Page 30 of My Best Friend Prince Charming

“What?” she yelled over the din of the crashing water.

I tugged her away from the waterfall, doing my best to keep her shielded from the person hiding in the underbrush. I cursed under my breath. It was only a matter of time before they found us together. I should have known they’d follow us here.

I pulled Shannon to our stuff and scooped it all up in one armful. “What’s going on, Ryker?” she asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

Another flash went off in the bushes, and this time Shannon saw it as well.

“Paparazzi,” she said.

“Yep. Time to go.” I pulled her towel from her bag and threw it toward her. She wrapped it around her midsection and followed me down the path that led back to the car. We climbed in my car, still dripping. I was sure it was too late. They would have most definitely gotten some pretty clear shots of Shannon kissing me in our very intimate embrace next to the falls.

By the time we got back to our house, my phone was already ringing. “Ryker.” George’s voice didn’t sound very happy over the phone. “Don’t panic, but there’s a swimsuit picture circulating around the internet of you in a passionate embrace in front of a waterfall.”

“The movie hasn’t even started filming yet. Why do they care so much?”

“Somehow, you caught fire on the internet. I can’t explain why people obsess over certain actors, but they seem very drawn to pictures of you. And this picture is the worst of them all. Who is the girl with you?”

“She’s my girlfriend, Shannon.”

“Girlfriend? I thought you said you weren’t dating anyone.”

“Um. It’s . . . new.” I glanced over at Shannon, but she was looking out her window, and all I could see was the back of her dripping-wet head.

“Well, you may want to practice a bit more discretion, unless Shannon doesn’t mind having swimsuit pictures of herself going viral.”

I groaned. The amazing Saturday I’d had planned with Shannon had taken a definite turn for the worse.

I ended the call with George and turned to Shannon as I pulled up in my driveway. “What was that all about?”

I hesitated. I wished there was a way I could avoid telling Shannon that her privacy had been violated so badly, but considering the fact that she already saw the photographers herself, it was a little late for that. “That was George. He saw our picture on the internet.”

“Like, from just now?” Shannon asked with wide eyes, looking down at her body in her swimsuit. “I should have skipped that slice of cherry pie after you went home late last night.”

“You’re absolutely ridiculous.”

“No. I’m not. I’m being serious.”

“You mean, you’re not upset that there’s a picture of you in a bikini, kissing me, that’s going viral on the internet right now?”

“I’m not thrilled about it,” she admitted. “But what’s the point of freaking out? It’s not like there’s anything we can do about it now.”

I said goodbye to Shannon and went into the house to get ready to go to work at Skippy’s. When I came out of my room, Ava turned to me from where she sat on the couch doing homework with Dad’s old laptop.

“So, you and Shannon, huh?”

“How do you know about that?”

“I just got a text from three of my friends, telling me about it, and I just saw the picture for myself.” She turned her laptop toward me, and a picture of me holding Shannon close to me while we kissed in our swimsuits filled the screen. I could see the edge of the waterfall on the far left of the image. I just hoped that Shannon wasn’t lying when she acted like it wasn’t that big of a deal. She was always trying to put on a brave face. Just yesterday she wasn’t sure she wanted to date me. I wasn’t even sure she was okay with people knowing we liked each other romantically, and now the entire world knew, including the thousands of crazy fangirls who’d already proposed marriage to me online.

Somehow, they thought if I said yes, they’d automatically turn into princesses just because I’d been cast as Prince Charming. I just didn’t want them targeting Shannon. As long as she stayed off of social media, she’d most likely be fine. Thank goodness Shannon hated social media and considered it a waste of her time. But the same couldn’t be said of the entire student body of Sweet Mountain High.

* * *

“You needto be careful with that girl,” my aunt Kristen said to me as I mopped the floor after helping her close the diner for the night. I’d just told her what had happened with the paparazzi and Shannon’s rapid trip into the media’s spotlight.

“Believe me, I know,” I said. “I love that girl. I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

“Her mom told me how fragile her dad’s abandonment left her. She became withdrawn and distrustful. I guarantee she never would have dated Austin if she’d had a supportive, loving father in the home.”

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