Next Door to a Star (3 page)

Chapter Four

I didn’t even get to sleep in on the first day of summer vacation because Uncle Stu’s SUV drove into the driveway at exactly eight o’clock. My eight-year-old cousin Clark, and Lily, who was almost two, were strapped in the middle seats, so I had to sit in the back next to all the suitcases. At least I wouldn’t have Lily drooling on me, because she seemed to be getting spit everywhere. I had brought a book along, but it was hard to concentrate with Clark’s video game,
Armageddon 5: The Final Bludgeoning
, beeping away. Somehow, despite the noise, I managed to fall asleep. As we pulled up in front of the house, I saw my grandparents and Aunt Faith waiting for us on the porch. Grandpa gave me a hug and helped Uncle Stu unpack the car. Aunt Maggie tried to give Lily to Grandma, but Lily was covered with spit and some red juice stuff she had spilled in the car, so Grandma handed her off to Aunt Faith.

“Aren’t you a sticky baby?” Aunt Faith said as Lily blew spit bubbles at her. “Aw, so cute.” Grandma pulled a tissue out of her sleeve to wipe Lily’s hands. I was tired after sitting so long, but Grandma wanted us to go out to lunch so we all piled back into the SUV. We went to a restaurant and sat at a table overlooking the lake, and I split a pepperoni and mushroom pizza with Aunt Faith. I hadn’t tried thin crust pizza before, and it tasted like a chewy cracker. Clark started whining about getting dessert. Grandma didn’t think Lily and Clark needed any sugar, but she sighed and went along with it.

“Hadley, order something white in case you spill,” Grandma said, pointing to my white Forever 21 sweatshirt.

“You can have whatever flavor you want,” Aunt Faith said, rolling her eyes. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I asked for a chocolate and vanilla twisty cone. Grandma handed me a bunch of napkins and told me not to drip.

After lunch, Uncle Stu, Aunt Maggie, and Grandpa played soccer with Clark and some neighbor kids. Clark had only been here for five hours and he had already made three new friends. Even Lily had found a toddler who was almost as sticky as she was. Meanwhile, I sat with Grandma, who kept telling Grandpa not to “be so rough” with the kids.

“Hadley, do you want me to take you over to see Simone?” Grandma asked. “I mentioned to her mother you were arriving today.”

I did, but my outfit was wrinkled and my skin was super greasy after being in the car all afternoon.

“I’d rather meet her another day when I don’t look like I spent hours riding in a car,” I said. Of course, even if I took three hours to get ready and had Jennifer Lopez’s stylist do my hair, I’d still look like a blob next to Simone.

Uncle Stu took us to the beach on Saturday. I played in the sand with Lily while Clark took off with his new friends. There were two girls who were lying out in the sun. One of the girls was Asian with long, dark hair and the other girl had curly blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. They both had deep tans, halter top bikinis, and were reading
Teen Vogue
and
InTouch
. My dad wouldn’t let me subscribe to any magazines because he thought they were a waste of money, so I had to buy them when he wasn’t around.

I watched the dark-haired girl pull on a hoodie with “Juicy” on the back as they walked over to the snack stand and came back with what appeared to be a big red snowball in a cup.

“Hadley, do you want to come with me to get a snack or something to drink?” Uncle Stu asked. I followed him to the snack shack. I wanted the snowball thing, but when I ordered a sno-cone, the girl behind the counter told me they didn’t have sno-cones and held up a red Popsicle instead. It wasn’t what I wanted, but I started to reach for it until I saw some guy eating what I wanted.

“Wait, what’s he having?” I asked.

“Oh, a Tropical Icy. What flavor do you want?” she asked.

“Red,” I said.

“Cherry?” she asked, raising her eyebrow like I was stupid. Okay, so red wasn’t a flavor, but I guess I didn’t look too dumb since she was the genius who didn’t realize a Tropical Icy was like a sno-cone. I went back to my beach towel and tried to figure out how to eat it. It came with a spoon, but the other girls had eaten it like an ice cream cone. I tried it and slurped all the color and flavor off. I watched the two girls reapplying their tanning oil and changing sides so they would tan even on both sides. Something about them made me wish I were invisible. They could have been models, and there I was with a toddler who was always covered in spit and my uncle with his attractive farmer’s tan.

