Hidden Gem Short Story Collection (9781301405985) (17 page)

But among those high
school friends was Gemma Hunter. Gemma who had somehow managed to
keep her double life a secret from her unsuspecting classmates.
Insecure and shaky,
pathetic
little Gemma who was
somehow
also international pop
sensation, Queen Bee. Madison always knew there was something off
about her. She had always suspected that Gemma Hunter wasn’t the
sweet, unsuspecting girl that she had presented to Beauford High
that day she came skipping in as Gavin’s shy little
sister.

After graduating and heading to NYU, Madison
was happy to leave everything about Gemma behind her. But before
class one day when she was warming up at the barre, two of her
classmates had walked in, flipping through their iPhones with an
urgency that made her look up from a stretch.

“
Her name’s actually Gemma
Hunter,” one of the girls had said. “And she’s the niece of Queen
Bee’s manager. How did people not put two and two together
earlier?” Madison’s head snapped towards them, shocked at the
mention of Gemma’s name. Gemma had never expressed any desire to be
famous or noteworthy. From what she had heard, she hadn’t even
opted to go to college.

“
What about Gemma Hunter?”
Madison asked, slipping off the barre and making her way toward her
classmates.

“
Queen Bee,” the girl
replied. “She
finally
came out with her identity last night at her bullying charity
thing. Her real name is Gemma Hunter and she apparently decided to
come out with everything cause some reporter called her out on
being a hypocrite or something.”

Madison could hardly breathe.

“
You know, I’m not even a
fan of hers or Tyler Chase or whatever,” her classmate continued.
“But I think it’s awesome that she did this.”

Madison felt her ears grow
hot and her stomach lurch as she fumbled through her bag for her
phone. Her hands shook as she typed into her the search bar
–
Gemma Hunter
–
but before she could even finish, her search engine had
suggested
Queen Bee
to follow. She pressed enter anyway, hoping to spot a picture
and perhaps prove it wasn’t the same Gemma Hunter. After all, it
just seemed too
impossible
and there had to be quite a few Gemma Hunters in
the world. But despite that logic, simultaneous thoughts ran right
underneath. Thoughts of how Gemma had kind of showed up at Beauford
out of nowhere when her own brother had been there for years.
Thoughts of how Gemma often disappeared for a month at a time
without good reason.

And then the picture
popped up on her phone. Gemma Hunter, the meek plain Jane that she
had known in high school, was suddenly a household name. She stood
hand in hand with Tyler Chase, with
Damian
Evans
standing beside her.
Had
he
known the whole time?
And then the caption under the photo.
“Gemma Hunter, AKA Queen Bee, Recalls High School Life At
Hands of a ‘Vicious Bully.’”

It was all too surreal, all too shocking.
Madison felt tears burning in her eyes. It was all years ago but
every emotion she had came rushing back. She could barely
understand why it was still upsetting her as much as it was but she
was overwhelmed by feelings of anger, jealousy, and embarrassment.
She sprinted out the building and through Washington Square Park,
ignoring the nausea that was plaguing her body.

But it all caught up to her before she could
make it home. Madison bent over a trashcan, gripping the grimy
edges as she threw up in the middle of the park in broad daylight.
She could hear people running to her aid, asking if she was okay,
but she ignored them all. Gemma Hunter had not only succeeded in
making everyone at Beauford see her as some helpless little victim,
but now the world.

Madison spent that night searching through
every last blog post and article about Queen Bee’s big reveal. She
looked for any mention of her name, but there was thankfully none.
Every writer had quoted Gemma directly, simply referred to the fact
that she was the victim of a ‘vicious bully.’ If Madison had any
energy left in her, she would have scoffed. She was thankful Gemma
hadn’t used her name, but it was only a matter of time before
people would have figured it out. And with one little sentence, she
was able to ruin Madison’s public reputation before she even had
one.

On the set of
Carbine
, she had
actually delighted in her luck. Not only had she gotten a
huge
break in her
entertainment career, word had still not gotten out about her
history with Queen Bee. And now, if it did, she would have the
relative fame and platform where she could defend herself. Though
she was never able to get proof, Madison knew something had
happened between Gemma and Lucas, back when she was still dating
him. As a result, seeing Tyler’s interest in her and sensing
Gemma’s jealousy was unbelievably satisfying. When Gemma had shown
up on set more than she probably should have, dressed with all the
intent to impress, Madison was sure she had succeeded.

But when Madison learned
that Tyler’s interest in her wasn’t quite what she thought it was
and that Gemma had actually somehow caught Liam’s eye, she felt
herself back at a very bitter square one. Lucas, Tyler, Liam – what
did the all see in her? What was so
special
about this girl that
everyone rallied so hard to keep up her perfect little
image?

“
So how does it work now
that you’re all Hollywood,” Chrissy asked, breaking Madison from
her whirlwind of thoughts. “Do you still read all the gossip and
shit about yourself?”

“
Of course not,” Madison
lied. There weren’t very many people still writing about her, but
she did stay on top of the gossip back when they were.

“
They wrote some crazy
stories about you, it was hilarious,” Claire said, swatting her
hand in the air. “Something I read actually said
you
were the one who
bullied Queen Bee in high school. I mean, let’s say she was
actually
bullied and
that wasn’t all some publicity stunt, what are the chances that of
all the people in her high school, the one other tabloid-worthy
chick to come from that little town turns out to be her
bully
?”

“
Right,” Chrissy nodded.
“I mean, did you guys even actually know each other? Because I went
to school with some kid who’s in the NFL now and other than having
calculus together, we never even talked.”

“
No, I knew her,” Madison
said, biting on the tip of her manicured nail.

