Deadline

[LAURZY!]

O.M.G!!! I was not expecting that!!!!!

Brill update, i hope they can slavage the paper

Cannot wait to see what Belle's reaction is gonna be

Looking forward to reading more

[Luc]

Thanks Scotcaz22 and Laura .

-Chapter Nineteen-

Slap, Slap, Kiss

Belle looked at the now brunette Spike for a moment before turning to Steve, a neutral look on her face.

“Who’s he?” She asked him. Steve looked at her in confusion.

“Don’t mind her Steve,” Aden said in his strong American accent. He jumped over the back of the sofa and put his arm around the Australian woman. “She’s just overcome.”

“I have never seen this jerk before in all my life.”

“Hey, I resent that!” Aden shot at her, “I’m the jerk you used to go out with!”

“Could you get rid of this person please?” Belle asked the host. He looked around uncomfortably.

“Well, I could if you wanted too, but...”

“That was a neat trick, slipping that cassette into Zoe’s walkman.” Aden interrupted. Belle allowed herself to grin before letting it fall again. “I owe you for that,” he put his arm around her again and Belle shrugged it off.

“Is that what this is about?” She asked the brunette American, sounding slightly calmer.

“Have I got style of what?” Belle took a deep breath and stood up from the sofa. She looked as if she was about to explode.

“Look, I’m not being unreasonable,” shouted the girl, “I’m keeping my cool. All I want is simply to have this person removed from the studio and shot dead!”

“But you just said you’d never met him,” the host relied, sounding confused. Aden jumped up off the sofa.

“I suppose that’s what they call an instant dislike!” Aden joked. Belle turned to face him.

“Tell me something Jeffreys, do you actually enjoy doing this kind of thing in public?” she shouted at him. Aden turned to the camera.

“Do I? Answers on a postcard.” He shouted. A look of disgust crossed Belle’s face.

“You’re sick, you know that,” she whispered to him. Aden laughed.

“I’m sick? I’m sick! Do you know what she did?” he asked the audience through the camera. Behind him, Steve, the host, was arguing with his producer. “I put my heart out to this woman about how I feel about her. So she tapes it and sticks the cassette in my girlfriend’s walkman!” Steve turned away from his producer and put his arms around Belle and Aden’s shoulders. “That’s sick.” the American muttered.

“How would you two like to be part of our video panel?” Steve asked,

“Shut up!” Belle and Aden shouted at him in unison. Steve rolled his eyes.

“Right, fine,” he muttered and skated away.

“Ever since you came into my life you’ve been screwing it up for me.” Aden hissed at his ex-girlfriend. “Why didn’t I see you coming?” Belle laughed before turning to the camera.

“Didn’t see me coming?” She giggled, “For the first six months he was following me around my office dragging his tongue! He left tracks!”

“This was not a one way thing!” Aden retorted, “If she saw me take of my jacket we had to hose her down!” Belle pushed Aden out of the camera’s view.

“This is pathetic!” She shouted as she did. She turned back to the camera. “Phone in if you think this is pathetic.” She added, sounding calm.

“Well that’s great!” Steve called out. He skated over to Belle. “But that’s all we’ve got time for...” Belle pushed the man towards Aden, he tripped up. Aden walked towards Belle, the look of anger still on his face.

“You’re getting worse, you know that!” He screamed, “You’re a warped, repressed, power mad b!tch! You don’t have the morals of an ally cat, and you’ve never made a friend that you didn’t use!”

“Yeah? Well you have big lips!”

“Is that the best you can do?”

“How about this?” Belle raised her hand and slapped Aden across the cheek as hard as she could, “Got a smart ass remark for that you shallow, show-off American lamebrain?” Aden pursed his lips before raising his hand and slapping Belle across the face. The pair stared at each other momentarily before moving n closer and kissing passionately.

“Well, uh, that... um...” Steve attempted to say, but the camera lingered on the young-adults, who were still kissing. Steve skated over and stood in from of them.

“I’m afraid that’s all we’ve got time for... so, um... see you next week...” The camera lingered on his for a moment before the Crazy Stuff title card appeared.

***

Back in the newsroom, the news team were looking mellow; it didn’t strike them as unusual that Belle and Aden had erupted like that. Ruby shook her head.

