Starstruck (29 page)

“It wasn’t,” Madison said firmly. “It couldn’t be.”

She believed she was right—but the tiny voice in her head said,
How would you know? You never spend time with her anymore
.

Kate got up. “I need to do a little stress-eating. I’m getting something from the vending machine. Anyone?”

“Get me a Milky Way,” Carmen said. “Please.”

“Anyone else?”

“No thanks.” Even though it was past dinnertime, Madison would never eat something from a vending machine.

The girls sat in silence for a while. They weren’t doing any good there—Gaby was out cold, and they wouldn’t be allowed to see her even if she woke—but they couldn’t bring themselves to leave.

Carmen picked up a
Time
magazine that was at least six months old and idly flipped through the pages. When Kate returned with her candy, she brought out her phone and started playing Angry Birds. Probably any minute Laurel was going to text one of them to say:

NEED MORE TALKING. SHARE MEMORIES OF GABY?

Madison, at that moment, couldn’t think of any. How could that be? Was she so focused on her own problems that she couldn’t even remember having a nice time with her roommate? No wonder Madison had felt alone so often—she really had been.

Those few weeks that she’d had Ryan in her life? Those were the only good ones lately. But all that was over now, thanks to a woman with an iPhone.

Madison had been going over it in her mind, and she found it pretty strange. Most people who took pictures with their phones didn’t go running to a gossip site with them. It was almost as if the woman had known what she was doing. Almost as if she had been sent there.

But who had known about Ryan? No one.

Then Madison looked over at her sister, who was sipping at the tea she’d brought; it smelled like wet hay.

No one except Sophie—Sophie had talked to Ryan the day he answered Madison’s phone.

Madison realized that she needed to know more. “So …” she said casually. “I heard you talked to my boss.”

Sophie flashed her sly, beautiful smile. “Is that what he is?”

“Um, yes.”

Sophie crossed one long, lean leg over the other. For once she wasn’t wearing a maxidress, and she looked almost polished in a short, haute hippie shirt and loose-weave sweater. “I got the distinct impression that there was something else going on between you two.”

“Oh you did, did you?” Madison tapped her fingers on the arm of the chair. What was it that she’d said about forgiving and forgetting? Give her ten minutes in the same room with her sister and already she was doubting such a thing was possible.

“I’m very sensitive to people’s energies, Madison. Plus, I mean, he did tell me he was taking you out to dinner at Rosa’s. Of course, he claimed it was just to mark the final weeks of your community service.”

Madison’s gaze was icy. It was all becoming clear now. “You did it, didn’t you?”

“Pardon?” Sophie said, blinking. “Did what?”

“You knew where we were, and you tipped someone off. That wasn’t just a random woman who took our picture, was it? Because it showed up on
D-Lish
.”

Sophie stiffened. “First of all, I have no idea what you’re talking about.
D-Lish?
I don’t look at that stupid site. Second of all, I’ve never known you to balk at an opportunity for publicity, sister, so I can’t see what the problem is,” Sophie said. She took a sip of tea and sighed thoughtfully. Then she turned her blue eyes on Madison. “And third of all, if you think I’d bother to ask someone to take your picture, you’re crazy. In case you haven’t noticed, people don’t care that much about what you’re doing these days.”

Madison gritted her teeth. She could feel the camera focusing in on them. “But you told someone,” she pressed.

At this, Sophie shrugged. “I might have mentioned something to Trevor when he called …”

“You what?”

“I mean, he was wondering what was up with you, and he thought I might have some insight. He said you seemed happier lately.” She paused. “He only wants the best for you, you know.”

Madison was seething. “That’s a load of crap,
Sophia
, and you know it.” She walked to the window and stared down at the hospital parking lot. She understood what had happened; she could see perfectly the chain of events. Sophie had told Trevor about Ryan, and Trevor had quickly done his research. When he uncovered Ryan’s past, he’d decided to use it. Of course. Maybe Madison Parker wasn’t news anymore, but Madison and an upper-crust former playboy with blood on his hands … well, that was news.

Madison felt like screaming. Did Trevor ever consider, for one minute, that he might destroy the first real relationship Madison had ever had? And if he did, did he care? Or had he already decided that it couldn’t work? Because as he always said,
If it didn’t happen on TV, it didn’t happen
. Which meant that a boyfriend who wouldn’t film was worse than no boyfriend at all.

