The girls took the opportunity for a break with complete enthusiasm, before the words had left the lips of Vincent they were already practically out of the door and headed towards the parking lot of the recording studio. The beep of a car being unlocked is heard as the girls chatter, “Venice?” asks Tiana, to which the girls all appear to agree on. Tiana places an arm around Olivia and squeezes her into herself with a one-armed hug, “I’ll take baby girl, if ya’ll wanna jump in with Chloe?” she says as she opens her car door. “Baby’s riding shotgun.” Olivia sings to herself, jumping into the passenger seat and pulling her sunglasses down over her eyes, she winds the window down and throws a peace sign at the other girls as Tiana starts the car, a pretty unspectacular blue Toyota.

As the engine starts, the music automatically picks up where it left of previously as the first chorus of Andrea’s “WET AMERICAN DREAM” plays over the speaker, Olivia immediately turns it up, jumping in on the songs pre-chorus, “Hush now, come and meet me in the shadows/Or we could do this out in the open/Pocket-sized dynamite in six inch stilettos/Like to lick the gun while it's still smoking.” and laughing as she sings along at full volume out of the window, attracting looks from people on the street as the car headed past.

Meanwhile, Leilani and Oriana jumped in the car with Chloe. There was an immediate request to change the song as “Chip Off The Old Block” by Jack Dunn was the track that automatically continued as the engine went on. Clearly the slower paced track wasn’t a favourite style for Leilani and Oriana, after a couple of moments Chloe let out a sigh, “Well fuck, you try to bring a little depth to the moment.” She says, quickly followed by a giggle before Oriana leans over towards the screen on the dash and starts hitting the skip button relentlessly until she finally settles on something acceptable to her and Leilani. Evidently that track was “The Entertainer” by Billy, the fact that it was even on Chloe’s playlist drew a dramatic reaction from the girls, “Oh shit, I was not expecting this on the playlist.” Leilani says emphatically, clapping her hands in the process. While Oriana makes a rhythmic motion with her hand out of the window, nodding her head, “Fuck girl, I KNEW you had a little of that gangster in you.” which drew a laugh from Leilani and Oriana. Chloe shook her head and muttered something under her breath as she continued to drive them down to the beach.

As the two cars pulled into the parking lot on Venice Beach the sound of both their music blaring loudly out of the rolled down windows drawing a couple of glances from passers by. Olivia steps out of Tiana’s car and places a cigarette between her lips, before immediately taking it back out briefly, “Aww fuck, how did I miss out on a journey in the ratchet mobile.” She says to Oriana as she exits Chloe’s vehicle, Chloe just glares at Olivia as she shuts off the engine and exits the car. Oriana smirks, “I guys clean-cut white girl ain’t so clean-cut. Guilty pleasure?” she says, directing the question to Chloe as the girls deliver some light-hearted teasing. Chloe shakes her head, “I just guess Malibu Barbie’s a little more gangster than the rest of you bitches.” she says with a smirk and giggle under her breath, immediately spotting a coffee store across from the parking lot, she starts heading in that direction, shouting back over her shoulder, “I’m getting a latte.”, the rest of the girls laugh before Tiana snaps out of the moment and quickly runs off in the same direction to follow Chloe once she realises coffee’s on the line.



Oriana, Leilani and Olivia gave each other a brief look before all saying in unison, “Beach?” and start heading down towards the beach front. As they pass a basketball court, there’s a bunch of young guys playing shirtless. Olivia grabs Oriana’s wrist and hurries her along past the scene as she clearly takes in the brief distraction. Leilani laughs at the moment, “Girl come on, you would eat them alive.” she says before Oriana immediately fires back, “And I would enjoy it.” she says as the girls share a giggle.

