The Bonus Prize

Capter One: Our Surprise Roommate

Mum and Dad, when I was born, got into an argument to what they should name me. My mom wanted Stella and my Dad wanted Mae. After a useless argument, they compromised with the name Stella-Mae. 

I laughed but then I got straight to business. "Mum! I need you to sign papers! Our new manager is here to get your approval!"

"Alright, I'll go. Davie, good luck with work, okay?" Mum said kissing him goodbye.

"Okay, Katie. Make sure the manager is trustworthy!" 

After all that, I hurried my mother to Scarlet's house, where Gwen and she was talking and laughing about an unknown subject. Good to know that she made friends with her. When Gwen saw my mother, she stood up and shook her hand. They introduced themselves and got straight into business; my mother signed her signature about fifteen times and us around ten times. She told us all of our plans, gigs, songs, albums and the prize. 

When we won the competition, we automatically got a contract to Syco Records, time to write one full-length album and four thousand Euros (aprox. $5000). But there was a Mysterious Bonus Prize that only the managers and Syco Records know. Gwen made us go outside so she can talk to mum about the Bonus Prize. Once they finished, she gladly gave us our approval to go with Gwen to London, where we can write our album. Gwen talked about our school life and she decided that it'll be best for us to be home-schooled and we didn't disagree. It was all so perfect. 

We stayed in Leeds for one week so we can pack our bags, have farewell parties, and the sort. Once we were all done, we were on a plane ride to London. 

I assumed, since the last plane ride I've been on was when I was small traveling from my hometown Glasgow, Scotland to Leeds, that the plane ride was going to take forever but it surprised me that the plane ride was only a couple of hours. 

When the plane landed in no time, I woke the sleeping Scarlett and got out of the plane. The airport was bigger then the one in Leeds but that made me smile. I liked urban places. I got both of us a trolly so that we didn't have to carry our millions of bags. Scarlett was looking around with a big smile on her face. 

As we reached the main lobby of the airport, we saw a tall man in a suit with a paper that said, "Stella-May Pond and Scarlett Cain."

"Ugh... They misspelled my name..." I groaned as I approached the man. When we went to him, the first thing I said was, "Mae is with an 'e' at the end. Not a 'y', sir."

The man looked at me with his mouth opened and said, "My apologize, ma'am. That won't happen again." He put the paper down and stuck out his hand. "You two must be Stella-Mae Pond and Scarlett Cain. I am Peter Johnson and I am going to take you to your hotel room where you will be staying here in London." After we shook his hand, he said, "Alright. Follow me."

After we retrieved the many bags of luggage, we slid into the man's small car and started to drive us to our hotel. I looked at my left to see Scarlett biting her nails from the nervousness that she was facing. I was more anxious than anything. I was getting excited to what we were going to do, what exactly the bonus prize was and the awesome adventure that awaits Scarlett and I.

Or something a bit more cheesy than that.

The passing buildings of London mesmerized me and made me raise my fingers into my mouth as butterflies started to form into my tummy. I made a small 'ack' noise with Scarlett as Peter stopped the car suddenly.

"I'm sorry, ladies," Peter said. "This car has been going mad. We are here at your hotel, Grand Share London Hotel. It was built in 1861 and it is the most popular hotel in North London. Almost all the rooms are filled. You two are lucky to be here."