Chapter 54

A quick rewind for a moment: They arrived in Oslo at tea-time the day after the awards ceremony. After checking in, and letting the girls from The Debs settle in, they all met up and had dinner in the hotel.

"So, Ziggy, these are The Debs: I had a chat with them on the flight over, and they are very willing to chat to you about their experiences of the music scene in London."

"Oh, thanks guys... It's a big step to take, relocating from Scotland and all that, it's just a bit scary!"

"Linda showed us a video of you playing with them during rehearsals" said Debbie, the leader of the Debs, "and you seem pretty capable, and pretty confident, I really don't think you'd any problems finding a half-decent band to play with somewhere in London. Yeah, you might need to jump around bands a few times, but that's kinda like any normal job..."

Linda asked the four 'Debs' about the whole music scene in London, which was good, because they were far more active in it than Carol, Jenny and Dianne had been. The smile on Ziggy's face indicated that she was becoming a lot more positive about moving to London, and becoming a professional musician.

----

It was at breakfast the following morning - the morning after the Oslo performance - when Linda asked the others: "So, we all agreed then?

"Yes, so you going to ask them?" asked Dianne.

"Why not. Ben, you should come over too." Ben and Linda walked over to where the four Debs, and their manager, were eating breakfast.

"Hi again. Well done on last night... Umm, we have an idea that we think you'll like..."

"Oh yeah, what's that then?" asked Debbie.

"Well, I know you're performing at Vixen, ..."

"Yeah, about that: any chance you guys could introduce our set at Vixen?"

"I don't see why not!"

"Hey, thanks! Sorry, you were about to say?"

"Yeah, you guys doing anything the weekend after Vixen?". Debbie looked at their manager.

"I don't think so..."

"Oh good, so how would you like to be our support band?"

"Those are your last 3 concerts, at Wembley Arena aren't they?"

"That's right: Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday evening. We'd like you to open the show for us with a 30 minute set. And your own instruments, of course." There were suddenly 4 very excited girls, no longer eating breakfast! Last night they had played 3 songs at the the huge Unity Arena here in Oslo, but Wembley: that was almost as big, but in England!

----

After Oslo, and with The Debs back in London, they headed southwards, to Copenhagen in Denmark, then Hamburg in Germany, followed by performances in Amsterdam and Antwerp.

Amsterdam:

The girls' coach arrived at the hotel a few minutes before the other one with the crew, so they had all checked in when it pulled in. Linda had noticed a lady, late 20s, maybe early 30s, was waiting in reception with a small suitcase, and looking at the people coming in, as if she was waiting for someone. Finally the person she was waiting for came in: it was Simon, one of the guys who looked after their drums and guitars.

"So, who's the lady, do you know?" Linda asked one of the other crew members.

"Oh, that'll be Simon's wife, it's their 10th wedding anniversary, so he invited her over for a few days".

"Oh lovely... and thanks for that: I think I need to do something!". The first thing Linda did was to call Brian and have a quick conversation. "No, that's fine!" was Brian's response. Linda went over to them just as they were checking in.

"So, Simon, I believe this is your wife: nice to meet you, I'm Linda."

"Linda is the 'L' Of CJDL..." explained Simon.

"Oh, right, nice to meet you, I'm Yvonne!"

Linda noticed that Simon had just picked up his door-card. "Can I have a quick look at your door-card please?" asked Linda. Simon passed it over to Linda. "Yeah, you really don't want that one, why don't you take this one instead, I can manage in yours." She passed over her own room-card to Simon. "Enjoy the room, and make sure to have a nice meal in the restaurant tonight, and charge it to the room. Happy Anniversary!"

"You sure?" asked Simon, with a beaming smile.

"Of course I am. Your missus has come to visit you for a special occasion, it's the least I can do. And I'm sure you'll enjoy the room so much more than I ever would!"

With Simon and his wife on their way to the lift, Linda went over to the concierge. "Hi, can you do me a favour please? Can you send a nice bottle of bubbly up to room 723, and charge it to the room? It was my room, but I just swapped it with a member of our crew whose wife is visiting, it's their wedding anniversary."

"Ah, right, yes I can do that for you. Can I just get you to sign a slip...." Luckily he had realised both from the room number, and from having seen Linda checking in, that she was one of the band.

"Make it something nice! And can you say it's from CJDL with our love?" said Linda as she signed the slip.

----

"Erm, Linda, where are you? Dad said something about swapping rooms..."

Linda explained what she'd done. "So, I'm in 205, where are you, I'll come up to you."

"We're in mum and dad's suite, 729" replied Jenny. "By the way, lovely gesture!"

"Ok, I'll be there in a few minutes". Linda grabbed her phone and bag, and caught the lift up to the 7th floor. On the way to room 729, she passed 723, so she stopped and knocked on the door: Simon answered it.

"Just checking your room is ok for you..." said Linda, smiling.

"It is amazing, thank you so much. And I'm assuming it was you who organised the bubbly for us? That was a really pleasant surprise!" said Simon.

