Wild and Wicked

Chapter 1 - Prologue

GARROTH

Senior year sucks ass. I thought Junior year sucked ass, but I was wrong. Senior year is the worst one.

The red lunch table beneath me shakes slightly with Dante sitting down. I've known Dante since before freshman year, we met in middle school and have been best friends since.

"So- How are applications going?"

A whiny groan resonates from Laurence's throat as well as mine when Dante asks the question.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Aren't they- Mmm, semi-soon?" Dante lays his chin down on top of his hands, looking at us, or more specifically me.

Dante is aware of the pressure my family's been putting on me to get into a good college and be successful in life. "I miss not having to submit applications."

Dante laughs, "You really don't wanna talk about this do you?"

"I don't. I really really don't."

"Is there anything you do want to talk about?"

I feel the grin spread across my face involuntarily, "A new song just dropped from Emilia Lynch."

Laurence, who was previously sitting relatively slumped and on his phone, looks up at the mention of her name. Dante didn't quite understand what he deemed as my "obsession" with her, however Laurence did.

"Did this song drop come with any photos?" An eyebrow quirks up slightly on Laurence's face.

"Not that I've seen yet."

Dante groans, "of course you two are talking about her. You literally have an obsession."

"She makes good music, sue me"

Laurence grins, tilting his head back, "She's hot. And from here. Maybe she'll come back and I'll get a chance to shoot my shot with her."

"You're so shallow Laurence."

"Her music is shallow."

"You take that back right now."

A wicked smile spread across Laurence's face, "I can't take back the truth. There's nothing wrong with being shallow."

Dante shakes his head, "Isn't she in a relationship anyways?"

Laurence raises an eyebrow, "Why would you of all people know that? You don't indulge in any of her work."

Dante just shrugs in response. I think about it for a moment, I hadn't ever kept up with her more than her music and following her social media to do so.

"Even I don't know if she is or not."

"It would be weird if she wasn't."

Laurence sighs, laying down on the table in a similar fashion to Dante, pushing his own lunch aside. "She is smoking hot."

I look down at my own lunch, picking up my water bottle and taking a drink of it. "Anyways- I haven't gotten a chance to listen to the song yet, but as soon as school lets out, I'm so turning it on."

"Zane is gonna kill you on the ride home."

I just shrug, while my baby brother would never admit it, I'm pretty sure he likes her music as well. But that's too "mainstream" and since he thinks of himself as emo and all, he won't let himself admit to liking it. "Zane will deal with it, he can always put in his earbuds."

EMILIA

"You are SO unfair!" My voice is raised, and filled with obvious hurt and upset. I feel betrayed, hurt, any other synonym of the word you wanted to use.

"Going back to a public school would be totally unsafe for you!!" My father yells back at me, his voice also raised. These arguments had picked up tons after I decided I needed a break from my career. Not being able to go out in public without somebody every 20-30 minutes asking for a photo, or if I'm Emilia Lynch got tiring, quickly. I miss being a normal kid, mostly.

"ANY school! I want to be a normal high schooler again!"

"You will NEVER be a normal high schooler again. People will always recognize you. You can't just hide who you are!"

We both go quiet, looking at each other. He's not wrong, I would never be a normal high school student again...unless I could go without being recognized. But my face was plastered everywhere, and people from this town considered me to be a legend. Nobody had made it to my level of fame from here before, let alone doing it as a freshman in high school.

My mother looks between the two of us. She's sitting on a stool in the dining room, watching dad and I argue it out in the kitchen. "Honey...what if there was a way for her to not be recognized? Then there wouldn't be any danger for her to be out in public."

"And just how do you propose we hide her identity?!"

"Wig....colored contacts...makeup. Those things individually can do a lot, if we combine all three, we might just be able to pull it off."

"And her name?"

"I'm sure the school would be willing to let her go by a different name. After she graduates, Phoenix Drop high would probably love to say that she graduated from them."

Dad seems to think the idea over, slowly calming down from our argument. "I...suppose we can try it...But if it doesn't work, then it's not gonna happen."

I grin, suddenly getting excited, a chance to make friends on my own, a chance to me a normal kid again.

"I have a condition though." My attention snaps back to my father, whose suddenly looking very stern and serious, "There will always be a chance something goes wrong and you get recognized. If the appearance changes work and the school agrees I require Kristopher to go with you, also with his identity hidden."

My heart plummets into my stomach. Kristopher might have agreed to it...before we broke up. But there's no way he'll agree to it after breaking up. "But- dad-"

"I know you two are broken up, but you've always been an on again off again type of couple. I want you to have somebody you know there. So that if something goes wrong, he can help resolve the issue, or tell us that it's happening and you aren't hiding it from us."

I know there's no point in arguing with dad on this. We are on again off again, but...

But what? That doesn't change anything, or maybe it does, I don't know. If he does agree, then I'll have to see him and deal with him every day...buy maybe we can mend things again. A part of me misses him despite how the breakup went.

If trying to mend things mean I get to be somewhat of a normal teen again, I'll try. "Okay."