Publicity Stunt

Her bright blue eyes studied the documents that were between her delicate fingertips, her pupils darting over each new word and chart and absorbing its meaning while a smile gently graced her features.

“It's great, isn't it?” Her manager, Hilary Dent, beamed upon her. “While you didn't necessarily debut at number one, the response your album is receiving is mind blowing. We didn't even really get a chance to promote it, but it's exceeding everyone's expectations!”

She shook her head, her wavy blonde tresses swaying along with the motion as she replied, “No, debuting at number nine is perfect. I never thought I would even get this far. It's just...” she inhaled deeply and exhaled out, “wow.”

Hilary nodded her head in agreement. “Really, Ryella, this is amazing.” Dent leaned up against the table that Ryella sat at, looking at the youthful young woman with proud eyes. “The label's impressed, but they know that the album can do even better. They know that this album can make it to number one.”

“I hope it will,” she sighed out. “I really hope that it will. If it gets to be number one on the Billboard Two Hundred... I think I'll cry.”

“Ryella,” Hilary called out. “The label's done some talking and thinks that we should put your name out there some more to help boost your sales.”

“Okay, sounds good. What are we going to do?—Interviews and radio shows?”

“Well, yes,” she nodded, “but the label thinks that we'll see faster results if we do something a little different.”

Ryella's brow furrowed together, trying to think of what she was trying to get at. “What do you mean?”

“The label's gotten in touch with another company and they've decided that having you seen out and about with one of their own artists would really be some good publicity for both parties.”

“And when you mean 'out and about', you mean...?”

“Yes, you'll be seen by the public as romantically involved with this other artist.”

Ryella's lips formed a firm, thin line, her eyes hardening at the news, and her voice replying in a strong tone, “I don't want to do it.”

Hilary blinked her eyes in surprise at hearing her answer. When publicity stunts such as these were planned out with other artists and celebrities, most, if not all, were all for it or just didn't care. They were usually accepting of any way to boost their sales and image. For a moment, Hilary felt a little proud of the young lady that sat before her.

“Why not?” She inquired softly.

“I don't want to raise my sales that way. I don't want to be seen as riding on someone else's coattails to get to where I would be. I want to do things on my own. It's my album – I've worked hard on it, I've put in the hours and everything. I want it to be a success for what it is, not for what some gossip magazine says I've been doing with my supposed celebrity boyfriend.”

Dent nodded her head, taking in what the youth had to say about it. “I understand.”

Ryella looked to her manager with hopeful eyes. “Then... I don't have to do it, right?”

Sighing, she replied, “I'm sorry, Ry, but the label's already gotten into touch with its people and they're spreading word about this fake relationship already. To be honest, I wasn't even told about any of it till today – I don't even know who they're setting you up with.”

Her jaw dropped. “But that's not fair!” She shouted, jolting up from her chair and making Hilary jump in surprise. “That's totally not fair to me! They didn't even ask!”

“I know, Ry. It's just that people usually don't disagree to things like this.”

“It still doesn't make it right,” she muttered under her breath.

“You're right. I'll go ahead and talk with some people to see if we might be able to get you out of it, but I think it might be too late. They're always on the ball with these sorts of things. Just know that these things usually tend to last only a few months, so it shouldn't take that long. You won't have to see this person for a year or anything.”

“I know, it's just disappointing to me though.”

“There's also another reason as to why they've decided this would be beneficial for the album.” Hilary said.

“Why's that?”

“They have a lot of faith in you and the album. They know you've got the potential to be really big so they're actually already in the process of preparing your album to be launched throughout Europe.”

Hearing the continent's name caused for Ryella's blue eyes to bug out. “Are you kidding?”

“I wouldn't joke about something this big.” Hilary smiled.

Ryella fell backwards into her chair and stared at the ceiling, mulling things over. “Okay... while I'm still pretty upset about this publicity stunt, I'm really excited for the chance to put the album out overseas.” Looking quickly at Hilary, she squinted her eyes accusingly, asking, “You sure you're not kidding?”

She laughed and shook her head. “No, I'm not. You're going to be making your European debut soon, and we're going to be concentrating on the UK first.” Heading over to her purse, she snatched out a few sheets of paper and handed them to Ryella who took them hesitantly.

Her eyes glossed over the United Airlines name and then landed upon the destination – London Heathrow Airport. Her head snapped up to meet Hilary's gaze before returning to the boarding ticket in her hands.

“It may be a bit rushed, but we'll be leaving for London in a day.”

Not being able to use her vocal chords from the shock of everything, Ryella could only bring herself to nod slowly as she still was trying to comprehend this insanely monumental moment in her music career. However, there was still a part of her that was eating away at her naggingly, her mind continuously wondering about who it was the label was setting her up with.