Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

Lucy and Melanie made their way into the communications room for what already felt like crisis talks on the new show. Mel was so unhappy with the way the season had started , particularly the newly announced Love Shack, that she was on the verge of walking. Lucy hadn't quite reached that point, but was deeply concerned she wasn't even being consulted on major decisions like that any longer. For all the money she made, it no longer felt like her show. She hoped the combined clout of the two most popular glitches would be enough to buy her some bargaining power, especially when the number one girl was threatening to leave the show for good.

The first sign that something was wrong came pretty much immediately when, instead of Lucy's agent Vanessa, they were greeted on the screen by a beautiful, big breasted brunette wearing nothing but glasses. She was sitting behind a desk in a plush looking office, as if trying to give off a professional vibe in spite of her nudity.

"How can I help you?" the woman smiled amiably enough.

"Where is Van?" Lucy asked instantly.

"She has retired a very rich woman" came the reply "I'm Naomi, you'll be dealing with me from now on. So how can I help you?"

Lucy turned to Melanie, unsure if they should even proceed with this naked stranger, but her friend was determined to have her say.

"You can't make us stay in the Love Shack outside of our couples, I'm not doing it"

"And you really should have consulted me before a decision like that. I could have spoken to the other glitches and we could have come to a compromise" Lucy added.

"We don't need to compromise with you, you are contracted to us. You will do what you are told"

The bluntness of the answer left both glitches momentarily speechless, but Melanie soon found her voice.

"Then tear up the contracts, I'll just leave. You can sue me if you want, I honestly don't care at this point"

"I'll have to consider my position too" Lucy added.

"Are you both stupid?" Naomi laughed cruelly "You can't get out of these contracts, none of you. Not even the butler or the make up girl. End of discussion. Now, are you both done with your little tantrum because I'm a very busy person"

"How would you like to be a very un-busy toad instead?" Melanie was starting to lose her cool under such provocation.

"Spare me your threats, little witch girl. Do I really have to spell out who I work for? Who you have all signed contracts with. Again"

Suddenly both Melanie and Lucy were able to do the maths. The Director was behind all of this. How had they not seen it before? They had taken what he had tried to do with Naked Forever and made it a hundred times bigger. Of course he was going to muscle in on it and take control.

"Look, there is no need for us to fall out over this" Naomi was looking very pleased with herself after dropping that bombshell "Just ride this season out, pocket your millions and then you can all relax. Oh actually wait, thinking about it, it will be the next season of the UK version right afterwards won't it? Ah well, no rest for the wicked. You know, I'm actually in charge of the punishments on the show, so if you did decide to skip the Shack I'll get to have some fun deciding what to do with everyone. Something humiliating I would have thought, perhaps something involving..."

Her voice was brought to a stop as Melanie switched off the stream.

"Smug fucking bitch..."

"How are we supposed to break this to the others?" Lucy worried "I know you have your contact to try and help us with this particular problem. When do you think you might be able to take care of it?"

"I'm miles away from being able to do anything there" Mel shook her head sadly "Maybe by the end of the season if I'm lucky. That was what we talked about, and it was being ambitious"

"Okay, well let's not panic" Lucy embraced her friend as reassuringly as she could manage under the circumstances "we'll just have to go along with whatever they throw at us for now. But we'll get through it we always do"

"We should speak to Chantelle" Melanie advised "She was always the best at handling him. Maybe she can get past his lapdog and talk to him directly"