NorthangerAlibiInterior (24 page)

I giggled. “I never do!”

“Well, at least wait until I can be there to watch. I need to know what methods you use.”

“Bye!” I rolled my eyes.

“Bye.” He chuckled just before I heard the phone click.

I love you.

The Final Blow

“What do you mean you’ve got an interview with King5?” I nearly hollered into the phone at Jaden. “Why are they interviewing you, anyway? You hardly even know me!”

“Not
going
to
interview me,
did
interview me. And why are you freaking out? I’m your best friend, remember? I figured they’d want to hear your side of the story.”

What in the—?
“Jaden, are you for real? You don’t even
know
my side of the story! You’re messin’ with me, right? You’ve called me up to play a joke on me, because I know there’s no way you’ve gone and done an interview about me—posing as my stupid best friend—on live TV. Even you wouldn’t be that stupid. So, ha ha. Joke’s over. You can come clean now.”

“Come on. What’s got your panties all twisted, anyway? It was no big deal—all they wanted to know was some of the things you’re interested in—you know, that sort of thing.”

“Shut up! You really did an interview today?”
I’m gonna kill him! I’m gonna string him up across some live wires and—

“What is the big deal? The lady was nice—and hot, by the way. She really wanted to know about you, so I just opened up and told her a few things.”

My voice grew ice cold. “Like what?”
He better not have said anything about kissing me—

“Oh, I don’t know.” I could almost hear the shrug. “I told them that you like Old Navy, Orange Julius smoothies,
Twilight—
you know, that type of thing.”

“You are such a dork, you know that? A total dork! Why’d you bring up
Twilight
? What has that got to do with anything?”

“I don’t know. You like it.”

“Look, tell me everything you said. I want every word.”

“Nope.”

“No? No?” Okay, now I was really gonna strangle him. “What do you mean no?”

“I mean, you gotta see the interview yourself. It’ll be on later tonight.”

“Jaden, you better have only said extremely wonderful things about me, or I’m gonna—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you’ll kick my butt.” He chuckled as though this were all a game. “So, uh, when you see how great I did—and since it’s all over the papers that your boyfriend won’t be back for a couple of weeks—you wanna thank me with a kiss?”

“Jaden, seriously. Get a life.”

“Why?” He chuckled. “Watching you try to live yours is way more exciting.”

I muttered a series of unintelligible words, sounding more like a Tasmanian devil than an actual human being, but I didn’t care.
Jaden is so going down.

“You know you’re cute when you’re mad.” He laughed again.

I nearly threw the phone. Instead, I took a deep breath and vowed to find the positive in this situation. “Okay, okay, look. You’re right. I’m not going to freak out unless there’s a reason.” I took another deep breath while he chuckled in my ear. “You just better not have given me any reason to flip out, you got that?”

“Man, get over it. Everything will be perfect, you’ll see.”

***

Later that night, I wished I’d had the foresight to invite Jaden over—that way, he’d be right next to me when my fury broke loose. Which it did, right about the time Jaden told the pretty newswoman I thought he was a werewolf when I first met him. Oh yeah, they both had a good long laugh about that. It was so hilarious, you have no idea. Even Roger and Darlene thought it was funny and joined in. Only Cassidy looked a little freaked out and even slightly worried for me.

I didn’t understand the extent of her stress until Jaden announced, “Yeah, that’s not all. She totally thought Tony was a vampire, too, just like Edward in those Twilight books. I’m serious. She really, really did—she thought he could read her mind and everything!”

Oh. My. Gosh.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, he continued, “Yeah, the only way she found out he wasn’t a vampire was when he kissed her!” He chuckled obnoxiously. “Can you imagine her shock when she realized his lips were warm instead of cold?”

Roger and Darlene burst into more laughter. She looked like she was about to have a seizure, she was laughing so hard.

My head began to buzz, and my vision was starting to fade. One quick glance at Cassidy and I knew she was as sickly stunned as I was. Without saying a word, I scrambled off the couch and ran up the stairs to my room.

This can’t be happening to me! Oh my gosh! This can’t be happening
!
I wondered briefly how long I’d actually have before Tony heard about the news story. He was going to freak out—I knew it. I took a deep breath and willed myself not to have a heart attack. Too late. My vision only became more blurry and my breathing more labored. In fact, I wondered briefly if I was going to pass out again. Then I felt my cheeks grow wet, which was almost a relief because crying was way better than fainting, in my opinion.

After kicking off my shoes, I curled up on the bed. Was this ever going to get any better?

About ten minutes later, I learned it wasn’t getting better any time soon. My cell phone rang.
Dang. What if it’s Tony?

It wasn’t. It was Nora.

“Hey, Claire?” She sounded uncomfortable and nervous. It was the first time I’d spoken to her since the mall incident.

“Yeah?”

“Um, my dad wants to talk to you. Is that okay?”

Her dad? Tony’s dad? What does
he
want?
“Um, okay.” I tried to take the scared tone out of my voice when he picked up, but it didn’t work. I was terrified. “What can I do for you?”

“Claire.” He heaved a sigh into the phone. I knew before he spoke that it wasn’t going to be good. “Ilene and I have been talking it over, and we’ve come to the conclusion that you should head back to Farmington.”

What?
“Why?”

“We feel it would be in the best interest of everyone involved if you did.”

“But—but I don’t understand.”

“Anthony won’t be thrilled to hear that you’ve been calling him a vampire. In fact, knowing Tony’s aversion to anything vampire related, we suggest you leave before he finds out. We are only thinking of you, and even though the image of our son has been greatly hurt because of your dealings with him, we feel that if you go now, he may have a chance to rebuild what little of his character he has left.”

“I don’t know what to say . . .”

