Page 11 of My Best Friend Prince Charming

5

Ryker

Shannon snuggled into me as I held her. I sat in shock. I hadn’t expected her to respond this way. I told myself that she was just having a rough day and needed some comfort, but I couldn’t help but hope that it meant she was interested in me as more than just a friend.

As sad as she was that Austin had betrayed her trust, I couldn’t help but feel triumphant. I’d been waiting a very long time for Shannon to see Austin for who he really was, finally. I’d overheard him bragging about his newest conquest more than once in the locker room. Tabby was far from being the first girl he’d pursued while he’d been dating Shannon.

It took all I had to keep from beating in his face most days. And I wasn’t sure Shannon would even have believed me if I’d told her the truth. Austin was an expert at putting on the nice-guy face. He was always high-fiving guys in the hall, taking time to talk to the shy kids.

From the edge of my vision, I felt eyes on me. I turned to see a couple of freshman girls staring in my direction, whispering to each other. One of them nudged the other, and they giggled. They came up to our table and put a piece of paper and a pen in front of me.

“Hey, Prince Charming,” one of the girls said. “Can I get your autograph?”

“Um, sure.” I unwound my arm from around Shannon and picked up the pen and signed my name. This was so weird. It felt like I’d just stepped into the Twilight Zone.

“Me, too,” the second girl said, producing her own paper and pen. I signed her paper and handed it back to her. They left, giggling and waving their newly autographed papers to a table packed with freshman girls.

“Well, that was interesting,” Shannon said, grinning at me. “And so it begins.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about it, honestly,” I admitted. “I mean, what if I’m really bad at this?”

“You’re going to do great. You’re a natural on stage, obviously, or Mr. Christopher wouldn’t have asked you to audition. Do you think he doesn’t know what he’s doing? He’s been making movies for a long time.”

“I guess that’s a good way to look at it.”

For the rest of the lunch period, a steady stream of freshman girls appeared at our table.

After getting my autograph, a bubbly girl with bright red hair pulled back in a ponytail said, “We just want to make sure we get your autograph before you leave for Hollywood and become uber-famous. We may never get another opportunity to see you without bodyguards surrounding you.”

I laughed. Bodyguards? I couldn’t imagine that this Cinderella movie would go so well that I’d end up needing bodyguards.

“You just have to make sure you don’t forget us.”

“Of course. I’m sorry . . .” I paused, my cheeks burning. “This is really embarrassing,” I said, “what was your name again?”

“Oh, it’s okay. You don’t have to feel embarrassed,” she gushed, laying her hand on my arm. “I’m Kenzie.” She pointed to the shy-looking girl next to her. “This is Sara.”

“Well, I promise I won’t forget you,” I said. “And I’m not sure how famous I’ll be. They may kick me out after the first week on set.”

“Aw, I’m sure they won’t do that! I saw you in our Cinderella musical here at the school,” Kenzie said. “You were incredible.”

“Well, I appreciate that. Maybe there’s actually hope for me after all.”

Kenzie and Sara burst out into infectious giggles like I was the most hilarious person they’d ever met.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Shannon’s face. I wasn’t sure how she was going to handle all this attention the girls were giving me. But she was smiling without a trace of jealousy. Was it so bad that I wished she’d at least look a little jealous? Because that would have meant that she was attracted to me and wanted me to focus my attention on her. Or that she would have felt threatened by these girls. I thought that maybe she’d felt something when she snuggled into me just now, but maybe I’d imagined things. I’d sure enjoyed having her that close to me. She smelled like vanilla and heaven.

“This may be a dumb question since you probably already have this all figured out, but do you have a talent agent yet?” Kenzie asked.

“Not a dumb question at all,” I said. “I do not have a talent agent, actually. I’m looking for one, but I don’t really know where to start. I figured I was just going to email Mr. Christopher and ask him if he could recommend one.”

“My uncle George is a really good talent agent. He lives in Hollywood, right in the middle of everything. If you want, I can give you his information.”

“Totally,” I said. “Let me see your paper.” I scribbled my email address on the bottom of the paper I had autographed. “Shoot me an email with his info, and I’ll look him up online to see if he’ll be a good fit for me.”

Kenzie’s face brightened like I’d just handed her a trophy. “Sure, I can do that!” She took the paper back from me. A group of four girls crowded in behind her, and she backed away to let them step forward.

For the next couple of hours, girls—and even some guys—swarmed me, asking for autographs. It was like some of the people had seen their friends getting autographs, and they wanted to join in on the fun or make sure they weren’t missing out.

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