A Jewel Whodunnit...
BLAST FROM THE PAST
PART ONE: CURTAIN DOWN
Chapter Five: Fanmail

"Mom? Can I talk to you?"
Constance Montgomery set down her clipboard of notes for her evening show, casting her daughter a warm smile and noticing the slightly apprehensive expression on the girl's face.
"Sure, Zoe, what's up?" She asked gently. "Something upsetting you? I know the press have been giving you hell lately, is that it?"
"No...it's something else." Zoe came to join her mother, twisting her hands together. "I mean, the press do get to me, but this is something quite different. I was at the Starlight Mansion today, talking over concepts with Jewel for their new video, and we got to talking about, well, other things." She paused, eying her mother nervously.
"Such as?" Constance looked surprised.
"Well, family. And...fathers and stuff." Zoe admitted haltingly.
"Oh. I see." Constance pursed her lips.
"I...guess I kinda wondered if there was anything you could tell me about my Dad?" Zoe asked, her tone hesitant.
Constance sighed.
"I'd really rather not get into the ins and outs of this in a public studio like this one." She said at length. "It's not the kind of discussion we ought to be having when people are coming in and out and anyone might hear what's said."
"I guess I understand that." Zoe frowned. "But Mom, I kinda realised that we've never talked about this at all. And, well, I suppose I'm a bit curious to know, that's all."
"You assume, of course, that I know who he was." Constance said softly. Zoe looked startled.
"Don't you know?" She asked. Constance bit her lip.
"Zoe, I refuse to talk about this with you here." She said evasively. "I have work to do, and I'm sure you do, too. This isn't the time or the place to start talking happy families."
"But..."
"It's never bothered you once over the last twenty four years." Constance interrupted. "The only reason you want to know now is because you and your friends were chatting...by tomorrow you'll have forgotten all about it ."
"Mom, why are you being so defensive about this?" Zoe looked bewildered. "It was just a question!"
"Well, maybe we'll talk later, huh?" Constance cast her daughter a smile. "I'm sorry, Zo, I have so much to do and I can't focus on other things right now."
"It...it's all right." Zoe gave up with a sigh. "I guess I chose a bad time, anyway." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I should be editing in the studio but to be honest I think I'm just going to bunk off and go see Fiona. We had a bit of a fight about things on Saturday and she's going away on tour with some band on Wednesday, so I want things settled."
"Not a serious fight, I hope?" Constance looked concerned. Zoe shook her head.
"No, just me being silly and paranoid because of the press." She responded. "I'll sort it out." She smiled slightly. "I'll see you later, okay?"
"Sure." Constance returned the smile, but Zoe thought there was a measure of relief in her eyes. "Bye, Zoe. Talk soon."
As she watched her daughter leave the studio, the presenter let out her breath in a rush.
"Close." She murmured. "I had hoped we'd never have to deal with this..."