“
Really?
” Claire exclaimed. “So were
you guys friends and stuff?”

“
I was a year above her,
but yeah, we were close when we were close.”

“
Madison, what the hell!
How did you not even mention that?”

“
She’s not someone I like
talking about,” Madison said, sitting up straight and folding her
hands in her lap. Her jaw tightened. “We had a pretty bad falling
out and it wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience finding out she had
been secretly
Queen Bee
this whole time and that now I had to see her
face all over gossip blogs and magazines when I was trying to put
her in the past.”

“
Um, wow,” Claire
breathed, looking over at Chrissy who had become quiet. They
exchanged looks. “So something did go down between you
two?”

Madison felt her heart pound in the same way
it had when she first found out about Gemma. She looked at her
friends, clearly concerned and regretful over having broached the
subject at all. Their faces were solemn and worried as they waited
for her reaction. Madison pressed a hand to her heart, feeling her
eyes brim with tears.

She hadn’t talked about
Gemma with anyone but Tyler since she left Beauford. Madison had
unintentionally intensified her feelings for him by sharing that
secret part of her life. She told Tyler as much as she could
without coming off as bitter and angry. She wanted to be
informative yet appear in control and past all the conflict she
once had with Tyler’s then girlfriend. Tyler took in all the
information with wide eyes, hungry to know anything there was to
know about Gemma.
It was never about
me
, Madison thought, swallowing
hard.
It was always about her.

“
Talk to us,” Chrissy
said, placing a comforting hand on Madison’s shoulder.

“
Okay,” Madison whispered.
She blinked away the tears, feeling the tension in her chest
dissipate as she heaved a deep sigh. “Gemma Hunter isn’t the person
everyone thinks she is. She cheated on Damian with my then
boyfriend Lucas. Then she cheated on Lucas with Tyler. Whatever you
read about Tyler coming to my place a lot while we were
shooting
Carbine
?
All that was true. I don’t know
what
Gemma was doing to him but she
had totally messed with his mind. He was so broken when he was
talking to me. He clearly just needed a friend.” Madison watched as
Chrissy and Claire clutched their hands over their chests, staring
open-mouthed in reaction to what she had said.

“
And you and Tyler?”
Chrissy asked. “You guys were
just
friends?”

“
Of course,” Madison
replied. “It’s not like I’m
her.
”
It’s
not like I had the option, is more like it.

“
Oh my God,” Claire
gasped. “I mean, it’s ridiculous. They totally made you out to
sound like some bullying homewrecker and this whole time, Queen Bee
was the evil one.”

“
I think she goes by Gemma
Hunter now,” Chrissy said. “Remember? Her record label dropped her
or something? Definitely karma. That bitch.”

“
You know what’s totally
sick about all this?” Claire began. “The fact that she made up some
sob story about being bullied in high school for all that press and
she’s still hailed as some hero. She made it seem like she was this
pathetic little victim who always got picked on, not some
boyfriend-stealing cheater of a slut.”

Madison swallowed, her
fingers pressed to her throat. She could feel what might be guilt
creeping up her spine as the insults towards Gemma escalated. She
felt confident that there was no way Chrissy and Claire would learn
of anything other than Madison’s side of the story, but she had
made the conscious decision to leave out the fact that
maybe
she had sometimes
also been at fault and taken things to a bit of an
extreme.

She couldn’t help but think that she had
made the wrong move by revealing her story in such a way, all for a
quick dose of attention and sympathy. She was just hoping to give
her friends the gossip that they so wanted and alleviate some of
the pent-up stress and anger she had towards the topic of Gemma.
She wasn’t expecting to inspire this type of vitriol, especially in
such a sloppy fashion. Even her high school self would be
disappointed in the route she chose.

You’ve hit a new low,
Madison
.

~

The next morning, Madison woke up alone in
Chrissy’s bed. It was the same Queen sized frame that she had used
when the three of them had lived in a West Village apartment near
campus. But now the view out of Chrissy’s bedroom window was of
Crown Heights because “rent is about five thousand times cheaper
here and I’m broke,” according to Chrissy.

Lifting her head from the pillow, Madison
glanced at the clock. She had expected it to be noon considering
how well rested she felt, but it was only 8AM.

Wandering into the common
space, Madison found herself face to face with a perfectly set
dining table. Sitting on the tabletop was a vase holding a small
bouquet of flowers. It hadn’t been there the day before. Tucked
underneath the petals was a small envelope that read
Madison.
She opened it
up, finding a card inside from Chrissy and Claire.
Hope you slept well! Sorry we couldn’t be there
for you this morning. We made you breakfast (your favorite
parfait!) and left it in the fridge! Love you.

She bit her lip, feeling a bit regretful
that she had kept her friends up late with her sob story when they
both had early mornings to get to. Seeing that they had felt bad
enough for her that they went out and took the time to buy her
flowers and make her breakfast added to the guilt.

Her phone chimed suddenly,
indicating a missed call. Madison picked it up, seeing that a
voicemail had been left just a few minutes before she had woken up.
It was her agent. “
Great news, darling!
The people at
Neighbors and Lovers
want you for a callback.
It sounded like they loved you so I wouldn’t be surprised if
you needed to start looking for an apartment on your home coast…
Scheduled you for 4pm, same place as yesterday. I’m excited for
us!
”

~

Vanessa was an army wife and a new addition
to the fictional suburban town of Graywood. Young, beautiful, and
desperately lonely, she finds herself falling for her married
next-door neighbor, Dr. Harvey Halstead, whose wife was pregnant
with their third child. Sweet and innocent, with lines so tacky and
contrived it would make a five-year-old gag, Vanessa was a far cry
from anything that Madison had ever read for.