Diamond in the Rough

by India Lee

  “I’m sorry,” Gemma yelled to Lucas. Andro began to push her back towards the stairs. She watched as Lucas pushed his way through the crowd, tall enough to see over everyone’s heads and weave his way through just to be closer to her. Gemma tracked him as he cut around effortlessly. She felt her autographs get sloppier as she craned her neck to keep an eye on him.

  “Bee,” Andro put a firm hand on her shoulder. “Wrap it up.” Suddenly, Gemma lost sight of Lucas.

  “Okay, Andro, I just…” she took one step up the stairwell to see if she could spot him. She caught a glimpse of a silver mask pushed into a mess of dark wavy hair just a couple feet from the bottom of the stairs. Next to it was a perfect curtain of shiny blonde hair. Madison had stopped him.

  “What are you doing? Did you follow me here?” she yelled at Lucas. He looked up at the stairwell towards Gemma. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

  “Alright, Bee. That’s it. Let’s go.” Andro took her forearm and began leading her up the stairs.

  “No, Andro. Please wait!”

  Gemma could here Madison hissing. “You’re pathetic, Lucas!” Lucas stood staring, unresponsive. Gemma felt her ears burn with anger. Say something back to her!

  “Hey!” she yelled fruitlessly over the crowd. She wanted to say something for him. Lucas had been nothing but wonderful to Madison; he didn’t deserve to be treated in such a way. Gemma wanted nothing more than to reach into the crowd and grab something hard to chuck at Madison’s head.

  “Bee, what’s going on?” Andro looked increasingly frustrated as Gemma continued to resist him. The crowd continued to shove things in her direction, screaming for her attention. Despite that, Gemma leaned towards them, trying to hear more of what Madison was saying. Arms reached for her, nearly making contact before Andro pulled her back in. “Bee! Have you gone crazy?”

  Gemma ignored Andro, watching Lucas’s face flush. She knew he was holding himself back. He stood silent as Madison continued to berate him. The crowd around her hushed as they began to realize that the beautiful dancing girl from earlier was involved in some drama, and that even Queen Bee was trying to tune in.

  “What, you’re just going to stand there? Nothing to say?” Madison taunted. Her friends had come to her side, laughing in unison. “Figured. This is why I dumped you, Lucas. A man is supposed to have balls.” The crowd whooped and hollered at Madison’s retort to what they saw as some silent, pathetic stalker. Gemma felt her heart ache for her friend as she stood by the banister, paralyzed with fear by Madison’s iciness, even as Queen Bee.

  But to everyone’s surprise, Lucas suddenly smiled. Even Madison’s face furrowed in confusion. He pushed through the small crowd that separated him from Gemma, his eyes focused on her once again.

  “Hey, stay back!” Andro shouted, pushing his hand towards Lucas. Gemma grabbed Andro’s sleeve.

  “No, that’s my friend! That’s him!” Gemma whispered excitedly as Andro retreated. She looked down as Lucas pulled his silver mask back on. Within a beat, his athletic body had made its way around the barricade and onto the banister. He jumped over, landing on the step above Gemma. The crowd went wild at the sight of the strange party-goer, suddenly so close to Queen Bee.

  “Wow,” Andro exclaimed, impressed. “Your friend’s a ninja.”

  “No,” Lucas laughed. “I’m just excited.”

  “I thought you weren’t having fun,” Gemma teased. In one quick motion, he pulled Gemma up and into him, crushing the folds of fabric and crinoline between them. Startled, Gemma wrapped her arms around his neck to secure herself. She heard the crowd screaming and security trying to calm them.

  “I wasn’t then,” he said. “But I am now.” He pressed his lips to hers, holding her tight. The room began to shake. Her feet weren’t touching the ground. It could have been the cheers reverberating through the old building. It could have been Lucas simply lifting her out of her shoes. But even if that weren’t the case, Gemma suspected she would have felt the same exact sensation.

  BIRTHDAY SURPRISE: QUEEN BEE LOCKS LIPS WITH MYSTERY MAN!

  The Pop Source

  June 16

  This Friday, guests at Queen Bee’s lavish 17th birthday masquerade were treated to a bevy of enthralling sights, including one surprise that even the birthday girl didn’t see coming!

