by India Lee
“What are you implying by that?” Kathy asked without missing a beat.
“I’m not implying anything,” Eric said with a smug look on his face. “I’m just saying, what’s a ‘nobody’ doing among ‘actual’ stars.” Gemma’s mouth dropped as she looked down the panel. Zoe and Tyler’s faces were contorted with sympathy for Damian and disgust for the reporter.
“Next question!” Kathy yelled.
“No, hold up,” Damian said, leaning into his mic. “I can answer that. I know I’m not even close to the level of fame as my three very talented friends here are at. I have a long way to go and I’m cool with that. But I am a part of a sports team and I know the importance of camaraderie and the support of your teammates. I know that a bullied kid needs to feel confident enough to climb out of being a victim. I’m the head of the Kick Bullying initiative to sponsor out-of-school sports events for kids who may not make their school team so that they can build skills and confidence in a safe environment. Those who made donations can be sure that their contribution will directly touch the lives of those affected by bullying.” Gemma smiled at Damian, floored with his answer. She had felt numb to the Kick Bullying cause thanks to the drama and complications that arose during and following their media tour. Hearing Damian and Tyler speak on the cause made her heart swell with a feeling of hope, even confidence for the success of the event. It was a subject that mattered to her – one that she had direct experience with. She never wanted to talk about Madison, but she now saw the importance in an open dialogue on the topic.
“Next question.”
“Hi, my name is Brittany, I’m the head editor of Parent Child Today. My question is for Queen Bee. How exactly do you think your young fans will take the idea that you are championing an anti-bullying cause when just a couple weeks ago, you were videotaped throwing eggs at your peer, Desiree Silver?” The room began to buzz with hushed conversation. The smile on Gemma’s face dropped as she looked to Perrin standing in the wings. Perrin tapped Kathy on the shoulder and whispered something into her ear.
“As stated the night of that particular event, it was not Queen Bee throwing the eggs at Desiree Silver but an impersonator who has been harassing Queen Bee. As a result, Queen Bee and her team have endured being the victim of this bully – clearly demonstrating that this is something that can also happen to people of her fame,” Kathy said, calmly.
“With all due respect,” Brittany continued. “The video clearly shows a person who looks identical to Queen Bee engaging in acts of bullying. Hollywood is known for denying things that are blatant to the world so to most of us, saying Queen Bee was not actually responsible is hearsay.”
“As we’ve stated previously, that was not Queen Bee and we will not entertain further questioning from Parent Child Today, thank you. Next question please.” To everyone’s surprise, Brittany held her grip on the microphone, not allowing it to be passed to the next reporter.
“Well if that’s the case,” Brittany said as she struggled with the mic. “What kind of example are you setting by remaining in disguise? Not everyone has the convenience of an alter ego to escape to. How do you expect kids to relate to that?”
“That’s enough!” Kathy snapped into the mic. She gestured towards the back of the door where two large men in security uniforms came to escort Brittany out. She left without an argument but the room had been ignited by her words. Gemma could feel the judgment coming from all directions, as if no one had really considered what a coward Queen Bee had been before Brittany’s suggestion. Despite commanding herself to stay still and endure, Gemma felt her feet running off the stage and into the wings, ignoring the calls of her friends, Tyler, and Perrin.
~
Gemma stared at her face in the bathroom mirror. Her crying had streaked the eye shadow down her cheeks and the perfectly filled contours that Penelope had spent so much time on were ruined. She wiped at the blotches and runs with a wet paper towel, sniffling and holding back tears. There wasn’t much time before the sponsor dinner and she knew it was vital for her to be there to thank their greatest contributors. God, I hope they don’t mind what a mess I am.
“There you are!” Gemma turned to see Elizabeth making her way into the bathroom. “Everyone’s looking for you! What is this, a secret bathroom?” She looked around, eyebrows furrowed.
“I think it’s the ‘employees only’ restroom. I just needed a little time to myself.”
