Chapter 1

Stella’s POV:

I turn off my radio and cross my fingers. As I walk out the front door I say a silent prayer and whisper, “Please remember me.” The walk to the bus stop takes only a few seconds but it feels like a million years. I stand in silence as I wait, the bus pulls up and I get on along with several other students. While I sit quietly, i can hear Kelly bragging to her friend Brooke about how she is certain that she will win the contest. I roll my eyes as she says that Jacob will surely remember her and even if he doesnt that he would see her picture and choose her.

“I wore a really low cut shirt and made sure that the camera was angled down.” she says with a smirk. “Oh hi there Stella, did you enter the contest to spend a week with Jacob Star?”

I nod my head hoping that she won't continue talking to me.

“Well I’m sorry but he would definitely not pick you. He probably doesn't even remember a loser like you,” she says coldly.

I just ignore her and looked out the window at the passing cars. Although my back is turned to her, I can feel Kelly smiling at Brooke.

I know what you are thinking, who is Jacob Star and why is he so important? Jacob is an extremely famous pop singer who used to go to my school before he became famous. Recently he started a contest called “A Week With Star”. Everyone in my school entered, hoping that he would remember them. Jacob was always really popular at school. He was good-looking, funny, and he could sing. And just so you know, I'm not popular. I’m not weird or mean, and I’m not that random geek who no one knows the name of. I'm just, normal. But, even though Jacob was always super popular, we became really good friends in the second and third grade. But then peer pressure got to him and the next year he acted like he didn't know me.

I was crushed by this of course, but whenever someone said something mean to me, Jacob would be by my side in an instant to make them go away. I guess we never stopped being friends on the inside. But on the outside, it would ruin his popularity to be seen talking to me. All the popular people have a very good chance of winning, and I wouldn't be surprised if Kelly won. She dated Jacob in the seventh grade and I’m sure her picture will be very enticing. I am in tenth grade now and Jacob left at the beginning of eighth grade. I think to myself that he won't even remember any of us. This makes my heart sink to the ground, but I didn't even have a chance to begin with so i guess it doesn't really matter.

The bus comes to a sharp halt at the front of the school and I stumble out onto the concrete sidewalk. After homeroom all of the teachers have to turn the tv onto channel 8 so that we can all watch some random person win a week with Jacob. I close the door to my locker and weave my way through the piles of folders, pencil cases, and binders strewn across the floor in front of the lockers. As I hop over a backpack I hear someone call my name. I turn to see who it is and see my best friend Kylie standing in front of my with a wide smile.

“Are you excited?!?!” She asks.

“Not really, but I think you are.” I say with a confused look, “May I ask why?”

“Come on Stella! Think of how amazing it would be to spend a week with Jacob! I know you like his music, you can't deny that.” She says with a frown.

“I do like his music, I just don't think we should get our hopes up. I mean, he probably doesn't remember any of us.” I say with an exasperated sigh.

We walk into homeroom and drop into our desks. Thankfully we sit next to each other so i always have someone to talk to. The energy in the room could knock you over. Everyone is talking about the contest. I lean my head back and close my eyes. I have almost blocked out the noise completely when Kylie reaches over and shakes my arm. I open my eyes and turn to glare at her.

“What?” I ask impatiently.

“It’s almost time!” she replies, almost shrieking with delight.

I roll my eyes and turn to the flickering tv screen. Mrs. Harrell changes the channel and a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair comes on the screen. She turns to a man in a suit who tells us about the weather and then the camera goes to another man who talks about traffic. Finally, after what seems like hours, the screen shows the woman again.

“Thank you for watching Channel 8 news! Today we are going to be the first place for you to find out who won a week with Jacob Star!” She says cheerily.

Another scene comes on the screen, its some sort of conference and I can see Jacob sitting in the corner while his manager answers questions from various reporters. The whole class sits in silence as we wait for the boring man to stop talking. You could hear a piece of dust fall on the ground and it would sound like an enormous explosion compared to the quiet that fills the whole school. Eventually the man steps down and Jacob hops up onto the small stage.

“Hey! Well, I guess you guys have been waiting long enough to see who won. And im sorry that you had to sit through that boring speech. But… i have to say one too. There were thousands of people who entered. My manager and some of his workers went through all of them and eliminated the definite nos but even after that there was still about a thousand applications that i had to look through. Let me just tell you that it was a long process and it was very hard to choose. But i would like to announce that the winner is…” he pauses here to take a small envelope from his pocket and tear it open,”Stella Valerio from Memphis, Tennessee. She goes to Mountain Brook High School and she is sixteen. Get ready Stella, cause we’re coming for you!”