“It wasn’t much of a plug, was it?”

“Oh no?” Angelo replied with a grin, “You wait.”

***

Belle walked into the newsroom corridor, a red shawl over her head. She was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses. The response to her interview with Aden on Crazy Stuff had suddenly made people interested in her private life. She couldn’t stand it. A group of teenage girls entered the newsroom, following her.

“Are you going to marry Spike?” asked one of the girls excitedly. Belle groaned.

“I most certainly am not!” She snapped. The girls were now surrounding her.

“Do you love him?” asked another of the group.

“No, I don’t!”

“That was quite a kiss...”

“Actually, he presses to hard and he’s always a bit wet. Now out!” And with that, the girls left the corridor, grinning excitedly. Another two girls entered.

“Belle, can we have your autograph?” they both held out autograph books. Belle rolled her eyes and grabbed one. She signed it and turned to the other girl.

“You can copy it. Who’ll ever know?” She told her. Soon, these girls left as well. Belle sighed with relief and pulled off her sunglasses. The newsroom’s double doors pushed open and Ruby walked out.

“Good to see you back,” she said to her best friend.

“I've been everywhere trying to drum up support for the paper, and all anyone wants to know is if I’m going to marry Aden Jeffreys!” Belle moaned. “It’s not looking good Rubes. How’s Angelo doing on the next edition?” Ruby hesitated.

“Fine.” She replied, “So it’s tough being a star, eh?”

“I get recognised everywhere I go!” Belle said, “I've had to start wearing these?” she held up the pair of sunglasses. The front door banged open and Belle jumped. She turned around to see Aden standing in front of her, a pair of sunglasses in his hand.

“I get recognised everywhere I go!” He moaned, “I've had to stop wearing these,” he put his sunglasses back on.

“What are you doing here?” Belle asked the American. He shrugged.

“I heard you were going out of business.” he told the girl, “I won’t be able to work in this country without the Coastal Junior.”

“Thanks for giving me the bright side...”

“Ah, Belle, about the kiss...”

“We’ll talk about that later.”

“Fine. Sure.”

“The slapping we’ll talk about now!” Belle snapped at her ex-boyfriend. Aden folded his arms across his chest.

“Look,” Ruby shouted at both of them. They turned to face her. “Before you guys start, I think you better see what Angelo’s doing with the next edition. It’s possible you might not be entirely enthusiastic.” Aden and Belle looked at each other before storming into the newsroom. They came to a stop and looked around in horrified disbelief. There were posters of the air slapping each other with the words ‘you can tell it’s love’ printed underneath. All the members of the news team were wearing tee-shirts with their pictures on, and Drew was giving a group of children a tour. He was currently at Belle’s desk, which had a sign above it reading ‘Where Spike and Belle first met.’

“Cassie, where’s Angelo?” Cathy, the head of graphics called out to another member of the graphics team. “I've finished the front page.”

“Let me have a look at that!” Belle called out. Cathy looked at Belle in horror before dashing back into the graphics room. Belle and Aden followed, jumping over chairs and desks. They walked into the graphics room and found Cathy cowering in the corner. Belle held out her hand and reluctantly, the graphics designer handed it over. Belle unrolled the large mock up and saw a picture of herself and Aden kissing, with the headline: ‘Spike and Belle, the exclusive story.’

“Hi you crazy, romantic kids!” Angelo said cheerfully. Aden and Belle turned to see him standing at the door. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses with bits of plastic stuck to it, spelling out ‘SPELLE’, which Belle assumed to be a nickname for the pair. “We’ve more than doubled the amount of newsagents placing orders; we’ve even got people from Tasmania and Western Australia wanting to sell it! And do you want to know something. I've made them all sign a two year contract! And boy, are we making a killer on advertising space! Isn’t love great?”

“This is the lowest kind of news Angelo.” Belle snapped at her financial manager.

“But it’s selling, right?” Angelo shot back. “By the way, can you both sing? There’s a possibility of a record contract, like Kylie and Jason.”

“Angelo!” Aden shouted. Angelo ignored him.

“And we’re putting together a treatment for a television series. Don’t worry, we’ll get a genuine b!tch to play you Belle.” He added.

“I don’t believe this!” Aden shouted at the Italian, “You’re using our personal lives to sell the paper!”

