8:47 AM — Isadora's Computer
Isadora’s mom was knocking on her door, telling her breakfast was ready, but she didn’t move.
She was frozen in front of her chunky desktop monitor, the screen glowing in that awful blue-gray tint. MSN Messenger was open — but that wasn’t what caught her attention.
It was a blog post.
Not just any post.
A post with her name in the title.
> 🎸 “TOM KAULITZ SPOTTED WITH BRAZILIAN ROCKER — NEW SCENE COUPLE??”
📸 posted by emoqueen4eva at 3:12 AM
“Okay so my friend saw Tom Kaulitz with that girl from ‘Grito Rosa’ at a skate park in Berlin and they were TOTALLY holding hands and kissing. Don’t believe me? Here’s the pic.”
Below it was a blurry camera phone photo — pixelated to hell, but unmistakably them.
Her. In her Ramones shirt.
Tom. Hoodie up, leaning in close.
The caption?
> Kaulitz’s newest conquest?? Or something real?
Her stomach dropped through the floor.
Group Chat Mayhem
On her flip phone, a flurry of texts was blowing up:
Nina:
> bro you’ve SEEN this right???
Luca:
> you and tom are LITERALLY all over the fan forums rn wtf
Nina again:
> girl you kissed a boy with braids in public and thought nobody would notice? come ON 💀
Unknown number:
> is it true? are u dating tom??? - sry i got ur number from cassie
Isadora threw her phone across the bed and buried her face in her hands.
Tokio Hotel Van — Chaos
Tom’s sidekick beeped nonstop until he finally checked it.
Bill: “Dude. Check MySpace. Or literally any forum.”
Tom blinked. “Why?”
Georg tossed him his phone. “Because you just broke the German internet.”
Tom scrolled through the blog post, his jaw tightening.
“I swear we didn’t even see anyone there,” he muttered.
Bill leaned back, arms crossed. “You think that matters now? You’re dating a girl from another band. People are gonna go full soap opera on this.”
Gustav added quietly, “Management’s gonna lose their minds.”
Tom ran a hand through his braids. “Let them. I don’t care.”
Bill shot him a look. “You should care. Not because of you — but because of her.”
---
The Band Meeting (Isadora’s Side)
Backstage, Grito Rosa was gathered in the dressing room.
“Okay,” Luca said, pacing. “This is officially out of hand.”
“Luca, it’s fine,” Isadora said, pulling on a hoodie.
“No, it’s not,” Nina said gently. “You’ve got twelve-year-olds threatening to boycott us because they think you stole their imaginary boyfriend.”
“Literally got a comment calling you a ‘poser snake,’” Luca added. “Which is... impressive.”
Isadora sat down, suddenly tired. “What am I supposed to do? Break it off because some randoms are mad?”
“No,” Nina said. “But maybe... talk to him. Figure out how you guys are gonna handle this. Together.”
Message Sent
That night, Isadora opened up MSN Messenger again.
Tom_Kaulitz04 is online.
> hey
we need to talk
it’s getting crazy out there
His reply came fast.
> yeah
come by the studio tomorrow
we’ll figure it out
promise
She stared at the screen for a moment, then typed back.
> promise me this doesn’t change things
Another pause.
Then:
> not a chance.
YOU ARE READING
"Strings Between Us
Romance2004. Germany. Tom Kaulitz is used to getting what he wants - the stage, the crowd, the girls. As Tokio Hotel begins to rise, so does his ego... until she shows up. She's the Brazilian guitarist in a rival band - quiet, sharp-tongued, and completely...
