Amber was the type of plastic girl who was beautiful on the outside, but her beauty was superficial, because she was ugly on the inside. She probably looked like a troll on the inside. I wish that I could turn her inside out. Her name suited her perfectly because she had long, thick auburn hair. She was curvy and had full lips that made the guys in our school stare at her constantly. She wore a lot of make-up to school, so she looked older than the other girls in our grade.
I was in the bathroom a few weeks ago, and Amber and her friends came in talking, so I stayed in the cubicle and listened. I heard her telling them that she wears a size 34C bra. I only wear a 34A, but my mom says that maybe I’m a “late bloomer.” Whatever that means, I hope she’s right.
“Hey Phoebes, happy Valentine’s Day, I like how you’re getting into the spirit of the day,” Liz said gesturing to my red tank top when I met her in the hallway.
“I thought I’d try. But I don’t think that it’s going to be a very happy day, because I don’t have a Valentine.”
“What about Ben?”
“He doesn’t count because we’re just friends.”
“I don’t think that he thinks of you as a friend anymore.”
“You mean he doesn’t want to be friends with me anymore?”
“Phoebe, no, I don’t mean that. I mean, I think that he likes you as more than a friend.”
“I’m like his sister. We used to run under the sprinklers naked together when we were six, how could he suddenly like me ‘like that?’”
“It is, as they say, chemistry,” she said with a flourish of her hand.
“Don’t start,” I rolled my eyes. “Speaking of chemistry, like I said, I seriously doubt that Chase would eat the chocolates containing the love potion, and even if he did, I don’t think that it would work. Love potions are probably just a bunch of nonsense.”
“Don’t be so negative, aren’t you a big believer in the Law of Attraction?”
“Well, yes. It’s just that love potions seem like a bunch of hocus pocus.”
“Don’t be so sure,” she said, pointing to my locker.
I followed Liz’s gaze to what I was sure was the wrong locker, and gasped.
I wanted to rub my eyes because I couldn’t believe what I saw. There were about a dozen red heart-shaped balloons taped to my locker. I opened it to get my books and inside, there was a gold charm bracelet with little heart charms, and a Valentine’s card.
“There’s a card, what does it say?” Liz asked curiously.
“It’s signed ‘love your secret admirer.’ Ben must have completely lost it, or he’s playing a practical joke on me. The bracelet has got to be a fake,” I said, holding it up to the light.
“Hmm, it looks pretty real,” Liz said examining it. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“No, it can’t be,” I said in disbelief. I felt a hard knot in my stomach. I got my books and headed to History. When I got in the classroom, there was a single red rose on my desk. I saw Ben sitting at the desk next to mine and I playfully punched him.
“Hey what was that for?” he asked, rubbing his arm.
“Ha-ha very funny. You can drop the act now secret admirer.”
“Who’s the rose from?” he asked, ignoring me.
“You mean…it’s not from you…and the stuff in my locker…” I stuttered.
“Phoebe what are you talking about?” he asked confused.
“Nothing, it’s just girl stuff.”
“Hey, that’s not fair,” he pouted. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Ben wasn’t my “secret admirer.” That meant it must have been Amber playing a cruel joke on me. It had to be a simple explanation like that, it couldn’t possibly all be from Chase. Could it?
#
When I walked into the cafeteria at lunch, something seemed odd. It was just a feeling, but something was off. I made my way to our usual table. Liz and Ben were already sitting there. Liz looked very amused, while Ben looked confused/stunned/upset.
On the table, there was a massive bouquet of red roses. There must have been about two dozen. The card was predictably signed, “Love your secret admirer.” My mouth actually dropped open again. I needed to stop doing that, or else I’d catch flies as my mom said.
“Now do you believe me?” Liz asked satisfied. Liz was very scientific as you may have noticed, so she took great delight in compiling evidence to support her case that the love potion did, in fact, work.
I just shrugged. I honestly didn’t think that the roses were from Chase. But, I had racked my brains trying to think of a possible explanation, and I still couldn’t come up with one.
“Believe you about what?” Ben asked. The poor guy was completely confused about everything that had happened.
“Nothing, don’t worry,” Liz said. “It’s just girl stuff.” That’s the excuse we always used when we didn’t want to tell Ben something, and he couldn’t argue. We would never tell Ben about the love potion, because guys just wouldn’t understand.
I sat down on the bench on the other side of the table. I could hardly see them over the huge bouquet. It couldn’t possibly be that Chase had actually eaten the love potion laced chocolates, and that it had actually worked.
Suddenly Liz stopped chewing, and sat straight up. “Phoebe, don’t freak out. Chase has just walked into the cafeteria.”
*****
7. Love Struck
Excitement exploded all around me, but I was frozen. I grabbed the edge of the table so hard that my knuckles turned white. Uncontrollably I sucked in my breath until I realized that I was about to faint. My heart was racing so fast that I thought it was going to jump out of my chest. Was it possible for a teenager to have a heart attack? My brain seemed to have stopped working because it couldn’t tell dreams from reality. But I knew one thing for sure - dreams did come true. It was the moment I had waited for all my life.
