Nemesis: Chapter 38

Gabriella, Bea, Leanne and Anais arrived at the TV studios early on the Friday morning. Bea was particularly nervous about appearing on the TV, her half-sister was going to be there, albeit cheering on her friend Mia and she wanted to make a better impression than the last time they had met. Bea was worried about forgetting all the lyrics and falling over during the dance routine. She was also weary that Leanne would try to pull a stunt that would leave at least one of them very messy. Leanne had been acting very strangely recently, constantly avoiding eye contact with Bea and blushing whenever the two of them accidentally touched. This was very unlike the normally overly confident blonde bombshell, who until very recently, had been very much the boss in their new friendship.

Leanne was indeed scheming, but mostly about how she could go through the entire day without getting messy at all. She knew that this was very unlikely, but if one of her bandmates could take the bulk of the slime, then she could potentially avoid total humiliation. She wasn't worried about forgetting her lines, for she was the consummate professional, she'd never forgotten her lines in her life. But she was exceedingly worried that her career as a singer would be over before it even began. She was against going on the show, but Jenna, their manager, insisted. They needed exposure, and any publicity is good publicity, regardless of whether they were made to look like fools or not. In truth, Leanne hated being taken advantage of, which was ironic, since that was what she did to nae Bea almost every day.

During the rehearsals yesterday they had agreed that only Anais would get slimed, but Leanne knew better than anyone that the TV crew were unlikely to keep to their word. Anais wasn't worried about getting gunged, for their music video, with her getting very messy, was already all over the internet. In fact, it made her have something in common in her adored older sister Camille, who had got messy on a couple of occasions herself recently. Instead, Anais was upset that her older sister wasn't coming to watch, as being a teacher, she was unable to get time off work to see her. Camille had promised that she would come to the studios tomorrow, but as far as Anais knew, they had very little filming scheduled for the Saturday. Nevertheless, excited, Anais had been up since quarter to five in order to get ready. She beat her bandmates to the bathroom and as she curled her hair she had to commiserate Gabriella who had woken up with a nasty looking spot on her chin. Gabriella made the brave decision to burst the spot and requested that the make-up girl cover her face with a mother-load of Lance makeup. Gabriella was already worried that today wasn't going to go very well.

Parvati, the director, yawned as she approached the four girls whilst they were still in hair and makeup. "Good morning girls, we're going to need to film you at various intervals throughout the day, to give you enough time to freshen up and have a change of outfits, if you need it. So be weary that it will be an incredibly long day and there will be a lot of waiting around. I'm afraid you're all going to have to share the same dressing room. The contestants will be sharing one too as the presenters Aiko and Tori both have one each. So, as you can imagine, it's going to be a bit of a squeeze. Now to start with I would like you to do a short intro that we can show throughout the day during commercials on Sunday in order to advertise the show. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like one of you to get gunged. Any volunteers?"

Anais hesitated, before announcing, "Well, I guess that I'm going to get messy during the performance of our single, so it should be one of the other three who gets gunged instead." Leanne was going to complain but had to admit that Anais' request sounded reasonable. "Why don't we play Rock, Paper and Scissors to decide who gets messy?" The scheming blonde suggested. "Ermokay" Bea replied hesitantly, waiting for the catch. It seemed odd for Leanne to leave her fate up to what Bea determined as a game of chance. "Bring it on" exclaimed Gabriella, more confidently, having always fallaciously reckoned herself to be an expert at the game when she was younger. In truth, she simply waited a fraction of a second longer than Marie to show her hand and not wanting to complain, her twin sister always let her get away with it. Ultra-competitive Leanne in contrast, surely wouldn't be so accommodating.

The three friends clenched their fists and on Anais' signal revealed their choices. Leanne opened her fist a fraction of a second behind the others, but Gabriella and Bea, trying to stare each other down, completely failed to notice. Gabriella was banking on Leanne wanting to get Bea messy as she normally would. A nervous Bea appeared to think the same. But in fact, Leanne desired to see Gabriella get her just deserves, after she had caused the ruckus at the pub a few days earlier. So, Leanne copied Bea in choosing paper, which beat Gabriella's unfortunate choice of rock. "Oh no" shrieked Gabriella, as Bea sighed a huge sigh of relief and Anais put her arm around her shoulders.

