Date With A Rockstar Read Free

releases.”
    â€œOh, right. Okay.” I take the stack and a pen from the dish. I find a seat near Cheyenne, but I don’t want to break the quiet in the room by saying anything to her. The papers are weird. The overly formal language distorts the sentences. I think the studio execs are asking me and my family not to sue them for any reason, and for anything I say and do to be recorded. Well, it’s reality TV; I can’t expect them to do anything other than exploit every second.
    Cheyenne leans in close to me. “I heard one of the girls who already went home say that she thought Jeremy is in the building. Like maybe watching the auditions through a secret window.”
    â€œOh.” Jumpy electricity flows through my legs. “Oh,” I say again like an idiot. I could find him now. I sign my name to the bottom of the first page and then on each subsequent page without bothering to read anymore. People flow in and out of the room. New girls are ushered in, and the girls who’ve gone in for their auditions walk back out after fifteen minutes. Has anyone been chosen yet?
    The door to the left of the window opens. “Number forty-two,” a woman calls. The anonymous number reminds me of the health clinic again. Mom had insisted I go in and get checked out after Webber and her crew jumped me after school. My jaw was so swollen that Mom was furious enough to press charges. Then we found out one of them had infected me. Maybe my attacker didn’t know she was contagious, or maybeshe thought it’d be funny to cost me 20K. I convinced Mom not to make it public, but ever since she’s been working her ass off to pay for the cure.
    I tuck my lips in again and hurry over to the woman.
    â€œPut your phone and computer along with any other com devices in the bin here.” She points to a gray tray with a sticker with my number on it.
    â€œI didn’t bring any of those with me.”
    She looks like she doesn’t believe me and might call for a strip search.
    â€œYou know the rain? It always voids warranties.”
    She narrows her eyes. “Just so that you know, if you’re caught recording any portion of the proceedings, legal action will be brought against you.”
    â€œI understand.” I follow her into another room where an older man in a tan suit lounges behind a desk. His nametag reads “Bill.” The top button of his shirt is open and his thinning blond hair flops forward. A chair, my chair, sits five feet away. Black one-way glass lines the wall behind the man and I feel people staring. Why did I think I could do this?
    â€œPlease, sit.”
    I take the chair and stuff my backpack underneath. I’m so exposed, but I hold my head up regardless.
    â€œYou’re seventeen?”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œStill in school?”
    â€œI graduated a few months ago.” As I answer the questions, I stare into the glass. Is Jeremy back there watching the proceedings?
    Bill tips his head and I notice a tiny black ear bud. How many people are on the other side of that glass? He scratches the side of his face before continuing. “How do you feel about dating?”
    â€œI’m not sure what you mean, sir.”
    â€œDo you like dating, do it often, that type of thing?”
    I bite the edge of my fingernail. I need a good lie. Um. Yes, no, I don’t know. I force my hands back into my lap. “No, sir.”
    â€œNo, you don’t like it, or no, you don’t do it?”
    My mind is a befuddled mess. Why does he need to know this? Even if I wasn’t contagious, most of the guys at school are drugged-out losers. “I haven’t been on many dates, so I’m not sure I can judge how much I enjoy it yet.”
    He nods. “Are you sexually active?”
    I glare at him, then at the glass. He listens to his ear bud and then writes more. “Sorry, we’re just trying to cut out the overly eager girls. Jeremy