"I can not tell a lie, it was me. Well, enjoy the evening! No doubt we'll see you down in the restaurant...

"Hey, is that... Linda?" said Simon's wife, coming to the door. "Linda, thank you SO much, the room is lovely... I hope your room is ok for you?"

"I'll be honest, I actually feel 100% at home in a 'normal' room. In fact, hotel rooms are still a bit of a novelty for me! I'm sure Simon can explain..."

----

"Hey, what took you?" asked Jenny when she finally got to room 729.

"Just checking that Simon and his wife were settled in!" She explained about the bubbly too.

"You are a big softy! Not sure I'd have thought about the bubbly!"

"It's just nice to be in a position where we can do something nice for someone who deserves it."

"Yeah, I keep forgetting that this is still relatively new to you! So, Ziggy is getting all fired up about moving to London, she had a great time chatting to the Debs the other day."

"Yeah, I've noticed that. We need to do another run-through with Ziggy for her performance for Vixen, I think it's gonna go down well."

"You're looking forward to playing it too, aren't you?"

"I can not deny it, I am... Shame Baby Metal aren't there, so we could do something with them."



[74/16204]

Chapter 56

The end of the tour was in sight! They were back in England with just 4 performances left: the last three were lined up for Wembley Arena, but the other one was a very different performance: they were headlining the Vixen Festival on the Saturday evening.

The festival started on the Thursday evening, with a few low-key bands lined up. Most of the 'team' had decided to come along for just the day, on the Saturday, but Linda, along with Zac,  had decided to come on the Friday, arriving at lunchtime: they had brought her old tent and sleeping bags, and were going to camp in the general camping area. For the first time in a long time, they were actually alone: no other band members, no stage crew, no Paula filming them. Just Linda and Zac.

To help with the 'subterfuge' of not being spotted, Linda had dug out some old clothes, her hair was tied back in twin ponytails, and she was wearing some heavy goth-style makeup, all set off by an old Metallica tour shirt and some old scruffy jeans that had been sat in Linda's drawer for the last year or three. It would take a very dedicated CJDL fan to work out that it was her!

They found a space to pitch the tent. "Any problems with setting up here?" Linda asked the couple on the adjacent tent.

"No, fine with us! Want a hand? I'm Terry by the way, this is Viv."

"Oh hi... Linda and Zac". Linda had decided to use their normal names... yes someone MIGHT work it out, but that didn't REALLY matter. With their tent all set up, and their rucksacks inside, they went off to explore.

"It feels so weird, being a punter for a change, rather than a performer!" said Linda.

"Is it a good feeling?" asked Zac.

"Ummm... yeah it is, actually. So who we gonna see?"

"I was thinking that maybe we need to start with food, along with a beer... just got your best interests at heart." said Zac, looking at Linda and smiling. For the last few months, their relationship had been a bit of a long-distance one, apart from the few days Zac had with Linda on tour. And before that, Linda had been busy getting ready for their tour. So it was nice to finally be able to spend time with her.

Whilst Zac and Linda had spoken online a lot, Zac was still a bit apprehensive about the whole idea of being involved with a pop star - you hear all sorts of stories about what goes on, and more importantly what can happen to the partners, or more specifically, ex-partners of pop stars. But Linda DID seem to be a bit different. Heck, how many people like her would be so relaxed about being out in public at a big festival?

They found a food stall that seemed to be doing reasonably healthy food - there was lots of green stuff around - and found somewhere to sit, somewhere without anyone nearby.

"You know, despite all our calls, I realise I don't actually know all that much about you... and I suspect you don't know much about me, apart from what's on Wikipedia!" said Linda.

"Sounds like an excuse to do something about that, now that your tour is nearly over".

"I'm very ok with that idea! So, how you feeling about having a pop-star as your girlfriend then?"

"You know, I was thinking the same thing a moment ago. A lot depends on which day you ask me, but generally I think I'm ok with it, you seem to be a fairly 'normal' sort of person when you're away from the stage!"

"I guess I've not been a pop-star for all that long... back when I was a session musician, I was a VERY normal person. Ok, I got to do short tours with people like Fiona, but I was always in the background... in fact, just like the last tour I did with CJD."

"Don't you mean 'CJDL'?"

"No. Back then I wasn't actually a formal member of the group, it was only at the end of the tour I got 'promoted'! Ok, yeah, they asked me on the tour, of course."

"Tell you what, your 'disguise' seems to be working well!"

"I suspect part of it is that most of these people aren't actually our fans, so have no idea what I look like. I mean, do you know what, say, Dua Lipa actually looks like? And then Dua Lipa without makeup and fancy clothes? I'm not sure I would!"

"Fair comment. So, you have a few day 'off work' next week, what you doing?"

"'Off work'? I wish!. Ok, Zac, I know that I can trust you to keep quiet about things, but I need to specifically ask you to tell no one... and I MEAN no one!... about what I'm about to tell you."

"Yeah ok. It must be something big if you're specifically asking me..."

"Oh, it IS big, and we don't want this getting out, so you don't even tell your mum or your boss! Ok?"

