The Rock Star Trilogy 01 - Jaded

Ethan...” he half-smiles. “Even if I don't like him, because of my mom's decision to marry his dad, doesn't mean I don't know he's a good guy. He doesn't deserve the way they treat him. Thank you for that.”
    “ Wow. Stephan Montgomery has a heart after all.”
    “ Who would've thought,” he jokes.

    3:00 pm
    Queen Bitch.

    I'm heading out the front door of the school, about to walk out to my car, when I hear somebody yell my name.
    “ Scarlett!”
    I think momentarily about ignoring the person, because I figure it's just going to be somebody asking for my autograph, but I stop anyway. I turn around to see a girl that I sat with in the cafeteria. I think her name was Nicole. Or Nancy, maybe? N something. Or maybe Mary?
    “ Hey,” I say.
    “ I'm Demi,” she reminds me.
    Wow, I wasn't even close.
    “ I just wanted to say, it was nice of you to sit at our table,” she smiles. “But next time, you need to understand, that Ethan is not welcome.”
    I barely resist the urge to roll my eyes at her. Who does this girl think she is? Regina George ? For a moment, I feel like Lindsay Lohan, and can't help but laugh. “Trust me, there definitely won't be a next time.”
    “ Before you get all judgmental, maybe you should talk to Ethan about this. There's a reason that we don't like him,” she pauses for a second. “Actually, maybe you should ask Stephan. He knows the story better, and you seem to be pretty cozy with him.” She turns around and walks away from me.
    What a bitch.
    I continue to walk to my car, Stephan is waiting there for me.
    “ Everything ok?” he asks, noticing the distressed look on my face.
    “ Yeah,” I say, shaking my head. I quickly decide that Mona is not the girl for Ethan... Now just the convince him of this. “I'm actually coming to your house today. Ethan is tutoring me again.”
    Stephan looks a little disappointed. “Oh.”
    I smile. “Somebody is jealous.”
    He shakes his head. “No, not at all.”
    “ I'm not into Ethan like that, you know. In fact, I happen to know he's into somebody else,” I say for his benefit. “I'm just not sure the girl he likes is the right girl for him.”
    “ Yeah, I've tried to tell him,” he sighs. “Mona is the queen of this school, and she is a bitch. I don't see what he sees in her. Or what anybody sees in her, for that matter.”
    His voice is bitter, and I couldn't help but wonder what happened between him and her. “So... Are you going to tell me what she did to make you hate her so much?”
    “ Let's just go home,” he says, opening the passenger side door.
    I walk around the car and try to shake it off. Stephan is acting weird. I get in the car, start it, and put on my seat belt. I can't handle not knowing. It's going to eat me alive until I know.
    “ Sorry,” he says. “I just don't want to talk about it... About her... It's nothing personal.”
    “ What, is she like an ex girlfriend or something?” Great, now I sound like a jealous girlfriend.
    He laughs, bitterly. “I definitely never dated her.”
    “ Ok.” I say, inwardly sighing in relief.
    “ Are you ready for tomorrow night?” he asks, as we pull out of the parking lot of the school.
    “ I am very ready. Tuesday night was so much fun. I still can't believe that was just practice for you guys.” I pause. “Actually, I'm hoping that I can race next Friday night.”
    “ I don't know, Scarlett,” he says. “It's kind of a big secret, and having you race... It could blow everything.”
    “ What? Like I'm going to tell everybody about it?” I roll my eyes at him. “I don't even have friends here, besides you and Ethan that is. Who am I going to tell?”
    “ I don't know... Just, don't tweet about it, ok?”
    I can't help but laugh at that. “I haven't been on Twitter since Monday.”
    “ Me either,” he says, sheepishly. “I had to sign out of it on my phone. I keep getting hate tweets.”
    “ I wonder why...”
    “ Seriously, you have some loyal fans. They were threatening my life.”
    I shrug. “Guess you won't mess with Scarlett Ryan again.”
    Stephan shakes his head. “You should really stop referring to yourself in the third person, Scarlett Ryan . It's kind of creepy.”
    I roll my eyes jokingly. “I'm Scarlett Ryan, and I don't have to take this.”
    Stephan just shakes his head.

    3:15pm
    Weird.

    We pull into Stephan's house at 3:15, and I'm surprised to see his mom's car is there. She's rarely ever home, especially during the day.