Chapter Two – ‘Getting to Know You’

Having never been up close to any celebrities Lacey couldn’t help but think the boys looked much different in real life. They appeared to be rather stupid though as they had yet to come out of their shock at seeing her. Perhaps she shouldn’t have opened the conversation with ‘I got mauled by a tree’. However, their shocked expressions gave her time to study the band in earnest.

She understood why the boys got so much attention from their fans; she couldn’t deny they were handsome. Silas Jones currently sported a very confused expression, he was the one usually seen on fashion adverts. His dark hair, dark skin and solemn expression made him the mysterious catch of the group. He was known as a joker but Lacey thought he might be hiding a sensitive side somewhere.

Bradley Jenkins was every teenage girl’s fantasy of what a bad boy should look like and he’d had the bad boy attitude before he met Elena Sharp. He is the only member of the band who is in a relationship. The fans like to pretend he isn’t in a relationship and rumour has it the boys mock all the advice he gives. However, though he appears a man of little words he was the one who keeps the others in order.

Jack Winters was a man you would call ‘as cute as a button’. He very much embodied the boy next door look that made the girls go wild. However, he was known to be quite insecure, his blonde hair and boy looks often labelling him as stupid. Lacey could tell that there was more to Jack than people saw and out of all the boys, he was the one she could see herself being genuine friends with.

Then of course, the last person to contemplate was Olive Smith. He was like a big red warning sign if ever there was. He was the one featured most in the news; his on/off relationship with Monica Summers always attracted media attention. He was known as the charmer and the flirt within the group but so far had only shown his arrogance and grumpiness to Lacey. There weren’t many rules in Lacey’s contract so she’d made on for herself ‘don’t fall for a band member, especially not Oliver Smith’.

Lacey was interrupted from her internal monologue when a middle aged, rather portly man walked into the room. His sudden presence seemed to be enough to wake the boys from their shocked stupor so that was good in Lacey’s book. The man, upon noticing her, clapped his large hands together and headed towards her.

“Lacey Edwards, it is a huge pleasure to meet you. You know I ready you entry myself, superb writing! Allow me to introduce myself; I’m Ian Wasp, manager of Locked Doors and owner of Wasp Enterprises”.

Lacey shook the man’s hand “it’s a pleasure to meet you as well Ian”.

Ian gasped in mock surprise “she has manners as well! You are a treat”.

He let go of her hand so he could turn to face the boys “I do hope you boys have been welcoming to Miss Edwards”.

The blank faces told him little but one look from Steve, their bodyguard, told him everything he needed to know. He looked at the boys and tuted disappointedly.

“In our defence we didn’t actually know she was arriving today” said Silas.

“And she sort of just appeared raving about trees and fans” added Jack.

“She had a nasty cut on her forehead” said Bradley.

“And wouldn’t tell us who she was till we asked nicely” sneered Oliver.

Ian gasped, the only part of the conversation he’d really taken on board being the injury.

“You were hurt Lacey? Are you alright dear? Have you been tended to?’ he asked concerned.

Lacey was touched by his apparent concern for her wellbeing and answered “I’m fine, Steve patched me up”.

Ian placed a hand on his heart and blew out a big breath, then looked down at the boys with an annoyed expression “well everything seems in order, we should move back to the house, get Lacey settled in and get her to meet the rest of the team”.

On that note Ian got up and moved to the door, looking back it was pretty obvious that he wanted them to follow so Lacey did and slowly but surely Steve seemed to get the boys off their feet to follow them. It was a silent car journey towards the house where Lacey would be staying with the band.

Waiting for them at the front door of the incredibly large house were two other people. They seemed familiar to the band but Lacey was yet to meet them. The band tumbled out of the car after Steve and it was left to Ian to help Lacey out of the car. Lacey was still in awe over the size of the house. She knew the band lived in the house together and understood that she’d be living with them but the upscale apartment block she’d had in mind was a far cry from the house that stood before her.

They’d reached the two members that stood before the house in the time it had taken Lacey to finish her inner monologue. Ian proudly stood between the two sets of people to make introductions.

“Lacey meet Jennifer Small, the band’s stylist and Mr Big, head of management” said Ian.

Lacey nodded her head towards each of them and said “pleasure to meet you”.

The woman Jennifer nodded and offered a response while the man Mr Big merely grunted in response and then scowled.