Chase glided into the cafeteria like he was walking onto a concert stage. Immediately all the girls started screaming and going hysterical, but their high pitched screams were on mute. It was his concert all over again. They ran over to him like a herd of stampeding buffalo. Elvis had entered the building. He grabbed the microphone that the teachers used for announcements and said, “Phoebe Parker. I need Phoebe Parker.”
I was sure that I was dreaming. It was one of those dreams, when you know that you’re dreaming. “Liz, I need you to pinch me. This must be one of my fantasy dreams about Chase, because this cannot be happening.” She was too stunned to move and her eyes were wide with shock.
Ben almost choked on his sandwich. I was about five seconds away from passing out, like that time in History. I was frozen in shock, so I couldn’t speak or move. I just sat there hiding behind the roses. If I didn’t see him, then he wasn’t there.
Chase immediately spotted the bouquet and ran over to our table. I had my head down pretending to study. “Phoebe Parker, I love you,” he proclaimed.
Ben really started chocking on his Pepsi, and Liz had to hit him on the back. He coughed a lot.
“I never thought that heaven would be so close to me,” he said, gazing at me like I had switched bodies with Alicia Spark.
I was sure that I was hallucinating. I had finally lost it because things like this just didn’t happen to girls like me.
“If water were beauty, you’d be the ocean.”
It was surreal, like something out of a movie. I tried to pinch myself, but I didn’t wake up. The shocking truth was staring me in the face – the love potion had worked. Chase was my “secret admirer.” I didn’t want to even hope that it could be him who had left the trail of gifts. I couldn’t believe that the love potion really had caused him to fall in love with me.
Silence fell over the cafeteria as Chase started singing “Love Struck.” My breath caught in my chest when I realized that he was singing to me. It was so crazy, that is was actually funny.
I glanced at Amber, who looked like she had just thrown up in her mouth.
“Phoebe, will you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you to the dance tonight? It would make my day, no my year, if you said yes,” he said, amid ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs.’
“Yes,” I eventually squeaked. Everyone except Amber and Ben applauded. Then the bell rang for the end of lunch.
“Phoebe, I want to spend the rest of the day with you. Now that I our hearts have found each other, they are one.” He began every sentence with my name. I looked over at Ben, and he looked like he wanted to punch Chase.
“Ok,” I whispered. I realized that I had been speaking in one word sentences, but I was in severe shock, so even uttering one word was an achievement.
Chivalrously Chase picked up my books. He paused when he saw his pictures covering them.
“I ran out of paper to cover my books, so I used Teen Idol magazine…” I lied.
He beamed his toothpaste commercial smile at me. “I’m so honored that you even know who I am.”
“Everybody knows who you are,” I whispered.
“But you’re the only one who matters.” He proclaimed.
Ben clenched his jaw.
“Shall we?” he said holding his arm out in that old-fashioned way.
“Uh … yes.” I grabbed hold of his arm before I fainted.
Chase was a guest in the rest of my classes, and he even carried my books covered in his pictures. The teachers were more than happy to allow him in their classes. In fact, they gushed over him like they were teenagers, and even asked him to sign autographs for their children.
Two scary bodyguards straight out of Men in Black stuck to Chase like glue. They were dressed in black suits with black sunglasses, and they had ear pieces. They staked out my classrooms, by standing on either side of the doors in the hallway. It was weird because Chase and I were never alone. “Isn’t it difficult to have any privacy with bodyguards following you all day?” I leaned over and whispered.
“It is, but I have to have bodyguards everywhere I go, for protection.”
“With all of those screaming girls, I can understand why. When I was at your concert, it was like being at a Beatles concert.”
He looked stunned. “You’ve been to one of our concerts?”
“Yes, the one last Saturday.”
“I wish I had known. I can’t believe that you were so close, and I didn’t even know,” he said dramatically.
“It’s ok, don’t worry about it. It was an awesome concert. I was one of the many girls wearing green, so I think that I was camouflaged.”
He laughed loudly, and the whole class turned to look, but the teacher just smiled.
“Maybe we should keep it down a bit,” I whispered.
“Of course,” he shot me an apologetic look.
We didn’t talk much until the end of class, because I knew that everyone was eavesdropping. But he stared at me the whole time, like I was a model or a movie star. After a while, I started to feel like a caged animal at the zoo.
Luckily I had dressed well that day, because I usually looked terrible when I saw a hot guy. That always happened, it was Murphy’s Law. One morning, before I had had a shower, I decided to quickly run to the shop in my oldest pair of sweatpants with holes. Of course, just my luck, I literally ran into a group of really hot surfers. I apologized for knocking into them, and they were very nice about it. They whispered to each other as I walked away, they probably said how hideous I looked.
It still hadn't sunk in that Chase Carson was really at my school, with me. He seemed totally head over heels in love with me. He constantly gazed into my eyes, and stood, sat, and walked very close to me.