  The wild bash boasted nearly one thousands guests who enjoyed a massive open bar along with upscale catering by celebrity chef Hudson Gunn. While attendees had no doubt expected to witness extravagance, they were likely not expecting to see a surprise liplock between Queen Bee and a masked heartthrob! The kiss took place when a guest jumped over a security blockade and was approved by bodyguards to approach Queen Bee on stage. A surprised but seemingly delighted Bee conversed briefly with the mystery man before allowing him to present her with a romantic birthday kiss!

  So who could the brave boy be? We’re pretty sure Queen Bee will keep mum, as she does with most things, but let’s hope someone quickly finds an answer to this curious question!

  I TOLD YOU SHE WAS A SLUT.

  6/16 3:39PM

  Posted by Tara C.

  Her Royal Secrecy

  Looks like Queen Bee has finally realized that she’s nothing but a sad sack of dollar store feathers and imitation pearls without the attention of my king Tyler Chase. That’s right, Tyler RSVPed to her party with a big sexy “NO,” sparking QB to whore herself out to a moderately good-looking stranger so people would remember that she’s supposed to be some sort of sex symbol.

  I’m sorry QB, but it looks like your time is over. Tyler Chase made your career, and without him worshipping your every move for reasons I’ll never understand, you’re pretty much a nobody again. Sorry to say, but a hobo you hired off the street and dressed in Armani won’t skyrocket your fame back to Chase-like proportions. I mean, you can kiss all the ~mystery men that you want, but I can confidently say that it won’t get you anything but a VH1 reality show and a case of the lip herp.

  Now everybody, let’s join hands and pray that this is a sign of Tyler coming to his senses and abandoning his quest for little Bitchass Bee.

  - Chapter 4 -

  It had been days since Lucas’s very romantic but very public kiss. Since then, he seemed to have vanished. Gemma didn’t see him around the house and she hadn’t received a single text or phone call. She wondered if he regretted what he did, that perhaps the kiss was just to anger Madison. Though deep in her heart, Gemma knew that wasn’t likely – she and Lucas had been dancing around the possibility of something more than friendship for months now – but she couldn’t think of anything else to explain his absence.

  She lounged in the hammock by the lake, watching as Leah and Kate dipped their toes into the water. Gemma had suggested they all take a trip to Mira’s lake house. The girls loved the idea of a getaway but Gemma had subscribed to some superstition that Lucas would reappear if they were to go there. After all, it was there that she first met him and there that he confessed he knew of her other identity.

  Gemma hadn’t seen much of Leah and Kate, lately. The two were busy with SAT prep and college visits. Gemma wasn’t particularly worried about either thing. Half of the reason was a year of intensive home-schooling that made her feel armed and ready for any standardized test. The other half was that she simply didn’t feel she was going to do the college thing just yet. Queen Bee’s career was only getting started and embarking on a whole other chapter of life didn’t make much sense to her. She knew she could eventually get Mira to agree with the rationale, but her parents were another story.

  “Avoiding the lake still?” Lucas’s voice carried across the lawn. Gemma sat up excitedly, practically tangling herself in the hammock as she jumped to her feet.

  “Where have you been!” she yelled, running towards him and leaping into his arms. She had meant to keep her cool but the excitement of seeing him was too overwhelming. He wrapped his arms around his waist, burying his face in her hair.

  “
I could ask you the same thing. You didn’t call or text. I thought maybe I shouldn’t have done what I did and you were mad at me.”

  “Are you kidding?” Gemma laughed. She looked behind her to see Leak and Kate swimming, unaware of Lucas’s presence. She dropped her voice. “I missed you so much since the party.”

  “Me too,” Lucas replied. “They took you away so quickly.”

  “They had to. It would’ve gotten insane. But I wanted to stay behind and just be with you.” Gemma gritted her teeth. “And kick Madison’s ass.” Lucas laughed.

  “It’s alright, I think we put on a pretty good show for her.”

  “Oh, so the kiss was just for show?” Gemma pouted.

