by Oli White
At that moment we heard the sound of a key turning in the lock on the other side of the door.
‘Ella?’ Ethan looked horrified as she stepped through, shutting the door firmly behind her.
I shot a wide-eyed glance at Lewis; we were both as surprised as Ethan to see her. This wasn’t part of the plan.
‘So I’m too ambitious to throw it all away, am I, Ethan?’ Ella said, and it was clear she meant business. ‘Listen to me, you creep. You’re the one who should be in prison. You’re lucky I haven’t reported you for trying to molest me in your apartment. Everything you’ve ever said to me has been a lie, Ethan … EVERYTHING!’
Ethan’s jaw dropped and he started breathing hard, his neck now a weird puce colour. ‘God, you treacherous little bitch. After everything I’ve done for you …’
‘Remind me exactly what that is again,’ Ella said. ‘Do you mean trying to split Jack and me up, or attempting to ruin everything we’ve worked for over the last two years? Do tell!’
I could see a muscle twitching in Ethan’s jaw as he looked from me to Ella to Lewis, the ugly flush spreading from his neck to his face.
And then he exploded.
‘OH GOD, YOU ARE ALL SUCH IDIOTS!’ His eyes were bulging from his head, the veins in his neck a purple road map of fury. ‘Do you really think for one minute that I actually need you, Ella? You’re as lame as your boyfriend.’ He was spitting now, losing control, and Ella, Lewis and I all instinctively took a step back. It was just like Ella had said the other night: a switch had been flipped. ‘Face it. GenNext is mine now – as it should be. I deserve it; I was destined to be part of something like this, to own something like this. I’m the one who’s worked so hard – how can any of you even grasp that when it all just fell into your laps?’
‘You worked hard?!’ Lewis said, dumbfounded. ‘What the hell have you done to make you think you have a right to something Jack and his friends created?’
‘I’ve worked for years. Years!’ Ethan hissed, his saliva spraying my face. ‘Do you know how long I’ve been trying to get a gig like this; how many audition tapes I’ve produced, how many companies I’ve gone to, letters I’ve sent? No one recognised my talent for what it was, so I ended up fetching and carrying for Olympia Shaw, working on bloody production of all things. It was so glaringly obvious that GenNext was the perfect vehicle for me. Only trouble was, it was already fronted by some pathetic nonentity who was dead set on hogging every last scrap of limelight. So I just had to get a little bit more creative, didn’t I? I had to make your friends and fans see what I always saw – that GenNext would be better with me at the helm. Anyway, the public reaction says it all, doesn’t it? Do you hear that crowd out there, Jack? Do you think they give a damn that you’re not here? Do you think they care that you were barely visible on the show this week? No, they don’t. They liked what they saw because it worked and it was brilliant. I was brilliant. So much better than you ever were. And Ella, if you’re too stupid and insipid to get on board, then so be it. I’ll do it myself. I don’t need any of you.’
The three of us stood, shocked, open-mouthed and hardly daring to move; just staring at Ethan while he panted like an animal. It was a weird, disconcerting moment, because it dawned on me that in answer to Ethan’s ranted question – ‘Do you hear that crowd out there?’ – the answer was no … I couldn’t hear the crowd any more. The cheering and chanting had stopped; it was as if the entire audience had been beamed up into space or something. What was going on?
Ethan suddenly whirled around and pushed past Ella, heading for the door. But it had been locked again from the outside and wouldn’t budge.
The next ten seconds were a blur. Ethan strode across the room, swearing at us through gritted teeth. Before I could stop him, he picked up the chair he’d been sitting on and hurled it at the door, just as I grabbed Ella and pulled her out of harm’s way.
‘GET THIS DOOR OPEN, YOU SENSELESS, PATHETIC LOSERS!’ The dude had completely and utterly lost it; he was apoplectic with rage. Way, way more unhinged than I’d ever dreamed. ‘OPEN THE DOOR! OPEN IT!’
And that was when I heard the crowd again, but now they were booing instead of cheering. Just a few of them at first, but then the sound grew and grew until the entire place was in uproar.
