Quest For A Popstar

by Katie Hamstead

  “Tom?”

  Tom looks over his shoulder in time to see Mom slug him. He releases me, but I lurch forward from the impact of Mom’s blow. Mom catches me and pulls me behind her. “Get out!”

  Tom touches his nose, blood coming off on his hand. “What the hell?”

  “No one touches my daughter like that.” Pure venom fills her voice. She points at him, her blonde, gray-streaked hair poking out from the messy ponytail. “No one.”

  Tom wipes his nose again, looking at the blood. “This isn’t over, Hailey. We’re not over.”

  “Yes, we are,” I respond, shaking from his assault.

  He sniffs as his nose gushes. “We’re getting married.”

  My lips quiver, but I speak steadily. “No way. Ever.”

  He shakes his head. “We will.”

  He walks out without looking back.

  Mom locks the door. When she turns to face me, I barely have a second to register before she throws her arms around me. “Hailey! Sit down.”

  She leads me to the couch, where I cry in her arms for about half an hour. Her embrace calms me, bringing my tears to a soft sniffle and completely extinguishing my anger. But the pain remains.

  “How could he do that?” I whisper.

  She sighs. “I don’t know.”

  “I never cheated on him, even though I know everyone was saying I did with the Murphys. It was never like that with them.”

  “I know.”

  “Mom?”

  “Yes?”

  I lift my head to look into her sweet, familiar face. “I feel like such an idiot.”

  “Oh, sweetheart.” Her light brown eyes search mine. “You’re not an idiot. He tricked you and lied to you. I fell for it too, and I know better.”

  I rest my head on her shoulder. “Did the show change me?”

  “Maybe,” she says.

  “I hope it did,” I respond. “Despite some of the things that happened, I had a great time. The Murphys are incredible. I can’t wait for you to meet them. And Jeff, Mom, you’d love him. I hope you can meet him someday too.”

  “That would be nice.” She strokes my back.

  “Mom?”

  “Yes?”

  I pull back to look into her eyes again. “I wish I could have won. It was such a buzz to hear people calling my name.” I close my eyes, remembering the crowd, the cheering, the buzz in the air, the energy that filled the building…

  “Hailey, you don’t want that life.” She touches my cheek, and I open my eyes. She wears a deep scowl as she carefully takes in my features, touching my chin. “Being famous makes you give up too much. I see these young women being exploited, having to use their bodies instead of their talents to sell, and I don’t want that to be you. I’m so glad your honesty shone through on that stage, but I’m afraid if you do it for too long, you’ll be forced to sacrifice things you love more than anything else.”

  She strokes my cheek. “Finish your degree, sweetie. Settle down and be happy. Fame is fickle, and fans only love you when you’re a puppet.”

  I let out a long breath. “I know. Believe me, I know. I’ll finish school, there’s no doubt about that, but if something comes up…” I shrug. “I’ll be careful. I love performing and I’m good. I’m really good. I was Jeff’s favorite. He wanted me to succeed. He helped me so much because he believed in me. I feel…I feel…” I grasp at my heart. “Liberated.”

  Her chin quivers as her eyes fill with tears. “Sweetheart.”

  I sigh. “But I’ll be realistic. I was eliminated before the top five. It’s rare for an artist who wins to last longer than a year, but someone who gets knocked out before the top five has next to no chance.”

  She smiles sympathetically.

  I huff, slumping. “What an awful twenty-four hours, and I don’t think it’s over.” I rub my chest over my heart. “I didn’t know I could hurt like this.”

  “It’s called a broken heart,” she says gently. “It’s the worst feeling in the world.”

  “When will it go away?”

  A tear runs down her cheek. “When you’re ready to love again. But the scars will always linger, and when you think of him, it will hurt. But when you love again, and love someone who loves you back, he will soothe the pain and make you forget again.”

  “I hope so.”

  She grasps my hand. “I’ll stay the night.”

  “What about the boys?” I whisper.

  She waves her hand. “Their father can deal with them.”

  “Mom…” I sit up straighter. “After you left Dad, did you expect to ever be able to love again?”

