Welcome to Hayleywood

Chapter One: I Must Be Dreaming

“Hayley, over here! Hayley!” A dozen flashing lights face me as I step outside the limo. I shield my eyes careful not to tug on the ends of my Alexander Wang dress.

          “Hayley, what are you wearing tonight?”

          “Give me a smile! There you go!”

          A young woman with short brown hair approaches me carrying a microphone. “Anna from ABC News,” she introduces herself quickly. “Is it really true that you’re dating Tom Green’s son?” she asks before being hauled away by security a few moments later.

          “Is it true that you’re quitting?” a blonde reporter sticks out her microphone towards me.

          “Looking gorgeous sweetie, could you turn a little to the left for me?”

          I flash a smile and continue to move through the crowd of anxious news crews and reporters with my bodyguard next to me.

          We’re about to reach the doors when I see a guy racing towards me, looking desperate. The security guards manage to catch him.

          “Wait, I have to tell you something!” he shouts as he’s pulled away.

          I can’t help but stare for a moment. It’s hard to make him out.

          “Hayley, I-“

 

          Beep. Beep.

         

          My eyes pop open instantly. I’m breathing heavily and my heart is racing. I reach over and hit the SNOOZE button on my iHome. I take a deep breath and try to call myself down. I hop out of bed and walk to my bathroom. I turn on the light and touch my forehead. It’s warm with fresh beads of sweat pouring down my entire face. What just happened?

          I rinse off my face with some cold water and dry it off with a clean towel. Oh, right. I had one of my crazy, stupid dreams [again]. I don’t know why I keep getting them but in every single one, I see myself on the red carpet on the verge of being attacked by people. It scares me.

          I guess I shouldn’t be scared and that there is a real reason as to why I’m getting these dreams. It may be partly because well, I live in Hollywood. Yes, you heard me. Hollywood. I’m not even famous, for Pete’s sake. Well, I’m not. My mom’s the one who works at Hollywood 911- the best magazine in all of Hollywood. She gets the dish on all the celebrities. Me, well, I’m just her daughter. Which, basically doesn’t make me much of anything considering I’ve chosen to have a somewhat normal life by going to public school and yet still having to attend red carpet events occasionally.

          Anyways, there isn’t much else to tell-except that today is the first official day of summer vacation. I brush my teeth quickly, excited for what the day might bring.

          But, before I can take this a step further, I have got to do one thing. It’s kind of like a ritual. I grab my messenger bag from my desk chair and empty out my books. I find my binders, all of them, each little 1-inch with the subject scrawled on the spine. Let’s see, French, Math, English, Science, Social Studies. I take all of the papers out of each binder and throw them into a big trash bag and-wait. I guess I haven’t exactly told you the ritual yet, but I see that you must have figured it out by now. If not, well, I don’t know what to say to you. And, yes, the ritual is throwing out all my useless papers (except for the vocab!) from the school year. In fact, I was even thinking about burning them, but in this California heat, it’s pretty much impossible.