No Stone Unturned (7 page)

In her favorite Chanel shades, Gemma blew past the paparazzi on the sidewalk and rushed into the building with Perrin.  Once the elevator doors opened to the pristine, white office, an assistant quickly greeted Gemma.

“Good morning, Miss Bee, Miss Davies,” she smiled politely.  “Mr. Evans is waiting for you in Mr. Klein’s office.  Please follow me.”

Gemma followed the woman down a long hallway leading to the office of Aiden Klein, known best for his PR work with musicians and athletes.  He was highly regarded in the industry, and Gemma was proud of Damian for piquing his interest as a client.  Whenever she took the time to think about, she realized just how surreal it was to have known Damian as a high school sweetheart in Beauford, now that he was a rising celebrity in Hollywood.

“Hey, Bee,” Damian grinned wide when he greeted Gemma.  He bit a lip back to suppress his amusement in calling her “Bee.”  It was the same novelty delight that Zoe found in calling her “Gemma.”

“Hey,” Gemma giggled as she went in for the hug.  Only when she pulled away did she notice that aside from Damian’s agent, Nicki and a friend were present.  “Oh, hi! How are you, Nicki?”  Gemma reached out to hug her, but Nicki hastily offered a stiff hand to shake instead.

“Hi,” she said, her eyes still squinting at Damian’s suppressed smile. 

“Oh!” He snapped out of his trance to gesture towards the girl beside Nicki.  “Bee, you haven’t met Elizabeth yet.”

“No, I haven’t.”  Gemma smiled, turning to girl.  She looked about her age and wore a navy blazer with boot cut jeans and leather loafers.  Her hazelnut hair was pulled into a neat bun at the top of her head with a headband completing the preppy look.  The only inconsistency in her outfit was her white Oxford shirt, which had its first three buttons undone to boast a rather generous amount of cleavage.

“Hi!” She rose to her feet to extend her hand out to Gemma.  “I can’t even tell you what an honor it is to meet you.  I’ve been following your work ever since you came to the States.”

Gemma smiled.  “Thank you! It’s very nice to meet you.”

After shaking hands with Gemma, Aiden Klein nodded towards Elizabeth.  “Miss Clarke is actually in her first PR internship, but we had her sit in today because she had some very interesting suggestions for your charity, Bee.”

“Yes, I absolutely do!” Elizabeth immediately opened the binder in her lap and removed a few printouts.  Gemma took a seat, impressed by the intern who seemed immediately at ease with her while Nicki seemed to get less and less comfortable.  It probably didn’t help that instead of sitting beside Nicki, Aiden had Damian on the leather couch next to Gemma.  “Well, first off,” Elizabeth started.  “I loved your choice of the children’s charity for arts, I think that is so appropriate and sweet.”

“Thank you,” Gemma said warmly.  She and Damian shared a grin as they continued listening.  Elizabeth continued the proposal with confidence. 

“But I think you should nix the idea.”

Gemma’s smile dropped. “What?”  She blinked and looked over at Aiden, who nodded as if telling her to keep listening.  “But why?”

“Because what’s popular now is the subject of bullying, and I really think you should capitalize on that.”

Gemma recoiled.  “Capitalize on bullying?”

Elizabeth’s laugh was sharp and full of energy.  “No, no! That sounds like I want you to exploit the victims of bullying.  Not at all.  I just think that having such influential teen stars like yourselves on the side of this cause would be a very powerful message – that no matter what it may look like, we’ve all been through this before.  Maybe you could even share a personal story of being bullied.”

The memory of Madison’s high school cruelty suddenly flashed across Gemma’s mind.  Despite that, she squinted at Elizabeth.  “But what if I’ve had no experience with bullies? Would you want me to just make it up?” She could see Damian looking at her from the side of her eye.  She wasn’t sure if it was because of her sudden umbrage or the fact that he knew she had been targeted in high school.  He had been the one person on her side throughout all of it.

“Bee,” Aiden started.  “As much as an arts charity is needed, it won’t sell as many tickets as the cause against bullying.  What you want here is the best possible turnout.  If you could think of any story to share in relation to the topic, it’d be fantastic.”

Gemma looked to Perrin, who nodded in agreement.  “It’s about being relatable.  And Elizabeth makes a good point – it’s what’s happening now.”

