Followers

by Raziel Reid

  “Life is not a reality show,” Joel says. “The whole reason why I liked you in the first place is because you reminded me of that.”

  He takes a step closer to her.

  “If you did write yourself in, I’m glad, because the cast list was seriously starting to bum me out before you showed up.”

  Joel sees a Platinum Triangle camera on them from across the lobby. He forgot the show is filming tonight.

  “Last shoot of season 2,” Lily says, noticing the camera at the same time.

  “So what’s your Hollywood ending?” Joel asks.

  imseanjohnson

  1.5m followers

  nadia.meyers Tell your dad I said hi

  daneryspaul7679 Gay

  buffy_dj ICON

  lameier1998 Cool

  jacquimclenne King

  saaashha reciprocate all that energy

  yeshidab AHHHHHHHHH

  Sean puts on a dress. He’s backstage in the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton. Fortune is styling him with clothes donated to Hailey’s Dress for Success fashion show by @dollskill. Fortune is featured on their website as one of their “dolls.”

  Fortune chooses this weird parachute-like dress for Sean to wear and puts him in the kind of platform boots that Fortune wears all the time. Sean checks himself out in one of the mirrors where models are getting their hair and makeup done. Fortune texted Sean to come early so he could dye Sean’s shaved hair pink.

  “Is this me?” Sean asks, looking at himself in the mirror. Sean’s always wearing baggy shirts and sneakers, sometimes a chain. He’s never worn what he wants to wear.

  “It could be,” Fortune says, taking a photo of them in the reflection.

  It makes Sean nervous, thinking about walking down the runway in front of everyone. Platinum Triangle is filming.

  What if he just ended the season as a completely different person?

  paleyhailey

  1m followers

  tellme.what.u.think I hate jailey @paleyhailey I’m a Jily fan.

  saraneg8

  roben_damie Nose surgery gone wrong

  britt_scholte_zayn_fan_x Hailey have you ever thought of modeling you are so pretty and i think the fashion show fundraiser could be the start of something really big for you you are so pretty

  yunhiekim Photoshop queen

  A runway has been erected down the middle of the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton and there’s a curtained-off backstage area where the models are getting ready. Volunteers are running around with garment bags. A Platinum Triangle crew is filming.

  Hailey’s going to make sure that Lily Rhode’s runway debut is one no one will ever forget!

  “Greta’s not here,” Hailey says. “And neither is Valeria.”

  “Remember she said she had an audition,” Bea says. She’s sitting in a chair backstage getting her hair and makeup done.

  “Why doesn’t she just go whore herself to sheikhs in Dubai like a respectable former Disney star?” Hailey asks. “Her entitlement is really sad. Like, no one gives a shit. Sorry!”

  Bea laughs as Hailey checks her phone to see if there’s a text from Valeria, but there’s nothing. Nothing from Joel or Lily either, but Sam promised she’ll let Hailey know as soon as Lily arrives. Sam and Hailey are working with Bea to take Lily down tonight…and it’s almost showtime! If Lily wants to be a TV star, it’s time she learns the price of fame.

  “Don’t forget your accessory,” Hailey tells Bea, passing her a large aquamarine cocktail ring with jagged edges.

  Bea slides it on her finger and holds it up.

  “Stunning,” she says, winking at Hailey through the mirror.

  Hailey’s phone pings with a new DM.

  princepaley You are the absolute best Hailey, there will never be another legend or anyone else more amazing than you, you are the most natural super star that keeps shining perfectly like pure gold that glitters!

  She’s killing it. Hailey just needs to remember that. She clicks on @princepaley’s handle to scroll through his photos and fan art of her. It’s a good ego boost before hitting the runway!

  Hailey clicks on a recent photo. It’s a candid of her at the campground. She’s coming out of the public bathroom (she is never going camping again!) after purging all the junk food she ate. Hailey doesn’t remember anyone taking her photo. Was there someone hiding in the bushes?

  “Where did this photo come from?” Hailey flashes her screen at Bea, who gives her a shrug from the makeup chair.

  “So creepy,” Hailey says.