"Ok, I promise."

"Thanks!". Linda looked around, she really didn't want anyone to overhear. "The show next Saturday is in the afternoon for a reason...."

"Yeah, so kids and others can go..."

"Well, that's the cover-story. The REAL reason is that Ben and Jenny are getting married, on stage, in front of a lot of people. Plus we'll be streaming it. But it needs to be kept as a surprise for everyone, ok?"

"Ok, yeah, that IS a biggie, isn't it? So how many know already?"

"Well, the two bands, obviously, and currently about three members of the road crew. We'll be telling the rest, reminding them that their contract means they must stay quiet about it, on Friday. So this week, we need to rehearse the songs we'll be doing, and Ginger from Darkest Knights will be dropping by the mansion too. Plus the 3 members of road crew will be there, to work on the visuals. So, sadly, not much of a week off..." Linda not only said this extra quietly, she was keeping an eye on anyone else who might be anywhere near.

Zac now also realised that his relationship with Linda was good, if she felt ok about sharing such information.

"So, is the mansion 'off limits' for me this week?"

"Not at all. You know, whilst I'm really looking forward to Saturday - it will be fun for so many reasons - I looking forward to next Monday even more. I'll be able to lie in, not worry any more about travelling or sound checks, or packing my suitcase to leave the hotel... And being able to spend to IRL time with my boyfriend!". Linda leaned over, and kissed Zac. It had been quite a while since Linda had had a boyfriend: yes, she's had a few 'short term relationships' over the last few years, but not someone like Zac. She thought back to when she first met him: she hadn't actually been looking to meet someone, but he just 'turned up' at the right place, at the right sort of time. Her biggest worry was that he might get scared of her life, but so far, he seemed to be ok. The next month would be fairly normal at least.

Of course, once the tour was over, she'd need to tell him her OTHER big secret: Trevor had been in touch, and had confirmed that she would be in the next series of 'Singer behind the Mask'. But she'd deal with that when the tour was finally over!



[76/16660]

Nope this is definitely no good way to end this great story

Chapter 57

After their lunch, the two of them walked, hand in hand, to one of the smaller stages, to watch a relatively small band that Linda wanted to see. Linda was worried that maybe Zac's musical taste would be too different, but he seemed fine with her choice. After that, another walk, to another stage. On the way, Linda spotted another couple, seemingly following them, so she stopped to allow them to catch them up. They stopped, and the girl looked at Linda.

"Umm, excuse me, I'm sorry for disturbing you, but are you Linda J?" she asked very politely and quietly.

Linda smiled. "Yes, I am, well spotted... you're the first to actually recognise me!"

"I saw you on TV last night, and you said it would be ok to say 'hello'. Although I wasn't quite sure it WAS you, you look very different today!"

"Yeah, I decided to try and look very normal for a change. Look, we're off to see 'The Links', you're welcome to join us."

"Oh, that's where we were going too, I like them, their music is a bit like yours."

Linda and Zac started to walk again. "So, what's your names?" asked Linda.

"Oh, sorry, I'm Rachel, this is Ryan, my boyfriend."

"Well, I'm Linda of course, and this is my boyfriend, Zac."

"Hey, are you just here for the day, or are you camping?"

"We're camping. I used to go to a few festivals... before I started working with CJD... so I still had all the stuff!"

"Oh, cool!"

"So, I'm guessing you'll be watching us tomorrow night?"

"Of course! I wouldn't miss it!"

They were about to pass a bar... Linda looked at her watch: there was still some time before The Links were due on stage. "Want to have a beer with us?" suggested Linda. Linda had quickly warmed to Rachel: she was being very pleasant and polite, and amazingly 'normal'. Not that she should be THAT surprised, they had found that their attitude towards their fans tended to make them be surprising pleasant towards the band.

They went into the bar: there was a bit of a queue, but it wasn't long before she was served. They took their beers and sat at a table: whilst Linda was generally slightly apprehensive about being spotted by a mass of fans, she realised that by being with another, unknown, couple would probably work in her favour.

"Did you manage to catch us at one of our concerts?"

"No, I didn't, so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night. But I've seen quite a few clips online. I also listened to the album you did as 'Eight Girls with Braces', it's good!"

"It's a bit of a reduced set tomorrow, unfortunately: we only have 2 hours, we normally take over 3 hours. As for the album... we would have gone into the studios to record that joint music, but we just didn't have time."

"Oh, I think it's nice that it's live, it has a good feel to it. Hey, you going to be doing Gimme Cereals tomorrow? I saw some videos, and it was really great, but you had to stop the dancing because of your leg, didn't you?"

Linda was torn between saying 'no comment' and saying 'yes', but went for the latter. "Yes, we will, and you'll be glad to hear that I'll be dancing it properly. I've been easing in to it over the last week or so."

"I guess you were in a lot of pain when it happened, but I'm assuming that, once you were in your cast it was a lot better - I broke my leg a few years ago! Your leg seems ok now..."

