Hidden Gem (18 page)

So she threw herself into all her schoolwork, thankful for the opportunity to get it done and be caught up when she got back from the tour.
 
The bright fluorescent lights and tense murmurs of the library would soon be replaced with awe-inspiring lighting and cheering crowds of the arenas.
 
Her life as a high school student was caving in on her, but outside the walls of Beauford High, she was an international pop star who just sold out five major cities.
 
She reasoned to herself that there was nothing she could frown at.
 
Just as long as I can leave Gemma behind.

ZOE MERCURY: “I’M OBSESSED WITH QUEEN BEE!”

Celebomatic

1:44PM 2/25

Zoe Mercury is the latest to join the list of celebs on the Queen Bee train.
 
At the premiere of her own film, “
Outta
This World: The Movie,” the D Network star shared her love for the pop singer’s style.

“I’m obsessed with her voice and her whole persona.
 
I’d love to meet her, I feel like we’d have a lot of fun,” Mercury said in an interview on the red carpet.
 
“She and I would paint the town red.”

Mercury, a D Network star since the age of ten, has recently come under fire for partying and being linked to multiple Hollywood heartthrobs.
 
D Network is reportedly renegotiating her contract for a breach in her ‘good behavior clause,’ which states that Mercury must keep her social life under wraps and avoid any negative publicity.

Despite having done the routine hundreds of times, rehearsals still felt grueling.
 
It took every last drop of Gemma’s energy to make up for the six months she spent relaxing and losing her physical capabilities to dance for hours on end.
 
However, despite her exhausted energy, she felt no pain.
 
After everything that happened over the past month, the early wake-up calls and shuttling from location to location felt like nothing.

The night before her first performance at Madison Square Garden, Mira took Gemma to The Spa at Mandarin Oriental.
 
A masseuse worked out all of Gemma’s knots and sore muscles on the cushy, luxurious massage beds.
 
The crisp, clean décor helped relax her mind and after the massage, Gemma felt fully refreshed and revitalized.
 
After lounging in the soothing warmth of their sparkling amethyst-tiled steam room, Mira and Gemma luxuriated in the spa’s tea lounge, wrapped in plush white robes.
 

“Nervous?” Mira asked, raising a teacup to her lips.
 
Gemma shrugged, smiling.

“Excited.”

“I heard from Gavin that our next door neighbors got a hold of some tickets.
 
Must be big fans.”

“Well, I gave them the ticket…that Kate bought for me,” Gemma said.
 
Mira laughed hard, nearly spitting out her tea.

“Do you think they’d recognize you?”

“Never,” Gemma frowned.
 
“But it’s better that way, right?” She shrugged, trying to look carefree.
 
Mira set her tea down and put her hand over Gemma’s.

“We’re not so delusional that we think you can keep this secret for the rest of your life.
 
We just want you to get as much as you can out of your young life right now and keep your options open.
 
Okay, my love?” Mira patted Gemma’s hand.
 
Gemma nodded.
 
“Anything else Gemma wants to talk to me about? Because when we leave this building, your mind officially switches to Queen Bee.”

Gemma thought about telling Mira that she had fallen hard for her former friend’s boyfriend and that this boyfriend happened to be the next-door neighbor that was going to be attending the concert.
 
She was never nervous for a show before but she had never performed knowing that people she knew and spent time with would be in the crowd.
 
Gemma didn’t know if she could ever go completely back to Queen Bee now that she had truly lived as Gemma.

~

To call the first performance a success would have been the understatement of the decade.
 
Apparently being the hottest ticket in town meant a huge celebrity guest list.
 
A red carpet and press wall was set up outside of Madison Square Garden to greet the A-
listers
and help them into the building without being disturbed by fans.

“I didn’t see Tyler Chase out there tonight but I hear he’s hot on your tail,” Armand said to Gemma as he and Penelope worked to strip her down from Queen Bee back to her own self.
 
In addition to practicing her dance routines again, Gemma and her team had also practiced “The GTFO Routine.”
 
This was what they called the moment between signing autographs for fans as Queen Bee to getting her back to looking like any ordinary girl.
 
It involved shuttling Gemma to a pitch-black secret location where they would strip her of her costume, remove all her make-up, put her in the most nondescript outfit possible and dispatch fifteen other girls that looked near identical to Gemma.
 
The girls would wear similar outfits and they would all exit at once, walking out looking like Queen Bee’s make-up team or maybe even backup singers and dancers.
 
Gemma would hide among them and even “The Clones” (what Armand and Penelope called them) didn’t know which of them was Queen Bee.
 
The routine was exciting and eerie.
 
Gemma always felt like she was the star of some bad sci-fi movie when she marched out with The Clones.

From her town car, Gemma watched as crowds of fans and paparazzi waited at all the exits of the arena in hopes of catching a glimpse of Queen Bee’s true identity.
 
