BLOODLINES

Prologue: Sadie's Voice


 Life is a whirlwind. A total and utter whirlwind. I swear, since that afternoon when I came back from Misfit Music and was asked to join Jewel, nothing has been even remotely the same. It's just over two weeks ago now, but it seems a whole age, because everything in my life is so different all of a sudden. I've been whisked into music studios bigger than my whole flat back in Birmingham, in order to prove to Miss Gabor and Ms Pelligrini - oh but no, I'm to call them Phyllis and Jetta now - that I could play guitar adequately to be a part of the band. I almost threw up, I was so nervous! But they seemed to like what they heard, thank goodness. Phyllis even said that, if she'd known I was hiding out at Starlight Mansion before, she would never have bothered with the talent sweep. Still, it created some good publicity for Jewel, and that's important, I'm learning that. Good publicity seems to be everything round these parts. I believe I know the real Jewel, but I seriously wonder how much of America as a whole do. They don't see the squabbles Sylva and Nancy have over keyboards or song words. They don't see Copper weeping into her popcorn when there's a romantic film on the telly, and they haven't seen Topaz in her current state of maternal madness, getting everything ready for baby and, well, I have to say it, eating some of the weirdest things at the oddest times of night. I'm still adjusting to the Californian time zones, and it means I'm often awake in the middle of the night - the number of late night kitchen chats I've had with her these two weeks is unbelievable, as she munches her way through peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches.

The whole positive publicity thing does worry me a little bit. I mean, I've put pen to paper now. I'm a bonafide Jewel, or I will be, when Topaz hangs up her mic. That's not far away now, she's decided to call it a day when Jewel play a local function here in the city. I suppose it makes sense for her to say goodbye to the band in Los Angeles, where the group's roots are. I do worry though that I've done something very bad, in signing that contract without telling them everything. They don't know that Sadie Monahue has a criminal record, or a history of heroin abuse. They don't know that stuff and I couldn't bear it if they ever did. I wanted a new start and I want to take this with two hands and never let it go. It's a dream, but if the truth came out it'd only turn into a nightmare, so that must never happen. Jewel must never know what Sadie Monahue did in England. It's as simple as that. I've a chance here to make a name for myself as a star...and I'm not going to throw that chance away. Maybe it's dishonest, perhaps it's even lying to them, but I don't care. I have to keep it a secret. Image matters right now, more than anything else.

Last night, Copper dyed my hair. It's weird to think that I'm not exactly blond any more. They've named me Garnet, so consequently I'm developing a decidedly pink image, including the streaks in my hair. I know Garnet is red, but red has never been my colour, and since the stone is pinkish red and pink is definitely my favourite colour, I was happy enough to go with that. Nancy says I look like a strawberry milkshake now...I prefer to think of it as raspberry ripple hair. It's cool. I've not dyed my hair for a long time, and there's always that little rebellious, naughty streak inside of me who wants to stand out and look different, defy convention and make a statement. That's why I went out and got my nose pierced as a kid, when Dad said I couldn't have my bellybutton done. Come to think of it, I've always been kinda like that - maybe it's the artistic streak in me. Trouble is though, I also feel really guilty if I do anything too bad. Especially these days. I know what prison is like and I have no desire to encounter it again any time soon!

Tomorrow morning, the next stage of my transformation from Drug Counsellor to Jewel begins. Misfit Music are hosting a press conference - hence the hastily dyed hair - to present me to the nation as a whole. With Topaz's last performance not far away now, it's apparently important that the public believe the changeover is both voluntary and amicable before it actually happens. Yes, more of that Publicity thing. I can see I'm going to have to learn a lot of new things -what to say and what not to, how to field questions that I don't like, that kind of thing. Tomorrow will be my first big test, and all the encouragement Phyllis gave me about it was to say "Don't blow it, Jewel's reputation hangs on it's success." Well, that's made me feel a lot better. So much better that between that particular interview in her office and returning to the Starlight Mansion I'd smoked a box of ten. But the others promised to give me some pointers and tips and rescue me if things got too intense, so I feel a little better about it now. I've a brand new outfit - all courtesy of the company, it cost more than I earnt in a week in Brum, and I'm afraid almost to touch it - in order to present me to the nation, and I've been led to believe that I will get more Jewel wear at the company's expense as this goes on. A whole new wardrobe - I can't even begin to imagine!

I hope everything goes well tomorrow...I want everyone to like me!
 

 
Prologue: Sadie's Voice
Chapter One: Meeting the Press
Chapter Two: A Tiny Life
Chapter Three: Sirena and Michael
Chapter Four:  A Strange Encounter
Chapter Five: Kelly
Chapter Six: Kelly Acts
Chapter Seven: A Call For Help
Chapter Eight: Luca Takes A Hand
Chapter Nine: Stefana
Chapter Ten: Sadie's Gambit
Chapter Eleven: A Dramatic Rescue

Chapter Twelve: Finale
DISCLAIMER: PLEASE NOTE
Copper, Nancy, Sylva, Anna, Blade, Raesha, Sirena, Topaz, Aaron, Sophie, Justin, Elliot, Rosita, Luis and any other characters in this fiction which do not appear in the animated Jem series are copyrighted to me (E.A Woolley) as of January 2002 <unless otherwise specified> and are not to be reproduced without permission ANYWHERE. Jetta, Pizzazz, Stormer, Roxy, Raya and all other original Jem characters are the copyright of Hasbro Inc, Sunbow, Christy Marx and the other writers of the Jem series. The future world of Pizzazz, Raya, Jetta, Roxy, Stormer, Clash, Synergy, the fate of Jem and her memorial are all copyrighted to me. The future world of Kimber and Shana is copyrighted jointly to myself and Gemma Dawn.
The concept of 'Jewel' is entirely my own, and any apparent link with any fictional or actual person or persons of this name is entirely coincidental. Equally the characters in this fiction are not based on any real life individual.
The concept behind the future world of Danse, Aja and Craig, the idea behind Jerrica's futureworld and the split of the Holograms is copyrighted to Gemma Dawn, whose Teenangel Outsiders fiction is directly twinned with Just a Dream. The character Sammi and any of the other Teenangel Outsider characters mentioned in this fiction are entirely copyright to Gemma Dawn and appear here only with her permission.
Pay her page a visit!