Phone Calls From a Rock Star (30 page)

After we checked in with Admin, he walked me
to my building and pecked me once more before I scurried inside. I
smiled sadly as I watched him stride down the hall and disappear
out the door.

***

The play went even better the next night and
afterwards, at the meet and greet, I pulled my mother aside and
asked her if she would give me permission to stay off campus that
night. I convinced her that I wanted to stay with Seth, Jake and
the others to celebrate. She considered me curiously, eyes barely
concealing a knowing glint, as she nodded.

“
You’re eighteen now,
Bella. You are an adult.” She squeezed my hand. “Be careful,
darling.”

“
Mom,” I groaned. “It’s not
like that. Not at all.”

I wasn’t sure if she believed me but she did
nod again. She hurried off to find Dean Fletcher while I rejoined
my group. I whispered my news to Jake and ran off to change then
hurry to my room to pack an overnight bag.

We hung out this time in the hotel’s small
pub. The bartender was so ‘stoked’ to have Controlled Environment
in his bar that he bought our table a round of drinks. After an
hour, Jake and I left the others and headed back to his room. My
cheeks burned as I wondered what they all were thinking. But one
look at Jake’s relaxed face chased my worries away.

He held me in the dark as we talked for
hours. We made plans for spring break until exhaustion finally won,
and I fell asleep in Jake’s arms.

Jake once again drove me to school the next
morning; the goodbyes were even harder. He placed a lingering kiss
on my lips, a desperate edge to his lips.

“
I’ll have the house ready
for you by spring break,” he promised, caressing my
cheek.

“
I’ll come up that Saturday
for your birthday,” I said.

Scowling, he ran his hands through his hair.
“Um, Iz…geez… I forgot.”

My brows knitted together. “Forgot
what?”

“
Well, I’m the last one in
the band to turn twenty-one. We …well…we already had plans. I mean,
we made them ages ago…before you and I got together. It’s a sort of
thing we do. You know, we go to a couple clubs…”

He trailed off and my imagination went wild.
I could picture Jake and the others in some seedy bar with gorgeous
women hanging all over him. He’d be drunk, of course, and not
really able to fend them off. I couldn’t stifle my shudder.

“
Well, that’s okay.
I’ll…um…come up Sunday instead.”

“
Iz,” he said, cupping my
cheek. “I’m so sorry. I bet we could get you in the clubs if you
want to go.”

“
No,” I frowned. “No. I
don’t want to go. You have some kind of male ritual thing going on,
and I am not going to get in the way of that. Besides, I imagine it
won’t be pretty.”

He tried to smile. “Angel, it’ll be fine. We
won’t drink a whole lot.”

“
I know.”

He kissed me quickly. “And you don’t have to
worry about women, either. You know we’re not like that…I’m not
like that. Even if I didn’t have you.”

“
I know that,
too.”

He sighed. “You’re disappointed.”

“
No,” I said, placing my
hand on his thigh. “No. It’s your birthday, Jake. It’s your day.
Enjoy it. I’ll be there bright and early Sunday and we’ll celebrate
then.”

His eyes softened as he placed his hand over
mine. “I’ll see you that Sunday.”

He kissed me again and I hopped out before
he could read the truth in my eyes.

***

The next week dragged its heels in the sand
and passed slowly. I didn’t have play practice to occupy my time,
either.

The first Saturday morning after the play, I
was looking forward to a day off of school. I was hoping to sleep
the day away and get that much closer to spring break. Of course
that wasn’t meant to be as I was awakened rather rudely by my
roommate.

Pain shot briefly through my brain as a loud
smack resonated off the walls.

“
Ow!” I cried as I bolted
upright in my bed. I rubbed furiously at the back of my head and
glared at Annie. Smirking in her evil way, she unrolled her weapon.
It was one of her gossip magazines,
The
Star Gazer
. “What was that
for?”

“
You really need to see
this,” she said. “Get up.”