As Ian rambled on about small insignificant things, Lacey pondered the fact that the boys had disappeared. While she waited for Ian to finish talking she began her own assessment of the two before her. Jennifer looked rather bubbly with her bright clothes and permanent smile; she had a tall frame and black hair. She was looking at Lacey with a suspicious twinkle in her eye that had Lacey worrying about the future of her wardrobe.

Mr Big looked scary and imposing which was probably the look he was going for. He was all business and need to be managing the media surrounding the band – and there was a lot of media. The only thing going for Mr Big was his impossibly large belly, which Lacey put down to two many pies. Apparently he hadn’t heard that too many pies could be bad for you.

“Oh I’ve rambled too much, let’s get Lacey into the house and settled”.

He ushered Lacey into the house and she felt like she had entered the ultimate bachelor pad. The house looked a little like an American fraternity and Lacey assumed they had hired help because there was no way the boys were usually this tidy. Ian instructed Jennifer to show Lacey and her suitcase t her room. It was obvious that Ian intended Lacey to return downstairs quickly, so she’d have to leave unpacking till later. By the time they returned downstairs Mr Big had disappeared, presumably he had more important work to do. Jennifer had already sat down and was comfortably chatting to the boys.

Seeing Lacey reappear Ian gestured her to follow him. They ended up in the kitchen and sensing this was a good distance from the boys, Ian began to talk.

“As you can see the house is large and is divided into three floors and has everything the boy’s desire. The cleaner comes every Tuesday and Friday while the cook comes Monday and Thursday – just to make sure they’re eating right. They have a personal trainer but mostly like to use the equipment here. You of course have access to everything in the house. I understand that you’re all young adults and understand that you may develop feelings for one of the boys. I’m not forbidding this but I do remember you’ll be living and working together for six months” he paused to look at Lacey and she nodded to show she’d heard.

Ian continued “use this afternoon to get to know each other; Jennifer will be leaving with me so you won’t have to worry about her invading your wardrobe yet! Oh and I’d like your first story by the end of the week” he said firmly.

Lacey nodded, it was only Friday, but she could handle that challenge. She found Ian to be a kind man; she’d been expecting a much harsher man and had been pleasantly surprised. He patted her on the shoulder and strode past, she heard the two leaving. Lacey stood alone in the kitchen for a couple of minutes before she regained her courage and walked back into the main room. The four boys were waiting for her, following her every move as she walked. As she sat in a chair opposite them she felt the tension that strongly lingered in the air.

“So…” said Silas breaking the silence “are you a fan?”

The tension dispersed quickly after that question and Lacey found herself smiling “I listen to your music but I wouldn’t say I’m a fan” she said.

“Why not?!” asked Silas.

“Well I don’t know anything about you, how can I be a fan if I don’t know a thing? Also I have no desire to put you on a pedestal” she said.

“If you aren’t a fan why did you enter the competition?” asked Oliver rudely.

“I love writing and the opportunity of the prize of writing was too great to resist. It was an old colleague who insisted I apply” she said.

“Did you ever think you’d win?” asked Jack.

“Nope, single child” she replied.

“Do they support your dreams, your parents?” asked Bradley.

Lacey sighed “my parents see that I have a great talent but see my writing as a hobby. I don’t think they believe I could make a career out of it” she said.

The boys nodded.

“Oh I have an easy question” said Jack “what’s your favourite colour?”

“Green” replied Lacey with a smile.

“Oh, which of us do you fancy?” asked Silas with a wink and a smile.

Lacey laughed out loud much to the boy’s surprise.

“I won’t deny that you four aren’t attractive but I don’t fancy any of you” she said.

The boys, excluding Oliver, seemed a bit miffed and she thought she might have heard Silas mutter the word ‘yet’ in response to her answer.

The rest of the evening passed in the same fashion. They asked her a lot of questions and gave a lot of answers. However it took her much longer to learn about the boy’s she’d be living with. Bradley liked to brood and offer advice, he skyped with his girlfriend a lot, he loved Elena very much and he was also partial to cooking. Jack was rather creative, not only was he in a band but he also loved to do some drawing. Being a shy person, he hadn’t shown many people his drawings, but he was very proud of them and his fellow band members were respectful of that. He also told her gleefully that his favourite colour was blue. Silas was a joker that much Lacey had already established. He had an incredibly loud laugh and the others boys had warned her not to enter a Wii tournament with him. He loved to quote from TV shows such as American comedy shoes. It was only Oliver that remained a mystery. He refused to admit a single thing about himself and remained in the corner glowering at Lacey and sneering at the chatter between his bandmates and Lacey.

