Chapter 3

My parents just fought through the crowd of fans and paparazzi to board their plane. Now it's my turn.

Except i'm not boarding a plane. Just fighting through the crowd.

"Rory!"

"Rory!"

"Miss Pinnock!"

I knew they would find me at some point, I just hoped it wouldn't be this soon. Great.

"Who's with you?"

"Is this your boyfriend?"

I just followed the body guard that's been assigned to me for the week and ignored the paparazzi. My head body guard is on vacation and won't be back until the end of the week. Just in time for school.

Along with my body guard missing, is my fashion stylist. Sam was suppose to be in already, but he called just before his flight was suppose to take off and said he was in the middle of a family crisis.

Apparently, at his cousin's wedding, everyone found out that she was pregnant with another man and that her sister was pregnant with the groom. Yeah. That family should be in a soap opera.

Anyway, he said he's not sure when he will be able to come down now, but if he can't make it before school starts, he will send me a list of outfits to wear.

I could tell Cal was trying to stay calm with the whole situation, but I could also see he was freaked out. This was his first time to experience the attention my fame brings. So far he's taking the situation okay. My family had managed to stay under the radar for the past few days, but we knew it wouldn't last for long.

The body guard led us to my aunt's car, then got in himself. Aunt Carol started the car and sped away to get away from the following vans. She was determined to keep the location of her house a secret. After a few shortcuts and a couple of sketchy looking back roads, we made it back home, alone might I add.

"Aunt Carol, you seem like you've done this before," I said with a smile.

"Oh yes. When your mom was just starting to become famous, we lived in an apartment together. I was only around her fame maybe a year though because Trip proposed, we got married, and soon after, moved here.

I was able to experience a bit if the phenomenon before I moved though. I tell you what, there is nothing like it," Aunt Carol said.

I giggled at her country accent that was present in that monologue. Overall, she had a "regular" accent, but every once on a while, I could hear her country accent show through.

Cal virtually didn't have one, but certain words he said had a bit of an accent in them.

"So I know Cal needs to get some last minute school supplies. Do you as well Rory," Aunt Carol asked me with a glance at me in the passenger seat.

"Yes, I think so. I'm pretty sure I have most everything plus some, but there are a few things I forgot."

"Okay. Office Depot, here we come."

Not even 5 minutes later we pulled into the parking lot of a little mall. And when I say little i don't mean the mall was cute, it was literally really little. This place doesn't even look like it's more than one level! What kind of a mall is this?

"I'm going to go next door for a second. I need to get a couple of new bras," Aunt Carol told me and Cal.

"Mom," Cal exclaimed.

I started giggling while Cal whined about how embarassing his mom was.

"Callan, buying new bras are a part of life. Now deal with it," Aunt Carol said turning to walk into Victoria's Secret. "I'll meet you guys at Office Depot once i'm done," she called over her shoulder.

"Quick. Get inside before people associate us with my mom," Callan whispered, pulling me into the store behind him.

"Right," I laughed. "That would be just dreadful."

"No, it would be embarassing," he said with a serious look on his face.

I laughed again before ruffling his hair and walking over to the pens section.

Cal and I have grown really close these past few days. I've gotten to know so much about him it's like we have grown up together. I wish we had. Maybe if I would have known how much fun he is I would have insisted getting to see him more often.

Turns out, we have a bathroom that connects our rooms which makes it really easy for me to just walk over to his room without going into the hallway. We made an agreement that he let me have all the counter space I needed, if I let him take long showers without complaining.

"Let's see. What pen screams 'i'm the best'?"

"Hum...How about-," before Callan can finish his sentence, we are interupted by a group of little girls.

"Oh my gosh! Your Rory Pinnock!"

I love my fans, but hopefully I can get this group of girls to stay quiet. I made my body guard stay at home, insisting that I would be fine.

"Hi. Do you girls want a picture," I asked them.

There were three of them, but only two were talking. The third was was just standing there with her mouth open and her eyes huge. I guess she has never seen anyone famous in real life.

"Yes please," the tallest exclaimed, grabbing the other two's arms, and scambling over to stand next to me.

"Cal, do you mind taking a picture of us," I asked him, holding the iPhone one of the little girls gave me.

Seriously? An iPhone this young? What has this world come to?

"Sure," he said taking the phone. "Everyone say Lalapalooza."

I laughed as he said that while the girls tried to pronounce the word.

"Thank you so much! We are such huge fans!"

"Yeah! We especially love the episode of 'Loving Red' you were in."

"I dressed up as you for Halloween!"

They were saying one thing right after another and I didn't even know how they could talk that fast, much less think of what they were going to say next.

I laughed before squatting down so I could be more eye level with them.

"You know what girls, I think you are all right. You girls might just be my biggest fans," I told them with a sincere smile.

"Really," the one girl who was shocked at the beginning asked.

