ON THE RISE, star

two

Ashley sat in her room, mindlessly scrolling her Instagram explore feed. Endless videos of cute cats, memes, and tea pages she scrolled by, without giving a second thought. Some of the posts she would like, but most of them she just passed.

In her scroll daze, Ashley came across a video of a girl singing. She prepared to leave a quick like and scroll away without listening to the full thing, but seeing her father's name in the caption of the caught her attention.

"Holy shit," Ashley sat up in her bed, turning on the sound in the video. There was only one word to describe what she heard: Enchanting. The singer's voice was absolutely heavenly. She had to know who it was.

She tapped the profile, expecting to see a massive following. The girl didn't even hit a thousand followers. How the hell was that even possible? She sings like an angel, and she has that little of a following?

She didn't know the singer's real name, since the only thing in the girl's bio was "H.E.R."

"Hey," Alexandra threw her door open, startling Ashley for the third time in one day.

"Jesus!" Ashley exclaimed, looking up from her phone, putting it face-down on her bed. "Stop doing that."

Alexandra furrowed her eyebrows. "What were you doing?" She asked, curious. The last time Ashley moved that quickly with her phone, it was because she was talking to a man well in his 30s and got caught.

"Nothing, nosy," Ashley rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"

"Pack your bag, we're going to Atlanta," Alexandra said, jogging to Ashley's closet.

"I'm sorry?" Ashley replied.

"Don't be sorry, just pack," Alexandra told her walking out, arms filled with clothes. She threw the clothes on the bed. "Hurry up, Star will be here soon."

"Ma'am, you can't just walk in here and say 'Hey, we're going to another state!' and expect me to not ask questions."

"Sure, I can," Alexandra nodded. "Actually, I just did. Now, hurry up before Marisol notices."

——

"You have everything?" Alexandra asked as the two rode the elevator to the lobby. The two each had a bag in one arm, and a purse in the other.

"If I don't, oh well," Ashley shrugged. "I'm not going back for it." She looked at Alexandra, who had her sunglasses on, looking straight ahead. "Why are we doing this again?"

"You know why," Alexandra sighed. She pushed her hair off of her shoulder. "Don't get cold feet now."

The elevator doors opened and they got off, pulling their luggage behind them. Going outside, Ashley saw a curly-haired white girl standing on the steps, getting questioned by Charles, the bellhop. That was Star? That was the girl Alexandra was leaving her life behind for? She furrowed her eyebrows, looking at the red hoopty they were supposed to be traveling in. The car looked like it would give up at any second. She was really starting to regret leaving the penthouse. She was about to turn around and go back, but her sister grabbed her arm, pulling her closer. She whined, walking with her sister.

"It's okay," Alexandra called to Charles, letting him know that the girl was with them.

"Good morning, Alexandra," Charles greeted, immediately taking the girls' bags.