The Hollywood Effect (9 page)

I almost felt like banging my head against the wall, anticipating class tomorrow morning. I just knew the Year 8’s would be insufferable.
 

I glanced down at my watch. Holly had been in the shower for ages. Didn’t she know what water restrictions were? Probably not, I reminded myself.
 

Before long there was a tap on the back door. Liam had let himself in before I even reached it. He had his hoody pulled up and sunglasses on.
 

“Dude, it’s dark out there. Do you really need the sunnies?”
 

“Disguise,” he grunted. I raised my eyebrow.
 

“I think they’d know it’s you, my famous friend.” I patted him on the arm when he looked downcast at my words.
 

“Don’t get famous, Jen. It’s annoying as hell.”
 

I laughed. “I don’t think there’s much chance of that! Teaching’s not really known for being a glamorous career. Although I do have to watch out for kids snap-chatting. At least I don’t have to worry about the photos turning up in magazines. Just on Facebook…”
 

We were still standing in the back hallway. Liam kept throwing glances up the hallway.
 

“She’s still in the bathroom,” I said, quietly. “Come into the kitchen. They can’t see in there from the road.”
 

Liam followed me up the hallway. “Sorry again about this, Jen.”
 

“Hey, it’s okay,” I said. “Drink?”
 

Liam let out a sigh and then nodded. “Yeah, a coffee would be great, if you’ve got it.”
 

I bit my lip. “I’ve only got instant.”
 

“That’s fine.”
 

“Are you sure? When’s the last time you had instant?”
 

“Relax, Jen. I had some at Mum and Dad’s this afternoon. I’m not a complete snob now, you know.”
 

I put the kettle on. I shouldn’t have one. I really should get some sleep. I glanced at my watch again. I needed to get up in six hours. Bleh.
 

The shower finally stopped. Liam and I danced around the elephant in the room. After what felt like an awkward eternity, Holly finally made her appearance. I looked at her in slight consternation. She managed to look movie-star quality even without her team of stylists. How did she manage it? I didn’t even want to look in the mirror to see how I compared. I realised we were all just staring at each other, not saying anything. Well, to be more accurate, Liam and Holly were staring at each other, while I glanced nervously between them.
 

“What are you doing here?” Liam finally managed, almost in a low growl.
 

“I… I…” Holly seemed to deflate a bit. I’m not sure what she imagined - them running into each others arms, possibly, after her romantic gesture of chasing him halfway across the world and barging in on his best friend’s house.
 

“I needed to see you,” Holly finally managed. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” All of a sudden, she was just a girl, not some big movie star. Just a girl who stuffed up and wanted to make things right.
 

“I’ll leave you two to it,” I said, and slipped out of the room, closing the door firmly behind me. I don’t think they even noticed me. I resisted the very strong temptation to eavesdrop, and went to my room instead. I sat down on the edge of my bed and shook my head. What a crazy weekend.
 

Liam knocked on my door after an hour or two. I’d fallen asleep, with my book next to me. I looked at him blearily, trying to make my sleepy brain process what he was saying.
 

“Thanks for everything, Jen. Sorry again for…” he paused and waved his hands around in the air. “Everything. You’re a true friend.”
 

I mumbled something in reply that I wasn’t quite sure was English.
 

“I’ll let you get back to sleep. I’ll take Holly back to Mum and Dad’s. I’ll go out the front door, so they’ll leave you alone.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled.
 

He came over and kissed me on the top of my head. “I’m serious. I owe you one.”

“I’ll take you up on that someday,” I yawned. “Wait,” I said and rubbed my eyes. “Are you and Holly…”
 

Liam sighed. “I don’t know. She wants to get back together and keep the wedding on track. But I don’t know. I have some big decisions to make, I guess,” he said quietly, with a glance over his shoulder. I’d half forgotten Holly was out there somewhere. In my house. Still weird.
 

“When are you going back?” I asked, with another yawn.
 

