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Chapter 3

Frida turned out to be right about one thing: Gabriel Luna is a great singer-songwriterAnd – truth be told – he was pretty cute too He wasn’t one of those music-company-fabricated pretty boysthe ones Frida and her friends are always freaking out over on TRL or whateverNor did he seeically placed, look-at-st ers, eyeliner Gabriel, as far as I could tell (which wasn’t easy, since there was quite a crowd between us and the stage on which he was perfor), appeared to be tattoo and make-up freeHe was even dressed sort of normally, in a button-down shirt and jeans His hair was choppily cut and a little too long (though not compared to Christopher’s), and very dark in contrast to his so blue eyes (not, you know, that I noticed), but it still looked good His hair, I lish accent – that got tocalled for it – his voice filled the Broadway Tunes and Soundtracks section of SoHo Stark Megastore, where the e had been set up for hi for discount CDs couldn’t help but pause with their Stark shopping baskets to listen, because Gabriel’s voice was so coe with a fast dance nule from his new album And it was, I have to ad to itBut, you know, secretly, so Christopher wouldn’t notice, since I knew he’d make souitar he’d been using to accoular one, and went acoustic for his second nu on a stoolAnd OK, I’ll adht have swooned a little I had a hard ti h Ian actual teeny-bopperfestAt least until it caned That’s when reality ca back, as we found ourselves surrounded by asparkly low-rise jeans exactly like Frida’s, and all clutching slips of paper on which they’d written the name to who with their cellphone number Just in case Gabriel happened to ask for itWhat had been a ical fewat you,’ I assured Frida as we stood in the long (did I raph‘Yes he is,’ Frida insisted as she waved ‘He’s looking right atbeside us Good friend that he is, Christopher had co to lend me moral supportand also to check out Stark’s electronics section, which was featuring a newly released, Stark-designed hand-held gah that you could actually play tactic-style ga them for under a hundred bucksChristopher and I are ethically opposed to Stark Megastoresbut we’re not above taking advantage of their heavily slashed discount prices‘He’s looking at her ’ Christopher pointed towards a plas above our heads, showing Nikki Howard – looking coolly beautiful in a filainst a hot-pink background, gyrating in ti rock music that filled the storeThere were dozens – maybe hundreds – of similar plasma screens suspended by thick wires fro all over the store, each featuring Nikki Howard in various states of undress, urging patrons to try Stark Enterprises’ new line of clothing and beauty products, which would be available exclusively in Stark Megastores ide in the new year‘He’s probably trying to see if she’s got anything on under there,’ Christopher joked‘Gabriel doesn’t think of women as sex objects,’ Frida sniffed with the lance in the direction Christopher was pointing ‘I know I read it in his intervieith COSMOgirl! He respects women with brains ’I nearly choked on estion that Nikki Howard had a brainFrida got defensive right away ‘She does!’ she insisted ‘What other seventeen-year-old do you knoho’s gotten asand product-endorse – nothing Seriously, how could you not know that? Don’t you people do anything but play that stupid video ga on about how out of touch Christopher and I ith our own generation, considering the rockall around us (except that it was all right, since it was Gabriel’sthe storeNot all of theh A lot of them, in fact, were there for an entirely different reason: to make trouble Every fewanother protester frouished frouesand the paintball guns they all see beneath their trench coats Their priets were the plasic locations) by giant blobs of yellow paintIn other words, the place was a zoo Which meant that Frida was in her ele in all the excite her friends, letting the snaps with her ca as she pointed her phone in Gabriel’s direction – even though ere still so far away he was only going to appear as a white-shirted blob to whoever she was sending the photo, ‘Gabriel’s deeply spiritualand intellectual Just like I am ’I choked on another free sample of Stark Cola‘I am!’ Frida insisted ‘Just because I’m not a math and science dork like some peopleBesides, Gabriel says what ht,’ I said sarcastically ‘I’ than Nikki Howard ’Christopher got a good laugh out of that one – even though as I said it I was sort of hoping it was true But Frida didn’t find it funny at all‘I’ me an injured look‘Frida ’ I stared at her with my mouth open ‘I didn’t s‘Maybe you think of yourself that way,’ Frida said stiffly ‘But don’t drag me down to your level, Em At least I make an effort ’‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ I demanded‘Well, look at you,’ she saidI looked at ht be, in her stilettos and bikini and spray-on tan, or Whitney Robertson, with her flirty skirts and sexy ca with jeans, a hoody and Converse?Frida was only too eager to tell uy,’ she coure, but it’s not like anybody could ever tell thanks to how baggy you wear your clothes And have you ever even