After a year of battling to secure a record deal, which involved, amongst other painstakingly tedious promotional tasks; touring non-stop in support of a variety of top bands, recording an EP which received mostly good reviews, but had gone largely unnoticed, and attempting to put themselves in the limelight wherever and whenever possible, Big Light Show had come to a stark, hard-to-swallow realisation...This was not going to be easy.

The pop-punk quintet, a close knit group of friends from London, were sure that they had been doing everything right. Their shows were always full of vigour, laced with an intense energy, and grounded firmly in getting the crowd behind them, as well as involved with them, from the very start. However, with a full year behind them, and nothing to show for it, they had finally come to terms with the fact that something had to change.

"It's just not happening for us this way," Lauren England was the first to admit, before adding resolutely, "but it doesn't have to be the end of the line, let's make a big change, let's make a big impression, and show the world that Big Light Show has a real worth." One can only admire the determination and desire that clearly drives this young, attractive brunette Londoner forward. It takes real strength of character to keep climbing back to your feet after continuous knock backs and rejections, but Lauren England individually, and Big light Show as a collective, had these characteristics in abundance. It was this determination and desire which led them to make the boldest, scariest and riskiest move of their so-far unheralded music career.

Switching genre mid-tour is one thing (Big Light Show have opted to take themselves from their pop-punk roots to a more serious, hard-hitting and noticeable pop-screamo sound), and it's another to decide to record a make-or-break demo CD whilst putting up with the strains of playing to sell-out audiences every night. It is a completely different thing however, to hire one of music's most outspoken, most controversial, and scariest individuals to help along the way. Many may say that bringing Cassandra B. Summers (commonly known as Cassie Bitch) into the process is nothing more than publicity stunt to gain them some much needed and long overdue coverage in the mainstream press (no one bring media coverage quite like Cassie after all). Sure, Cassie's own music career has seen her form and destruct two bands in the space of a year, with only one solitary single released in all that time (her debut with *Cosmic Beauty Contest*), but there's no doubt that she brings something more to the table, something that this band have perhaps been lacking in their career so far; that something is presence, and Cassie has it oozing from her very pores.

The agreement had been quite clear in Lauren's mind. In fact, it was she who had made the call to Cassie herself, inviting the towering personality to help them out. She had said, quite explicitly, "Do you want to help us out with making a demo? We heard some of your demo stuff from a couple of years back with screaming in it, and so we wanted to see if you'd bring guest vocals for us." Perhaps it had been the nervous waver in the 19 year-old's voice, or maybe it was just who Cassie was, because her invite hadn't been ambiguous. However, in the two days following, Cassie had already announced herself as the new member on Twitter, Facebook, and LiveJournal, before quite brashly and openly hacking into the band's own website to release a press statement unveiling herself as "the new front-woman of Big Light Show." Her most consistent trait throughout her shockingly quick internet campaign though, had seen her verbally decry Lauren England at every single juncture. Names like "ratty", "skinny little fuck" and "that puddle of rat's piss", had left the youngster mentally shaken, and gave her severe doubts heading into the first day in the mobile studio.

Edited by user 22 July 2011 02:12:17(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

OOC: I really like this RP! Great work and keep doing it !

Ooc: really,really swell.

Ooc: thanks and thanks :)

Ooc:it just keeps getting better. That chick is bat shit crazy...and i love every minute.

OOC: I'd grow some balls and kick Cassie out lol. I might get hurt but I'd go down swinging :P

That's my way of saying I love it again.

Ooc: thanks for the comments Tequila and Taylor :)

Ooc: im glad you came back,i'd hate to not know how this panned out.

Ooc: you could have fooled me.

The start of Day two had been hard for Lauren England. Despite the fact that she hadn't had to work with her, Cassie had deliberately and maliciously stolen her entire band away from her, with the promise of a free slap-up breakfast and lunch. Lauren had been left out, of course she had. Cassie Bitch hated her. The worst part, was that Lauren didn't even know why. She had been a massive fan of Cassie's since *Cosmic Beauty Contest*, and was disappointed when the pop-punk group hadn't worked out. She hadn't told anyone, but she had a copy of Cassie's only single to date, "Yeah...I'm looking at you, bitch!" under the mattress in her bunk...she had been planning to ask Cassie to sign it. All she had gotten from Cassie however, was humiliation and pain.

