Quest For A Popstar

by Katie Hamstead

  “It’s all right. Take your time.”

  In other words, give us more. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s all right.”

  I take another deep breath. “I loved him, and I never cheated. I believe in loyalty, and I did all I could while we were apart to keep our relationship intact. I’m disappointed that I couldn’t manage it.”

  He touches my hand. “I think we all know that. We remember you sending your greetings to him before performances.”

  Ah! I had him on my side! I let a tear fall. Just one. Jeff made it clear not to blubber the way I wanted to. I nod. “I hoped it would help, to let him know I was thinking of him. I wish I could have done more.”

  “So, we talked to his former roommate earlier.”

  My stomach lurches. They talked to Anthony?

  “Anthony Fox was the one who caught your boyfriend and his girlfriend in the act of having sexual intercourse. He said you were with him, but he kicked you out before you could see anything.”

  I nod, not quite sure what to say as nausea hits me.

  “He also said he discovered they’d started having regular sex after a Christmas party because you weren’t ready to sleep with Tom.”

  My jaw falls open. I can’t speak.

  Jeff moves across behind the cameras to speak frantically to the producer.

  “He said Tom boasted to some friends about having sex with Karen while you were away on the show.”

  I stare down at my hands, horrified.

  “Mr. Fox explained that when you found out, you were very distressed and he respected that you ended your relationship with Tom. In fact, we’d like to play a snippet of that interview.”

  Anthony’s face appears on a screen. I look to Jeff, my emotions about to explode. He doesn’t notice me as he continues a fierce conversation with the producer.

  “…Hailey didn’t cheat,” Anthony says, dragging my attention to the footage. “She’s not like that. What you saw on the show was Hailey. She’s a sweet girl and didn’t deserve what Tom did. I hope he rots in Hell for it, but more than that, I hope Hailey finds someone who deserves her and makes her happy, and if it does end up being one of those Murphys, then good for them for being better than him.”

  I wipe at my eyes, trying to keep my tears under control. Jeff and the producer turn toward us, and the producer signals to end the segment.

  The interviewer hands me another tissue. “Do you have anything to add?”

  I shake my head, forcing down the ache of suppressed emotions in my throat. I can’t speak even if I wanted to.

  “Thank you, Hailey. I’m sure your fans are glad to hear your side of things.” He turns to the camera and wraps up the segment for the commercials.

  When the cameras cut, Jeff rushes at me. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and turns on the interviewer. “You went off script.”

  The host’s eyebrow twitches. “People want to know the truth.”

  “I doubt they want to see her like this!” He pulls me to my feet. “We’re leaving. Don’t expect to get anything with her again, or the Murphys.”

  The host scoffs. “Going back to your old ways are you, Jeff?”

  “Excuse me?” Jeff’s head snaps around.

  “Young fangirls were your thing.”

  “When I was in my twenties, when I was young!” Jeff pulls me out of the studio.

  I grab my things from the dressing room, and we rush to the parking lot. But at the studio doors, we’re met by paparazzi. I squeal, and Jeff pulls me behind him. Studio security appear and escort us to the car.

  In the vehicle, I cry again. “All this makes it so much worse.”

  “I know.”

  “I just want to forget.”

  “You’ll never forget, just move on.”

  “I want to move on then.” I look up at him, wiping my nose with my hand. “What did he mean back to your old ways?”

  Jeff tilts his head to look at me. “When I was in my early twenties, I slept with groupies. That was before I met Emily. Everyone does stupid things when they’re young.”

  “All people ever want is scandal.”

  “Hailey?”

  “Mmm?”

  “Don’t let them beat you. You have so much potential. You have something inside you that makes people love you. Never lose sight of that.”

  My heart swells. Jeffrey Halloway just gave me a huge compliment! “Do you…” I bite my lip, not sure if asking him for advice about Tom is pushing my boundaries or not.

  “Do I what?”

  “Do you think I…ah…”

  “Spit it out.”