Gabriella turned to Parvati and nervously asked, "Just what do you have in mind?" Parvati, noticed Leanne's trickery, but chose to let it slide. She replied, "Choose one of your bandmates to pie you and I'll get one of my stage hands to pour a bucket of gunge over you from above." "I'll do it!" Shouted Bea, before Leanne had even had time to react. "Only if we swap tops" demanded Gabriella, "It's someone else's turn to wear a bikini, my mum doesn't approve about how much flesh I always have on display." Bea, paused, weighing up her options. Her mum was quite a free spirit and her absent dad clearly didn't care what she wore. On the other hand, she always used to feel self-conscious at the beach. Boys were never very subtle when trying to catch a glimpse of her cleavage. Old men were even worse, they would drool as she splashed with her friends in the sea. Abruptly, Anais, wanting to help out her best friend butted in and claimed "Of course she'll do it, though she'll need a smaller bikini!" Anais grabbed at Bea's left breast and squeezed, "As lovely as Bea's boobs are, they aren't a match for Gaby's" she teased.

In the changing room, Bea took off her top and her bra. Looking in the mirror, she took hold of her breasts and looked round at Gabriella as she herself took off her t-shirt. Bea was jealous of her friend and also rather apprehensive about going topless throughout the day. Leanne came up to the brunette and put her hand around her bare shoulders. As Parvati approached to hand Bea her bikini, Leanne rather rudely snatched it off her. Parvati was annoyed at being reduced to the role of wardrobe assistant. She wondered where Bianca was. Presumably, she had overslept again. Boy would she regret that later. Parvati made a mental note of Leanne's rudeness, vowing to gain her revenge on her later in the day.

Leanne turned to her best friend. "Don't worry Bea, you'll do great today. You look fantastic. Don't worry about your chest, you're far prettier than any of us." "Aw jeez, thanks Leanne. But I can't compete with you, you're gorgeous" gushed Bea in return. Without breaking sweat Leanne lectured "Wear your bikini with pride, after today, you're be the most popular member of the group for sure, now go out there and gunge Gaby." Leanne hung out the bikini for Bea to grab, but as she reached out, Leanne swung it out of reach. Leanne giggled as Bea's breasts jostled as she groped forward. Leanne then placed her index finger onto the tip of Bea's nose and gently pressed down. "Even with your nose all squidgy, you still look fantastic" Leanne gushed, rather sycophantically. Bored with the delay, Anais slapped Bea's bum with a towel. "Come on Bea, put away your inner exhibitionist and get dressed. No longer perturbed, and impressed that the French girl knew such a word, a smiling Bea collapsed into a fit of giggles. Unimpressed, Anais slapped her with the towel a second time.

Gabriella meanwhile had organised for Marie, Oliver and Taylor to have tickets to watch her performance on the show. Having finished getting dressed, in what was admittedly still quite a low-cut top, she left the changing rooms to go and find them. Marie, stopping to buy a coffee from a vending machine, managed to get separated from her brother and his girlfriend. Yawning, she scratched her behind when she didn't think that anybody was watching. After her little sojourn as an extra on Cherry Hill she'd had a taste of TV, but in her jeans and t-shirt felt as unglamorous as could be. But she didn't envy her sister, despite her being on the cusp of potential stardom. Gabriella had had a miserable last few years, but all that was about to change and Marie was genuinely looking forward to cheering her on.

Scraping sleep from her eyes, Bianca ran into the studios having overslept. She was twenty minutes late. She was wary that Parvati would yell at her for failing to help Dazzle dress. Bianca hoped that Parvati hadn't been reduced to doing her job for her. Fortunately, she arrived before the contestants and she knew that Dazzle would still require her later on as they would be having numerous costume changes throughout the day. Dashing past Arjan, she heard him ask her whether she had seen Gabriella who had gone walkabout and was urgently required on set. Having watched the pop band's video the day before, Bianca was vaguely familiar with which of the band she was and wanting to prove herself useful set off to find her before anybody else.

