GONNA B

From B Unofficial, the Gonna B unofficial fansite

About the Boys

Name: Rob Sanders
Age: 20
From: Hyde (“No one’s heard of it, so I usually say Manchester,” he says.)
Lovelife: Sorry to break it to you, female Gonna B fans, but Rob likes boys! Oh OK, unless you’ve been living under a stone, you already knew that. Rob is world famous for being the first gay boy band member who was honest about it from the start. “I’m not ashamed of who I am and I never will be,” he says. So there.
What’s he like then? He can do the splits! He can do backflips! He can spin on his head! He can fly like Superman! OK, we made that last one up. But yes, our Rob is the twinkle-toed one. And he’s got a great bod too.
Famous quote: “I’ve snogged girls. I snog my female friends all the time just for a laugh.”

Name: Paul Adu
Age: 19
From: Streatham, south-west London.
Lovelife: Forever “chirpsing girls”, so possibly not the type your mum would want you to marry.
What’s he like then? Paul’s the hood-wearing rapper of the band. He left a life of police chases and a notorious gang called STA to pursue fame and fortune with Gonna B. “I have to live in North London now,” he says. “People in South sides want to murk me.”
Famous quote: “At first, I wasn’t keen on being in a band with a batty boy. But I was prejudiced, man. Rob opened my eyes. Now I think every guy should have a batty mate ’cos you know they’ll never tief your gash, innit.”

Name: Lawrence Macmillan
Age: 18
From: Northampton
Lovelife: Not into playing around, Lawrence is waiting for the perfect woman to sit in darkened rooms and discuss the meaning of life with.
What’s he like then? Lawrence can play every instrument on the planet. Well, nearly. He’s a bit of an emo kid and never wears anything but black. Or slightly faded black, if he’s feeling adventurous. He’s also very naughty as he downed a bottle of Jack Daniels on live TV when he was only seventeen. Tut tut.
Famous quote: “My life feels quite empty, really.”

Name: Daniel Maher
Age: 21
From: Dublin
Lovelife: The only Gonna B member who’s taken. He’s been with the lovely Keeley for three years. Bless them.
What’s he like then? Daniel is in a wheelchair, which makes him the first disabled boyband member in history. He has the face of an angel and a songwriting talent to match. This means that unlike Paul, mums everywhere want to make Dan roast dinners and introduce him to their daughters.
Famous quote: “People think I’m brave, but I’m probably the least brave in Gonna B. Look at Paul, he’s had to dodge gunshots and knives. Rob’s had to deal with homophobic people spitting in his face. Lawrence had to have counselling because he gets really depressed. And Owen … OK, maybe I’m braver than Owen. Haha.”

Name: Owen Mistry
Age: 20
From: Harrow, north-west London
Lovelife: A true romantic, if Owen likes you, he’ll wine, you dine you … and give you an Indian head massage. It’s true! His mum’s Indian and she taught him how.
What’s he like then? Smooth dark skin, shiny black hair, deep soulful eyes (sigh) …. Women fall at Owen’s feet wherever he goes – even when he goes to the loo, the poor mite. Owen is generally regarded as being the best singer in Gonna B as he can hit higher notes than The Chipmunks.
Famous quote: “We always knew we were going to make it. That’s why the name Gonna B is so perfect.”

ONE

Right.

I’ll start by introducing myself. Then the band. We’re the most important people in this, I suppose.

I’m Lucy and I’m fourteen. I’m white with brown hair and I’m ‘curvy’, according to my mum. That probably means I’m a bit fat even though everyone tells me I’m not. I live in north-west London with my mum, my nan and my big brother, Nathan. Sinead might as well live with us too as she’s always here. Sinead’s my best mate and she’s a nutter, but you’ll meet her soon.

Our house is falling apart. Well, it’s not really. It just looks like it is because stuff is coming off the walls on the outside – the ‘pebbledashing’, it’s called. All these white clumps are crumbling off the walls, leaving patches of old red brick underneath. I didn’t mind the red brick, though. It reminds me of the start of Coronation Street. Mum said she’s going to track the builders down and sue them. Nan said she’s going track them down, line them up and knee them all in the balls. She’s got metal in her knee, so that would really hurt. It happened in the 1960s after she climbed up the gates of Buckingham Palace. She was trying to get a glimpse of the Beatles when they went to get their MBEs from the queen, but she fell off the gates and shattered her knee cap. She says it was worth it to get a glimpse of Paul McCartney. She still fancies him now. ‘Ooh. I bet Paul’s a right goer,’ she says. Yuck.