---

It was 4:15 when the four other members of Big Light Show returned to the bus. Lauren knew it wouldn't be any earlier, she knew that Cassie would be keeping them away from her as long as possible, in an attempt to distance her from her own band. Sound check was at 5, and if truth be told, she didn't want the awkward silences that were sure to be present. So, as she heard them open the side door of the tour bus, Lauren darted into her bunk. She pulled her iPod from the drawer by her feet, and put the earphones in. She didn't switch it on though. She wanted to hear what they had to say. And sure enough, it wasn't long before she heard the partition to the sleeping area slide open, and two sets of feet walk in. Closing her eyes, she pretended to be unaware.

"Uhh...Lauren?" She heard the voice. Of course she did. It was Anthony, her bassist. For a second, she felt the urge to sit up and shout, and scream, and tell them how much she hated them for abandoning her. But she didn't. Lauren exercised a level of control that she was mildly surprised to discover she had. She lay still, eyes closed, pretending to listen to something, oblivious to the presence of her band member.

"Maybe she's sleeping, man." This voice was also instantly recognisable. It was Jack Sampson, the only non-Londoner in the band. His accent was a lot heavier, and a lot warmer than everyone else's. It was from the north somewhere. Lauren realised at that point however, that she didn't know exactly where he was from. She heard Anthony sigh, and she was well aware that he knew she could hear them. She felt him sit on the corner of the bunk, and inhale deeply. She and Anthony had always been a lot closer than Lauren had been with any other member of the band, and she could hear that this was hurting him. Jack excused himself, and Lauren heard him slide the door of sleeping area closed, as he left, the distinctive shoop noise, which had always reminded her of a Star Trek door, failing to make her laugh, unsurprisingly.

For a few moments, there was a deathly silence. A silence which almost made Lauren wish that she did have her music on. She was pretending to be asleep, but even so, the tension was so thick she could have cut it with a bloody spoon. It was so quiet, that she heard Anthony rub his hand down his face and sigh again. This almost softened the anger she was intentionally harbouring; but then she heard the uncaring whooping laughter from the back of the bus, and she felt another jerking feeling of rejection in the very pit of her stomach. Anthony chose this time to speak, no doubt in an attempt to drown out the depressing noise from reaching Lauren's ears.

"Look Lauz, I know you can hear me," he started, "And I just wanted you to know that we're all sorry..." he waited for a response. She didn't know if she was supposed to talk, or open her eyes just to look at him, but she knew he was waiting for some sort of reaction. She could hear the real sorrow in Anthony's voice, and to her own annoyance, she could feel the ice cold feeling in in her heart melting. She scolded herself in her mind, and shut her eyes tighter. She wished he wouldn't speak again, but he did. "We're all scared of Cassie, I admit that Lauz....and we don't know how to stand up to her. But we all love you, you know that. Please Lauz, don't let this come between the band. We've been awesome buddies for years, huh? I know you can hear me, please just at least look at me."

He got her. She felt all the anger drain away, being replaced by a strange sort of guilt. She didn't know what she was feeling guilty for...perhaps it was the fact that Anthony was being so sincere, and she was lying here, coldly blanking him like a complete bitch. She tried to fight off the guilt, and the sadness, but she couldn't She felt a solitary tear escape her eye, and trickle slowly down her cheek, towards her ear. She hated crying lying down, tears always went in her ears when she did that. She felt a tickle on her cheek as Anthony wiped her tear away with a finger, ever so softly. She kept her eyes closed though, biting her bottom lip, in a slowly losing attempt at trying to fight off a full on sobbing fit.

After about a minute of further silence, she felt her bunk move again as Anthony stood up. She heard him sigh once again and ruffle his hair. He always did that when he didn't know how to handle a situation, and she could picture it clearly in her mind, without even opening her eyes. It was getting harder to stop herself from crying, but she had to fight it. They had to know how angry she was.

"Listen," he spoke again, "If it makes it any easier, I'll do the sound check for you. You don't have to come and deal with the awkwardness." He sighed one last time, and she heard him leave the sleeping area solemnly.

