The smell of bacon wafts through the apartment and under the small gap at the bottom of my door. I'm lying under a mountain of plush pillows and fluffy blankets, pretty much in the same position I've been in for the past three days.

Airpods in. Phone off.

I've barely even spoken to Sofia or Jacob. They come into check on me every couple of hours, bring me snacks or they just lay with me and listen to my music with me.

When I got home the other night, I threw my clothes off and jumped straight in the shower. I just sat there sobbing into the streams of scorching water, trying to wash off the bruises and marks from the harsh touch I'd been objected to at Niki's. I scrubbed my skin so hard I was sure it would scratch right off and wash away down the drain. I haven't gone back to Nikis yet, I've just called in sick every night- cowardly I know but I'm too scared and embarrassed, people witnessed it happening- that's mortifying. However, I did email Berkeley's the morning after to hand in my notice and added in small print at the bottom of the message I would be off ill for the next couple days, maybe even weeks. I know Mr Berkeleys probably having a fit about that right now, but I don't care anymore, I've given him too much of my time already.

I feel like everything has finally caught up to me, I have no motivation or energy what so ever, the other night was the cherry on top of a shit sundae. I've watched countless episodes of Glee and eaten dozens of pints of ice cream in these past few days, in a comatose state in my favourite Primark blanket and filled my notebook with pages and pages of random lyrics that will probably be screwed up and magically find their way to the bin later. I've avoided my social media accounts and any Direct Messages, Snapchat's or quite frankly any notifications in case Coltons had a desire to bitch about me to the world again, I don't have the energy to deal with any more drama at the moment.

I'm still angry with him but an overwhelming sadness has topped it now, I'm starting to think taking the deal was a mistake. I had no idea what I was doing that night, my brain was unresponsive and my heart decided to take me on a fucking joyride. I have no idea how I'm going to survive six months working with that unbearable asshole. Ugh, maybe I should immigrate to Canada or something, become a stripper and live up to his expectations of me...

Suddenly there's a quiet tap at the door and a beam of light travels across my curtain drawn room up to my burrowed face, the smell of bacon is now flooding into my space, heightening my sense buds.

"Wakey wakey eggs and bakey babe! Time to get up!" Sofia shouts joyfully launching herself onto the bed next to me. I pull the duvet further over my face and let out a muffled groan.

"Come on moany, today's the day! The first day of the rest of your life!" She climbs on top of my lifeless body and tugs on the duvet shielding my face, I shrink further underneath the warm covers.

"That is the cringiest thing you've ever said, dummy." I hear a small thud as Jacob places something on my bedside table. I peek over the top of the duvet to see a Starbucks cup covered in condensed droplets filled with a cool beverage. Raspberry ice tea.

Crafty- Jacob knows the only way I can recover the ice tea is if I come out from under my duvet huddle, ugh. I clutch the duvet tighter, Jacob raises an eyebrow at me and smirks. Prick.

I can feel their eyes drilling into me. Fuck it. I leap for the ice tea trying to clutch the duvet with the other hand.

I place a firm grasp on the wet cup but Sofia yanks the duvet from me, leaving me in the foetal position in the centre of the bed unguarded to the cold. I groan and starfish out, stretching my achy limbs. Jacob kneels beside me and Sofia cuddles into my side.

"Come on Squish, you should be excited! Sofs already picked an outfit for you." He rolls his eyes sarcastically and smiles.

Honestly, I was the furthest thing from excited, I'm still upset with Colton and I'm going to do everything I can to avoid him... which I guess is now easier said than done since thanks to my big mouth, I have to spend the next 6 months with him.

Today I'm officially signing my contracts and starting to record some of my songs so we can push a small EP out before the start of the tour. I'm petrified I'll get in the studio and they'll hate everything I sing or I'll mess up the chord progression or I'll sing sharp and lose my voice. Everything that could go wrong is running through my mind. I groan and clutch my head, at least I won't have to see Mr Arrogant today.