I’d fall off a royal gate for Owen Mistry. Any day of the week.

Anyway, I got a bit sidetracked there. But mentioning Owen (yum) brings me nicely on to the band. They’re called Gonna B. And they’re at number one in the single and album charts right now. There are five of them: Owen, Paul, Lawrence, Rob and Daniel.

Owen’s the most important member of Gonna B, because he’s my favourite. He’s from Harrow, near here, so we’ve probably been to loads of the same places. I do all my shopping in Harrow now because I know I could be stepping on the same floors he has stepped on. He’s half-Asian. There’s probably never been an Asian guy in a boyband before, so Owen is as close as it gets. As well as being the fittest Gonna B member, he’s the best singer. Some people think Daniel is the best, but that’s rubbish because Daniel hit a bum note on Richard and Judy a few months ago and Owen has never hit a bum note. My main ambition is to have a proper chat with Owen when no one else is there and him to know my name. Well, my main ambition would be to marry him, but at school they tell us you should make your goals SMART. SMART= specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and time-bound. So I want us to have a chat and for Owen to know my name within the next year. There’s still the ‘agreed’ part and OK, Owen hasn’t agreed, but he’s nice to his fans, so I reckon it’ll be OK.

Me and Owen have got loads in common, as well as being from near each other. I like singing, although I’m not as a good as him. I practice, though. All the time. In front of my mirror with a hairbrush. Yeah, I know that’s what everyone does and you look like a bit of a dick when you do it, but I practice properly. I can make my voice do that wobbly thing now and everything. Owen’s parents are split up he hasn’t seen his dad for years, same as me. He says he’d never abandon his kids and is determined to be a good dad one day, which is really sweet. His favourite subjects at school were English and music and that’s the same as me too. He also liked history, though, so I’m trying a bit more in history – even though our teacher looks like Rod Stewart and walks on the desks shaking a metre ruler at people. Me and Owen both love Indian food. Tandoori Hut down the road probably isn’t quite the same as Owen’s mum’s home cooking, but still....

Anyway, I should tell you more about the whole band: Gonna B are linked with a reality TV show, which is also called Gonna B. But it’s not like Pop Idol or X Factor. The band had already been put together and had a manager (he’s called called Simon Keyes, but we call him Simon Sleaze. Or just Sleaze, for short.). It’s like a documentary of Gonna B doing all their normal band stuff: Writing and recording songs, rehearsing for gigs, going to hairdressers and clothes shops, going to the gym, seeing stylists, chilling out together and having meetings with Sleaze. Sometimes you get to see other parts of their lives too, like Owen going to see his mum, which is so cute because he loves her so much. We also saw Daniel and Keeley snogging once, which was a bit nasty.

But with the TV show, we get to vote on things at the end of each programme. We voted on what their first single should be, what dance routine they should use at their Islington Academy gig, whether Paul should eat less McDonalds and whether Owen should grow his hair (I didn’t bother voting as he’d look gorgeous even if he had a comb-over, like my Science teacher). Once, Lawrence got texted by an ex-girlfriend asking if he wanted to meet up, but everyone voted ‘no’, so he couldn’t meet her. He got caught trying to buy more Jack Daniels that night and had to be sent to his counsellor, Sarah.

Gonna B have been around for about a year now. And I’ve met them. Loads of times.

***

GONNA B SYNOPSIS

Gonna B are a boy band featuring Rob (best dancer, gay), Paul (ex-gangster), Lawrence (depressed emo kid), Daniel (songwriter, in a wheelchair) and most importantly, the super-fit Owen (best-singer, half Asian). They have been topping the charts for the last year. Gonna B’s manager, Simon Keyes (aka Simon Sleaze) denies they are a manufactured gimmick band.

Lucy is fourteen. She likes singing and Gonna B. Her best mate, Sinead loves Gonna B too. Lucy and Sinead have met Gonna B. Loads of times.

