America's Sweetheart

Trending Now

Melody woke up to the sound of her bedroom door opening.

Her whole face was puffy and red, and Melody felt extremely thirsty.

She opened her eyes just to see her mother bring in a tray of breakfast.

"Are you feeling better, sweetie?" she asked, concerned.

I nodded softly.

"Can you go to school today?" she inquired once more.

I shook my head, "I'm really sorry mom, but I don't think I can make it today."

This time, mom didn't call for a cab. She let me stay in the comfort of my own bed, while she went to work.

After taking a nap, I grabbed my laptop from the floor and turned it on.

I logged into Facebook and saw messages from my friends.

Jack: U okay?

Sophie: Where are you? Are you sick? TEXT ME

I checked to see if Ellie, my other best friend had sent me a message, but there was none. I tried searching her up on Facebook, but she didn't show.

'Weird,' I thought to myself.

She wouldn't have blocked me, would she? Why can't I see her Facebook then? She's not in my friends anymore.

I logged out of Facebook and went to Google. Still curious, I typed in Ellie Monti.

Sure enough, it showed a search result: Ellie Monti Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with Ellie Monti and others you may know. I clicked on it, and it showed her profile.

She had deleted her previous profile pic, in which we had been making weird faces at the camera. It now showed her wearing tight clothes posing weirdly with... Stacey Adams.

Stacey Adams likes this photo.

Her most recent status showed, "Got rid of my annoying best friend in exchange for my new one. Good riddance! Besties for life! XOXO-with Stacey Adams."

It was as if a knife had been plunged into my stomach. I suddenly wish that I hadn't even searched Ellie's profile pic.

'Curiosity killed the cat," I thought to myself.

Soon, Ellie's profile no longer showed Ellie Monti, but Liz Monti.

Ellie had hated the name Liz, but... why???

I slammed the laptop shut. I wanted to fling the laptop full force across the room, but somehow, I managed to keep myself from doing it.

Taking a deep breath, I opened my laptop once again.

I was bored, so I decided to watch some YouTube videos.

My stomach lurched suddenly.

On the front page. The Trending Now section. It showed me.

Nervously, I clicked on it.

It was my performance of the Vagabond Song in class. I looked at the uploader's username. LizXOXOStacey.

I scrolled down a little more.

The view count number was huge. My eyes almost popped out at the number of zeros.

One, two, three, four, five, six zeros. And a five in the front. Wait. Five million views!

The comments were positive! Some said: That girl got big guts and a big voice. Others said: Oh mi gosh! She's so pretty! I love her voice!

Startled, I went to my Twitter page. Hundreds of thousands of people followed me. I had a growing list of follows and mentions.

@melodyrichards is soo amazing! luv her voice! #biggutsbigvoice

@melodyrichards marry me!! haha #marrymemelody #sweetmelody

The list kept growing, and growing.

#biggutsbigvoice, #marrymemelody, #sweetmelody, #vagabondsongrap, #melodyrichards were all trending.

I heard my Mom's voice coming up from downstairs.

"Melody! A lot of people called me and asked me if I was your manager!"

I sighed and closed my laptop.

I had become an internet sensation.