Ethan froze and looked at us, his eyes wide with shock. ‘What is that? What’s going on?’
Then the booing morphed into something else; another chant: ‘Jack! Jack! Jack!’
Before any of us could react, the door to the props room swung open to reveal Olympia, Ava, Sai, AJ and Austin on the other side, with matching thunderstruck expressions. Behind them stood Shania, with a key in her hand and a smile on her face. None of us had a clue what was going on, and for a moment we all just stared at one another. Then Ava threw herself inside, tears streaming down her face, hugging first Ella and then me. I caught Austin’s eye, just for a second. He looked completely stunned. Ethan remained a seething, dishevelled figure in the middle of the room, frozen in horror as he took in the members of GenNext facing him.
Olympia stepped towards him, her face a grim mask of anger. ‘Ethan, I’m going to make it my mission in life to make sure you never, ever work in television again, do you understand me?’
‘Olympia – no, you need to listen to me,’ Ethan spluttered. ‘You … you need to understand that I’ve been set up here by these … these freaks.’ He spat the last word. ‘I mean, they’re amateurs compared to us, they just don’t get it …’
From the auditorium we could hear the cries of ‘Get Ethan out!’ ringing around the building, but he seemed to be oblivious, his gaze focused on Olympia, who was shaking her head in quiet disgust.
‘Can somebody please explain to me what’s happening?’ I asked, which was when Sai stepped in.
‘We don’t really know what happened, Jack. One minute we were waiting to do a final camera check; the next minute the screen at the back of the stage flashed up with a picture, and the whole audience could see and hear everything that was happening in this room. Didn’t you set this up?’
I shook my head dumbly. Sure, Lewis, Ella and I had been planning to transmit the conversation to Olympia and the GenNext crew, but not to an audience of thousands.
‘No … that would have been us.’ Pete appeared, joining us in the room with Glen close behind. ‘I must have accidentally turned up the wrong faders or something.’ He grinned, making it clear that it had been no mistake, and for a moment I wasn’t sure whether to be horrified or delighted that our entire showdown with Ethan had just been broadcast to the assembled masses outside.
‘Oh my God. Pete, you’re a wonderful man,’ Ella said.
Glen, meanwhile, was waving an iPad around in front of him. ‘Well, you know me; I couldn’t bear to see an Oscar-winning performance like that go unnoticed. I just felt it had to be shared with a wider audience.’
Without warning, Ethan erupted into rage again, launching himself at me, cursing and baring his teeth. ‘I am going to destroy you, Penman.’
Shania was in there fast before he could reach me, grabbing him by the collar and restraining him, pulling one hand behind his back like a pro wrestler. Ethan struggled briefly, but then, realising there was no point, fell still. As he looked at all the shocked faces staring back at him, the rage just seemed to drain out of him as suddenly as it had appeared, and he slumped like a rag doll.
‘I trusted you,’ Austin said coldly. ‘I trusted you and you betrayed me.’
Ethan didn’t respond; he didn’t even look up, his face unnervingly blank.
‘Get him out of here, and please call the police,’ Olympia said. ‘I’m too disgusted to look at him any more.’
The room went quiet, aside from the clapping and cheering of the audience a few hundred yards away. Shania took Ethan’s arm and led him out of the room. Silent. Defeated.
I looked up at Ella, whose eyes were full of tears, and put my arms around her, squeezing her as tight as I could. I f
elt like I should be yelling and shouting and jumping up and down, but the potent mix of shock and utter relief rushing through my body just wouldn’t allow it.
Olympia put her hand on my shoulder. ‘I’m so, so sorry, Jack. I don’t know what to say.’
‘That goes for me, too.’ AJ sounded completely distraught. ‘I just hope we can get past this and that you might be able to forgive us.’
‘We’re all really sorry,’ Ava said. ‘Oh God, Jack, I can’t imagine what you must have been going through.’
I looked up and caught Austin’s gaze. He was blinking back tears; then he nodded and smiled at me. I smiled and nodded back; it was all we needed right then.
