Just A Dream...
A Gabor Legacy
Chapter Eight: Scandal!
"This just isn't good enough."
Rory Llewelyn paced across his office, a frown on his face as he surveyed
the accounts. "Sophie, losing Blade has made a bigger dent than I thought
it would, and the publicity around Emily is beginning to falter. The company
stands to lose a large amount of money if this continues."
His partner, Sophie Devereux looked thoughtful.
"Then you must improve the publicity." She said finally. "I think that
some kind of...commemoration, is that your word? For Blade would be successful.
You have many tracks on disk waiting to be formatted into an album...why
stop the process? Now he is dead, it will attract twice as much attention
and sell twice as well. He is not here to take his share of the profits."
She smiled. "And as for Emily, she is a clever girl, and she knows 'ow
to get the public attention, but per'aps a little 'elping hand for her
would be good?"
"What do you have in mind?"
"Nothing particular." Sophie shrugged. "That is your department. But
disks always sell better when there is some speculation about the singer,
if it is true or not. In this business I do not believe that there is such
a thing as bad publicity."
"You know, maybe you're right." Rory considered his companion's words
carefully, for, innocent as she may seem, Sophie was both devious and good
at improvising. "Maybe you have something there, Sophie. What I need
is some wild story, something that's not likely to be true, but that the
press lap up anyway."
A slow smile spread across his face.
"You know, I think I might just have it." He said. "Will you excuse
me? I have a phone call I must make."
"Avec plaisir." Sophie winked at him. "Good luck!"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"You guys are never gonna believe what I just heard."
Sylva darted into the kitchen of Starlight Mansion, breathless and
excited. "The juiciest piece of gossip this side of the Atlantic and boy
would I not like to be Sirena at this moment!"
"What's up?" Topaz, who was fiddling with the microwave buttons gave
up trying to set the timer, coming to join the younger girl. "Let's see,
Syl - what's this big story?"
"Yeah, what's so important?" Copper added.
Sylva held out the newspaper.
"Take a look." She said. "Where's Nance? She should see this too."
"In her room, moping over Dean." Topaz said slowly. "It's impossible
to get sense from her at the moment, so I'd not bother trying, Syl."
Sylva cast Topaz a surprised look, for the other girl was usually laid
back and easy going.
"They had a spat over the bathroom. No biggie." Copper explained, picking
up on the paper and flicking though it. "Go easy on her, both of you...she
doesn't know which way to turn at the moment."
She glanced down at the tabloid, letting out a gasp of surprise. "Oh
my God...do you think it's true?"
"I wouldn't like to be her if it is." Topaz peered over the redhead's
shoulder. "You reckon she and Blade were close enough for her to be?"
"If you ask me, she's cheap and nasty enough to do it anyway, if she
knows the guy's name or not." Sylva snorted.
"What's the noise?"
At that moment Nancy joined them in the kitchen, and Copper held out
the paper.
"Latest scandal in the Sirena/Blade saga." She said dryly. "According
to this rag, she's expecting his kid."
"Holy...is it true?" Nancy came to look closer.
"It's a tabloid, who knows." Copper shrugged. "But they seem to be
willing to risk legal repercussions by printing it."
"Guess they know something we don't." Topaz suggested.
"She wasn't well the other night at the studio." Nancy remembered.
"Oh! Could history repeat itself?"
"What do you mean?" Sylva asked. Nancy blushed, realising she'd spoken
out loud.
"Nothing." She said, dismissing it with a wave of her hand.
"If you ask me it's probably garbage." Copper decided. "Some publicity
ploy by Rebel Records to keep the hype going."
"Cynical." Topaz grinned.
"Yeah, guess so." Copper looked rueful. "Guess I'm getting fed up with
these publicity blitzes Rory Llewelyn keeps throwing into the mix." She
ran her fingers through her hair, glancing at the clock as she did so.
"We better go, we've a session in ten minutes at Misfit Music." she
observed. "Let's leave the hot gossip alone a while, huh?"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"What the hell is all this about?"
Sirena stormed into her superior's office, slamming the offending magazine
down on the table and glaring at him accusingly. "What are you trying to
do to me?"
"Emily, my dear, is something amiss?" Rory met her gaze quite calmly,
his tone oozing false concern. Sirena's eyes narrowed.
"Don't play that game with me!" She snapped. "I know you had a hand
in this somewhere! What's the matter, not enough real stories for you to
grab publicity with so you gotta make something up?"
"Calm yourself." Rory chided. "In this business there is no such thing
as bad publicity."
