Because of a Song

“I’m scared, mom.”

“I know, honey. I know. But there’s nothing we can do. You heard the lawyer. We can file a restraining order, but I don’t think he’s after you in that way. You’re just going to have to handle the paparazzi until all of this dies down.” She gave me a sad smile.

“I understand that, mom. But with school and all the people there…this girl asked me for his number today. I don’t know how much of this I can take, that’s all. I don’t want to be suddenly popular for this. It’s not like I wanted any of this.”

Natalie came over and sat by me. “Laur, look. Your mom’s right. There’s really nothing we can do that would help us in this situation. We just have to stay strong. I know we’ll get through this together, okay?” She smiled at me, the same sad smile that my mother gave me.

“Will you people stop giving me that smile? Please?!” I rolled my eyes, feeling frustrated, before climbing out of my seat and pacing around the kitchen. Things were getting out of hand, and if I didn’t figure out a plan quickly, things would get even worse. It felt like there was a time bomb that was going to go off in my head if I didn’t figure something out soon. That nagging, constant feeling kept at it until my mom lightly grabbed my shoulders, steadying me as I started to fall from the sudden force. I looked up at her, angered. “What? What do you want, mother?”

“Don’t you talk to me like that, young lady. If you don’t remember, I did nothing wrong here.” Her expression suddenly turned from frustrated to worried. “I just wanted to let you know that I love you, and I’m severely sorry that you have to go through this. You don’t deserve it. Nobody does. But it does happen, and you just happen to be one of the unlucky ones that it happens to.”

I felt a tear slip out of my right eye. She was right; I am just unlucky. “I--it’s just…I should have thought about the possibility of this happening when I started going out with him.”

Natalie walked over and took my hand. “But Laur, he was barely famous back then, and who were you to know that he would turn into such a conniving jerkwad?” I let out a small laugh. “Besides, who can blame you? He was such a sweet kid back then, and so were you. You two really had something, and I’m sorry that it had to end this way.”

I felt a sudden twang hit me. “Maybe it doesn’t have to end this way,” I said, an idea growing in my head.

“What do you mean?” Natalie asked, curiosity shining in her brown eyes.

“I’m not really sure. But there has to be a way to get him back, you know?”

“Like revenge?”

“Yeah, or something along those lines.”

“Honey,” my mom interrupted. “I really don’t think that revenge is the right way to go with this. You could just as easily move on, show that this isn’t affecting you, even though it is. Take the high road.”

“But mom!” I whined.

“Don’t you but mom me! You will not get revenge in any way, do you hear me?”

I sighed. “Yes, mother.”

She smiled. “That’s my baby girl.”

---

“Is it true that you went out with Joseph Jonas?”

“Is he a good kisser?”

“Were you in love?”

“How was he, you know…”

I turned to the girl who asked the last question. “Excuse me! We did NOT do it, if that’s what you’re referring to. We have enough morals to not even want to do it. And if there’s one thing I do know about him, it’s that he doesn’t like dim-witted fans like you who don’t even think before questioning his morals.” I scoffed, walking away before the girl had a chance to reply.

I met Natalie at the corner of the hallway between the junior lockers and the senior lockers. It was our normal spot to meet every morning before 1st period started. She looked overwhelmed and sleep-deprived. “What happened to you?” I asked, laughing slightly.

“DON’T laugh,” she warned me,” but I had to pull an all-nighter last night because Carly came home last night and dropped off Nathan for me to babysit. I mean, you’d think that after four months of not seeing my sister, she wouldn’t just drop by and hand her baby to me and say, ‘Here. Take him. I can’t do this anymore.’”

My mouth hung open in shock. Her sister, Carly, had left the house four months ago and moved into an apartment with her newborn son, Nathan, who was the result of a relationship with an abusive ex-boyfriend. Her doing this resulted in her having to drop out of med school. With her parents unknown to her whereabouts, and no one to support her since her boyfriend left her, she had no other options except to raise Nathan on her own. And apparently, last night, she had decided she had had enough and dropped Nathan off at her parents’ house. “Did you have time to study for the Calc test?”

“Barely. I got in about 5 minutes while Nathan took the shortest nap known to man. But after that, he apparently decided that he’d had enough sleep and continued to cry restlessly. All. Night. Long.”

I hugged her. “I’m so sorry, babe. If you want, I could buy you a Hershey’s bar.” I tilted by head to the right, gesturing towards the direction of the vending machines. “We have 10 minutes before the final bell rings.”

She looked at me, apparently tempted, but then shook her head vigorously. “No. I’m fine. Really.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “Let’s go.” I followed her towards our 1st period class, AP Literature.

---

“You ready?” I asked, walking up to Natalie’s locker. I had decided while we were eating lunch that it would probably be better if she came home with me again, because more than likely the paparazzi would be at my house again.

“Yeah,” she replied, stuffing one last book into her book bag.

We walked out towards the parking lot, and when we found my car, I unlocked it and we climbed in. “You know the plan right?” I asked, turning to Natalie.

“Yeah. As soon as we step out of the car, instead of running, we walk casually to the back of the house, smiling at the paparazzi politely on our way.”

“Good.” I turned the key and the engine roared to life. We cruised down the roads that led to my house before turning onto my street and parking next to my house. “You ready?”

“Yep.”

“And…go!” Both Natalie and I got out of the car. The paparazzi quickly realized that I had arrived home and started going crazy. Tons of questions were being thrown at me, each interviewer hoping that I would answer their question. But, to their dismay, I didn’t utter a word and simply kept walking, remembering to smile in the process. I saw several flashes of light before I finally reached the back door of my house, Natalie already there waiting for me. I smiled at her and she smiled back, probably for the same reason I was smiling: we had made it, and nothing had gone wrong.

We quickly slipped inside the house, making sure to lock the door behind us, before setting our book bags on the kitchen table and sighing. “What are we going to do?” Natalie asked, looking at me.

“I guess there’s nothing else to do,” I said, grinning mischievously at Natalie.

“Oh no,” she said. “Are you sure about this?”

I headed into my room, opening the drawer on my nightstand with the key I had placed under the lamp that was resting on top of the nightstand, and pulling out numerous sheets of paper. Glancing down at the hand-written lyrics in my hands, I said, “Yeah, I am.”