"Absolutely, but I need you girls to do me a favor?"

"Anything," they all said at the same time.

"I need you to keep seeing me a secret for a little while. I don't want the paparazzi to find me just yet. Can you girls do that? It can be our little secret," I asked with a hopeful smile.

"Can I tell my mom?"

"Yes, but no one else. Got it?"

"Okay," they exclaimed after exchanging side glances

They threw out more compliments before hugging me and skipping away.

"How cute were they," I asked Cal with a smile.

"A little overbearing. I'm glad I don't have a younger sister," he said scrunching his nose up a bit.

"Oh come up. I bet you would love her if you had one," I said lightly punching him in the shoulder.

"I guess, but i'm just grateful I don't have one. I don't think I would be able to handle her," he said running a hand through his hair. "So should we get back to our shopping. I have a lot to buy."

"Yes. Okay. I'm just going to get this pack of pens because it's the biggest one," I said reaching up to grab a pack of multi-colored pens.

"Alright. Lets move along. Lots to get done," he said pulling me to the next aisle with folders and binders down it.

Before I was even able to catch my breath, someone was calling out Callan's name.

We both turned to the right to see a tall, lanky boy standing at the end of the aisle. Cal seemed to know him because he went down there and gave him one of those guy hugs with the hand shake thing.

As I walked closer to the teenage boy, I saw he was pretty cute. He had bright, blue eyes, but dark, brown hair that contrasted with his eyes and made them pop out. I take back what I said about him being cute, he was hot.

"Oh Ashton, this is-"

"Rory Pinnock," the guy, Ashton apparently, answered for him.

"Yeah. I'm assuming you've seen her on TV or something," Cal replied.

"Yeah, something like that...," he trailed off, still staring at me.

I cleared my throat and waited for somebody to say something. Anything.

"I'm Ashton Hayes, by the way," he said holding out his hand for me to shake.

"Rory," I said giving his hand a firm shake.

"So how do you know this goof ball," he asked, taking Cal in a head lock and messing up is hair.

Cal pulled away and scowled at him, before fixing his hair again.

"Um, well, we're cousins."

"Remember, I told you I had a cousin coming to stay with me for senior year. Well...," Cal said, then motioned with his head towards me.

"Really? Wow. Did not see that coming. I guess I see a bit of a resemblence now that you mention it though," Ashton said looking between the both of us. "So you're going to River High for senior year?"

"That's the plan," I told him.

"What made you want to leave your fabulous life to come here?"

"Uhh..Well..I just wanted to experience high school and take a break, I guess."

I didn't plan on spilling my problems to a guy I just met so that was the excuse I came up with.

"Well, you will soon see you have not been missing anything," Ashton said with a smile towards me.

Oh my gosh! His smile is beautiful. They match his eyes.

What am I saying?

I quickly jumped out of my trance and tried to remember what he said.

Oh. Right. Normal is boring.

"Sometimes it's good to take a break though. Living my life is a lot harder than it looks. The only way i'm able to survive is because of all the people working for me."

"Right. Sorry to break up your little get-to-know-you session, but we have to keep shopping," Cal directed at Ashton.

"Of course. Sorry to hold you up Mr. Wesley," Ashton joked while Cal pushed his shoulder.

"It was very nice to meet you Rory Pinnock. I'll see you soon," Ashton said, walking away from us.

"I hope so," I added as he turned and smiled his heavenly smile before walking away.

"Are you going to hit on all of my friends like that or just him?"

"Oh. Shut up," I told Cal, as I felt heat creep upon my face.

He laughed and followed me to the next aisle as we shopped for more supplies.

****

When we arrived home there was a package waiting on the steps and a huge smile on Aunt Carol's mouth.

"It's finally here," she cheered, picking up the box and bringing it inside.

"What's here," I asked as I walked inside after Cal.

"Your present," Aunt Carol told me as she set the box on the kitchen counter and turned to me.

"Well. Aren't you going to open it?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sure," I said stupidly, while I fumbled with the shipping tape.

The last time I opened a box like this there was a Vuitton purse in it so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.

I opened the box and saw a some kind of purple pattern through a plastic bag. I quickly pulled the bag out of the box to examine what was inside the clear packaging.

I ripped open the bag to find a comforter, sheet, and two pillow cases all with a gray and purple pattern to match my walls. It was the cutest things ever!

"I love these!"

I picked up the bag and brought it to my room to see how it would look up next to everything. It was perfect!

I wasn't able to find a cute bedding set when I went shopping for my room at the beginning of the week and now I'm glad I didn't.

"This is the best! Thank you so much," I exclaimed to my aunt and cousin that were standing at my doorway, smiling at me.

This year is going to be the best yet. I'll get to focus on school (something I've never been able to do before) and hopefully, I'll have a great time making friends and having fun.

