The Takeover

by Oli White

  ‘Well, that’s weird, Jack, because not long after he left our place, I got a message from him saying how gutted he was about the edit of the show, and the contracts. Saying he was going to get to the bottom of it and try to make it right.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s what he wants you to think,’ I said. ‘God, it’s like he’s brainwashed you all. Have you completely lost the plot? This isn’t me. I … He’s framed me … he’s …’

  I was stuttering and floundering, and the pitch of my voice was getting higher by the second. I knew how bad it sounded and the look on my friends’ faces confirmed it.

  Then AJ cut in. ‘Look, this is getting us nowhere, and in any case we’ve got to go: Olympia has called us in for an immediate crisis meeting at Owl. In the light of what you’re saying, Jack, I think it’s best you don’t come with us. I don’t want this turning into a huge fight between you and Ethan. We need damage limitation now, not more drama. You should stay here and wait for me to call you.’

  ‘Are you serious?’

  ‘Deadly,’ AJ said, his eyes angry. ‘This is bad, Jack. Very bad. Glen’s already been fired.’

  ‘No way! They fired Glen without giving him a chance to have his say?’ I was horrified. ‘This is … AJ, you have to help me with this. I swear—’

  ‘I’ll relay everything you’ve said to Olympia, but that’s all I can do for now,’ AJ said.

  Everyone turned and left except Ella, and for the first time in forever I had absolutely no idea what to say to her.

  ‘Ella, I—’

  ‘I don’t feel like I even know you any more,’ she said sadly. ‘This is too much, Jack. It’s just … too much.’

  ‘Ella, wait a minute, please!’ I said desperately. ‘For God’s sake, you can’t possibly think—’

  She turned her back on me. ‘I don’t know what I think. Look, I’ve got to go with the others. Maybe we can talk later.’

  ‘Maybe?’ I said, but she’d gone, closing the door quietly behind her. I was left reeling and confused, unable to believe what had just happened. The fact that Ethan had somehow found his way into my computer and gone to such lengths to screw me over was horrendous enough, but the idea that my friends – all of them – would assume that I was guilty of this … this crime destroyed me.

  The miserable truth was that it all made so much more sense now. Of course Ethan had got into my computer. That was how he’d known about Austin’s depression and anxiety. Since we’d got back from Total, I’d emailed back and forth with Austin a few times about his state of mind, and it was clear that Ethan had read them. God, what a bonus that must have been for him: the opportunity to inflict maximum damage. I looked again at the emails on the printout. They’d all been sent within five minutes of one another. Think, Jack, think! I closed my eyes and pictured my MacBook lying open around the studio on any number of occasions … sometimes my phone too: while I shot my scenes, while we all went to get lunch, and even when I’d left the studio for some much-needed air, just to get away from the sight of Ethan and Ella filming their increasingly chummy, cosy interview segments together.

  I sat down on the sofa, a chill washing over me from head to foot as I suddenly recalled Glen tearing around the studio in a panic one morning shouting, ‘Has anyone seen my Samsung? I thought I’d left it on that coffee table but it’s literally vanished and I definitely had it earlier. Please look around, my loves, I’m expecting a text message from a very cute Colombian Pilates instructor, so it’s pretty much life or death.’ Ava and I had both cracked up laughing and helped him look for it, to no avail. It had turned up much later that day, lying underneath the couch in the lounge section of the studio, with Glen insisting that he’d already looked there several times. I hadn’t thought it weird at the time – why would I? But now …

  I left the apartment, stuck my headphones in and just walked, desperate to figure some way out of this horrible situation, and at the same time wanting to block it all out with ear-blisteringly loud music. I had no idea where I was walking to or even in which direction; all I knew was that I had to keep moving. I must have been wandering for over an hour when I found myself at an area called Shad Thames: a stretch of the river overlooked by Tower Bridge, full of smart-looking apartments, restaurants and offices. I sat down on a bench, took my headphones off and looked out over the water. I pulled out my phone, thinking that I should probably call Glen and find out his side of the story. After all, he was as innocent as I was, surely. Or maybe Ella had called me by now. Or AJ. There was a message, but it wasn’t from Ella or AJ. It was an email from Olympia, and I opened it full of dread.