As soon as she was alone, Lauren burst into an absolute flood of tears. She flipped onto her front and buried her face in her pillow, trying to stifle the audible sobs that she was sure her band would hear. For a full hour, she lay there, breaking her heart. No one else came in, and she was glad. She heard them all leave for sound check. No doubt Anthony had briefed them on the fact that he would check her mic, but she knew they'd all still resent her. She lay on her stomach, her hands clenched in front of her, tears soaking into her pillow as she cried and cried.

---

They had one song left, and Lauren stood, as she always did before the start of their finale, atop the front and centre stage monitor. She wasn't particularly tall, and this gave her a feeling of power to stand high above everyone else. Looking at the crowd, she could tell it had been no more than average show. On most nights, the majority of the crowd were apathetic to what BLS were doing, but she got the feeling tonight, that the crowd could feel the tension on stage. Lauren was normally a very energetic presence, climbing the drums, singing with an arm draped around a band member, or holding a mic up to one of them to sing a part.

Tonight though, she hadn't even looked at any of them. She had only left the bus two minutes before they were due on stage, and she had stood outside the venue until a roadie told her that everyone else was on stage, entering then, and then only, handed a mic as she walked on stage herself, to take the acclaim of the small pocket of fans glad to see her. It wasn't that she wanted to seem cold to them anymore, she had cried all of that emotion out. She just couldn't stand the awkward silences that would hang around if she had walked in earlier.

So here she was, standing on her monitor, waiting for the extended drum roll which would always signal her to introduce the final song, and thank the fans. The drum roll started, and she brought the microphone down to her face, smiling at the people down at the front,

"This is gonna be our last song..." she said. But something was up. She hadn't heard herself say it. She knew she had spoken the words, but they didn't come back through her in-ear monitor. She tried again, but it was the same result. Nothing. She tapped the microphone on the top, and then banged it on her hand, trying to make it work. And then she heard the voice from behind her.

"Well hello Anaheim!" She recognised the voice immediately, and spun around, her hat falling from her head as she did, to see Cassie (with a hood pulled tightly up) walking onto the stage slowly. She was swinging something from side-to-side...Lauren's mic cable! She had unplugged Lauren just at the moment she was about to introduce the finale. Cassie smiled that evil, devil smile at Lauren, and threw the cable at her, cackling away. She walked to stand beside Lauren, who stood with her arms by her side, looking completely dejected. Cassie pulled her hood down and screamed again,

"I said helllooooooo Anaheim!" she screamed, pulling her hood down. As soon as they saw who she was, the crowd erupted in a mass of cheering. Lauren was amazed. Cassie was massively popular. They even chanted her name, and as they did so, Cassie shot Lauren a look that said "see, everyone likes me more!" As the chants of "Cassie! Cassie! Cassie Cassie!" grew louder, and more frequent, and Lauren stood there, pathetic, with a microphone that wasn't plugged in, she felt the tears again start to well up, and she ran.

As she reached side stage, she barged past the roadies who tried to stop her. She pushed a fire exit open and stormed straight out of the door. Although, not before she heard Cassie address her audience once again,

"Well...well, she's outta here! Hahaha! Well, let me talk to these guys....ok ok, we are gonna play you a cover to make up for that little bitch running away alright? This is "All the Non Believers, by Riot! In the Boulevard!"

The notes of her band playing the song with Cassie were drowned out as Lauren, tears again streaming down her face, slammed the soundproofed bus door closed. She threw her red beanie onto the floor, and screamed as loudly as she could. She picked up a cup from the side of the sink and threw it at the wall.

"FFFUUUUUUUUCKKKKIIIIIINNNNNGGG BIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed, with all her lungs could manage. She was crying so hard that she felt her throat start to gag. She was going to be sick.

---

"For fuck's sake Lauren just stop being a bitch!" It was three hours later, and she had walked back into the living area of the bus to hear her band mates arguing about her. Cassie wasn't here. Of course she wasn't. This was such a typical modus operandi of hers. Create havoc and get the hell out to let the chaos ensue.

Alex was now screaming at Lauren again, real anger in his eyes. "All she wants is to be in the band Lauren! Why are you such a total bitch to her?" Was he kidding? Why was she a bitch to Cassie? What had she done wrong. She stopped arguing, and looked into his eyes. He wasn't kidding. She turned and walked away, as he spoke at the back of her head.

"You're such a horrible little cunt!"

Ouch...

Edited by user 22 July 2011 02:14:23(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified