Hidden Gem

by India Lee

  “Are you okay?” she asked breathlessly. Damian smiled softly but didn’t look back at her. “Damian?” She stood watching his back as he headed towards the door.

  “Yeah, Gem. I’m good, don’t worry, okay?” he answered hastily before making his way towards the door. “I just need some air.” He pushed through the crowd, successfully dispersing them. Gemma wanted to follow him but couldn’t ignore Lucas, who sat slouching on the bench. She noticed that he had sustained a small injury during the fracas – a bleeding cut right above his cheek. Now I really owe you one, Gemma couldn’t help thinking.

  “Lucas,” she turned to him. “Lucas, I don’t know what you heard but I hope you know me well enough to know I didn’t do any of…whatever people are saying.”

  “Yeah, it’s fine,” Lucas said. He got up, running his hands through his hair. “Madison, I think I left my sneakers at your place. Can you drive me to get them before practice?” Madison nodded with a sympathetic pout, running a hand across his chest. Lucas walked ahead of her and out of the locker room.

  “So, Gemma,” Madison said, lifting an eyebrow. “I’m sure you’ll find your own way home today?” She slinked closer to Gemma, leaning over her shoulder. She whispered into her ear. “On second thought, you should probably just find one for the rest of the year.”

  ~

  There was a knock at her bedroom door. Gemma groaned, finally stirring from her deep sleep. She had gone straight to bed after coming home from school.

  “Come in,” she called, her voice cracking. The door pushed open and Gavin walked in, still dressed in his sweats from practice.

  “Gemma, what happened?” he asked. His expression was somewhere between anger and concern.

  “I don’t even know,” Gemma pulled a pillow over her head miserably. “Madison just… I walked home because I’m pretty sure the girls all think I went after Lucas too. The whole school does. And I think Damian’s mad at me too, but I almost don’t know why.” She pulled the pillow off of her face to see Gavin still standing at the door. “You can come in, you know. Have you talked to Kylie?”

  “Nah. I really couldn’t give less of a shit about Kylie anymore. But I appreciate Damian sticking up for me. He’s a good guy. If you were going to date any of the guys, he’d be the one I’d be cool with,” Gavin said with a laugh, but then his face became serious. “I do need to know though, and I want you to be honest with me… what is going on with you and Lucas?”

  “Nothing, Gavin! You don’t believe me either?”

  “No, I believe you. I just wanted to hear you say it,” he finally walked towards her. He plopped down in bed next to Gemma and put an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t ever worry about you know, your honor being defended. In the locker room or anywhere else. You know who’s got your back.” He pulled Gemma in for a bear hug. “If you need proof, check out Matt’s other eye tomorrow. He looks like a raccoon.”

  ~

  Though once again, Gemma was thoroughly prepared for complete exile from the clique, she didn’t get it. Things returned almost entirely back to normal, and the girls went about their lives as if the whole school wasn’t talking about the locker room fight. From the way they still exchanged daily gossip, advice and text messages, Gemma could tell that her friendships with Leah and Kate had not changed. They still sought her out for lunch and pouted when she said that she had to spend the period in the library, making up work. Jillian, ever loyal to Madison, was still friendly with Gemma though somewhat strained.

  Madison, however, was a different story.

  She was perfectly civil with Gemma. She even smiled and sometimes played with her hair – though this was usually in front of the whole cafeteria or some other location with plenty of student onlookers. The school buzzed with praise for her saintly act of giving Gemma a second chance at friendship. Her show was well acted, and she sometimes convinced even Gemma that everything was fine. But it wasn’t, and Gemma knew she would be stupid to believe otherwise.

  Occasionally, she would look up from her magazine or phone to see Madison observing her with steely blue eyes. Rather than looking away once Gemma caught her gaze, she would unblinkingly turn up the ends of her glossy lips in a smile. Or rather, something resembling a smile. Gemma found that its fakeness hardly qualified. She also found that Madison was constantly watching her, seemingly taking mental notes of her every move and familiarizing herself with her daily routine. It was chilling for her to even think about what was going through Madison’s mind. Though practically everything else had returned to normalcy, Gemma lived in constant fear of Madison, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  So she threw herself into all her schoolwork, thankful for the opportunity to get it done and be caught up when she got back from the tour. The bright fluorescent lights and tense murmurs of the library would soon be replaced with awe-inspiring lighting and cheering crowds of the arenas. Her life as a high school student was caving in on her, but outside the walls of Beauford High, she was an international pop star who just sold out five major cities. She reasoned to herself that there was nothing she could frown at. Just as long as I can leave Gemma behind.