The boy’s had wanted to stay up later but Lacey knew she had to unpack and settle in. She said goodnight to the boy’s and they mostly responded. She sighed as she looked around her room. She’d have to settle for unpacking her essentials tonight and doing the rest tomorrow. Then of course she would have to remember to write that story that Ian wanted.

[BREAK]

The next day the boy’s had a scheduled interview so Lacey had the house to herself. She could have gone exploring but she felt guilty about snooping around when the boys were out. She managed to unpack all her clothes and put a couple of photos on the walls. Afterwards she sat down at the desk in her room; she supposed it was for her to write on. Trouble was, she didn’t yet know the boy’s like friends so she’d have to improvise and use what little knowledge she had.

The First Story

It was a quiet day for the boy’s. No interviews, shoots or public appearances we scheduled and so they were all in the house. They were also all bored. Bradley had spent the day online. Silas had been watching TV, Oliver practising the guitar and Jack had been drawing.

It wasn’t till the night came in that something happened. Jack woke first after a noise had startled him. He was surprised to see that the world he’d known was now black and white and looked like it had been drawn in pencil. There was a basket of all sorted giant eggs at the foot of his bed and moulted fur littered his floor. This didn’t bode well and he was beginning to put things together and was regretting the last thing he’d drawn.

He raced to wake up the other boy’s. Bradley had still been sleeping – thankfully – and was easy to wake. Oliver was already away and looked like he’d seen a ghost and from the manly scream that came from Silas’s room, Jack guessed he was up and needed assistance.

Sure enough when they entered Silas’s room they found he was being held high in the air by a giant gruesome bunny rabbit. Quite like the fluffy kind that appear at Easter. The three boy’s stood in shock a while before charging into action with their battle cries. The bunny, momentarily confused by the noise dropped Silas who frantically crawled away. The boys were now faced with a very angry bunny and had no choice but to run.

While they were running the questions started to fly.

“That was a giant bunny right?” asked Silas.

”Yes” replied Jack.

“What are they doing in our house?” asked Bradley.

“Looking for their treasured egg” replied Jack.

“Why would they look for that egg here?” asked Silas...

“Erm…” said Jack.

“Balls, you stole the egg didn’t you” said Oliver.

“Maybe” replied Jack.

“Where’s the egg?” asked Bradley.

“In the home theatre room” replied Jack.

“I know!” said Jack.

The boy’s ran down a deserted corridor close to the main room and stopped. Panting hard they tried to figure out their next move.

It was Oliver that clocked two stationed bunnies in the main room with a further bunny guarding the corridor on the other side of the main room. The precise corridor they needed to use. They sneaked into the main room, each carrying a weapon they’d found in the corridor. Jack welded a lamp, Bradley and Oliver stakes from a picture frame that had been sacrificed for the cause and Silas, well he…he had his dirty socks. There were no battle cries this time as they didn’t want to be heard.

The bunnies turned out to be rather hard to subdue but they managed to put to rest the two in the main room. Then a screech like cry sounded, the bunny stationed in the hallway they needed to use had seen them. Its teeth were huge and razor sharp and at this moment were gnashing their way towards the boy’s. Four yells could be heard as they ran from the bunny. Soon enough the boy’s had been divided and were scattered throughout the house. Jack was nearing the theatre room but realised he was the only one to make it.

The egg was situated in the cabinet under the massive television and was pulsing a strong bright blue light. Hearing a growl Jack almost dropped the egg and turned round to come face to face with sharp teeth and a furry face. The head buy had arrived and where the other giant bunnies were cute and scary, this bunny was just scary.

Jack panicked “I’m so sorry! Take the egg, I don’t want it, I don’t want it” cried Jack.

The head bunny took the egg from Jack and then opened its impossibly large mouth and let out a guttural cry. At the end of it, Jack’s face was covered in spit and he was engulfed in a cloud of bad breath. He wobbled for a moment and then sank to his knees.

The next morning Jack woke up to a normal world. There was no black and white colour effect, no eggs littered his bedroom floor and he could see no giant bunnies. He would have thought it all a bad dream if it hadn’t been for the bright white cottontail that lay in his doorway…

AN: Two chapters up as was away on holiday without internet - aren't you lucky ~ Hannah.