Eventually making their way to a spot down on the beach, they sit on the sand, their backs against a brick wall and just allow the noises from the beach front wash over them. Happy to have a brief respite but clearly appreciating that they’re in a pretty privileged situation, it’s not that often that your lunch break location is Venice Beach. After a few moments and some brief chatter, Chloe and Tiana wander over to the rest of the girls, their latte’s in their hand as they drop down next to the rest of the girls, Tiana nudges Oriana, “Did you pass the basketball court?”, Oriana tilts her head and looks at Tiana over the top of her sunglasses with a knowing look before sharing a giggle with each other.

Olivia stands to her feet, “So, who’s coming into the sea?” Olivia says, the rest of the girls just glaring back at her like she’s crazy. She rolls her eyes as clearly the girls have zero interest in that suggestion, “Or we could go back to the basketball court and check those dudes out?” she follows up, all of the girls seemingly perk up at that suggestion, Olivia throws her arms ups in the air exasperated. “Unbelievable” she says as she as drops back down onto the sand.

Tiana smiles as she quietly observes the group, it had only been a short amount of time but it felt like these connections had been formed over years rather than just a matter of weeks. It was scary to her, the thought of what was ahead for the group, but she felt like there was no other group of girls she’d rather venture into this unchartered territory with.

PART I: Santa Monica Pier

A few days after the news had been given to the girls that they had their first ever number one hit single with “Dancing With The Devil”, the news came through to them that they had achieved the chart double with their debut E.P “Introducing CLEO” also hitting the number one spot on the albums chart. The girls had already planned that this would be their day to share with each other in celebration, agreeing to meetup at nearby Santa Monica Pier for a fun and carefree day of celebration.
Sisters Tiana and Leilani Monet pulled up to the beach parking lot first, swiftly followed by the rest of the girls as a sleek deep red Mercedes-Benz pulled up beside them. Oriana stepped out of the drivers side, round sunglasses resting perfectly on the bridge of her nose, she pulled them down slightly and delivered a greeting to Tiana and Leilani who had just recently returned to California following a couple of days visiting family back home in Atlanta. “Girls, I’ve missed you so fucking much. Everybody good back home?” she asks, while Chloe and Olivia step out of the car and make their way around to Tiana and Leilani, hugging them and welcoming Tiana and Leilani back to California.

The Ocean breeze hit them as they made their way onto the pier, the area was alive with typically energetic sights and sounds. Olivia was immediately full of energy, “Honestly, I’m eating so much junk food today. We’re here to celebrate, so lets treat this place like we’re the tourists for once, okay?!” she says with huge smile and a bounce in her step. Tiana laughs, linking arms with her, “Oh my god. Liv. You’re gonna be sick before we even get on a ride” while Olivia, Leilani and Oriana trailed just behind them, talking about their recent breaks back home and family stuff.
They decided to get some food first, while Olivia, Chloe, Tiana and Oriana opted to indulge in sugary snacks, Leilani carried a small tray of Garlic Fries, slowing picking at them as they casually manoeuvred through the crowds, finally finding a nice spot to sit and eat with a view. The girls were all dressed casually, but despite this Leilani and Oriana still managed to look effortlessly stunning even in casual mode. Oriana with rounded shades, tight tank top and high-waisted jeans and Leilani opting for a sarong and bikini combination that certainly drew all eyes towards her.