Unable to get hold of Oliver due to a lack of phone signal, Marie was just finishing her coffee when she felt a relieved Bianca grab her by the arm and usher her into the changing rooms. Too tired to protest with any real conviction, Marie demurred, "But I'm not Gaby, I'm Marie, her twin. You've confused me with my sister." Though they had already briefly met, Marie wasn't too big-headed to expect Bianca to recognise her from before; she had only been an extra after all. In fact, it was quite a new experience for Marie to be confused for her twin as everyone knew that they wore their hair differently. No one had got them mixed up for years, not even their ailing grandfather. "Sure, you are" replied Bianca dismissively. "Everyone's waiting for you, now hurry up and get changed." "No seriously, listen to me sing, "LA, la, la, la, la" Marie screeched, overly dramatically. Bianca privately admitted that Marie sounded awful, but surmised that the blonde was just putting it on. Plus, most pop singers couldn't really sing very well anyway. Bianca spotted Gaby's abandoned bikini top in the corner of the room. Though Marie continued to complain, it was in her nature to be naturally compliant. Still expecting her sister to come to her rescue at any moment, Marie indulged Bianca's bossy requests. Bianca helped the sighing Marie out of her top and jeans. Having given Marie a pleated red skirt she badgered the girl to remover her bra. Marie gulped as Bianca passed her the bikini, instantly she knew that it would be too big. "Look this is too large, have you got anything smaller?" Marie asked as she held the bikini up to her bare chest. Bianca dug out a cute red number and threw it at Marie who promptly dropped it. Overtired, Marie struggled to fasten the bikini around her back and blushed as Bianca pushed her out into the corridor before she had everything properly secured.

Killing time whilst they waited for Gabriella, Bea and Leanne stood chatting on the corner of the set. Nervous, Bea was fussing with her bikini, when Leanne slapped her on the bum. First Anais, now Leanne, Bea wondered what had gotten into her touchy-feely bandmates all of a sudden. Leanne interrupted Bea's reverie by haughtily announcing "Stop messing around Bea, you look great. Chill a little." Bea blushed as her best friend's soft palm ruffled her skirt. "Hey, cheeky" she cooed. Leanne looked round to see if anyone was looking. They weren't. So, she lifted up Bea's skirt and stared down at Bea's knickers. "A good choice, Bea, I do approve" she teased. "Hey, be careful Leanne, there are men here" Bea pleaded. Bea turned around and slapped at Leanne's wrist so that she could smooth down her skirt. As she twisted round, Bea accidentally pirouetted straight into the path of a camera, smacking her head against the lens.

Dazed, Bea stumbled about as Leanne laughed at her pitiful situation. Parvati then called for Bea and Gabriella to come on set. Heavily blinking and slightly concussed, Bea wearily made her way forward. Bumping into Marie, she gawked, "There you are Gaby, we were wondering where you were." In return the blonde quipped, "I'm not Gaby, I'm Marie!" Bea had never met Gabriella's twin before and still slightly dazed, refused to countenance such a coincidence. "Stop complaining, you're just trying to avoid being gunged" Bea intoned. "What!" Exclaimed Marie, unaware of the real reason for her being called on set.

Parvati shouted "Action" and Dave aimed his camera at the pair on the stage. Bea by now had recovered her poise and confidently read out her line. "Hi, we're Dazzle and we will be appearing on the Revenge Show, starting at nine o'clock, Sunday evening." Marie felt that she had no option but to play along. She looked up at the teleprompter and read the line intended for her sister. "We will be performing our new single, "No way boy". So, tune in or miss out." As soon as Marie finished speaking, Bea smirked and slammed a chocolate pie into Marie's face. Startled, Marie moved to wipe her face with her right hand, but Bea slyly took hold of her hands, holding them down by her waist. Without warning, a shower of green slime ran down upon the blonde, completely covering the front of her body. Bea leaned out of the way just in time so that only a tiny bit of slime coated her left shoulder. Giggling, she smiled sweetly at Marie and imitating Leanne from earlier, pressed her index finger against the blonde's slimy nose.

Just then, Gabriella came running into the studio, "What are you doing? That's my sister!" Bea glanced over at Marie, "Oh crumbs" she giggled, "I'm ever so sorry. Nice to finally meet you Marie." "Oi Bea, stay there" Gabriella shouted. "Parvati, do you mind if we test out the gunge tank, Bea's just volunteered to get gunged. No one picks on my sister like that." Marie looked at Bea and giggled. Bea blushed and smoothed down her skirt. Bianca, apologising, handed Marie a towel, before running off to avoid being given a similar messy punishment herself. Parvati marched over to Bea. "Why didn't you tell me that this was Marie? Gabriella's right, you deserve to be gunged for wasting all our time. As luck would have it, Arjan's made some adjustments to one of the gunge tanks and wanted someone to test it out before the main show anyway. Go and sit up on the seat above the tank on the right. We'll film another segment, but with you and Gaby this time!"