tried to do anything with your hair except throw it back in a scrunchy, which, by the way, are completely 2002? At least I try to look nice ’I could feelStark Megastore lightingIt’s one thing to be dissed by your little sister But it’s another thing entirely to be dissed by her in front of the guy you’ve been secretly crushing on since the seventh grade‘Gosh, I’ Really, did I need this? I didn’t even want to be in this stupid store, in this stupid line, to uy who, OK, was cute, but who I’d practically never heard of before thisa perfectly nice ti to reach level sixty of Journeyquest with Christopher The last thing I needed on one of my rare days off from that hellhole otherwise known as Tribeca Alternative was this ‘I didn’t knoas supposed to conform to some random standard of beauty dictated by some tween-queen fashion hter‘Tween queen Good one,’ he said I felt my

blush turn into a flush Of pleasure Because Christopher had appreciated soone It’s sad really‘Anyway’ Christopher went on, ‘I think Eht I looked fine! My heart soared I reatest co called earth-shatteringly gorgeous I was pretty sure I’d died and gone to heaven‘and at least she’s not so at the screen above our heads‘Yeah,’ I said, throwing Frida a triumphant look Fine! Christopher said I looked fine!But Frida was barely even paying attention‘For your information,’ she snapped, ‘Nikki Howard has taken the beauty and fashion industry by storest models ever to have done so Nikki and her friends—’‘Oh, here we go ’ I rolled my eyes ‘A lecture on the FONs ’‘What’s an FON?’ Christopher wanted to know‘Friend of Nikki’s,’ I translated ‘According to last irl! she runs with a whole posse of FFBFs ’‘Waitwhat’s an FFBF?’ Christopher looked even more confused If it didn’t have to do with a coame, Christopher often didn’t knohat it was This hat set hiuy at TAHS‘You know People who are in theFaet famous – because they don’t have any talent? They’re usually rich people’s kids, like Nikki’s on-again-off-again boyfriend, Brandon Stark ’ I was in a good mood, on account of the fine remark, so I lowered my voice to sound like a television news announcer: ‘Nineteen-year-old son of billionaire Stark Enterprises owner Robert Stark Or celebutantes, like Tihter, Lulu The Tim Collins,’ I went on ‘Who directed the Journeyquest movie ’Christopher’s jaw dropped ‘And completely ruined it?’‘That’d be the one,’ I said ‘Lulu’s an FON ’‘Why do you guys have to be sofun you look down on ’‘That’s not true,’ Christopher said, cru, the contents of which he’d scarfed earlier, and stuffing it into the pocket of his copious jeans Christopher had zeroed in on the bags of cookies Stark was giving away for free, and seized as many as his pockets could hold for us to snack on later The Commander doesn’t allow junk food in the house ‘We don’t look down on Journeyquest Well, the ga sucked ’‘Besides that stupid co that Gabriel’s voice was still boo over the speakers above us ‘I like ht,’ Frida said ‘Name one popular musician you listen to And don’t name any of that horrible metal crap Christopher likes, either ’‘One popular musician?’ I raised an eyebrow ‘Fine How aboutTchaikovsky?’‘Nice one,’ Christopher said with a burst of laughter and an approving nod ‘Mahler He’s good too ’‘Too dour,’ I said ‘Beethoven ’‘That dude is rad,’ Christopher said, raising his fists – thuht – in a rocker’s salute to Beethoven ‘Beethoven rulesher head into her hands inher chu, are we?’‘Yes,’ she muruys look down on everything normal people like? Like Nikki Howard and her friends –’It was kind of funny that as Frida said this, Nikki Howard herself actuallywith some of her friends – before usExcept that Frida didn’t notice right away Iin front of her Well, practicallyThat’s because Frida was too busy defending her idol to on about feminism, Em,’ Frida went on ‘Well, do you really think Nikki would have gotten where she is today – the Face of Stark, one of the highest-earning ht now – if she weren’t a feminist?’‘Uh,’ I said Because I couldn’t believe the person ere arguing about alking past us‘And I don’t see how you can even call yourself a feminist, Em,’ Frida went on, oblivious, ‘when you are so totally irl, like you are ’Except that I could see with irl – let alone a girl like I a, she was about a foot taller (thanks to a pair of five-inch heels, but even without them, she had to have been about five foot ten), and about half as wide as me Seriously Two of her would have fitted into my jeansAnd for another, her shiny blonde hair flowed smoothly down past her elbows, not a strand out of place, even though she was practically running – despite her heels – across the store Strangely, her fil it was supposed to toodespite the fact that it was the lowest-cut thing I’d ever seen – aside from what Whitney Robertson wore to school last year on Picture Day How did Nikki keep those thin straps of material over her nipples, anyway? Double-sided tape? I’d heard about that kind of thing of course, but never had a chance to observe its use in real lifeAnd it was a good thing too (that Nikki had thought to use tape to hold in her breasts, which weren’t huge enough to need