THE LIVE SHOW
The crowd was still raging in the auditorium: whooping and cheering with chants of ‘GenNext!’ and ‘Ella!’ and ‘Jack!’ cutting through sporadically. Inside the props room we were all feeling pretty shaken, trying to digest the events of the last twenty minutes – especially the sight of Ethan looking blank-faced and hollow, the violent anger switched off as suddenly as it had appeared. Ava was wiping away the last of her tears, whilst Austin leaned against Sai for support, his brain clearly whirring away as he tried to process everything he’d just seen and heard. Olympia and AJ deliberated in low voices in the corner of the room, presumably trying to figure out what the correct etiquette was when one of your show’s main presenters had just been revealed as a complete psychopath, right in front of your audience, while Pete and Glen looked on from the doorway. I put my arm around Ella and glanced up at Lewis, who looked like he couldn’t believe what just happened.
‘So … I guess our plan worked then?’ he said with a wry smile.
I nodded. ‘I think we can safely say that it worked to an unforeseen level, thanks to the appearance of Ella here.’
Ella squeezed my waist. ‘Hey, once I heard my name mentioned, there was no way I wasn’t going to say my piece,’ she said.
I kissed the top of her head. ‘You were amazing. Seeing you was what tipped him over the edge; if you hadn’t come in, he might have just bluffed his way out.’
‘Yeah,’ Lewis said with a grin. ‘You were definitely our secret weapon, Ella.’
‘OK everyone, let’s get out of this room, shall we?’ Olympia said, suddenly springing into action. ‘We need to get out there and make some sort of official announcement; although quite what that’s going to be, I’m not sure.’
Pete and Glen parted as Shania reappeared at the door. ‘Security are taking care of Ethan and the police are on their way. Meanwhile, I think we’d better let the audience know what’s happening.’
‘Absolutely,’ said Olympia. ‘I was just thinking about that. Let me take everyone down to the green room and I’ll be right with you, Shania. How long have we got until showtime?’
‘About twenty-five minutes,’ Shania said.
‘Right. Well then, we need to move!’ Olympia said.
She led us all like bewildered sheep out of the props room and down the corridor to a large, carpeted dressing room, which had been set up with chairs and tables and a makeshift bar.
‘There’s no one using this room until after the show,’ she said, ushering us in. ‘I’ll be two minutes and then I’ll join you. Pete, can you make sure we’re all reset, sound-wise, and Glen, sweetie, would you mind coming with me, please? I think I’m going to need all the help I can get explaining to the rest of the production crew just what the hell’s been going on.’
‘Sure thing, doll,’ Glen said, following her out of the room and along the corridor towards the stage.
Lewis, Ella and I sat down, while Ava grabbed some bottles of water for us. None of us said much at first; it was like we were trying to let everything that had happened sink in. Of course, I was massively relieved that the nightmare was over, but I was still shaking; the adrenalin that had flooded through me during the showdown not yet dispersed. AJ, Sai and Austin stayed standing, nervously talking over one another and trying to decide on a strategy of damage limitation, working out what Ethan’s sudden departure meant for a show that was due to go live at any moment. In the end, they decided it was going to have to be Olympia’s call, and AJ sat down next to me, shaking his head.
‘Jack, I really am so very sorry. I can’t believe it came to this. I just—’
‘We all are,’ Austin said. ‘Me more than anyone. I let Ethan fool me completely. He caught me when I was at a low ebb, and I stupidly fell for all his crap. It seems ridiculous now, but at the time he just wormed his way into my head: telling me how smart I was and how I should be the one taking the reins at GenNext. Then when he lied and said you’d been mouthing off about my depression, Jack, I just …’ He looked down at the floor.
‘You’re not the only one he fooled, Austin,’ Ella said. ‘Trust me.’
‘It’s OK, Austin,’ I said.
‘It’s not, though,’ he said. ‘I should have known; I should have believed you. I’m so, so sorry, Jack.’
I got up and put my hand on his shoulder. ‘Look, this is all I ever wanted. This. All of us back together again. At the end of the day, Austin, you and I are always going to be friends. We all are. I’m just happy this is over.’
Austin nodded. ‘Me too, J.’