“If you truly love Tony, you would’ve already said that you’re leaving. The fact that we’re discussing the issue this long tells me you’re only concerned about yourself and not him at all.”

“That’s not true!”
I love him.

“Then prove it and leave. If you’re out of the state, and he comes to visit you, the media won’t get wind of it. Farmington is a lot smaller than Seattle. Tony could probably hide much better there. With you still here, nothing will ever die down—it’ll just be a continuous mass of confusion.”

I could actually see where he was coming from. “But what about Darlene and Roger? He isn’t finished with his training.”

Jonathan Russo sighed into the phone again. “His training has been put on hold anyway. There’s no way he can show up at the college right now—there are people everywhere waiting to get a glimpse of anyone who knows Tony. Look, I wanted to give you a heads-up. We will be speaking to Roger about this shortly. I’m just hoping you can do the wise and mature thing and leave without a fuss. Tony’s whole life has been disrupted since meeting you, and now with this gruesome vampire story, it’s only going to get worse. The media is already laughing at you two like this was the biggest joke in history. Can you imagine how much more damage it will do to his career if you stay? Do you even have any idea how much that boy has risked for you as it is?”

“Probably not. I mean, I have an idea, but probably nothing compared to the whole story. I’m sorry about the vampire thing. I—I didn’t know it was going to become public knowledge.”

“Well, welcome to the world of celebrity, the world from which we have tried to shield our son. It’s vicious and brutal, and only cares about getting viewers and making money. Feelings don’t count.” Jonathan groaned. When he spoke again, he sounded about twenty years older. “Poor Ilene has not been taking this well. This media circus has not helped her at all. In fact, the stress has been . . . Uh, look, I don’t know why I’m talking to you about this. I need to get a hold of Roger now. I hope you will take our suggestion to heart and not put up a fuss, okay?”

“Uh, sure. I promise to think about it.”

“You do that.”

The phone clicked in my ear. For a good ten minutes I just sat there, absorbing everything he’d said. As much as I hated to admit it, Tony’s dad was right. With an exhausted moan, I walked over to the closet and pulled out my suitcase. Maybe it was time I got out of Seattle anyway. The whole celebrity thing was way more than a typical sixteen-year-old could cope with.

While I was emptying my side of the dresser, Cassidy came up to tell me Mom was on the phone. The look my sister gave me spoke volumes. It’d only been three days since Tony had sung to me under the balcony, but it felt more like thirty.

I sighed, placed my hand over the receiver, and pointed to the dresser. “Better start packing. Jonathan Russo is calling Roger now to convince us all to leave.”

Cassidy nodded. “Figures.” She didn’t even blink. She just walked over to the closet and grabbed her suitcase. By the time I said hello into the phone, she had already began to pack.

“I want you home, right now!” Mom declared. “What in the world has been going on, anyway? The last time we talked, everything was perfect, and now this!”

“Look, Mom—” I didn’t have the heart to really protest.

“No,
you
look! I have to find out on the cover of a tabloid that my daughter is sleeping with some rock star!”

What? Holy cow!
“No way, Mom! Not even! That’s just the stupid tabs lying. You have to believe me.”

My mom snorted in the phone. I heard her hand move across the mouthpiece as though she were muffling it.

“Mom? You do believe me, right?”

All pretense gone, Mom cracked up and removed her hand. “Duh, I totally believe you.”

“You know, you could’ve told me you were just messing with me.” I crammed a couple more shirts in the suitcase. “It hasn’t been exactly easy around here the last couple of days.”

“It’s
a
good
thing I know you’d never do anything like that. It’s the only reason your butt isn’t getting busted right now. Still doesn’t make it easy to read. Thank goodness they don’t have all the details—and that picture was blurry—or we’d be getting hounded right now.”

“Well, count yourself
lucky. Seattle has been buzzing like their nose hair is on fire since Tony first came and sang to me.”

“Tony? As in the friend of the Hadleys? I thought the paper was saying his name was Johnson or Justin or something—”

“Jackson is his middle name. He goes by that when he’s playing, so no one knows who he is.”

My mom didn’t seem too interested. Instead she asked, “So missy, what are your plans now that you’ve left your mark on Seattle? Are you planning to descend on Portland next?” She chuckled.

It was a relief to hear that she was amused. At least someone could see the ridiculous side of this whole thing. “No, I think I’ve done enough damage for one summer. I’ll save Portland for next year. I’m coming home.”

“When?”

“Well, Tony’s dad is hoping the sooner the better. He’s talking to Roger right now, so it looks like it’ll probably be tomorrow.”

“Ah.” Mom snorted. “Yep, their son must have it bad. I can see why they’d want you out of there as soon as possible. What does he say about all of this?”

“Who? Tony’s dad?”

“No. Tony.”

“Oh, he’s in California right now, with his agent and publicist and record label. They’re trying to figure out some way to use all the publicity to their advantage. Tony has called me a few times since he left, and e-mailed and texted me.”

“And? What’s he saying?”

“Oh!” I blushed.
That I’m the most wonderful girl in the whole world, and he loves me like crazy.
Of course, that’s what he was saying about me before tonight’s vampire episode. “Ugh!”

“He’s saying ugh?” my mom teased.

“No.” I chuckled. “He’s saying all the right Prince Charming sorts of things he should. You’d really like him. I mean, he did go ahead and stick around, even after your stupid Dating Ritual. Thanks a lot for that—it was humiliating!”

My mom started laughing hard. “You liked that, did you? Hee hee hee! I knew you’d get a kick out of it.”

“Ha ha.” Mom’s idea of “kicks” and mine were not even on the same planet.

“Well, hurry home. Call me when you find out what’s going on, okay?”

“Sure, Mom. I will.”

“M’kay. Love you.”

“Love you too, Mom. Bye.”