“Oh God, your makeup,” Elizabeth gasped. She rummaged through her clutch. “You need to be at the banquet hall, like, now. Penelope is waiting in your room hoping you’ll go back there. I was just up there with her but I thought it’d be better if one of us kept looking for you, and whattayaknow, turns out I was right!” She heaved a sigh through her smile and then straightened her posture, adopting her professional face once again. “But first, we need to fix your eyes and get you out of here. The meet and greet starts soon.” She pulled out a small pot of black eye shadow and a brush. “This is the closest thing I have.”
“I think it’ll work. Pen used matte black too,” Gemma said, taking the shadow and brushing it on quickly, trying her best to fill in the outlines the same way Penelope had.
“Well, this one’s not exactly matte,” Elizabeth remarked. It was then that Gemma noticed the rainbow-colored glitter in the eye shadow.
“Oh God!” Gemma laughed.
“It’s my vice! I never got over glitter,” Elizabeth grinned shamelessly.
“It’s okay, maybe the sparkling will distract everyone from my tears.”
“Oh!” Elizabeth pouted. “I’m really sorry about that woman out there. I was sitting a couple seats away from her and I really wanted to hit her for you.”
“It’s fine. She asked a legitimate question. I just didn’t have an answer.”
Elizabeth pursed her lips. “Okay. Well let’s get you out there or Aiden and Perrin will have my ass.”
~
Despite the negative buzz surrounding the press conference, the sponsor dinner went surprisingly well. Gemma genuinely enjoyed talking to the individuals and companies that supported the cause so wholeheartedly. To her surprise, few brought up the events earlier that day. Those who did only extended their support, going so far as calling Brittany a bully herself. Gemma smiled politely in response but she was unsure of how she felt about that word being thrown around so casually.
“It kind of takes away from how serious the issue is if everyone is labeled a bully, don’t you think?” Gemma said as she lay on Penelope’s bed, waiting for her to disassemble her disguise. Penelope, however, was busy tearing through the dozens of garment bags strewn across the floor.
“I think people have a tendency to just get carried away with these things. As a person who was mercilessly bullied throughout high school, it’s difficult for me to accept the notion of a celebrity with a worldwide fanbase claiming to be bullied, but I do see now how it’s possible. It’s responsible of you not to run off like Desiree crying ‘bully’ to everyone who would listen despite how you may really feel.” Penelope flipped open the trunk, pulling out rolls of extra fabric.
“So we really have nothing for tomorrow, huh?” Gemma asked. “We’ve just run Armand dry?”
“I guess so,” Penelope snorted. “We finally tired him out. Thierry sent you an incredible ivory gown that we can definitely use but I don’t really have any veils or masks with us that match. We’re going to have to improvise a bit.” Penelope crouched on the floor, tapping her temple as she contemplated. “Ah, here! This is what I was looking for.” She pulled out the gold mask from the Vanish premiere.
“Oh God,” Gemma groaned. “Can we not? That thing is tainted.”
“Well, we’re going to change it up a bit. I’m going to change the shape and maybe attach a veil. That is, if I can get it clean. Ew.”
“Clean?” Gemma asked, scrunching up her nose. She sat up. “What’s wrong with it?”
“There’s this nasty buildup around the eyeholes.�
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“Wow, seriously gross.”
“Well, it’s your eye shadow. This is why you shouldn’t wear stuff I don’t pre-approve.”
“I never do. What are you talking about?”
“That cheesy glitter you put on today, before the sponsor dinner.” Penelope clucked disapprovingly. “You know how I feel about glitter.”
“Oh, that was just to touch up because I kind of cried everything off after the press conference,” Gemma said sheepishly.
“Well it’s all over the mask from the Vanish premiere too.”
“Uh, no, I’ve never worn that eye shadow before today. It’s not even mine,” Gemma said as she grabbed the mask from Penelope. There were indeed clumps of glitter lining the ridges of it. Rainbow-colored glitter. Gemma stared for several seconds before gasping suddenly. “Oh my God.”
“Ha. Caught you red-handed, Glitter Whore. Don’t worry, I won’t tell Armand.”
“No, no, no,” Gemma murmured, shaking her head. “I know who it is.”
