Chapter 1-
‘Get lost Kari’- said Viv to her little sister. She had been working on her laptop when Kari burst into her room unexpectedly. She loved the girl but she really annoyed her sometimes. ‘If you're so bratty. I don’t want to see your weird videos anyway’- said Kari and she ran out as Viv threw a pillow at her. She turned back to the screen and stared at it. She was supposed to be doing an essay but she had no inspiration. ‘Must be a writer’s block’- she thought. She opened a webpage and signed into her YouTube account which was -no surprise- her homepage. She signed on and looked through the videos again. ‘No new comments, no new reposts’- she mumbled as she scrolled through. She had never put up one of her own songs before. Only cover ones. Her best friend, Chase had told her to put one but she kept on refusing. Half the class was on YouTube and would embarrass her as Cyrus –the most evil girl Viv had ever laid her eyes on- unofficially led the school and she hated Viv with a burning passion. She ruled the halls of Seacoast High. It was not pretty. Viv stared at the number of videos she had loaded. She had started doing this when she was 13. She was turning 15 in a few months. She considered herself a late developer in the ‘biz’ as they called it in Hollywood. But she wasn’t just aiming for stardom there. She wanted to reach the whole world. She was going to be a CCM. Ultimately standing for- Christian Contemporary Musician. Chase loved her music. He had bought her first mixed CD, which featured her singing cover songs. Even her parents hadn’t taken a second look at it when she showed them. They had always believed she should be into something more practical like business which both her parents played some part in. But that wasn’t Viv. She was more out there and couldn’t sit in one place before she started moving or fidgeting. She did 5 dance classes, skateboarding, swimming, track, snowboarding, surfing and countless other activities. She also had the ‘voice of an angel’- according to Chase. She could almost swear that the guy fancied her but never really put that to thought. But he might be right. She was half-English, Italian, Mexican and Australian. And that was just her mother’s side. Her father was Nigerian, in built with 5 other nationalities. Her genetics were crazily mixed. But enough of that. She got a sudden crazy brainwave. She stood up and walked to her karaoke machine which her parents had given her for her 12th birthday. ‘Okay, Renault. You can do this’- she said to herself as she switched on the machine and picked the microphone. Randomly looking through her music, she picked one of her favorites- I’m The Girl. She worked her way through the first few beats of the music and started singing. ‘When I feel like the world’s expecting too much, feeling like I’m gonna kill someone if they come up, and ask me too many questions…’- went the first few lyrics. She sang the song out with all her might and was glad for the sound-proof padding that she had had installed when her family complained of noise form her room. When she finished, she felt happy and elated. The song automatically saved and was transferred to her laptop. She turned off the machine and went back to nestle into her favorite chair. She uploaded the song to her YouTube page and closed her laptop before she could change her mind. ‘Besides,’- she thought. ‘How many people could possibly care about another Viv Renault song?’ She switched off her room light and padded to her bed. If only she knew how wrong she was?









‘Viv, Viv!’- yelled Chase at the top of his voice. He stopped when people started to stare at him but the yelling had its desired effect. ‘What? You look as if you just won the lottery’- said Viv jokingly. Chase ignored her and continued-‘Did you check your YouTube page this morning?’ ‘No. I didn’t have the time. I had to hurry. I have to hand in that essay remember. I’ve got my laptop with me if you want to check anything.’- she said still oblivious to Chase’s excitement. He stared at her in wondrous amazement until she said- ‘Can you not look at me like that? It’s starting to give me the creeps’ He again ignored her and said-‘Girl, you have a lot of stuff to go through with me’ ‘Quit keeping me in the dark here Chase. Just tell me.’- she said suddenly annoyed, first because they had been waiting for a while and her paper was due at 9. Second, because Chase couldn’t do anything but stare at her or open and close his mouth like a fish. As he started to answer her, the bus pulled up and they stepped in. ‘Way to go, Viv’- said Carmen Gonzalez, a friend of hers. ‘Yeah, Renault. You rock’- said Drake Cross in her English class. ‘What? What’s up guys? Seriously, you’re worse than Chase.’- said Viv, obviously dazed. She walked to her seat getting compliments from everyone on the bus as she passed them. She took a seat and Chase sat beside her. ‘What’s going on Chase?’-she asked. ‘What’s going on? You upload the best song ever and you ask me what’s going on?’-he asked her giving a hint. ‘What? I didn’t…’- she started before cutting herself short. ‘Oh no.’- she said just as they pulled up in front of the school. As they walked off the bus, she kept on saying no, repeatedly. She pushed through the school doors with Chase right behind her and was greeted by a storm of cheers. ‘Oh no. What’ve I done?’-she asked herself. She felt Chase reach for her shoulder and say-‘What I’ve been telling you to do these entire years girl. You’re a star.’
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