‘Did he really plan the fight at Total?’ Sai said. ‘It actually went that far back?’
‘Right from the start,’ Lewis said, standing up. ‘He’d been hatching this plan for months.’
‘Yeah, it seems like his popping up and being all helpful on the first day of the festival was no coincidence,’ I said.
‘Man, that’s just too weird.’ Sai shook his head.
‘Yeah, all that learning our set list off by heart and throwing himself into the frame when I got ill. It was just a ploy to ingratiate himself with all of you and then gradually isolate me,’ I said.
‘He did a bloody good job of it, too,’ Sai said.
‘God, I just feel numb,’ Ava said. ‘All that time we’ve spent together, and we never knew.’
‘And wait till you see the files we found on his online drive,’ Lewis added. ‘He was completely fixated by you all from the start – it’s pretty scary stuff.’
I thought about Ethan for a moment and found myself feeling strangely sorry for him – yes, even after all that. The guy was obviously completely messed up; eaten up by this insane jealousy that had somehow got his mind tied up in knots. All those things he did to me … they weren’t the actions of a sane or happy person. It was actually quite tragic.
Ava was staring at Lewis, momentarily confused. ‘Sorry, I’m not being funny – Lewis, is it? Who exactly are you again?’
‘Oh, sorry, yeah,’ I said casually. ‘Lewis, meet everyone, and everyone … this is Lewis. My brother.’
‘Your what?’ Sai said, his jaw dropping, and I suddenly remembered that I’d only ever told Ella about Lewis, and then sworn her to secrecy.
‘That was a joke, right, Penman?’ Ava said.
‘God, we all thought he was some private detective you’d hired or something,’ AJ said, jumping to his feet.
‘No joke,’ Lewis smiled.
‘But it’s definitely a bit of a long story,’ I said. ‘I’d rather fill you all in later, if you don’t mind.’
At that moment, Olympia swept back into the green room with Pete, Glen and Shania tailing her. ‘OK, listen up, everyone! We have exactly fourteen minutes before the Emerge final is broadcast live to the nation. One of our main hosts is currently being questioned by two of the Metropolitan Police’s finest in a room along the corridor, our audience are going loopy after being treated to a full fly-on-the-wall exposé of everything that just happened in the props room, and I’m about to have a very serious nervous breakdown. Any suggestions? Jack, what say you?’
‘Are you asking me to step in and host the show, Olympia?’ I said, grinning.
‘I think that’s exactly what she’s asking,’ AJ said.
‘Well, let’s put it this way,’ Olymp
ia said. ‘If you can find it in your heart to forgive my utter blind stupidity in thinking you’d be capable of doing any of those things we accused you of, I’d be honoured to have you host the show with Ella, yes.’
‘Of course I’ll bloody do it,’ I laughed.
‘What, in that outfit?’ Ava said, looking disdainfully at my baseball cap, sweatshirt and burgundy ASOS joggers ensemble.
‘Oh God, yeah. What am I going to wear?’
‘I’ve brought clothes for the after-party,’ Austin jumped in. ‘Come down to the dressing room and you can borrow them.’
‘Perfect,’ Olympia said. ‘Now, I’ve reinstated dear Glen here, and he’s about to go out and make the announcement to our audience – if he can calm them down – that due to today’s unfortunate events, Ethan Harper will no longer be involved in tonight’s live show, and that Ella Foster will now be presenting along with Jack Penman. Is everyone in agreement? This is your show as much as mine.’
‘It sounds perfect, Olympia. We can deal with the press and everyone else after the show,’ AJ said.
‘I’m afraid the opening titles still feature Ethan; unfortunately it’s too late to change that now,’ Olympia said.
‘That’s cool,’ Sai said. ‘I’ll put the word out on GenNext and Twitter that Jack’s back so the fans know what’s going on.’
‘Jack’s back,’ Ella said, smiling. ‘That has a rather nice ring to it.’
‘Jeez, it’s going to go OFF when all this gets out,’ Austin said.
‘Don’t worry about that,’ Sai laughed. ‘You know me; I’ll find a way to turn it to our advantage. You know what they say about all publicity being good publicity.’