A local band picks up her song from Youtube and soon she’s along for the ride with her own fanbase as they blow up on the local club scene and hit the international charts. Though it turns out leaving Cam behind isn’t as easy as she had hoped.
Tangled in a web of unfinished homework, ill-considered sexting and a new lead-singer boyfriend, Poppy has a choice to make between the ex that inspired it all and the rock God whose poster lines the inside of half the lockers at school. But as she struggles to keep her emotional dirty laundry private, she learns that the truth can be hard to find when your life is in the headlines.
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Excerpt:
Context: Poppy
’s Youtube video of her song ‘The Kiss Off’ has gone viral, and local band Academy of Lies played it at their last gig. Poppy and her two best friends, Mads and Vanya, have just entered the club for another Academy of Lies gig. Poppy is known on Youtube as PoppyLongStocking.
As we walked into the club’s main room, Mads nudged me and nodded toward a table that had been set up with merchandise. Two girls a couple of years older than us stood there, one was in a black tee and the other a grey one, both of which had ‘Academy of Lies: Now in Session’ plastered across their boobs. On the table sat more tee shirts, buttons, bumper stickers and some CDs.
“
Hey, cool,” Mads said, picking up a button. I picked up a CD, it was a demo. I glanced up at the girls behind the table. They were both staring at me.
“
Hey – you’re Poppy, aren’t you?” The one with the hot pink pixie cut said.
“
Yeah…” Did I know them?
“
PoppyLongStocking, right on,” the other one said, running her fingers through the ends of her white-blond ponytail.
Oh! No, I didn’t. But they knew me. So weird. “Right – yeah! Yeah, that’s me,” I said. The blond one came out from behind the table and wrapped me in a bear hug.
“
You are wicked talented, girl, your songs are fierce. Hey, everybody! This is Poppy - she wrote The Kiss Off,” she said, putting one arm around me and pointing me out to everyone around. It caught several people’s attention. She and the other girl from the merchandise table started singing. “Goodbye, you didn’t say why, but I’m not gonna cry, cos baby this is your Kiss Off.” and as I looked around at the crowd, at the Academy of Lies fans, people started joining in. “Goodbye, you cheated on me, but I’ll get even you see, I’m telling you to just Kiss Off!”
They freaking knew the words to my song! Vanya’s mouth dropped open and Mads was jumping up and down. I grabbed them both in a group hug and in a little circle of three, at the top of our lungs we joined in the impromptu a Capella audience performance. Girls night rules!
The pink-haired girl slapped a tee shirt against my chest. “Here, freebie.”
“
Really?” I said. I put it on over my Guns N Roses tee, slipped my arms out of that and hauled it off me through the neck of my new tee shirt. Screw Guns N Roses. It was all about Academy of Lies now.
“
So, tell us everything,” the blond one said.
“
What?”
“
How did you catch the guy cheating on you? Like, did you catch them doing it?” She blew a bubble with her gum.
“
Oh, um…”
“
Did he buy you a present and then give it to her? Guys can be such cheap shits,” the pink-haired one said.
“
Did he text you when he meant to text her?”
“
Or maybe he said he had like work or something but you caught him out on a date with her.”
“
That’s cold.”
They didn’t even need me in the conversation. I just stood there and watched them talk, wondering when I was supposed to answer.
“
I know a guy who was totally dating two girls, and the second girlfriend tagged him on Facebook in a photo of them making out and he didn’t untag it in time before his real girlfriend saw it. What a ‘tard.”
“
Oh, um,” I said, flustered. “Well…”
“
Wow, it really is her – you’re PoppyLongStocking!” A crowd of kids my age came up, all staring at me. Vanya and Mads stepped back, out of the way. What on Earth was going on?
“
Can I get a photo?” a girl asked.
“
Yeah, can we? I love your channel, you should put out a CD,” one of the boys said as the girl, without waiting for my reply, put her arm around my shoulder and posed with me for a photo. As soon as the camera had flashed, the next person took her place. I smiled awkwardly, uncertainly. This was new. How was I a celebrity now?
A girl shoved a pen in my hand and held out an Academy of Lies bumper sticker. “Can you sign this?”
“
Me?” I said.
As I signed her bumper sticker, I heard someone ask “Who’s that?” It made me feel a little better.
“
If you don’t put out a CD, you should at least put your songs on iTunes. I would listen to them all day,” another girl was saying as the boy with his arm around me poked out his tongue, and gave the camera a rock salute. “Your songs, they really speak to me, you know? I mean the one about that fight you had with your mom, I get it. I totally get it.”
“
Really?” I said. She nodded earnestly. “Wow,” I said. “I don’t know what to say. Sucks to be you.”
Thankfully she laughed, taking the joke as I had meant it.
Vanya managed to squeeze into the crowd and she grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the throng.
“
Okay, that’s enough now,” she said. She turned to me and said quietly, “Is that enough now?”
“
Affirmative.”
“
That’s enough everybody. PoppyLongStocking appreciates your support.”
Sarah Billington is an Australian writer and editor who likes to write stories with love, laughs, suspense and zombies. Sometimes all in the same story.
She writes predominantly light Young Adult fiction under her name, Sarah Billington, but if you're interested in something a bit darker and scarier you could try out her other persona, Edwina Ray's writing. Edwina Ray is an Amazon best selling author. This makes Sarah Billington very jealous.
Sarah loves a variety of random things, which include Swing Dancing, Ice Hockey, Roller Derby and is a bit obsessive about paranormal investigation shows and channel E!. She has also become known as "the zombie girl" because of her fascination with all things zombie. She doesn't quite know how that happened, but she's going with it.
She writes predominantly light Young Adult fiction under her name, Sarah Billington, but if you're interested in something a bit darker and scarier you could try out her other persona, Edwina Ray's writing. Edwina Ray is an Amazon best selling author. This makes Sarah Billington very jealous.
Sarah loves a variety of random things, which include Swing Dancing, Ice Hockey, Roller Derby and is a bit obsessive about paranormal investigation shows and channel E!. She has also become known as "the zombie girl" because of her fascination with all things zombie. She doesn't quite know how that happened, but she's going with it.
COMING 2013
The money's in! Poppy's royalties for penning the accidental hit song
The Kiss Off that shot her boyfriend's band to super-stardom are in
and she knows EXACTLY what she's doing with it.
EXCERPT:
“See that?” I said, pointing at the feature band name on the flyer.
“Academy of Lies are headlining Bay Fest over in Tallulah Shores.”
“They’re headlining? Are you serious?” Mads said.
I grinned. “Pack your bags, baby.”
“Shut up.”
“Two words: road trip,” I said. “One word: camping.”
“Shut up.”
“Five wor — is it five? Yeah — five words: One week by the sea.”
“Shut up.”
“Four more words-”
“Enough with the words already.”
“I’m nearly done,” I said, “four final words: you, me and Van.”
She bit her bottom lip, staring at me when her hands started wringing
in front of her again. And she started bouncing.
“No,” I said, “no, no. You shut up. You start screaming again and
you’re not coming.”
Instead, Mads squeezed me in a bear hug and planted a kiss on my
cheek. “I’m going to Babe Fest. I’m going to Babe Fest!”
Bay Music Festival. Of all the nicknames in the world, it could have
been a lot worse.
THE KISS OFF 2 will include:
A road trip with an unexpected passenger.
Camping.
The realization too late that they don't actually like camping.
Sunburns.
Accidental topless swimming.
Paparazzi punch ups.
A news-worthy (yet totally false) love triangle.
Obsessed fan girls.
A stalker.
And an overwhelming request from someone super-famous.
THE KISS OFF 2: Coming 2013.
*****
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