“
I’m up,” I grumbled as I
threw my blankets aside in a petulant manner. “What’s so important
that you have to interrupt my sleep?”

“
This,” she announced,
holding up her magazine.

I rolled my eyes and fell back on my bed. “I
don’t care what movie star is sleeping with what sports star. I’d
rather sleep this day away.”

“
Bella,” she said. She
grabbed my arm and yanked me upright. “You need to read this
article.”

I exhaled heavily. “What article? Is it
about Jake? Because he warned me about this sort of thing.”

She flipped through the
pages, brows dipped, until she found what
she was looking for. “Here,” she said, shoving the magazine
at me again.

My sleepy eyes jolted wide awake when they
landed on a picture of Jake kissing me on the cheek as he handed me
a bouquet of roses. My mouth opened but I couldn’t speak.

“
That stupid reporter must
have sold the story and photo to the highest bidder,” Annie
fumed.

I didn’t answer. Instead I read and reread
the headline.

Has Bad Boy Jake Been Tamed?

The caption under the picture was just as
ludicrous. It read: Bad Boy Jake greets his sweet, innocent girl,
Isabella, last Friday after her performance at her school in
Indiana.

I bit down on the panic climbing my throat.
Okay, so they didn’t mention my last name or my school. That was
good, right? Annie’s pale face answered the question for me when I
voiced it.

“
What?” I asked.

“
Read it,” she
whispered.

Bad boy rocker, Jake Johnson, lead singer
for the group Controlled Environment, has found love at last. After
his break up with film star Monique DuVois last summer, Johnson
went through a long list of women until sweet Isabella Ames stole
his heart.

Isabella, who attends Meridian Valley
Academy in central Indiana, recently landed the lead in her
school’s spring musical and Jake, along with his fellow band
members, was in attendance.

Sources close to the couple say that Jake is
trying to get Isabella a recording contract with Ross Records.

My mouth opened and closed as I stared at
Annie. “That’s not true!”

“
I know, Bella,” she said
in a soft, soothing tone. “Finish the article.”

There have been many speculations regarding
how the couple got together. One source claims they met after one
of his concerts over the summer. Another source, however, claims
they’ve been friends for years and finally discovered their love
for each other.

Has Jake given up his wild
lifestyle for a simple life with sweet Isabella?
Star Gazer
will keep you
up-to-date as the story continues.

I crumpled the magazine in
my clumsy hands and slung it across the room, tears prickling my
eyes. “How could they
do
this? This is my
life
they’re talking
about!”

Annie hurried next to me, wrapping her arms
around my shoulders. “Hey! Ignore this stuff. They have no clue
what they’re talking about.”

“
People are going to
believe this stuff, Annie,” I growled.

“
Not the people that
matter.”

My cell rang from somewhere under the
rumpled blankets of my bed. Annie fetched it and handed it to me. I
was relieved to see it was Nick.

“
Hey, sweet and innocent,”
he chuckled in the phone. “How are you?”

I huffed. “That’s not even funny, Nick.”

“
Iz,” he said in a
sympathetic voice. “Relax. It’ll be okay.”

“
They put my last name and
my school in there,” I cried.

“
I know, honey,” he
soothed. “Jake asked me to call and check on you. He’s been on the
phone all morning with Rob and his attorney. Don’t
worry.”

“
Really?” I asked
hopefully. Maybe I should call my daddy.

“
Yep. Oh, hang on,” Nick
said. I heard loud voices in the background. “Bad Boy wants to talk
to you.”

“
Iz,” Jake breathed into
the phone. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Find your boy Lance and
tell him I need to talk to him, okay?”

“
Jake?” I asked, totally
taken back by his words. “What? What is going on now?”

“
My manager talked to the
paper this morning, and the idiots said someone from your school
called them early this morning and offered them an exclusive. My
money’s on Lance.”

This really wasn’t happening, right?

Chapter Twenty-Two

My body trembled, the phone shaking in my
hand. “Jake?”

