Uncovering Kaitlyn (4 page)

“I’m with
you on that. No quizzes” I agreed quickly.

“There is
also a long list of other interviews for magazines or online articles. I have
them in two piles. Ones to say yes to are here, and ones to turn down are in the
box I left in the hallway. You can go through those tonight and let me know in
the morning. I’ll leave the Yes pile on the table.”

“Sure”

“Finally,
there are other requests; there are several photo shoots to turn down in a
folder in the box in your hallway. I have already taken the liberty of
declining these quickly for you in the hope that you don’t get any more, but I
thought they might amuse you. There are several other photo shoots I think you
should accept. Don’t worry, they are all fully clothed shots and it will stop
people using mug shots in articles of you.”

Before I had
time to panic, Jake came in and answered for me.

“Kaitlyn
gets to wear whatever she likes in all of them or she’s not doing them” He
demanded.

“With all
due respect, she needs to wear what they give her. There isn’t much point
otherwise.”

“No, Kaitlyn
has to be comfortable.” My Dad spoke for me this time.

“The
clothing is decent and respectful. I wouldn’t do anything to harm Kaitlyn’s
image.”

I took a
deep breath and prepared myself for the pitying look Aaron would give me.

“Aaron” was
all I said as I revealed my most repulsive secret.

“I see” was
all he said. He scribbled over the list and jotted a few notes. “I’ll make sure
you get the wardrobe you need to ensure you are comfortable. I’ll make sure
this rule goes for everything you do. Finally you have been contacted by a
producer in LA. They are looking for a female singer to play a character in a
film. They have the screen play and are just starting to cast.”

“A film? But
I’m a crap actress. That’s obvious to everyone.”

I kicked
Jake hard again when he couldn’t hold in his laugh. I know I’m bad but it
wasn’t that funny. I had to kick my dad lightly when he laughed too.

“I’ve been
told that there isn’t much acting to do. There will be one or two small scenes
but mostly it’ll be performances. You’ll have to sing or play an instrument the
majority of the time, as if you were in concert. It’s an important minor
character. It’s important enough to need good casting but not major enough to
be important. The director likes you because you’re famous but haven’t broken
America yet. I think it will help you do that. We can check with the label but
I think that they will probably agree with me.”

“What if I’m
really bad and embarrass myself?”

“Then
they’ll edit you out, or give you a double. I’m sure they’ll help you, besides
there’s a paid trip to LA in it for you. A month or two in the sun shine and a
chance to make yourself known in the states it’s a really big opportunity for
you.”

“Can I think
about it, I don’t think it’s my sort of thing.”

“Sure, they
want to know by Friday at the latest.”

We sat at
the kitchen table for rest the rest of the morning making a schedule of my
appearances and discussing other meetings I needed to fit into my hectic week.
Aaron wanted me to make an appointment with an accountant and a publicist as
well as a lengthy trip to a salon to neaten up my hair and fix my nails. I love
my hair. It’s halfway down my back with a slight wave. However the best thing
about my hair was the colour I had inherited from my mum; a deep shining
mahogany. I love how my hair and brown puppy dog eyes make me the spitting
image of her. It’s like she never left me all alone, because her image follows
me everywhere.

“Kaitlyn
will still look like herself though?” My dad questioned Aaron.

“Of course,
just polishing you up” Aaron looked at me to answer Dad’s question.

“Can that
wait? Can I go to the label first?”

“Of course,
they’re waiting for you. I’ve told them that you’d want your family to come
with you and they cleared that, it’s just a matter of confirming your interest.
Jake is included in your family, I made sure they knew that. If the three of
you want to smarten up somewhat then you can be there after lunch.”

I didn’t
wait to reply, I sprinted back upstairs to get changed for my meeting with the
label. I debated for ages before deciding on Black skinny jeans and a mocha
top. I found a light jacket and a silky scarf to complete the look. Then I went
to find a shirt for Jake to borrow.  He had clothes here but nothing smart
enough for my first meeting with a record label. ‘Daddy, don’t cry’ was
recorded at a private studio and Aaron had it released independently. Since it
had gone viral, I didn’t need to worry about promoting it. Aaron also knew how
to go about having it put on radio. I still can’t get over hearing myself on
the radio. I’ll be washing up or singing along in the shower and suddenly I’m
like ‘hang on a sec, I wrote this.’ Jake is always teasing me about it. For the
first couple of days he sang along with me, but now he finds it funny.

I can’t even
remember leaving my house or climbing in Aarons BMW to go to the meeting. I was
smiling but shaking for whole journey. It took around three quarters of an
hour. My village is not that far west of London and the office for the label
sat on the outskirts. We were directed to a visitor’s parking space and a plain
looking woman met us in the reception. She shook my hand and ignored everyone
else, even Aaron, who was quite well known in the industry even if he had been
retired for five years. We were taken straight through to a flash lounge/
office on the third floor. There were two three seater sofas, an arm chair and
a desk in the corner. On the wall hung a large flat screen TV, with an
impressive sound system. The walls were immaculate white as were the sofas and
arm chair. The floor and desk were oak and the only real colour came from frame
pictures on the walls.

We sat there
for a few minutes in a nervous silence until three men in expensive suits
walked in followed by the plain woman who met us in reception.

“Kaitlyn,
it’s a pleasure to meet you.” The man who walked in first said to me. He had an
important look about him. I would guess he was in his late forties. One of the
other men was older and the final man was a lot younger. “I’m Wayne. This label
is my company and pride and joy. This is my most senior account trustee and one
of our senior assistants.”

I think
Wayne introduced us formally, but I wasn’t paying enough attention. I just
couldn’t believe this was really happening. Aaron introduced Jake and my dad to
the others and told them a bit about my music and how we met. They had a little
chuckle at Aaron leaving retirement when Jake nudged me to pay attention.