***

Clark and his friends went out on the lake the next day. Uncle Stu invited me to go along, but being trapped on a boat with a bunch of eight-year-old boys was not my idea of fun. I plugged in the TV, but my grandparents didn’t have cable, so it was pointless. I had my laptop but the wi-fi in the house was weird and the internet kept going down.

I checked out the bookshelves, but all of the books were for adults and none of them seemed interesting. I guess I appeared pretty pathetic because Aunt Faith suggested we go downtown and check out the stores. Mom had given me some money so I bought a Cary McKissack book, a glitter glue pen, and some Gummi cola bottles.

“Don’t tell Grandma I let you buy candy,” Aunt Faith said. “She doesn’t mind baked goods and ice cream, but she doesn’t like us to eat candy for some reason.”

I thought it was weird my aunt would worry about hiding candy from her mother. Even my mom didn’t care if I ate candy. We went to the juniors department next and found the perfect bathing suit. It was a purple tankini with silver paint splashed across it. It was much hotter than my plain blue suit. I took it into the dressing room along with a pair of jean shorts, some Capri pants, and a Juicy Couture t-shirt with a beach scene on it.

“How does the suit fit?” Aunt Faith asked through the door.

The suit definitely made me look older. It had a built-in bra, so it was like I
needed
a bra, instead of my old suit, which made me look like I needed an adult to help me cross the street. I opened the door and my aunt stepped inside the dressing room.

“You certainly look more mature,” she said. “Are you going to get it?”

“Do I look stupid in it?” I didn’t want to look like a little kid trying too hard.

“You look cute. Is it expensive?” she asked.

It was on sale and she told me to try on the other stuff while I was deciding. The jean shorts were a lot shorter than I expected, but all of my clothes were so boring. These were like something those girls on the beach would wear.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“A little short, but they’re cute.”

I was hoping for “hot,” but I bought the swimsuit and shorts. Aunt Faith got me the t-shirt and Capri pants because they were the only things Grandma wouldn’t freak out over. I also had to promise not to let Grandma see me in the bathing suit.

As soon as we got home, Grandma was waiting for us.

“I talked to Mrs. Hendrickson this afternoon and told her all about you. She said you should come over to see Simone,” Grandma said.

I felt a cold trickle of sweat run down my side.

“Well, maybe tomorrow. I’m kind of tired after shopping, and I should probably wash my hair again before I meet someone—”

“Hadley, don’t be silly. She said to drop over after lunch, so they are expecting you.”

Well, this was what I had wanted, right? To meet and hopefully hang out with someone this summer? But part of me wished that someone wasn’t a TV star who was intimidatingly pretty. The whole thing about hanging out with Simone had sounded like a good idea in my head, but the reality of it was pretty terrifying. Plus, Grandma was acting like Simone actually cared whether or not some nobody from Goodacre came over to meet her.

I went upstairs and put on my new jean shorts, but Grandma made me change so Mrs. Hendrickson wouldn’t think I “always dressed so provocative.” They were jean shorts, not bikini bottoms. Sheesh, but the Capri pants made my legs look better anyway.

“Now have fun and take the hair out of your mouth. You’ll smell like a wet dog,” she said.

I knocked on the door and Mrs. Hendrickson told me Simone was on the porch in back. I took a deep breath and walked to the back where Simone was sitting. Her long blonde hair was impossibly straight and shiny, and she looked like an adult in her tiny beige shorts and baby-blue halter top, while I couldn’t have seemed younger or less cool if I tried. She was stretched out on a wicker couch talking on the phone. She didn’t even look up at me, so I sat on a bench and waited for her to finish talking. She was in no hurry to get off the phone so I stared out the window.

“Asia, I’m so bored. There’s nothing to do,” she said, twirling her blonde hair. “I went for a walk today and I didn’t see a single cute guy. Not one. I know,” she said. “When are you coming back?”