“I don’t know yet. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
 

“Okay. Don’t be a stranger. If you need to talk, I’m here,” I mumbled and then buried myself back under the covers. “Just not at two am on a school night,” I belatedly added to his retreating back.
 

I closed my eyes again, settling back in to sleep, only to be jolted awake again. Someone had sat on the end of my bed.
 

“I just wanted to say thank you, Jennifer. You’ve saved my life, you have no idea. You’re a real friend to Liam, and I hope we can become true friends as well in the future. Liam means the world to me, and I’m so grateful to you for helping him see that we belong together.”
 

Huh?
Holly didn’t wait for a reply before patting me on the leg and then leaving my room. My brain was too tired to think through everything and I slipped back into sleep, wondering if that last visit had been real.
 

The blaring of the alarm clock woke me up sooner than I was ready. I groaned and turned it off, lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and contemplating what had happened the night before. I leapt out of bed and all but ran up to the lounge room to peek out the front. They were gone. My front yard was its usual deserted self. Had all of that really happened? I shook myself and got ready for school. I really hoped my Year 8’s would behave.
 

The wedding of the year is back on!

Yes, happy readers! You read that right! After that unfortunate little blip last week, it seems that all is well once again in the Burns-Monroe household. The wedding is back on! Like life imitating art, Holly won her man back, flying all the way across the Pacific to woo him back in person. How romantic! The loved-up couple have been spotted by reliable sources very cozy and happy looking on a Caribbean island. Pics to come soon (we hope!). Holly is reportedly over the moon to have Liam back where he belongs - with her.
 

After the craziness of that weekend, I couldn't quite decide whether or not the next few months flew by or dragged on. Teaching made the passage of time seem a bit strange. I was doing the same thing every day, but every day was completely different. Before I knew it, five weeks has turned into ten, and it was the school holidays again and all the teachers were revelling in their short-lasted freedom - or curled up in a stupor, trying to recover a sense of normality after a hectic term with crazy kids and insane parents.
 

Holly and Liam hadn’t stuck around for long. I think Liam felt guilty for bringing all the paparazzi to town. The town thought it was pretty nifty, having a couple of movie stars around, and the town was a lot busier than usual with people driving in from the surrounding towns to see if they could catch a glimpse of the famous couple, but it wasn’t to last.
 

Liam had tried to call me, but I’d been in class. He left a voicemail message saying that despite his better judgement, he was giving it another go with Holly. The wedding was tentatively back on, but no date. They were flying out to a private tropical island owned by one of Holly’s friends for a couple of weeks to ‘re-find’ themselves. He’d thanked me again, and said he’d call me again when he was back in LA. I listened to the message more times than I should have. He hadn’t sound super excited about getting back together with Holly. I told myself not to read anything into it and forced myself to delete the message after listening to it for the twentieth time. Tragic. I was tragic.
 

The paparazzi and gossip blogs lost interest in me as soon as Holly and Liam got on the plane together, and photos of them all loved up on a tropical beach surfaced, but it hadn’t stopped some of my students treating me with a kind of awe - I was
famous,
according to them
.
I’d just rolled my eyes at them, and assured them I was most definitely
not
famous. That had been a good segue into how celebrity and the concept of fame had changed over time, and the difference between medieval ‘celebrities’ and our modern ones. Imagine the field day the press would have if we had a modern day Henry VIII. Now that court would have been able to fuel a thousand gossip blogs. Although Henry probably would have chopped the head of anyone who dared publish incriminating photos of him and his lady friends. Pity we couldn’t do the same…
 

Thankfully as the term rolled on, and assignments started piling up, the kids soon forgot about my so called ‘fame’ and stopped asking me every lesson if I’d heard from Liam. Or Liam Burns, as they always called him. Always the full name. Poor Liam was no Adele. I always ignored their questions. I didn’t really want to admit to a bunch of 14 year olds that I’d barely heard from Liam since he’d left.
 

