She thought it was going to be any normal school day- same old annoying teachers, gross lunches, long classes, mountain upon mountain of homework due over the weekend or the next day. That wasn't what happened.
It all began when Zoey was at home, just being woken up. That was thanks to her sister, Cammie, watching Mike DeGruss's TV show, Perfect Princess. Apparently, Mike DeGruss was a famous and rich actor thanks to his Multiple Personality Disorder. The personalities he had kept him in acting, and made him who he was today. Zoey wasn't a big Mike fan. All he was really was an average teenager who was just a wannabe, at least to her. Every other girl at school and probably the world would disagree. Mike had been seen in loads of movies, and had been known to steal girls' hearts after simply one look at them, even from the TV.
Zoey purposely yawned, making sure Cammie heard. "Cammie, how can you watch this?"
"Zoey! Come on! You rarely like the new things. I bet by next year, this'll be your favorite show." Zoey had been known to get interested in things months after they actually happened, meaning everyone else had moved on to like newer music, TV shows, and other things. Cammie was the exact opposite. She fell in love with things right away, but only new things, like iPhones or iPods. It was actually kind of crazy, since Zoey was 17 and Cammie was 10.
"Cammie, don't be silly. Anyway, you have school." Zoey reached for the remote, but was stopped by Cammie. "Sis! Come on. Mike DeGruss is so awesome! And the break is almost up." Zoey reluctantly stopped herself, not even looking at Mike on the TV.
"That's right! Girls from all over the world will be chosen to compete to be Mike's date to the Grand Ball coming up on a few months! If you're in school, home, or even on a car ride you'll find out if you were picked to star on Perfect Princess!" The screen flashes to Mike winking. "Garunteed!"
Cammie finally let Zoey turn off the TV. "Zoey, Mike is about your age! What if you end up as his date! That would be so cool, my own sister knowing Mike DeGruss!" Cammie fangirled over the show on her way upstairs, coming down minutes later in her plaid skirt and white collared shirt. Being 10, she went to the local elementary school. That school had a strict uniform policy. At Zoey's school, the high school, they could wear anything they wanted.
"Zoey! It's no fair! This uniform is so lame!" Did Zoey forget to mention Cammie acted like a drama queen, in fact sometimes she was more of a teenager than Zoey.
"Cammie, it's only for one more year. The rules are different when you get to middle school." Cammie was in 5th grade, which was the last grade at the elementary school.
"I sure hope so! You're the lucky one, Zoey." Cammie ran to grab her coat and run to the school bus on time. Zoey just smiled to herself and chuckled. Her sister would make an interesting teenager.
"Well, time for me to get ready." Zoey walked up the stairs to her room. Her and Cammie had rooms directly across the hall from eah other, so Zoey woke up to her sister watching Mike DeGruss reruns when she thought nobody was listening. More often than she liked.
Zoey typically wore the same type of outift every day- a red strapless top, khaki capris, and black sandals. It had become her siganture look. Her red hair was normally put in two short pigtails, and she wore a flower in it. For makeup, she went for only red lipstick and a small amount of eyeliner.
"Let's get going, I guess." Zoey slipped on her second shoe, making sure everything was in her backpack and ready to go. Science lab sheet, check. Math textbook, check. Language arts book, check. She was ready. At least as ready as she could get on a Monday.
"Bye, Mom!" Zoey waved to her mother before boarding the bus, instantly going for her usual seat in the back where she sat next to her friend Cameron. Her mother knew about how close they were, and named Cammie after Cameron when she was born in honor of him.
"Hi, Cam." Zoey slipped into her seat, already missing the feeling of her soft bed. "Anything interesting happen over the weekend?"
"Unless you count finishing Mr. Brunner's AP history interesting, no." Cameron was the pure definition of 'nerd.' He wore big black glasses, thought of things in math and science terms, and one of his signature quotes was, "Eureka squared!"
Classic nerd.
"I thought you got it done over the weekend, not on the bus in the morning." In front of Cameron was his history textbook, which must've weighed a ton. Cameron was in all AP classes, just the perks of being a nerd. "What's the deal?"
"Oh, I had to show my grandmother how to use her new computer, I felt sick most of the weekend."
"Okay then." Zoey laughed. "Still, you could've gotten help with all that." Zoey gestured to a tall purple-haired girl holding onto a brown-haired boy with blue eyes wearing a collared shirt. "Sierra's so obsessed with Cody and you, she'll do anything to help you."
Cameron rolled his eyes, slightly laughing. "Zoey, you know I never do that."
