Super Star

by Cathy Hopkins

  ‘Juice will be fine, thanks.’ I crossed my legs then uncrossed them, then folded my arms then unfolded them. I remembered Pia’s advice to act like someone I knew would be confident. I quickly scanned my mind for confident people. The Prime Minister. President of America. Rhianna. The Queen. For some reason, the Queen stuck and immediately I sat up straighter. Ms Harper came back in with two glasses of juice, put them on the table in front of us and sat down. I did a Queen-like wave and nod.

  ‘Are you OK, Jess?’ Ms Harper asked.

  ‘Quait well thank you, Ms Harper,’ I said in my Queen type voice.

  Ms Harper gave me a funny look and I felt myself blush. What the heckity thump am I doing? I asked myself. Relax, you idiot.

  ‘First of all, I’d like you to call me Stephanie,’ she said. ‘And this isn’t going to be a formal interview, so you can relax. So, Jess, any idea why I chose you?’

  I shook my head.

  ‘You know what my line of work is?’ she asked.

  ‘Astrology.’

  Stephanie nodded. ‘It is. I work with the stars, with symbols and signs and I believe it could have been a sign that you brought my case back to me that day in Harrods. That showed me I could trust you, Jess. And then we bumped into each other here. It’s quite a coincidence that you live right here, in the same location as the one I’m staying in, don’t you think?’

  I nodded. ‘When you put it like that, I guess so.’ Not exactly the same location though, I thought as I gazed out of the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over Hyde Park from the designer living room that was almost the size of a tennis court.

  ‘I take note of things like that in my life,’ she continued. ‘Plus the fact that you’re a Sagittarian and I’m Aquarian means we should get along nicely. Now, tell me, what time were you born, do you know?’

  I nodded. ‘Four in the morning. I remember because my mum used to tease me about keeping her awake all night.’

  ‘And where were you born?’

  ‘Here in London.’

  She asked what year and then opened the laptop that was on the table in front of her and typed some details into her computer. I wasn’t sure what she was doing but decided not to be too inquisitive. She was the one interviewing me, so she should ask the questions. After a few minutes, she looked up and beamed.

  ‘Excellent,’ she said. ‘I was just looking at your birthchart. Sagittarius with Gemini rising and the moon in Taurus. And you have your Mars in Capricorn – that means you are a hard worker. Yes, I think we will get along very well.’

  I nodded as if I understood but she could have been talking Greek to me.

  ‘As your father may have told you,’ she continued, ‘I need an assistant to help me for a week or so. I’m over here to promote my book Signs of our Times and I will be doing several interviews and visiting a number of bookshops. I need someone to come with me to help with the signings, organise the queues, and make sure we have some decent food to eat. Usually all I tend to get offered is sandwiches, biscuits and cake and I’d be the size of a house by the time I went home if I didn’t eat something healthy once in a while. I want a companion really, but one who can do a few jobs as well. Do you think you could do that?’

  ‘Is the tour already organised? I mean, I wouldn’t have to do that, would I?’

  ‘The schedule is already in place. You may have to do some phoning ahead to confirm a few details, but really it’s just about being with me on the day. So a yes or no?’

  I felt a rush of adrenalin as a mental picture of me accompanying her around the country flashed through my mind. ‘Yes. I think I could. I’d love to.’ I meant it too. ‘Don’t you want to know what my qualifications are?’

  Stephanie shook her head. ‘I’ve seen your chart and that lets me see your basic traits – all good. As I said, I already know I can trust you and Mrs Lewis gave you a great recommendation. What do you say we give it a go for a few days, see how we get on, then take it from there?’

  ‘Great. Er . . . when did you want me to start?’

  ‘Monday too soon for you? I’m doing a signing at a bookshop in town. I know it’s all very last minute but the girl who was supposed to come with me fell and broke her ankle.’

  I thought of my alternative: the sinks full of dishes, floors to be mopped and cars to be washed. ‘Oh no,’ I said. ‘Not too soon at all. And do you want me to dress a particular way?’

  ‘Smart but casual,’ said Stephanie. ‘It’s the book world so you’ll be fine in the sort of thing you’re wearing right now. Any other questions?’