  Jack. I’m sure you can imagine how devastated I am by this. We all are. You’ll be hearing from our lawyers, but in the meantime I don’t want you showing your face anywhere near Owl TV, for obvious reasons. I have to extricate all of us and Emerge from this mess in the best and most efficient way I can, and your presence here will not help matters. If you choose to ignore this warning, I will have no choice but to contact Ofcom, who deal with this type of fraud within TV and broadcasting, as well as the police, in which case you may be looking at arrest and subsequent legal action. For the future of the show, we have agreed between all of us that your mutually agreed departure from GenNext will be announced on Saturday’s live episode, and, moving forward, Ethan will be confirmed as a permanent replacement. There is no room for discussion on this. AJ has persuaded me not to take further action, but these are my conditions and the others are on board with them.

  I’m sorry it’s come to this, Jack. I thought so much better of you.

  Olympia Shaw

  So there it was. I’d challenged Ethan to do his worst, and he had. And what an impressive catalogue it had turned out to be. As well as destroying my friendships, my relationship and my career, his crowning achievement was to have me branded a fraudster and a criminal, just for good measure. God, it was all so impressively neat. Nothing forgotten, no loose ends and, as far as I could see, no way back. I read Olympia’s email once more, swallowing hard and fighting stubborn tears as I reached the end of it. Saturday. They were going to announce my departure from GenNext on Saturday. That gave my four days. Four days to prove my innocence. Four days to save myself.

  THE PHONE CALL

  Back at the apartment later that evening, the others still nowhere to be seen, I felt as though I was wandering around in some kind of parallel universe. The initial shock of it all had worn off a bit, but the sheer impossibility of the situation was still too much to take in, and the ball of hurt and anger in my gut was spinning faster and growing bigger by the minute. The worst part of it was that I just felt so alone. More alone than I had ever been in my whole life. At least if I’d been at home I’d have had Mum and Dad to lean on, but here in London, I felt lost and desolate.

  I found myself standing in front of the TV, gripping the remote and unable to decide whether I should bite the bullet and watch the second episode of Emerge, which was due to start in the next ten minutes. There wasn’t much point, to be honest: I’d seen the rough edits, I knew what the vibe of the episode was, and by now I knew well enough that I wouldn’t be making much of an appearance – if any. I hadn’t heard a single word from AJ or any of my friends, so it was official: everyone hated me.

  In the end, I tossed the remote, sat down on the couch and flipped open my MacBook. I couldn’t face the GenNext forum or Twitter, so I headed to my Facebook page, where something caught my eye almost immediately – Lewis was online. My half-brother Lewis, who insisted he barely ever touched a computer, let alone perused Facebook. I was intrigued but conflicted. Should I ping him over a friendly greeting? Or was engaging in a conversation with him the last thing I needed right now? I’d already had several updates from Dad telling me what an amazing time he’d had in Cornwall, and how Lewis was thinking about coming to Hertfordshire to spend Christmas with us. Did I really need to hear it all over again from Lewis? In the end, perhaps in a semi-masochistic moment, I fired him over a messag
e. What the hell, I thought. It’s not like I could feel much worse.

  I sat staring at my phone, wondering why on earth Lewis might be looking for me online and what he might want to chat about. Obviously this was something to do with Dad. God, maybe I should have just kept my head down. Didn’t I have enough going on without adding to it? I wasn’t actually sure my brain could cope with even one more tiny morsel of data without crashing completely. Still, when my phone rang I dutifully grabbed it, and when Lewis spoke, his tone, I was happy to hear, was friendly and upbeat.

  ‘It’s good to hear your voice, man,’ he said.

  ‘You too,’ I said, actually meaning it.

  After the usual pleasantries – How’s it going? What’s happening? Have you spoken to Dad? etc. – Lewis got right to the point. ‘Look, Jack, the reason I wanted to speak in person was to kind of … apologise, I suppose.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Yeah! I hold my hands up, man: I was a bit of a douche during my visit, I know that. All that dissing technology and social media on my part was not cool when I knew how into it you were. I was actually really impressed by all your techy knowledge, especially being so into it myself once upon a time.’