“
I am going to kill him,
Iz,” he growled. “He called that gossip magazine and told them he
had plenty more stories about you.”

My knees knocked, and I fell to the bed. The
blood left my head, and the room began to spin. I grabbed Annie’s
hand.

“
He can’t do that, can he?”
I whispered.

“
I won’t let him,” Jake
said, the edge of his voice softening. “Listen to me, angel, don’t
worry about this. I’ll take care of it. I told them I’d sue if they
printed so much as one derogatory word about you.”

My mind was in turmoil, flipping through
files in my memory, trying to find the right one. “I need to call
my dad. Can I call you back?”

“
Sure, Iz.”

I cried the entire story out to my father,
choking and stumbling over my words. He forced me to calm and relay
the whole thing over again. He paused for a moment and then told me
to call Jake back and get numbers where he could reach Jake’s agent
and attorney. He said he was going to run out and grab a copy of
the magazine so he could read the article.

I called Jake and got the information and
waited for my dad’s phone call. Meanwhile, Cammy and Zach joined
us, just coming from the cafeteria.

“
How bad is it?” I asked,
trying to sound nonchalant. It didn’t work. My voice still
trembled.

“
There are a few people
talking about it,” Cammy said, eyes darting back and forth. If I’m
a terrible liar then Cammy’s five times worse.

“
Don’t worry so much about
it,” Zach said. “Everyone here already knew you were dating
Jake.”

He had a point. And the article didn’t say
anything too terrible, besides the whole recording contract thing.
It didn’t really matter to me what the other kids thought about
that. The bad boy moniker did sort of anger me. Jake wasn’t bad—he
wasn’t bad in the least bit.

Annie quickly explained to the others about
the anonymous phone call the magazine received this morning, but
Zach emphatically shook his head when she mentioned Lance.

“
Lance is scared of Jake. I
mean he is petrified.” That little tidbit perked me up a bit. Zach
sat next to Annie and continued. “I was in the bathroom near the
gym a couple weeks ago, and I heard Lance scream at Dean and a few
other guys because they were saying stuff about Bella.”

“
What about money?” Cammy
asked. “He could do it anonymously, and they’d still pay
him.”

“
Nah,” Zach scoffed.
“Lance’s parents are loaded, and he’s an only child. They spoil him
rotten—he doesn’t want for anything.”

Groaning, I fell to my pillows. My eyes
found the picture of me and Jake on my nightstand. I missed him. My
arms ached to be around him. Everything would be so much better if
he was just here.

“
I don’t care who is
threatening to do it or why they are,” I grumbled. “I just don’t
want them to be able to do it.”

“
I know,” Cammy said in her
quiet voice. “Maybe your dad can stop it.”

My phone rang and I nearly fell off my bed
in an effort to answer. “Hello?”

“
Hi, Belle,” my dad
greeted. His voice was looser, though still in attorney mode. “I
talked to the newspaper and told them I was your father and an
attorney and that if they had any questions about you whatsoever,
to call me.”

I grinned, my heart bursting with pride. I
simply adored my daddy. “What about this exclusive?”

“
Well,” he began, drawing
out the word. My heart slipped. “I called Dean Fletcher and made
him aware. I also told him that if any of his students leaked any
information to anyone, I’d sue the school.”

“
Does that mean they won’t
print anything?” I asked, voice filled with awe.

“
Belle,” he sighed. “We can
threaten all we want, but there is still Freedom of Speech. We just
have to wait and see what happens.”

That did not assure me at all. I gave him
the numbers he’d asked me for and hung up after promising to keep
him informed on what was happening at school. As I was updating my
friends, the dorm phone rang. I stared at it, horrified. Annie
answered and handed it to me immediately.

I relaxed as Dean Fletcher
apologized for the magazine article and promised me he’d do
everything in his power to keep the students from talking to the
magazine. The
Star Gazer
editor already called the school but he’d
referred them to my father.