In Europe and Asia, this lifestyle had felt like make-believe.
 
But now, not only in
her own
country but her home city, it felt truly unreal.

~

“It says, ‘Psyched for the concert, wish you were coming – miss you lots!’
 
And then there are like, six different types of smiley faces,” Mira said, reading through Gemma’s iPhone.
 
Leah, Kate and Jillian had been
texting
Gemma all day but she was busy having rhinestones carefully applied down her arms for the opening number.
 
“Do you want to text them back?”

“What time is it supposed to be in London right now? Could I be in bed? Can they trace the text and find out I’m really in the states still?”

“Stop worrying,” Mira said.
 
“I’m
texting
them back that you miss them and you’re going to sleep.
 
Then I’m turning off the phone,
which
you should have done from the beginning young lady.
 
Focus.”

Gemma nodded.
 
You heard her.
Focus
, she told herself.
 
She had kept her phone on in hopes of receiving a text from Gavin, in case he had overheard Lucas perhaps talking about his excitement for the concert.
 
Not that that’s important,
Gemma tried convincing herself as she prepared her anxious body to perform in front of her classmates.

~

“Another city, another success.
 
Another screaming twenty thousand fans,” Penelope feigned a yawn. “No big deal.”

Armand’s fingers weaved through Gemma’s corset, deftly loosening the strings. “Pen, why must you speak incessantly when we are in a hurry? Ugh,
c'est
des
conneries
.
” French profanities were known to fly out of his mouth at the end of concerts, especially when they were nearing the GTFO Routine.

Within five minutes, Penelope and Armand were able to remove Gemma from the Balenciaga gown and zip her into one of the meet-and-greet outfits designed for the American tour.
 
The dress was easier to walk in and something the team would actually allow her to wear when being grabbed at by fans.

Armand put away the Balenciaga gown the way one would put a baby to sleep in a crib.
 
Gemma looked at her reflection in the mirror, admiring the new dress.
 
It was a sleeveless turtleneck mini-dress made only of silver lace.
 
It was most certainly something Leah would throw herself under a bus for.
 
Underneath the dress, Gemma wore a thin, nude slip by Agent Provocateur.
 
Armand sewed Mikimoto pearls onto the slip so that they peeked out from under the lace.
 
The outfit hugged her figure tightly as if it were painted on.
 
It was most definitely one of the sexiest outfits she had ever worn as Queen Bee, and there had been many.

On her head, she wore an elaborately styled jet-black wig and an ornate Venetian mask that covered her face above her red-stained lips.
 
Hand-painted, purple detailing lined her eyes.

“Ready for the craziness?” Penelope called from the exit, where her security team waited.
 
Gemma took one last look at herself in the mirror before calling back.

“I’m ready.”

Gemma wondered if Leah, Jillian, and Kate would be out there waiting for a possible autograph or photo.
 
She hoped she’d at least get to catch a glimpse of their faces. She missed them, having avoided them for so long.

Her bodyguards stood by her side as they opened the doors to let her out.
 
A red rope and nearly a dozen policemen stood between her and the fans.
 
Over the sea of people, Gemma saw one person stand out.
 
Lucas
was
ten people deep,
but since he was taller than the average Queen Bee fan, he was easy to spot.
 
On his shoulders was a screaming Elisa who practically wheezed with excitement as Gemma approached.
 
She signed autographs and took pictures with the fans up in the front, her eyes glued to Lucas and Elisa.
 
Next to the two were Leah, Jillian and Kate.
 
They had their
iPhones
out in front of them, snapping photo after photo, reminding Gemma of the time they staged a mini-photo shoot on Madison’s deck.

“Please exit immediately after you’ve gotten your autograph or photograph! One picture per person! If it didn’t come out right, too bad!” The security boomed their orders over the crowds.
 
Gemma felt nervous, signing CDs and posters as fast as she could.
 
She knew she couldn’t get to everyone but she wanted to disappoint as few people as possible, and of course, hopefully get to her friends.
 
With her head ducked, autographing furiously, she suddenly recognized a familiar pair of red-manicured hands shove two CDs at her.

“I know it’s supposed to be one per person but please, please,
please
make an exception!” Leah squealed.
 
Gemma giggled at her friend’s panic as she signed them both.
 
“Oh my God, thank you. The other one is for my friend Gemma – she’s having like the shittiest time at school right now and this would make her day, I’m positive it would!” Leah tried relaying the rest of her story but security pushed her towards the door.
 
Gemma laughed, happy to know she was still on their minds as she posed for a picture with Jillian and Kate.

“Alright!” security yelled.
 
“No more! That’s it!” They took Gemma by the arm and led her back towards the way she came in.
 
She looked to see Elisa and Lucas look on, mouths agape with disappointment.

“No, no!” Gemma pulled her arm from her security’s grip.
 
“Just one more.”