Because of a Song

I woke up to the sound of my cell phone playing Just A Dream by Carrie Underwood. Groaning and glancing at the Caller ID, I pressed the call button after realizing that it was just Natalie. “Hello?” I said groggily. “What do you--”

“No time for chit-chat. Turn your radio to 98.7. NOW.”

“What? What time is it?” I looked at my alarm clock. “3:37? Natalie? Why are you even up?”

“I don’t flipping care what time it is! Turn on your radio now!” she yelled.

“Fine, fine,” I said, turning on the radio on my alarm clock and flipping the channels. “You said 98.7, right?”

“Yes.”

“Alright.” I flipped the channels before landing on 98.7. I heard slight static before a voice started singing.

But then she let me down
Left my heart it two
I’ll never get it back
No matter what I do

Oh, Lauren
Look at what you’ve done to me
Didn’t you know you made me happy?
Oh, Lauren
Why didn’t you see
That you were the one for me?

“Oh. My. God.” He wrote a song about me. With my name in it. And I’m the bad guy in it.

“I know, Lauren. How could he?”

Oh, believe me. He could.

It started into the chorus again.

Oh, Lauren
Look what you’ve done to me
Can’t you see you make me happy
Oh, Lauren
From Tennessee
Why can’t you see
Why can’t you see
That you’re the one for me?

Oh, Lord. “Did he just say Tennessee? Please tell me he didn’t just say that?”

The line was silent.

“Oh, my God. What do I do? Everybody’s going to find out. Oh, God this is horrible.” I started hyperventilating, unable to control my breathing.

Natalie apparently noticed. “Shhh. Calm down, Lauren. It’s going to be okay.”

“NO IT IS NOT!” I screamed.

“Yes it--”

“NO NATALIE! IT IS NOT GOING TO BE OKAY! I--I mean, everyone is going to find out at school. Oh, my gosh. I’m going to be the talk of the century. I’ll be--popular. Oh, Natalie. I don’t want to be popular.” Suddenly, I felt extremely nervous.

That’s when my bedroom door opened and my mom poked her head through the crack. “Lauren? Is everything alright, honey?”

“I gotta go,” I told Natalie. “My mom wants me.”

“Alright,” I heard her reply before I heard a click, meaning she had hung up.

My mom walked over to my bed and sat down. “What is it honey?”

“It’s--It’s Joe,” I managed to say.

“What about him, honey?” My mother came over and started rubbing my shoulder.

I felt a silent tear slip down my face. “He wrote a song about me, mom. He actually wrote a song about me.”

“Oh, honey,” she said comfortingly. “I’m so sorry. How bad is it?”

“Well, he made it seem like I was the bad guy. And he told the whole world that I was from Tennessee. Can you imagine what everybody is going to do when they find out? I mean, you know how nasty girls can get. When they find out that I dated one of the biggest rock stars out there, they’re going to flip. And, knowing them, more than likely ask for his number.”

My mom didn’t say anything for a moment, just silently sat there thinking. Then she spoke up. “Well, it seems like all you can do is move on. Play it down and stay cool. And if worse comes to worse, we can always move.”

I let out a small laugh. “Thanks mom, but I don’t think moving would help anything.”

“Eh, probably not. But I made you laugh, didn’t I? That was my goal all along.” I smiled. “Everything is going to be just fine. Now go back to bed and we’ll deal with it in the morning, okay?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Okay.”

---

As it turns out, I did have to deal with it in the morning. Because when I woke up, my brother, Stephen, was eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes with a smirk on his face. I sighed, figuring he was my first target. If I couldn’t get past him, I was in deep doo-doo. “You heard the song, didn’t you?”

“Yep,” he replied, not even bothering to hide his cheeky grin.

“You know weird stuff like this, so maybe you could help me,” I started. “When did the song come out?”

“Last night. World premiere on Radio Disney.”

“Ugggh,” I groaned, sliding into a chair. “This is going to be a looong day.”

---

As soon as I stepped out of my car in the school parking lot, Macy McAdams and her clan of pink-wearing clones were at my side.

“So, I heard you went out with Joe Jonas,” Macy said nonchalantly.

I didn’t say anything. Instead, I just kept walking straight ahead.

Macy and her posse kept up with me. “Don’t lie to me, Lauren. I heard the song.”

“Yeah, we heard it, Lauren,” the rest of her posse repeated, like trained robots.

I turned to her. “Alright. Fine. You win. Yes, I went out with Joe. And yes, we broke up. Is that all?”

She scoffed. “Are you kidding me? I would never give up if I was this close to getting the Joseph Jonas’ number. Now hand it over.”

“No,” I said simply.

“I’ll take your phone,” she threatened, but it had no effect on me.

“Oh, I’m sorry. But I didn’t bring my phone. You’re out of luck,” I smirked, feeling victorious.

But instead of walking away, like I thought she would, Macy grabbed my arm and slammed me against my car. “You give me his number now or I will tell the whole school that you had sex with Johnny Macintyre last Christmas Eve.”

I didn’t have sex with Johnny. But I didn’t want Macy to tell the whole school that I did. So I said, “Okay. I’ll give it to you.”

“Alright,” Macy said, taking out a pad of paper and a pen, “What is it?”

“1-800-438-2-5433.”

She smiled and walked away. I simply laughed inside my head.

The rest of school day was pretty much the same: people coming up to me to ask if the rumors were true, me replying that they were, yada yada yada. When school let out, I couldn’t be more happy. Right before I left the building, my cell phone rang. It was my mom. I hit ‘talk’ and put the phone up to my ear. “Hey, mom!”

“Hey, Lauren. Could you bring Natalie over? You might need her.”

“Sure, I guess,” I replied.

“Alright, see you in a few. Love you!”

“Love you, too, mom.” I laughed and hung up before heading back to Natalie’s locker.

“Hey!” she said cheerfully. “What’s up?”

“My mom wants me to take you to my place. She says I might need you.”

Natalie laughed. “Alright. Let’s go.”

When we got close to my house, my mouth dropped open. I turned to Natalie. “Uh, Natalie? I think I know what my mom was talking about. Look up.”

She stopped tying her shoe to look up at my house. “Holy shit.”

Holy shit was right. Standing in front of my house were at least 30 reporters, all screaming. “You don’t think?” I started.

“Oh, I think,” Natalie replied.

They were here for me.

“How’d they find out where I lived? I don’t think Joe would stoop that low, do you?”

“Nah, I don’t think so. But you know the paparazzi. They have connections.”

“Come on,” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt and turning towards Natalie. “On the count of three, we’re going to run to the back of my house and go through the back door, okay?”

“Okay.”

“One…two…THREE!”

We raced through the newly mowed grass towards the back door, but one of the reporters must have seen me. “LAUREN! LAUREN!” they all shouted. But I paid no attention. I just ran as fast as I could to the back door and into my house, Natalie following shortly behind me. As soon as we were inside, we locked the door, just in case.

My mom came over and hugged me. “Oh, honey. This is horrible. I don’t know how they found out. But we’re going to have to get a lawyer. We’ll figure this out, okay? Right now, I’m just glad you’re okay. Natalie, you can call your mom if you want to. They’ll probably be all over you, too, being the best friend and all. Ask your parents to come over okay?” Natalie nodded and walked over to the phone. “Oh, honey,” my mom said, turning back to me.

“I know, mom. I know.”