China sat across from me with the latest teen magazine, it was the third time I was on the cover throughout the year.
This time it was not a good thing. Popstar Rhee Evans dumps Brandyn McCalister because there's only space for one of them
The article was basically a retelling of my conversation with Brandyn the day we ate out together during my tour. Somebody had been listening when we were arguing about who was better and made the story into something it wasn't.
They'd made me seem like a cocky, drama queen.
Rhee promises Brandyn that she will bring something that will blow him out of the water. Does she feel like she was living under his shadow? Fans were surprised to find out that one of Hollywood's star couples had split. Speculations came down to the fact that Rhee wanted the spotlight all to herself, and it's no wonder, the pop vocalist even turns down a chance to co-star with Dylan O'Brien in Teen Wolf, to do what? Write more songs?
I hadn't read more after that, I was even scared to update any of social networks. What was the point? The world believed wanted to anyways, Brandyn had even offered to clear things up. I didn't know what he would say, but I was sure somebody would think he was just covering for me.
"What are we gonna do about this?" China asked me, clearly annoyed, though I didn't see why she was the annoyed one.
I shrugged. "Write another song?" I asked, quoting my critic.
China gave me a stern look. "This is serious Rhee." She reprimanded.
"Hey guys," I inwardly groaned at the sound of Iyanla's voice.
China abruptly picked up her phone, and unlocked it. "Will you look at that?" She said aloud. "I have a missed call from my...dentist."
I rolled my eyes. "And this is why you're not a actor." I said glaring at her, I was trying to tell her not to leave me with Iyanla, but she was purposefully ignoring me as she stood and left.
I huffed and sat back in my chair. Iyanla sat across from me and stared at me expectantly. I stared right back at her crossing my arms. She finally sighed in exasperation, throwing her arms in the air.
"What's going on Rhee?" She asked me.
"Why are you such a jerk?" I retorted, glaring at her.
She furrowed her eyebrows at me. "What are you talking about? You're the one ignoring me." She said defensively.
"Why do you hang out with Raevyn?" I inquired.
She looked taken aback, "What-how-" her eyes widened in realization.
I rolled my eyes and stood up to leave. "Wait!" She exclaimed, grabbing my arm.
"You don't know what it was like for me in school." She said. I stopped walking, my back was to her but I was listening. "Remember when I was fat and I used to wear those huge glasses? Nobody would talk to me, I had two friends. Two." She continued. "Raevyn was my savior, she was the only way I learned to fit in. She transformed me, I had friends and I was confident-"
I whirled on her furiously. "Why didn't you to come to me?!" I exclaimed. "You let her turn you into a monster." I accused.
"You were busy! You didn't know about high school." She retorted, defensively.
"If you knew what it was like, why were you so nasty to me? To Estelle?" I asked her, getting irritated. I no longer wanted to continue the conversation.
She glared at me. "If we're best friends, why didn't you tell me what you were doing?" She asked angrily.
"Just leave me alone." I snapped, I didn't give her time to respond, I turned sharply on my heel and left.
Fortunately, she didn't follow me, I was glad I had one down. I only had Leo left to tell and then I would have that weight lifted off my shoulders.
I ran into Ross in the hallways, he was dusting some records that hung on the walls. "Tell anyone and I'll kill you." He threatened.
I snorted. "I don't think that'll help you get a job." I informed him.
He huffed. "Did you know interns have to run errands and dust off trophies? This is bogus." He complained.
I pointed to a corner where there was a security camera. "I think you better watch what you say around here." I told him smirking.
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Ask your dad when he's gonna let me do some real work." He said annoyed.
"I'll see what I can do." I told him, continuing down the hall. I entered recording studio C, he was usually working in that one.
"Hello father." I said sitting next to him.
"You should call your mother." He told me without looking up from his computer. He had been trying to get me to call her back since I arrived last night.
"I'll call her when I'm ready." I said annoyed. "Can we talk about something else?"
"Let's talk about Ross." He said finally looking up.
"Ooh, bad topic." I said.
His eyes widened and he nodded. "You're telling me. He's rude, a know it all, and annoying. Where in the world did you find him?" He asked incredulously.
I rolled my eyes. "You can train him dad, make him a gentlemen, I know you can do it."
He shook his head in bewilderment. "Thanks for the project." He said sarcastically, "now get in there and let's put some work in to make up for that disgusting break up." I laughed and stood to get ready for some long, drilling hours.