“So Kaitlyn,
we love your music and want you to keep your natural flare. This means that we
won’t give you songs to sing. Aaron has told us that you write a lot of music
and that you already have several songs which could be released with a little
bit of work. Have you been making music long?”

“Yeah, I
grew up playing the piano and violin. I started to teach myself guitar when I
was about eleven I think. I’m not sure when I started putting my lyrics and
music together though. I was probably about fourteen, right Dad?”

“About then.
Yes. You were making up songs since you were a little girl” he smiled.

“So when did
you start lessons for guitar?” the young guy asked.

“I taught
myself.”

“Hang on a
minute, you’re seriously telling us that you wrote a number one single without
help and without being taught how to play the guitar, even by an amateur?” The
old guy quizzed.

“Yes, that’s
what I just said. I had a teacher for violin until I was eight and was taught
the Piano until I turned nine but after that I taught myself. It’s easier to
teach yourself than be taught. You can hear the mistakes more easily that way.”

Wayne
glanced at the others and my dad, and then joined the game of twenty questions
they seemed to be playing.

“Kaitlyn,
did you use any books to teach yourself? Or watch any videos?”

“Not until I
needed to write it down, and that was only teaching me how to write music. I
had taken my exams, so I must have been sixteen then. I took music as a GCSE,
there were basic lessons in reading music there if that counts.”

“Kaitlyn I
don’t think you understand how big this is. Not many people can do what you do,
and very, very few can do it to the quality that you can. You’re probably one
of the greatest natural musicians in the country. I’m surprised it took you
that long to be noticed.”

“It didn’t.
I was first approached to be signed when I was twelve.”

Jamie

I woke up
with a raging headache, but thankfully a clear memory of the night before. I
left the bar at closing after I watched Ryan humiliate himself with a rather
angry looking lady. Ryan has only backed down from a challenge once before in
the whole time I have known him and that was because it risked his life. So
when the bar closed, true to his word he went up the eldest looking lady and
tried his best. Fortunately for him, Zinc attracts the younger clientele;
unfortunately he happened to chat up a fifty year old big shot banker who could
give Kaitlyn a run for her money with the bitch slaps.

Within the
first thirty seconds of being awake, Kaitlyn has spent at least a third of that
time on my mind. It’s not often I get caught up on a girl. It’s been known to
happen before and I usually see her a few times and move on or simply forget
about her, but with Kaitlyn I can’t do either. Seeing her would break my
personal rules and ignoring her is impossible when she’s on every radio channel
in the country. Listening to her last night I realised how good she actually
was. She had no back up music at all; it was just her and her guitar. I know
that soon I won’t be able to hide from her in LA either and if her team make
her, she’ll be on the TV constantly as well. This means that I’ll have to
ignore her so Ryan and Graham will probably want to punch me for a while.

I climbed in
the shower and was once again thankful for living in the hotel when I grabbed a
clean towel off the radiator. My mum would probably disown me if I had any
staff and that includes if I had any housekeepers, so in LA I only employ a
cleaner when I’ve got work because the hours can be horrible on set. Thankfully
I have a food delivery service or I would starve. Mostly it’s Chinese but
occasionally I go for classic Italian i.e. pizza.

“Jamie? Are
you here?” Graham called out.

“Bathroom” I
yelled back.

“I thought
it wasn’t going to be a late one?” Graham snapped when I walked back into the
room to find my clothes.

“You know
how it is with Ryan. We haven’t had much time to hangout recently, and today’s
exam isn’t as important anyway.”

Ryan is
currently studying business and ICT management at the University of Lincoln.
He’s currently got his exams for his third year out of four. Ryan is laid back
with everything which is why it didn’t bother him that he drunk more than me
last night and had to head back at five this morning still drunk. He was like
this with his GCSEs, while I was the geek studying all night. That probably had
more to do with the fact I only had time off filming for the exams and the rest
of the time I had a tutor on set. My parents don’t think much of being
academic. My dad is a builder and my mum is a manager of a small shop. She
started as a checkout clerk and worked up. They were very supportive of my
acting because it meant I had to work hard and not sit behind a desk all day
playing on a computer.

Graham was
about to interrupt my reminiscing so I jumped in before him.

“I didn’t
embarrass myself and I was up before you got here, so it doesn’t matter.”

Graham
reluctantly dropped it. He sat on the chair by the bed and handed me a stack of
scripts. I flicked through them and waited for him to explain.

“You’re
wanted for a popular series in the States. It’ll be a handful of episodes, good
cast and good scenes. It’ll time up nicely around a comedy where they want you
to lead. There are also a few minor parts that you can take in other films and
series as well. It will give you around six months in LA with some travelling
for location shoots and down time as well. I think the main aim of hiring a
Brit for the minor’s is for some publicity over here. Expect them to send you
back over regularly for chat shows and the like. You’ll be crazy for a while
but then we can have a cool down and you can be picky for a bit. I don’t want
people to forget about how good you are. I’m hoping this will remind them so
you can get a few more awards. You leave tonight. I’ll organise an escort and
make sure you get first-class.”

I realised
that Graham never asked me if I wanted this. I gave up on him doing that a
couple of years ago. I only wanted to beat the crap out of him a few times for
this. Lucky for Graham my headache meant today wasn’t one of them. I want to be
the best of the best and if that means I have to put up with him, I’ll do it.
Since I turned sixteen I have had a lead role in four films and thirteen minor
roles. I’ve been in TV shows too but to be honest I don’t enjoy them as much.
There are just too many people acting like they won an Oscar behind the scenes
making outrageous demands.