  It’s not the first time she’s been photographed without realizing it. During her father’s most scandalous moments there were paparazzi hiding in the bushes and ducking low in cars, with their camera lenses sticking out the window. But why would there be paparazzi all the way in Ventura County?

  @princepaley’s profile photo is from Hailey’s Paper magazine shoot. “I stan @paleyhailey!!!” is all the bio says. Before she can give it much more thought, she sees Joel and Lily entering backstage together, and she lowers her phone.

  “Got my car tuned up for the race,” Joel tells Bea as he and Lily approach. “Brando ready to pick a date or is he still stalling?”

  “Brandon’s going to leave you in the dust,” Bea says. “He’s a motherfucking Cadogan.”

  Hailey passes Lily a garment bag. “Let’s get you in this,” she says. “Then straight into hair and makeup! Make sure Fortune looks you over before you dare step on the runway. He’s my eyes.”

  Hailey starts tugging on Joel’s shirt, lifting it up and flashing his abs.

  “And let’s take this off of you, mister.”

  She pulls the shirt over his head as Lily heads to get changed.

  “Oh, and Lily,” Hailey calls over her shoulder. Lily stops and looks back. “No bra. We can’t have straps showing.”

  Lily’s cheeks turn slightly red but she doesn’t put up any resistance. Hailey smiles at the back of Lily’s head as she walks off.

  “These are for you, Joel!” Hailey passes Joel the swim trunks he’ll be modeling. It’s not an episode of Platinum Triangle without a scene where Joel’s shirtless. “You’re staying for the after party, right?”

  “Maybe.” Joel scratches his bare chest. “I’ll see how Lily feels.”

  Joel walks off. Bea purposely avoids looking at Hailey as she recovers from the snub. They’re interrupted by Valeria, who comes bustling backstage just then, out of breath.

  “Sorry I’m late,” she says. “I had an aud—”

  “Why don’t you just wait for the phone not to ring and save yourself the trouble?” Hailey cuts her off. “Quick! Get into this Alexis.” Hailey thrusts a garment bag at Valeria. “The show’s about to start!”

  “Those Cartier earrings are gorgeous!” Bea exclaims to Valeria, spinning around in her makeup chair.

  Hailey drops her phone. She bends over to pick it up and as she stands back up, she moves Valeria’s hair to get a better look at the Panthère de Cartier earrings.

  “Are they on loan?” she asks.

  “Fakes,” Valeria says quickly.

  lillianrhode

  60.5k followers

  erikabella She’s just a girl who tryna fit in GLAM SQUADS AND DATING CELEBRITIES. look at her background!!! SHE IS CHASING UR FAME!!! @thejoelstrom @lillianrhode

  Lily is nervous right before she steps onto the runway. The ballroom is full; all of Whitney’s rich Beverly Hills friends are in the audience lending their support to Dress for Success. Not to mention the Platinum Triangle cameras filming it. The Nicholas The Label dress she’s wearing is pink chiffon. It’s beautiful, with a long train that flows as she walks. It has string straps and feels like it could slip right off her.

  She hears the screaming of girls in the audience when Fortune ushers Joel onto the runway. Fortune is running the show and seems to enjoy treating them all like cattle. Joel is modeling swim trunks, his bare pecs glistening under the runway lights. Lily peeks around the curtain to watch as Joel p
oses at the end of the runway. Fortune gives Bea a nod and she starts walking next as Joel turns to walk back. Bea walks with such confidence.

  “Knock ’em dead,” Joel tells Lily as he steps off the runway backstage. Fortune grabs Lily’s arm and sends her down the runway with a little push before Lily can even gather her breath.

  Lily can’t see the audience; the lights in her eyes cast them all in shadow. She loves the power the anonymity gives her, like she can ride the wave of shadows and exist as high as they’re willing to hold her up.

  Bea poses with one hand on her hip at the end of the runway and then turns around, the train of her dress lifting in the air behind her. As Bea turns around, Lily takes her first step. She tries to stand as tall as Bea. Bea is smiling at her and reaches out for Lily’s hand as they pass each other at the middle of the runway. Lily takes Bea’s hand and flashes her a smile. It’s so surreal. Like being in the Victoria’s Secret fashion show or something. Lily’s so caught up in the moment, she doesn’t even realize what’s happening. At a certain point she registers the gasps from the audience.

