A/N: Hey all! I'm glad you're all still enjoying this fic. I want to announce, I have officially finished this and I'll be trying to post every few days, but I can't completely promise anything because of school and work and such. I'm glad you're all enjoying and I hope you like this chapter. Until next post…I look forward to seeing your reviews!

Chapter 13

The next morning, Jude made it down to the studio in record time. Darius had called a 10 am staff meeting to go over some of the changes he had made at G Major, in review for Jude, and other changes he is going to be making along with some new singers he now has for G Major. Jude stepped into the conference room and saw everyone there but Tommy. She frowned and took a seat by Kwest, she muttered to him so no one else would hear "Where's Tommy?" Kwest just shrugged.

"Hasn't been here all morning." Kwest answered. Jude frowned and said nothing. Moments later, the door opened and Jude gaped at who entered. Shay strutted into the studio, took off his sunglasses in that cool guy way that both he and Tommy did, and took a seat across from Jude.

"Hey Jude." He said, a smile on his face. Jude just glared at him. Kwest put a hand on her arm and gave her a look that said 'don't.' Jude let it go, but ignored Shay's attempts to make small talk. She had nothing to say to him.

The door to the room opened again and Darius came in, and took his seat, the one with the big plush leather seat, and sat down at the head of the table, a notepad in hand that was covered in notes. Darius glanced around the table.

"Where is Quincy?" He asked, sounding annoyed. Everyone looked at everyone else and no one supplied an answer. Darius looked annoyed and wrote something down before standing up and before he could say what was on his mind, the door opened again and a younger woman stepped in. She had dark hair and a long thin face. She smiled sarcastically and glanced at Darius who motioned for her to take a seat.

"Who's that?" Jude whispered to Kwest. The soundtech shrugged and said nothing.

Darius continued what he was saying "For those of you who haven't been here, I am going to review the recent changes G Major has undergone. As you all know, I now own this studio and I plan to keep it that way. This place now has the top notch sound equipment and I will not tolerate any excuses. I don't care what goes on in your personal lives; leave it out of my studio." Darius looked at every one in the room, and stared pointedly at Shay and Jude, before continuing. "I will not tolerate any slacking; that is what put this place in the red so long ago. When you are here, you are working. Period. No questions. I'm sure you all know your jobs." Darius paused as he let his words sink in. "Good. Now, let's begin." Darius glanced at his notes and continued "As you all know, Jude Harrison is the first Instant Star competition winner." Darius looked at Jude, "her publicity from the competition has brought the studio a lot of income, so congratulations Jude. This year, I ran the competition again." Jude glanced at Kwest who didn't notice her nervousness. "There will be another new and up-coming artist in this studio shortly. I also am having some of my bigger artists" Darius indicated Shay "working at this studio to help boost its reputation." Jude scowled. Great, now she had to work with Shay on a daily basis. Great. The door to the room opened and Tommy stepped in. Darius glared at him as he quickly made his way to the back of the room and took his seat on the other side of Jude. "So nice of you to join us Tom."

Tommy just raised his coffee cup to Darius and took a drink in response. Darius started talking again and Jude glanced over at Tommy, who was sitting on her right, and Jude saw was barely paying attention. Jude noticed he was 'writing notes' on a paper while Darius talked, but she swore he was writing song lyrics instead, but couldn't prove it without drawing too much attention to herself. The meeting was long and uneventful. Near the end of the meeting, Tommy had stopped writing whatever it was he was writing and had noticed the new girl in the back of the room. Tommy leaned closer to Jude. "Who's that?" He muttered. Jude glanced at him and shrugged. Before Darius called it to an end, he introduced the new girl. "Uh-hem. As you have all seen, we have a new artist among us. Everyone, please give a welcome to Patsy Morgan; our new Instant Star winner!" Everyone turned their gazes towards Patsy. She was the new IS winner? The girl was definitely a year or two older than Jude, and she didn't look at all like an artist. She sat with her arms crossed and a look of annoyance on her face. Jude swore she heard a groan from Tommy, but when she glanced at him, she didn't notice anything but disinterest on his face. Darius let everyone go and as everyone shuffled out, Darius kept Tommy and Jude in the room. He closed the door after the last person left and stared at the two disapprovingly.

