Masked Lynch

Chapter 34

Rena's POV

"Well that just happened," Justine says, breaking the silence. I giggle and nod, mostly relieved that I got that over with. A little part of me is still nervous as hell as to how everyone is going to react. I might just stay off social media for a couple days.

"Do you want to tell us your real name?" Troy offers, his eyes still wide.

"Rena Lynch."

"Lynch. You're R5's little sister," he connects, still thinking hard, "That's why you didn't go on your with them. Because you were headlining." I nod.

"So do they not know about Masked Star being their sister or daughter?" Justine inquires, confused.

"They didn't up until yesterday. I wanted to tell them before I told the world, you know?" I reply, leaning back against the couch.

"How did they react once you told them?" A fan screams from the front row. She has a shirt with R5 and me on it, from one of the promotional photo shoots we did together before tour.

"That's a question," I laugh awkwardly, messing with the sleeves of my hoodie again.

"Uh oh," Justine comments, frowning, "that doesn't sound very good."

"Yeah, they didn't take it very well. Rocky and Rydel already knew. I had told Rydel right from the beginning and Rocky found out when he was snooping on my conversation with my best friend. The others didn't know though and they didn't react very well when I told them. I don't want to go into it too much, but there was a lot of screaming," I confess, looking down at my lap, "They aren't very happy with me for not telling them in the first place. You know?"

"I can see their point, but at the same time, they should respect your decision. They did still find out a day before the rest of us," Justine points out. I nod.

"Who knew before you told your parents; other than Rydel and Rocky, of course?" Troy questions.

"My best friend, Gracie. She's the one who helped me pick out my first mask and she's been my best friend for forever. She comes with me to all of my Masked Star things and is basically the Lily to my Miley. My manager, Julia, and my bodyguard, Brody, knew too. And of course Thomas knew before! I told him on our one year anniversary of dating," I answer, grinning uncontrollably. Justine coos. The crowd shrieks. Thomas catches my eye and makes a kissy face. I laugh.

"What's so funny?" Troy asks, confused.

"Tommy is over there making faces at me," I giggle, making both him and Justine laugh.

~

"You did so good out there earlier, Rena. I'm so proud of you," Thomas compliments as he sits down on the couch beside me. He, Gracie, and I are all hanging out at his apartment. The three of us came back here as soon as the interview finished, almost three hours ago, so that we could avoid all of the press and craziness of the world.

"I'm more proud of her," Gracie challenges, not looking up from her computer screen. Tommy sticks his tongue out at her, making me laugh. "By the way, Rena, I cannot believe you're actually wearing that stupid shirt that he got you."

I laugh harder, "You're just jealous that he didn't buy you one."

"Well we'd be having issues if he did," she giggles, "how's this one?" She passes the computer to me. I look down at the screen and scroll through the pictures of the apartment.

"I like it a lot. What do you think?" I reply, passing her the computer back.

"I like it. I'm going to go tell the agent that we want to go look at it," Gracie answers, standing up. She leaves the laptop sitting on her chair as she goes down the hallway to make a phone call.

"Apartments? You're moving?" Thomas questions, frowning slightly.

"Yeah. Gracie and I are going to get an apartment together," I explain.

"Why? You two are welcome to stay here, you know," he reminds me.

"Thank you, Pooka. But you're going to have to go back to the UK in a week and we don't want to be constantly running up the bills for the apartment that you aren't even staying at. Besides, Gracie doesn't like having to sleep on the couch. She'll never admit it to you though," I elaborate.

Gracie and Thomas have decided that I can't be left alone for too long, since the paparazzi have been going crazy ever since I took the mask off and it's only been three hours. They don't want anyone to break in or anything when I'm all alone. That's why Gracie decided to stay with us in Thomas's apartment. Besides, I was pretty upset last night and she didn't want to leave me.

"So does the apartment you two are looking at, does it have a guest room for when I come to visit?" He teases, tickling my sides.

"Nope. Just mine and Gracie's bedrooms," I taunt, violently jerking back and forth in a desperate attempt to block him.

"Guess we'll be roommates again," Thomas retaliates.

"Guess so," I agree. He chuckles softly, then presses his lips to mine, pulling me closer to him.

"I can't leave you two alone for five minutes!" Gracie exclaims, totally ruining the moment. Thomas and I break apart.

"It is my apartment," he points out, laughing.

"That doesn't mean you two can be nasty while you have a guest over," she fires back, fighting to hide her smile as she sits back down.

"You can't fool me missy," I scold, standing up. I go over and sit down beside my best friend.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Gracie lies.

"Thomas and I are your OTP. You're fangirling like crazy on the inside," I grin, poking her shoulder.

"You're crazy," she defends, pushing me off of the arm of the chair. I tumble to the floor, making her and Thomas burst into laughter. I roll my eyes, but join in.