Two grueling hours later, Hannah burst through the door laughing with Paul. Rachel woke up, but Jo didn’t.
“SHHHHHHH!!! Quiet, you two!” Rachel said as she sat upright.
“Oh, sorry guys. Let’s go back to my room, eh Han?” Paul whispered.
“Yea, ok. Sorry Rach!” Hannah said as she again walked out the door. She shut it gently behind her. Rachel glanced over in the next bed to see Jo lying on her stomach, still asleep. At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Rachel shot out of bed, ready to kill Hannah for coming back. To her surprise, Simon was on the other side.
“Come on in, Jo’s asleep. Jo, wake up.” Rachel said walking over to Jo’s bed to wake her up.
“Yea, yea, I’m up. Oh, hey Simon. What's up?" Jo said, still half asleep.
"Get ready. We're going to the set in half an hour," Simon replied.
"What?! Hurry Rach, get a move on!" Jo yelled while running towards the loo.
"I guess I'll leave you two to get ready. Hurry!!!" Simon said as he left their room.
"Bye!" the girls said simultaneously. Jo ran towards her bag, grabbed a pair of blue jeans, a tight top, and changed. When she got done, with toothbrush and hairbrush in hand, she scurried back to the bathroom. Rachel was re-applying her makeup.
"God, I don't believe it. Why didn't they tell us when we were going to go to the set so soon?!" the blonde exclaimed.
"I don't know. They know we're going to take a while to get ready. I think they do it on purpose," Rachel said with a chuckle.
"Yea. Oh no! We have ten minutes left!!" Joanne said, glancing at her watch.
"No! Come on then, we look fine," Rach said and left the bathroom. Jo finished brushing her teeth, grabbed her hair brush and her purse, and ran out the door. Rachel followed about a step behind her. The got to the nearest lift, which was on the 23rd floor at the moment.
"Come on Rach, we can get down there quicker by the stairs," she said, taking Rachel's hand and dragging her along. They ran down the stairs, and, as Jo pointed out, beat the lift to the lobby. Again, a limousine was waiting on them. Jo pushed open the main door, still running. They literally jumped into the limo. They were the last one's in the car. Bradley even beat them down. Once they were all in the vehicle, they drove to the hotel where the interview was being conducted. The 7 followed Simon down a corridor and to some elevators. They went up 8 floors to a rather large conference room. There, the writers from Seventeen magazine were waiting. After introductions were made, questions were asked and answered. One of the interviewers asked each member what would make the ideal friend, since that issue was based on friendship. They all answered with pretty much the same reply; someone that you can talk to or hang out with that won't judge you by how you look or hang out with, etc, someone who will console you when you're in need of it. At least they all agreed on it. The next question was one that took some thought from every member. Who is your best friend? Paul replied Hannah and Neil, which was to be expected, Bradley replied his girlfriend, Jon said Tina and vice versa, Rachel said Jeremy, and Jo didn't say anything at all. Rachel looked at her in curiosity.
"I'd have to say my best mate in the world would have to be Laura OR what's-her-face sitting on the other end of the table," Joanne replied, pointing to Rachel.
"Who is what's-her-face?" the interviewer asked.
"That brunette sitting beside Paul,"
"Ohh, Rachel. I got ya now,"
" 'Right."
They completed the interview in about ten more minutes. Jo and Rachel were talking about it on the way to the photoshoot.
"Did you really forget my name?" Rachel asked.
"No," Jo replied with a smile, "I just wanted to, liven things up a bit, so to speak,"
"Ok, cos for a minute there I really thought you did forget my name, Joanne,"
"Belive me, I want to, but it just stays there. Hehe,"
"You better run, blondie," Rachel warned and proceeded to chase Jo down the corridor. Both were laughing hysterically by the time the rest of the group caught up to them. Paul just looked at them like they were insane and Simon glared at them. The got to the limo and went to an empty parking garage where they were to do the photoshoot. Lights and cameras were set up, along with 3 trailers, one for makeup, one for hair, and the other for wardrobe. Each took their turn in the respected trailers and stood in front of a camera and 3 lights.