    *************

"Steffi?"
Stefana Ranieri turned from where she had been idly tossing an apple from one hand to the next, sending the girl at the door a look of irritation.
"What?" She demanded. "Don't you know how to knock, Maddy?"
"You have mail." Madeleine Dacourt, the band's singer told her levelly, tossing the envelope towards the bed. "I'd say it was fanmail only that usually comes to us through Rory, so I wondered if maybe it was family."
"Sheesh, why don't you just open it?" Stefana snapped, her tone rich with sarcasm as she snatched the letter up, tossing the apple at her foe who caught it. "Man, you're not my Mom or my big sister so my mail isn't your business. Get out!"
"Friendly as ever." Madeleine rolled her eyes. She and Stefana had never gotten along, and things had been all the more difficult since Luca and Sirena had properly begun seeing each other. Stefana was deeply possessive of her brother and the people he dated, and not being able to control his actions had done nothing for her temper. Madeleine had long ago labelled her a spoiled brat, and tolerated her largely for the sake of the band, but there was more to Stefana's behaviour than just an irritable temperament. Ever since she had dropped out of high school in her senior year Stefana had dabbled with drugs, and these days her dependance on the amphetamines she took was becoming more and more out of hand. Her natural frustrations bubbled over into rage and outburst when she was under the influence, and it was becoming less and less easy to hide her habit from the rest of the group. Only her best friend, keyboardist Marissa Young knew how dangerous Stefana's life really was, but misguided loyalty to her friend had kept her quiet, and now Sirena and Michael were such a large part of Luca's life, Stefana felt more and more isolated. Yes, she had Marissa, but there was something else that she wanted, more badly than even she realised.
Love.
Ever since the first time they had met, Stefana had been fascinated by Aaron Pelligrini in a way that no other man had affected her before. He wasn't rough or wild or anything her usual taste in boyfriends had been, but he had always treated her with the utmost kindness and warmth, and it had made a difference to her lonely subconscious. Aaron was Copper's man, and even a personality as stubborn and difficult as Stefana's might well have acknowledged this, had it not been for the drugs. They had made her world a rollercoaster of anger and paranoia and her unrequited crush on Aaron had become far more in her mind, making her believe that, if only Copper was not an issue, Aaron might well be hers. If anyone had pointed any of this out to her, she would have laughed in their face, but nevertheless it was true.
Once Madeleine was gone, Stefana slit open the envelope with a carefully manicured nail, curious despite herself as to the source of the letter. She did not, as a rule, have personal correspondance and though she got her fair share of band fanmail through the group's agent Rory Llewelyn, it had been a long time since any letter had come through the post addressed to her directly.
There was only one sheet of paper inside, folded and written in blue ball point pen. With a frown she unfolded it, skimming over it's contents.

'Stefana,' [it read]
            'My friends and I are all such big fans of Diablo, you rock so much more than those jumped up floozies that call themselves celebrities at Misfit Music. Please don't be mad that I got your address, I just wanted to meet you so much and I didn't know how else to reach you. My name is Jake and I live in Los Angeles too. I think you're the most beautiful girl I ever saw. I'd do anything if you'd meet up with me. I'd be the happiest man on the planet.
Please don't just think I'm another weirdo, I really care about you and I know we could be great together. If you like we could meet up sometime. I work at Misfit Music but I'd much rather be working for you. I've left my phone number...it'd mean everything to me if you'd get in touch.
                                                    My deepest love,   
                                                                            Jake'.

"Sap." Stefana snorted, folding the letter back up and preparing to tear it in two when suddenly she paused. "Hang on...Misfit Music, did he say? He works there?"
Hastily she unfolded the letter once more, reading through it anxiously to make sure she had not made a mistake. A delighted smile touched her lips as she realised she'd been right.
"Well, well. So I have a diehard fan working for the enemy's company." She mused, reaching for her mobile phone and carefully keying in the number. "Perhaps I'll give him a call, make his day, and see if I can't get a little bit of trouble in for Jewel on the side! Might be nice to have a ready made agent of doom working for me at Misfit Music."
She paused, pursing her lips.
"Have to be careful, though." She realised. "I mean, the guy's in love with me, but even someone who's that smitten he'd take the time to find my home address doesn't necessarily turn into an ace saboteur overnight. I need a cover...a ruse. A reason why I'm interested in Misfit Music and seeing Jewel's studio."
She considered.
"Aaron works at the place, but this fan might get shirty if I mention another guy." She mused, not realising as she did so that she had set Aaron apart in her mind as a competitive love interest for her admirer. "So I guess I'll have to cultivate the idea that, since Marissa and the others are so hung up on Jewel, I am too. I'll play it nice and innocent, pretend I'm their best friend or something, and then I've no doubt he'll do anything he can to help me. But for now, first things first. I need to meet this adoring fan of mine." She chuckled. "Boy, Jewel really don't know what's gonna hit em!"



BLAST FROM THE PAST: PART ONE

Prologue: 1989
Chapter One: The "Anniversary"
Chapter Two: Jewel's Sound
Chapter Three: At Sirena's Place
Chapter Four: Jewel's Video
Chapter Five: Fanmail
Chapter Six: A Stranger
Chapter Seven: Stefana's Date
Chapter Eight: The Results
Chapter Nine: A Moment's Weakness
Chapter Ten: A Shock For Zoe
Chapter Eleven: A Surprise For Jetta
Chapter Twelve: Fire!

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!