Dad seemed to be making a bit of progress. He was at least taking the scraps down to the chooks and I noticed he’d started opening his mail. Sometimes. He even cooked me dinner one night when I went over there.
 

“This is really good, Dad.” I said through a mouthful of risotto. He’d just smiled at me and then went back to staring out the window.
 

Over a long weekend towards the end of term, my friends from uni, Sammy and Mel, came down to visit me in the countryside, laden with wine, cheese, and gossip from our cohort, and, of course, questions.
 

“So, you were kinda vague in your messages,” Mel said once we were comfortable and set up in my lounge room with a cheese platter and wine in front of us.
 

“About what?” I asked, my mind more on trying to decide whether I wanted blue cheese or cheddar.
 

“About what?” Mel mimicked with an eye-roll at Sammy. “About your extremely famous friend, that I might add, you neglected to mention last year!”
 

“Oh… him,” I muttered. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I just don’t like throwing it around.”
 

“But we’re your friends!” Sammy protested.
 

I shrugged. “It’s weird, okay. He’s just an old mate from school. I’m really not a part of his new life. I hate all that side of it,” I said with a shudder at the memory of the paparazzi horde that had stalked us that weekend a month ago.
 

“
Fair enough, I guess, but still. You don’t need to hide it. I wouldn’t have!” Mel said.
 

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.”
 

“Apology accepted,” Sammy said. “Now, what’s he like?”
 

I frowned. “What do you mean, what’s he like? You’re starting to sound like my Year 8’s… He’s just a nice guy who likes acting. He was always the lead in the school plays. Even when they weren’t cool. He’s nothing special. I mean, he is special, he’s great, but he’s just a regular guy, you know?” I trailed off and took a big gulp of wine.
 

Sammy and Mel both laughed at me.
 

“What?” I demanded. They glanced at each other.
 

“You like him, don’t you?” Sammy said, and leaned over to refill my wine glass.
 

“What? No! He’s just a friend! I’m getting kind of sick of saying that!”
 

“Maybe because it’s not true,” Mel smirked.
 

“Of course it’s true. Liam’s just an old friend, we grew up together, he’s like my brother. I’m not secretly in love with him.” I said with so much conviction that I almost believed myself.
 

“It’s not so secret, hun.” Mel held up a magazine with a blurry picture of me, next to a much clearer one of Liam and Holly. There was a lightning strike through Holly and Liam.
 

“What the hell? Is that new?” I reached over and snatched the magazine out of Mel’s hands.
 

“It came out yesterday. I don’t usually buy them, but the line was really long at the supermarket and I was bored and started flicking through…”
 

I skim read the article before throwing it away from me in disgust. According to ‘unnamed sources’ Liam and Holly were once again on the rocks, and this time it was because Liam and I were pining for each other, wanting to rekindle our high school romance.
 

“High school romance?” I spluttered. “What high school romance?”
 

“So you never…” Sammy raised an eyebrow.
 

“No! We were just mates. Good mates, but never more.”

“Ever?”
 

“You’re not fishing for information to sell to the tabloids are you?” I said with sudden suspicion.
 

Mel and Sammy actually looked shocked.
 

“Of course not. We’re sorry. We’ll stop talking about it if you want. We were just teasing you,” Mel said quickly.
 

I sighed. “Sorry. It’s… it’s just been a weird few months.”

“Yeah, I bet,” Sammy said and patted me on the back. “Have some of this blue cheese. I got it from the Queen Vic Market. It’s pretty good.”
 

I could hardly resist Sammy’s beseeching look. I took a bite. It was surprisingly… not bad. Actually rather good.
 

“We did kiss, once. Properly, I mean. Not like when we were five.”
 

“Who’d you kiss?” Mel asked. The conversation had moved on to Mel’s ongoing lack of sex life with her partner. I didn’t know why I was bringing it up again. Blame the wine.