Jacob smiles and Mrs. Harrell turns off the tv. I turn to Kylie with my mouth hanging open. Kylie screams and the whole room erupts with joyous and hateful shouts and screams. Whats going on? Did i just win! What the heck! My head starts spinning and i probably would have fainted but Kylie grabs my arm and yanks me out of my chair.

“YOU WON STELLA! YOU WON!!!!!!” She screams as she spins me around and jumps up and down.

“I WON!!!!” I scream back in her face as reality sets in.

The principle bursts into the room and has to shout over the yelling to ask which student is Stella Valerio. Mrs. Harrell pulls me over to him and he leads me out of the room while congratulating me. He more or less drags me down the hallway because the excitement has made it hard for me to walk. As I stumble into his office he pulls up a chair for me to sit in.

“Ms. Valerio, I would once again like to congratulate you.” He says with a wide smile.

“Yes, umm, thank you, but you’ve already said that eleven times sir.” I reply.

“Im sorry, its just an honor that he would choose someone from our school. But i guess it makes sense since he used to go to school at the middle school.” He flusters.

“Yeah, sooo… why am i in here?” I ask.

“Well, Jacob’s manager called to tell me that Jacob will be at your house by five o’clock tonight and that I need to send you home so that the makeup and hair crew can talk to you and get you ready.” He explains.

“Oh, so i get to miss school?” I ask with a grin.

“Yes, and since it’s the last week of school, and you won’t be doing much in your classes, you won’t have to make up for the work that you miss, if there is any.” He replies.

I calmly nod my head but on the inside I’m freaking out. This is amazing, i get to go spend a week with him and i don't have to worry about making up the school work that i missed. Does this mean that he remembers me or did he just think i seem nice? Who the heck cares?!?!? I think to myself, i almost hit my forehead with my hand but then i realize that i am still in the principal's office and he would just think that im weird. He gets up and opens the door for me. We walk out to the front of the school where my mother’s car is waiting.

****

Once I get home I see that its going to take a while to get the car into the garage. The paparazzi had already found my house somehow and they are swarming all over the front yard. They all have notepads and cameras, and their vans clog the street. After about half an hour of backing into the garage, I finally get inside. I bend over with my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath after fighting through the crowd of paparazzi that blocked our back door.

“That… was…” I start, gasping for breath between each word.

I am about to continue talking when someone else fills in the rest of my sentence for me.

“Annoying, frustrating, stupid, difficult, and I could go on and on. But you better get used to it.” The person says.

I look up to see who it is and i find the makeup and hair crew standing in front of me. I assume that the one in the front of the group with short black hair is the one who had spoken because she smiles at me and says hi.

“Hi, are you guys the hair and makeup people?” I ask, straightening up.

They all reply yes, yup, or yeah at the same time so it just kind of sounds like “yusepa”. But I take it as a yes and lead them into the living room. They all tell me their names and Jessica, the one with the short black hair, hands me a list of what i need to take with me. This is what it says:

You will need to bring the following things:
NOTHING.

I look up at Jessica with a confused look. And she smiles.

“You dont have to bring anything at all, everything will be provided for you. And you even get to keep the clothes that we give you to wear!” She explains.

After we talk about clothes, make up, pictures, and appearances we go into the dining room where they have set up their stuff. I can't believe how much stuff they have crammed into the room. There are piles of boxes full of makeup, multiple racks of clothing, thousands of shoes, and they even brought in a mirror. I must look pretty stupid as i stare at the room with my whole body frozen, because one of the attendants starts to giggle.

“Thats a lot of clothes. Do I have to try them all on?” I say, coming out of my state of shock.

“No, just the options for today. We need to pick an outfit for when you meet Jacob, one for when you get to the airport, and a pair of pajamas for you to wear tonight on the plane.” Chartreuse says.

I try on what seems like a billion outfits when we finally pick the one for when i first meet Jacob. I am going to wear a close-fitting, black, long-sleeve, crop top with light wash denim shorts that have four buttons going up the front. Jessica picks out a butterfly necklace and hot pink flats to go with my outfit. When I get it all on, they start to do my make up and hair.

“Your hair is gorgeous!” Mandy says with delight as she runs her hands through my long blonde hair.

I just smile and blush at her compliment. By the time they are done with my hair it has loose curls that somehow have tiny sparkles scattered on them. I start to thank Mandy but she cuts me off by saying that it's time to do my make up. The whole room sits in an awkward silence as she brushes powders, lip balm, and mascara on my face. When she is finished she turns my chair around. I open my eyes reluctantly and I am blown away by how beautiful I look.

