The Real Evie Chase (Part 1, ON GALATEA)

2

My name was going to be Brittany Marshall.

I was seventeen-years-old, a transfer student from Boston, and had one younger sister named Reagan.

In a little less than a week, my life was going to do another complete one-eighty. I'd be living in the center of a web of lies that I'd made up index cards to keep track of.

We had all our ducks in a row. Pam and Laura, our family assistant, were in charge of making sure that my social media pages were still up and running as if I was still living life as normal, any commitments that weren't unavoidable were cancelled or pushed back, and anything that was completely necessary was arranged so that I had a flight home to be Evie Chase for a night or two.

The only thing missing was my grand disguise, and that's how my mom and I found ourselves sitting in Treggie's—the beauty shop owned by our favorite stylist/makeup artist duo, and close friends, Gregg and Tianee. They were famous for their work when it came to transforming stars for movies or giving anyone a new look, which was exactly what we needed.

I trailed my eyes along the walls of the backroom we were stuck in so no one would see us. Photos of models sporting all different kinds of wacky looks and hairstyles covered every nook and cranny of the walls, and it seemed every surface was made of stainless steel.

I grunted softly. I'd already had a headache, and now it was getting worse.

"Evie!" someone suddenly bellowed behind me, causing me to jump. Arms snaked around me in a death grip the second I spun around.

"Hey, Ti." I awkwardly hugged the other girl. Due to our shared shortness, her multicolored, spiked locks were flying up my nose and poking me in the eye.

"Tianee, control yourself."

I smiled as Gregg came into view. I'd had a tiny crush on him ever since we met him on the set of one of Cassidy's movies, though it used to be much more intense than it was now.

It was a pretty bad habit of mine, seeing a cute guy who actually talked to me like a human, not some other-worldly entity (be it a celebrity or the school weirdo), and crushing on him really hard for a solid few weeks. Before it tapered off into nothing once rationality hit.

Deep in my heart, I was a hopeless romantic. I liked to think about it, fantasize about it, write about it, sing about it, but the real thing—real feelings, real love—it was unpredictable and exhausting. It scared the crap out of me.

Because romance involved trust. And I'd learned from my past mistakes.

Trusting someone with something as fragile as my heart was too much of a risk. It left me exposed and vulnerable, and there were too many other things happening in my life for me to even thinkabout relinquishing that much control.

I didn't have the time, energy, or sanity to worry about to what degree someone would ultimately hurt me.

I slipped from Tianee's hold. "Hey, Gregg!"

"What's up, Sweets?" He shot me a grin.

I could've melted right there. I felt heat rush up to my cheeks.

Tianee smirked at me knowingly, earning a glare. She turned her attention to my mother. "So, what's up for today? Evie here looks fabulous as always."

I blushed harder. The combination of good stylists and puberty had treated me better than I could've ever hoped, but I still wasn't used to praise for my looks. My academics, sure. Give me a math problem to solve, and tell me I'm a genius. My singing, also okay. I'd made a career out of it. It was one of the few things I felt completely confident doing. But the second someone told me I have pretty eyes, I turned into a turtle and yanked my head back in my shell.