  Lily’s dress rips open down the front and her bare breasts are exposed. Bea’s ring got stuck in the chiffon, and when she tried to pull her hand away, the dress tore. Lily is left standing topless in the middle of the runway, cameras flashing around her. She doesn’t know what to do. The lights are shining right in her eyes and Lily winces.

  Bea turns and keeps walking down the runway like a pro. The show must go on. Lily looks toward the shadowy audience. They’re not holding her up anymore. She’s hanging suspended in the air and they’re all waiting to see if she’ll fall flat on her face.

  Lily manages to hold the dress up and cover herself. She walks the rest of the way down the runway cautiously but also fiercely. The audience applauds when she reaches the end and poses, smiling as the applause grows louder.

  Backstage, Lily still clings to her dress.

  “Sorry, sis,” Fortune says. “But at least now everyone knows you don’t have implants.”

  “Oh my God, Lily!” Bea comes rushing over. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, my ring! It got caught and—”

  “It’s okay,” Lily says. “Not your fault. Just an accident.” She swallows, determined to hold back her tears. Lily has never felt this humiliated. It’s even worse than when she was the joke of Brandon’s party.

  “You didn’t miss a beat,” Joel says when Bea gets shuffled off by Fortune to change into her next look.

  “I can’t believe that just happened.” Lily cringes. “Did everyone see?” She stops herself from asking what she fears the most—was it caught on camera? Will it be on the show? Will Lily make her arrival in the Platinum Triangle with a mugshot and a topless scene? Lily feels her eyes tear up and she can’t bring herself to look at Joel.

  “Hey,” Joel says, gently lifting her chin. “I was watching on the monitor. You recovered faster than Bea, and she does this for real. No one saw anything.”

  Lily isn’t convinced. Joel hugs her.

  “What would you say about driving up to Malibu with me sometime?” he asks. “I want to introduce you to my dad.”

  greta.strom

  728k followers

  ernandares.ro__ Maybe there are no aliens because we are the aliens. We just don’t know how to trigger our powers yet, or we forgot. Who knows what’s life and what happens after death. Every thing, is nothing

  “Rosé all day! Rosé all day!” Greta chants. She didn’t make it to Hailey’s fashion show but she made it to the after party in a suite at the hotel.

  Greta showed up drunk to the Beverly Hilton after sneaking out of her house. She didn’t steal a car this time. She was a good girl and took an Uber. Her mom has had her pretty much on lockdown since she finally came home after disappearing for a few days. She hasn’t told anyone the things she’s seen. Maybe Greta will write a book one day.

  Valeria comes up to her and asks her where her car is. Greta vaguely remembers the BMW running out of gas and abandoning it somewhere in Silver Lake. But she might’ve set it on fire. Valeria is angry at her for driving off with it and keeps trying to get Greta to tell her its location but Greta can’t remember.

  “Did you check your pool?” She laughs.

  “You know what, Greta?” Valeria snaps. “Fuck you!”

  Greta’s never seen Valeria so angry. It sobers Greta up and makes her feel instantly guilty. Valeria gets self-conscious when people look over. At least Platinum Triangle isn’t filming. Cameras weren’t allowed into the after party.

  “I’m sorry,” Greta says quietly. “I’ll track your car down, I promise.”

  “You just don’t understand,” Valeria says. She gets flustered and storms off, leaving Greta standing alone in the middle of the party with all eyes on her.

  “What are you looking at?” Greta asks the crowd. “Are my boobs hanging out or something?” She stumbles off to the suite’s bedroom to do some coke.

  Greta closes the door and walks over to the bed. She sits on the edge and pulls out a bag from her Louis Vuitton Da Vinci Montaigne purse. She cuts a huge line on the nightstand using her credit card, and snorts it with a rolled-up bill. Greta feels like she enters the Jeff Koons artwork on her handbag. She feels as enigmatic as the Mona Lisa.