  ZOE MERCURY: “I’M OBSESSED WITH QUEEN BEE!”

  Celebomatic

  1:44PM 2/25

  Zoe Mercury is the latest to join the list of celebs on the Queen Bee train. At the premiere of her own film, “Outta This World: The Movie,” the D Network star shared her love for the pop singer’s style.

  “I’m obsessed with her voice and her whole persona. I’d love to meet her, I feel like we’d have a lot of fun,” Mercury said in an interview on the red carpet. “She and I would paint the town red.”

  Mercury, a D Network star since the age of ten, has recently come under fire for partying and being linked to multiple Hollywood heartthrobs. D Network is reportedly renegotiating her contract for a breach in her ‘good behavior clause,’ which states that Mercury must keep her social life under wraps and avoid any negative publicity.

  Chapter 10

  Despite having done the routine hundreds of times, rehearsals still felt grueling. It took every last drop of Gemma’s energy to make up for the six months she spent relaxing and losing her physical capabilities to dance for hours on end. However, despite her exhausted energy, she felt no pain. After everything that happened over the past month, the early wake-up calls and shuttling from location to location felt like nothing.

  The night before her first performance at Madison Square Garden, Mira took Gemma to The Spa at Mandarin Oriental. A masseuse worked out all of Gemma’s knots and sore muscles on the cushy, luxurious massage beds. The crisp, clean décor helped relax her mind and after the massage, Gemma felt fully refreshed and revitalized. After lounging in the soothing warmth of their sparkling amethyst-tiled steam room, Mira and Gemma luxuriated in the spa’s tea lounge, wrapped in plush white robes.

  “Nervous?” Mira asked, raising a teacup to her lips. Gemma shrugged, smiling.

  “Excited.”

  “I heard from Gavin that our next door neighbors got a hold of some tickets. Must be big fans.”

  “Well, I gave them the ticket…that Kate bought for me,” Gemma said. Mira laughed hard, nearly spitting out her tea.

  “Do you think they’d recognize you?”

  “Never,” Gemma frowned. “But it’s better that way, right?” She shrugged, trying to look carefree. Mira set her tea down and put her hand over Gemma’s.

  “We’re not so delusional that we think you can keep this secret for the rest of your life. We just want you to get as much as you can out of your young life right now and keep your options open. Okay, my love?” Mira patted Gemma’s hand. Gemma nodded. “Anything else Gemma wants to talk to me about? Because when we leave this building, your mind officially switches to Queen Bee.”

  Gemma thought about telling Mira that she had fallen hard for her former friend’s boyfriend and that this boyfriend happened to be the next-door neighbor that was going to be attending the concert
. She was never nervous for a show before but she had never performed knowing that people she knew and spent time with would be in the crowd. Gemma didn’t know if she could ever go completely back to Queen Bee now that she had truly lived as Gemma.

  ~

  To call the first performance a success would have been the understatement of the decade. Apparently being the hottest ticket in town meant a huge celebrity guest list. A red carpet and press wall was set up outside of Madison Square Garden to greet the A-listers and help them into the building without being disturbed by fans.

  “I didn’t see Tyler Chase out there tonight but I hear he’s hot on your tail,” Armand said to Gemma as he and Penelope worked to strip her down from Queen Bee back to her own self. In addition to practicing her dance routines again, Gemma and her team had also practiced “The GTFO Routine.” This was what they called the moment between signing autographs for fans as Queen Bee to getting her back to looking like any ordinary girl. It involved shuttling Gemma to a pitch-black secret location where they would strip her of her costume, remove all her make-up, put her in the most nondescript outfit possible and dispatch fifteen other girls that looked near identical to Gemma. The girls would wear similar outfits and they would all exit at once, walking out looking like Queen Bee’s make-up team or maybe even backup singers and dancers. Gemma would hide among them and even “The Clones” (what Armand and Penelope called them) didn’t know which of them was Queen Bee. The routine was exciting and eerie. Gemma always felt like she was the star of some bad sci-fi movie when she marched out with The Clones.