  I shook my head. My imagination was in full flood picturing me accompanying Stephanie around. Her PA. It was going to be so glamorous.

  Stephanie smiled. ‘Don’t you want to know how much I’m going to pay?’ she asked.

  ‘Oh that. Oh yes, I suppose so.’

  Stephanie wrote a figure on a piece of paper and pushed it towards me. ‘Would that be acceptable?’

  I took a deep breath. ‘For a week?’

  Stephanie laughed. ‘For each day,’ she said.

  I almost fell off the sofa.

  10

  A Message from JJ

  I took the lift down and almost skipped my way back to my garden where Pia was still basking in the sun.

  ‘Do you mind?’ I asked, after I’d told her my good news.

  ‘Course not, idiot. I’m really pleased for you, and anyway, Henry will be back next week so I can do car washing with him,’ she said. ‘What I mean is, it will be fine working with him.’

  Unlike Charlie, Henry was returning to England from the boys’ holiday earlier so that he could earn some money to help see him through uni in September. Even so, I knew Pia was trying to make the best of me abandoning her. ‘I’ll get you something really fab with my wages,’ I said. ‘That is, if I last beyond the first day.’

  ‘No need. We’re mates so your good news is my good news,’ said Pia, then she grinned. ‘I’ll email a wish list over, though.’

  Just at that moment, my phone bleeped that I had a text.

  R u free 2 go 2 skype? JJ, it said.

  I texted back. B there in a sec.

  I explained to Pia that JJ was going to call and left her sunning herself and headed straight to my computer. Moments later, JJ was on my screen. He looked pretty low so I presumed that the news about his grandfather was still not good.

  ‘Hey,’ I said. ‘You OK?’

  He nodded but I wasn’t convinced. ‘Guess where I’ve just been,’ I said.

  He shrugged. ‘Harrods?’

  ‘Up to your apartment. Stephanie Harper wanted to see me.’

  JJ smiled. ‘Oh yeah. She was talking to Mom about you.’

  ‘It was weird being up there without you. She’s offered me a job!’

  JJ nodded. ‘I thought she might. Mom gave you a glowing reference. You going to take it?’

  ‘It’s going to be a trial first to see if we get on, so maybe no more mop dancing for me.’

  ‘That’s a shame, but I want to see that dance when we next meet.’

  ‘Did you put your mum up to getting me the job?’

  ‘Not really. But I told her some of what you’d been going through with, er . . . the mop dance and all, then she just happened to be talking to Stephanie later and she told Mom that she wanted an assistant. The big thing, Jess, is that she wants someone she can trust. She doesn’t want to go through a whole load of try-outs with people at this short notice. Mom suggested you and she was over the moon.’

  ‘Ha ha,’ I said. ‘Over the moon. That’s good for an astrologer.’

  ‘Oh yeah, right,’ said JJ. ‘But apparently you had already met in Harrods or something?’

  ‘Yes. She’d left her case behind and I caught up with her and gave it back to her.’

  JJ nodded. ‘Stephanie would like that. She’s one of those people who doesn’t believe anything happens by coincidence. You know the type. To her, everything is fated. It’s probably all in
written her stars for July.’ He was silent for a while.

  ‘Are you really OK, JJ?’ I asked.

  ‘Sure. Yes. No.’ JJ shrugged a shoulder. ‘Jess, I have something to say. I . . . I’m trying to find the right words.’

  I felt my heart sink. ‘Is it about your grandpa?’

  ‘Sort of. It’s to do with him. He’s doing slightly better, stable at least, but . . . This is the thing. Mom and Pop want to stay here indefinitely to be close, in case . . . you know.’

  I nodded. I understood. ‘Until he’s better? That makes sense.’

  ‘The doctors don’t see him improving in the near future; it’s going to be a long road and Mom and Pop want to be there on it with him. As you know, the plan was for us to come back to the UK, I was all set go to university over there in the fall and Alisha to go back to home-studying but . . .’

  I felt my heart sink even more. I knew what he was going to say before he said it. ‘You’re all going to stay over there?’