  “Do you think I deserved what Tom did?”

  He glares at me and pulls over. He puts the car in park, flicks on his hazards, and turns to face me. “No one deserves to be treated that way, ever. His reasons were stupid and selfish and I wish I could go over there and beat him with a baseball bat. If someone loves you, they won’t tear your heart out like that. Don’t ever even think you caused this to happen.”

  “But I didn’t—”

  “You’re allowed to say no, Hailey. I thought I made that clear after you turned Steven down?”

  “You did.”

  “If Tom makes you feel like it’s your fault, then he doesn’t deserve you.”

  My chin quivers. “Will I be okay?”

  He grasps my chin. “You will be more than okay.”

  I throw my arms around him. “Thank you. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

  “I am well-practiced.” He squeezes me. “Let’s get you home.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  I got fired. My manager hated all the paparazzi that kept showing up in the office, so she sent me packing. Nothing seems to be going well for me. Mom offers for me to move back home, but I know my stepfather wouldn’t appreciate having me around again. Instead, she helps pay my rent while I search for a new job.

  I make my way out of student services when I see Tom. His eyes meet mine, and he turns toward me. Oh no. I’m not ready to see him yet. Swiveling on my heel, I hurry away.

  “Hailey.”

  I ignore him, picking up my pace on the way to my car.

  “Hailey.” His hand rests on my car door, preventing me from opening it.

  “I don’t want to talk to you.” I scan the parking lot for potential spies.

  “We need to talk.”

  “No, we don’t.” I push him back. “You badmouthed me to the media. Do you really think that would have won me over?”

  He clenches his fists, making his knuckles turn white. “Stop being so selfish. Can’t you see I’m lost without you?”

  “Selfish?” I shake my head, pulling the door open. “Goodbye, Tom.”

  “Hailey—”

  I slam the door shut and start the engine. He backs away, to my relief. I need someone who understands. I wish Lucas was around; he’d know what to say to make me feel better and distract me. Lucas…I’d go hang out with his roommates. They’d be a distraction, if nothing else. Taylor and Lucas both told me to go to them if I need anything.

  At the apartment, the same loud music fills my ears as I climb out of my hatchback. After hammering on the door for several minutes, Taylor answers. “Oh! Hey!” He glances around. “Is everything okay?”

  I suddenly feel stupid. I barely know these guys. “I…ah…”

  “Come in. I want to show you something.”

  He leads me into his room and pulls up a music score on his computer. I glance at Lucas’s made bed, covered in books and clothes, while Taylor talks about the arrangement. Shuffling over, I shove everything aside to sit on top of the blankets. I pull the pillows against my chest and smell Lucas…the gross, just-woken-up Lucas musk. He needs to clean his pillows.

  “Ah, Hailey?” Taylor stares down at me with raised eyebrows.

  I set the pillows back, self-conscious about being caught behaving so weird. “I’m tired.”

  “Uhh…okay.”

  My cheeks fee
l hot. “Tom tried to talk to me—”

  “Oh.” Taylor scowls. “That interview was sick. And the one where they made you cry was cruel.” He sits on the bed beside me. “Lucas told me to look out for you, and I’m going to. He doesn’t attach to people often, you know, especially people who are friends with his siblings.”

  “Really?” He hadn’t been friendly to me at first, but once I knew him, his walls came right down without much effort.

  Taylor nods. “It’s Isaiah’s fault. He’s always trashing Lucas and making him the bad guy. I don’t get why, but Lucas said he’s been doing it since middle school. They were only a grade apart, and they were in the same clubs and things, so their circles overlapped.”

  Rubbing my eyes, I say, “I didn’t know.”

  “He doesn’t talk about it, but I’ve known him for a while, so I’ve noticed things.”

  Without even thinking about it, I grab Lucas’s pillow again and wedge it between my chest and knees. “Well, I like him more than Isaiah.”

  A slight smile curls the corner of his lips. “I can tell.”