"Oh yeah?" Sirena returned. "Well, you try being on the receiving end
of this, Rory! How am I meant to finish cutting my album with all these
stories buzzing around and reporters harassing me all the time! You better
damn well do something!"
"If there's no truth in these remarks, then go see a doctor and obtain
proof of it." Rory told her sweetly.
"I intend to!" Sirena retorted. "Right now, if I possibly can! I don't
know what game this is but I ain't playing along!"
"No games, my dear." Rory spread his hands. "This is business."
Sirena merely let out an exclamation of frustration, walking out of
the office and slamming the door behind her so hard that one of the pictures
fell off the wall.
"How dare he. How dare he!" She muttered under her breath, her
expression black as thunder as she got into her car, screeching out of
the Rebel Records parking lot. "What in hell does he think I am, his toy?
Well, we'll see about that! I'm going to see a doctor about this and then
I'm going to call a press conference and denounce the story publically
- with proof! This kind of a scandal could totally wreck my image! I mean,
get real, Rory, what do you think I'd do with a baby?"
A sudden chill came over her as she realised how close her sentiments
had come to echoing those of her mother twenty one years back, and she
pushed the thought from her head.
"I'm not pregnant, anyway." She murmured. "I ain't that dumb! Blade
was business and I know how to protect myself! This is just one of Rory's
psycho games, and that's all. Don't get yourself wound up. The doctor will
soon put things in their proper place."
Sirena had never had much time for medical weakness. As a child her
visits to the doctor had been few and far between, for she had been strong
and healthy, and had scorned making 'unnecessary childish fuss' over little
colds and stomach bugs. The only time she had ever been really ill had
been a bad bout of measles when she had been nine years old, and even that
had only kept her in bed for a week.
A second chill touched her as she contemplated this.
She wasn't one to get sick, so why had she been so unsteady in recent
weeks?
"Shock and too much alcohol." She decided finally, pulling up onto
the front of the hospital and ignoring the groups of people who paused
to stare after her. She was gonna get this sorted once and for all!
Storming into the building she demanded to see a doctor immediately.
After getting a few funny looks from the nurses, she found herself referred
to the office of one Dr Kusnik. Bad tempered and barely cooperative, she
discovered that she was being quickly ushered into the room with as little
fuss as possible, for other patients were beginning to stare and complain
at the noise.
Dr Kusnik was in her late twenties, with long brown hair in a ponytail
and a friendly smile which did not waver even at the sight of Sirena's
glower.
"You must be Miss Raymond." She said, indicating for her to sit down,
which Sirena did with very bad grace. "Can I ask why you've come to see
me?"
"You must be the only damn person in the whole of Cali who's wondering
that." Sirena snapped. "The papers are reporting some nonsense that I'm
pregnant and I wanna prove once and for all that I ain't."
"I see." The doctor paused for a moment, as if assessing the situation.
"Have you any reason to think that you could be?"
"Are you listening to me?" Sirena retorted. "I said I'm not! I just
want someone who can verify it for me if the press persist with this lamebrained
story!"
"Very well." The doctor's smile became a little less amiable. "Let
me ask you some routine questions, then, to give me a picture of what's
going on, and then we'll get to the nitty gritty of it. Have you had any
sickness lately?"
"Why?"
"Please, Miss Raymond, if you want my help you need to help me in return."
Dr Kusnik's tone was weary.
"Once." Sirena relented. "Apart from when I got a hangover, or something.
But that's nowt to do with anything! That was delayed shock, that one time,
and not anything else!"
"Shock?"
"Do you never read the papers?" Sirena rolled her eyes in exasperation.
Briefly she recounted Blade's death for the umpteenth time, and the doctor's
expression cleared.
"Ah. You're Sirena...I knew you were familiar to me." she said. "All
right, I understand now. Let's see if we can't clear this up for you."
PART SIX: A GABOR LEGACY
Prologue: Twenty One Years Ago
Chapter One: Sirena And Blade
Chapter Two: Nancy's Heart
Chapter Three: Coup D'Etat
Chapter Four: The Reaction
Chapter Five: Nancy Finds Out
Chapter Six: Dilemma
Chapter Seven: Facing Phyllis
Chapter Eight: Scandal!
Chapter Nine: An Unexpected Shock
Chapter Ten: A Revelation
Chapter Eleven: Harvey Takes
A Hand
Chapter Twelve: Sirena vs Pizzazz
Chapter Thirteen: Settling Rory
Chapter Fourteen: At Misfit Music
Epilogue: A New Beginning
JEWELFIC
MAIN PAGE:
Copper, Nancy, Sylvie, Anna, Blade, 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.