Upper Echelons

Band Stands & Stand Ups

I always hated Monday's, something about routine never really sat well with me. Luckily, today was not just an ordinary Monday. The Choupettes were performing at the Chantery boat race and as I was the lead singer and lead guitarist I had my final rehearsal to attend. Mum, Dad and Jack dropped me off early to Stowford park where I would be performing at the grand bandstand in the centre of the lavish event. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. Rumour has it there would be a scout from Sylvia's academy and I was praying I'd be scouted.

"You ready for the big day?" Kiera tapped me on the shoulder and then grabbed me for a hug. "Hey! Yeah I think so, as ready as I can be" I said trying to hide my nerves. "You'll be amazing as always and after this we can let loose at the performers after party, I heard Noah's going to be there" she said with a big cheshire cat grin on her face as she winked at me. If I didn't feel sick already I definitely did now. Noah wasn't just any guy at Charter High. He was in what we referred to as 'the ballers club'. Not only was he best friends with Orlando Jean-Olivier, the son of millionaire holiday retreats owner Jasper Jean-Olivier; who had built the empire of LuxeRetreat; he was also a semi professional footballer and a heartthrob. Noah wasn't the typical guy I would swoon over but he was mighty fine and that's all I needed to distract away from his lack of intelligence. I mean who needs smart boyfriends anyway when you can be the smart girlfriend. Female empowerment right? He was the definition of tall dark and handsome and all the girls at Charter High could only dream of being with him, as he was already dating Myah Matherson. He stood tall at 6ft 2, an athletic build, and dark brown eyes that you could lose yourself in. I wasn't jealous of Myah but she was punching to have him. They're personalities were so different. He was quiet, shy and hardly spoke in class. Myah on the other hand was the definition of an imbecile. If Barbie had not been such an inspirational doll to young girls all over the world, including myself, I would use Barbie as insult for Myah. Atleast Barbie inspired girls to 'be who you want to be'. Myah on the other hand should have been stamped with the slogan 'be anything but you' on her forehead when her poor mother gave birth. Her lips were bulging with filler and it was evident that her summer vacation were spent in Turkey getting an underage boob job in Istanbul, courtesy of Daddy Matherson Ofcourse.

'Choupettes, you're up next' said a short fat man who looked like he knew nothing about good music or good clothing taste. I walked up the large white marble steps into the centre of the band stand. The group followed; there was Amelia on the drums, Faye on the electric guitar and Kate on the piano. As I began singing to the crowd of 40-somethings on the Times London rich list; I couldn't believe what I had witnessed. It was Charity and she seemed to be arguing with Orlando at the side of the Canapé tent. What was she doing here? She had told me she wasn't coming as she would be dealing with her 'eating for two' situation. I carried on singing but I could hear a croak in my voice. I couldn't concentrate I needed to know if Charity had dealt with the baby. I tried to focus and before I knew it the song was over. The crowd cheered and clapped. As I ran off the stand with the girls, mum tried to pull me to the side to tell me how brilliant I was but I continued through the crowd (some whom were quite drunk by this stage) to see if I could get a closer look at Charity. As I emerged from the crowd I could see Orlando pulling charity by the arm and quickening her into his family drivers vehicle. Orlando followed and slammed the door behind him and the car sped off. This was all very strange and I was confused as to why Charity was with Orlando in the first place. They were never really friends, more acquaintances if anything. Could Orlando have been the father of Charity's baby? Is this why she was acting suspicious on Saturday? Questions were racing through my mind and although I should probably just mind my own business, I couldn't.

"SOS: Meet me at the back of the dressing room tent" I sent an urgent text to Kiera and Isla. They were the other two girls in our clique. I knew Charity didn't want me telling anyone what she told me but surely this was a good reason for me to raise my concerns about her. The girls rushed over to the tent. "What's happened? your text..." Isla said trying to catch her breath. "I need to tell you guys something but you have to promise to not mention this to Charity or anyone" I said with a distressed look on my face. "You know we won't tell anyone" Kiera said quietly whilst looking around to make sure no one was listening. I filled the girls in.

"We need to find her, what if he's forcing her to have an abortion when she doesn't want to" Kiera exclaimed. "What if she isn't even pregnant and it's a cover up for something else? She has been acting strange recently, I'm just annoyed she didn't tell us" Isla said looking confused by Charity's evident lack of distrust in her and Kiera. "Hold on, isn't her dad filing a lawsuit against Orlando's fathers retreat, for destroying protected environments to build holiday huts?" I said puzzled. "Yeah but what has that got to do with Charity being pregnant? If that was the case I doubt Charity would be sleeping with the son of her father's courtroom enemy, plus her dad would kill her...surely not" Kiera's voice got quieter and quieter as she began to realise there was a possibility of Charity being romantically involved with Orlando. "Okay, let's meet up at 8 tonight I'm going to do some digging", I put on my 'I'm a detective' voice to convince the girls and myself that I was capable of finding out what was really going on. The story of Charity and Orlando sounded like one of Romeo and Juliet, except in this one it was the Jean-Olivier's fighting the Lake's. The girls headed off back to their families to watch the boat race and I called for a taxi so that I could head to Charity's home; maybe if I spoke to Charity and told her I had spotted her arguing with Orlando she would tell me what was really going on.

Incoming text: "They've found Finn's body. Meet me at the barn ASAP." It was a text from Charity. I knew from this text alone that things were about to get messy. Very messy. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and I thought I was going to be sick. The taxi arrived and I got in. "The barn on Morris road" I told the driver struggling to get any sound out. My body was cold and I was terrified of what was awaiting me.