"There we are! Jenny should be on her way down to collect you, shouldn't be too long. Can I get you something to drink whilst you wait?" Reception barbie smiles as I fasten the clip on the ID badge she's just given me to the top of my skirt.

"No thanks." I smile nervously back at her.

I lean against the reception desk and sigh, I can feel the knots tighten in my stomach just from the smell of the lobby. Everythings so pristine and shiny, so sophisticated. I peek down at my discoloured air forces and feel a pang of regret, I don't belong here.

"Gigi!" Jenny exclaims dashing round the corner her red hair trailing behind her as she takes quick short strides across the polished marble floor.

"This is so exciting! I'm so happy you're signing the contracts today!" she grabs my hands offering me a massive grin then gives me a gentle tug towards the elevators.

Jenny waffles on about her excitement for the entire elevator ride, I nod politely but I'm not listening to what she's saying, my nerves are buzzing through my bones.

The lift doors open up to a different floor than we were on last time I was here, I realise we're now on the 24thfloor, good thing I'm not arachnophobic. Jenny leads me along a white painted corridor with several posters and pictures of artists that are signed here or have been in the past. It's like a collage of some of the most influential people in music, past and present. A smile creeps onto my face, in a few short moments, I will be amongst these people who have been signed to Hassa Records. My smile quickly falls to a frown as we pass a massive poster of Colton on stage... with his top off.

Prick.

We carry on along the corridor, there's a hum of music which sounds like it's coming from a few floors below, I can't make out what song it is but it sounds familiar. Jenny stops at a white door with a gold nameplate near the end of the corridor, she uses a finger to knock carefully then brings her ear close the door to listen for Mr Castro's voice,

"Come in."

I take a big gulp and follow Jenny through the door, smoothing down my skirt as I walk.

"Ah, Gigi brilliant!" He says standing up from behind his desk, the room is pretty plain, contrasting black walls, black furniture and a large collection of awards and gold disks hanging on the four walls. He's not the only one in the room, Will's sat in one of the chairs by the desk and a small woman with a bob who was looking out of the window is now turned to look at me. Tessa Ransome. Founder and current CEO of Hassa Records.

I swallow the lump in my throat and blink hard,

"Hello, love! It's great to finally meet you! I've heard such great things and heard a lot of your music. I'm thrilled you've decided to work with us."

She places her hand on her hip and uses the other arm to lean on the desk, asserting authority towards the men in the room who look like they only speak when spoken too, but gives me a welcoming smile from her blush pink lips.

"Well it's a pleasure and I can't thank you enough for the opportunity." Is all I can muster before Castro gestures for me to take a seat.

We go through the contracts, signing my name on hundreds of dotted lines, each one becoming slightly less petrifying and a bit more exciting. The five of us are in there for at least an hour finalising everything and discussing all the small print, I'm locked into a temporary tour contract but as of yet there is no promise of me releasing a full album, they still want to see how my first few singles do and how well I do on tour. How well mine and Coltons abilities... compliment each other. If they feel I'm no longer suitable for the label they can terminate my contract at any point. Chills run down my back, thinking about being 'terminated' makes me want to throw up.

"And that... is the last one. Congratulations Gigi you are now an official recording artist at Hassa Records." Castro says as I swirl the pen across the final black line. My eyes are now completely fuzzy. Will gives me a light pat on the back and smiles, which I reciprocate.

It's crazy to hear those words official recording artist, this is all I have ever wanted and it's finally happening. Excitement sputs through my veins, I can't believe I'm a recording artist... at Hassa fucking Records. I chuckle to myself, I believe at this moment... everything might just work out.

"Talking about recording, let's get you downstairs and start bashing out these songs, yes?" Casto starts to waddle around the desk.

I nod, my face quickly whitens again and panic blocks my spurts of excitement, I'm petrified they'll take a listen to my songs and hate all of them. My songs are an outlet for me, everything I've ever felt or been through, I've written into a song, they pretty much tell my life story. So if they get rejected that's an even bigger blow than Colton calling me a slut.

