Hidden Gem (28 page)

“Don’t worry,” Lucas said.
 
“Gavin made it sound casual.”

“Well you’re here, so you know I just flipped out and ran off,” Gemma huffed, not bothering to hide her mortification.
 
Lucas simply shrugged.

“What does it matter? I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Why do you care?” Gemma retorted.
 

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“You didn’t care when your girlfriend humiliated me in front of everyone –
twice
.
 
You know I never tried anything with you.
 
It was up to you to tell people the truth.”
 
Gemma could hear the disdain drip from her words.
 
It was as if she hadn’t realized her anger for Lucas until seeing him again.
 
He opened his mouth to speak but she interrupted him.
 
“How am I supposed to believe that you tried defending me when the whole school is still talking about me? You let them think I’m this pathetic girl who’s in love with her friend’s boyfriend, who flew into some stupid, jealous rage at your birthday party.
 
You haven’t bothered to do a
thing
about it.”
 
She breathed deeply to calm herself as she walked off.
 
“You’re just as bad as she is.”

“Gemma, can I say something? You can’t just make these accusations and walk off.”

“What do you want to say, Lucas? Don’t tell me that you’re on my side here, or that you don’t believe I have some psychotic crush on you.
 
That I’m just using Damian to be close to you.
 
Because if that were true you would’ve cleared things up a long time ago.”

“I’m not going to tell you that because you already know it’s true.
 
I don’t believe any of that.
 
I know you love Damian.
 
And you know I love Madison.
 
We both know the truth.”

“So? No one will believe me.
 
And you’re too afraid of Madison to say something to her, let alone the rest of the school.”

“That’s not the reason,” Lucas scowled.
 
“Madison doesn’t own me.
 
I’m not afraid of her.”

Gemma gulped, surprising even herself with her remark.
 
She had hit a nerve, but her stubborn lips refused to form an apology.
 
Lucas sighed, his hand on his chin.
 
He opened and closed his mouth to say something that his own lips seemed to be resisting as well.
 

“I’ve wanted to say something to her.
 
To everyone.
 
But I can’t because I feel guilty.”

“Why? You’re not the one who keeps humiliating the person you’re dating.”

“You’re the only person who sees it that way,” Lucas said.
 
She narrowed her eyes at him.
 
“Fine.
 
Other people might see it that way too.
 
It probably does look bad that Damian’s girlfriend might like his teammate.”

Gemma groaned.
 
Why is he torturing me?

 
“But it’s Madison who actually has something to worry about.”

Gemma crossed her arms sourly. “So you do think I have a crush on you.”

“No.
 
I never said that.”

Gemma frowned, confused.
 
She opened her mouth to ask for some sort of clarification, but Lucas’s cell phone began to ring.
 
The ring tone practically echoed in the silence of the night.
 
He took a few steps back from her before picking up.

“Hey Gavin,” he answered, his eyes on Gemma.
 
“I found her.
 
I’ll take her back now.”

The ride back felt like an eternity as Gemma debated whether or not she should ask Lucas what he had meant.
 
Her stomach turned at the possibilities.
 
It was more than enough to distract her from what she would have to face at home. Mira would no doubt be fuming.
 
Gavin would definitely have reached his last straw with her.
 
Gemma cringed.
 
She wished she didn’t care so much about what her family thought.

Lucas said a short and hasty goodbye upon pulling into Gemma’s driveway.
 
Gemma assumed it meant that he had no intention of clarifying his earlier statement about Madison.
 
She decided not to bother asking and trudged towards the front door.
 
Gavin was already home, standing in the doorframe.
 
He looked disappointed more than angry, and it filled Gemma with shame.

“What the hell’s wrong with you, Gemma?”

“What’s wrong with me?” Her shame quickly morphed into irritation.
 
“Not now, Gavin, please.
 
I don’t need this.”
 
She pushed past him but he followed, blocking her from going up the stairs.

“Don’t you realize you have everything? You’re going to just let some spat with a girl get you down? People go through worse and they don’t have a secret life to escape to, so grow up.”

With that, Gavin turned and went up to his room, shutting the door behind him.
 
Gemma stood at the foot of the steps for a minute.
 
She had never seen Gavin say anything seriously to anyone.
 
She was too stunned to react to him, let alone respond.
 
However her trance was broken upon hearing the sound of ripping.
 
It sounded like ripping fabric, a sound she was familiar with from being on tour and getting outfits snagged.
 
But this was not just ripping – it was shredding.
 
Gemma could only imagine that Mira was behind the sound.
 
With a pounding dread in her heart, Gemma made her way to her bedroom.

She had always known that Mira had a temper.
 
Her father had told her many stories about Mira’s “switch.”
 
“Once the switch goes off, you can see it in her eyes.
  
All you can do is get out of her way and let her wreak havoc until she feels better.”
 
Then, with a fond chuckle, her father would tell Gemma not to worry because Mira had since learned to control her anger.
 