From the looks on everyone’s faces, it seemed clear that the decision had already been made before her arrival at the office.  Elizabeth sat before her with such an unflappably perky smile that it made her blood boil.  She looked for support in Damian, who sighed. 

“I think there’s a good message there,” he said, trying to sound encouraging.  “Are you okay with it?”

Gemma cleared her throat.  “But Tyler – ”

“We already got the go-ahead from his team,” Aiden said quickly.

“Oh.” Gemma blinked.  “Well it looks like everyone is on board,” she said.  Aiden nodded.

“Be more excited, Bee!” Perrin exclaimed.  “It’s a fantastic subject and it’s all for a good cause.”

The words rung in Gemma’s head even after the meeting ended.  It was a good cause, but she still felt unnerved for some reason.  She couldn’t figure out if it was the fact that her idea had been so quickly nixed, or the fact that even Damian was in agreement with the intern’s suggestion.  She knew Tyler was busy all day, so she could only hope that he hadn’t known of the decision to approve another charity.

Seeming to sense her vexation, Damian caught up to Gemma as they exited the building with Nicki, Elizabeth and Perrin.  He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.  “You alright?”

Gemma looked up at him.  His smile always made her smile.  “I’m fine,” she laughed at herself.  “Just… the same old stuff.  The day started with kind of a tense meeting with Mira, and then some tabloid ran a story about me cheating on Tyler, so I guess I’ve been on edge since then.”

Once they got outside and drew the paparazzi, Damian let his hand drop off of her shoulder.  “Damn.  I’m sorry you have to deal with all that.”

“It’s fine, it’s part of the job,” Gemma said, trying to sound less fazed.  “That tabloid’s just particularly annoying because I was literally nowhere close to the place they said I was.  Yutaka? I’ve never even been there in my life.  I don’t get why people would make something up entirely.”

“Because your name sells,” Damian answered, shielding his eyes from the camera flashes.  “People want anything that has to do with you.”  He paused.  “I mean, look at this – you turned me into something that people are interested in.”

Gemma looked at him guiltily.  “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not a bad thing.”

“You’re right, it’s not,” Gemma murmured, though as she felt the breath of strangers on her neck and their camera lenses just inches from her face, she realized just how little she believed herself.

- Chapter 5 -

“So, some intern just changed the whole thing on us?” Zoe exclaimed.  “What the shit is that? How does she have the power?” Before Gemma could even answer, Zoe’s dark eyes narrowed mischievously.  “Oh, I know how.”  With a lewd gesture, even Gemma was forced to defend Elizabeth.

   “Oh my God, stop.  I’m sure she didn’t do that,” Gemma pulled Zoe’s hand away from her mouth.  “Perv.”

   “Sorry,” Zoe giggled.  “But honestly, it could be true.  How else could a random teenager get a job at The Hoerner Group? And her own apartment in West Hollywood?”

   “Damian said her mom is in PR.  And her dad owns some huge company, so he can obviously afford her place,” Gemma answered distractedly, holding two designs by Armand. 

   Since the meeting at the agency two weeks ago, several important interviews had been scheduled for Gemma, Tyler, Zoe and Damian.  The four of them were rarely all free at the same time, so when such a day arose, a media circus followed.  Lined up for them on that particular Sunday were three interviews in succession of each other. 

At the Chateau Marmont, Gemma and Zoe got ready in one suite with Perrin and Penelope while Tyler and Damian prepared themselves next door.  Gemma chewed her bottom lip as she tried to decide between two dresses – one of blue feathers and the other of white fringe.  The decision was stressing her out to an abnormal degree, but then again, everything was causing her great stress recently.  More than ever before, she was terrified of making any sort of misstep.  Her radar was constantly up, though she wasn’t sure for what.

Finally, after considering Zoe’s strapless white dress, Gemma went with the feathers.

“Are you sure?” Perrin asked.  “The star should be wearing white.”

“Perrin!” Gemma shot her a look, glancing apologetically at Zoe.  “I’m wearing the blue.”  She shook her head and laughed, catching Penelope’s eye roll at Perrin.

“Anyway,” Zoe changed the subject as she adjusted a lace cuff around her wrist.  “I’m in love with the fact that Tyler and Damian are bros for life now.  All you have to do is become BFF with that Nicki girl and it’ll be double-date heaven.”

Gemma’s laugh turned into a frown as she plucked a stray feather on her bodice.  “Yeah, I don’t know about that.  She doesn’t talk much, and she doesn’t seem interested in making new friends.  She clings to Damian a lot.”

