Celebrity

The Celebrity Life

Ava's POV

I woke up the following morning feeling like absolute shit. I remembered last night, talking to someone, opening up to him, but I never got his name. He's probably the kindest person I've met since becoming this famous pop star.

It's been three years since I blew up at sixteen, but since my mom forced me to sign a contract with this record label, telling me it would be good for me, they've taken control of my image, and I couldn't say anything because I'm under contract.

Suddenly, I received a phone call from an unknown number.

"Hello, am I speaking to Miss Wilder?"

"Yes," I responded.

"The manager of Galactic Records would like to speak to you in his office."

When I heard that, I knew it wasn't good. I usually hold on for my fans and my mom. My mom is the only one I have since my dad died, and I wouldn't want her to worry.

I quickly got to my closet and picked from my many outfits, ending up with a colored sundress. I got into my car and headed for the label's office.

When I got there, I went straight into my manager Bruce's office.

"Ava! Just the person I wanted to see," Bruce said with a bitchy smile on his face. "Take a seat; we have a lot to discuss."

"What do you want to discuss?" I said with slight irritation.

"How would you like a boyfriend?" he said, tossing me a wink.

"I'm not interested in anyone."

"Who said you have to be?" he said with a little too much excitement. "This is going to help your career, trust me."

He's the last person I'd ever trust.

"What if I say no?"

He gave a little smirk on his face. "Well, then your career will be over."

"How does me having a boyfriend help my career, anyway?" I said with a lot of curiosity.

"Well, you're young and beautiful, and it doesn't make sense that you're single."

I rolled my eyes. "How does me being single have to do with my career?"

"Well, if you get a famous boyfriend who is young and handsome, it will boost your popularity and hence more sales."

"So, basically, a publicity stunt?" I began to get a little irritated by this conversation.

"Sure, call it whatever you want."

"So, who do you have in mind?"

"I thought you'd never ask," he said, like he'd been itching to ask that question. "We had a shortlist of all interested in this, but we narrowed it down to three."

Wow, they must have really planned it out that they made a shortlist.

"We have young actor Dan Glover, 21, Christopher Mathews, 23, singer, and finally Richard Mills, 20."

All the people he mentioned, I'd heard of before, but I didn't find any of them worthy of me. But I have to do it for my career and my mom.

I took a deep breath, exhaled, "Fine, I'll take Christopher." At least he's a singer; we might relate. Considering he agreed to this, he's probably desperate.

I only ever had one boyfriend in my short-lived high school experience in 10th grade. Long story short, he was an asshole, and I dumped him. Now I'm going to have another boyfriend, only that it's fake.

"I can leave now."

"Sure."

After I left the office, I went to see my only real friend, Cecelia, who I met while I was in my early years of fame. We were meeting at a café just close to Harvard University.

I saw CeCe in a booth in the corner of the café, looking as fine as ever, wearing all black with a nice black leather jacket matching her black long hair. That's a lot of black.

I sat across from her.

"Hi, girl!" she said with a lot of excitement for my liking.

"How have you been, Ava?"

"You know, the same old, same old."

"Is it Bruce again?"

"Yep."

"Anything else apart from that prick?"

"Yeah, remember the last time we were here, and that guy made me spill my coffee?"

"Yeah, I remember. What about him?"

"I cried in his arms last night."

"What!" She shouted so loud that the whole café heard her. I had to hide my face after realizing that she started whispering, "Where and why?"

"It was by the park."

"Was he handsome at night?"

I didn't even pay attention to his looks. "I don't know, maybe."

"I'll see him again," I said. When I said that, CeCe nodded her head sideways.

"The chances are minimal."

"What if I told him I owed him one?" CeCe seemed like she was shell-shocked by what had just come from my mouth

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CeCe seemed like she was shell-shocked by what had just come from my mouth. "You must have really been in your feelings to say that," she sounded so disappointed.

"So, you gave him your number?"

"No."

"Then how does he fulfill your favor?"

"Maybe Instagram, that's if I can shake off my social media management team," which is such a hard task to do. They don't want me to control anything.

"It doesn't even matter if I'm interested in him, because that bitch Bruce has got a brilliant idea."

"What idiocy has he come up with now?"

"He wants me to have a celebrity boyfriend."

"What for?"

"To boost sales, apparently." I said that while rolling my eyes.

"Who does he have in mind?"

"I picked Christopher Mathews."

CeCe thought for a while before saying, "I mean, he's cute."

"I know, but not my type."

After a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich, I said goodbye to CeCe and went back to my hotel.

***

Two days later, I had to take some pictures with the cute and surprisingly taller-than-expected Christopher Mathews. We were taking shots that would get us "caught" by the media, and after a couple of hours, rumors already started to spread that we were dating.

After the shoot, I really argued with my social media management team to give me access to my Instagram account. I finally broke through and managed to get access. When I opened it on my phone, I went to my inbox and saw a million messages – literally a million.

Just when I was about to close the app, I received a message that read: "Hey, it's me from the bench the other night. I really need your help. My scholarship just got canceled at Harvard University, and I got sent back to my hometown in Africa. Could you help me, please?"

My heart skipped a beat as I realized who it was. The guy I cried to, the guy I owed one.

I stared at the message, unsure of what to do next.

More of an insight on Ava's life - just to give you guys an idea of what she goes through. Let me know if you want to see more of Ava's POV more often. Vote on this so our community gets bigger, and comment so we can discuss the story together.