It was something they saw less as she got older – but like Gavin’s troublemaking tendencies, there was always the threat of its resurfacing.
 

Gemma could see now that this tendency had most definitely resurfaced.

Mira kneeled at the foot of Gemma’s dress form, clutching the Balenciaga gown.
 
The metal of the shears in her hand gleamed menacingly as it tore through the train of the gown.
 
Pearls ripped from the dress, bouncing away as if they were running from danger.
 
Gemma stood at the doorframe in shock for a few moments before rushing to her dress.

“What are you
do
ing?” her shrill voice quivered.
 
“
Stop!”
Mira looked up at her.
 
Beads of sweat were forming on her temples, running down her flushed cheekbones.
 
Feathers, beading and cloth lay all around her.
 
The gown was unrecognizable.

“Gemma,” Mira sighed.
 
She looked relieved.
 
There wasn’t the slightest hint of anger in her face.
 
Gemma felt her body shaking as she touched the remnants of the dress in her hands.
 
She prayed that her eyes had deceived her, but in her fingers, she could feel the legendary gown was in fact destroyed.
 
It was no longer a gown at all.
 
She ran her fingers across the cloth, tearing up.
 

“Why’d you do this?” she sobbed, pulling the dress off the form and cradling it in her arms.

“You can’t depend on Queen Bee to be secure.”

“Why not?” Gemma demanded.
 
She ran her finger along the frayed ends of the dress.
 
“She’s all I know at this point.”

“Because you haven’t given Gemma a chance yet.
 
Don’t let one dumb girl take you down.”
 
Mira eyed her.
 
“I know you read the tabloids.
 
The ones that like to make up stories about Queen Bee.
 
I know it’s tough to keep a secret like this on top of being a teenager.
 
But if you’ve survived the scrutiny of being an international pop star, I know you can be Gemma,” Mira persisted despite Gemma’s adamant
head-shaking
.
 
“You deserve a life outside the fame, with school and friends your own age.
 
In the long run, you’d be sorry if you missed Gemma’s life.”

“I don’t know what you guys want from me.
 
I’m trying to live both lives,” Gemma sniffled as Mira gently took the torn dress from her arms.
 
Tears dropped from her eyes as pearls did from the dress.
 
“But I can’t have a normal life if I’m not truthful about who I am.”

“You can,” Mira said softly as she straightened a few feathers on the torn strap of the dress.
 
“You can carry what you’ve learned from both into the other.”

“What do you mean?”

“Give Gemma some of Queen Bee’s confidence.
 
After all, Bee benefits from Gemma’s compassion.
 
You can see it when she tries to sign every single fan’s CD, even if there are a thousand of them.
 
And when she defies her bodyguards to make a little girl’s dream come true by taking a picture with her.”

“Any singer would do that for a fan,” Gemma muttered.
 
Mira draped the dress over her forearm and shook Gemma’s hair out from her bun.
 
Her tresses fell in loose waves at her shoulders.

“You might think that, but you’d be surprised by how many stars forget about the people who made them famous.
 
Do me a favor, will you?” Mira asked.
 
“Put the gown on.”

“
Why?
It’s not even a dress anymore.”
 

“Of course it is,” Mira said plainly.
 
“It’s no longer the one you thought you knew.
 
That’s all.”
 
She was clearly holding in excitement.
 
It gave Gemma hope, though; she couldn’t imagine that the gown could still look good.

Gemma tried not to smile.
 
“I think you’re crazy,” she laughed tentatively.

“Excuse me.
 
I prefer the word ‘weird.’”
 
Mira shoved the dress into Gemma’s arms.
 
Gemma shot her a glance before pulling her sweatshirt over her head and kicking off her jeans.
 
She felt the lightness of the gown.
 
It was hard to believe it was once the dress she was so excited to get into.
 
She slipped it on, bitterly noting that it was hardly a cocktail dress at this point.
 
It didn’t give her the feeling of excitement and anticipation anymore.
 
The feeling of empowerment.
 
Now, the dress made her feel naked somehow.

The hem fell slightly above her knee.
 
She felt a lump in her throat as she looked down at her bare legs.
 
It normally draped like an iridescent silk river down her legs, around her ankles and into a pool of luxurious fabric behind her.
 
It hurt her to know she’d never see the
gown
as she knew it again.

“There,” Gemma said, lips pursed and holding in a sob as she looked up at Mira.
 
“Happy? I’m wearing it and I look crazy.”

“But you don’t,” Mira smiled.
 
She turned Gemma towards the mirror.

Immediately and against her own will, Gemma sucked in a breath of shock.

She didn’t recognize what she was wearing.
 
It was so far from the beautiful and flowing spectacle that she had grown accustomed to wearing during her closing number.
 
It was short now – it was simplified.
 
Streamlined.
 
It may not have had any semblance to the original gown it once was, but it was stunning in its own right.
 
It felt
real.