  “Not at all,” Lucas whispered, his voice husky. He tilted her face up to his and leaned in, kissing her. The kiss was soft and sweet, vastly different from the dizzying urgency she first felt with him on the stairwell. She knew the way Lucas kissed her at the party was from a rare moment of boldness, and though it was incredible, it was nothing like she had imagined his kisses would be. This kiss, however, felt exactly how she had envisioned it.

  “What the hell is going on?” Leah shrieked. Gemma pulled away from Lucas to see Leah and Kate running towards them. She smiled, shaking her head. Sadly enough, in one of the many scenarios in which she imagined kissing Lucas, Leah had ruined the moment with some sort of loud interjection. “Since when? Since when has this all been going on?”

  “Since just now, Leah,” Gemma scolded. “And you just ruined the moment.”

  “Oh shit, seriously?” Leah covered her mouth.

  “Yeah, basically,” Lucas replied.

  “So should we leave you alone?” Kate asked. “We can go and swim and pretend not to watch so you can keep kissing her.”

  “It’s fine,” Lucas laughed. “There could be a thousand people watching and it wouldn’t stop me.”

  ~

  Gemma heaved a sigh as she gazed out the hotel window at the sparkling city skyline, silently noting what a perfect night it was to be out.

  “This is why Queen Bee needs friends in the industry,” she grumbled as she wrestled on a pair of Wolford Neon 40 tights. “So she can show up to premieres with people besides her manager and makeup artist.”

  “And stylist. You’ve forgotten me already, Bee.” Armand wiped a nonexistent tear, wrenching his hands around Gemma’s custom designed dress for the evening. “They told me this would happen when you got big in the States, but I never believed it. Here I thought you were one of the better ones.” He collapsed onto the leather couch dramatically, prompting Penelope to burst out laughing. Gemma scowled.

  “It’s not that I don’t like going to events with you guys. It’s just that I look like an anti-social freak who has no other friends.”

  “Um, number one: People know that you have a secret life with real friends, Bee,” Penelope said. “And number two: Tyler Chase is doing wonders for any rumors regarding your social life.”

  “Yes. Every girl in this world would kill for your social life, Bee.”

  “That’s because they don’t know what it’s actually like,” Gemma muttered, gazing into the mirror. Her naturally brown hair had been pumped up with extensions of different brunette shades. She had wanted to keep it down that evening, but Penelope decided to pull everything up into a massive ballerina bun.

  “Are we almost ready in there?” Mira called into the living room of the hotel suite. “The cars are waiting.”

  Cars, Gemma thought with an inward laugh. She had once traveled with a single vehicle of security behind her. Now she traveled with four.

  “Almost done!” Penelope and Armand called back in unison.

  They were preparing for the premiere of The Current, an independent feature in which Tyler Chase had made his acting debut. Despite sounding to Gemma like a surfer flick, the film was described as a tale of best friends growing up to work on opposite ends of the law – one as a lead detective and the other as a gang leader. Tyler played the small role of Nicky, a drug dealer who crossed sides from his brother’s crew to become an NYPD informant. As cheesy as the plot sounded, Gemma couldn’t wait to see Tyler on the big screen.

  As soon as she slipped into her metallic suede dress and studded Louboutins, she rushed out the door, ahead of her entourage.

  “Hey, slow down!” Mira called down the hall, chasing after Gemma with Penelope and Armand. “You’re going to twist an ankle!”

  “Nope!”

  “You can’t go into the lobby alone!” Mira shouted, her voice fading away as Gemma gained distance on her. A chill ran up her spine when she stepped into the elevator alone, the doors closing in her security’s face once they caught up. So she would be mobbed by fans – what was the big deal? They loved her, they didn’t want to hurt her.

  The solitude of the elevator was peaceful. Gemma couldn’t remember the last time she was alone as Queen Bee. She relished every second as she rode from the penthouse floor to the lobby. She knew the doors would soon open to madness – to either an infuriated security team or a swarm of screaming fans.

  Ding. It was both. The crowd spilled into the elevator and Gemma quickly felt a bodyguard’s hand on her wrist. As he pulled her out of the mob, Gemma blew kisses to her wailing fans. She even managed to kiss a teenaged girl on the cheek, sending her into joyful hysterics. Despite the pandemonium, her team joined forces with hotel staff and managed to create a path for her to exit through.

