#famous(37)

“No, why would she be?”

“No reason.” I tapped my toes against the floor mat. “She just seemed weird.”

Monique whipped her car into my driveway, probably still going forty. Girl seriously drives like a maniac.

“I think she was caught off guard is all. It’s a lot to take in. We all had time to process the idea.”

“Yeah.” It made sense, but it didn’t make the heavy feeling at the bottom of my chest go away. I looked over at Monique, trying to see whether she was hiding something. Rachel when I asked: seemed happy. Rachel when we left: like a bomb about to go off. And she wouldn’t even look at me.

But what did I know? We’d only talked, like, three times. “As long as she’s not angry.”

“She’s not mad at you. Trust me, I’ve known her since forever.” Monique tilted her chin down, staring straight at me, eyebrows raised. I think it was supposed to be reassuring, but it seemed kinda cocky. We’d hung out for maybe fifteen minutes and already I could tell she didn’t take crap from anyone. I wondered how she and Rachel had become friends.

“Cool.” I pulled open the door and got out. “Thanks for the ride.”

“It’d probably help if you spent more time together, though,” Monique said just before I closed the door. I leaned in. “I mean, she doesn’t really know you. And I’m not sure if you noticed, since you had a few hundred thousand new fans, but people were beyond evil to her. It’s probably hard for her to feel all warm and fuzzy toward you after that.”

Oof. Punch: not pulled.

“Yeah, okay. Maybe we can get . . . dinner or something.”

“Or you could just ask her to a party. It doesn’t have to be a big formal thing.”

“Right. I’m not sure when there’s a—”

“Beau Anderson and the football team are having a party tonight, right?”

“Yeah, I think so. I don’t think I’m welcome since—”

“You’re welcome anywhere, Kyle. You’re famous now. Ask Rachel to the party. I’ll get her to go. The whole thing will work better if you guys seem like friends, anyway. So . . . be friendly.”

“Okay.”

“I have to go. Text me once you’ve asked her.”

I nodded and closed the door, staring at the car as Monique sped down the driveway in reverse.

Someday that chick was going to run countries.

In the kitchen, Mom was sitting at the table, talking on the landline.

“You’ll see it Monday, it was adorable. They got him a tuxedo, tailored it to him . . . I know, isn’t it? Like something out of a movie. Then they flew us back on the overnight flight . . .”

She waved at me with a couple fingers, smiling hard. I was glad she was tied up; I needed time to settle my nerves.

What I had to do next was going to suck.

I dialed the number.

“Hey, Kyle!” Her voice was light and sweet. I could hear her happiness through the phone. “I didn’t expect to hear from you tonight. Where are you?”

“Hey, Emma. Home, actually.”

“Oh my god, that’s AWESOME. We can pregame Beau’s party, and you can tell me everything.” Apparently I was the only one who thought I shouldn’t go to Anderson’s kegger. Though Rachel might agree. Emma kept talking at hyperspeed. “Did Laura look older in person? She looks good on TV, but she has to be, like, forty.”

“She looked . . . I dunno, good. Normal. Like a mom. But, you know, a mom who takes care of herself.”

“That makes sense.” I could almost hear her nodding, fast like a little bird. She always did it when she was excited.

“What was the best part? Did they send a limo to get you? Oh, what was backstage like? Was the greenroom super shmancy, or was it a dump?”

“We can talk about it later. I have to tell you something before tonight, though.”

“Oh. Okay. Is it good?”

“Kinda.” I closed my eyes, trying to focus. “They want me to do a whole series of segments for the show.”

“Oh my GOD. KY-LE!” She was squealing. Jeez, this was even worse than I expected.

“Yeah, it’s cool. There’s just one thing.” I breathed deep.

“Do you have to move to L.A. for a while? Oh my god, I can’t believe this. Probably you’re going to have a movie star girlfriend by next week and totally forget I exist.”

Oof. Emma: not making this easier.

“No, that’s not gonna happen. But the thing about the segments—”

“Do you think they’ll let me, like, guest star? I can pretend I don’t know you if they want. Oh my god, this is crazy.”

I was never going to get a word in if I waited for her to stop, so I just broke in over Emma’s excitement.

“The segments are with Rachel. They had me ask her to homecoming, and the show is going to, like, follow us leading up to it. It wasn’t my idea. The producers came up with it. They think it will play well ‘for the Laura Show audience.’” I could feel myself getting off track. Why was I still talking? Like it was going to make Emma take it any better? “Anyway, I thought I should be the one to tell you.”

I waited for Emma to say something. Tell me she understood it was all make-believe, or scream that she hated me, or even say something catty about Rachel.