"It is ok now... but yeah, it hurt like crap when it happened. After that, having the cast wasn't at all painful, but incredibly annoying! I think the worst was sitting down, I always needed to have something holding my leg up!"

"I know you had someone to help you, didn't you? Ziggy wasn't it? What's happened to her, now you're better again?"

"Ziggy is a lovely girl, and she's still with us. You may have heard that she's a bit of a musician too, so we're going to try and help her to find a band to play with. But she's been having a bit of fun playing with a few of the stage crew... 'checking the sound system and instruments' is what they call it!! But we're all ok with that, they know what they are doing!" She decided not to say anything about what Ziggy would be doing tomorrow night.

They continued chatting for a bit, before going to see The Links. While Linda had been chatting with Rachel, Zac chatted a bit with Ryan.

"Hey, maybe we should leave you two to watch the band alone, but thanks for chatting... and the beer! I don't suppose...?" asked Rachel, getting her phone out.

"Yes, but on one condition: you don't post it online until at least tomorrow evening, I'd like to keep my 'secret identity' a secret for a bit longer!"

"Yeah, ok, I understand! Thanks!"
 
----

Carol woke up on Friday morning to find Tom looking at her.

"You look very calm and relaxed when you're asleep" he commented, smiling at Carol. Like Carol, Tom had braces, and Carol, whilst not generally having a thing for braces (unlike Ben, who definitely does!), did find them attractive on Tom. She leaned towards Tom and kissed him.

"It's nice to wake in my own bed for a change, and realise that I have a day off. Shame you have to work though."

"Come and join me, you can tell our listeners about the tour so far, you know how much they like hearing you!"

"I'll think about it... if you take me somewhere for lunch first!"

"It'll have to be an early lunch."

"That's ok with me, I just want to spend some time with you."

"Ok, then, lunch is on me. Anyway, I thought you were free next week?"

"Just because we aren't performing doesn't mean we have nothing to do. I mean, we have to..." Carol stopped suddenly. "Umm, Tom, there's something maybe I should tell you, but you have to promise me that you'll say nothing to anyone, not even your mum and dad."

"Wow, it must be important. How long do I need to keep this secret for then?"

"A week tomorrow..."

"The Saturday? Ok, I can do that!"

"So, you know our Saturday performance at Wembley is in the afternoon, well there's a reason for that."

"Yeah, I know, it's to let the families, and disable people, come along... isn't it?"

"Well, that's another reason, but the REAL reason is... that... Ben and Jenny are getting married."

"What, on stage?"

"Yep!".

Tom was smiling widely. "Oh my goodness! That sounds just Like Jenny! But wow, I'm so glad they are finally doing it! So why the secrecy?"

"Well, the main reason is that Jenny wants to give our fans a surprise, but let's be honest, could you imagine how many fans would turn up if they knew?"

"And the press too, I guess."

"Yes, them too. So next week we're going to be busy rehearsing."

"Surely getting married isn't going to need THAT much rehearsing?"

"No, but both Northern Girls and we are doing some special songs, so we need to be sure we get it right. I mean, we wouldn't want to mess up Jenny's big day because we forgot the words, would we?"

Tom giggled. "No, that WOULD be unfortunate! So who else knows?"

"Not all that many people. They've told their relatives some story about Jenny wanting to treat them all to a big family dinner, and have also invited them to see the show. A couple of the crew know, simply because they need time to get things organised, like the visuals. The two bands and management teams also know, and that's about it."

"So, they having a reception?"

"Yes, next door, in the smaller hall - although the staff there think a couple of fans are getting married after the show. All the crew will be invited, as well as a small group of fans."

"How you managing THAT?"

"Well, we have selected about 50 'VIP' fan club members, and have told them we'll be doing a 'once in a lifetime' evening event for them. Little do they realise how much of a 'once in a lifetime' we mean!"

----

Whilst Dianne had been talking online to Mike quite regularly while she was away, she was still a bit nervous to actually meet up in person again. The relationship between Dianne and Mike was an odd one: one moment they would be all lubby-dubby, the next moment they might be arguing. It was frustrating for Dianne - probably for Mike too - but it made her realise all the more how much she loved Mike. She was willing to put up with the occasional rough patch, to be able to spend quality time with him.

Mike wasn't able to get the Thursday off, so after work, he went straight to the TV studios: when he got there, the girls were in the middle of their rehearsal, so he waited in the green room. Today, despite the hassles getting to the TV studios, he was in a good mood, and was really looking forward to seeing Dianne again.

The door opened and in came Jenny, Linda, Carol, and - as ever - Dianne was at the back. Dianne saw Mike, and Mike saw Dianne: they both smiled at each other, and Mike came over and put his arms gently around Dianne, and kissed her.  They stayed locked in the embrace for a while.

"Hey, Dianne, it's so nice to see you, feel you again. I've missed you!". Dianne relaxed: Mike was clearly in a really good mood today.

"I've missed you too!" she said, hugging Mike a bit tighter for a moment.

"How was rehearsal?"

"Oh, fine, just need to do it for real now!"