  JJ nodded. ‘I am so sorry, Jess. Sorry for what this means for you and me. We all sat down and talked yesterday and Mom said if I start my course here, she wants me to finish here, no chopping and changing. She’s always been against us travelling too much, and if we stay it also means that Alisha can go back to her old school.’

  ‘I bet she’s pleased about that.’ I knew Alisha had missed her American friends when she was in England and had felt isolated being home-schooled. She’d be so happy to be back with her old mates.

  ‘She is. But then Prasad is in the UK, so it has its downside too because she won’t see so much of him. She wants to talk to you later but I wanted to speak to you first.’

  ‘But we can still see each other, can’t we? Holidays? Won’t you ever be over this way? What’s going to happen to your apartment?’

  JJ looked sad. ‘Not sure. We may rent it out, we may sell. Stephanie’s only there for part of the summer and it seems a shame for it to be empty after that. Mom said she’s not making any decisions about it for at least a year. And yes, we could see each other but Jess . . .’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘I thought long and hard about this last night. You’re fifteen. I’m eighteen. You know what you mean to me . . . the connection we have is really special, but it’s not fair of me to ask you not to see anyone else while I’m over here because, realistically, we might only see each other a few times a year, if that.’

  I gasped. JJ was telling me that I meant a lot to him. That was good, wasn’t it? He was telling me that what we had was really special. Also good. But he was also telling me that we were over. My first proper boyfriend and we’d lasted barely three months. I couldn’t get my head round it.

  ‘Are you OK, Jess?’

  I nodded. I wished that we weren’t on Skype because he could see my face and I was never very good at hiding my feelings. ‘Yes. No. I . . . I don’t know what to say. I . . .’

  JJ’s face on the screen reflected my own. He looked so upset. I couldn’t take in what he had just said, and the implications. The idea of not hanging out with him, or having his arms around me again or being able to kiss him, it hurt. It hurt big time. ‘I hate Skype. You’re right there in front of me but you’re not.’

  He nodded. ‘All I want to do is hold you right now but it’s just as you said, we can’t do cyber hugs or kisses. We know we’ll always be special to each other, Jess. No one can take away what we had when we were together.’

  I nodded. I wanted to cry but didn’t want him to see me. It would be hard enough for him with his grandfather being so ill and his family all so concerned without me blubbing over him and making him even more miserable. He needed my support not my freaking out. ‘We can still talk, can’t we? And be friends?’

  ‘More than friends,’ he said. ‘I know it hurts right now, but you see the sense of it, don’t you?’

  ‘I guess. Not really. Oh, I don’t know, JJ. Until now, I’ve been hanging on to the fact that you’d be coming back. It’s a lot to take in, you staying in the States, as well as . . . us being over. I . . . I’ve got to go now, Dad’s calling me,’ I lied. ‘Stay in touch, yeah? And tell Alisha I’ll speak to her later.’

  ‘I will,’ he said. ‘Love you.’

  It was the first time he’d used the L word. ‘You too,’ I said – then pressed end call and burst into tears.

  11

  An End and a Start

  ‘So it’s over over?’ asked Pia after I’d filled her in on my conversation with JJ.

  I nodded. ‘But I spoke to Alisha soon after JJ and she’s in the same situation with Prasad. In fact, it’s even more difficult with him because he lives in India and goes to school in the UK. However, they’re not going to let the distance get in their way and are going to try and make it work. His parents are often in the States on business, so if he’s not at school he can go with them and see Alisha.’

  Pia shook her head. ‘So it’s not the same situation. Prasad has access to a private jet. You have access to the number 126 bus, which will take you as far as the Hammersmith flyover.’

  ‘JJ has access to a private jet,’ I argued.

  ‘No, he doesn’t. His mum and dad do. And you just said yourself that Prasad’s parents have to travel to the USA on business. Either way, Prasad, Alisha or JJ, they’re in different worlds to us. We’ve always known that. In the meantime, your life isn’t over. You have the offer of a fabtastic job and it’s not like JJ dumped you because he didn’t like you anymore. He’s done the noble thing. He’s saying goodbye because he doesn’t want to hold you back. I think that’s incredibly considerate.’