  From her town car, Gemma watched as crowds of fans and paparazzi waited at all the exits of the arena in hopes of catching a glimpse of Queen Bee’s true identity. In Europe and Asia, this lifestyle had felt like make-believe. But now, not only in her own country but her home city, it felt truly unreal.

  ~

  “It says, ‘Psyched for the concert, wish you were coming – miss you lots!’ And then there are like, six different types of smiley faces,” Mira said, reading through Gemma’s iPhone. Leah, Kate and Jillian had been texting Gemma all day but she was busy having rhinestones carefully applied down her arms for the opening number. “Do you want to text them back?”

  “What time is it supposed to be in London right now? Could I be in bed? Can they trace the text and find out I’m really in the states still?”

  “Stop worrying,” Mira said. “I’m texting them back that you miss them and you’re going to sleep. Then I’m turning off the phone, which you should have done from the beginning young lady. Focus.”

  Gemma nodded. You heard her. Focus, she told herself. She had kept her phone on in hopes of receiving a text from Gavin, in case he had overheard Lucas perhaps talking about his excitement for the concert. Not that that’s important, Gemma tried convincing herself as she prepared her anxious body to perform in front of her classmates.

  ~

  “Another city, another success. Another screaming twenty thousand fans,” Penelope feigned a yawn. “No big deal.”

  Armand’s fingers weaved through Gemma’s corset, deftly loosening the strings. “Pen, why must you speak incessantly when we are in a hurry? Ugh, c'est des conneries.” French profanities were known to fly out of his mouth at the end of concerts, especially when they were nearing the GTFO Routine.

  Within five minutes, Penelope and Armand were able to remove Gemma from the Balenciaga gown and zip her into one of the meet-and-greet outfits designed for the American tour. The dress was easier to walk in and something the team would actually allow her to wear when being grabbed at by fans.

  Armand put away the Balenciaga gown the way one would put a baby to sleep in a crib. Gemma looked at her reflection in the mirror, admiring the new dress. It was a sleeveless turtleneck mini-dress made only of silver lace. It was most certainly something Leah would throw herself under a bus for. Underneath the dress, Gemma wore a thin, nude slip by Agent Provocateur. Armand sewed Mikimoto pearls onto the slip so that they peeked out from under the lace. The outfit hugged her figure tightly as if it were painted on. It was most definitely one of the sexiest outfits she had ever worn as Queen Bee, and there had been many.

  On her head, she wore an elaborately styled jet-black wig and an ornate Venetian mask that covered her face above her red-stained lips. Hand-painted, purple detailing lined her eyes.

  “Ready for the craziness?” Penelope called from the exit, where her security team waited. Gemma took one last look at herself in the mirror before calling back.

  “I’m ready.”

  Gemma wondered if Leah, Jillian, and Kate would be out there waiting for a possible autograph or photo. She hoped she’d at least get to catch a glimpse of their faces. She missed them, having avoided them for so long.

  Her bodyguards stood by her side as they opened the doors to let her out. A red rope and nearly a dozen policemen stood between her and the fans. Over the sea of people, Gemma saw one person stand out. Lucas was ten people deep, but since he was taller than the average Queen Bee fan, he was easy to spot. On his shoulders was a screaming Elisa who practically wheezed with excitement as Gemma approached. She signed autographs and took pictures with the fans up in the front, her eyes glued to Lucas and Elisa. Next to the two were Leah, Jillian and Kate. They had their iPhones out in front of them, snapping photo after photo, reminding Gemma of the time they staged a mini-photo shoot on Madison’s deck.

  “Please exit immediately after you’ve gotten your autograph or photograph! One picture per person! If it didn’t come out right, too bad!” The security boomed their orders over the crowds. Gemma felt nervous, signing CDs and posters as fast as she could. She knew she couldn’t get to everyone but she wanted to disappoint as few people as possible, and of course, hopefully get to her friends. With her head ducked, autographing furiously, she suddenly recognized a familiar pair of red-manicured hands shove two CDs at her.