"You'll be fine, you always are! I mean, I saw you guys in Paris, in front of that huge crowd, it didn't seem to worry you a bit."

Dianne smiled, letting Mike see her crooked teeth and the braces on the teeth. "Yeah, true!" She took a deep breath. "I'm looking forward to just over a week's time even more, when the tour is actually over. But even tonight will be nice, sleeping in my own bed, rather than 'yet another fancy hotel room'. My place may be a little messy, but it feels so much more like home."

Whilst Mike, like Linda, was a drummer in a band - Three Play - he had a day job, and played only in the evenings. If they did any sort of a 'tour', they either drove back through the darkness, or found somewhere cheap to stay. They didn't have the luxuries afforded to a large popular group. Mike sometimes wondered if part of the occasional issues between them was the fact that CJDL were so popular, but Three Play were still 'just a pub band'. Yes, they HAD been offered the chance to record some songs, but that wasn't really them, so yeah, maybe there WAS a bit of jealousy there. Mike had no doubt that Dianne was actually a better drummer than him, but then again, she had practised a LOT more than he could ever do. But separate from any other feelings he might have, Mike felt both respect and love towards Dianne: he would probably do almost anything for her.

"You manage to get some sleep last night?" Mike asked. He knew that they had driven back through the night.

"I did, actually, which surprised me. I must be getting used to coach travelling... besides, our driver is a really smooth driver, and it's a good coach. Tell you what though..." she said in a much louder voice, so everyone could hear, "I couldn't half do with some dinner! Anyone know where they are doing the food?"

One of the studio assistants was in the room with them. "Let me go check it's ready..." he said.

----

After 'a bit of fun' together, Dianne put in her lip bumper and headgear, fell asleep very quickly, and slept well: it's amazing the difference being in your own bed makes.

When Dianne woke, she realised she had her arm around Mike, and he had his around her. Their faces were just inches apart. Dianne loved being able to look at Mike when he was asleep, he always looked so calm. She had been watching him for maybe ten minutes, when his eyes opened. Seeing Dianne there, looking at him, he smiled. Dianne moved her face closer to his, pouted her lips around her facebow, and kissed him. One kiss lead to another, and soon Mike was running his tongue over Dianne's braces and headgear. Normally they did little for him, but for some reason, today they were having a noticeable effect.

----

"Oh, it is SOOO good to be back home!" said Jenny as they walked up the stairs to her flat. Unlike the other three, she had been with Ben all through the tour. However, there were some things that they both missed whilst being on the road. Ben sorted out the first of them by powering on the coffee maker, and filling the tank with some water. The place was nice and tidy: their 'housekeeper' had clearly been keeping an eye on the place, and there was a note on the kitchen worktop from her:

'Fresh milk in the fridge for you. I know you're off to Vixen late tomorrow, so will pop in later in the day to tidy up. You said you'd be back for the weekend, but what about next week? Jeanie'. Jeanie was a life-saver: she cleaned for all four of the girls, but more importantly, kept an eye on their flats when they were away (and made sure there was milk for them when they got back, as well as some ready-meals in the freezer!)

'Thank you, Jeanie!' thought Ben.

While Ben was in the kitchen, Jenny had popped into the bedroom: when she re-appeared in the kitchen, she was wearing her old headgear, but rather than just a neck-strap, she was wearing an Interlandi.

"Jennifer Stevens, you are a blatant hussy!"

"But you wouldn't have it any other way, would you?". She walked over to Ben, and kissed him as best she could with the facebow in the way. "You gonna put your braces in?" she asked him.

Yes, if you remember back quite a few stories, you'll remember that not only does Ben have a big thing for braces (or is is pop-stars in braces? Or maybe just girls in braces? Who cares!), Jenny is 100% ok with it, and even bought him a variety of fake braces too. However, these facts were not at all widely known, even her parents and brother had no idea... so they had decided not to take any of the fakes, or even Jenny's old headgear, with them on tour, 'just in case'.

"I think I'll have my coffee first, if you don't mind. Yours will be ready in a moment."

While Ben sat in the lounge area drinking coffee, Jenny popped into the bedroom to get Ben's braces. "What do you fancy wearing then?" called out Jenny.

"I'll let you choose, I don't mind." Jenny pulled out the fake metal brackets with herbst. "Oooh, not messing around then!" he commented as she returned to the lounge.

"Go on, put them in...". As Ben picked up the fake braces, he started to get certain feelings... feelings that we're not allowed to write about here! By the time he put them into his mouth, the feelings in his trousers were getting a lot stronger. Jenny (by now she'd removed the headgear) leaned over and kissed Ben, running her tongue over his braces: she knew  he liked it when she did that. In return, he was running his tongue over her braces.

Ben started to rub Jenny's shoulders, and then his hands started to move to her front, where he found...

[Oh dear, we seem to be having a technical issue with the feed from their flat, we'll try and fix it as soon as we can!]

