Click. Flash. Click. Flash.

"Cress! What relationship are you with Jacin?"

"Cress! How did you and Jacin first meet?"

"Cress! Please say something!"

Cress rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses, and waited for her manager to make a way through the crowd of reporters and cameras. She sighed. As more questions were thrown to her, she walked down the stairs of the hotel, and climbed into the backseat of her black van.

Her manager, Darla, got into the driver's seat and said, "Where to, Cress?"

Cress took off her sunglasses, and said, "Just get me out of here. Oh, and stop by a café to get my coffee."

Darla nodded, and pressed on the pedal. Cress leaned her head back, glad for some peace and quiet. Then after a few seconds of thinking, she said, "Wait. Go to the company. I need to talk to Kai."

Darla looked at Cress, surprised. "Why do you need to talk to talk to the president?"

Cress frowned. "Why are you questioning my decisions? Hurry up and go!"

Darla nodded, and made a quick U-turn. "Do you know why the reporters are overreacting? You were just visiting your sister and her fiancé. Which happens to be Jacin. Oh, did they see Winter? I guess they didn't."

Cress sighed and plugged in her earplugs. She didn't to talk to anyone. Not until she talked to Kai about her blackouts.

The car stopped to a halt. Darla got out of her door, as Cress put on her sunglasses again, and got ready to get outside. Darla opened her door, and Cress walked to the front door of the building. Someone opened the door for her, and Cress walked to the elevator on the right side of the building. Cress pressed the up button, and waited for the doors to open. Darla came up behind Cress.

Even on Cress' high heels, Darla was towering over Cress, and that fact always annoyed her. Cress straightened her back, her hoop earrings dancing beneath her ears. Her long braids waved beneath her thighs. The doors opened, and Cress and Darla went inside.

Darla pressed the 20 button inside, and the doors closed. Cress crossed her arms and watched the numbers go up. 5… 6… 7… 8… ding!

The elevator stopped, and the doors opened, revealing a tall man, with a leather jacket. He was looking at his phone when the doors opened, so he didn't notice Cress until he bumped into her, dropping his phone.

"Oops! Sorry. Didn't see you there," he said, picking up his phone. He stopped short when he saw Cress, but the expression was quickly gone. He smiled a cocky smile, and stood next to Cress.

The man continued to look through his phone. He didn't bother to press a button, and Darla spoke up. "Um… what floor are you going to?"

He looked up and said, "Same floor. Thanks for asking." He winked. Darla giggled behind her hand. Cress rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms, tapping her fingers on her arms. 10… 11… 12… 13…

The elevator suddenly stopped without making a noise. Darla looked around curiously, wondering what was happening. When the elevator didn't stop moving in a few seconds, Darla pressed the emergency button. Nothing happened. Fear struck Cress.

"What's happening?" Cress asked Darla. Darla shrugged and pressed the button again.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" came from under the emergency button.

"Yes! We need help. The elevator stopped," Darla said.

"And the Wi-Fi service disappeared," the guy next to Cress muttered under his breath, putting his phone in his pocket.

"I'm sorry for the technical issue. We will have it working in a few minutes," the voice replied back.

Cress reached out and grabbed Darla's arm. "I need to get out of here. Now!"

Cress started to panic. The guy next to her reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. Are you claustrophobic?"

Cress nodded, even though she wasn't.

"Okay then. Just close your eyes and breathe in, breathe out. Come on, breathe in," he inhaled, "breathe out." He exhaled.

Cress nodded, closing her eyes, and inhaling like he had.

After a few minutes of repeating that pattern, the elevator started to move up. Cress sighed in relief.

The guy smiled and stuck out his hand. "I'm Captain Thorne. You?"

Cress made a small movement with her head that caused one of her braids to make a small flipping motion and ignored his hand. "Cress Moon."

Thorne's (no way was she going to call him captain) eyes widened. "The Cress Moon? No way! I was just reading about her!"

"What? What did it say about me?" she asked.

"Wait, lemme see it again." Throne got his phone out of his pocket. "Here it is. Breaking News. Cress Moon and Jacin Clay seen together at Bright Star Hotel."

Thorne turned it around to show the picture, and indeed, it said, "Breaking News: World-Wide Singer, Cress Moon, and Famous Actor, Jacin Clay, seen together at Bright Star Hotel." And there was a picture of Cress in her cute boots and shorts, her tank-top wrinkled from walking too much. Her two long braids almost looked like they were touching the top of her boots. The tons of accessories even made Cress look dizzy

"Ugh, those reporters. Why are they so freaking fast on these articles? And couldn't they have chosen a better picture?" Cress rolled her eyes, checking her nails.

Ding!

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. "Let's go Darla."

Cress walked down the hallway, Darla following behind her. There was another set of footsteps that were following them. Cress walked faster, and the pairs of footsteps followed her.

That's it. Cress had it. She turned around and was going to ask why Thorne was following her, but Thorne kept walking past her. Cress covered her shock by asking Darla, "What time is it?"

"Uh… it's 8:30 pm. We don't have another schedule until tomorrow morning at 9:30 am, so you can sleep in."

Cress sighed in relief and turned around to walk towards Kai's office. She stopped short when she saw Thorne in Kai's office, the two of them talking over a document. She could see that Kai was uncomfortable with the lack of seriousness Thorne's way of talking, and that made her dislike Thorne even more. What was he doing now?

Without knocking, Cress burst into the room. Kai stood up, surprised, and sighed when he saw Cress. Thorne smiled casually, and leaned back. "Well hello there. Nice to see you again."

Cress ignored Thorne's comment and looked at Kai. "I need to talk to you. Privately."

Kai nodded. "Alright. But we need to have some proper introductions first." He gestured Thorne to stand up. He did, and he stuck out his hand again, as he did in the elevator. "This is Thorne, your new manager."


Note: Likes and reviews are always appreciated! My other story, High School Lunar Chron Life, will be shortly updated so stay tuned!