Next Door To A Star

by Krysten Lindsay Hager

  Next Door To A Star

  By Krysten Lindsay Hager

  Next Door To A Star

  Copyright © 2015 by Krysten Lyndsay Hager.

  All rights reserved.

  First Print Edition: September 2015

  Limitless Publishing, LLC

  Kailua, HI 96734

  www.limitlesspublishing.com

  Formatting: Limitless Publishing

  ISBN-13: 978-1-68058-268-0

  ISBN-10: 1-68058-268-2

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  Dedication

  In loving memory to my father, Bruce, who supported me along my writing journey and always had faith in me. The best storyteller, supporter, and father anyone could ask for.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter One

  The school year should end right after spring break, because all anyone can focus on is summer vacation. You can’t learn anything new, because all you can think about is all the fun stuff you’re going to do once you don’t have to get up at the butt crack of dawn. Summer always seems full of possibilities. Nothing exciting ever happens during the school year, but maybe, during summer vacation, you could run into a hot celebrity and he’d decide to put you in his next music video. Okay, it wasn’t like I knew anybody that happened to, but my grandparents did live next door to a former TV star, Simone Hendrickson, and Simone was discovered in an ice cream parlor one summer. Of course, she lived in L.A. at the time and was already doing plays and commercials, so the guy who discovered her had already seen her perform. But hey, it was summer, she got discovered, and that was all that mattered.

  Amazing stuff didn’t happen to me. You know what happened to me last summer? I stepped on a bee and had to go to the emergency room. They’re not going to make an E! True Hollywood Story out of my life. I didn’t go on exotic vacations—like today, I was being dragged along with my parents to my cousin’s graduation party. Most people waited until at least the end of May before having a grad party, but Charisma was having hers early because she was leaving on a trip to Spain. I was dreading this party because I didn’t want to listen to everybody talk about how smart and talented Charisma was—making me feel like a blob in comparison—but my mom RSVP’d even though I said I’d rather die than go. My death threats meant nothing. But still, for some strange reason, I had a feeling this summer was going to be different.

  We pulled up to Charisma’s house, and I lagged behind my parents as we went to the backyard. My grandparents were already there sitting by the pool.

  “Too bad Hadley didn’t bring her bathing suit,” Grandma Daniels said to my mom.

  I had seen the whole “bring your swimsuit” thing on the invitation, but there was no way I was putting on a bathing suit and getting into a pool in front of people. And thank goodness I didn’t, because it was a total high school party. When my cousin Donny graduated, he had, like, fifty old people there and only three of his friends, but this was a total teenager party, and there was a big difference between me, a ninth grader, and a bunch of seniors. Right now, sitting at the pool, the gap felt even bigger as I watched Charisma and her friends looking like models.

  When I left the house this morning, I thought I looked good in my white and pink striped Forever 21 shorts and my paint splashed t-shirt. It was the cutest thing I owned, but I might as well have been wearing Osh Gosh overalls since I was surrounded by senior girls wearing bikinis. And not even the regular kind, but the ones with cutouts on the sides that had the metal things holding them together. I was way too short and skinny to wear something like that.

  “Hadley, Charisma has some old suits if you want to try one on,” Aunt Shelly said as she passed a cheese and cracker tray around.

  “No, I’m fine. Thanks, though,” I said.

  No way was I getting in a bathing suit around all these high school girls who looked like goddesses. I’d like to think I looked at least my age, but I couldn’t forget the first time I walked into my history class and the teacher told me the eighth grade class was in the other wing of the school.

  I sat on my patio chair and watched one girl getting out of the pool. It seemed like fifty guys offered her a towel. She was tan with dark hair, super exotic, and pretty much the complete opposite of pale, dishwater blonde, short little me. Even without any makeup and her wet hair plastered to her face, the guys were drooling over her. There was also a couple who were completely making out on the side of the pool, right in front of my grandparents.

  Aunt Shelly announced the food was ready, so we went inside. I noticed most of girls stayed by the pool. A few walked in and stole a grape out of the watermelon fruit basket, but none of them got a plate. Meanwhile, the guys were piling their paper plates full of baked beans, ham, potato salad, and whatever else they could fit on there. I always felt self-conscious about eating in front of people who were older than me—not adults, but teenagers.

  Aunt Shelly told me to go sit with Charisma and her friends and walked me over to where the girls were sitting.

  “This is Charisma’s cousin Hadley,” Aunt Shelly said. The other girls barely looked up.

  “Are you guys all seniors?” I asked the girl sitting next to me

  “Yeah,” she said. “Charisma, can you hand me another Diet Coke?”

  “Seriously, Kiely? It’s been, like, four seconds since your last one,” Charisma said laughing.

  “Can I get one too?” I asked.

  “So what are we going to do tonight, you guys?” Charisma asked. “Scott said we could go to his house.”