  “I know it’s supposed to be one per person but please, please, please make an exception!” Leah squealed. Gemma giggled at her friend’s panic as she signed them both. “Oh my God, thank you. The other one is for my friend Gemma – she’s having like the shittiest time at school right now and this would make her day, I’m positive it would!” Leah tried relaying the rest of her story but security pushed her towards the door. Gemma laughed, happy to know she was still on their minds as she posed for a picture with Jillian and Kate.

  “Alright!” security yelled. “No more! That’s it!” They took Gemma by the arm and led her back towards the way she came in. She looked to see Elisa and Lucas look on, mouths agape with disappointment.

  “No, no!” Gemma pulled her arm from her security’s grip. “Just one more.”

  Elisa’s eyes widened in amazement as Gemma made a beeline for her. She jumped down from Lucas’s shoulders and attempted to compose herself as Gemma approached. Lucas’s own excitement was palpable as he grabbed his camera to take a picture for them. The moment the camera flashed, Elisa’s knees gave out beneath her and she hugged Gemma in tears.

  “Oh my God, Queen Bee, I love you! I dressed up as you for Halloween!”

  Lucas laughed as he restrained her. “Thank you so much,” he said as he put a hand on Elisa’s shoulder and led her towards the door. “You don’t know what this means to us.”

  Gemma looked up at Lucas, his gorgeous eyes absolutely gleaming with gratification. It was one thing to impress Leah and the girls, but an entirely different thing to impress Lucas. She could hardly contain her own happiness. “Well, I’ve owed you one,” she laughed heartily. Lucas’s smile faded into confusion.

  “What?” Lucas looked deeply into Gemma’s face.

  What did you say? Gemma’s eyes widened just slightly as she realized her mistake. Feeling her heart pound, she pressed the back of her hand against the small of her back – a signal used for security to extract her from dangerous fan situations. While this one was far milder than the mob situations that occurred in Europe and Asia, she felt a pani
c that she had never felt before. He probably didn’t hear me. I’m sure he didn’t even understand if he did. Her security arrived at her side immediately, hustling her away from Lucas. As they pulled her away, another guard pushed Lucas back towards the exit. He had yet to take his eyes off of her, and Gemma saw in them a look of vague comprehension that seemed to increase by the moment. He had heard her.

  THE RISE TO ROYALTY

  Queen Bee’s popularity skyrockets in States amidst first American tour

  The Pop Source

  March 7

  It’s hard to go anywhere these days without hearing about pop megastar, Queen Bee. You hear her songs blasting in stores, restaurants, and cars that zip past you on the highway. You may very well be playing the number one Billboard hit “Tell the World” in your very own car. Her constantly concealed yet obviously stunning face can be seen on a dozen magazine covers this month. Page Six reported that a slew of A-list celebrities have reached out to the house of Balenciaga in hopes of getting their hands on a replica of Queen Bee’s feather and pearl stunner – only to be rejected one by one. And this, of course, only furthers America’s worship of this teenaged prodigy.

  Despite our country’s obsession with the private lives of celebrities, Bee has not lost any popularity for keeping hers completely, well, private. That of course is not to say that many fans aren’t desperately trying to pry their ways into it. In fact, many websites have popped up in honor of that mission itself – uncovering the true identity of Queen Bee.

  Regardless, it’s refreshing to have a celebrity on the scene who has made it because of her talent and not her celebrity social circle or extracurricular drama. Though that’s not to say that Bee won’t soon see her fair share of drama (what with millions of Tyler Chasers heavy on her tail). But in the meantime, we’re pretty stoked to welcome the future and very worship-worthy Queen of pop.

  Off the high of the New York concerts, Gemma went on to do two of her most solid performances to date in Miami and Austin. She didn’t tell anyone about the incident with Lucas for fear of an extreme security overhaul. She could almost see Mira sending a team of intimidating security over to Lucas’s house with hush money to keep him quiet. She tried to reassure herself that in such a moment of frenzy, Lucas probably couldn’t be certain of what he heard. And even if he were, he wouldn’t necessarily make anything of it.