  The bedroom door opens and light and music from the party spill inside. Greta forgot to lock it.

  “Well, well, well,” Greta says, rubbing her nose. “Look who it is. The new train wreck of the Platinum Triangle.”

  Greta holds out the rolled bill for Lily.

  “I don’t want your drugs,” Lily says, closing the door behind her. “I followed you in here to see if you’re all right. You may be trying to play it off as a big joke, but I know how it feels to be the center of attention for all the wrong reasons.”

  “This is my second season,” Greta says, dropping the bill into her handbag. “I don’t feel anything.”

  She looks across the room at Lily, narrowing her eyes.

  “I saw a video on Instagram of your little wardrobe malfunction,” Greta says. “It was interesting the way the dress tore. I mean, you’d think that Bea, who, like, slayed Paris Fashion Week not that long ago without any problem, would be able to handle an amateur charity fashion show.”

  “What are you saying? You think she tried to rip my dress on purpose?”

  “I think it was already partially ripped. And that Bea is one of those models who will probably try to be an actress one day and it will be really funny because she can’t act. Like, at all. When she’s being such a dumb slut on the show? That’s real. And that look on her face when your dress ripped…” Greta laughs. She pulls the rolled bill back out of her purse. She always wants more. “It was like she knew that if she stepped on the train, it would tear right off of you,” Greta says, cutting another line and snorting it. “It was a fake-surprised look, you know?” Greta does her best imitation. She does a few. Gasping and widening her eyes, becoming increasingly dramatic with each take. Lily actually cracks a smile.

  “If it was a setup,” Lily says, coming over to the bed and sitting, “then I doubt she did it alone.”

  Greta rubs some coke along her gums.

  “I overheard Joel talking to Sam before production left the hotel,” she says. “It was heated. They were in the lobby and Joel was saying how the footage of your dress ripping on the runway can’t make the air. He threatened to quit the show if it does.” Greta smiles at Lily. “He’s obsessed.”

  Lily blushes.

  “He’d do the same for you,” she says. But Greta has to look away.

  imseanjohnson

  1.5m followers

  tala_rokdi_ I love how unique you are more like this please!!!

  dlewaa @tala_rokdi_ if being unique means looking like a complete idiot or means losing your mind in the near future then fuck veing unique.but ur a fucking fanpage so there s nothing for u to understand

  tala_rokdi_ @dlewaa that’s my Main lmao being unique means bein
g urself that’s all First off if u really think he’s losing his mind by putting grillz on or dying his hair pink or wearing dresses ur absolutely wrong. There are people that look like fkn businessmen but are fuck heads it’s not about looks it’s about actions

  Sean and Valeria come down from his room to grab some breakfast. Valeria slept over after the fashion show. Sean knows she’s waiting to hear back about her audition and she doesn’t want to be home because it’s too much pressure—the anticipation, the fear of being rejected.

  As Sean and Valeria reach the bottom of the stairs, Christoph calls out to them from the game room, where he and his squad are hanging out.

  The guys are all staring at Valeria. There’s a part of Sean that wants to tear their eyes out for objectifying her, but he’s also grateful that they want her—that they respect Sean for having her as his girlfriend. Valeria is his shield, she’s a living Platinum Triangle billboard that Sean can hide behind.

  Sean’s dad would be merciless if Valeria weren’t over, if they weren’t dating. He’d be aggressive, possibly violent. He’d tear the dress off him, even though Sean isn’t wearing it now. Christoph would tear off his soul.

  It’s back to the oversize tee-shirts and the chains, like the collars for the dogs in the cages downstairs, which Valeria doesn’t know about, which no one knows about except Joel because Sean broke down and cried about it to him once when they were skating at Venice Beach Skate Park and he thought he was going crazy because all he could hear was the savage barking.

  There’s a fight coming up. Sean wants to ask Valeria if he can spend the night at her house but his dad won’t let him miss it.

  “What the fuck, bro?” Christoph laughs, showing off the photos of Sean modeling the dress. “What were you smoking before you let them put you in this shit?” he asks.