their own zip codes or anything, but – unlike my own – definitely stood to attention when called to duty)Because she was carrying a tiny ball of fluff that appeared, at first glance, to be a po frantically to burrow its head between her boobs and get away frohts and sounds in the store If it hadn’t been for the tape keeping hiht inside Nikki’s dressFrida was still going on about what a bad example of feminism I am (about which, can I just say, Hello, Pot? This is Kettle Yeah, you’re black), co on behind her – even though everybody else in line was staring, slack-jawed, at the rapidly approaching superent or publicist (red-haired lady with a briefcase jabbering into a headset), hairdresser ( a can of hairspray) and the Number One FON herself, Lulu Collins, an equally skinny, equally pretty seventeen-year-old girl in a faux snakeskin-print wrap-dress, who couldn’t see at her Sidekick, even to watch where she was goingI swear, it was just like at school when Whitney and Lindsey and the rest of the Walking Dead start theirto their lockers Every single person in the vicinity just stopped talking and stared as if transfixedAnd not just the people all around us either I noticed that Nikki had caught Gabriel Luna’s attention as well He was still s CDs (and their phone nu a pretty close eye on Nikkias, I ht add, was ChristopherIt was at that moment that Frida finally turned round to see what Christopher – hisatAnd cood,’ Frida cried, waving her free hand (the other was still clutching her cell) in front of her face as if she were fanning tears frood, it’s her It’s her It’s HER!’‘I don’t knohat you’re talking about, Free,’ Christopher said ‘That Gabriel guyat her chest ’‘U – with dissatisfaction – the direction of Christopher’s gazeHe realized what I ht red But I noticed he didn’t look awayFunny how, all of a sudden, I wasn’t feeling so fine anyraphs I have to!’But at that veryfor the past hour reached the very table that, mere minutes before, had seemed so very far away and out of reach Gabriel Luna hi distance Heck, he ithin TOUCHING dis

tanceNot that, you knoas going to reach out and grab a big hunk of his shirt, or anything I’ I could have If I’d wanted toUp close, he looked even better than on stage Up close, I could tell he definitely didn’t have any tattoos Nor was he wearing eyeliner His eyes really were that blue And his gaze really was that piercingExcept that it wasn’t looking anywhere near lued to Nikki‘Frida ’ I found aze from Gabriel Luna as he was apparently unable to tear his oay from Nikki Howard ‘Uh Frida?’Except that when my sister didn’t reply, and when I finally forced myself to look in her direction, I saw that Frida had actually stepped froe – not like sheit, but like she simply couldn’t resist the pull of Nikki’s celebritykind of like how Leander was drawn into the Dark Castle by the bea of Ashanti in the Journeyquest movie (which sucked)‘Frida?’ I called after her Then, realizing that Gabriel Luna had finally stopped staring at Nikki and was instead looking curiously at me, I turned towards him slowly and heard myself murmur, ‘Um Hi ’‘Hi,’ Gabriel said back And then he s level sixty in Journeyquest No, it was even better than thatit was like waking up in the o, ‘Guess what? They just cancelled school It’s a Snow Day’ Seriously, that’s what his save me a jolt of pleasure that was alWhich is weird, because I’d felt so very similar just minutes before when Christopher had calledOf course I couldn’t say anything Of course I could only stand there gazing at hi how anyone so beautiful could be real, and not a product of airbrushing or computer anieous English accent‘U to ? Where was Frida? Where the frack was FRIDA? ‘Em ’‘Em?’ Gabriel smiled some more ‘Short for E withto cute boys Because normally, all the cute boys I met – Christopher excepted of course – were sexist creeps who needed to be taken down a peg or two They weren’t sweet British hotties with a voice like an angel and blue eyes that seemed to pierce my soul ‘No’‘Do you have a CD you’d like for ly at my e ‘My sister –’I spun round to find Frida and ran s at Nikki Only noore a look of concern ‘Uh, Em,’ he said ‘Look –’What happened next seemed to unfold as if it was in a drea towards Nikki Howard and her posseAt the sa nearby suddenly throw open his trench coat to reveal an ELF T-shirtalong with a paintgun A Megastore security guy in an earpiece, seeing this at the sarabbed Nikki by the wrist and jerked her back Meanwhile, Paintgun Guy, grinning balefully, raised his rifle and fired at the plas an enormous yellow splotch across the screen where Nikki’s boobs had been Actually, it looked like she’d been eating a hot dog withthat happens to me not infrequentlyOnly this ti it fro First one wire popped Then a second oneAnd standing directly beneath it stoodher pen towards Nikki for an autograph‘Frida! Move!’ I yelled,a lurchI darted forward to push her out of the way just as the last wire holding the giant television in place broke with a pinging sound that was easily audible, even over the astore’s speakersAnd then the whole thing ca downOn meAnd – just like in Journeyquest, when Iwent black