  ‘Doesn’t feel like it,’ I said.

  ‘Let it go,’ said Pia. ‘At least for now. Nothing is ever set in stone and I’m sure you’ll meet JJ again some time. Besides, you have other things to think about, like what are you going to wear tomorrow for your first day as a high-flying PA?’

  We spent the rest of the evening going through my wardrobe for the right outfit for my new job. That, and eating a whole tub of ice cream between us. ‘When the going gets tough, the tough eat ice cream’ is one of Pia’s many mottos, and when she saw how distraught I still was after her ‘your life is still fabtastic’ talk, she went out and bought double chip vanilla with extra fudge.

  ‘Maybe it’s a case of right boy, wrong time,’ she said as she spooned big creamy mounds into a bowl. ‘Just because it’s over for now, doesn’t mean it’s over forever. One thing we’ve both seen from living here at Porchester Park is that distance needn’t be an obstacle for people who have access to private jets. OK, his parents are going to be sensible in term time, but there are still the holidays, Jess. And there are still other cute boys around. JJ knows that too, he doesn’t want to hold you back, but I think it shows that he’s sure of what the two of you have – he can let you go temporarily. It’s really mature of him if you think about it.’

  By the time she’d finished, I was feeling more hopeful that this didn’t mean it was over forever between me and JJ, and my future didn’t seem so gloomy. Pia’s so good at always seeing the bright side, and after her talk I was well cheered up and we got into picking my clothes for the morning. In the end, we settled on my jeans, denim Converse and a pale blue top with daisies on it that I got from Topshop.

  ‘And if you wear your hair back, it will make you look more sophisticated,’ she said. ‘Especially with a strong lip colour.’

  I laughed. ‘Agony aunt and make-up artist, is there no end to your talents?’

  Pia shook her head. ‘Nope and I want you to remember that for when you’re famous because I could be your PA then.’

  ‘Deal,’ I said.

  Once the clothes were laid out for the next day and Pia had gone home, I went to check my emails. There was one from someone called Bethany outlining the book tour schedule for the week and saying she would call me to go over it and see if I had any questions. I couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement as I glanced at the itinerary. I printed out
the pages and made a note of the times and where we had to be and when.

  There was also an email from Connor saying he was back in London and asking if I would like to meet up. I felt torn. JJ and I are no longer an item, I thought, so I wouldn’t be cheating. On the other hand, our break-up has only just happened and my feelings for JJ haven’t changed. It feels too soon to get into another relationship.

  I called Pia, the fount of all wisdom in my life.

  ‘There’s no harm in meeting up – he might just want to be mates, and it might do you some good to get out there and have some fun. Remember the rule to be cool and not too available in the beginning.’

  After talking to Pia, I emailed Connor back: I’d like to meet up but am about to start a new job accompanying a famous astrologer on a book tour.

  He replied: So you’ll be starry-eyed. Haha. Where is ur first stop? Might c u there. Raffy is missing you.

  Well, he’s certainly not playing by the rule to be cool in the beginning, I thought as I let him know where I’d be the next morning. I switched off my computer and got ready for bed.

  Just as I was settling down and Dave had taken up his usual position at the end of my bed, Dad called up that there was a call for me. I thought it was JJ or Alisha, but when I went to the phone, I found it turned out to be Bethany, the woman from Stephanie’s publisher who had sent the schedule through.

  ‘I feel just awful about letting Stephanie down,’ she said, ‘and all our other PR people are out on the road with authors. Stephanie wouldn’t hear about us looking for someone else, insisting that she had found her girl.’

  ‘Yes, well, I really hope that I’m going to do a good job for her,’ I said.

  ‘All your travel arrangements are booked. I’ve organised for the tickets you need to be sent to the reception at Porchester Park tomorrow morning and any journeys by car are sorted out too. It’s all there on the schedule. So, any questions?’

  ‘Well, er . . . Stephanie didn’t exactly say what she wanted me to do apart from accompany her and organise the queues . . .’