Gabriella stared at Bea who cowered in shock at how vehement her close friend was. Gabriella went to check on her sister who insisted that she was okay, for gunge didn't really faze her anymore, before storming over to Bea. "I'm going to enjoy this" she whispered. "Don't worry, I'm not really mad at you, I just can't understand how you couldn't tell that it wasn't me." "I hit my head, I was a bit cross eyed, I'm oh so sorry" Bea replied. "Typical Bea, you're such a klutz, now prepare to squirm" Gabriella teased in return. Bea didn't need reminding. She climbed up onto the seat and looked down at the large vat of slime beneath her feet. Nervous, she swung her legs back and forth and fiddled with the pleats in her hair. Gabriella ran up to the lever and looked at the teleprompter. Parvati called "Action" and Gabriella began to read out her script. "Don't miss Sunday at nine, when one of the competitors will get dumped into this giant gunge tank. But to give you a taster of what's going to happen, we have the lovely Bea here to show you how it works."

Gabriella pulled the first lever and a stream of custard rained down on the bashful girl who screamed as she wiggled under the cold deluge. The yellow liquid ran down her body and pooled around her breasts. Gabriella then pulled the second lever and twice as much chocolate fell down upon the brunette. Nervous, Bea made the split-second mistake of looking up and was hit face on by the cold brown liquid. Disgusted, Bea tried to bend over to avoid the downpour but lost her balance and almost fell off her seat. Laughing, Gabriella pulled the final lever. Blue gunge shot out a tube and hit Bea in the chest before her seat started to move down the slope. As her seat picked up speed, her small skirt rode up and with her arms flailing she was unable to smooth it back down. Her seat tilted as it reached the bottom of the track, vaulting Bea into the tank of slime. Falling face first she splattered into the gunge and disappeared under the surface of the slime. She fell with such force that the splashback almost reached a guffawing Gabriella on the side. The large tank was almost two feet deep and so Bea sat on her heals as she emerged from the slime. As she did so she was hit by a downpour of black slime which completely concealed her for ten seconds, to gasps from the audience who were beginning to arrive in anticipation for the day's main events. As the downpour finished, Bea smiled to the camera and Parvati yelled "Cut."

Bea ran her hands down her front and brushed away the slime. Bill put a stepladder up against the tank and helped the teenager out from the vat. With gunge falling down over her eyes, Bea ran over to Marie and embraced her. "I'm Marie silly" the twin laughed as Bea wrapped her gungey arms around her. Embarrassed, Bea went to hug Gabriella, only for Leanne to shout, "Bea, stop! Don't get her messy. Gaby still needs to film her promo." Bea stopped herself just in time and smiled knowingly as she stared piercingly at her shocked bandmate. Parvati looked up at the girls and shrugged. "We can still gunge her, but it'll have to just be a bucket, nothing fancy. Bea, you won't have time to get clean, so no one give her a towel, we won't have one to waste if everything goes to plan later today anyway. Hey why don't we pie her as well." Gabriella smirked back at Bea in glee. Leanne squealed when she heard Parvati's suggestion and ran onto the studio floor without hesitation. Anais, still clean, incredibly pumped up and embarrassingly excited, followed soon behind her.

Bea and Gabriella stood between Leanne and Anais. Bea said her line from before and Gabriella read out the line that was forced upon her sister earlier. As Gabriella finished speaking, Anais rubbed a custard pie in her face. As soon as Leanne was sure that the cameraman had finished his close up on Gabriella, she slammed a cream pie into Bea's cheeks. She then dragged the base of the pie down Bea's front and rubbed it against her breasts. Anais then upturned a bucket of green slime over Gabriella and Leanne emptied a bucket of pink slime over Bea. The two gunged girls then hugged before Parvati shouted "Cut! That was fantastic girls, really great. We need you back in about an hour, that should give you enough time to clean up."

Anais and Leanne ran off before their gunged bandmates could wipe their slime all over them. Gabriella then whispered to Bea "Don't worry, we'll get them back. Anais is due to be gunged in the performance later anyway and I have something very special planned for Leanne. Just you wait." Marie then ran up to her sister and gave her a hug. "Long time no see sis, how are you?" Asked Marie. "Great thanks. You've already met Bea, don't worry, she's not always such a silly sausage." Gabriella then ran her right hand over Bea's left breast and flicked some cream up into her palm. She then wiped her palm over her sister's nose and cheeks. "As you can see, Bea's learnt from the best. I'm sure they won't mind if you freshen up in the changing rooms with us. Come on, follow me."