Simon's Rules

6

Perrie POV

The four of us decide to take the lift up to Simon's floor. There is only one lift for this side of the building so we have to wait a few minutes for it to turn up, but Jesy vetoes the option of taking the stairs almost immediately. I nod slightly in agreement as I also do not want to take the stairs. I didn't sleep well last night, or the last few nights actually, and I don't know why. Laying in our bed I just can't get comfortable enough to fall asleep, even though we bought a very soft mattress. My random insomnia proved to be very helpful though because I am always awake when Jade can't sleep, so I am able to help her clear her mind and hold her until her brain eventually shuts off. Jade thinks I was sleeping off my tiredness, and don't get me wrong I did try, but ultimately I was unsuccessful. At least I was able to get her to sleep because we will need Jade's sharp mind fully functioning in our meeting today.

"Hi girls. Take a seat, Simon will be out shortly." Amanda, Simon's personal assistant greets us after we walk out of the lift. She is not much older than Jesy, and over the years when we have been waiting for Simon to show up we have had many lovely conversations with Amanda. We have to be careful with what we say around her though because she is obligated to tell Simon anything new that we say. Today she seems busy though, as she turns straight back to her computer without saying another word to us. None of us mind though and we sit in four separate seats next to each other in the waiting area. We have to be fifteen minutes early but Simon is happy to be as late as he likes. When he is late the man just says he was held up with something more important than us, and we can't say anything against this.

Almost half an hour passes before I can hear his obnoxious voice carrying down the hallway. Jade stiffens next to me so I reach over and take her hand in my own, giving it a gentle squeeze to soothe her. She squeezes my hand back a little, thanking me for helping her, before we let go of each other. If Simon sees us being all coupley then he will be pissed off before the meeting even starts. Jade and I have to act like we do in public, like best friends and nothing more. At least we have a lot of practice with this. Simon walks into view with Carlos right behind him, followed by several other men who are his top staff. There isn't a single woman on the board of Syco but knowing the person that Simon is, this is to be expected.

"Girls, follow me." he calls us, not even bothering with a greeting. Obediently we get up and follow him and his henchmen into the conference room. Uncomfortable wooden chairs are placed neatly around a large circular table and a projector points at a screen on one of the walls. The long wall is completely replaced with one way glass, so we can look over London from the top floor. I really hate heights so I always avoid looking out of the windows, instead I look at the floor and follow Leigh-Anne to a seat next to her. Jade sits on my other side and Jesy is also next to her. Simon is already sitting opposite us and his henchmen fill in the remaining seats between us and him. The more senior staff like Carlos sit on his side of the table, staring at us menacingly.

Here we go, I guess.

"Good afternoon Perrie, Jade, Jesy, and Leigh-Anne." he makes eye contact with each one of us when he says our name. "I have summoned the four of you here to discuss the rules and expectations of your next tour. As you know the Glory Days tour will be focused on Europe, with short stints in Oceania and Asia. There is the possibility that we can negotiate more dates in Europe on the condition that you are good, perform perfectly, and meet our targets for ticket and merchandise sales."

This is business speak but after working for Simon for so long, we all know what he actually means. If we follow his rules, perform like perfect robots, and make record profits to meet his sky high expectations, then he may help promote us. We have no control over most of this, as we can't guess when someone will be sick or injured, or what merch our fans buy. Last tour our sales were way below target, probably because Simon wasn't letting management promote us at all as he was punishing us for Zayn cheating on me and leaving One Direction. The responsibility of boosting our sales fell on us, and we started wearing our own merch out and about, knowing that many of our fans would buy it if they saw us wearing it. This drew more attention to ourselves so we had even less privacy than normal, but it did get Simon off of our backs. Jade actually enjoyed it, though she is known to regularly wear our merch.