Olivia and the Great Escape Read Online Free Page A

song had always felt like to him.
    But since his first single had gone to number one, he’d barely had a moment to himself. First there had been the Swan pantomime,
Cinderella
, which he’d loved doing but which had taken a huge amount of time, and now his life was an endless round of publicity shoots, interviews and rehearsals for his upcoming gigs. Then there was all the attention, too. He could no longer walk down Oxford Street or travel on the tube without being besieged by fans.
    He didn’t have time to write any new songs.At least that’s what he kept telling himself. The truth was that the inspiration seemed to have dried up. Every time he sat down at a piano or picked up his guitar, nothing came out. At first it had been frustrating, but now he was starting to feel panicky. What if he could never write another song? At least he had just enough really first class material for the album, but he had drawn on all his best old stuff to create it. If his songwriting gift had really deserted him forever, his career would be over before it had properly begun.
    “That’s wonderful, Aeysha, you’re a real talent,” said Kasha. And he meant it. Most of the songs he had heard that morning had been predictable, derivative of recent big hits including his own. But Aeysha’s song, although unpolished, had a really quirky, distinctive quality that marked it out.
    “I’m really impressed, Aeysha. It’s genuinely promising. Maybe you could be a singer-songwriter?”
    Aeysha smiled shyly. “Nah, I wouldn’t want to perform. I’ve already decided that. It’s not for me, at least not in the long term. That’s why I’m leaving the Swan at the end of the year.But I’d love to write songs for other people to sing.”
    “You can write one for me any time,” said Kasha. “Or maybe we could write one together when I’ve got a bit more time? That would be fun.”
    “I’d really love that,” said Aeysha, sincerely. The bell rang for lunch.
    “I guess that’s it for today,” said Kasha. “We’ll all meet again in a couple of weeks or so.”
    He walked with Aeysha down the curved staircase towards the entrance hall. “Are any of the others around? I’d love to say hello to Georgie and Livy and Tom,” he said.
    “Georgia will have gone to the lunchtime high-wire workshop,” said Aeysha.
    “Georgia? High-wire? I thought she was scared of heights?” said Kasha, frowning.
    “Oh, I don’t think the appeal is the high-wire itself,” said Aeysha dryly. “I think the appeal is a boy.”
    “Lucky boy,” said Kasha. “Georgia was a beautiful Cinderella.”
    “She was,” said Aeysha, “but I’m not sure that Alex Parks is fairytale Prince material. Anyway, I think he might have his eye onsomeone else. Listen, you might catch Livy and Tom if they’re not helping out at the workshop.”
    But they were nowhere to be seen, although Kasha did get to high-five Eel, who they found asking Mrs Gibbs at reception if any post had come for her dad.
    Kasha said goodbye to Aeysha and walked down the steps, and as he did so his phone rang. It was Lucie Groves from his record label. Lucie was always brisk and to the point, as if the usual niceties of conversation were costing her money she felt she could ill afford. Kasha was a bit frightened of her. She had always been pleasant, even effusive towards him, but he had heard stories of acts being suddenly and mysteriously dropped when they had displeased Lucie in some way, or hadn’t been as financially successful as expected. Kasha didn’t think that failure was a word in Lucie’s vocabulary.
    “Hi Kash,” she said now. “Listen, we’ve been talking here. We all really love the album, and I know we said it was finished, but we really think it needs one more song to balance the others. Something more down-beat. Maybe a ballad? I’ve booked the studio for three weeks’ time. You should be able to come up withsomething really good by then, won’t you?”
    “Yep,” said