Star Crossed Collection Read online

I didn’t doubt it.

  Two Dimension fans were crazy. I had been the unlucky recipient of their anger before. It wasn’t something I wanted to repeat.

  “I had nothing to do with it. Luke likes me, we always talk when I visit Cole. His leaving is not because of me.”

  “Then what is the reason?”

  I bit my tongue. Talking to anyone could mean that whatever I said ended up online or in the tabloids. I couldn’t trust anyone not to blab to others.

  “I don’t know,” I finally replied. “But I have to go.”

  I ducked into a classroom and quickly called Cole. I needed to know if he was alright after Luke released the statement. When I’d left him the plan was to keep his departure a secret. Something else must have happened overnight.

  “Hey, Mel,” Cole said as he answered.

  “Hey. I saw Luke’s statement. Are you okay?”

  “He didn’t even tell us he was going to do it. One minute everything was fine again and then he disappears. Next thing we know, we wake up to this.” His voice sounded tired and laced with hurt. He was taking Luke’s actions personally, which I guessed was fair enough. Luke had deceived his four best friends.

  “Has he officially left the band now?”

  “I guess, but I don’t know. He’s not talking to us anymore. He says everything has to go through our lawyers. It’s like we’re getting a divorce or something.”

  “That’s kind of what it’s like, I suppose,” I agreed. I wanted nothing more than to jump through the phone and give Cole a big hug. “Stay strong, okay?”

  “Yeah. Thanks, Mel, for always being there for me.”

  “I’m always here for you.”

  We hung up when the bell rang and called me to my first class. It was going to be a long day with everyone knowing the news. Concentrating and paying attention in class was going to be difficult.

  At lunchtime I avoided the cafeteria and ate lunch with Dallas outside. Anyone that came near us were quickly sent packing by my best friend.

  I was glad when the final bell rang and I could go home. I craved the quietness of my house and being able to breathe without the whole school watching me closely.

  The only problem with going home was a girl named Jemma. My little sister was itching to talk to me when she was dropped home by her friend’s mother. “Melly! I’m so sad, please tell me it isn’t true.”

  “What’s not true?” I asked. With the nine year old, it could have been anything.

  “That Two Dimension are breaking up. I need their music, Melly. I can’t live without them. I love them.” She wailed, real tears stinging her eyes.

  I gave her a hug and brushed away her tears. “Don’t cry, Jem. They’re not breaking up.”

  “You promise?”

  “Yes, I promise. Luke is leaving the band but everyone else is staying. You won’t even notice he’s gone when you listen to their songs.”

  “But Luke is my favorite,” she whined. Jemma’s favorite changed on a daily basis. It usually rotated between Cole, Luke, and Reed.

  “It’s not the end of the world, okay?” I said. It was just a band. But change was scary with everything. It would be weird to see only four members on all the posters from now onwards.

  Jemma nodded as she tried to be brave. I grabbed a tissue to wipe away the rest of her tears and cleaned her up. Talk about a drama queen.

  “Help me make dinner,” I suggested, trying to get her mind to think of something else for a while. She agreed and we fixed dinner.

  Our father arrived home at six, right on time. We had dinner straight away, getting it over and done with so I could start on my mountain of homework.

  I’d made spaghetti, with vegetables hidden in the sauce, and meatballs. We ate in silence until Dad said something completely unexpected. “I heard from your mother today.”

  “What did you just say?” I asked, because surely I hadn’t heard correctly.

  “Your mother, she called the office and I spoke with her.”

  My mother.

  Otherwise known as the woman who abandoned us when we were little because she didn’t want to be a mother anymore.

  “What did she want?” It was just the first of many questions that sprung to mind. It was certainly the only one without swearing in it.

  “She wants to meet with you both,” Dad said, like it wasn’t the worst idea in the whole world. First the whole saga with Two Dimension and now this? Why was my world suddenly spinning askew?

  “I don’t want to see her,” I replied. Jemma was staying quiet and still, chewing on her bottom lip between bites of spaghetti.

  “She wants to make amends,” Dad continued. “She’s sorry about what happened and wants to be in your lives again. I know it’s hard, but maybe it’s time you get to know her again.”

  “What’s the point? She’ll only decide she doesn’t like us again and take off. I don’t want Jemma to go through all that and I certainly don’t want to either. She made the decision to leave, she has to deal with the consequences.”

  “You’re getting older, Mel. Wouldn’t you like to have a mother in your life to deal with all those girly issues?”

  “No! I have been dealing with girly issues for years now by myself. She’s a lifetime too late. I don’t need her and I don’t want her anywhere near us.”

  “Mel…”

  “No, Dad. I don’t want to see her.”

  “Can’t you just give her a chance? She’s really sorry.”

  “No!” I screamed the word before leaving the table and running to my room. I slammed the door behind me and slumped onto my bed.

  My mother would only ruin everything if she came back. She left, that’s the only thing she was good at. It would only be a matter of time before she did it again.

  I’d picked up the pieces of my family after the first time. I couldn’t do it again. Jemma was only tiny the last time, this time it would be devastating for her.