****

This year was going to be terrible if I had to wake up this early everyday. I had to wake up early plenty to shoot TV episodes every once in while, but that's the thing, it's only every once in a while, not everyday.

"Ugh," I groaned for the fifth time this morning.

I had to wake up at 5 o'clock AND there was no one to help me get ready. This was going to be a disaster. As predicted, since Sam wasn't here, he sent over a very descriptive list of outfits that I could wear to school. He also noted that he would do this each week so I wouldn't look like, quote " a fashion drag that didn't know how to wear half her clothes."

I know I probably sound like a whiny brat, but that's it, i'm spoiled brat who has always had someone to help her. The only person I have today is my body guard, Johnny. He is going to school with me for a few days to see how crowd control is. If things go well, he will only go to public places with me.

If things are crazy at school though, he stays with me at all times. I hope things go well for Johnny's sake. He already had to go through high school once, why should he have to go through it again with me.

Even though he kinda signed up for this, i'm pretty sure someone also guilted him into it. Either that or Mom and Dad raised his pay. No sane person would want to follow a teenage girl around everywhere she goes. Well, except maybe perverts.

Anyway, Johnny is pretty awesome. He can make the best out of just about every situation. He is staying at the family hotel, which is about 30 minutes away from the house.

Right. I should start getting ready.

****

Two hours later, I was dressed and almost ready to go. I tried to dress casual with a black and white striped shirt (courtesy of Marc Jacobs), a Chloe light pink, flowy skirt that hit just above my knee, some nude, peep-toe pumps, and a large, multi-colored statement necklace to finish off the look.

My hair wasn't perfect, but it was going to have to work. And I went for a nuetral colored palette for my make-up.

I was putting finishing on my outfit when I heard Cal's alarm clock go off. I looked at the clock and saw he had 30 minutes to get ready before we left. Typical guy.

I decided to go see what was for breakfast since I was sure Aunt Carol would be cooking for our firstt day. I think she was more excited about it than we were.

"Good Morning," I called to Aunt Carol, as I took a seat at the island/bar. She was in the middle of flipping pancakes and I could hear the familar sizzle of bacon. Yum.

"Good Morning! My, don't you look beautiful," she complimented, as put the bacon onto a plate. Man, I really love bacon.

Focus! She just called you beautiful. Thank her.

"Thank You. I was worried I wouldn't be able to pull together a look since I normally have someone to help me, but it seems I did okay," I replied. "Not to sound cocky," I quickly added.

"No, dear. That's just confidence. Glad to see you have some. Not many teens do now-a-days."

"Oh, can I help you cook anything? I'm sorry I didn't offer sooner," I tell Aunt Carol, as she slaves over the food.

"No, no. I'm about finshed anyway. You just worry about staying pretty," she said with a firm nod.

I laugh and keep up a conversation until the wonderful food is ready. I scarf down 3 pancakes, 5 pieces of bacon, and 2 glasses of orange juice in a 10 minute time span.

Cal finally decided to make an appearance as I thought about eating his share of bacon.

"Aww man. I was just planning on eating your share of bacon. Why did you have to show up," I complain.

"Sorry to disappoint," he joked, while grabbing a heaping plate of everything along with an overflowing glass of juice.

I checked the clock and saw that we had ten minutes before we had to leave.

"We leave in ten minutes so enough chit-chat and eat up."

"But you're the one that's-," Cal complained before I cut him off.

"Eat!"

He made a face at me before continuing to stuff his mouth.

Gross.

Guys are disgusting, especially if you're related to them.

"Hey! You guys better get going. I want Rory to have enough time to explore the school a bit," Aunt Carol said, appearing out of nowhere.

I guess she walked out of the kitchen when I was messing with Cal.

"But Mom, i just started eating," Cal complained as food fell out of his mouth.

She what I mean, disgusting.

"Well, if you would stop talking, you would already be done by now," she scolded, waving a spatula at his face.

"That's what I told him, Aunt Carol. He just doesn't listen," I said with a remorseful tone.

Having a background in acting can come in handy.

"Oh. What am I going to o with you," she said before walking back out of the kitchen.

Cal just glared at me as he shoveled food into his mouth.

"Get a move on kids," I heard Aunt Carol yell from another room.

"Alright, we're leaving women," Cal said as he put his plate in the sink and grabbed his backpack.

I grabbed my keys, my Louis Vuitton backpack and newly added, purse from the counter and followed the retreating figure to my car.

"Are you ready for this," Cal asked.

"No, but i'll survive."

I turned on the radio to find that the fates were on my side and the song 'I Will Survive' was playing.

I realy hope this goes okay

****

This next chapter is Rory's first day at school. You will meet a lot of new characters so try to keep up. Ha Ha. What do you think of Callan? He's been pretty laid back so far. I don't know how long that will last.

You know the drill. Vote. Comment. Fan.

Have a lovely day!!

xx