  She pauses, pain filling her eyes. “I had you, so I never stopped loving.”

  That’s a good answer.

  She pulls me to my feet, leading me to my bed. She holds me in her arms, stroking my hair like she did when I was a little girl. “I’m so proud of you, Hailey.”

  I smile.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The smell of eggs cooking drags me out of my sleep. I roll over and find Mom gone. I sit up, glancing around.

  “Hailey.” Lauren pokes her head into my bedroom. “Your mom is cooking breakfast. I love her.”

  Relieved, I smile. “She’s pretty awesome.”

  “Quick. I’m hungry.”

  She dashes away as I climb out of bed. I never changed out of my jeans, so I pull them off, trading them for soft cotton shorts.

  Mom smiles as I enter the living area. “Morning. Feeling any better?”

  “I feel like I have a hangover,” I grumble, rubbing my throbbing head.

  “You cried a lot last night.”

  “I did?” I sink onto a chair by the dining table.

  She nods. “In your sleep.”

  I let out a long breath. “This is so messed up.”

  She sets a plate in front of me. “Who’s Lucas?”

  I flinch. “What?”

  “Lucas. Wait, isn’t he one of those Murphys?”

  I glance at her sideways. “Why?”

  She shrugs. “You asked for him a few times.”

  “I did?” Why don’t I remember this?

  “Yes. You weren’t making much sense, but you did ask for him several times. You said to just go across the hall and bring him to you.”

  My cheeks grow hot. I hadn’t told her about the layout with hotel rooms, so I must have said that in my sleep. “He helped me a lot. He’s probably my best friend right now.”

  She pulls out her phone, searching for something. Then she sets it in front of me. “He’s this one, right?”

  The picture is of Lucas and me, my arm through his as we grin at each other. “That’s him,” I respond, dazed by how disjointed from reality the picture seems now that I’m home. “It’s weird seeing these out here. We mostly stayed away from them.”

  I stare at Lucas’s image. He’s gorgeous, broad-shouldered, brown skinned, dark-haired, and has a wide smile. And that smile is aimed at me, right beside him. I slide the phone away. Most of the time I was certain Lucas humored me for Clarissa. But near the end there, I’d felt close to him. He’d become more than Clarissa’s brother.

  Mom serves the egg and bacon breakfast, and Lauren scoots in beside me. “Enough for three?”

  “Enough for eight. I always overdo it,” Mom replies.

  “It’s because you’re used to feeding boys now,” I say. “Those two are bottomless pits.”

  “It’s their father who eats everything in the house.”

  I giggle.

  She sits beside me and we tuck in.

  The doorbell rings. I tense, staring at Mom. “Go check.”

  She grasps my wrist. “We’ll just ignore it.”

  “I’ll check.” Lauren launches to her feet. “If it’s Tom, I wanna have a piece of him.”

  She dashes to the door and looks through the peephole. She pulls back and glances at me as she unlocks the door. “It’s not Tom.”

  “Let me in.” Clarissa shoves by Lauren and jump
s on me, almost knocking me out of the chair. “Hailey! We came as fast as we could. Are you okay? What happened? You have to tell me everything. Oh, I’m so going to make him pay.”

  “Can I come in?” Lucas asks softly from just outside.

  Clarissa straightens. “Just get in here.”

  Lauren gestures for him to enter, her eyes wide as she watches him. As he passes her, she checks out his butt. I fight back a smirk.

  Mom taps my knee. I glance at her, and her eyes flick toward my legs. Remembering they’re bare, I pull them under the table. These are the shortest shorts I own! I hope he doesn’t make me stand.

  “I hope we’re not interrupting?” he says, looking from me to Mom.

  She smiles. “We’re just having breakfast. I recognize you from the show.” She gestures at Clarissa. “Clarissa and Lucas Murphy.”

  “That’s us.” Clarissa pushes onto my lap, forcing my chair backward. Lucas’s gaze darts to my legs. Heat grows in my cheeks as I adjust Clarissa so her jean-clad legs cover my exposed pair.

  Lucas clears his throat. “Jeff let us come out to check on you.”