()
It was finally Christmas day, I could practically feel it in the air. There wasn't a fresh layer of snow on the ground, it was kind of brown and mushy, but the weatherman promised snow on Christmas so all I could do was cross my fingers.
I leaped out of bed and headed downstairs, I was actually at my fathers house since we would open presents together and go out for breakfast. Just for that occasion, I was wearing my brand new Christmas footies, it was in the style of Santas suit.
Dad was already downstairs taking presents from under the tree. China, Iyanla, and Brandyn were also in the room, I could feel their excitement.
"I'm gonna open yours first." Bradnyn said happily as he held up the gift wrapped box with his name on it.
I rolled my eyes and took the present my father was holding out to me. "Thanks," I said, kissing his cheek. I settled down on my knees and began unwrapping the box. The picture on the box was of a white jewelry box, I opened to find the same box, except for there were a bunch of music notes on it.
"It's your first song." He told me proudly.
I grinned at him. "This is really great dad. I love it." I gushed. I handed him the gift from myself, it had taken me only a couple of hours. When I was young, when my mother still lived with us, we would paint. As I sat in my room for yet another year trying to figure out what to buy a man who basically had everything, I'd thought of painting him a huge canvas.
His smile widened as he slowly pulled back the paper to reveal the painting. It was one of our first family pictures, I knew it would be painful for him to see my mother, but I knew he would love it anyways. "This is beautiful." He whispered smiling softly.
I hugged him tight, he laid his head on my shoulder for a few seconds before straightening and turning to everyone else.
"Rhee! This is awesome!" Brandyn exclaimed already putting on his helmet soda hat. He looked so silly but he'd been talking about getting one for weeks. He pulled me into a bear hug. "Thanks. Now open yours."
I laughed at his giddiness and took the rectangular box he handed me. The bracelet inside was beautiful, it was gold with little traces of sparkling diamonds. In the center of it were fancy words written in cursive, it read true love. I looked up at Brandyn who was blushing a little.
"I bought it for you ages ago, in like September." He informed me. "I figured I could still give it to you..."
"Of course," I said smiling and hugging him. For the rest of the morning, we finished exchanging gifts, then everyone left to spend time with their own families. It was nine o'clock by the time everyone was gone, I slipped into my slippers and grabbed my keys. I was waiting for my father so that we could go to breakfast.
After breakfast, I would be meeting Brandyn for ice skating, I had planned to invite Leo as well, but it was something Brandyn and I would always do together, I also didn't like being Estelle around Brandyn.
"Hurry up dad!" I called up the stairs, he always took long, as if he had to do his hair and make himself look pretty.
"I'm coming!" he shouted back. I heard him thumping around upstairs, then he was at the top of the staircase. He had a book bag on his back.
"You know, in most states right now, it won't be breakfast time much longer." I told him as we walked out the door.
"Take me home after breakfast." He said, ignoring my comment. I rolled my eyes and got into the passenger side of his BMW.
"You do realize that you have to drop me off, right?" I told him.
He started the car and stared at me with narrowed eyes. "Do you always have to be right?" He asked annoyed.
I shrugged. "I don't have to, I just am."
We rode to IHOP while singing loudly along with the radio, my father was a great singer but something happened to him when he was younger that gave him horrible stage fright.
When he parked in front of the restaurant, I turned to him. "Why don't you sing dad?" I asked, I'd only ever asked him once and he'd said he didn't want to talk about it. I respected his privacy for years, but at the moment, I was feeling really nosy.
He turned and gave me a pointed look. I jutted out my lip and widened my eyes to try to change his mind. He rolled his eyes and sighed, "I'll tell you inside."
I grinned and jumped out of the car, hurrying inside. The cashier already knew our orders and gave me a thumbs up when I entered, I waved back and went to our usual corner booth. She was really old and was always working when we came in for Christmas breakfast.
"Well," I said excitedly as my father joined me and sat down. "What's the embarrassing story?" I asked.
He smiled. "You have to promise not to laugh." I warned.
I zipped my lips and made a motion of throwing away the key. He rolled his eyes as a waitress came with our food. My pancakes resembled santas' face, the whipped cream was used for the beard and strawberries for his red hat. My father had french toast in the shape of gingerbread man with scrambled eggs.
"It all started with Sydney Jenks."