  ‘Really?’ I said, surprised. ‘Cheers, Lewis, that’s—’

  ‘Actually,’ he went on, ‘since we met up, I’ve been making a bit of an effort to get back into it again – hence me being in front of a computer tonight and not hanging out on the beach with my surfing buddies.’

  ‘Oh, right! Wow, that’s—’

  But he was in full flow. ‘Oh, and I watched your first show on TV last night – amazing! Then I checked out the footage of the Total Festival. It was awesome. Man, that must have been a blast! You guys make a great team, too.’

  ‘Yeah, it seems like a million miles away now,’ I said sadly.

  ‘You know, when I think about it, I was trying so hard to impress Paul that day … Dad, I mean … that I didn’t stop to think about how you must be feeling about it all,’ he admitted. ‘Selfish, really.’

  ‘Well, maybe I was as much to blame,’ I said, steeling myself. I respected his honesty and now it was time to be honest in turn. ‘I genuinely did try to put myself in your shoes, Lewis, but then this weird jealousy vibe started to take over. I just couldn’t control it. Yeah, I was happy for you and Dad, but at the same time I was scared that him having another son meant that he was somehow going to be less of a dad to me. It sounds pretty stupid saying it out loud.’

  ‘It doesn’t sound stupid at all, man. I totally get that,’ Lewis said. ‘I’d been so fixated on finding my real dad once I found out about him, I never really factored a brother into the equation, even after I knew you existed. It was totally my bad, but you know what? After spending time with Dad in Cornwall and hearing how he talks about you, I started to realise that maybe having a brother as well as an old man is even more of a bonus, do you know what I mean?’

  ‘Yeah, I think so,’ I said, my voice cracking slightly. ‘So Dad talked about me to you, did he?’

  ‘Man, he didn’t stop. It was sickening.’ Lewis laughed. ‘Telling me how proud of you he was, and what a strong, honest person you were, and—’

  ‘Stop. Don’t say any more,’ I said, finally breaking. I took in a long, shuddering breath and felt a rogue tear splash onto my arm. ‘I’m really sorry, mate, I just …’

  ‘Jack, are you OK? What’s wrong?’ God, practically breaking down on the blower to my long-lost brother wasn’t something I’d planned. I took another breath, pulling myself together. ‘Actually, Lewis, I’m far from all right,’ I admitted. ‘I couldn’t be less all right, to be honest.’

  By the time I’d filled Lewis in on every minute detail of the utter nightmare I’d found myself in, taking him right from the moment we arrived at Total up to that very second, it was after midnight. He had been so quiet for the last ten minutes of my diatribe that I had to check he was still on the line and hadn’t fallen asleep.

  ‘Could you take all of that in, Lewis, or was I babbling?’

  ‘Yeah, I took it all in,’ he said. ‘I just can’t get my head around what you’re telling me.’

  ‘I know. It’s pretty bad at the moment,’ I said. ‘I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to do next.’

  ‘I’m not just saying this, but you can tell that guy Ethan is a bit of a snake,’ Lewis said. ‘I thought that when I watched the Total Youth footage. Even the way he is on TV – he’s too nice, man, too smarmy. I mean, all that fake-geeky stuff is so obviously an act.’

  ‘Yeah, well, I wish everyone else could see it, but it’s as if they’re blind to what he’s really like,’ I told him.

  ‘And you seriously think that he has this crazy vendetta against you just because you sacked off some interview with him over a year ago?’

  ‘That’s part of it,’ I said, thinking again of Ethan’s cold gaze as he told me that he deserved everything I had. ‘But it goes deeper than that somehow. Like he really, really hates me. He seriously thinks I’ve taken something from him.’

  ‘Hmm,’ Lewis considered. ‘That’s weird, man. And none of the others have clocked on to any of this?’

  ‘Ethan’s clever – really clever. He’s brainwashed everyone into thinking that he can do no wrong, and he’s done it right under my nose. Naively I thought I could keep a grip on it all, but it’s gone too far now …’

  ‘No!’ Lewis said firmly. ‘You can’t just sit back and let this happen, Jack. You’re not the villain here. Look, I know just from the way Dad talks about you that you’re a good and totally honest bloke. We don’t know each other all that well yet, but I know that you’d never do what they’re accusing you of. This is wrong, and you’ve got to make it right.’