  “We told him what happened,” Clarissa says, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. “He said you need friends after the elimination and going home to find that. We only have today and tomorrow, and we have to be careful no one sees us because we’re not supposed to leave, but he said he’d cover for us.”

  “That was very nice of him,” Mom says.

  “You must be Hailey’s mom.” Lucas offers his hand to her.

  “Yes.” She takes it, eyeing him over. I recognize that look from her; she thinks he’s trying to make a move on me. But I’m not in the right place to even consider the possibility right now.

  “Yes,” I say quickly. “Clarissa, Lucas—my mom, Iris. Mom—Clarissa and Lucas.”

  “It’s nice to meet you.” Clarissa smiles. “Wow, you are young, and I can see why Hailey is so pretty.”

  Lucas rolls his eyes, but only I seem to notice.

  “Thank you,” Mom responds.

  “If you were sixteen when you had Hailey, you must be only thirty-six now.”

  “Clarissa,” Lucas says sternly.

  “What?” Clarissa bats her wide eyes. “She’s really young.”

  Mom and I make eye contact as she raises an eyebrow. Plenty of people had commented on her youth compared to me over the years, but rarely did I talk about it. She must be surprised I told Clarissa, and wonders how much I told her.

  “Clarissa can be very upfront,” I say.

  “I can see.”

  Pounding on the door makes us all start. Mom shoots to her feet in front of me. “Tom.”

  Clarissa’s arms tighten around me.

  “Open up!” Tom yells. “I saw him go in there.”

  Lucas rushes at the door, flinging it open. He doesn’t say anything as Tom glares at him. Tom folds his arms, taking a step back. “Get away from my girlfriend.”

  “What?” Lucas stands with his hands on his hips. “Your girlfriend? If you treat a woman like that, you don’t get to say she’s yours.”

  Lauren stifles a snicker.

  “You swooped in pretty fast,” Tom says in a growl.

  “So did you.” Lucas glances toward the parking lot. “Did you camp out in your car?”

  “Creeper,” Clarissa whispers.

  Tom points at Lucas’s face. “This is your fault. If you hadn’t moved in on her—”

  “Tom, leave,” I say. “You cheated.”

  His gaze flashes to me, his jaw clenching. “We’re going to work this out.”

  Lucas scoffs and slams the door in his face. As Tom bangs on the door, Lucas turns to me. “Let’s go somewhere else where he isn’t.”

  Lauren smiles at me and thumbs at Lucas. “I like this guy.”

  “You should have punched his lights out!” Clarissa yells, jumping to her feet and raising her fists.

  “Clarissa.” Lucas shakes his head.

  “If he keeps on like that, security will come,” Mom says, nodding toward the door just before Tom stops banging. She looks back to me. “Go clean up, sweetie. Let your friends distract you today. I’ll come back this evening if you like?”

  I shake my head. “It’s okay. I need to stand on my own two feet. But thank you for being here last night.”

  “Of course.” She squeezes my hand. “Anything for you, baby.”

  As I stand, Lucas’s gaze falls on my bare legs. Right at that moment, I regret changing out of my jeans into the shorts. I fly into my room, grabbing my clothes to shower.

  ***

  After all the glamorous and fashionable outfits I’d worn while on the show, my old jeans and shirts seem so drab. I’ve become vain. I glare at myself in the mirror. “You idiot.”

  But I grab my eyeliner anyway. The thought of Lucas seeing me less than…Stop it, Hailey.

  I finish my makeup and head out to the living room. Clarissa wraps her arm through mine as Mom says goodbye. We all leave the apartment together.

  “Where are we going?” I ask as I climb into the passenger side of Lucas’s light blue Honda Civic.

  “His place,” Clarissa answers. “His roommates are a blast.”

  Lucas grins. “She has a great big crush on one of them—Taylor.”

  Her cheeks flush. “No, I don’t.”

  “Yeah, you do.”

  “Shut up.”

  He chuckles.

  “I won’t say anything,” I say with a smirk and mime zipping my lips.

  “There’s nothing to say.” She slouches back, crosses her arms, and pouts.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Lucas smirking. Typical brother.

