That summer, I made two of the greatest friends I could ever have. I shall call them Ariella and Florentine. I'd known Ariella for a long time as my sister dated her brother, but we'd never really spoken much. I knew that we liked the same kind of music and fashion, but we'd never got beyond that. Then one day we decided to make music together, and it was then that we realised we shared the exact same thoughts, views and frustrations of the world too. We were like kindred spirits.
Then there was Florentine. I'd known of her for ages and we had countless mutual friends, but... we'd never actually met. She was one of those friends-of-friends that you know everything about, and you have a casual chat to online every now and again, but then you realise that you've never actually seen them in real life. When we finally did, we threw our arms around each other screaming "I can't believe I've finally met you!" and we knew this was the start of something awesome. We were three young girls with the wildest dreams and the world at their feet, with not a clue where to place their first step.
That's when the first ideas of being silver and grey came from. Together I'd discussed it with them and they'd both recognised exactly what I was saying and said that they'd felt it too. That something more. The purpose. I remember Florentine actually asking me one day "Why Silver though? Aren't grey and silver more or less the same colour? Wouldn't you rather be gold than silver?" But that was the point. Grey is so close to silver. Silver is grey, but with more. It doesn't need to take the world to turn your grey into silver. It's just the realisation of banality and the desire to change it. It can be the smallest of extraordinary things which can bring silver into the grey, and it's never too late to wake up and decide to make a change.
(A couple of days ago I had someone confront me and say that my silver and grey idea was offencive ,because the way I described it insinuated that people who wanted to settle down and have a family were grey. I was quite taken aback, as this was entirely unintended, however, I can see how that was inferred by my description. But that was not what I meant at all. I tried to use that as a (albeit bad) example of living by the bare rudiments of life, reaching each stage without much life in between. But I by no means think that wanting to settle down in grey in the slightest. Hell, starting a family sounds like the biggest adventure of all.)
Anyway, these two helped me to refine my way of thinking. In a wonderfully childish, girl-band esque way, we called ourselves the 'Sisters in Silver' and like three young sitcom kids pledging allegiance to their secret society treehouse, we vowed never to live another grey day in our lives.
My summer was a whirlwind; a veritable movie montage of spontaneity. I found myself dancing and laughing through the streets of Camden market with Ariella, ending up drunk as hell in a marquee and playing pool with a random Saudi Arabian man with Florentine, strolling through London art galleries and museums, gatecrashing top nightclubs in Chelsea and Mayfair on weeknights, sitting in a supermarket car parks at 4am eating cheesecake and discussing matters of the universe - we even managed to swag free tickets to the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games. I sat there with Ariella in the Olympic Stadium watching Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z, and together we jumped to our feet and just screamed as the fireworks exploded all around us. The old man sitting next to us actually tapped me on the shoulder and said "You know what, watching you two has been just as much fun as watching them lot down there!" and I grinned solidly for about an hour.
I squeezed silver out of every drop of my summer, but one thing still bothered me. One day, whilst swimming at the local gym with Harry, he turns to me and just says, "I can't take it anymore, Katie. We were born to be famous. What the hell is stopping us?" and I knew then, that he was so very right.
That same day, we went to his house and drew up some plans. He studied drama and wanted to become and actor, and although dreaming of the same, I cast my aspirations a little lower and decided I wanted to become a TV Presenter. After hours of discussion, we decided that we should make our own youtube channel and broadcast our thoughts and adventures, as we both seemed to lead such ridiculous lives. We decided to call it, That Boy That Girl. Through this we'd hopefully generate an audience and then we'd both have material to put on our casting showreels for our various pursuits.
Then came the problem of what the hell we were going to do in this videos. We had grand dreams of becoming online sensations and going viral, and wrote down hundreds of wildly preposterous and completely unrealistic ideas. To this day, we only ever made one video, that still hasn't even got 1000 views. I consulted Fitzwilliam G. Montgomery. Then, he came up with an idea that stayed like a little seed in my brain until the birth of this very blog itself. He said "So you're two young things who are looking to make it, and want to create videos that will help you make it, while countless thousands are also trying to do the same... why not make videos of attempts to try and make it?"
He was right. There are so many people out there who are desperate to make it, yet nobody really knows how, so they try and create something that will get them noticed. But what if our creation to get us noticed was that in itself - a series of videos charting the real story of how two normal young people try to break the industry and make it? It seemed like a paradox but it made sense. The people who were just like us and doing exactly the same as us, who would normally be our competition, would now be our audience, and the material would be relatable as they were trying to do the same thing. People would want to know how to make it, so they look to us to see how we try and make it, and that in turn makes us... make it!
The idea seemed flawless, but time was ticking on, and we soon had to return to our separate universities, and after a while we decided to put this plan on hold, knowing really, that it would never come off hold. However, this idea stayed with me, and eventually was birthed into the world as this blog itself - my attempt to conquer the world.
So as my incredible silver summer drew to a close just like the days of ever decreasing sunlight, I knew the seeds of change had been sewn deeply and firmly in my mind, and I knew that I was ready to start something important. I just needed to figure out precisely what that was going to be and how I was going to do that.
But there was one thing I wanted and needed to do before I returned to university. I was the happiest I'd ever been and still continue to be, but it didn't take much for me to remember what had come before. So with Ariella by my side I made a decision to do something that would mark the beginning of the rest of my life....
Scarlet-Ophelia.