The girls continued to sit and enjoy the view, catching up with each other after their brief breaks back home. Tiana held court for the majority of the conversation, eagerly telling her friends about all of the gossip from back home while picking at a bag of cotton candy. “I swear, I gained like five pounds in three days though.” she says as the girls giggle at another random deviation from her original story. Leilani jumped in, “It was so good to be back home for a minute though, But I can’t even lie, I kinda missed this.” she says in acknowledgement of how swift their bonds have grown in such a short space of time, “It felt so quiet there without you girls around.”
Oriana leaned back on the bench, stretching her legs out, exuding a chilled out vibe, round sunglasses still sitting perfectly on her nose, “Quiet is overrated. I need chaos. Speaking of …” she says nodding toward a group of three guys who had been taking turns to glance across at the girls for the last few minutes. One of them finally working up the courage to walk over to them. “Excuse me, you’re the CLEO girls right? ‘Dancing with the Devil’, yeah?” he asks nervously, mainly focussing his gaze on Oriana and Leilani. Oriana was friendly with a slightly flirtatious nature in response, ”We sure are, honey. Make sure you get your boys to stream the whole E.P though not just the singles.” she says with a soft giggle before Tiana jumps in and asked the three boys if they wanted a photograph with them. Once the boys walked away buzzing at the brief encounter, Olivia jumped up, full of energy, “Alright, I’ve done enough sitting. Let’s play some games, I want to go home with the biggest fucking teddy I can find.” she says before Chloe delivers her typically dry humour, “Yeah, and we all know Oriana wants to go home with the biggest fucking Daddy she can find.” to which Oriana giggles and responds fast, “Actually we prefer to call them Papi. Don’t minimize my culture, puta.” she says, playfully blowing Chloe a kiss.



The five girls moved through the pier like a whirlwind of energy and confidence. Olivia dragging them over to the majority of games and attractions, first up the ring toss which Olivia wildly failed at before Chloe stepped in, calm and composed, hitting two in a row which was enough to win a small stuffed Dolphin which she handed to an excited Olivia with the comment, “For the baby of the group.” which got a few chuckles from the girls. Olivia played along, hugging it tightly, “I’m keeping him forever!” before trying to balance it on Leilani’s head as she walked in front of Olivia as they made their way to the next attraction. Oriana dominated at the basketball hoop game, winning a large stuffed Tiger, handing it to Chloe, “For our very own feisty Tiger!” she says with a smug tone after drawing a crowd as she excelled at the basketball game.
They continued playing as many games as they could, balloon darts, more ring toss and a whole bunch of others, winning more small prizes along the way. As they reached the High Striker, test-your-strength game they all took turns with the mallet, each failing comfortably. Olivia growing increasingly frustrated at only having one small stuffed toy out of the whole thing made the girls wait by the game as she briefly disappeared.

A few moments later she returned with a muscular bodybuilder-type guy in tow. Around mid-twenties with short blonde hair, he looked like he spent most of his time in the gym or on Muscle Beach just a few yards away from the Pier. “This is my new friend Nate.” she said enthusiastically with a huge grin, “He’s here to kindly help us out!” she continued, playfully placing a hand on his bicep, giving it a little squeeze and flashing the rest of the girls the silliest smile she could possibly muster. The rest of the girls tried to give very little away, Chloe and Tiana covering their mouths as to not laugh at the absurdity of the situation. While Oriana and Leilani appreciated the arrival of Nate, from a purely aesthetic point of view. “No pressure, Nate.” Leilani said softly, trying her very best not to give anything away, despite being clearly intrigued by the muscular adonis in front of her.
Oriana smirked as Nate took the rubber mallet, “Show us what you got, big guy.” and he took a moment, raising it with ease before thundering it down on the machine with effortless power. The puck shot up through the air, smashed against the bell at the top as the lights flashed and the siren went off, indicating that they had found a winner. Olivia excitedly picked out the huge stuffed toy that she wanted, Nate handed it to her and flung her arms around him with the enthusiasm of a child, “Thank you my new bestie. We will tell stories of your triumph to everyone we meet.” she said as the girls laughed. Nate nodded and told her he was happy to help out before heading off down the pier. Leilani gave it a few seconds before catching up to him, they talked for a few brief moments before they exchanged numbers and Leilani returned to the group. The girls looked at her knowingly, “Don’t even say a word!” she said before the girls giggled together again.

A couple more hours went by, the girls alternated between drinks stalls, games, rides and people watching as the sun dipped lower, giving the California ocean view a golden light. The girls finally decided to wrap up the first part of their celebrations and headed back to the parking lot with arms full of prizes, cheeks hurting from laughter and sugar still sticky on their fingers. A carefree day spent together felt like the perfect way to celebrate their collective success before a nice meal together and house-party.