Jess stood outside Mason’s room door looking in.
“Go.” Lisa said
“Lisa don’t push me…chill out” Jess snapped
“Jess it’s only Mason and Mum in there…Mama had a few things to take care off.” Lisa stated
Jess opened the door going in the room. She looked at her brother and smiled
“Mum I’m thirsty so you must be parched let’s go get a drink” Lisa said
Tina got up and touched Jess’s shoulder leaving the room.
Jess sat on Mason’s bed putting her arm around him and hugging him.
“You’re angry at me?” Mason asked
“No I’m not, I’m angry at myself for not noticing what was happening” Jess told him kissing his head “Why didn’t you tell me Mason”
“How do you tell the people who care about you what was happening without them flying off the handle…Because all of you fly of the handle!”
“Who locked you down there?”
“Mark and Dylan” Mason said
“Ok” Jess held her little brother tighter “Love you”
“Love you too even when you don’t come see me”
“I’m sorry about that; I was fighting with my own demons over it all, but I got daily updates on you”
“I’m getting home in a few days” Mason smiled
“I know, I’ll be here everyday till then I promise” Jess said
“I’ve watched all the DVDs Lisa and Jace brought, I’ve completed the two games Jace bought me, this place is boring”
“Agreed, you have the ipad right? I’ll give you my Netflix log in and you can watch stuff on their”
“Can you stay here tonight?”
“If you want me too”
“Yes please”
“I have a meeting at 8, but I’ll come back here afterwards okay” Jess explained

Jess walked into the restaurant with Carmen and the boys they approached the table and sat down.
“hey you how’s things” Louise smiled
“Yeah okay” Jess smiled hugging her friend
Kelly stood up “Do I get a hug or do you still want to punch me?” Kelly smirked
Jess hugged her and sat down
“So spill what’s going on?” Mark asked
Were just waiting on another two and then were good to start” Kelly smiled
“So let me guess you’re a CEO too?” Jess asked Louise
“No I’m still just your tour manager and producer” Louise smiled
Bette and Tina walked into the restaurant and approached the table and sat down.
“Mum, Mama what you doing here?” Jess asked confused
“Okay now that were all here…” Kelly started
Jace looked at Jess who looked at Tina then rubbed her head.
“The label has 4 CEO’s so we all didn’t feel any financial strain” Kelly explained “They consist of me, your Mama and Mum.”
“I am going to be a silent partner” Bette added
“You hate music, you’re constantly going on about it” Jess stated
“That’s not true” Bette said
“I’m going to be more involved, I’ll do all the music videos, promotion and whatever else I feel like attempting.” Tina explained
“Right okay that’s three who’s the forth?” Jess asked
“Me” Carmen took a deep breath waiting on Jess’s reaction
Jess sighed then got up “Just let me go digest all this please”
Jess pushed out from the booth and walked out the restaurant
“That went better than I thought” Kelly said
“Let me get this straight, you four set up a label and want us to sign to it?”
“We set up this label to give you all security with no other’s calling the shots” Bette said
“Jess is right you hate music.” Jace looked at Bette
“That’s not entirely true” Bette said
“Are we missing something here?” Lee asked “Carmen?”
“It took a lot of money to set this up, and with what my parents left me I thought this was a good cause” Carmen said “We need Shay out the picture and his dad or Jess will crash and burn and that’s my fault…you have worked so hard for this and we won’t let anyone take that away from you guys”
“And let’s face it you work with me constantly anyway” Tina smiled
“I think it’s great” Lee smiled
“Yeah me too” Mark agreed
“I’m not sure if I’m honest” Jace admitted
“Why?” Kelly asked
“You 4 all know exactly how to press Jess’s buttons, and let’s be fair it’s us that need to work with her day in and day out, our career?”
“That’s why this can work, we all know Jess and you guys and how you like to work, what you like to do, what you write like, how you tick” Kelly explained
“Let me go speak to her” Louise said leaving the table
Jess was sitting on a wall outside the restaurant on her phone. Louise sat beside her just as Jess ended the call.
“Let me guess… Lisa?”