“Who what is?” Penelope asked. Gemma ignored her, clutching the mask in her fist and rushing out of the room and down the hall. Andro grabbed at her as she dashed past him, but she wriggled out of his grip.
“Let me go, Andro! Please!”
“Where are you going? It’s not secured downstairs!” he yelled after. Gemma ignored it all, pushing the stairwell door open and rushing down the stairs. Her heart pounded as she ran to the rooms at the end of the hall reserved by The Hoerner Group. She knocked on the first door. Aiden answered.
“Bee, everything okay?” he asked, eyebrows arched with both concern and curiosity.
“I’m looking for Elizabeth.”
“That’s her room right there.” Aiden pointed at a door a couple away from his own. Gemma thanked him hastily before rushing to pound on Elizabeth’s door. She answered immediately.
“Bee,” she said, tightening the belt on her bathrobe. “I was just about to take a shower. What’s wrong?” Gemma handed her the gold mask, the glitter-clumped side up.
“Oh, honey,” Elizabeth laughed. “All you need is a little acetone and that stuff lifts right out. Here, I can do it for you.”
“You wore this mask before.”
“Have I?” Elizabeth turned it around in her hand. “When?”
“Don’t play dumb, I’m in no fucking mood,” Gemma pushed past Elizabeth into her hotel room. Elizabeth gasped before grabbing Gemma by the shoulders.
“Whoa, Bee. What is going on?”
“It was you, wasn’t it? You egged Desiree.”
“What?” Elizabeth shrieked. “How did you even come up with that?”
“This is your makeup in the mask. You wore this mask. You’ve been impersonating me.”
“No!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “No, Bee. It’s not what you think.”
“Oh, really? Then what was it?”
“I’m not the impersonator,” Elizabeth said, shoulders slumping. “But you’re right. It was me the night of the egging, but I did it just that once. I swear. I was just so pissed at Desiree for what she said about you, especially since she was making the entire Kick Bullying campaign look bad.” She lifted her eyes to look at Gemma when she spoke. Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. “I knew you were too nice to really fight back, and all I wanted to do was embarrass her a little so I went out and got some eggs. I was looking for a place to hide them, and that’s when I stumbled upon the dress in the safe room. It’s totally inappropriate, I know, but I just really wanted to see what it would look like on me. You know how much I loved it – it just got to me for some reason. I mean, I know how stupid that sounds, but that’s just what it is.” She took a long, deep breath before letting it all out in the form of her last few sentences. “Anyway, when I heard Desiree was leaving I ran out to my car and went after her. I didn’t even think to change. I just really wanted to get her.”
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” Gemma asked.
“Um, I didn’t want to lose my job? My mom put her neck out on the line for me when she got me this internship. And I was the one who made a fuss to Aiden about switching the cause from the arts to anti-bullying. And after all that, I end up doing something crazy-stupid in a moment of weakness. It would’ve ruined everything for the event.”
“So you let me take the fall?”
“No!” Elizabeth began to tear up. “That’s not at all what I was trying to do. I figured since there was the impersonator out there, it would be blamed as another one of her pranks.”
“I can’t believe you did this,” Gemma said through her own tears. “I can’t believe it.”
“I know, I can’t either and I’m so sorry. You have to forgive me, please. You have to.” Elizabeth collapsed into Gemma, crying. Gemma stiffened. She had been geared for a fight. She certainly hadn’t been prepared for the way things unraveled. It made her feel suddenly uncomfortable.
“It’s… it’s fine,” Gemma said, pulling Elizabeth in for a hug. She patted her on the back as she searched her mind for something to say. Gemma looked around the room, searching for something of note to bring attention to and distract from the situation. But then she spotted it. Reflected in the full-length mirror on the hotel closet was something she had not expected to see.
Plugged into Elizabeth’s laptop was a crystal, angel-shaped paperweight. A light within it flickered menacingly. On the laptop screen, a web browser was open to “Her Royal Secrecy.” But it wasn’t just the blog. It was an unpublished new post.
