Page 21 of Going Solo (The Brent Boys #2)
Chapter Fourteen
I didn’t watch any of the Make Me a Pop Star live shows go out. I couldn’t. It hurt too much. The bullying at school was relentless. I struggled to leave my bedroom. Even Elsa had realised something was seriously wrong and stopped making fun of me. And while my life went to hell, Cole and “the Go Tos” were becoming more famous by the day—and harder to avoid. They were everywhere: TV, radio, billboards, social media. In November, I started skipping school. The school called my parents, obviously, which led to a blazing row that ended with me running out of the house in floods of tears. I went to the only place I could think to go.
“Don’t eat the brownies, they’re hash.” Aunty Cheryl had her back to me while she made me a cup of tea. “They’re for my book club.”
“You belong to a book club?”
“I can read, you know.”
“Yeah, but, like… do you read?”
She waved a hand in the air. “I usually read the synopsis on Wikipedia, to get the gist. In case the topic comes up.”
“Isn’t talking about the book the whole point of a book club?”
She plonked my tea down in front of me.
“Sometimes I forget how young you are, Tobes. The point of a book club is so the girls can get together to drink rosé midweek and slag off their nearest and dearest.” She opened a kitchen drawer and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. “Irish?”
“I think you’ve forgotten how young I am, again.”
She shrugged and emptied a slug of Jameson’s into her mug.
“How you coping, babes?”
Suddenly there was a lump in my throat, and I couldn’t find the right words.
“We need to toughen you up, babes. What have I told you a thousand times?”
I knew what was coming. My aunt held a hand up in front of her face and waggled her now raspberry nails.
“These nails are my sword,” I recited dutifully.
“That’s right.” She grabbed a handful of her hair. “And these extensions are my shield.” She circled her face with her finger. “ This is my battle dress. When I’ve got my eyelashes on and a face full of slap, no one can get through me.”
I sighed. Aunty Cheryl reached over and twisted a piece of my fringe, combing it back into place with her acrylics.
“You’re a special boy, Tobes. We need to build your armour up.”
“I’m not going back to school.”
Aunty Cheryl took a sip of her tea.
“Why don’t you come work at the salon full-time?”
I shook my head. “Mum and Dad want me to finish my exams.”
“Ain’t either of them got any A levels, and they done all right. Come work at the salon. You did great over summer. When you weren’t mooning like a lovesick puppy, at least. Or off rutting. Seriously, though, we could get you on the apprenticeship scheme as soon as tomorrow morning.”
For the first time in months, I felt something like hope.
“Really?”
“Course.” She winked and picked up a brownie. “You leave your mum and dad to me,” she said, popping it in her mouth.
* * *
In December, as I got into the swing of my apprenticeship, the Go Tos won the sixth season of Make Me a Pop Star with seventy-one per cent of the total audience vote. It was the widest margin seen in the show’s history. The fan base already had its own name, the Extremes. The coverage was inescapable, as the Totally Records publicity machine switched into top gear and the boys did a victory lap of commercial radio stations and regional shopping malls. Two days later, the band’s debut single came out. Called “My Daydream Girl,” about a teenage boy yearning for a girl no one else seems to notice, it rocketed straight to number one. It was the UK’s Christmas number one. I banned it being played in the salon. When tickets went on sale for the Go Tos’ first tour a few weeks later, they sold out in less than a day.
I was angry, empty, and jealous. I hated Cole for abandoning me, for getting to live my dream, for his success. I hated myself for auditioning for the show, for saying something so stupid on camera, for not being strong enough to handle the fallout. Aunty Cheryl was right: I needed armour. I spent most of my first pay cheque on a down payment for tooth veneers. A month after I started my apprenticeship, I stepped into a gym for the first time in my life.