"Don't worry Cara. I'm sure it'll be fine." We walked into the school and down the hallway. No one said anything so far, so good. As we turned the hallway to my locker, I nearly fainted. There were kids completely surrounding my locker.
"Cara!" My friend Kristen came running up to us. "Why didn't you ever tell me? And you and AJ, girl I am so jealous! You suck!"
I smiled. "Jeez, I love you too Kristen. I'm sorry I never told you I just-"
"Yeah, yeah I know. We all saw Backstreet Live."
"We?"
"Yeah, almost the whole school saw Car!"
I sighed. "That's great."
Charisma and I tried to push past the crowd of people to get to our lockers. "Oh my God Cara, why didn't you ever tell me?" Daniella asked as I pushed past her. Daniella was one of the "popular people", the kids that I was trying to avoid.
"Why would I tell you anything Daniella?"
She giggled. "We're friends Cara. I always said that you were cool. And know that I know you're Brian's sister and going out with AJ McLean, you're even cooler!"
"That's great Daniella, now can you move?" I pushed past a couple more kids and finally got to my locker. By that time, the crowd had cleared.
"It'll be fine, huh?" I asked Charisma.
Charisma rolled her eyes. "I didn't think it was going to be like this."
"Hi, Cara?" I turned around and saw Jay Mason, one of the hottest guys in school, standing in front of me.
"Oh, hi Jay. What's up?"
"Nothing. I was kinda wondering, that is if you aren't busy or anything...do you wanna go out sometime?"
I shook my head. "Sorry, I have a boyfriend."
"Oh okay. I was just wondering you know, now that you're cool and popular and everything."
"That's why you wanted to go out with me? Because I'm 'popular'?"
"Uh, yeah. That's why I asked all of my girlfriends out," Jay replied.
"That's good Jay. I gotta go to homeroom, bye."
I walked into homeroom a few seconds after the late bell rang and slid into my seat next to Charisma.
"You're late Miss Littrell," my teacher Mrs. Jones said. "But I'll let it slide because my daughter loves the Backstreet Boys, especially your brother."
I rolled my eyes. "Great," I whispered to Charisma. "Even the teachers know!"
Charisma gave me a reassuring smile. "Things can't go that bad Car, at least your the center of attention."
"But I don't want to be!"
"Looks like you're gonna have to get used to it," Charisma replied.
Later That Night
Charisma and I were doing our homework in the dining room when the phone rang. I ran to answer it. "Hello?"
"Cara?"
"AJ!" I said excitedly. "Hi!"
"I told you I'd call." I could almost see his bright smile. "So how was school today?"
I sighed. "Terrible. There were at least twenty Backstreet fans following me around all day, and I got asked out by seven different guys, all of whom have older sisters who are fans of you. But I did get excused from all the homework I didn't do over Spring Break, that was good."
AJ laughed. "Oh yeah, always. Did you ever think of getting home schooled?"
"Yeah, but my mom or dad can't teach me. So what did you guys do today?"
"Five interviews and three meet and greets. It was horrible, as I was signing autographs all these girls were crying because they knew about us."
"Aww, too bad," I replied. "They'll get over it."
"Cara, Cara, Cara, what would I ever do without you?"
"I don't know, go out with Howie?"
"In his wet dreams."
"Oh AJ, that was sick!"
"But effective. Brian wants to talk, so I'll call you tomorrow okay? Bye Cara."
"Bye."
"Hey Shorty."
"Hey Brian. What's up?"
"Not much. How was school?"
I sighed and told him the story. "...and at lunch today, there was no room at my table because all these girls watched to touch 'the hand of the girl who's touched Brian'. And now you know why my friends thought your name was Tom."
Brian laughed. "Well at least you're popular."
"I don't want to be! I want everything to go back to the way it used to be, with the exception of me and AJ."
"Calm down, I'm sure it'll be okay when things blow over, you'll see."
"You'd better be right Brian. Otherwise you owe me a new life."