"Look happy, you guys. Get friendly, but not that kind of friendly, alright?" the photographer asked. They all acknowledged in some way or another. They finished the photoshoot in about 3 hours, which left them exhausted and hungry. Simon gave them the rest of the day to chill and move in to the apartments he had already found for them. Unknown to the group, Simon had assigned each member to an apartment. Tina and Jon were to live together, Brad, Hannah, and Paul were to reside in an apartment, and Jo and Rachel shared one as well. They lived about a 5 minute walk from each other, which meant easy access to fellow band members.
§~ S Club 7 ~§~ S Club 7 ~§~ S Club 7 ~§~ S Club 7 ~§
They had been there 3 weeks, which meant they were almost done filming the show and recording their latest album. Everyone was getting on with each other pretty well, so there were no conflicts. Jo was finishing up the dishes from the night before in the kitchen of her and Rachel's flat. Rachel was out shopping, like Jo was earlier in the day. Finished with the dishes, Joanne walked to the living room and sat on the couch. She laid her head back and closed her eyes. In her mind, she could hear someone yelling her name. She soon realised it wasn't in her head...it was coming from behind the door that led outside. What Jo DIDN'T know was that Rachel was on the other side of the door with an armload of bags. Rachel kicked the door, still yelling for Jo. Jo realised what was going on and ran to the door to let her in. Rach stumbled past Jo and flopped down on the couch.
"I was out there for 5 minutes...didn't you hear me?" Rachel asked.
"No, actually, I didn't. I was doing the dishes,"
"Oh, well, guess what I got for us?" Rachel said.
"Do I even want to know?" Jo replied, worried.
"Coyote Ugly!" Rachel yelled.
"You're kidding?! I love that movie! That Austrailian bloke is properly sexy!" Jo exclaimed, this being only the 500th time she had seen the film.
"Yea he is. Let's watch it already," Rachel said, waiving it in the air. She put it in the VCR and went to the kitchen. She made herself and Jo a margarita, since every time they had watched the movie they had been completely wasted. By the time the previews were over, Rachel was back on the couch. Jo lay in the floor on her stomach with her chin in her hands, watching the movie in amazement. Rach curled up with a pillow and her glass. By the time Violet's apartment had been raided, Jo was drunk. She had 4 or 5 margaritas, or at least that's how far she thought she got. Normally, Rachel was the first to get knackered, since she had such a lower tolerance than Joanne, but tonight the blonde was swallowing the liquid like a thirsty camel drinks water. By the end of the movie, when LeAnn Rimes started singing on top of the bar, Jo had the remote in her hand while dancing on the coffee table. She started singing Can't Fight The Moonlight. Rachel ran upstairs to get the video camera and sat on the steps filming a drunken pop star making a fool out of herself. Rachel turned the camera on herself and explained the situation. She also stated that Joanne sounded much better than LeAnn ever could singing that song (any song for that matter). She walked down the stairs, camera fixed on Jo. Drunk and unstable, Jo flounced up and down towards the end of the song, hitting the higher notes like she was born doing it. Rachel smiled in amazement and proceeded to join her. She jumped in on background vocals (like she normally does on S Club's songs) and the result was a sound that was undescribable. Both girls were singing and dancing well after the credits were finished rolling, except they were singing acappella. About 30 seconds later, Jo stubled off the table, fell on the couch, and passed out. Again, Rach turned the camera towards herself.
"Well, the star of the show has officially passed out. Signing off for Joanne O'Meara, this is Rachel Stevens saying goodnight, goodnight," and she shut the camera off. Walking up the stairs, Rachel realised she hadn't had that much fun since she left London a month before. She stepped into her room and realised she was drunk as well and collapsed on her bed. She laughed to herself and dozed off to sleep.