  My phone rings. Digging into my handbag, I know answering seems to be the perfect diversion from that look Taylor is giving me. “Vanessa?”

  “Hey!” she replies in a cheerful voice. “So, I have some amazing news.”

  “Okay?”

  “I got a recording contract.” She squeals. “How great is that?”

  “Are you serious?” I drop my knees, straightening. “That’s fantastic!”

  “I know! And guess what?”

  “What?”

  “They asked me who I’d like to help with backing singers, and I said you!”

  My heart hits my throat. “You…uh…what…”

  She laughs. “We start recording in a week, and there will be a tour once the show’s contract expires. I’ll only need you for a few days a week from now. Can you do it? I can arrange for the flight and accommodation.”

  “You have songs already?” That’s insanely fast.

  She laughs. “Of course! The writers were right on it. I don’t have a full album yet, but they want to release it as soon as they can to use my popularity from the show to give it some momentum.”

  “Wow.”

  “I know! So, are you in?”

  “I’ll…I’ll think about it.”

  “I respect that,” she says. “Give me your email and I’ll get my agent to send you the details.”

  When I hang up, Taylor grins at me. “That’s only the beginning, you know. So, when are you heading out?”

  I shake my head, smiling. Vanessa talks so loud he heard every word. “I don’t know if—”

  “Of course you are.” He leans onto his elbows. “Don’t let the naysayers get to you. No matter what you do, there will be someone telling you that you can’t. Don’t be the one saying it to yourself.”

  I crack a grin. “You think I can do it?”

  He rolls his eyes, smiling. “I watched the show. I still can’t figure out how you could have been knocked out.”

  I cling to Lucas’s pillow, biting back the urge to spill the truth to Taylor. The time to reveal all hasn’t come yet. For now, I will do the recordings with Vanessa. I have nothing to lose and everything to prove.

  I stay with Taylor and have him help me read through the email Vanessa’s agent sends. Both finding the terms safe, we send it back and arrange my details. Taylor walks me out to the car and opens the door for me. “Make sure you see Lucas for me when you get there.”

  “If he can get away. They might be keeping a tight rein on them.”

  “I’m sure he’ll manage it.” He gives me a hug. “Good luck. You deserve this.”

  “Thanks.”

  On the way home, I pump up my music, singing loudly. Things are looking up.

  ***

  The show is difficult to watch. Seeing all the people I’d come to know on my TV screen feels strange, and even stranger to think I’d been there with them. I’d watched bits of the show itself backstage, but back there in the moment felt completely different, like we had our own little bubble of a reality.

  Lauren munches on popcorn beside me, commenting on how no one else is as good as me. I can’t help grinning, grateful to have a friend like her.

  My phone rings. I grab it without looking. “Hey.”

  “Hailey!” Clarissa yells in a high-pitched voice. “We’re up soon.”

  “I know. I’m watching,” I mutter with my mouth full.

  “Who do you think is doing well?”

  “Everyone.”

  She moans. “You’re too nice.”

  “Whatever. Don’t you need to get ready?”

  Lauren looks at me. “Is that Clarissa?”

  “Yup.”

  “Hi, Lauren!” Clarissa yells, making me pull the phone away from my ear. “Hailey, I wish you were here. I miss you.”

  “You too.”

  “Hi, Hailey,” Isaiah suddenly says into the phone. “How you holding up, baby face?”

  I curl my lip. “Um, baby face?”

  “Just trying it out. I don’t think it works either.”

  Clarissa comes back on the line. “Get lost, Isaiah.” Ruffling noises echo down the line, then she speaks again. “Okay, privacy.”

  I chuckle.

  “Lucas wants to talk to you. Here you go.”

  I draw a sharp breath, my stomach filling with butterflies. Why does talking to him suddenly make me nervous?

  “Hey, Hailey.” His smooth voice makes my pulse quicken.

  “Hi.”

  “How are you holding up?”