Jenny leads us all downstairs to a floor with several more doors lining the hallway.

"This is one of the studio floors. Everything is soundproofed and private, they're all decked out with instruments, mics, Macs, recording software, state of the art mixing boards and pretty much everything a modern recording artist needs." Jenny lists off.

She stops abruptly outside a door and without knocking waltzes straight in.

This is unlike anything I've ever been in before, usually, I just use a small GarageBand set up in my flat or use a DIY studio in someones spare room, but this...this is insane. Five shiny guitars are hanging on the wall, there's a gleaming black grand piano sitting in the middle of the room, a mixing board the size of my bloody bed and complex recording software everywhere. The room is very spacious, there's soundproof glass separating the booth and the main seating area which is equipped with a small fridge and several velvet sofas. It's like the size of our apartment. The room also has a massive window looking out over London, it's a pretty grey day today but it just reminds me of being at the Skygarden, it's so calming to look out upon.

"Gigi, meet Oaken, he will be your recording engineer and almost like a personal mentor. He's going to work with you over the next few weeks to push out these singles and gradually build up and EP for you to release so you have some stability for the tour." The office chair by the mixing desk pushes back and swivels round to reveal, who I presume is Oaken, he must be in his early 20's and has short dreads that bounce onto his forehead as he walks up to me with his palm open.

"Hey, I'm Oaken. I've actually been bugging out to your music all week, in a good way of course and I can tell we're gonna get on because you're tracks are.. fire an... you're cute." He winks making me chuckle.

I take his hand and give it a firm shake.

"Right let's get Crackle- akin then." He clasps his hands together and returns to the swivel chair, pulling himself back to the mixing desk.

Tessa, John and Jenny give us a quick wave then head out the room leaving us to get on.

I stand in the middle of the wide room nervously playing with the cuffs of my jacket, this is it.

"So have you ever recorded in a studio before G?" he asks fiddling with a few dials.

"Well unless someones spare room counts, no." He chuckles,

"Well, we've all got to start somewhere right? I worked as a nightclub waiter and occasionally mixing for the early crowds before I got my job here." I laugh sweetly.

Knowing they're not all privileged asses like Colton makes me feel slightly more relaxed.

"So what are we laying down first?"

Me, Will and Oaken spend the next twenty minutes deciding which six songs would be good to put on the EP. I played them tones of Riffs and sung them endless amounts of melodies until we had our perfect six songs. It was hard to pick since I've got probably hundreds of songs stored in my unpublish discography but Will kept telling me to trust my instinct... so that's what I did and I'm ready for the world to now hear them.

I plop myself down in the cool metal stool under the microphone and pop shield in the booth. I take a sweep around the room looking at all the fancy equipment. I still can't shake the feeling I don't belong here, one of those guitars on the wall cost three-quarters of what I earn in a year. Only the elite of artists have sat in this chair, it feels so wrong that I'm now sat here too.

I place the headphones over my ears and take a long breath, I start picking the skin on my fingers in an attempt to distract myself from the thudding of anxious thoughts in my mind.

"Don't be nervous, okay?" My head shoots up to find Will standing behind the glass smiling at me.

"Just pretend you're at Niki's or somewhere and you're friends are there shouting in the front row! It's going to be okay Gigi! This is meant to be exciting and fun! Take a breath and relax!" I smile thinking about if Sofia and Jacob were here right now and what Niki would be hollering from the bar. I remove my hands from the firm vice I'd created and my breathing starts to even out.

"And if you mess up? Who cares, we've got tones of time and we can do it as many times at you need okay! We're here to help you, babe, not frighten you!" Oaken says through my headphones.

Take a deep breath, this is fun. This is what you were born to do. So let's do it.

I smile and nod at them.

The backing track fills my ears and I get ready to push the lyrics out,

It's all going to be alright.

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