The morning passed in a whirlwind of phone calls and meetings. Cara's usually unflappable calm thrown off slightly. I wasn't sure if she was stressed out the press or the frankly disastrous state of my love life.

It hadn't taken them long to dig into my non-existent romantic history. We were in the car travelling between appointments when I first discovered just how far they would go.

The murmur of the radio was background noise until I heard my name.

"-did you two meet?" the presenter asked.

The achingly familiar voice that had haunted me for years responded quickly, "School. We went to school together."

"And were you two close?" the presenter asked and I leaned forwards in my seat to listen.

"As we could be. I actually asked her on a date." Nate replied.

Yeah, you did. Don't forget to mention that you set me up for total social destruction before the entirety of the school. A move that ostracised me from the few friends I had had. No one wanted to be on the radar of the hottest guys in school for hanging out with a loser.

I could still remember the rushing noise in my ears as I had stared at the picture of me waiting for him with the word 'desperate' scrawled at my feet. A little make-up on and wearing my favourite top. One I hadn't worn since but remained crumpled in the bottom of the wardrobe as a constant reminder.

It was there when I flung open the doors the night I returned from the only date I had been on. I had rubbed the taste of my first kiss off on it. Barely able to think of Dribbly Denny without feeling sick.

I shook my head to stop myself from falling down the slippery slope of memory lane.

"How did that go?" the presenter's eager voice prompted.

Nate laughed, "Well let's just say I know how Hawk feels."

My jaw dropped and I wanted to scream at the injustice of him telling this story. "Scum bag." I whispered, glaring down at the fists I had clenched in my lap.

"Hmmmm?" Cara's head popped up at the noise.

My eyes filled with tears and I pointed at the radio. "He's a liar."

Cara looked concerned, "Can we switch that off?" she asked the taxi driver.

"No," I said quickly, "I want to hear what he says."

The driver glanced over his shoulder before returning his eyes to the road, "If it helps kid, I don't believe him."

I gave him a watery smile, "Thank you."

It didn't really help but it did comfort me a little to know at least one person believed me as I returned my focus to the liar speaking on Capital FM.

"-she was a real flirt. Loads of the guys were interested." Nate chuckled.

What guys? The ones you had laughing at me?

"So you're saying she might be leading Elliott on?" the presenter was hungry for gossip and as much as it irritated me, I couldn't blame them. They had a job to do

"I'm saying she's a tease but I don't blame Elliott for being interested." Nate laughed.

"That's all we got time for I'm afraid. Thanks Nathan. Next up-" The presenter launched into introducing the next song and I slumped back in my seat.

"Are you ok?" Cara asking leaning into my view.

"Why?" I asked, "Why are they allowed to lie about me like that?"

"Because you haven't got someone to fight your corner and get your side of the story out there. That's why you need a PR expert." She explained.

I nodded and squared my shoulders, "Ok, let's find one."

Her grin was all the answer she needed to give as she began frantically tapping at her phone.

Less than an hour later we were sat in her office, facing a willowy looking blonde woman with hooded eyes and bright pink lipstick.

"I can get you photoshoots, interviews and access to all the biggest parties." She said in answer to the question, 'why should I hire you,'.

I gave a mental negative buzzer noise in my head and glanced at Cara. She seemed to notice my loss of interest and only asked one more question before sending her on her way.

"This will work. We just need to find the right person." She reassured.

"I trust you, but I swear, the next one to offer to get me into the coolest parties is getting a poop emoji drawn on their sheet." I said discarding the heavily doodled interview sheet and picking up the next persons.

The next person to enter was a tall guy with dark, slightly wavy hair and charming smile already on his lips, "Hi, my name's Sam Choa. I'm a PR representative with Halo PR and we would like to see how we can help you."

I sat up a little, this was more like it. "And how do you think you can help me?" I asked shaking his hand.

He grinned and dropped into the seat in front of us, "What do you need help with exactly?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Have you heard what they're saying about me in the press?"

He nodded, "So are you looking at damage control or taking control?"

"What's the difference?"

"Do you want to stay quiet, or set the record straight? Fade away or fight it?" he shrugged, "We can help with either, but it depends what you want to get out of it."

I frowned, pondering that for a moment, "Can't I set the record straight and fade away?"

It was his turn to frown, "Technically yes but honestly, probably not. Once you give them a little attention, the press isn't likely to let you go."

I bit my bottom lip, rolling it between my teeth. It was a difficult question. Did I want the truth out there or for them to forget me?

"How would you make them forget me?" I asked.

"Give them a more interesting story to latch onto."

"How would you find a story?" I leaned forwards, elbows resting on the desk, curiosity overcoming my shyness.

"Ah," he laughed, "Can't give you all our secrets before you sign us. Are you trying to put me out of a job, or do you just really want to get to know me?" he winked to let me know he was joking.

Despite this his slightly flirty tone was like a bucket of cold water over my head and I pulled back abruptly, taking intense interest in the interview sheet.

Cara didn't let the silence linger and launched into her questions while I doodled quietly.

"Do you have any questions for us?" Cara asked finally, signalling that the interview was drawing to its close.

"Just one," he replied, "Have I offended you Phoebe?"

I looked up in surprise, "No. Why?"

"You shut down when we were talking. I just wondered why." He spoke quietly, as though speaking to a frightened animal he was afraid he might spook.

I glanced at Cara and she raised her eyebrows, asking if I needed an out. I gave a small shake of my head before refocusing on Sam.

"I'm just not good at dealing with guys. It's nothing personal." I sighed.

Sam looked at me thoughtfully for a moment. "You were doing pretty well up till that point and I would really like to work with you. However, if it helps, we do have female reps at Halo if you'd rather work with one of them."

I bit my lip, "I'll keep that in mind."

Cara stood, "Thank you for your time today Mr Choa. We will be in touch shortly with our decision."

Sam gave me look I couldn't quite decipher and then stood and shook Cara's hand. I unfurled from my foetal position in the chair and stood to shake his hand too.

"Thank you for seeing me, and I do hope we can work together." Sam smiled but his eyes bore into me, as though he could see my soul.

"Thank you." I mumbled in response.

As the door swung shut behind him, I sank back into the chair.

"Thoughts?" Cara asked.

I chewed my bottom lip, "I liked him more than the last couple. At least he's not obsessed with making me a star."

"At lot of people would like to have a chance at fame Pheebs. They just need to get their heads around the fact that you're not one of them." She laughed, handing me the next interview sheet.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I flinched. It had been going off pretty much nonstop all day.

Still I checked it and my heart fluttered a little when I said Elliott's name. It was a text, I clicked to open it.

'Table is booked for 8 at Jio and Wine. We have a private table so don't panic.'

The phone buzzed with a second text, 'I miss you'

I smiled as I typed my response 'this isn't a date you know'

I didn't have time to put my phone down before his response came through, 'If I was dating you, you'd know about it'.

So would the whole world, I thought sadly.

'See you later.' I typed back by way of a response.

"Elliott?" Cara asked.

I blushed, unable to meet her eye. "Yeah, just confirmed the table for later." I replied as casually as I could.

"You are allowed to like him you know."

"I know, I just don't want him to think it's anything more than friendship." I said playing with the corner of the page in my hand.

"He's a big boy Pheebs, I'm sure he can take being friend zoned."

A knock at the door signalled the arrival of the next candidate and I fixed a smile on my face grabbing another sheet  to write my thoughts down.