“You have the most mesmerizing eyes I’ve ever seen,” he said, as though he had read my mind. He looked at me like he was hypnotized.
“Thank you,” I blushed.
“They sparkle like green emeralds, floating in a sea of jewels. You know, green eyes are my favorite.”
“I know,” I said automatically.
He looked at me quickly.
“I mean, you talk about a girl with green eyes in your song ‘Love Struck,’” I stammered.
“Yes, I think that I must have written that song for you. I knew you were out there, and now I’ve found you.” He took my hand and kissed it like in the movies.
I giggled. “So, which school do you go to?” I asked, as we walked out of class. Everyone waited for us to get up and go fist, even though we had been sitting in the back.
“I don’t go to school,” he replied straight-faced.
“You’re so lucky! I wish that I didn’t have to go to school.”
He laughed. “I’m home-schooled, I mean, we have tutors who come with us on the road. Sometimes I miss going to a regular school.”
“I think that everyone at my school would sell their parents to trade places with you.” I noticed that “everyone” was stepping aside so that we could walk without being bumped. I couldn’t help but notice all the eyes watching us.
“I’m missing out on school life, like sports, extra-curricular activities, and friends. I love my life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very lucky. But sometimes, I miss just being a normal teenager.” He looked at the floor. “That’s one of the reasons why I’m so looking forward to the dance, because I’ve never been to a school dance.”
“You’ve never been to a school dance?” I realized how shocked I sounded.
He shook his head. It was unexpected to see him look so sad.
“I thought that you would be so happy because of your fame. I thought that your life was perfect in every way. Celebrities seem so different, but I guess deep down, they’re just normal people.”
“We are pretty normal, well almost,” he joked.
“It had never occurred to me that there might be any downside at all to fame, but I guess not being able to leave you house without being mobbed would suck.”
“That is the worst part for me. Our fans are the best, and we owe them everything, but I’ve lost my normal life.”
“Normal is boring. Your life must be so wonderful,” I said dreamily.
“It is, but there is a downside. It’s difficult to even go out to eat at a restaurant. If I want to go to the movies, I have to sneak in after the commercials when it’s dark, and then leave before the lights come up.”
“Wow, I had no idea,” I said genuinely surprised.
“Once, my brothers and I got chased down the street by a crowd of screaming fans. We had to hide in an alley until they ran past. It was pretty scary, because some fans take it a bit too far. They grab your clothes and hair, anything they can, just to get a piece of you. They don’t even know us, but they fall in love with what they see on TV or in magazines. They don’t really love us as people. They love the image or idea of us.”
A feeling of stupidity washed over me for being one of those crazy fans, who fell in love with someone that she didn’t know from a bar of soap. But I really had felt like I was in love. Maybe it was just a crush. Now that he so completely in love with me, I didn’t feel in love with him. I mean, he was still totally gorgeous and really sweet, but it felt like he was a stranger. We didn’t have years of history together, like Ben and I.
I felt like the most popular girl in school. I always wondered how it felt to be envied, or even noticed by everyone. Everyone smiled at me, and wanted to talk to me. I even heard a few girls saying that they wished they were me. It felt so good to be noticed for a change, and to feel special. Being a celebrity, Chase must have felt so special all the time. I’d always wanted to be famous, but I didn’t have a talent. I’d always wanted to be a model, but 5 feet 2 is way too short. I even stopped drinking coffee whe
n I heard that caffeine stunted your growth. I’d probably still grow a lot more, but not enough to be a model. I knew that was the closest I’d probably get to being a celebrity, and it felt amazing. I resolved to enjoy my 15 minutes of fame while it lasted. I finally knew how it felt to be Rachel or Amber.
I didn’t get to talk to Ben or Liz much for the rest of the day. But Liz had a grin stuck on her face as she gave me a few thumbs up signs. I think that she was happier about her Chemistry experiment working, than about Chase being in love with me. On the other hand, Ben looked like his cat had just died. Amber kept giving me deaths stares whenever I looked at her, but I just smiled.
#
When I got home from school, my mom was in the kitchen. “A package was delivered for you about an hour ago. It looks really expensive,” she said, clearly dying to know what it was and who it was from.
I wondered if it was another Valentine’s gift, but it was better. It was a gorgeous evening gown and gold strappy sandals for me to wear to the dance. The gown was emerald green, how ironic. I was relieved that it had been sent, because I had just planned to wear my purple cotton halter dress that sat just above my knees. There was also a bottle of extremely expensive French perfume called “Étoile.” I assumed that it meant “Star,” because there were little shining stars all over the bottle.
#
I spent the rest of the afternoon pampering myself and making sure that all the little details were taken care of for the dance. I applied an avocado face mask, even though I hate avocado, except in guacamole. Ironic I know. I even placed two slices of cucumber over my eyelids. I had no clue what the cucumber was supposed to do, but they always did it in the movies. I also painted my fingernails and toenails with red nail polish, so that I looked extra glamorous. I had a long soak in a bubble bath and washed my hair. I could have been mistaken for a prune when I finally emerged.
Lovesessed Page 5