“I hate you both so much right now,” Madison said quietly.

Sophie held up a hand; bangled, bell-strung bracelets jingled down her golden wrist. “Peace, sister,” she said. “Peace.”

“Oh for God’s sake!” Madison whirled around, shouting. “You act like you’re so full of love, but you’re the same manipulative bitch you’ve always been. You can’t just leave me be. When are you going to realize that everything you have now came from me, and that you should be grateful? That you should stop messing around with my life?”

Sophie blinked, affronted. But then she drew herself up and her eyes narrowed. “Everything I have came from you? That’s a laugh. You’d be nothing at all if you hadn’t spent thousands of dollars on surgery, trying to make yourself look like me in the first place. Do you think PopTV would have looked at you twice in your real body? Do you think the world wants to see a fat brunette with crooked teeth trying to make it in Hollywood? Because I don’t fucking think so.”

Sophie glared at her, her blue eyes cold. Triumphant.

She’d managed to rat out her sister again. On-camera.

And in that moment, Madison realized that she had had enough. Of her bat-shit crazy sister. Of her criminal father. Of manipulative, scheming Trevor Lord. Of
The Fame Game
itself. She stood up, nearly five foot ten in her beautiful gold heels. “That’s it,” she said. Her voice was calm and cold. “You’re all fucking crazy, and I can’t deal with any of you anymore. I’m out of here. And this time I’m not coming back. I quit.”

She grabbed her purse, handed her mike pack to Laurel, and then headed for the door. Kate and Carmen stared at her in shock. “Wait—” Laurel shouted, but Madison kept going.

Outside, alone on the street, Madison was struck by the enormity of what she’d done. She had just severed ties to everything that had kept her grounded. Everything that had brought her success and happiness.

It was a good thing she had her principles, she thought, because right now she had absolutely nothing else.

She began walking faster. Where to, she didn’t know. The sky above her was dark and clear, and one by one, the stars came out, twinkling.

A special thanks to all the amazing people who made this book possible …

Farrin Jacobs for sticking with me this long and being so damn good at her job.

Emily Chenoweth whose contribution to this novel was invaluable. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Max Stubblefield, Nicole Perez, Kristin Puttkamer, PJ Shapiro, Dave Del Sesto, Matthew Elblonk, Maggie Marr, Sasha Illingworth, and Howard Huang as well as the team at Harper Collins: Melinda Weigel, Christina Colangelo, Sandee Roston, Catherine Wallace, Gwen Morton, Josh Weiss, Cara Petrus, Sarah Nichole Kaufman, Kara Levy, and Stephanie Stein.

William Tell for his musical expertise.

And, as always, a big thank-you to my friends and family. I love you all dearly, and you mean the world to me.

LAUREN CONRAD
is best known for starring in the MTV hit series
The Hills
. She is the
New York Times
bestselling author of
THE FAME GAME
, the L.A. Candy series, and the fashion and beauty guides
LAUREN CONRAD STYLE
and
LAUREN CONRAD BEAUTY
. She began her fashion career in spring 2008 with the debut of the Lauren Conrad Collection. In 2009 she launched LC Lauren Conrad, exclusively for Kohl’s, and the line has since expanded to shoes, accessories, and sunglasses. Her newest clothing line is Paper Crown. She has been featured on the covers of
Elle, Glamour, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, Seventeen, Shape
, and
Entertainment Weekly
, among others. She lives in Los Angeles. You can visit her at www.laurenconrad.com.

Visit
www.AuthorTracker.com
for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors and artists.

BOOKS BY LAUREN CONRAD

L.A. Candy

Sweet Little Lies

AN L.A. CANDY NOVEL

Sugar and Spice

AN L.A. CANDY NOVEL

The Fame Game

LAUREN CONRAD

Style

LAUREN CONRAD

Beauty

Cover photo © 2012 by Howard Huang

References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters and all incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as “real.”

Starstruck

Copyright © 2012 by Lauren Conrad

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.epicreads.com

Library of Congress catalog card number: 2012945602

ISBN 978-0-06-207980-0 (trade bdg.)

ISBN 978-0-06-221885-8 (int. ed.)

EPub Edition © AUGUST 2012 ISBN: 9780062079817

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