Teenage Icon (UNDER REVISION AND REWRITING)

♫ Five Sexist Males

"Why didn't I realise that!" Maya squealed, beginning to tap away at her phone again, "Of course they don't know what you look like, that's why they're all there! They all want to be the first ones to get a glimpse of you after Christie Valentine's little prediction last week on K-Gos!" I laughed slightly, Maya seemed too worried about everything for a twenty something year old, if she calmed down a little more maybe she'd have remembered that.

"I still don't understand why they're here, Elena said they wouldn't start bothering us until tomorrow didn't she?" I asked. I never received an answer, Maya was furiously tapping and clearly hadn't heard my question whilst the boys began discussing what they were going to eat, typical.

We drove to the restaurant, the traffic working in our favour and getting us there on time. When we arrived Maya gave a name and they directed us to our table. Upmarket was not the word for this restaurant, high class was more like it but even that only vaguely described the classy venue filled with women in cocktail dresses and men in suits. The looks I was receiving could've been more like death glares, they were all wondering who let people wearing jeans into the restaurant I guess, by the looks of disgust directed at all five of us.

"Welcome," Elena greeted when she saw us, standing up and gesturing for us all to take our seats as the waiter handed us our menu's. "I see you didn't acknowledge my request Leigh," She added, looking up and down at my choice of outfit as we sat down. 

"Erm, no," I answered, feeling like a small child being scolded.

"Good," she smiled at me.

"What?" I asked, utterly shocked, my expression was matched by the boys around me as Elena began to laugh lightly.

"I knew you wouldn't Leigh, you're too independent for that, it is the rebellious streak that you seem to naturally possess that I want to use to market you guys." she began, the business talk starting.

"Market us?" Jase asked.

"She wants to us to play on not listening to anyone, be one of those bands that everyone wants to be because they just do whatever they want without thinking," Kie explained for her.

"Exactly, I knew from the moment I saw you in California, stood there wearing jeans and t-shirts, when everyone else was dressed how they were. You're different and it's an excellent marketing campaign to keep it that way, you're still getting the makeover. Just less extreme than other years, plus I won't have to be scolding you constantly for swearing on TV or badmouthing an interviewer and going against the image we've created for you, like I'd have to do if we tried to make you role models" I smiled, this woman clearly got us, I was glad she was our manager, knowing how awful some of the managers had seemed other years, the guys seemed to agree and we talked a little more about the makeover before ordering our food.

"So, anything you guys want to ask me now you've had time to think?" She asked, sipping on her glass of wine.

"Yeah actually," Finn answered, I turned to look at him, "How come there were reporters outside the hotel? You said they wouldn't be doing that until tomorrow," I had been planning on asking that same question, it had just slipped my mind for the moment.

"Ah yes, that," She seemed to laugh under her breath, "Well, as you know, the two other bands are in the hotel right now, they both arrived today too, but it seems Night Fly couldn't wait to post online about their amazing hotel," The food arrived then and the conversation slowed.

"That's the band from Colorado right?" Jase questioned, receiving a nod from Elena.

"Yes, it seems their manager Martin didn't quite realise how self obsessed their singer was, Sterling Kennedy managed to cause him hassle within half an hour of arriving. Martin's poor intern's been running around all afternoon trying to clear up all the mess he's caused,"

"According to the online sources Sterling has been outside most of the day being interviewed by them, he's barely set foot in the hotel," Maya inputted. I couldn't imagine having to deal with someone who'd tell the paparazzi where he was on purpose, who would reasonably want to deal with hundreds of paparazzi for hours? 

"Enough about Sterling and Night Fly," Elena began, "We're here to talk about you," I smiled, she got straight to the point and I liked this about her.

"We've got a lot planned for you over the next couple of weeks so I'll give you a quick run down of tomorrow and drop off a more in depth schedule of everything else later on tomorrow. The fun starts tomorrow, you will have to come out of the hotel and answer a few questions about the contest that the reporters have for you, play nicely and just make sure you don't say anything that might come back to bite you later on. Don't say too much about your personal lives because they will go digging into that and if you don't give them anything to start with it'll give you freedom for longer. It's not a formal interview so they can ask you anything, if you don't like a question just pretend you haven't heard it or say no comment, they can't force you to say anything and because people will be filming they can't change what you say to what they want so you're safe there. It shouldn't be too hard. After an hour or so of that you'll be taken down to the studio by Maya, she'll get you your access passes for getting into the building and show you the studio you'll be working in for recording, you'll be able to hang around the building a bit and have a look at some of the recording equipment."

"So when do we have the makeover?" I asked, wondering how long I had left of getting a choice in what I wore.

"Wednesday is makeover day, David will drive you down there so you needn't worry about where to go. First you get your hair done, then Leigh will head over to makeup whilst the boys start on wardrobe. Leigh when you're done at makeup you'll head down to wardrobe too and get your new clothes. Then you'll head to the photo shoot with a few outfits, I've taken the liberty of booking a location shoot later on as well as the studio shoot, I think it will suit you with the image I have in mind. The entire thing will take all day and you'll be back to the hotel in time to eat and get some sleep."

"Sounds good, where's this location shoot going to be at?" Kie asked. Maya immediately piped in.

"Well, since we're going with a, basic rock look for you guys to go with the bad attitude I suggested we shoot in a warehouse just outside the city, I used to play near there as a kid and there's some pretty amazing graffiti art which would make the perfect setting! I could drop over some pictures tomorrow morning if you'd like to look?" She offered, a smile gracing her face for the first time since we'd met her, I smiled back and nodded.

"I think it'd be better as a surprise actually Maya," Elena inputted, the smile on Maya's face fell and she nodded instantly.

"Of course, sorry Elena," 

"Any questions so far?" Elena asked, taking a sip from her glass.

"Yeah, actually," I smirked, "At what point do I get to punch Christie Valentine's face in for saying female fronted rock bands don't compare to male ones?" 

Maya looked shocked at my forward admission and Elena just laughed. 

"On Thursday you'll be having an interview on K-Gos TV, but it won't be with Christie Valentine, I presumed you might feel that way after what she said so we booked with Alana Daley instead. Plus she is by far one of the easiest interviewers, she doesn't go off the scripted questions and stir roumors like Christie does. So in answer to your question, never, I'd rather avoid that happening, can't have my band being disqualified because one of them has been arrested for assault." I pouted to show my disappointment at her statement whilst she shook her head at me. "However, you can assault her reputation to your hearts content, I won't stop you on that one," 

"Sounds fun," I smiled at her before smirking at the boys.