  Lucas’s apartment complex is surprisingly close to mine. Closer than Tom’s place. I can’t believe how close Lucas and I have lived and I’d never met him. We had to have crossed paths many times but never realized. His apartment block has new paint, freshly manicured grounds, and a communal pool, making the community nicer than mine, and gated. He parks his car, and as we climb out, music drifts from a nearby building. Of course, musicians.

  “What do you study?” I ask, having never actually found out.

  “Bachelor of Music,” Lucas answers.

  “Of course, like you’d be doing anything else.”

  As we climb the stairs, his hand rests on the small of my back. I stop breathing. What am I doing? He always touches me like that. That’s a friendship touch.

  When he opens the door, the music explodes out, making me flinch back. Clarissa giggles and pushes me forward. Inside, three guys appear from three different rooms.

  “Lucas!” one says, stepping out. “What are you doing here?”

  One of the guys disappears back into a room and the music dims.

  “Hailey’s had a rough homecoming,” Lucas answers.

  “Hailey!” The guy grins at me, offering his hand. “Nice job. Shame about the elimination. I swear, everyone around here was voting for you and these guys. Support the locals, you know? And, by the way, where on earth have you been hiding? We could have used that voice for Fame last year.”

  “This is Taylor,” Lucas says to me, motioning at the guy.

  “Oh yeah, I’m Taylor.” He shakes my hand. “Seriously, we posted audition notices everywhere. How did you not notice?”

  “I’m not comfortable with acting,” I say.

  “We could have worked on that!” He grabs my arm and pulls me through the apartment to a bedroom. Two beds sit on opposite walls, and a closet hangs open. He pulls me to a desk and shoves a pile of clothes off the chair. “Look at these girls. This is what we had to deal with. Below par singing. If the singing is bad, no one cares how amazing the acting is or isn’t.”

  He pulls up a video of the university’s production of Fame and plays it. “It’s not even like it’s difficult musically, not like Les Mis or something like that.” He pauses the video. “Actually, you could pull off Cossette.”

  I lean back. “Ahh…”r />
  “Taylor, you’re freaking her out.” Lucas’s hands rest on my shoulders.

  “She needs to be in the next musical.” Taylor raises his finger as he talks to Lucas. “With you directing and her singing, we might finally end up pleasing that snarky Hannah Price.”

  “Nothing will ever please her. She’s paid to dish out negative reviews.” Lucas squeezes my shoulders as he changes the subject for me. “Grand tour. My room. Taylor has trashed it. Across the hall, bathroom. At the end, Kent and Shawn’s room. That’s it.”

  Clarissa stands between Lucas and Taylor. “Hailey’s pretty awesome,” she says, looking up at Taylor. “We’re best friends now.”

  “Hey, that’s cool.” He playfully punches her shoulder. “You’ll do musicals next year, right? You are coming here?”

  “Oh yeah.” She grins. “I got a scholarship. I wouldn’t go anywhere else.”

  “Good job, kid.”

  She frowns as he leans over the computer again. Our eyes meet and she huffs. She got “kid” zoned. Ouch.

  “So, anyone using the auditorium today?” Lucas asks.

  “Not that I know of. Hailey, look at this. This girl—”

  Lucas pulls me to my feet and out the door. The other two guys greet us and we chat for a few minutes. When Taylor comes out, Clarissa hovers, but he’s more interested in convincing me to do musicals than engaging with her.

  Finally, Lucas says, “Taylor, why don’t you show Clarissa your composition piece?”

  Clarissa’s face lights up.

  “Ah…Hailey might—”

  “Hailey’s hungry, aren’t you?”

  I meet Lucas’s gaze as he raises an eyebrow. I get his hint. “Yeah, starved.”

  Taylor leans toward me. “We can all go—”

  “We’ll be back in a few.” Lucas motions for me to leave.

  We hurry to the car as Taylor calls out a few last pleas for me to audition for the next musical.

  “Taylor got a bit intense there,” Lucas says as we climb into his vehicle.

  I chuckle. “I thought he might write a musical around me for a moment.”