“Look, somebody’s going to do a biggie on this story. At least if it’s us, it’ll be done with taste, tact and discursion... with free Spike and Belle dolls!” He held up two modified Barbie and Ken dolls so that the Barbie had brown hair and was wearing an ugly cardigan, and the Ken doll was wearing a leather jacket and miniature sunglasses. Aden and Belle looked at him, lost for words.

“Angelo!” A male voice called out. It was that of Antony Lee, the new owner of the newspaper. Colin wrapped his arms around Belle and Aden’s shoulders and walked them over to him. “I heard they were both in, so can we have the photo taken now?” Antony pushed Angelo out of the way and wrapped his arms around the pair shoulders.

“Sure, if you can remember the deal.”

“One photo on the front page for two months free printing.” He recited. “That’s fair. Okay, Bobby.” Bobby, Antony’s photographer snapped a photo of the three.

“I take it we’re back in business now?” Belle asked her boss.

“Hey, I was only joking about that stuff. Couldn’t you tell?”

“Fine, get out of my newsroom!” she shouted at the man. He grinned.

“Great, she’s just like she is on television.” He winked at the young woman before walking out of the newsroom with his photographer. Angelo grinned.

“Belle, you know you don’t have to thank me.” He said modestly. Belle took a deep breath and walked away. Aden looked at him threateningly.

“I think it’d be a good idea for you to contact your next of kin, right now.” He said acidly. Angelo grinned as Aden walked over to Belle. He rubbed the two dolls together suggestively. At her desk, Belle saw a young girl sitting in her chair. She pulled her shawl and jacket off and dropped them on top of her filling cabinet before shoving the girl off. She grinned at her before running out of the building.

“I’m grateful, Angelo,” Belle snapped at him, “I’m so grateful I could kill you. In fact, I think I’m going to!”

“Can I just make a point here?” A high-pitched voice said. Belle looked around and saw Nicole Franklin. She was standing by Ruby, a designer handbag over her shoulder. “What is your problem? You’ve got your boyfriend and the newspaper back. What more do you want?”

“Keep out of this Melody!” Belle snapped at the girl. Nicole rolled her eyes.

“It’s Nicole! Not Melody. Nicole!” the blonde girl shouted, “And you’re only pretending you forget to annoy me. Well it does annoy me so cut it out!” Belle looked at her, slightly taken aback. “Now, since you wouldn't be sitting in that chair if it wasn't for me setting up with Spike and Angelo making you a star... don't you think some thankyous are in order?” Belle turned to Angelo.

“Thankyou Angelo,” Belle said bitterly. Angelo closed his eyes and turned to the blonde girl.

“That didn’t sound very sincere, did it?”

“Don’t push it lamebrain!”

“That is enough Belle!” Nicole snapped.

“Is something bugging you Mel - Nicole?” Belle asked the aggressive woman. “I've never seen anyone behave like this in the newsroom.” Angelo and Nicole exchanged a look of disbelief and Ruby grinned. “Well... anyone else.” Nicole sat in the deputy editor’s chair.

“The Crazy Stuff production team got a rocket for all that stuff happening in children’s hour. Naturally enough, me being the most junior member, I was fired.” She explained. Ruby and Belle looked at each other for a moment. Ruby nodded. Belle grinned.

“Welcome back, Nicole.”

Next Chapter: mysterY - Belle is looking for a male companion to have dinner with in order to win a bet with Aden. It is also very Drew centric.

[Adelle_fan1000]

Ohhh that was awesome... Good update..

cant wait for more!!

[LAURZY!]

I LOVED that chapter! Everything about it was class

That was defo one of my favourite chapters......

Brilliant, cant wait for more, the next chapter sounds amazing already!

[Taniya_K]

Spike as a brunette... Gonna take some getting use to

Other than that BRILLIANT UPDATES! I can't believe that I've only missed two, but the storyline has moved so forwards! Loved the show in this chappie Putting Belle and Spike into a scene is always a great idea when it comes to this fic, and your writing!

Can't wait for the next chapter! The bet sounds good, as does the Drew centered chapter.

[Adelle_fan1000]

wow its been a while since u updated this.... hope its soon!!!!!!!!!!

Hope ur ok