Here's another chapter, I'm sorry that things are still pretty slow paced but I'm doing it so that you can all gradually get to know the characters before Emily and Naomi properly meet. It won't be long though, just a couple of chapters! It's all just a part of the story so please bear with me. :)

I'm back at work tomorrow so I'll probably update again on either Sunday or Monday, just to let you guys know so that you're not waiting around wondering. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter, be sure to let me know!

Chapter 6

Naomi's POV

After a few days of partying, I found myself led across the sofa in the living room with a pen hanging out of my mouth and a notepad across my lap. Although it was time to relax, I couldn't properly separate myself from work. We had just finished filming Season Two of Behind the Mask and we only had a few ideas for what to bring into the next season. We all wanted this programme to be something new and different but I was beginning to worry that there was only so much that we could do with the ideas that we already had and my mind had gone blank to create anything new.

Behind the Mask, a teen drama with a twist of the supernatural that stayed true to the struggles of real life. A group of teenagers who were already struggling with problems in life that came with being a teenager were also faced with the concept that they were beyond different. Engaged in life threatening accidents, the characters had developed powers that were beyond a normal human's capability. Their lives were in pieces but the powers were preventing them from going back to their old lives.

My character – Maisie – suffered with the loss of her mother from a young age and had been rebelling against everything and everyone ever since, especially her father. She was involved in a car crash, one of which killed her father and probably should have killed her too. Following the crash, she was able to see the dead, haunted by her dad's spirit she wasn't able to mourn his death but she couldn't seek comfort from being able to see him, it only tormented her.

The characters had been introduced in Season one but there was no depth to them. The trauma from the accidents and the discovery of their unusual abilities was sending them crazy when all that they wanted to do was return to their normal lives. It showed them trying to find a way to cope with the realisation that they were beyond different.

You learned more about the characters and their lives in Season two. Parts of their past were to be revealed, giving more of an insight on what shaped their personalities and hopefully make their actions become a little more understandable. They were a group of scared and confused teenagers whose lives were falling apart, the things that they believed to be impossible had become their reality and they had no escape. Their unusual abilities weren't temporary; in fact they were becoming stronger. Control was something that they didn't have and it would only be a matter of time before it destroyed everything that they had grown to know.

I had a few ideas for season three but nothing seemed to stick without dragging it on. I wanted something different, I wanted there to be a huge twist that would drag the viewers in and make them gasp because they just weren't expecting it. I couldn't stop worrying that if we didn't think of something soon that would bring a whole new level of excitement, people would slowly begin to lose interest in the show and I refused to let that happen when we had all worked so hard to get to where we are. This was our lives, our pride and joy and I wasn't about to watch it fall to the bottom of the pile.

I groaned and raked my hands through my hair in frustration just as Effy threw herself onto the seat beside me. She patted my leg and smirked at me, seemingly not fazed by my worry.

"Still can't think of anything?" She asked, glancing at the blank notepad.

"Nope, I want something new and exciting but I just can't think of anything that seems to be good enough. My imagination can only stretch so far."

"We've all gotten to this point now." She said with a small frown.

"So what do we do, Eff? We can't just give up when we've come so far but we can't let this go to shit either." I sighed with annoyance.

"We won't let it go to shit, it has too much potential. But I do have one idea." I suddenly perked up after hearing that and sat up a little straighter.

"There's this website called Fan Fiction, it's a place where anyone can upload stories about anything they like, like a TV show or a film. Anyway, I was looking at a few of the stories that some people have written for Behind the Mask and I have to admit that some of them were really good, quite creative. So I was thinking, why don't we hold an open interview or a competition for fans and writers to come and give their ideas and we can see if we can find someone who can bring something new to us?"

My eyes widened in surprise, I never quite expected Effy to go to such a different extent when we had always kept this as something personal.

"I know what you're thinking, it will be weird for someone else to write for us but it could work. We need an outside opinion, someone who has different experiences to us."

"Actually, I think it's a fucking brilliant idea. I have absolutely no idea what we're looking for exactly but maybe somebody could surprise us, it's worth a shot."

We consulted the others about the idea and we all sat around the living room with bottles of vodka and cans of beers whilst I called Chris Miles who was the head of the writing department and a close friend of ours.

