3

NORA

“Excuse me, what?” Riley shrieks, her voice screeching through my car’s speakers.

“Jeez, Riley,” I say, reaching for my dashboard to turn the volume for the Bluetooth down. “You just about busted my eardrum!”

A car honks behind me before it whips over into the next lane and speeds right past me. People in LA traffic are so friendly.

“I’m sorry, Nora, but you can’t expect me to be silent when you tell me you’re going on tour with Nash freaking Pierce!”

“Well believe it,” I tell her. “I have to go to auditions, but it seemed like kind of a done deal.” “Remember us common people on your road to fame,” she jokes, muttering something quietly to

someone on her end of the line.

“By the way, I had to give Nash’s manager all of your info,” I add nonchalantly, hoping she doesn’t freak out.

“What?” she screeches, clearly freaking out.

“I know, I know. But you were listed as my agent and when she said she’d get in contact with my agent, I panicked.”

“What happens when she finds out it’s a total fake?”

I shrug, forgetting she can’t see me. “We won’t let that happen.”

She sighs. “It’ll be fine. Everything will be fine, because again, my best friend is going on tour!”

I laugh, still trying to process that fact myself. “We’ll talk more about it at home,” I say, merging into the right lane.

“Hell yeah, we will. I want all the dirty deets! You have to tell me how wonderful this will be for you before I have to start processing the fact that you’ll be leaving me.”

I swallow, trying to figure out if I plan on telling my best friend the real reason I’ll be going on this tour.

  

“Okay, tell me everything,” Riley says, speaking through a mouthful of food. She’s sitting across from me on our living room floor, her legs crossed in front of her.

Finishing my own bite of food, I hold up my finger. After swallowing, I give her a shrug, unsure of where I should even begin. Today was totally unexpected and I still don’t know how to properly put into words what Monica is asking me to do. “Well, you know how I was shocked to hear from Monica.”

When we first moved out here, Riley and I decided to put her down as my “agent” in my bio, thinking it made me sound like I was already a somebody, even if it was just an act. Then again,

nearly everyone in LA is putting on some act or another.

Riley didn’t check it very often, as the inbox was pretty consistently empty aside from spam. That is, until a few days ago—when Riley received an inquiry from Nash Pierce’s manager.

We thought that was spam too at first. Who wouldn’t? But it goes without saying we found out it was very real. A little too real, I’m realizing, the more I think about it.

Riley nods, loudly slurping a noodle into her mouth in the process.

I recount to Riley everything Monica and I talked about before she dropped the bomb on me.

Riley wipes her mouth with a napkin at the same moment her brown eyes pop wide open. She throws down the napkin and shoots up from where she’d been sitting. “I’ve got an idea!” she yells as she disappears into her bedroom.

After Riley gets out a whiteboard and insists on making a pros and cons list, I look at her solemnly.

“I just don’t want to be a shitty person by agreeing to this. I don’t want to be anything like them,”

I admit.

Brief flashes from high school come to mind. I try to not think of the person—the people—that made the end of my senior year hell for me and those I love.

My past is something I rarely talk about anymore. I tried to leave every tragic thing that happened in high school back in Ohio. But that doesn’t mean I ever want to do something where I have to question my own morals. And getting close to someone to intentionally hurt them is a great way to have me questioning everything.

“I’m dead serious. You deserve to chase your dream, Nora. You’ve been through a lot. You risked a lot to be in the position you are now, and this is literally your dream we’re talking about. You can’t pass up the opportunity.”

“Follow my dream, while agreeing to try and break somebody else’s heart, what a great

opportunity,” I say sarcastically.

Riley plops down next to me with a sigh. She leans her head on my shoulder, the both of us looking forward. “You said it yourself; you don’t think you’ll even get the chance to break his heart.”

“That’s true,” I tell her, thinking her point through. I highly doubt he’d be interested in me. In reality, I most likely won’t even have the chance or opportunity to break his heart. He’s Nash Pierce. He won’t spare me a second glance.

Every magazine makes Nash seem like a raging douchebag. A playboy. Someone not looking for anything remotely serious. From personal experience, though, I know the labels others can push on you without knowing your true character at all. I know how wrong they can be. And part of me wonders if Nash Pierce is really the kind of guy everyone makes him out to be. Riley gives me a serious look, her hands dangling in front of her. “If you do, then we’ll figure it out then. There’s no part in worrying about it right now.”

Lingering in the silence for a few moments, staring at the list in front of me, I come to my final decision. “I’m going to do it.” The words come out way more confident than I feel.

Riley jumps up, a beaming smile on her face. “My bestie is going to be famous!” Meanwhile, I just hope this tour will end with me not hating myself for the things I’ve done.