vibe was totally there throughout – apart from my conspicuous absence, that is. I knew only too well why and how this had happened. It was Ethan’s doing, without a doubt.
‘So what did everyone think?’ Austin said, finally breaking the awkward silence.
‘Well, it was amazing, but there wasn’t really enough of Jack,’ Ella said.
‘You think?’ I said, but felt immediately bad. I mean, I wasn’t angry at Ella, or arrogant enough to think that I should have been the star of the show. I was perfectly happy for her to have more airtime – she was brilliant. No, the anger was because I knew what Ethan had done, essentially cutting me out of our show.
I swiftly excused myself from the gathering, telling the gang I had to pop back to our apartment for something and would be back in ten. I needed a few minutes to process what had happened, and work out what I could do about it. If indeed there was anything I could do about it. As soon as I got back to our apartment and into my bedroom, I opened my Mac and instinctively headed straight to Twitter to check out the reaction to the show. Just glancing at a few of the comments told me that it was confused, to say the least.
My heart sank like a stone. I loved GenNext and all our fans, and looking at the Tweets and comments it was obvious that the first show had gone down an absolute storm, which was great. Only … after everything that had happened and all the hard work I’d put in, was that it? Was I that easily replaced? Were people ready to accept somebody else stepping into my shoes just like that? Suddenly, my head was all over the place. OK, so things hadn’t exactly been going my way over the last few weeks, but up till now I’d felt like I at least had some kind of a grip on it all. No matter how much I loathed Ethan and the havoc he was trying to wreak between Ella and me, I’d naively seen the end of filming as the cut-off point. The show would be done, at least for the time being, and I’d have time to pull GenNext back together before we moved forward. Time to get back on track with Ella, and regain Austin’s trust. But after tonight, it was obvious that the tricks Ethan had pulled up till now had been a mere warm-up. My virtual disappearance from Emerge felt like the next stage of whatever he had planned … and a much more dangerous one.
A knock on my bedroom door shook me out of my thoughts.
‘Jack, can I come in?’ It was AJ. ‘Are you coming back to the girls’ place?’
‘Yeah, in a while,’ I shouted through the door.
‘It’s just that Ella asked me to come and find you to make sure you’re OK, and Ethan is on his way over. He’s got some good news apparently. You coming?’
I hopped off my bed and opened the door, about to politely decline, when AJ cut in again.
‘I think you should. I didn’t want to say too much in front of the others, but I think we need to tackle him about your lack of airtime on the show tonight.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, I found it a little odd,’ AJ said. ‘Let’s make sure it’s not a regular thing, shall we?’
I smiled and nodded. Finally, somebody was on my side.
‘Absolutely, AJ,’ I said. ‘I’ll be right there!’
THE POST-SHOW SHOWDOWN
Ethan was already there by the time I got back to the girls’ apartment, beer in hand and firmly in the midst of everyone’s enthusiastic babbling about the show: how great it had all looked and how brilliant the reaction had been so far. OK, so it wasn’t exactly the ideal time to tackle him, what with everyone still buzzing, but AJ wasted no time in pulling him over to the kitchen area for a private word before he delivered whatever earth-shattering news he’d come to tell us. I followed them over, certain that the others would know exactly what we were talking about, but not really caring. This was something that had to be sorted. Now.
‘I think I know what this is all about,’ Ethan said, looking down at the floor guiltily.
Of course he bloody well knew!
‘I’d just like to know why Jack’s role in the show was so diminished,’ AJ said. ‘It wasn’t what we saw in the earlier edits and it certainly wasn’t how the show was originally set out. What’s going on?’
I looked at Ethan, waiting to hear what he had to say. AJ had suggested that I let him do the talking – he was our manager after all – so I was keeping my mouth shut, with difficulty.
Ethan looked sorrowful and convincingly genuine. ‘You have to know it wasn’t my doing, Jack. It was Glen’s call. I mean, he is the director after all. And then Olympia got involved, and …’
‘And what?’ AJ said calmly.
‘And you know how she thinks Ella and me presenting together is a good fit, so I think that played a part in how things panned out,’ Ethan went on. ‘I really don’t have a say in the final edit, trust me.’
Ethan uttering the words ‘trust me’ sounded like the most ridiculous thing that had been said in the history of the universe – ever! Of course he was lying. For a start, Glen was the director only in name, and anyone with a pair of eyes in their head could see that the poor guy was only there to make the show what Ethan wanted it to be. On top of that, Glen liked me and was as wary of Ethan as I was, so there was no way he’d have hacked all my shots out of the first episode if he hadn’t been leaned on.
‘In that case, Ethan, I’ll have to tackle Olympia about this,’ AJ said. ‘GenNext, on screen, really is both Jack and Ella.’
‘The thing is, it’s all down to artistic integrity at the end of the day,’ Ethan said. ‘Olympia would simply have done her best for the programme and all the artists involved, taking the best footage and turning it into a top-notch show. That’s what she does.’
I couldn’t stay silent any longer. ‘So what you’re saying is that my parts weren’t as good, therefore they didn’t make the cut. Is that it?’
‘It’s not personal, Jack,’ Ethan said reasonably. ‘It’s just the way Olympia is. She’s got this instinct for what works and what doesn’t.’
I opened my mouth to speak again, but AJ held up his hand, signalling me not to. ‘I think this is something I need to discuss with Olympia, Jack. It’s clearly not in Ethan’s remit, so let’s leave it until tomorrow, shall we?’
I looked across to the living room, where the others were gathered, muttering nervously amongst themselves while our quiet confrontation was happening a few feet away.
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br /> ‘So what’s this news, Ethan?’ Sai called over. ‘Come on, we’re all waiting.’
‘Yeah, and get out of my kitchen, you lot; I want to put some more samosas in the oven,’ Ava laughed.
Ethan glanced at me, a smile creeping across his mouth, then he crossed the room towards the others. AJ and I followed him over.
‘Well, I actually come bearing gifts tonight,’ he said. Grabbing his bag off the couch, he pulled out a wad of papers, waving them around in front of him and grinning. ‘Contracts from the American partner channel. They had them drawn up as soon as they saw the first rushes of the show, and they absolutely flipped out over the first three episodes when we sent them over a couple of days ago.’
‘Are you serious?’ Austin said, his mouth falling open. ‘Contracts already?’
‘Oh my God,’ Ella said, grabbing my hand. ‘This is amazing.’
‘Yeah, well, they didn’t want to waste any time,’ Ethan said, handing out contracts to each of us in turn. ‘They’re positive that they’re on to a really hot thing and they knew that as soon as the show aired there’d be a ton of other channels trying to get their mitts on it. Didn’t I tell you this was going to happen?’
Ella grabbed me and kissed me and there was another mad burst of excitement, with the gang all jumping up and down and shouting like crazy. Meanwhile, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. I was only just getting my head around the disappointment of the first UK airing of the show, and now we were expected to start planning an American one. I looked over at AJ, who was busy scanning the contract, his brow knitted.
‘Hang on a minute, is this right?’ he said.
Everyone stopped and Ethan looked up. ‘Something wrong, AJ?’
‘Jack’s role in the show is what’s wrong,’ AJ said, holding the contract out. ‘I mean, the way this reads, Emerge USA is to be presented by Ethan Harper and Ella Foster, and Jack Penman is … well, it’s difficult to see what his role is at all, to be honest.’
‘What? No way,’ Ella said. ‘That’s got to be wrong.’