CHAPTER 1
"And that was our very own nimble Kimble singing the Children in Need song 'Something New' with the rest of Girls Aloud. So Kimberley, was it hard to find time in your schedule for Strictly come dancing and the girls?" Tess asked just after the girls had sung on SCD, Squeezing herself in between Kimberley and Sarah.
"Obviously it has been very hectic the last couple of weeks but I wouldn't change being with the girls again for the world!" Kimberley answers with a grin.
"Well, they all look fabulous don't they, and so cute in your matching dresses. So tell me Cheryl, how did the single come about?"
"Since last year we always planned to get back together to mark our tenth year of being in the business and Children in Need contacted us to see if we'd like to do the charity single and obviously it's a great honour so here we are"
"And Sarah it's your birthday today we hear. How are you going to celebrate it?" With the girls of course" She answers as she pulls Nadine in for a quick hug. "Myself and Kimba always have a shared birthday night out. It's great"
"Hopefully we won't be wearing the same outfits tonight though" Nicola pipes in with her very distinctive Liverpudlian accent and earns a laugh from everyone in the Wembley arena.
"Not too much drink involved tonight I hope? Kimberley has to rehearse her dance and she won't be able to do that with a hangover!" Tess asks to no-one in particular.
All the girls look at each other and laugh. "Kimberley is the mother hen of the group! She's very sensible, she'll be keeping an eye on the Irish one over there" Cheryl answers pointing towards Nadine who had been very quiet during the mini interview.
Nadine just smiles and looks awkwardly around her to see many faces staring back at her.
"See, she knows she can't deny it" Sarah says whilst laughing pulling Nadines body closer to her own.
"Well, happy birthday Sarah, hope you all have a good time tonight. Girls Aloud everybody!" Tess says whilst the audience clap for them. The camera returns to Claudia Winkleman up on the other floor giving the girls time to quickly get off the stage and return to their dressing room.
"That was so so soooo much fun" Kimberley states as they enter the dressing room for 'Girls Aloud'.
"I know what you mean. Yesterday was fun but tonight had so much more energy, it just felt funner. It's so good to be back together" Nicola replied with a smile upon her face.
"Girls, I don't know about you but I'm starving. Are we getting food before we go out? I'm in the mood for some pizza" Sarah rubs her belly for emphasis.
"I hear ya hardcore. Who's down for taking off these dresses, getting comfy in some trackies, ordering some pizza and then get ready for tonight?" Cheryl says, whose already taken the zipper on her dress down to halfway.
"I'm in" 3 voices chorus. Kimba, Nicola and Sarah reply. As they all spoke at the same time the others just assume that Nadine was happy with the arrangement as well. Nadine didn't feel like eating...especially not something as fattening as pizza. The fact was Nadine was very cautious about her weight. She'd read the nasty comments on websites such a 'daily mail' and tried to ignore them but they still got to her. 'How could anybody find her attractive' 'she looks like a bobble head' 'Nowhere near as pretty as Cheryl' 'You can count all her rips. Not an attractive look at all'. Not only were there comments about the way she looked but also about her self as a person. She was known as the *Female Dog* of the group, the one that the girls hated and outcasted. Now nadine didn't necessarily believe this herself but were the public seeing something her herself could not see. Did the rest of Girls Aloud hate her?
Nadine was deep in thought for a solid 5 minutes sat on the couch until she slowly moved her head to see all of the other 4 girls looking her way.
"Are you alright Nadine?" Kimberley asked concerned.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Nadine replied.
"Well we've been trying to get your attention for the last minute and you were in a world of your own" Kimberley said while making a move to sit next to Nadine on the couch.
"Oh was I? Sorry, I was just thinking" Nadine said.
"Oh aye, about what? Or should I say whom? Has Nadine finally got herself another man?" Cheryl said with a wink whilst laughing.
To be honest, Cheryl was used to being the single one now, she had been since the whole charade with Ashley. Sure, she did have Derek for a little while, it was never serious, just a little fun. Kimberley, Nicola and Sarah all had their long term relationships still going strong and since Nadines break up with Jason the girls didn't think she'd been seeing anyone since, and technically she hadn't but she was planning on meeting up with an old flame.
"Oohhh Nadz, who are you letting shag you now?" Sarah, as ever straight to the point Nadine thought. She couldn't possibly tell the girls who she had been texting, as far as she was aware they didn't like him, and anyway she hadn't been thinking about him at that precise moment.
"Who said I was even thinking about that? Cheryl just assumed I was thinking about a man!" Nadine replied, not really wanting the conversation to carry on.
"Well maybe you weren't thinking about it just then but this is much more fun. Who is he? Do we know him?" Nicola replied taking a seat on one of the bean bags after filling up her glass with red wine.
"I thought we were all meant to be dressing down and ordering this take out? So come on chop chop" Nadine said, happy that the girls seemed to drop it and follow Nadines lead to taking off their dresses and putting on their lounge wear and slippers. Cheryl also took a picture of the girls feet all wearing the slippers to put on the Girls Aloud twitter page. "The fans will love that. Our little alouders. We will have to take a pic of us tonight all glammed up. We haven't had one of those in ages. All 5 of us together" Cheryl beamed.
Kimberley couldn't help but notice Nadine as she undressed. Yes she had always been slim with long tanned legs to die for, and yes she had heard about the articles concerned for her weight but Kimberley just assumed it was a bad angle and that she in fact hadn't lost anymore since the last time they saw her. Kimberley began to think that maybe the press were right this one time. Nadine was 5 foot 6 and just by looking at her Kim would at least say she was below 8 stone. Not healthy at all but she wouldn't bring it up, Kimberley knew better than to bring up her weight. Many arguments had happened and she wasn't prepared to start another. She would bring it up at a later date Kim thought.