----

While Linda was already at the festival on the Friday, the other three were taking things slowly, enjoying being back home, with nothing else planned. Linda could have also stayed at home with Zac, but, in fact, she was having a really nice time at Vixen. They managed to see several bands in the afternoon, then grabbed some food (oh, and beer!), and went back to their tent for a brief rest, before going to see the evening bands. A few others seemed to have a similar idea, so Linda and Zac joined them.

"I'm Linda by the way, this is Zac..." said Linda, wondering if any of the others there would recognise their names...

"You look kinda familiar... you from Coventry by any chance?" asked Yvette, who had previously introduced herself.

Linda smiled. "No, definitely a London girl!". They chatted about the festival, and who they had watched, and who they were planning to go and see. The chat was very friendly and fun.

"Well, I'm definitely going to see The Debs tomorrow afternoon!" said Linda.

"The Debs? Aren't they the band that picked up that award a couple of weeks ago, from..." Yvette stopped talking very suddenly, and was looking at Linda quite intently. "No way! No frigging way!!!".

"What?" asked Yvette's boyfriend, Jamie.

Yvette had picked up her phone and was searching for something online...

"Maybe I should just tell you?" suggested Linda.

Zac joined in the fun: "It's spelt 'JACOBSON'" he said, smiling.

"Erm, what this all about?" asked Mary, one of the others.

"I think Yvette just worked out who I am! As in who I REALLY am!"

"And that is?"

"Ok, time to come clean: I'm Linda Jacobson, I'm the 'L' in CJDL, and this is my boyfriend Zac. We've just been on a European tour, so I decided I need a day off with Zac, so we thought we'd come to Vixen... a day early!"

"I told you I recognised her!" said Yvette. "But what... why...?"

"Because it's actually nice to be 'normal' for a change, and come along to Vixen again."

"Again?"

"Yeah, I was here, as a very normal punter, a couple of years ago: that was before I joined CJDL. So, once you're over the initial shock, I hope it's not going to be a problem? The fact that none of you recognised me sooner means you aren't big fans of ours, and that is NOT a problem for me."

"So you are REALLY Linda from CJDL? You're not just messing with us?" asked Mary's boyfriend.

"I really am: Yvette, you found a picture of me yet?" said Linda with a smile. "If so, do pass it around. Maybe if I do this, it will help..." Linda took her hair out of its ponytails, and let it hang more normally.

"Aren't you worried about people recognising you?"

"Apart from you guys, who needed a subtle prompt, only one other person has recognised me, and we ended up drinking a beer with her and her boyfriend. I did have to go a bit heavy with the makeup though!"

"I still find it odd that someone as big as you would want to 'slum it', camping here at Vixen".

"Just because my job puts me in the public eye doesn't mean that things like coming to a festival to relax and enjoy the music is something that I don't want to do!"

"You'd be surprised how 'normal' Linda can be at times" added Zac. "In fact, all of them are surprisingly normal and down-to-earth."

"So, what do you do Zac, and how did you two happen to get together?"

"I'm a graphic designer, and Linda was at the same college as me, we met at a social event."

"Yes, Zac is my 'anti-fan'!" said Linda. "He not into 'girl bands', but to be honest, I'm not really either."

"But surely CJDL *is* a girl band?" asked Mary.

"They definitely used to be, but not so much now. My musical influences seem to be rubbing off on the band."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm responsible for several of the songs on our current album, and my tastes seem to also affect the others."

"So who's currently your favourite band?"

"Oh, that's easy... Baby Metal!"

"Baby Metal. They're a bit different from what CJDL play, surely?"

"Well yes... and no..."

"What do you mean?"

"Yvette, care to do a search on You Tube for 'Gimme Cereals'?"

"You mean 'Gimme Chocolate'?"

"No, that's the one Baby Metal do. Ours is called 'Gimme Cereals': it's a crazy idea I got from those cereal adverts we did a bit ago."

"Oh, yeah, I remember those...". In the background Linda could hear some music, and Yvette held up her phone for everyone to see.

"That's me, leading the vocals..." said Linda, proudly.

"There's only three of you though..."

"Yeah, Dianne decided to sit this one out, so she's playing drums with the rest of our 'Kami Band'"

"I am DEFINITELY coming to see you tomorrow if you're going to do this..."

"Oh, we'll be doing it, you don't know how much I've missed not doing it!"

"Uh?"

Linda explained about her accident, her broken leg and so on. "By the way, if you're looking forward to that, then there's something else in our set that you'll enjoy, but I'm afraid I can say no more about it. Just come along and enjoy it!"

The small group that she and Zac were talking with seemed completely at easy talking and joking with her, which Linda enjoyed. It was strange because she was so used to chatting with fans, but these guys weren't CJDL fans.

"So, Yvette, Jamie, who are your favourite bands?"

"Oh, Jamie's a Darkest Knights headbanger, I'm more of a Dua Lipa person."

"Darkest Knights are a great bunch... we played support for them a bit ago..."

"Yeah, I remember reading something about that... how on earth did THAT happen?" Linda explained about how Jenny first met Darkest Knights because of Ben's birthday, and how their support band went down with Covid, so they stepped in for 3 nights.