  “Um, can you pass me a Coke?” I asked again.

  Charisma popped a grape in her mouth and adjusted her swimsuit. I saw her reach over to get a can of soda and I sighed in relief, but she popped the top and took a long drink.

  “Charisma, can I get a soda too?” I asked louder.

  She stared at me like it was the first time she had seen me all day. I swear, she wanted to ask when I had sat down with them. She glanced behind her into the cooler.

  “Oh, sorry, Hadley. This is the last one. There’s probably more in the kitchen if you want to go.”

  I got up and walked to the kitchen, but there were a bunch of senior guys right in front of where the drinks were on the counter. I turned and went back to where my grandparents and parents were sitting.

  “Hadley, you have to come stay with us this
summer,” Grandpa said, reaching past me to get a napkin. “You could spend time at the beach and go out on the boat with us.”

  I shifted. He meant well, but I wasn’t the kind of person who went to the beach a lot. I was more the type who sat in the shade with a book, in the privacy of my backyard.

  “Why don’t you come when school gets out?” he said, and then reminded me the actress Simone Hendrickson lived next door to them. Trust me, I hadn’t forgotten. Oh, and did he mention how Simone used to be on the TV show Duncan’s Corner? She was also in a TV movie, did a bunch of commercials, and was in a workout video…and was gorgeous with her round blue eyes and perfect blonde hair—not like my blah, dishwater-colored hair.

  “You didn’t get a chance to get to know her when you were there last summer,” Grandma said. “It would be fun for you to have someone closer to your own age around for the summer.”

  Um, maybe she was forgetting the fact when she introduced me to Simone, Simone glanced at me, said, “Hey,” and then told her mom she had to meet her friends at the beach. It wasn’t like I expected her to hug me yelling, “Let’s be best friends,” but maybe she could have held back the yawn. I knew she used to be on some sitcom, but did she have to be so stuck up?

  Simone used to play the youngest daughter, Abby, on Duncan’s Corner. The show was pretty popular, but I hardly ever watched it because it came on the same time as Video Request Countdown, which was hosted by Jack Brogger, my favorite singer. I glanced around the pool. Why couldn’t Charisma have guy friends like Jack? It seemed like real high school boys were nothing like the guys on TV. The real ones were scrawny with broken-out skin. If Jack were here, though—

  “Hadley, do you want some cantaloupe? It’s full of fiber. Helps you go to the bathroom,” Grandma said, interrupting my Jack fantasy. I shook my head. It was probably better Jack wasn’t here. He’d probably be flirting with the dark-haired girl or Charisma and break my heart.

  My Aunt Faith was lying out on a pool chair looking bored. She had her legs out in the sun, but the rest of her was in the pool house so she wouldn’t get sunburned.

  “Hadley, I read in InStyle magazine a lot of celebrities vacation in Grand Haven,” Faith said. “You should stay over. Who knows who you might see?”

  “Seriously? Like who?”

  “Well, a couple of the girls from Duncan’s Corner came to visit Simone, and the actress Jerrica Adams came with her husband, and a bunch of singers, like Kevyn DeGarmo, Alfonso Carerra, and Jack Brogger—”

  I sat up in my chair. “Seriously? Jack Brogger?” She nodded.

  “My friend saw him out on a boat last year,” she said. “He rents a cottage.”

  “Cottage?” Grandma snorted. “The place where he stays is so huge that you wouldn’t refer to it as a cottage by any means.”

  Faith nodded and said there was a big gate with a security guard out front.

  “We tried driving past it, but you can’t see much except the outline of that place—and it is huge,” she said.

  Time to rethink the whole spending the summer with the Grandparents thing. I looked over at my mom who said, “I’d be happy to get rid of you for the summer.” Well, if Jack spent time in Grand Haven, then I had to visit my dad’s family this summer.

  I called my best friend, Lexi Irvin, as soon as I got home to tell her I’d be spending the summer in a place where Jack vacationed, and then I mentioned Simone.

  “Oh my gosh, Hadley,” Lexi said. “It would be amazing to live next door to a star over the summer.”

  “Yeah, but Simone probably hangs out in clubs or something. I doubt we’d hang out or be at the same places.”

  “Well, those beach towns are small, so I’m sure your paths would cross, especially with her being so close.”

  “True, but let’s be honest. I’m not exactly the Simone Hendrickson of the ninth grade. I don’t get invited to parties or have a closet full of designer clothes or—”

  “Whatever, you do have a great best friend though,” she said.

  “Yeah, well, at least I do for another week until you leave for Dallas.”

  “Don’t remind me. Exactly five days,” she said. “I can’t believe I have to start over again as a sophomore. Everyone says it’s so much harder to meet new people when you transfer in high school.”

