Piper heard them before she saw them. Shouting and laughter and someone singing. This part – the boring part – of the office was usually quiet, apart from Radio 2 on low, but the band was approaching like a wave and Piper could feel the excitement and anticipation in the air.

When they crashed through the double doors into Legal & Finance, they brought a burst of energy that seemed to make the air brighter. They obviously weren’t in performance clothes, but their ordinary clothes were exciting enough. Piper immediately regretted choosing to wear her black dungarees. At least she’d thought to wear her Tatty Devine rainbow parakeet necklace and gold glitter boots. But the girls still made her feel dull. They were so young. And loud. And two of them were really thin, but the other was what the tabloids would describe as ‘curvy’.

John opened the door to his office and ushered them inside. He was already blushing and looking flustered. Keith from Marketing followed the girls through the door, along with Juliette from Press. Piper was last in and closed the door behind her, sitting between John and Juliette with her notebook and pen on the table in front of her.

‘We’re dead excited to be here,’ one of the girls – Piper thought it was Chelsea – said in a strong Liverpool accent. Piper hadn’t known any of them were from Liverpool.

‘We’re excited to have you here,’ John said stiffly.

‘Have you picked a name?’ the girl on Chelsea’s left asked. Piper knew she was Mia because she was wearing a necklace with it on.

‘No,’ Keith said. ‘We don’t want to choose something you’re not happy with. Did you have any more ideas?’

‘I did,’ the third girl – who must have been Frankie – said. ‘What about something like ‘Sex Toys’? So, like, Pussycat Dolls? It’s ironic.’

Piper felt John twitching next to her.

‘I think,’ Juliette said, ‘we want to go for something that younger fans can identify with. So it can be edgy, but not too… age inappropriate, you know?’

‘Resting Bitch Face,’ Chelsea said. ‘We could be RBF for short.’

‘Something like that could definitely work,’ Keith said. ‘But again, I don’t think parents are necessarily going to go for something with “bitch”…’

‘I was thinking Cherry Bomb?’ Mia said. ‘But I don’t know if something with bomb…’

‘I like that one,’ Juliette said. ‘But maybe some sort of pun…’ She closed her eyes and then opened them again. ‘I can’t think of one.’

‘Maybe a flower?’ Frankie said. ‘The Daisies? Or The Lilies?’

‘Oh!’ Piper said, sitting up straighter in her seat. ‘I saw an article the other day about…’ She grabbed her phone and started typing into Google. ‘Sorry. It was about flowers that look like vaginas. Or vulvas.’

John coughed.

‘Oh wow!’ Chelsea said. ‘Like that painter! I’ve seen those paintings online.’

‘Georgia O’Keeffe,’ Juliette said. ‘Lilies. Although she claimed that wasn’t her intention.’

‘Did she?’ Piper asked, glancing up from her phone. ‘I didn’t know that.’

‘Bit embarrassing,’ Keith said. ‘To have painted all those vaginas accidentally.’

‘Found it!’ Piper said, tapping on the article. ‘Five Flowers That Look Like Vaginas.’

‘Is that a real article?’ John said.

Piper turned her phone to show him and he winced.

‘The first one’s a cactus that smells like actual shit,’ Piper said, ‘so we don’t want that one. Poppy?’ She turned the phone to show the girls. The photo showed the poppy just coming out of bud and it definitely resembled genitalia.

‘I like that,’ Chelsea said, leaning forward.

‘We know,’ Mia said, and all three girls laughed.

‘Funny,’ Chelsea said. ‘No, I mean I like that it looks like a vulva. And that there’s, like, hair on it.’

‘Is there more photos?’ Mia asked.

Piper googled and showed them some more.

‘Looks a bit like a scrotum,’ Frankie said, pointing at one of them. ‘But then the actual flower…’

‘I like it,’ Mia agreed with Chelsea. ‘And Poppy’s a good name, right? Like… pop music?’

‘And we’re, like, pop with an edge,’ Frankie said. ‘So it could be sort of ironic, right?’

‘There’s an American singer called Poppy,’ Juliette said, looking up from her own phone. ‘The Poppies? Does that work?’

‘I like it,’ Chelsea said.

‘There was a sixties girl band called The Poppies,’ Juliette said, still looking at her screen.

The girls groaned with frustration.

‘What about just Poppies?’ John said.

‘That’s taken too,’ Juliette said. She put her phone down on the table. ‘Damn. I thought we had it there.’

---

The meeting lasted for much of the afternoon and they still hadn’t managed to come up with a name everyone was happy with. They’d dealt with some other issues, though, plus they’d all been thoroughly charmed by the girls. After walking them out, Juliette and Piper had both gone to the loo and, after peeing, standing washing their hands and looking in the mirror, Juliette said, ‘You were really good in there. They liked you, I could tell.’

‘Thanks,’ Piper said. ‘I like them. I think they could be really great.’

‘Me too.’ Juliette shook her hands then reached for a paper towel and folded it in half and then half again. ‘I saw this on a TED Talk – shake your hands twelve times then fold one paper towel in half and half again and you only need to use one. Massive effect on the environment if everyone did it.’

‘I haven’t seen that one,’ Piper said, shaking her own hands. ‘But I love the Power Pose one. Have you seen it?’

Juliette threw her paper towel in the bin and immediately put her hands on her hips, sticking her chest out and her chin up.

‘I love that one! I did it before the meeting.’

Piper laughed. ‘Me too.’

‘Have you ever considered working in Press?’ Juliette asked as they left the bathroom. ‘I think you’d be great.’

‘I… wow,’ Piper said. ‘I hadn’t. But I will. Thank you.’