Pretend It's Okay

11 - Debut

Come on! The hands of Jade's silver clock seemed to be ticking at a fraction of their usual speed. Had a second always felt this long? She really didn't know.

"Hey." Holly called from next to her, catching Jade's attention. Her head snapped over to look at her old friend, who had travelled from the other side of London to be in Jade's flat today.

"What?" the brunette's voice was sharp, her anxiety rising as the clock slowly ticked on. Zack walked over quickly and poured some more wine into Jade's glass hoping it would relax her.

"You'll be fine. Chill." Holly gently encouraged Jade. She raised her now full glass to her lips and downed half of the contents in one gulp. The faster the alcohol reached her system the better. Time always seemed to pass faster when she was drunk.

Looking back up at the clock Jade mentally noted there were three minutes left. Just three minutes until Jade officially debuted. In three minutes she will no longer be just a part of Little Mix but also an established solo artist.

Jade's entire team had gathered in her flat to celebrate her debut, along with a few friends. When Leigh-Anne was debuting the trio agreed they wouldn't attend anyone's debut party, knowing the attention needed to solely be on the one of them and their solo careers. Just like when Leigh-Anne and Perrie debuted they will be having a FaceTime chat tomorrow.

"Fucking hell, I can't do this." Jade announced, burying her head in her hands. For ten years she never thought she'd be a solo artist. And with her risky decision her debut had a lot more on the line than anyone else.

Kevin sighed, watching his client get more worked up with every passing minute. It was a good thing that Jade had put her glass down because even with her head in her hands her fingers were still clearly trembling against her forehead. Jade's anxiety was starting to take her over, spreading from her core to infect every part of her body. Kevin knew she didn't want to do this, that performing outside of the band that had been her life for over a decade was mentally gruelling for her, which was why he agreed to her last minute plan and talked the label round.

"Jade, you're putting too much pressure on yourself. You're not trying to launch a whole career." he reminded her. This was a passion project, Jade having full creative control. It was all her, and nothing was held back. This was Jade's opportunity to say everything she couldn't whilst in Little Mix and she had taken full advantage.

Jade's first single began to play loudly all throughout the flat, a custom alarm to ring in her solo EP. No one knew it was coming. Jade had teased the single for months on social media to get a lot of hype, maybe teasing for a little bit too long. However when Leigh-Anne and Perrie agreed on the reunion she couldn't stop thinking about how they'd be waiting for her to finish debuting.

That's why she chose to drop the entire EP last minute. Her crew had to scramble to get everything finished and she hadn't been able to take a break since her sick day with Perrie, but getting the group back together sooner was going to be worth it.

Kevin used the excuse of Jade's high prevalence in the media to drop the entire EP. Everyone was talking about her photographed hook up plus the two blondes she'd made out with since. Dropping the whole project now whilst she was hot would maximise the attention and profit, and articles about her surprise debut would drown out the hate articles.

"Congratulations!" Holly cheered, jumping up from her spot on the sofa to run to Jade and wrap her in a big hug. Mimi was startled by the loud music and began to bark.

"Oh look. She's singing along." Adam laughed, petting the dog's head whilst someone else turned the alarm off.

Zack stood up, raising his glass of wine as a toast "To Jade, our Northern Angel!"