-January 2015-

It was after an agonising show in packed theatre with hundreds of pre-teen girls screaming his name, Alfred F Jones retired to his tiny dressing room from the sweltering heat of the spotlights. His voice was strained and his muscles were aching from a choreography-heavy set. Alfred had been a national 'pop sensation' for a year now, and half of that had been spent on tour. This was the penultimate stop on that tour, and he was spent. Endless interviews, rehearsals, photo-shoots and so much singing. The last thing that he needed was to be welcomed to his dressing room by the sight of a stranger sifting through his iPod.

'Uh, did Bill let you in? He tends to let a fan past every now and then as a prank and-'

'Excuse me for interrupting, but I have a proposition for you.'

The stranger was a young woman who seemed to have some kind of French accent, her hair loosely braided over her shoulder, wearing a neat blouse, blazer and pencil skirt. Alfred on the other hand, had been dressed in a neon blue mesh vest complete with tacky black letterman jacket and skinny jeans that were tight in all the wrong places. Somehow, Alfred felt a little overdressed.

'Woah, what's up with the formality, man, what exactly are you doing here? Who are you?'

'My name is Monique Durand, I am an international music industry chief, and I am interested in you.'

Alfred coughed and scratched his neck agitatedly.

'I don't mean to be rude but as you might have found out, I already have a manager and a label that has signed me for my ultimately short career, and I'm about to finish the tour that has been killing me for the past six months and even THEN there are still empty seats after all this stupid promo-work!'

In reaction to Alfred's minor rant, to which he himself was taken aback, Monique only raised an eyebrow.

'I can tell you are tired, Monsieur Jones, but I need you to listen to me for a moment. What I am offering is an exciting opportunity to skyrocket your career.'

'And why do you think my career hasn't skyrocketed enough already?'

I'm your new manager.' Monique deadpanned.

'Since when?! I didn't have a say in this!'

'Your manager, Bill, and I agreed that the prospects of this project are too good to risk'

'And I don't have a say in this?!'

'Oh you do, but once you hear about the project, you will definitely change your mind.'

Alfred was cautious. 'Ok then tell me.'

'What do you think about joining a group?'

'I think that's a terrible idea, did you see what happened to One Direction? Crashed and burned, just like the rest of them' Alfred shrugged.

'I am aware, but this, is very different.'

Alfred leaned forward in his seat. 'I'm listening,'

'The group is formed of five artists- from around the globe- and will be a project to ease cultural tensions between these five countries through music.'

'That's a mouthful.'

'We already know who else will be in the group- we haven't got to them yet but whether they are as… agreeable as you is another matter, but they are well known in their countries and some have an international presence of sorts- you even have some on your iPod, you know I checked earlier- Anyway, I'm sure you're a little excited by this?'

Alfred's mind was running with possibilities, Adele, Enrique Iglesias… Ok he didn't really know very many superstars who weren't American, but if these were artists at the same level as him, they wouldn't be anyone like Tom Jones or Bjork. But he apparently had some on his iPod. He rushed to grab it from the dresser Monique returned it to, but she stopped him.

'I need an answer.'

'Yeah- Yes of course! When are we gonna start?'

Ok it's my first story, I am aware it could be written better, perhaps I will edit it

Yeah so this will hopefully be a long story, the first couple of chapters will be introducing the backgrounds of the characters, and then after that there will be, and this is a warning, uses of songs that already exist