  I would not have anything to do with my mother.

  Chapter Seven

  I couldn’t sleep.

  The clock beside my bed kept reminding me that it was late and I was going to be tired tomorrow unless I caught some shuteye.

  But I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I thought of my mother and the look on my dad’s face when he told us about her. He was hopeful and he had no right to be.

  A part of me always suspected that my dad was still in love with my mother. Anytime he spoke about her it was like he was sitting underneath a lamp and it lit up his face. He probably wanted us to be a family again.

  But we wouldn’t be.

  Too much time had passed. We’d all learned to live without her and we were happy. Nothing good could come from having her in our lives.

  Nothing.

  At. All.

  Plus, there was the whole thing with Two Dimension and I was worried about how Cole was dealing with it all. The media loved a scandal and would be trying to get them to make a statement.

  The media would want them to have a fight, make it into something bigger than what it was. Scott would be doing his best to downplay the whole thing and assure people that nothing would really change.

  I was sick of being in bed so I got up and switched on my laptop. I waited until it booted up and then searched for news stories on Two Dimension.

  As a general rule, I didn’t search the web for stories about the band. Some of their fans could say horrible stuff and it never ended well for me. Tonight I was beyond caring.

  There had to be at least fifty articles on the breakup of the band alone. Luke’s statement had gone viral, ending up being quoted on site after site. I still couldn’t believe he had released it without telling the rest of the band first.

  I entered the official message boards of the band and scrolled through. Predictably, the boards were almost in meltdown with all the comments. Fans were upset and they needed a place to vent. There were several threads about the breakup.

  A lot of the comm
ents were like Jemma’s little meltdown. Everybody thought the band would breakup entirely now, as if Luke was the glue that held them all together.

  Many of them blamed me for the breakup. I continually kept seeing the lie that Luke and I didn’t get along. That while Cole continued to date me, Luke couldn’t be in the band because he would have to deal with me and he hated my guts.

  I had nothing to do with the whole thing and yet people wanted to make me into the monster responsible for breaking up the world’s most successful boy band.

  They were really mean too. I’d dealt with my fair share of internet trolls before, but these comments took the meanness to a whole new level. They called me every name under the sun.

  Some even went so far as saying they wanted me to die a slow and painful death.

  Did they ever think of how much their words could hurt someone as they hid behind their computers and screen names? I wondered if any of them would have the guts to say those things to my face. Somehow, I doubted it.

  I couldn’t keep reading any longer. I’d never be able to function again if I kept reading all the nasty comments. There was only so much I could take at one time.

  Crawling back into bed, I hoped it would be better in the morning. That I would wake up and find that it was all just Luke having a joke and the band would be repaired again.

  Unfortunately, I wasn’t that lucky.

  I almost thought about faking being sick so I didn’t have to go to school the next day. I was tempted to, just so I didn’t have to see anyone and take their glares pointedly being sent my way.

  It was ridiculous the way I kept getting blamed for everything that went wrong with Two Dimension. Some of the others had girlfriends too, yet nobody ever talked about them. Mainly because they were kept a secret, but still…

  A part of me was too stubborn to hide from it all. I wanted to hold my head up high and not let it affect me. If I didn’t do that, then all the trolls would win and I couldn’t allow that.

  My resolve almost faltered again when I stepped outside to head for the car. A swarm of reporters flanked me, buzzing around and shoving their microphones in my face. There were so many people I couldn’t see my car across the lawn.

  “Melrose, what do you have to say about the breakup of Two Dimension?” one reporter asked. And then it was on as they all shouted at me to grab my attention.

  “Will you make up with Luke to keep the band together?”

  “Why do you hate Luke so much?”

  “Has Cole really threatened to break up with you to save the band?”

  The questions flew around me, completely out of control. I bit my tongue so I wouldn’t say anything. Cole told me not to speak to any reporters because they would twist whatever I said and use it against me.

  I really wanted to tell them all to get lost and stop reporting lies but I didn’t. If I lashed out now then my angry face would end up on the entertainment news channels and I didn’t need that kind of drama in my life.

  It was suffocating being in the middle of so many people jostling to get closer to me. I tried to walk but they kept stepping in my way and blocking me.

  After a few minutes, I couldn’t breathe. They were closing in on me and threatening to drown me in their sea of faces. There wasn’t enough air for all of us.

  “Please let me through,” I said weakly, not caring about being on television now but needing to breathe. They didn’t move. “Please, I can’t breathe. I need to get out of here.”

  I started pushing through them. My arms went out in front of me and I tunneled through the bodies. They all merged into one, a sea of faces and clothes that I couldn’t turn into people until I could breathe again.

  “Hey, watch it!” a woman said as I stepped on her foot. I didn’t mean to, but she wouldn’t move so I tried to step over her and misjudged the distance.

  My cell phone started ringing in the middle of it all. The noise of the ringtone only added to the din of the questions and comments. Why wouldn’t they just move?

  Finally, I could see my car. I used the last of my energy to make a dive for it and stabbed at the lock with my key until it went in. Just opening the door of the car was difficult as they tried to keep it closed so I didn’t have a means of escape.

