Page 32 of Shy Girls Can't Date Rockstars
“So, what?” she presses. “Are you friends? Related?”
I stab at my salad, adding more force every time she adds another syllable. She’s trying to work me out. Am I somebody, or nobody?
Can’t a nobody just sit at a lunch table and be ignored? Please. Please give me that option.
“Come on, I live for this stuff,” Madison says, tapping her fingers along the tabletop. “It’s so fun chatting to anyone with celebrity adjacency.”
“Celebrity adjacency?”
“Sure. You didn’t think you were special, did you?” Madison rests her chin in her palm. “Let’s see, there’s the girl who started dating the Ashworth heir.”
“The what, now?”
Madison giggles. “Thomas Ashworth the third.”
“Thethird?”
“He goes by Ash. And, well, he’s the top-tier celebrity at this school. He and his sister, but she graduated early.” Madison’s eyes lazily wander the cafeteria. “And then there’s the girl who started dating Wyatt Hayes.”
“Wyatt Hayes? The singer who stars in all those corny rom-coms?”
“Yeah, he went to this school before he got famous. I mean, blink and you missed it. I sure don’t remember him from back then.”
“Okay, wow. So Ryder isn’t that special?”
Madison winces. “I wouldn’t say that. He’s literally blowing up right now. Everyone wants a piece of him. So they can say they hang with the rockstar.”
“Oh boy. So does everyone hate me for having a flimsy connection to him?”
Madison swats a hand like it’s no biggy. “You’re just today’s rumor. Don’t stress too much.”
“And did those girls with celebrity boyfriends only stress for one day?”
Madison’s teeth sink into her bottom lip. “Umm, well…”
I shake my head. “Thanks.”
“But as for you, Alice.” She flicks her hair, her voice getting wispy. “You’re one big question mark. Like, I heard Ryder went off about you in English. Someone asked about it in third period, and apparently he warned, like,everyoneto stay well away from you.”
I drop my fork with a clunk. “Then why are you here?”
Madison grins with her chin glued to her palm. “Because there’s gotta be a good story behind him hating you so much.”
I fling my salad across the table and kick my chair back as I stand.
Madison grunts, flinging lettuce off her blazer. “Ugh. What’s wrong with you?”
“I could ask you the same thing, Madison.” I hate the way my voice trembles. “You were already warned to stay away from me.”
I leave the lunch table, feeling the sting of multiple eyes following me. Laughter and gossip trails behind me, speculating about my abrupt outburst.
Just get out of here, Alice. Get out.
I burst into the bathroom, turning the heads of two girls at the sinks. They look me up and down and then return to their conversation.
Phew.
I make my way to a stall, when one of them asks, “Oh, hey, aren’t you that girl?”