"Naomi! What a pleasant surprise, how's it going?" His loud, chirpy voice boomed through the speaker of my IPhone.

"Hi Chris, everything's fine. Actually, Effy's just had a great idea that we all think could really help us with the upcoming season and we wanted to know if you'd be okay with it." I spoke into the phone that I held out in my hand so the others could hear the conversation.

"You know me, I'm down with anything. But why are you kids still fucking working? It's your time off, you should be out shagging and poppin' pills and shit." We all chuckled and Cook hollered in agreement.

"We are but we still need to be prepared, we've got nothing for the new season and that's why we were thinking of holding an open competition to search for some new writers who might be able to help us."

"We're completely stumped for ideas mate; it couldn't hurt to get some ideas from an outside perspective." Freddie added as they all closed in around the phone, adding their opinions to back up the idea.

"I've read stories posted by fans of the show, they're pretty good." Effy said casually.

"Exactly, we need some new blood, someone with a good imagination and all that shit." Cook agreed in his thick accent.

"Alright, alright, chill out!" Chris yelled on the other end, sufficiently shutting us all up. "I get where you're going with this, it's a good idea. How exactly do you want to do it?"

"Well we'll hold a competition, we'll ask them to write a story that is based on the show, preferably about what they would like to see happen and we'll personally pick out a handful of them that we think are the best and ask them to attend an interview with us to talk about their ideas and see if they are what we are looking for."

"We'll make a whizzer announcement; they'll go totally bonkers if we show our faces." Panda added eagerly, bouncing on the spot with excitement.

"That's an awesome idea, Pandapops. It's true; we'll get a bigger response if we make a public announcement. They might not take it seriously if we only write it on the website but they'll go nuts if they actually see you guys talking about it. I'll give Tony a call and see what he thinks about it then we'll go from there." Tony Stonem was not only Effy's older brother and a close friend but he was also our manager, we couldn't do anything without his consent.

"Cheers Chris, call me when you find out."

I hung up and sunk back into the black leather sofa with a small sigh. My stomach fluttered with excitement at this new possibility, I just hoped that Tony would go with the idea and wouldn't think of it as a risk. I could sense the mix of nerves and excitement from the others and knew that they were more than likely thinking the same thing. I think we knew all along that there was only so far that we could go with the story without some form of help. We had been like any other teenagers but our lives had twisted into something exciting and we lived better than most young adults so there was only so much we had experienced that we could use and change with our imaginations. We were different back in school and college, we were younger and full of angst because all teenagers felt the need to act out and rebel whether or not they had a reason to. We all had our own differences and we had battled through our own fair share of shit but we couldn't exactly say that our lives had been terrible.

Cook had it the worst out of all of us as his parents were both alcoholics and absolute fuck ups. He had been left to act out and hate the world for putting him through the shit that his parents caused him but then he found us. Cook was like a brother to me, my mum loved him like a son, he had become a part of our family and we became his and he eventually moved through the shit of his past.

Freddie's mum committed suicide when he was younger which completely tore his family apart but it was something that healed over time and he managed to get through it with our help. Now he got along with his dad again and his sister, Karen, worked on the set with us as our hairstylist and make up artist.

Effy had always been a bit odd, even when she was younger. She had this mystery about her that nobody understood, she seemed to know people even better than they knew themselves and she had some trademark smirk that told you that she knew exactly what you were thinking. She had been outrageous and rebellious from a young age but after Tony got hit by a bus and lost his memory, she cracked a little and that was when she allowed us all to get close to her. She let us pick up the pieces when she was too scared and confused to do it herself.

After Tony got better and left for college, she turned back to her normal self until her parents divorced after her mum had an affair. She went a little off the rails for a while but we were all young and didn't give a shit. We partied hard, took drugs, drank far too much alcohol and shagged strangers too often but we were living. That was the whole point of being a teenager, after all. We got through it and we grew up to an extent, we just found a passion that allowed us to still be ourselves whilst also being someone else.

JJ was bullied in school for being different due to being diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome from a young age. The kid was a little mental at times but we all loved him regardless, there was absolutely no reason for someone like him to get picked on for something that he couldn't help. Beneath it all, he was a great guy and he dealt with his problems better than what most people in his situation would.