  And I thought the internet trolls were the worst.

  Turns out reporters were even more vicious.

  I eventually managed to get into the car and pull the door closed. I forgot to put the car into reverse and lurched forward before changing into the right gear and going backwards down the drive. At least the reporters were smart enough to not get run over.

  The reporters shouldn’t have even known where I lived, let alone turn up on my front lawn like that. It always made me wonder where they got their information from. One of the girls at school had never cared about my privacy, it wouldn’t have surprised me if she was freely giving more information away again.

  Ever since I started dating Cole I had to be super careful about what I did and what I said. It felt like the whole world was watching me and just waiting for a moment to pounce. It wasn’t right, I wasn’t the celebrity. I just happened to fall in love with one.

  Still, it was worth it all to be with Cole. I loved him so much and he loved me too. If I had to fight just to leave my house every morning, then it was a fair trade. I would never let them get between us again.

  Thankfully, the reporters hadn’t thought to look for me at school yet. After I parked, I was able to get inside without any further drama. A sick feeling in my stomach told me it wouldn’t be for long.

  I’m not afraid to admit I spent all day hiding from everyone. In classes it was easy, I just pretended to listen really intently to the teacher. In between classes and at break times it was trickier.

  One bonus: I now knew the school librarian very well. Mrs. Francis and I were best buds now we’d spent one lunchtime together. She’d never even heard of Two Dimension.

  When the final bell rang for the day, I only had to make it home without speaking with anyone and I would be free for the night. One final task, that’s all.

  It was tricky but I was ready. My bag was packed and I would bypass my locker. The moment the bell trilled, I ran out of there.

  While everyone else dawdled or chatted, I was already in the parking lot. I stepped up my pace and jumped into my car. I was home in record time.

  The reporters had left, which may have been due to my call to the police earlier. I told them my home was being trespassed and a bored cop said they’d send a car when they could.

  I stepped into the house and breathed a long sigh of relief.

  Then I screamed.

  Chapter Eight

  Cole was sitting in my living room. The wonderful, famous, talented Cole Newton was sitting on my second-hand couch with a no-brand cookie in his hand. My father was sitting next to him.

  There was something so wrong about the scene in front of me that I thought I might just have stepped into the Twilight Zone.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, to both of them, really. My father should have been at work and Cole should have been somewhere fabulous.

  Cole stood and crossed the room, giving me a careful hug. He was still scared of my dad, who had the philosophy that if anyone hurt his daughters, he hurt them.

  “Why are you here?” I repeated.

  “Scott told us to take a week off while things settle down,” Cole replied. He shoved his hands into his pockets. I’d never seen him so coy before. I really hoped my father hadn’t given him another lecture while they were alone.

  “So you came here? To spend your break with me?” My little brain was having all kinds of trouble connecting the dots.

  Cole nodded. “Yeah, of course. There’s no other place I’d rather be.”

  “Aww, that’s so sweet.” I reached up, ready for a kiss, but then quickly returned to my original spot. There were some things I didn’t want my father to witness. Affection with my boyfriend was one of th
em.

  “We were supposed to be in the studio recording our next album, but that isn’t happening anymore. Scott thought we could use a break to hide from all the media chasing us.”

  “I’m glad you’re here.” I looked around Cole at my dad. “And what are you doing home so early? Shouldn’t you be at work?”

  My dad stood, looking almost as awkward as Cole. “We had a fire alarm go off, the boss gave us all the afternoon off while they investigated. I came home and found this guy in the backyard.”

  “You were in the backyard?” I arched my eyebrows in question.

  Cole shrugged. “I didn’t want your neighbors calling the police to report a weird kid lurking around your house.”

  He would have had to jump over the fence to get into the backyard. The thought of Cole doing that made me want to giggle. Doing all the dance routines the band did meant he was fit, I guessed jumping over a fence was nothing in comparison.

  The front door opened, hitting me in the back. I quickly moved away so it could open all the way. Jemma was still waving to her friend’s mom for giving her a lift home. I waited for her to turn around and realize Cole was there.

  She turned.

  And froze.

  Jemma’s jaw dropped open as she stared at Cole. She had met him before but I think a little part of her always wondered if it was only a dream. Your big sister dating someone famous didn’t really happen all that often.

  “You remember my sister Jemma,” I said.

  Cole nodded and smiled in return. He crouched down to be eye level with her. “Hey, Jemma. Did you have a good day at school?”

  She was still frozen in place. I gave her a gentle nudge, trying to make her move again like a normal human being. All of a sudden she shrieked and ran at Cole, jumping into his arms for a hug.

  That was pretty much my reaction too.

  My wonderful boyfriend scooped Jemma up in his arms and twirled her around. “It’s so good to see you again, Jemma.”

  She giggled before Cole returned her to the floor. She skittled off toward her room, as happy as she could possibly be.

  I gave Cole a thankful look before Dad suggested we start the dinner. From then onwards it was all domestic bliss as we cooked together. With my father always hovering nearby, we couldn’t really talk but it was nice anyway.