Simone went on about how bored she was and how “life sucked.” She hung up with her friend and then stared over at me, and I went into this whole thing about meeting her last summer, but she cut me off and said she was going to lay out in her backyard. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, so I followed her outside. She spread her towel out and rubbed some Chanel sunscreen on her face, arms, and legs. I had seen that lotion on the
Style Network
and I knew it cost a ton. I watched her lean back and put a towel over her face, while I sat there like an idiot. I couldn’t believe she was only going to be a sophomore in the fall like me. She seemed more like an eighteen-year-old. Simone got bored after a while and said she was going down to the beach.

“Hey, do you have a swimsuit?” she asked. I nodded. “Go get it and we can hang on the beach, ‘kay?”

Was that actually an invitation to hang out with her? I nodded and raced back to the house to change into my new bathing suit.

“Grandma, I’m going to the beach with Simone,” I said as I walked to the door.

“Okay, have fun and take your phone with you,” she said.

I took a deep breath as I headed over to Simone’s. I felt like my whole life was about to change.

Chapter Five

I got to Simone’s and she was sitting on the porch texting and waiting for me.

“Finally, I thought you died,” she said. “Let’s go.”

Simone walked fast, and I had to almost run to keep up as I followed her to the beach. She stood on the sand for a minute, looking around for the best place for us. Then she went to the area right in front of the tan lifeguard with perfect hair. She looked up at him, flashed her perfect Colgate smile, and spread out her towel. Her towel said “Juicy Couture” on it, while mine had Hello Kitty on the front. I flipped it over to the plain side so I didn’t look like such a kid.

I turned to ask her something and realized she was listening to music on her iPhone. I sat there unsure if I should be glad I was hanging out with someone or if I should try to get to know her.

“Simone?” I asked. She was moving her lips as she listened to the music, and even though her sunglasses were on, I could see her eyes were closed. I tapped her wrist and she sat straight up.

“What’s up?” she asked.

I lost all courage and said, “Do you want me to get you a soda from the concession stand?”

“Oh yeah, sure. That’d be great. Cherry Coke if they have it,” she said as she went back to her reclining position and turned her music back up.

Well, at least she was talking to me, although she didn’t offer me any money to get her drink. I got up and went to get her soda. As I waited in line, I noticed all the groups that were together on the beach. There wasn’t one person who was there alone. I hoped Simone and I would hit it off so I didn’t have to spend summer up in my room by myself. I would go broke with all the books I’d download, and eventually I’d run out of stuff to read. No, I was going to have to make an effort with Simone to become someone she wanted to hang out with.

I walked back to the towels with her soda.

“Thanks, doll,” she said opening it. “We’ve been here ten whole minutes and that lifeguard hasn’t even come over to talk to us.”

“Well, he’s working. There’s probably a policy where they can’t take their eyes off the water.”

“Yeah, lame,” she said. “But you’re probably right. I’ll have to catch him off duty, I guess. Want to go for a walk and see if there’s anyone interesting over by the lighthouse?”

I nodded, and she told me we were okay to leave our towels there and I could stick my phone and sunscreen in her tote bag. As we walked, she stopped to take pics and post them on Instagram. I have only fifteen people on my account, and most are book bloggers who I don’t know in person but liked to talk to. I showed Simone the photo I posted.

“Nice shot. I like to post pics for my fans, but ones that don’t show exactly where I am in case anybody weird is checking my account,” she said.

Here I was posting to my fifteen kinda/sorta friends and she was posting to fans.

“You must love being here year round,” I said.

“It’s okay. It gets a little boring in the winter.”

“I’d imagine any place is boring after L.A.”

“I guess.” She stopped and looked out at the water. “Where are you from?”

“Goodacre,” I said. “It’s a half-hour north of Detroit.”

“Is there stuff to do there?”

I doubted my sleepy town’s movie theater and regular mall would impress someone who had gone to the People’s Choice Awards.

“Sometimes my mom’s work gets free tickets to games and we go see the Tigers or the Pistons. That’s pretty fun.”

“Some of the Pistons are pretty cute,” she said.

“Once I got an autograph from one of them. It wasn’t at one of the games. He was waiting in line to get coffee and my friend asked him. He signed our napkins,” I said. Oh wow, I fangirled to someone who probably signed autographs all the time. How lame could I be?