"It was just after we'd met with Northern Girls, so we ended up playing some of the new stuff we were working on at the time - stuff that's on the current joint album - plus we did a few Northern Girls songs too. Because we were playing support, no-one really cared about what we played, I mean, how many Darkest Knights fans do you think also like CJDL? It's not happening, is it?" That last comment raised a laugh from everyone.

"So, you're headlining tomorrow, how does THAT feel?"

"It's a bit daunting. It was 30,000 in Manchester, 40,000 in Paris - that place is HUGE - but tomorrow is gonna be even bigger."

"You not played a festival before then?"

"We played a handful over in Europe, but they were relatively small. I guess the 'biggie' will be Glasto.... not been there yet though. Well, I've been as a 'paying guest', but not to play. Maybe next year, if we get asked."

"You're headlining Vixen, you'll be asked! So, we gonna see you tomorrow, after the show?"

"If we can get back here without being mobbed, yes! Hey, Zac, remind me to grab a case of beer each before we return!"



[80/17731]

As Always great fun to read - can't wait for the next Chapter 

great again and a nice finish of the festival gig

Hey What about a Ziggy Spin-off after the Girls end their tour?

They all need a short break until Lindas "Masked Singer" adventure will begin

Well, it's been 2 weeks since I last gave you some story to read: I've been busy elsewhere: I'm making cables and bringing online not one , but two, radio studios, for different organisations... so been busy.

Anyway, it's 'the quiet before the storm' for our four girls: clearly Vixen festival went VERY well for them (probably better than they both expected and realised), so they have a 'few days off - as if! - before the last three performances of their tour, at Wembley Arena... a place they have played several times now, and thus feel pretty chilled about playing. Saturday is an afternoon performance, with very exciting things planned... and on such a special day for Jenny, they really can't afford to mess up: so they will be rehearsing this week! And surely it must be time to get their ligs changed again?

----

Chapter 60

Tuesday, and the four CJDL girls arrived at the 'mansion' late morning: they would be staying there for the next few days. The Northern Girls were staying at another house nearby, and would join them shortly. The plan was to spend part of the next few days working out the details for Saturday, rehearsing everything till they were happy. Also joining them later in the day would be two stage crew: one in charge of the sound, the other in charge of the lighting and visuals: they needed to understand what the girls would be doing, so they could do their parts properly.

They were all in the living room: by all, I mean the 4 girls, Ben, Callum, Brian and Lisa, plus Paige.

"Ok, so before you all go off to 'do your thing', I thought it might be useful to spend a few minutes chatting about things in general, and also let you all know the latest on the details for Saturday" suggested Brian.

"Can we kick off with what we were discussing after Vixen?" suggested Jenny. Linda looked slightly confused. "So, back at the hotel, we all had a chat about you, Linda..."

"No wonder my ears were burning! So, what have I done now?". She paused for effect. "You're not... kicking me out the band, are you?". Her tone made it very clear that she was very much joking. "Ok, hit me..."

"Well, I guess it was me that started it," admitted Carol. "I just noticed the way you handled that interview after Vixen, you were just a natural. I'll be honest, when I see you now and compare you to the Linda I first met a couple of years ago, you are just so out there now, you know exactly what we're all about..."

"Ok... 'thank you' I guess, but I'm not quite sure where this is going..." replied Linda.

"Well," said Jenny, "for a long time we've not had a formal 'leader' or 'frontman', for a variety of reasons. But through this tour we've seen how useful it has been for Northern Girls to have Taylor as their leader. Ok, things are different there, because she writes almost all their music, but when there's an interview or anything like that, then she just does it without thinking. So we're thinking it's time we had someone as a 'frontman'. I've sort of done it a bit, but with me and Ben getting married, and with Ben about to be our new manager, I don't think is should be me any more."

Dianne smiled at Linda: "So we all thought you would be a good choice. What do you think?"

Linda was not only gobsmacked, but silent.

"Look, over the last year, CJDL has changed, mostly for the better, and mostly driven by you. Your music has moved us in a new direction. You had your leg in plaster for 6 weeks, and did that stop you? No... ok, you occasionally grumbled, but you still got on with stuff. But in that TV interview on Saturday night, you were clearly 'in charge'" said Carol. "So, what do you think?"

"Ummm, I must admit, I'd never really thought about it before, but yeah, I guess I could give it a try. I assume we'll need to chat more about what I'll be doing. So, is this something we need to publicly announce?"

"My thinking..." said Ben, "is that we just 'let it happen naturally'. When the occasion arises, you just step up as needed. The press and everyone will soon catch on. Plus it lets you get used to the idea. That sounding reasonable?"

"Ok, I'll go with that. Hey thanks guys, that means a lot to me! So... if I'm getting 'promoted' does that mean there's a pay rise with it too?" Moments later three cushions hit Linda.

They chatted a bit more about the practicalities of what it meant.

"Right, next thing: Ben taking over" said Brian. "The most important thing, and I know I've asked you several times now, but it WILL affect you all so much... are you STILL OK with Ben becoming your manager. Ben, maybe you need to leave us for a few minutes?"