  “I’m sure you’ll meet a ton of new people,” I said, and I meant that. Lexi was funny, friendly, outgoing, and everything you’d want in a best friend. I was more worried about how I was going to handle starting over on my own. I was way more of an introvert. I stared out the window as I thought about what life would be like without my best friend since the fourth grade. She was the kind of friend you could communicate with by exchanging glances.

  “I can’t believe you’re really going,” I said. “I mean, we talk or text every day. Who is going to like the pictures I post online of my breakfast?”

  Lexi cracked up. “We’re still going to talk and text every day, and I promise you—if you post a picture of your half-eaten oatmeal, then I will ‘like’ it.”

  I knew she believed that, but I also knew she’d meet new people and, well, forget about me.

  “Listen, I gotta go and make sure my boxes are labeled for the move. I’ll see ya tomorrow,” she said hanging up.

  The greatest thing about having a best friend was having someone always there for you—even when you make a fool of yourself—like when I tripped in front of my entire class while accepting my spelling bee trophy, although Lexi told me no one even noticed, and every dodgeball day in gym class pretty much made me an expert in humiliation, but we were always in it together. Now I was seeing the downside of having a best friend—being so exclusive with someone that you didn’t have a lot of other people to turn to when your BFF moved away.

  I sighed and reached in my desk for a piece of gum. My mom had warned me about hanging out with only one person all the time, but no one else got me the way Lexi did. Now, it felt like I was going to have to start all over trying to fit in with another group. Sure, I had other girls I talked to, but I didn’t have a group. I didn’t fit in with the super popular girls, I wasn’t smart enough to hang out with the brains, and I wasn’t athletic enough to be friends with the girls on the basketball team. At least going away for the summer meant I wouldn’t have to sit home feeling sorry for myself.

  Chapter Two

  Lexi and I tried to spend as much time together as we could before moving day. On her last day, a bunch of girls who barely talked to her before were crying like they were losing their best friend. Isabella Bowman, the most popular girl in school, even asked Lexi to sit with her at lunch. Isabella always wore the latest stuff—she had a real Coach bag and not one of those knockoff ones, and all the other girls wanted to be her friend. If Isabella sat with you at lunch, then you were somebody, but if Isabella didn’t know who you were, then nobody else did either…and they didn’t care. Lexi and I used to talk about how great it would be to sit at Isabella’s lunch table, but today Lexi didn’t even ask me to sit next to her. I sort of followed behind them. My best friend’s last day of school and I had to ask people to move over to squeeze in at the table. I guess I understood why she forgot about me, but I never would have done that to her.

  I went over to her house after school to say goodbye and there were over thirty people there.

  “Lexi, I’m really going to—”

  “Just a sec—” she said putting up her hand. She turned and hugged a girl from our algebra class who I barely remembered her speaking to. “I will miss you soooo much, Kylie!”

  As soon as Kylie moved away, I went to hug Lexi, but another girl, this one from our health class, beat me to it.

  “Lexi! I cannot believe you’re leaving me,” she said, and a bunch of others crowded in. I stood back waiting until they were done so I could have a moment alone with Lexi.

  “Okay ladies, Lexi has to get to bed early because we are hitting the road super early and she needs her beauty rest,” M
r. Irvin, Lexi’s father, said. “You can all text and e-mail later.”

  “Wait, Lex, we didn’t get to talk,” I said.

  “Yeah, I know, sorry. Things got so crazy, but I will call you as soon as we get to Dallas. Maybe even if I get some time when we stop for the night,” she said, hugging me. “I gotta go, my dad wants us up at four a.m. He’s crazy. This isn’t goodbye anyway, it’s see ya when I see ya, ‘kay?”

  She smiled and I tried to smile back, but my eyes were filling with tears.

  ***

  The next few days were hard. Lexi had been my lab partner in science, so once she was gone,

  Mr. Jeffries, our teacher, had me work with Isabella and her lab partner, A.J. A.J. did all the work, so Isabella and I talked. It seemed like we had a lot in common, so, stupid me, I invited Isabella to come over. I hoped she’d see I was an okay person and want to hang out with me. Isabella told me she had to watch her sister after school while her dad was working, but she was nice about it. However, Isabella’s best friend, Brittany Buchanan, was talking loudly in the gym locker room so that I would hear her.

  “Did you guys honestly think someone like Isabella would want to hang out with a loser? Izzy just learned her lab partner’s name and the girl has gone to school with us since sixth grade. How pathetic,” Brittany said, flipping her frizzy red ponytail.

  I shut down. I grabbed my bag and walked out of the locker room. I told Coach Jeffers I wasn’t feeling well and he gave me a pass to see the school nurse.

  “Do you want me to call your mom and have her pick you up?” the nurse asked.

  Mom had already lectured me on how the school might hold me back if I missed any more days. Then I’d be stuck in ninth grade for another year, and even then all the other girls would still have bigger chests than me.

  “I don’t think I need to go home,” I said. “Can I stay here a little longer?”