“Did he, like, flirt with you or anything?” she asked, lowering her sunglasses.

“Well, he was twenty-eight.”

She stood there staring and waiting for me to answer.

“Um, no…why? Do guys who are almost thirty flirt with you?” I asked.

“You’d be surprised. I’ve even been hit on by guys
in
their thirties,” she said, rolling her round blue eyes.

“Gross.”

“Hollywood is different.” She shrugged and looked away. “Whatever. Do you want to walk all the way down to the end of the pier?”

“Sure. There are some guys who aren’t ancient sitting down there,” I said.

She smirked and opened her mouth to say something when her phone buzzed. “Instagram likes. I got fifty-eight likes so far. How about you?”

I looked down at my phone. One person had liked it and asked where I took the picture.

“Um, a few.”

She nodded and then got up. “Gotta go to the bathroom. Be right back,” she said.

I picked up the magazine she had been reading and noticed she had dog-eared a page with a soap star named Valeria Joseph. Valeria had straight blonde hair with bangs, unique-looking, squinty blue almond eyes, and shimmery tan skin. She was so flawless and gorgeous, I was surprised I hadn’t heard of her before or seen her in another magazine or something. She had this knowing, confident little smirk, and in that one picture, she was everything I wanted to be and look like.

The interview was only about her hair and makeup, so I didn’t learn anything about her other than the show she was on, but I took out my phone and texted myself all the names of the beauty products she listed as her faves.

“What are you doing?” Simone asked, sitting down.

“Nothing…texting my friend,” I said, and then I looked up and realized Simone was on her phone and actually not talking to me at all, but chatting to her friend Asia.

“Connor sent me a text this morning,” she said. “Oh my gosh, Asia, you know I would never like him if Morgan did. Don’t even hint at that.”

After twenty minutes, I decided to head back to Grandma’s when it appeared Simone wasn’t getting off the phone anytime soon. I would have stayed, but I had been in the hot sun for a while and was starting to feel a little sick and didn’t want to end up sunburned. Simone did kind of wave when I left. Well, she put her hand up, sorta. I guess it counted as goodbye.

I walked in the house and Grandma asked if I had fun. I wasn’t sure what to say, because if I said, “yes,” and Simone never spoke to me again, I’d look stupid.

“It was okay, but Simone and I don’t have a lot in common.”

“Maybe you’d have more in common with Judd Lidstrom’s granddaughter. I’ll call and see if they can stop by later,” she said. “Besides, you’ll get to know Simone better as time goes on.”

I nodded and wished I wasn’t so pathetic my grandma had to set up “play dates” for me. Clark was only eight and he had made tons of friends on his own. He was never around, but I was always hanging around the house like a leech or something.

Mr. Lidstrom came over with Charlotte later. Charlotte had a short, dark bob and huge brown eyes. Mr. Lidstrom kinda seemed more exciting and fun than Charlotte. Grandma told us to go outside, so Charlotte and I went for a walk on the beach.

“Where do you go to school?” she asked. “I go to Watson.”

“I go to a private school in Goodacre,” I said. “It’s kinda near Detroit.”

Charlotte was a mathlete and in some club called the “Future Scientists of America.”

“I want to go to science camp this summer, but Grandpa wouldn’t let me go because I have too many allergies and they’re literally outside all the time there.”

“Wanna walk on the pier?” I asked. “We can go down to the lighthouse.”

“Sure. It’s a good thing I put sunscreen on before I came over. It takes a while to soak in and I burn fast.”

We walked down to the pier where some older girls were sitting with their boyfriends. I wanted to get out of there, but Charlotte was busy sticking her pasty feet in the water.

“Let’s go back,” I said, tugging her arm.

We walked back to the beach, but my back felt prickly from having those girls stare at us.

“Do you know why Simone stopped acting?” I asked.

“I dunno. She never bragged about being on TV or anything when she moved here. She was in my class because they held her back a year. She did get mad when they cast this other girl as the lead in the winter play last year,” she said. “But she was right to be upset ‘cause the other girl sucked.”