“Yep she knew nothing about this” Jess said
“No-one did, I only found out an hour ago” Louise explained
“All these secrets…Secrets drive me insane I hate them”
“They’re all trying to protect you and your career” Louise explained
“I get that, I really do and I appreciate it” Jess said getting up “Let’s go talk”
Louise and Jess walked back in a sat down. They ordered their food and then stated to discuss things.
Carmen let her hand sit on Jess’s leg
“When did this all happen?” Jess asked
“It was all finalised yesterday” Kelly said
“Who owns what?” Jess asked
“Why does that matter?” Bette asked
“Because I’m asking and if you want me to sign the contract I want all the facts.”
“We own half” Tina said
“And Carmen and I own a quarter”
“Like your Mama I’ll be a silent partner, I have only bought this for you and us” Carmen explained
“Who will be our manager?” Jess asked
“Me” Kelly stated “Nothing will change at all”
“You still have all the creative rights it’s your choice” Carmen said
“Were coming back as Jaded…not Jess Kennard Porter” Jess said
“Fine”
“And I will be playing guitar from now on” Jess stated
“That’s also fine” Kelly smiled
“Anything else?” Tina asked
“Yep one more thing, if I’m pissed off, or struggling with something that doesn’t mean you all get together and discuss behind my back like you always do, you come and speak to me!”
“Yeah…we’ll work on that one” Kelly smiled
“We want our own rehearsal space that no-one gets access too” Jace stated
“That’s already done, everything is good to go” Kelly explained to them
“We need to work on your re-launch song, we’ve all decided and we think it should be thinking out loud” Tina smiled “We chatted about that and I think we should stick to what me and you spoke about Jess”
“Okay that’s good with me”
“Good”
“I have one more condition”
“Jess you’re taking the piss now” Carmen laughed
“No I’m serious on this I want someone signed to the label and I want to work with him on his solo album”
“if you say Shay I will punch you” Kelly joked
“God no…I want you to sign Mason” Jess said
“He’s too young”
“He’s not, he’s ready and he’s more talented than you think” jess stated
“I agree” Jace said
“Me too” Lee agreed
“And me” Mark said
“Done” Carmen said before anyone could argue
“And he comes on his first tour with us!” Jess said
“Not this year he’s not, once he’s 16 we can discuss that”
“I have a condition too if that’s okay” Jace said
“Course it is, Mark…Lee if you have anything now’s the time to say” Jess said
“You give my wife a job” Jace said
“I already have that on my mind” Tina added “I need to speak to Lisa first though; she might not want to be involved”
“Do you want to come see the studio and office?” Kelly asked
“I need to get back I promised Mason I would watch something with him and stay there tonight” Jess said
“We won’t be long, Lisa is with him just now anyway” Tina said “your Mama wants to show you something”
“Ground rules? Conditions? Regulations?” Jess said causing them to laugh
An hour later and they were done, they split up into separate cars and drove towards the label.
“You kept that quiet” Jess said to Carmen
“We wanted to talk to you together” Carmen smiled
“We should be making decisions together” Jess said
“Not this one, this was my decision to attempt to fix the mess I caused” Carmen stated
“Okay” Jess took Carmen’s hand as they walked into the building
“Before we do anything we want to show you something Jess” Tina said
“Me? Why just me…I don’t know how I feel about that?” Jess looked at Carmen
“I have nothing to do with this one I promise” Carmen said
Kelly turned on the lights to the live room, Bette walked in and picked up a guitar
“Oh Jesus” Jace muttered
Jess looked at Kelly
“Put these on” Kelly said handing Jess the headphones
“No thanks if I’ve to listen everyone can” Jess said
“Jess” Tina said “This is huge for your Mama please”
“No” Jess said pulling out the headphones out and pushing the live switch “Is this a joke?”
Tina subconsciously made her way over to the door blocking anyone from leaving
Carmen looked at Tina with a what the hell look.
“I owe this too you and an explanation so here it goes.” Bette said strumming the guitar
Jess stood stunned, she ran her hands through her hair.
Bette took a deep breath and then began singing.
She’s gotta do what she’s gotta do
And I’ve gotta like it or not
She’s got dreams too big for this town
And she needs to give ’em a shot
Whatever they are