London Rising (Wild Hearts Book 1)

Chapter Fifteen*

Music for this chapter: Bird Set Free by Sia

The next day offers a look into what it's like to deal with a celebrity scandal. Apparently the Masked Charade sisters left dissatisfied with the show because they went to Twitter and the post went viral. Damon has me come to the meeting at HQ with the producers because apparently I'm being dragged through the social mud too. The original tweet is blown up on a flatscreen at the end of the conference table.

It's hard to win a competition when 2 out of 4 judges have already chosen a champion. @London_Trellis isn't even that good. #Screwthis #Londonsabitch

"I can't believe she actually mentioned your account. That's ballsy." Caroline says, looking both amused and offended on my behalf.

"I'm not surprised. She was never very nice. And she wasn't very secretive about her opinions." I hesitate over the last word because I'm trying to be civil and calling her a mega bitch isn't the most professional move. To my left Damon snorts.

"She's a bully."

"A bully with thirty thousand retweets." Alex says

"I vote we release a video of all the times she was being awful and denounce her character." Damon says and I look over at him, startled. That seems harsh.

"Damon, I'm not acclimated to handling stuff like this, but I don't think we fight fire with fire. We don't want to escalate the situation, right?" Damon looks at the screen and then meets my eyes, his blazing with fire.

"She called you a bitch." I laugh, finding it adorable how upset he is on my behalf, and reach out to put my hand on his denim clad thigh.

"Sweetheart, if I had a dollar for every time someone has called me a bitch, I could probably pay the winner of Rising Star myself. Emme isn't a nice person, but her and her sisters' dreams were just crushed. They're upset, they're egos are bruised, and they feel like failures. Of course they're lashing out. Do I appreciate being called a bitch in a tweet? No. But she's called me a bitch to my face, so at least she's staying true to her character. I think the bigger problem here is the very obvious shot against you and Caroline."

"You're absolutely right, Lonodn." Alex informs us and I hold Damon's gaze for a long moment before turning to face the table.

"So how do you usually deal with stuff like this?" I ask Dalia, the Social media manager of Rising Star, a redhead beauty wearing a graphic tea, overalls, and converse shoes. She looks very stylishly geeky.

"We have two options. We can respond, have each judge's account tweet something along with the official Rising Star account or we can send out a single tweet from the Rising Star and simply assure everyone that favoritism is strongly discouraged and remind everyone that America votes, not the judges."

"If the judges respond, isn't that like admitting guilt?" I inquire, frowning.

"Yes. Damn, you're good at this. Let me know if you ever want a job." Dalia teases and I laugh.

"Let's see how this whole singing thing works out for me first."

"Hey now! No poaching the talent!" Damon jokes getting a few more laughs before we get back to business.

"So, London's right. I think the best option is to have Rising Star tweet out a friendly reminder that voting and eliminations are up to the audience- not the judges." I bite my lip, debating on if I want to speak up about what I've just thought of. Caroline who is sitting across from me is watching me intently.

"What? You've got your thinking face on." I sit up a little straighter, suddenly under the scrutiny of everyone in the meeting.

"What if instead of doing that we- the contestants, that is- make promo videos. Short, thirty second videos asking for votes. Kind of like 'Hey! I'm London Trellis! Tune in on Tuesdays to watch Rising Star! And don't forget to vote for your favorite!" We could even add links to the website and do a plug for the results shows and the segments aired on Fridays." We could post them on social media. This will reinforce the voting thing and also garner attention, thus increasing the view count. Hopefully."