Gemma froze. Elizabeth stopped crying. She straightened up and away from Gemma. Her face changed. The professional, charming expression that she had so famously paraded throughout the campaign was nowhere to be found. Her jaw was clenched shut.
“You should probably leave. We both need to rest,” Elizabeth said in a flat tone. “We have a big day tomorrow.”
“Right,” Gemma said, nodding. She forced a smile, trying to look as normal as possible as she wondered if Elizabeth knew what she had just saw.
“Good night,” Elizabeth said, crossing her arms.
“Good night,” Gemma repeated stiffly. She dared to sneak one last glance at the laptop.
Suddenly, she pushed past Elizabeth, rushing to her desk. She tore the angel-shaped paperweight from the laptop, prompting an alert to pop up on the screen. Camera Not Found. Video Download Interrupted. “Oh my God,” Gemma whispered, staring for a second into the menacing angel. A camera. It was a camera!
Gemma then slammed the laptop shut and clutched it to her chest, pushing a furious Elizabeth to the ground as she ran for the door. Elizabeth shrieked as she fell, grabbing Gemma’s ankle before she could get too far. Gemma crashed down beside her, smashing her lip onto the corner of the laptop.
“You’re not going to take this away from me,” Elizabeth hissed. There were hints of her perky smile in her snarl, which curled upwards with confidence. “I won’t let you,” she grinned, grasping Gemma’s foot in one hand and the paperweight in the other. With that, she brought the crystal angel down hard on Gemma’s ankle. Gemma screamed.
“Get off of me!” she shrieked. She felt blood streaming down her chin and a new pain throbbing in her ankle. “Help!” she screamed. “Please, somebody help!” She watched as Elizabeth brought the crystal angel into the air once more. Before it could be brought down again, Gemma used her free foot to kick it out of Elizabeth’s hand. She struggled to her knees, kicking repeatedly until she was able to wriggle her feet out of her shoes and out of Elizabeth’s grip.
“No! Stop!” Elizabeth yelled as Gemma swung the door open. Gemma screamed the moment she got out to the hall, Elizabeth’s running footsteps just paces behind her.
“Help!” she cried out as she ran barefoot down the hall, limping harder with each step. “Someone help! Please!” Andro turned the corner abruptly. Gemma sighed in relief as she let herself fall to the ground again, her ankle throbbing with a stabbing pain. “Andro, thank God!” She felt his arms around her,
scooping her up as two security guards rushed in from behind him. They grabbed Elizabeth by the arms.
“She came after me!” Elizabeth yelped. “She broke into my room and stole my laptop! That’s my laptop she has! That’s mine!”
“Bee?” Andro looked at Gemma. “Are you okay?"
“It’s been her the whole time,” Gemma gasped, struggling to catch her breath. “I have the proof. Everything’s here. I got her.”
- Chapter 12 -
“Are you still up for this?” Penelope asked as Gemma sat in the makeup chair. She stared at her cut lip.
The previous night felt like an awful dream despite the fact that she hadn’t slept at all. She had spent the night at the police station answering hours of questions after Elizabeth’s arrest. Though she was taken in for assault, the police informed her that her suspicions had been correct. Elizabeth had hidden pinhole cameras into the crystal paperweight and planted them in Gemma’s hotel rooms to gain more information about her. She was from a wealthy family, an heiress to the Clarke Securities Group who knew her father’s products well. While she had somewhat lied about her name – her full name was Elizabeth Tara Clarke – she hadn’t lied about The Hoerner Group internship. Elizabeth’s mother was indeed well-connected in the publicity world and it wasn’t difficult for her to land the internship the moment she realized how involved Damian would be in Queen Bee’s life.
“She knows my name. She knows who I am,” Gemma whispered.
“I know, sweetheart. But what can we do now?”
“Nothing. Her parents are going to bail her out by the end of the night and she’s going to put up that post. Aunt Mira’s trying to get the site shut down but Elizabeth’s probably going to publish everything before she gets to it.”
“We’ll worry about that later. Right now, you have a speech to make at a very important event and we need to get you ready.”