Panda had a natural bout of energy that freaked most people out because she acted as though she lived on magic mushrooms. She was absolutely nuts, sometimes it was hard to even understand her since she practically seemed to have her own language and she did everything with so much enthusiasm which just wasn't natural for a normal person. Especially considering her mum was an OCD – brownie addicted – anti-boys, alcohol and drugs – health freak. It wasn't exactly hard to figure out why the poor girl hadn't turned out normal.

Thomas used to live in the Congo before he moved over to England with his family to start a new and better life. His mother was a proud, religious woman who disapproved heavily on his choice of friends and our lifestyles. It probably didn't help that the first time she had met us all, we were all monumentally fucked. We had been drinking, smoking spliffs and partying half naked in her house when she returned home unexpectedly. The outcome hadn't been at all pretty and she had nearly forced her family to move back to the Congo just to escape us all.

Lara was the last one to come into the group as we didn't meet her until college but she was paired with JJ in a project and had treated him just as equally as anyone else. She had been fucking lovely, actually and JJ was completely smitten with her. She once had a pregnancy scare back in school and the rumours had quickly spread, instantly labelling her as a slag but it had just been an accident with her ex boyfriend.

And then there was me, who was once a hard headed activist who wouldn't take anyone's shit. I had always been deadly loyal to my friends; my mum had raised me to be a kind hearted person who stood up for what they believed in. My dad had left before I was born which had led to my mum becoming incredibly self sufficient. She went through a hippy phase and turned our home into a communal living area which I rebelled against until she finally kicked them out after meeting Kieran, a short Irishman who used to be my politics teacher back when I was in college. I wasn't thrilled when they started dating considering that I only found out when I walked in on them having sex but I had always been fond of the man who I now looked at as a father figure.

They had pushed us all to follow our dreams and helped us to get to where we are. They encouraged us when the stress got us down and they were always there when we needed them. Gina had always loved all of my friends and we were like a giant family even if we didn't always see them as much as we should.

It felt like hours had passed whilst we waited for Chris to call back. I was anxious, downing several cans of beer and smoking far too many cigarettes but it was because I cared about this TV show, we all did and we wanted it to be a success. If we couldn't go forward with this plan then we would have to try hard to pull something out of our arses but that was almost impossible when we were all bloody stuck for ideas.

"Cheer up, Naomio. It'll all be oki doke." Panda said cheerfully, patting my leg with a bright smile.

I grinned back at the bubbly blonde just as my phone began to vibrate within my pocket. I jumped at the sensation, partly from nerves and partly from surprise. I pulled it out quickly and glanced at the screen before looking back up at the others.

"It's Chris." I announced stupidly before shaking my head, collecting myself before I connected the call, instantly putting it on loud speaker.

"It's all go, guys. Tony's down with the idea, it's time to put this bitch into action!" Chris cheered loudly and my body practically deflated as I finally released the breath I had been holding.

Everyone jumped up and cheered happily after I disconnected the call. We grabbed our drinks and turned the music up loud, turning our living room into our own little party as we celebrated, excited and relieved that we finally had a new plan.

"You're fucking brilliant, Eff!"

"I know." She replied cheekily with a wink and a coy smirk.

I grabbed Effy and kissed her forehead roughly before I twirled her around to the music and pulled her into my arms. She giggled and stumbled, the alcohol taking over our systems as we finally let ourselves go.

This was the start of something which would hopefully lead to something amazing and I was fucking excited. This would take everything to a whole new level and I was intrigued to see what our fans would come up with and who we would meet along this new journey.

.x.

There you go, I'm sure that you all now have a clearer idea of where this is heading. Let me know your thoughts, it means so much to me that you guys are into this story but I am open minded to criticism as it will help me to become a better writer! As promised, here's the sneak peak for chapter 7.

Chapter 7 – Emily's POV

We hung up and I was smiling genuinely for once. Not all of my friends were completely selfish and thoughtless, I had to admit that it made me realise just how much I missed some of them. For a moment, I actually pined for Bristol but I quickly shook it off before I grabbed my laptop and flopped onto my bed.

I typed "Behind the Mask" into Google and frowned when the name "Naomi Campbell" popped up. They had to be kidding, right? There was no fucking way that Rich would like a show that featured Naomi Campbell. I snorted and shook my head, what the hell kind of show was this?