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“Number sixty-eight, come forward, please. Stand on the white cross, look down the camera and tell the world why you want to be a star.”

Angelica Clarke took a deep breath, blinked beneath the glaring spotlight that was zeroed in on the stage, and stepped forward.

“Hi North Stars ,” she began, urging her jangling nerves to settle, “I’m twenty-two years old, I work in an old people’s home…

whenever I sing to them or just have a chat, they’re always telling me I belong on the telly.

I saw the ad in the paper and it said you were looking for people with star quality.

If you want someone who knows how to party, how to have a laugh and who’s young, free and single and ready to take on the world, I’m your girl. ”

Angelica grinned, relieved she’d nailed the lines she’d practised.

It sounded a lot more convincing than “I’ve moved back in with my mam and dad, I’m heartbroken and determined to prove to my stupid ex that he was wrong when he said I’d never make anything of myself.

” Before the fresh tan she’d applied last night, and the new set of lashes she’d put on to stop herself crying over that waste of space, she’d just been dumped Angie from Oakdene.

Now, the auditions were here, she was ready to show everyone who she really was. World, meet Angelica…