“I...its… thank you.” I stutter.

“You’re welcome.” Mandy replies.

This seems to set off a bomb of compliments, “You look amazing!”, “You are so pretty!”, “Wow!”, “Jacob will love you!”. I blush and stand up from my chair to look at myself in a full length mirror. After I tell them thanks a billion times Jessica says that we still have to pick out the other two outfits as she pulls out a rack of beautiful dresses and another of cute pajamas. I sigh and walk over to the dress rack. Since I am already dressed i can't try them on but I hold them up to myself as i look in the mirror. The first five don't look good on me but the sixth one catches my eye. Its a peach/light pink, sequined, skater dress that shimmers with the slightest movement.

“This one.” I say firmly.

“That will look amazing on you Stella!” Jessica gapes.

I move to the pajama rack and look through the options I have. I eventually choose rainbow shorts with smiley faces on them, a black cami, and a light blue sweater that says “Girl” across the front.

“Jacob will be here in five minutes!” Chartreuse says excitedly.

Jessica and Mandy put my clothes for later on their own rack and lead me out of the room. It feels strange to be led around in your own house, it kind of makes you feel like you are the one thats out of place, even though its your house. We go into the living room and I sit down on the couch to wait. Jessica is the only one left now and she says only a few words of encouragement before leaving the room. I sit patiently and nervously. What if he doesn't like me because i’ve changed since we were little? What if he doesn't really remember me and he just chose me by chance? Thoughts of doubt race through my mind and I almost don't even notice the door creak open. I see Jacob standing in the doorway with his bodyguard in the background. I start to stand up then think better of it and sit back down, but then I get up again and sit back down.

“Sorry, I don't know if i should stand or sit.” I say, blushing profusely.

“Either one, but I'm going to sit so I think it would be better if you did to.” Jacob replies with a warm smile.

I automatically sit back down on the couch as he walks over and sits next to me. We sit in silence for awhile, him sitting there cooly, and me, well lets just say that my face can be compared to a tomato and inside i am freaking out.

“So… Stella,” Jacob starts,”are you excited?”

“Well, umm, yeah.” I stutter.

More silence.

“Actually,” I start, “ I was wondering, if… maybe you… remember me?”

“Remember you?!?! How could I ever forget you? We were best friends!” Jacob exclaims.

“Theres no reason to freak out, I was just wondering. Plus, after third grade we stopped being friends.” I say with a frown.

“Just because i didn't talk to you doesn't mean that we stopped being friends.” Jacob says.

“Are you serious? You completely ignored me! You cant be friends with someone that you never even look at! How could you think that that would be ok?” I say angrily.

“Gosh! You dont have to get all mad and stuff! Its just that...well…” He says, trailing off at the end.

“That i wasn't popular enough?” I say.

“Well, everyone wants to be popular. And i was so close, but Kelly didn't like you and i'm sorry.” Jacob says, with a sudden interest in the floor.

“Its ok, i guess. Its just, hurt, a lot. I thought we were friends and then you just totally dissed me.” I say.

“I tried to show you that we were still friends, i smiled at you, and when people were being mean I made them stop. I thought you got the message.” He says.

“I know, i know. I could tell that you atleast still liked me, it still stung though. But its ok now.” I say.

“Thats good, im glad we got that out of the way.” He says with a smile.

“I...I missed you.” I say shyly.

“I missed you too. But now we get to spend a week together!” He replies.

“Time to go!” Jessica says as she pops her head around the door frame.

She hurries me away back to the dining room to get changed as Jacob’s body gaurd hurries him out the front door. I slip off my clothes with the help of Mandy so that I dont mess up my hair. And pull on my dress, I now see why there are sparkles in my hair. They go perfect with the dress because they make it look like my whole body is shimmering.

“Wow!” is all I can say as I look in the mirror.

I do a twirl and my dress lights up the whole room.

“You look amazing!” Mandy and Chartreuse say simultaneously.

I blush and Jessica rushes me out of the room. I get that weird feeling about being led through my own house again as she pulls me out of the front door. I am automatically blinded by flashing cameras and I can't hear what Jessica is saying but I understand when she points. Its a limo! We rush over to it and i slide in. Its dark but my eyes adjust and i see someone sitting in the corner. I jump in fright and let out a yelp.

“Calm down! Its just me.” Jacob says, coming closer so that i can see his face.