“Mm.  I’d cling to him too, to be honest.”

Gemma laughed, clucking at Zoe with a playful disapproval.

“What? You guys broke up forever ago – ”

“La la la la la!” Gemma shouted over her, widening her eyes at Zoe, who suddenly clasped her hand to her mouth.  Until that point, she had done a good job keeping mum about Gemma’s other life around people who weren’t privy to the information.  She understood the massive security risks at stake, especially since the photo leak.  They both glanced tensely at Perrin, who seemed too engrossed in her emails to have heard them.  Gemma let out a huge sigh before turning to Zoe.  “Good job,” she mouthed.

“God, sorry,” Zoe mouthed back.  She frowned, sliding her pinky down her cheek to mimic a tear. 

Gemma cracked a smile.  “It’s fine,” she whispered, rolling her eyes. 

Penelope heaved a sigh of her own and shook her head at the girls before clearing her throat.  “Okay, crazies.  Ready to go?”

Gemma took one last look in the mirror and nodded, holding her hand out for Zoe’s.  She took a deep breath to ease the vague anxiety turning her stomach, putting on her most winning smile.  “Now or never,” she said.

~

The cheers grew progressively louder as each of the four emerged from the SUV.  Out first was Zoe, then Tyler.  Then out stepped Damian with Gemma behind.  They waved to the hundreds of fans gathered outside the television studios, all there to catch a glimpse of their entrance into the building.  As instructed by Perrin, Tyler locked arms with Zoe as Gemma did with Damian.  “So you all look like friends,” Perrin had explained.  “People love celebrity friendships." 

She seemed right about that.  The fans cooed and squealed even more as Tyler and Zoe made silly faces together for a fan’s camera.  Meanwhile Gemma and Damian pointed and laughed.

“They’re suck freaks,” Gemma shook her head.

“How long have they known each other?” Damian asked.

“Only a little longer than we’ve known each other,” Gemma smiled.  She brushed a strand of jet black hair from her face, glancing behind to locate Perrin.  Who she saw instead was Nicki, walking alongside Elizabeth.  Their eyes met and Gemma smiled.  To her surprise, Nicki gave a blatant eye roll before looking away.  Gemma quickly turned back around.

“So,” she cleared her throat, glancing up at Damian as they entered the building.  “Nicki’s sure supportive, accompanying you everywhere.”

Damian smiled.  “Yeah.  She’s trying to pick up a few things from Aiden and Elizabeth.  You know, maybe explore the PR field.”  He paused.  “And probably keep an eye on me for as long as she can.”  He laughed, turning around to wink at Nicki.  Gemma took a peek behind as well, catching a glimpse of Nicki cracking a smile, though it faded when she caught Gemma’s eye once again. 
Weird
, Gemma frowned to herself.

As much as it bothered her, she forced herself to think of other things.  She had an interview after all, and a massive event to promote.   

“Here’s a question that I think we’re all curious about,” the perky host smiled wide at them.  “This is a hugely powerful group of teen idols we have here – do you four actually hang out as friends? Outside of work purposes?” The four of them laughed graciously. 

“She and I, definitely,” Zoe started, pointing at Gemma, who grinned.  “You probably read about that last year,” she laughed, heaving a playful sigh.  “Tyler and I actually knew each other before I even met Bee, and Damian and I met most recently, but he’s kind of my savior here because these two are always making out.”

A low murmur of “boos” swept the studio audience of mostly young girls.

“Zoe!” Gemma laughed, peering at a disapproving Perrin behind the cameras.  She faced the host, folding her hands in her lap.  “Ignore her, Tyler and I are more private than that.”

“That’s good to hear! But, speaking of privacy.”

Here it comes.
  Gemma sighed inwardly.  She should have known better than to use the trigger word, “private.”

“Do you fear that your real identity will become public knowledge soon? Especially with so many people on a mission to uncover it? Does it ever cause suspicion in your everyday life?”

Gemma smiled.  It was her gut reaction – to look the opposite of how she felt.  She only then realized how many new people were being introduced to her life.  Perrin, Nicki, Elizabeth.  What if they weren’t who they claimed to be? What if the people she had already
known
were betraying her? Perhaps for money – maybe even fame.  Chills ran down Gemma’s bare arms as she pondered her own questions.