With Ben gone, they had a chat.

"Well, Ben's been pretty much acting as manager for the tour, and I've had no real issues working with him" said Paige. "In fact, without being nasty to you, Brian, he's actually been a bit easier in some ways!"

"No problems here" said Jenny, "but I'm slightly biased!"

"You gonna be ok, with Ben being so close to you? I mean, I've not seen any problems on the tour."

"Fair point, but we somehow seem to be able to separate our private side from work ok... I think we're all lucky that dad has given him a lot of 'free-rein' over the last 3 months. Dad, how do you feel?"

"I only gave him so much free-rein because he was doing a good job. There's still a few things he needs to learn, but I've said I'll be here for a while to help - if he needs my help. For example, his first big task post-tour is going to be to re-negotiate your record contract!"

"Yeah, we need to get THAT right!" said Linda, "but if you're there to guide him, I'll feel ok with that! Callum you're being quiet..."

"Yeah, I guess I'm just so used to working with dad, although that has had a few issues, hasn't it? No, Ben does things a bit differently, but that's not a bad thing, I mean, I've already got used to a few of his quirks. But if I were to answer the question: 'Ben or someone from outside', then I'd be 100% with Ben. Of course, whether I continue to actually BE 'part of the team' in the longer term is another discussion to be had, but not today."

"Yeah, I've had a few chats with Callum about his longer term desires" added Carol. "Don't worry, he still wants to be with us for the foreseeable future, but I can see he has his own career he wants to develop, and I think it's something to talk about, but not today!"

"Any other thoughts?" asked Brian. "Lisa?"

"No problems here. I guess my only worries are with me being over-protective of my daughter. I've always felt comfortable with you in charge, Brian, and you know I've always backed you up... Ok, yeah, probably just 'fear of change'. But from what I've seen of Ben's abilities to deal with people and situations, well, ok, he's not perfect, but neither are you, Brian!"

"So, we're still happy for me to hand the reins over to Ben. In terms of timing... I know you'd like me to hang on while you are both on honeymoon, so I'll organise a press conference sometime the week after - that sound ok?"

With everyone in agreement, Paige went to find Ben. "Everything ok?" asked Ben.

"Absolutely, boss!" It was an interesting situation, because, as their manager, Ben would be employed by, and thus answerable, to the four girls, and Paige, Elaine, and even Callum would sort-of work for Ben.

----

"Ok, over to Lisa..."

"Right, so I spoke to the manager of the people organising the reception, and told him the truth. He understands the situation entirely, so won't tell any of his staff anything until Saturday morning. I confirmed a few of the final details we chatted about, Jenny, and everything seems to be well on track. I also reassured him that the press will not be an issue. I also spoke to the place doing the dresses, and we're going there first thing on Thursday for a final fitting, before your ortho appointment."

"Sounds like you have nothing to worry about, sis! You just need to worry about the on-stage side of things, and we're all here to make that work for you! So, Jenny, it's less than a week away... how you feeling about it all?"

"Amazingly calm: I know that everyone around me wants to make it all go right, and I seem to be ok with all that. But feel free to ask me again on Saturday!"

"Well," said Brian, "I reckon you have plenty of time to rehearse all the extras. Ginger is coming over to rehearse his special song on Thursday afternoon, and the dancers are coming over on Wednesday. Girls, don't wear yourselves out this week, take it gently, I know you all, and you are gonna get stressed this weekend, so go gentle."

"And Jenny..." said Dianne, "never forget we're there for you: I have a feeling that, no matter how strong you feel, on the day, emotions are gonna hit you at some point. All I'm saying is don't fight them, embrace them, and let us all help in the moment!"

Jenny smiled. "Thanks guys... you're right, and I think I knew it anyway, but thanks for reminding me!"

----

Their dancers came over on the Wednesday morning, and Ginger was going to come by on Thursday afternoon to do a couple of runs through with Northern Girls of the song he would be singing with them.

To be honest, the days were pretty uneventful: as we would expect, they had few problems with the extra songs, and their 'actions'

In the middle of all this, the girls had another appointment with the ortho to have their ligs changed: if nothing else, Jenny wanted to look her best for Saturday! So, on Thursday morning, eight girls with braces went to the otho.

(You may be asking where Ziggy was: she had flown back to Aberdeen for a few days, to see her parents - and have a very important talk with them - as well as decide what to do about the shared house where she lived: clearly, if she was planning on moving to London, then she'd need to empty her room etc there, and leave a few boxes with her parents for the time being. Being no longer covered by Linda's injury insurance, the four girls paid for the flight and train.)

Paula, the 'Notflux cameraman', came with them to the ortho, and filmed them on the way there too. Ben was driving one car, Andre was driving the other. When they checked in at Abbey Orthodontics, the receptionist wasn't at all phased, having met everyone at least twice before. They all went and waited in the waiting room. It wasn't long before Angela, the ortho's assistant came in.


[86/21598]

From where do i already Know this Part?