“Oh… oh god! You gave me a heart attack!” I say.

Jessica shuts the door and the limo pulls out of my driveway. Jacob and I sit in an awkward silence until he interrupts the quiet with his deep voice.

“So, are you ready?” He asks.

“For what?” I ask him quizzically.

“Everything, the people, the cameras, the questions.” He explains.

“No, I… I guess not.” I reply as i look at the floor.

“Dont worry, they’ll love you.” He says with a smile.

I smile shyly as my cheeks turn pink and i am suddenly very interested in my shoes.

“We’re supposed to make a video.” Jacob says abruptly.

“What?” I ask him, my head snapping up.

“We’re supposed to be filming ourselves right now, and later there will be a camera crew.” He explains.

“Oh, do you have a camera?” I ask.

“Yup.” He replies as he picks up a camera from the seat next to him. “You ready?”

“I guess so.” I say.

The camera makes a small beeping sound as Jacob turns it on. He then turns the lens so that it is facing us.

“Hey!” He says with a wave. “Umm, well we are currently driving to the airport. So that we can get in an airplane. And fly to New York.”

“Why else would you be going to the airport?” I ask him.

“I dont know, maybe you just want to go to Starbucks and the closest one is at the airport.” He says smartly.

“I guess that makes sense.” I reply.

“So Stella, why don't you tell them more about yourself.” He says.

“Tell who? Oh! Wow, that was a dumb blonde moment.” I say with a giggle.

“How old are you?” He asks.

“I’m sixteen.” I reply. “Should I look at you or the camera?”

“Me, that way i wont feel weird for looking at you.” He answers with a smirk.

I blush and start to look away but he catches my chin and forces me to look into his eyes.

“Im over here, love.” He whispers.

The only thing that separates our eyes is the sudden jerk of the limo that knocks us off of the seat. I shriek in fright but i hit the ground laughing. I must say, its a good moment to have on film. Me and Jacob rolling on the ground gasping for breath as we laugh until our stomachs hurt. When we finally recover Jacob pulls me onto the seat again. I am almost tearing up and my hair is probably all messed up.

“Does my hair look ok?” I ask Jacob.

“Why is that always the first thing girls say?” He asks.

“I dont know, and i really dont care. I just want to know if my hair looks ok.” I say rather rudely.

“It looks fine. Wait, are there sparkles in your hair?” He says, screwing up his eyes in concentration.

“Yeah, the makeup people put them in there.” I tell him.

“Oh, I didn’t notice them until now.” He says.

“There you have it, proof that all of our hard work pays off for nothing.” I scowl.

“What do you mean?” He asks.

“Girls do all this stuff to impress guys, and you just proved that they never even notice.” I explain.

“Well I did notice, i just thought your hair was really sparkly.” Jacob frowns.

“Sure, because everyone has abnormally sparkly hair.” I say sarcastically.

“You never know.” He states matter of factly.

“But still, I mean, seriously. Unless you’re like, Rapunzel or something, you probably aren't going to have sparkly hair.” I say.

“Well, then you must be Rapunzel.” He says with such confidence that I am almost immediately bewildered by his statement.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“You have long hair, it’s blonde, and it’s sparkly. So you must be Rapunzel.” He explains.

“But it isn’t sparkly, it just is right now because there are sparkles in it.” I counter.

“Yes but it’s still somewhat sparkly normally, isn’t it?” He asks.

“Well, I don’t know.” I say.

“I thought girls looked at their hair all the time.” He says, somewhat confused.

“We do, but just to see if it looks ok. Not to see if its sparkly.” I say.

“Oh, that explains alot.” He nods.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I say rudely.

“Well, I always thought that girls were just vain. And thats why they look in the mirror all the time. But now i realize that they aren't vain, they’re just insecure.” He explains.

“Well, I guess that actually is kind of true. But we’re not exactly insecure, we just don’t want to look bad in public.” I say.

“Thats makes sense.” Jacob says with a solemn nod.

“Why so serious?” I ask.

“What? Oh, no reason.” He says.

“Seriously, tell me.” I demand.

“Well, I was just thinking about how long we have to be on the plane. And I don’t sleep very good on planes and we have to sleep on the one we are going on.” He says.

“Don’t worry, I probably won’t be able to sleep either. So we can just do weird stuff and eat ice cream.” I say with a laugh.

“I like that plan.” He replies with a smile.

“It will be good for our video too.” I say, tilting my head to the camera.

“Thats true, why are you so smart?” He asks jokingly.

“I just am.” I say with a giggle.