Charlotte and I walked down to the ice cream stand. The cool girls I had seen on my first day at the beach were there. The one with curly blonde hair was drinking a soda. She was so tan and perfect-looking. I would have killed to be her. Then I realized Simone was sitting with them.

“Hadley, your nose looks like it’s getting red,” Charlotte said. “Put some sunscreen on.”

Charlotte handed me the bottle. I tried to wave her away, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She had put some lotion on her own nose and didn’t even bother to rub it in. I tried to get her to blend it when I overheard someone from Simone’s group make a comment about Char’s sunblock-covered nose. I was super embarrassed and tried to steer Charlotte toward the boardwalk.

“Do you want to get a Tropical Icy?” she asked. “I’ve got some money.”

The Icy containers were huge and the juice dripped out the ends so I went to get some napkins to wrap the bottom. I heard some girl say something about someone being “all gross and sticky,” and I glanced up in case they were talking about me. The blonde girl I had seen the other day at the beach was standing with her boyfriend and they were looking at Charlotte. Charlotte had cherry juice running down her arms and on her chin, and I was embarrassed for her. Simone smirked at her and then walked over to me.

“Can I get a napkin?” Simone asked.

I handed her a stack of napkins and she pulled one from the bunch.

“Um, I only needed one,” she said. “I know how to handle a sno-cone.”

I didn’t know what else to do, so I laughed along with them.

“You guys know each other?” Simone asked, looking Charlotte over. I didn’t want to say “yes,” and be on the loser list all summer, so I shrugged. I had my back to Charlotte and I rolled my eyes.

Simone nodded. I glanced around, but Charlotte was gone. I felt horrible.

“Looking for sticky girl?” Simone raised her eyebrows.

“Um, I don’t want to get in trouble for losing her,” I said.

“Hey, we’re going to grill hamburgers tonight at my house. Do you wanna come over later?”

“Sure, what time?” I asked.

“Around seven,” she said over her shoulder as she walked away.

“Okay, see ya then.”

I went to look for Charlotte but couldn’t find her, so I went to tell Grandma I was going over to the Hendrickson’s for dinner. Clark was always eating dinner at one of his friend’s houses, so his empty chair was a constant reminder of what a friendless loser I was. At least for one night my chair would be the empty one. I put on my makeup and asked Aunt Faith to help me with my hair since I was useless with a curling iron. I didn’t want to get there right at seven o’clock and look overeager, so I waited until five minutes after seven to leave.

Simone’s mother seemed happy to see me. She gave me a hamburger bun and told me to help myself. I got a hamburger and some chips and went over to where Simone was sitting with her friends. Simone was sitting in a big white lawn chair, but everyone else was seated on a big picnic blanket. There wasn’t any room for me on the blanket, so I sat on the grass.

“Guys, this is Hadley. This is Lucas, Connor, oh, and Nick,” she said, nodding at the boys and then pointed to the girls—the same two perfect-looking girls I had seen on the beach the other day. “And this is Morgan Kemp and Pilar Ito.”

They all nodded, and I noticed Lucas, Connor, and Nick were the only ones who were eating hamburgers. Morgan and Pilar were both eating salads, and all Simone was having for dinner was a bottle of diet vanilla cola. She leaned back in her chair and pulled her tanned legs up. Simone had a baby-blue American Hotties hooded sweatshirt over her white tank top, and her hair was hanging over the back of the chair. Pilar’s dark hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and it showed off her high cheekbones—like Valeria’s. Pilar was wearing a denim mini skirt with Milan written all over it, and Morgan had her curly hair piled on top of her head and she was wearing a short t-shirt dress. Morgan was much curvier than the other two girls and Lucas kept staring at her.

“Did you try the macaroni salad?” Simone asked me. “It’s super good.”

“Pasta salad,” Morgan said.

“Sorry, right.
Pasta
salad,” Simone said. I shook my head.

“It’s so fattening with all the mayo,” Morgan said. “Not like it’d matter to you.”

She was staring at my legs, and I felt like a skeleton in shorts so I tucked my legs underneath me. Simone went on about how Morgan was so thin. Then Simone patted her own flat stomach as if she had a big belly and said she was the only one who had to watch her weight.