"I know, I was messing with you."
"I should be used to that, but I'm not." Cameron rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat. "If she comes over here, tell her I can't talk now."
"Will do, Cam."
Zoey spent the rest of the bus ride staring out the window and keeping an eye on Sierra to see if she came over for Cameron. Luckily, she never did. The ride was really short, anyway. The high school was one of those places that was near everywhere else in town, so a person could easily walk to get there. The bus was an option for all students.
"Cam." Zoey nudged Cameron. "We're here."
"Thanks, Zoey!" Cameron gratefully jumped out of his seat, being one of the first to leave the bus. He had to be, otherwise Sierra the stalker would cling onto him. "I'll wait for you outside!"
"Okay, then!" Zoey waved, gathering her backpack and bag lunch. She jumped out, and saw Cam waiting just like he said he would.
Right when she came in, an announcement came over the intercom. "Zoey Marcus, Heather Dawson. Please meet me in the office."
Of course it was the principal. Who else.
Zoey cam in, taking the empty seat next to Heather. Heather was the mean queen, and everyone knew it.
"What do you need, principal? I have thing to do..." Heather muttered the next part. "People to ruin..."
"Well, you two have been chosen out of everyone to be comptitors on Perfect Princess. We spent a long time thinking about who to pick, but if it comes down to it, you two are our pride and joy. Both of you have flawless grades..." Zoey and Heather tuned him out. Both girls wouldn't have them if it weren't for their 'tutors,' a.k.a Cameron (who helped Zoey) and Alejandro (who helped Heather). Both boys were straight-A students. Unfortunately, that meant people spread rumors about them being couples.
"Zoey." Zoey turned when she heard her voice, a.k.a Heather talking to her. "Do you even want to do this?"
Zoey and Heather were frenemies, so sometimes they got along, other times they didn't. "Yeah, honestly."
"I know. I'm just fine living here, and it's just a date to the dance." Heather's words shocked Zoey. Being one of the most popular girls in school, Heather was expected to be the biggest Mike DeGruss fan out of anyone.
"You don't want to be on TV?"
"Well, it's just one date. I can go on more dates with anyone here." She was blowing this off like it was nothing. "I mean, it's obvious Alejandro likes me."
"True."
"Don't worry, I got this." Heather turned to the principal. "Principal, I can't. My big exams are coming up, I have loads of homework... this won't work." She looked at Zoey, smirking. "But Zoey isn't too busy."
The principal nodded. "I guess one girl is good enough. You may go."
Zoey silently cursed at Heather for leaving her to be on the show by herself. "Actually-" she began, but was cut off.
"Zoey, I'm sure you can still be on the show. I'll talk to your parents about it later. You can go now, too."
Zoey sulked out of the office. She wasn't surprised to see Cameron waiting for her. "Hey, Cam."
"I heard what happened. Why don't you want to be on TV?"
"Because Mike DeGruss is a wannabe in my mind. He's probably only an actor because of his personalities, you know." Zoey didn't even hesitate when she listed why she didn't really like Mike.
"If you say so."
The rest of the school day was strange for Zoey. Half the girls that talked to her only wanted to know what it felt like to find out she could be Mike DeGruss's date to the Grand Ball, and the other half wanted to know why she wasn't more excited about it. Even at lunch, girls were buzzing and swarming around Zoey and Cameron's lunch table only to ingnore Cameron and talk to Zoey. By the time she got home, Zoey felt like she'd escaped an alternate world.
"Hi, Mom. I'm home- what is that?" Zoey pointed accusingly to a sleek white paper in her mother's hand. "Let me see!" she demanded when her mother held it away from her.
"Zoey dear, this is your letter about Perfect Princess." Cammie came bursting into the room when she heard 'Perfect Princess.'
"Mom, what did you say?" She had changed into a hot pink fitted T-shirt, skinny jeans (or jeggings, Zoey didn't know), and black ballet flats. "Perfect Princess?"
"Yes, Cammie. Your sister's going to be on TV."
"OMG! OMG!" Cammie jumped around the room, fangirling over Mike DeGruss like Sierra did over Cody Anderson. "Please get me an autograph!"
"Whatever. Mom, do I have to? Look, Cammie's more suited to be on the show than me."
"Well, I already said you could go. And Cammie's too young."
"It's called a makeover. And I could change my name."
"No, Zoey. You're going to be on TV." Zoey stomped off to her room, ignoring how Cammie was jumping alongside her and how her mother was telling her not to stomp in the house. She went to her room, slammed the door, and locked it.
She hated life.