We suddenly come to an abrupt stop and I almost slide off the seat again but this time Jacob catches me and hauls be back up before i hit the ground. I can hear people out side of the car and I start to get nervous. Jacob must be able to see this because he cups my chin in his hand and turns my face towards him.

“Its gonna be ok.” He reassures me.

I nod my head slightly and take a deep breath before I pull on the door handle. Jacob turns off the camera and as we get out of the limo he hands it to one of his many bodyguards. The first thing I see is flashing lights. Colors are bursting in front of my eyes and the only thing I can hear is people shouting my name and asking me questions. I feel someone grasp my arm and I am twirled around to be face to face with Jacob. He says something to me but i can't hear him and I shake my head and mouth the word what.

“Follow me and smile.” He says louder.

I nod my head and allow myself to be dragged behind him. The flashing lights don't cease as we make our way up a small staircase and into the airport. People surround us and what seems like thousands of screaming fans are being held back by police. Jacob just waves and smiles like it the most normal thing in the world while I cower behind him. He pulls me forward and gives me an encouraging smile. I know what he wants me to do. I hesitantly raise my hand give a little wave to the crowd. They scream, I don’t have time to decipher whether they are screams of joy or of hatred before Jacob grabs my hand and leads me out into a hallway.

“Phew!” I sigh loudly.

“Why didn’t you wave? It’s not like they were going to bite you.” Jacob asks.

“I was nervous, and plus, you may have forgotten but I’ve never done that before.” I say.

“Come on, we have to get on the plane.” He says as he strides down the hallway.

I follow him down the narrow corridor which turns out to be connected to the plane. When we walk into the plane I am blown away by how fancy it is. Instead of rows of chairs there are couches with blankets and pillows thrown across them. There is some sort of food and drinks bar in the back and I can see an ice cream machine behind the counter. Yes! I think to myself as I have a secret personal victory. When I turn to look at Jacob he has a bewildered look on his face.

“What?” I ask.

“Why are you so happy, its just a plane.” He says.

As he says this i realize that I have a wide smile on my face and that i must look pretty weird to him.

“Oh, I didn’t know that i was smiling.” I say, my cheeks tinged with red.

“Its fine, you look pretty when you smile. I was just wondering why you looked so happy.” he says.

“There is an ice cream machine over there.” I say, my cheeks becoming even redder because i realize that someone else has taken up the responsibility of filming us and the camera is trained on my face.

Jacob laughs at my statement and walks through a small doorway to another room. This room is far less plush, with its gray walls and two rows of bland airplane chairs. He talks with a man who i think might be the pilot and i am left to wander around on my own. As i move back into the first room the man with the camera follows me. I stroll over to the counter and see what drinks there are. Thankfully they have rootbeer, and not just one kind either. There are multiple different kinds of each soda, but I choose a freezing can of A&W Root Beer. My favorite.

I slowly scan the room and slump into one of the comfy couches to look out the window. Just as I look out, a different plane soars off into the sky. Awe, that is the only word to describe what i feel. How do they do that? I wonder. But then I start to think about a bunch of weird science stuff that hurts my brain so i turn my attention back to outside. Just then a sleek red maserati comes speeding up to the side of the plane. Who could that be? I think. The mystery isn't kept very long though as the driver’s seat door opens and a long tan leg stretches out of it. Once the driver is fully out she turns around, her long black hair spinning around her in the sunlight. She strides towards the plane until she slips out of view.

I sit back in the couch and rack my brain for all of the possible people she could be.

“Hello?!?!” A smooth voice calls.

I stand bolt upright as the girl from the maserati walks into the room. Her face is unmistakingly beautiful, high cheek bones, blue eyes, and full pink lips. She turns to me and seems startled by my presence.

“Oh! You must be Stella.” She says.

“Uh, yeah.” I say.

“Well, is nice to meet you. I’m Estelle. Do you know where Jacob is?” Estelle asks.

“He’s in…” I start but I am cut off by the appearance of Jacob and the pilot.

“Hey baby!” Jacob says as he walks over to Estelle and plants a kiss on her perfect lips. “Did you meet Stella?”

“Yes.” She replies.

“Stella, this is Estelle. My girlfriend.” He says.

She gives me a smile that probably looks sweet to Jacob but I can see the venom dripping from her pink lipstick. His girlfriend. His perfect little girlfriend.

Notes

Hey! Thanks for checking out my story, it really means a lot to me. Updating might be slow because I don't want the story to be crappy but I promise that I won't keep you waiting for too long. Please comment and rate and tell me what you liked and didn't like.