  “Why did you do that?” Andro demanded when they reached the outside area safely. Even he felt compelled to reprimand her, which meant that she was in for one hell of a tongue-lashing from Mira. Gemma just smiled complacently as she caught her breath.

  “I had to run,” she answered simply.

  ~

  After the premiere of The Current at Tribeca Cinemas, attendees made their way to The Strathorne on Church Street. The swanky boutique hotel was illuminated in the glow of spotlights and flashing cameras. A brilliant red carpet rolled out from the hotel entrance to the edge of the sidewalk. Roped off to the right was a large crowd of media and photographers. To the left was the army of Tyler Chasers, covering half the block as they held up giant Tyler portraits and other memorabilia.

  While her car waited to pull up, Gemma gazed out through the tinted windows. The cameras flashed nonstop though Tyler had yet to arrive.

  “Who are they going crazy for?” Armand wondered aloud.

  “Oh Lord have mercy,” Penelope squinted out her window. “It’s Zoe Mercury and her crazy friend.”

  Gemma immediately began searching the busy red carpet for the two girls. She found them standing towards the hotel entrance, holding hands and posing towards each other for photographers. Gemma raised her eyebrows at the transparent lace top on Harper’s dress.

  “At least Crazy Friend has fantastic taste in lingerie,” Armand said.

  Gemma was too busy gawking to notice a bodyguard standing outside her car door. They had pulled up to the red carpet.

  “What are you waiting for, Bee?” Penelope asked as the door opened from the outside. “Go get ‘em!”

  Gemma sat still. She watched Zoe and Harper make their way into the hotel before taking her bodyguard’s hand and stepping out.

  “Bee! Queen Bee!”

  Her name was called from all directions. Gemma smiled for the cameras and posed expertly. She was on Queen Bee autopilot. It was perfect yet mundane.

  “What do you think? Is Tyler Chase a future Oscar winner?”

  Gemma forced a laugh with her interviewer. “He has my academy vote!”

  “Of course he does. We know what a special relationship you two share.”

  Gemma pursed her lips into a fairly convincing smile, praying that someone from her team would whisk her away from the interview. Just then, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her towards the middle of the carpet.

  “Why don’t you come with me, Bee?”

  Gemma turned to see Tyler holding her, smiling
at her with both his eyes and his lips.

  “Hello you,” Gemma giggled.

  “Hey.” Tyler looked at her devilishly. “Do I dare?” Before Gemma could ask what he meant, he planted a kiss on the corner of her lips. The response was immediate. A buzz quickly circulated the carpet and his fans howled at them – in either approval or disappointment. Gemma figured it was both, but mostly the latter.

  “You can’t go kissing me in front of your crazy fans,” Gemma hissed at him playfully.

  “It was your cheek,” Tyler said innocently. “Kind of.” He broke into a grin, helping Gemma forget about whatever anxieties she had just minutes ago. He held her to his side and they walked up the length of the red carpet.

  “Have you met Zoe yet?” Tyler asked as they were ushered to the event space.

  “I haven’t had the pleasure,” Gemma smiled.

  “She’s been telling me to back off of you and let her take you out sometime.”

  “You guys are friends?” Gemma asked.

  “Yeah, we’ve kept in touch since I did that guest spot on ‘Outta This World,’” he said. “She’s cool. She’s just a lot to handle when she’s with Harper.”

  “Which is always.”

  “Lately, yeah. I’m pretty sure Harper’s a cool girl too, though,” Tyler said. “But I wouldn’t know for sure ‘cause my people won’t let me near her,” he laughed.

  Despite Tyler’s efforts to stay at Gemma’s side all night, he was eventually herded elsewhere for interviews. Gemma tried not to look visibly disappointed as she watched Penelope approach from across the room.

  “Hey. Perfect chance for me to fix your eyelashes,” she said, nodding towards the VIP room. “I thought that punk would never let go of you!” she joked. Gemma smiled weakly and let Penelope walk her away from the party.

  She studied the mirror when they got into the room, finding nothing wrong with her makeup. She couldn’t help but feel like the dork with the overprotective parents. “What are you even fixing?” she asked Penelope.