"Care to explain why you were late Tom?"

"Traffic…it's horrendous." Tommy said, keeping a straight face. Darius glared at him and Tommy didn't offer any other explanation.

"I believe you have an artist waiting for you in studio A." Darius said, shoving a folder at Tommy. Tommy took the folder, glanced at it and glared back at Darius who was looking smug. Jude couldn't see what was on the folder, but she heard Tommy mutter something that sounded like "you bastard" under his breath before leaving her alone with Darius.

Darius waited a few moments after Tommy left and turned to her.

"Jude, you know I think you're a great artist."

"Yeah…"

"Good. Because, if you were as great as we all know you can be, why are your record sales falling?" Darius asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Darius said, glaring at the girl. "Look, Jude…you're a great singer, but…you're this…" Darius paused "You're too naïve for this business."

"Hu?"

"Jude, dear. You're a nice girl and all, but good girls don't sell records."

"What does what I do or don't do have to do with my record sales? I mean, if people like my music, they'll buy it."

"Jude, darling, that's not how this business works." Darius said, and handed her a file. "Look at these articles, study them…then look at their sales after different stunts happen. We need to get you a new look, a new image." Darius said, pointing at her red hair. "That, needs to go." He said, looking disgusted. "It works if you're in a punk band, but you're not." Darius said and looked thoughtful. "Maybe, brown or something instead. I don't care what color you use, just change it." Darius said, turning away from her.

Jude just stared at Darius in disbelief. "I still don't"

"IF you don't get it now, you'll get it later girl." Darius said, picking up his things and leaving the room, he paused in the doorway. "Don't come back after today unless you have a different hair color." And left her alone in the board room. Jude stared at the folder and opened it up. There were tabloid articles about publicity stunts pulled by celebrities to boost movie or music sales. Jude felt sick. He wanted her to go out, get drunk, high, in a car accident, something to get people to buy her album. Jude felt nauseated and left the board room. She wanted to talk to Tommy, see if he knew anything about her sales.

When she stepped into Studio A, she saw Tommy getting the soundboard ready for recording. She paused and watched him a minute. She could hear him muttering indistinctly under his breath.

"Ya know, the first sign of being crazy is talking to yourself." Jude said, stepping further into the studio. Tommy scowled at her.

"Then we both need to be locked up." Tommy concluded, before busing himself again.

"What's got you so…in a tizzy?" Jude asked, watching him. Tommy stopped and sighed.

"He's a bastard, that's all there is to it." Tommy said, and sat down next to the soundboard. Jude said nothing, but sat down next to him. "Darius, I mean." Tommy elaborated, and before he could say much more, the studio opened and Tommy scowled at who entered. It was the new girl, Patsy. What kind of name was Patsy? Jude wondered.

"Hi, I'm Patsy." She said, staring hungrily at Tommy. Jude glanced at Tommy and was thinking all that was rock n roll that he did not look at all interested, just slightly annoyed.

"Hi Patsy, I'm Jude and"

"I know who you are." She said, smiling sweetly and she glanced back at Tommy. "So, are we going to make music or what?" She asked. Tommy, who was taking a sip of his coffee choked slightly but said nothing. Jude looked puzzled a moment and then caught onto the innuendo and stared at Patsy in disgust. Tommy glanced apologetically at Jude.

"Can we hold that thought for later?" He asked, and his eyes really showed his apology. Jude shrugged.

"Yeah, I'll just…go work on some lyrics." Jude said and Tommy nodded his agreement and his attention went to Patsy. Jude sighed and left the new artist and her producer alone and went to Studio C to work on her songs.