Famous

10

The guy I know as Carson smiles shyly.

"Yeah. Turns out my disguise isn't much of a disguise." He says, rolling his eyes playfully.

The other guy punches Carson- I mean Chad, in a joking manner. "Dude! No wonder you seemed familiar!"

Vina and I look at each other.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Trevor." The other guy says, sticking out a hand. "Not as famous as this other guy here, but still pretty well known." He adds with a wink.

I roll my eyes eyes but Vina smiles.

"So, I'm guessing you both are our roommates? Sort of?" Vina asks.

I can see a little squeal hidden in her. She's gonna burst when we get into our room.

Chad nods and Trevor grins smugly.

"You bet." The latter says.

Vina offers to show them around our place, and Trevor willingly follows. In my opinion, he's only following her because of her.

I turn towards Car- Chad and see him already staring at me.

"So, you must be someone famous too, huh?" He says casually.

I laugh. "If only you knew."

He shrugs, smiles, and follows me to a couch.

"I think we all need to introduce ourselves. Our proper selves." Chad says, sitting down. He shakes his head. "This kidnapping thing is crazy and we can't get out of this if we don't know each other or trust each other."

I agree but at the same time, I feel wary.

Vina and Trevor get back, and sit on the couch with us.

"Chad here says we should all introduce ourselves. Properly." I say.

Vina gives me a hesitant look, mirroring a little of what I'm feeling as well. Trevor just shrugs. "Why not?"

Chad looks at me seriously.

"You all know who I am. Your turn." He says.

I take a deep breath.

Vina and I share a concerned look. It's pretty obvious that Victoria knows who we are since we're all kidnapped, but we don't know each other. And if we do get to know each other, how would we escape? And would the others spill our secret to the world when we're free?

There are only three spots to be chosen. There are four of us already and many more trying to get those spots.

Can we trust them? Vina mouths.

As if on cue, Trevor speaks. "My name's Trevor. Most know me as Kane Carmen."

I raise my eyebrows. "Kane Carmen?" I ask again to be sure I'm hearing things right.

Kane takes off his shirt and before I can get uncomfortable, he peels off another shirt which was covered in tattoos. He puts on his first shirt, sags his shoulders, and wipes that smug look off his face.

Now he looks more like Kane. The hair changed and he got a bit tanner, but he looks more like the gentleman Kane is known to be.

"Great act." Vina compliments. "Really thought you were a way too confident playboy back there."

Kane laughs. "It's part of the disguise. I had to be the exact opposite of who I was. Wear tattoos, walk with a lot confidence I don't really have, stare at girls in ways I wasn't comfortable with, and so on. I got used to it though. In a way."

I shake my head. He's right about character changing to fit into our disguises, but- I don't think I could do that.

All eyes turn to me. Okaaay. Here goes.

"I'm-"

Before I can finish, Vina cuts in.

"I'll go first. I think we'd like to save Belle's for last." She says with a wink at me.

I shrug and smile.

"I'm Vina, formerly known as Brittany Hill."

My jaw drops.

Vina- Brittany smiles shyly. "Kh- Belle, I knew who you were the day we met, but I knew that you wouldn't recognize me."

I stare and blink at her with my mouth still open.

Brittany? Brittany Hill. The girl I never got to be friends with in school, because she seemed to be too popular and 'up there' with so many friends and fun parties, and now this girl's a good friend? No way.

"H-How? I-I... Oh my..." I stutter.

She smiles at me kindly. Who'd have ever thought she'd be kinder and more understanding than I thought? Guess we really shouldn't assume things about people before getting to know them.

"Don't worry-" She pauses. I guess she's debating as to what to call me. "I don't hold anything against you."

I smile sheepishly.

Trevor and Chad have been staring back and forth between us. Trevor looks confused while Chad seems understanding.

"It's your turn." The latter says encouragingly.

I take a deep breath. "My name is Belle Stephens. Most commonly known as Kh-Khira Madrig."

Chad's eyes widen and Trevor- Kane, slaps his knee with a knowing smile on his face. Vi- Brittany looks at me with a proud smile.

"Woah." Chad whispers. "I like Khira Madrig."

My heart skips a beat. "What?"

He looks away. "I started liking you. That's why I asked you out on that date. Then you got kidnapped and I panicked. Who knew I'd get kidnapped and brought to where you were."

Wow. Wait. He found out I was kidnapped?

"How did you find out I was kidnapped?" I ask Chad.

"I went to your apartment looking for you. Axle and Mark were there and they questioned me. I said I was looking for you too and so they told me what happened. Funny thing is, I got kidnapped the next day." He says with a little laugh at the end.

I stare at him with wide eyes and he looks at me, scared. "What?"

"Were Axle and Mark okay? What about Mandy? Were they hurt? Did they tell my parents?"

Chad takes a hold of my hands and rubs them slowly. "Hey. Slow down. They're fine. They're all fine. They looked for you and they miss you but they're not harmed."

I take deep breaths and relax. Okay. Good. They're okay. My brothers are okay.

The elevator door rings open and the mystery man walks followed by Victoria with a well pleased look on her face.

"Thank you for confirming who you are. I'm sure the world would love to know."