The girls spend their spare time sitting outside the Gonna B flat in Kilburn. It’s a big flat – it has to be for the camera crew, who are filming the Gonna B reality TV show. Lucy and the other fans sometimes get to have a quick word when the band come out and then follow them to wherever they’re going next – the studio, the sun-tanning shop, Sleaze’s house (the fans know all Gonna B’s regular haunts)…. Lucy’s ambition is to have a chat with Owen when no one else is there, and for him to know her name. She wants this to happen within the next year. At school, they tell you to make your goals SMART (specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and timebound).

It’s the weekend and Lucy and Sinead head to the Gonna B flat, as usual. There is a front and back entrance to the flats. The girls see a flurry of activity and run to the back entrance, where Paul says ‘alright, love,’ to Sinead. They miss Owen – he came out the front. Next Monday at school, Sinead and Lucy check B Unofficial (a Gonna B website) in the IT room at lunchtime. They see a photo of Owen with an attractive mystery woman. Later at home, Lucy studies the photo. She looks at herself in the mirror, turning up her nose at her squashy white belly, her chewed fingernails and her mud-coloured hair. Lucy is tired of feeling like a minger. She decides on some more SMART goals involving a diet, her mum’s Geri Yoga DVD and jogging round the park. The next day, Mystery Woman is all over the tabloids. Apparently, she is a singer called Gemma and a Gonna B ‘insider’ says they are just good friends. That Saturday, Lucy sees Gemma coming out of the Gonna B flat. To top it off, Owen comes out and speaks to Sinead, but not Lucy.

Lucy’s attempts to reach her goals get more extreme. She bunks off school to see Gonna B, but gets caught. She misses the school play auditions for a part she really wanted. She stays outside the Gonna B flat all night, which messes up her schoolwork and gets her a detention. She deliberately sabotages Sinead’s chance of speaking to the band, so Sinead doesn’t want to know her any more. Lucy has also stopped eating properly. Her school friend David tells her that he misses the old Lucy; that he used to ‘kind of fancy’ her, but now she is acting ‘really shallow’. In amongst all this, Lucy’s mum tells her that Nan has a lump in her breast and is going for tests.

Lucy’s nan confronts her. She is worried Lucy is getting obsessed with ‘that bloody band’. Lucy shouts at her nan and then refuses to speak to her. A few days later, Lucy’s mum tells her that Nan has been diagnosed with cancer, but Lucy is still angry.

Lucy decides to go to the Gonna B flat on her own one morning. She has only been there a few minutes when Owen comes out. There are only a few fans around. Lucy starts to run up to Owen, thinking this is her big chance, and then suddenly blacks out. She comes to and a passer-by is giving her some water to drink. There are no fans or band members to be seen. The passer-by asks Lucy if she has eaten and she admits she has barely eaten for two days. Lucy gets on the bus home and bursts into tears. She tries to phone Sinead and David, but neither of them answers.

On Monday morning at school, Lucy gets an urgent message. Her nan has been rushed into hospital. She leaves for the hospital, but gets a text from her Gonna B follower friend, Sam. Sam has exclusive information that Owen has an appointment at the tanning salon at 12pm. If they can get quickly, they’ll definitely get to speak to him alone. Lucy stands at the tube station. Does she get the train south to the tanning salon or north to the hospital? A southbound train comes first and she leaps on. On the train, she suddenly realises how she has been behaving. She gets off the train and heads for the hospital, running part of the way. She sees her nan, apologises and hugs her. Lucy then goes to the hospital shop to get a drink. On the way, she sits outside on a bench and sends a text to Sinead saying she’s sorry. She also sends one to David saying that she isn’t shallow any more and that she quite fancies him too. Then Lucy looks up and sees a familiar figure wandering in front of her. He’s wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, but there’s no mistaking Owen. Owen tells her he has just quit Gonna B. He is at the hospital visiting Gemma, who is his girlfriend and had a car accident this morning (she is OK, but has a broken arm and concussion). Sleaze told Owen he wasn’t allowed to visit Gemma in hospital because no Gonna B member (apart from Daniel) was allowed to have a girlfriend. Owen says he is sick of Gonna B because he always has to live up to a fake image.

‘Be yourself no matter what,’ he says to Lucy.

‘I will,’ she says and after buying a large chocolate bar, she walks back to the ward to be with her nan.