  ‘Easier said than done,’ I said. ‘The guy seems to catch me out every way I turn.’

  ‘So we catch him out. Look … how would you feel about me coming up to London? Maybe I can help. I could come tomorrow; just get on my bike and bomb straight up. I’d be there sometime in the evening.’

  ‘Wow!’ I said, taken aback. ‘That’s really good of you, mate, but—’

  ‘I hear you were a bit of a hacker in a former life, right?’ Lewis really had done his homework. ‘Well, so was I before I binned all the technology stuff. In fact, I was brilliant, if I do say so myself.’

  ‘Were you?’ I couldn’t help but crack a smile at the thought of surfer-dude Lewis as a world-class hacker.

  ‘Why don’t we put our heads together?’ he said, excitement leaping into his voice. ‘Maybe Ethan’s blind desperation to bring you down could be his downfall. There’s got to be a way to expose this dude. Let me help you do it, Jack.’

  My mind raced for a moment. He was right, of course – I needed to fight, and fast. How weird, though, that of all people, Lewis was the one to offer to stand in my corner with me. This guy I hardly knew, and whom I’d felt such resentment for not all that long ago. My brother.

  ‘You know what, Lewis, you’re on,’ I said resolutely. ‘Yeah, Ethan might be on top right now, but he’s seriously underestimated me if he thinks I’m going to sit back and let him take everything I’ve worked so hard for. Screw that!’

  Lewis whooped down the phone. ‘Yeah! That’s more like it, dude!’

  ‘I think I’ve known it all along,’ I said, smiling. ‘I just needed to say it out loud to somebody.’

  ‘I hear you, Jack,’ Lewis said. ‘OK, message me your address, and I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  I ended the call. The agony of the last couple of days was still there, but now it had met its match in the form of a rising and determined adrenalin. God, it felt good that someone was on my side at last; that in the midst of all this mess, Lewis actually believed in me and was prepared to stand up for me.

  I headed to the kitchen area to make myself a coffee, my throat dry because of all the talking I’d done. After the long phone call with Lewis, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to close my eyes. I was too tightly wound up f
or sleep; but that was fine by me. After all, I had a lot to think about. And even more to plan before Saturday.

  THE DISCOVERY

  Despite a new and much-needed burst of positivity, the next day dragged by like an eternity. I’d heard nothing from any of the gang, and even after leaving what seemed like a million messages for Ella, there was still nothing. Tumbleweed. I had no idea where Sai had stayed last night, but he certainly hadn’t made an appearance at the apartment. That morning, I bluffed my way through a tricky phone call with Mum and Dad, who’d instinctively known that something wasn’t right with Emerge as soon as it had hit the TV screen. They were confused, not to mention upset, by my very conspicuous absence from it; I told them that I’d been upset by it too, but it was something that AJ was dealing with and would definitely be rectified asap. I tried to sound as upbeat and vibey as possible, but I’m not sure how convincing I was. I was just relieved that it had only been a phone call and that we weren’t chatting on FaceTime. One look at me and they would have known instantly that things were far, far worse than I was letting on. And what would have been the point of telling them? It’s not like they could have done much, if anything, to help me. No. I’d decided to keep shtum about all of it – even Lewis’s impending visit to help me bring Ethan down. Yeah, especially that.

  Eventually AJ messaged me late that afternoon to suggest a meeting to discuss the terms and conditions of my departure from GenNext the following week. In the meantime, I should think about packing my stuff up and moving into a hotel or back to Hertfordshire as soon as possible. His text was pretty straight to the point, but reading between the lines, it was clear that he was deeply disappointed in me. Grim, right? Then, at about 6 p.m., Ella sent me a WhatsApp.

  It was clear and concise and each stark word of it felt like a tiny dagger in my heart. At the end of the day, whatever was happening to me – being expelled from GenNext, being accused of cheating, losing my friends and my reputation – this was the worst thing of all. Losing Ella. That was what I was facing, and I could hardly stand to think about it.