  “Fine.” Why can’t I speak? I sound like a simpleton with my monosyllabic vocab.

  Lauren raises an eyebrow at me and she says under her breath, “That’s not Clarissa anymore.”

  “Yeah?” Lucas sounds gentle, sympathetic. “You’ve had a rough week. You know you can call me whenever you need.”

  “I know.”

  Lauren’s watching me far too closely.

  “So,” he says with a sigh. “Taylor said you dropped by.”

  “Yeah.” I hope he didn’t tell Lucas about my weird pillow hugging. “I, ah…I encountered Tom, and I needed to hide out somewhere.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “Not really.”

  “All right.” An awkward pause follows. Then, “He said you’re coming out here soon.”

  I crack a smile. “Yeah. Vanessa wants me to help her out.”

  “That’s great news.”

  “I think so.”

  “When are you—”

  “Lucas,” Kessa suddenly says in the background. “It’s time to go.”

  “Okay, Mom.”

  My heart sinks. Even though I struggled with talking, I don’t want him to go yet. I want him to keep talking.

  “Hailey, I’ll call you later, okay?”

  “Okay. Break a leg,” I say.

  “Thanks. Bye.”

  He hangs up. I clutch the phone to my chest, smiling like an idiot.

  Lauren elbows me. “You like Lucas.”

  “No, I don’t,” I respond, still grinning.

  “Uh-huh.”

  My shoulders sag as I rest my head back. “It’s way too soon.”

  Lauren pats my head, giving me an exaggerated pout. “The heart doesn’t understand things like that.”

  “He won’t be a rebound,” I say, meeting her eyes. “That’s all it is. He’s been there for me through this hard time. It’s not—”

  “Stop talking.”

  “But—”

  “Nope.”

  “It’s just—”

  “Shh.” She grins. “Relax, Hailey. Let things happen as they happen.”

  I scowl. “We’re just friends.”

  “Uh-huh.” She folds her arms and stares at the TV screen.

  Lucas comes onstage, and I smile when he looks directly at the camera, as if those brown eyes of his are looking straight at me.

&nb
sp; ***

  Late that night, Lucas calls me while I’m in bed. With no noise in the background, I wonder where he is.

  “Oh, Mom and Lydia moved into the room with Clarissa,” he says when I ask. “It’s just Arnie and me in this room now.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “It’s nice. Quiet. And Arnie and Levi love not having to share a bed.”

  I chuckle.

  “You sound better.”

  Flipping my hair up off my neck, I sigh. “I think I’m doing better. All the crazy kind of fizzled out these past few days.”

  “Good. I was really worried when that guy on the TV made you cry.”

  “You saw that?” I bury my face into the pillow.

  “Yeah.”

  “How embarrassing.”

  He laughs. “Hailey, I’ve seen you cry more than that. I’ve seen you wipe snot up your arm.”

  “Ew!” I laugh. “I’d never do something like that.”

  “Yeah you would.”

  “Shut up.” My heart flutters as he chuckles. Maybe I am into him. No, it had to be rebound. I wouldn’t go there with him. Not after what we’d both gone through with cheaters. “You were great tonight.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. But you seriously need to get that spotlight off Isaiah. He loves it way too much.”

  “If we get through to the next round, I’m trying to convince Clarissa to take the lead.”

  That so won’t happen. “Good luck with that.”

  He groans. “I know. She’s his polar opposite. She hates the spotlight. Maybe you could talk to her?”

  “I can try.”

  “I’d appreciate that. She listens to you more than me.”

  “I doubt that.” I yawn.

  “Hailey?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’ll call you tomorrow. I know it’s late.”

  “Mmm, you’re okay.”

  “Goodnight, Hailey,” he says with a chuckle.

  The second he hangs up, I pass out.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Vanessa meets me as I leave the airport. She gives me an excited hug and leads me to the black SUV. Inside, her agent gives me the rundown and a schedule. Each song we’d spend two days working on, then a day each to record them. Nine days. Just nine days.