DISCLIAMER: Hey, guess what? I don't own them!

A/N: Thanks to those of you who reviewed...and not that I'm begging, or anything, but please, please, PLEASE review?

(And the begging really is for a good cause- how else am I meant to get better? Huh?) :D

ASK ANNIE

Ask Annie your most complex interpersonal relationship questions. Go on, we dare you! All letters to Annie are subject to publication in the Clayton High School Register. Names and e-mail address of correspondents are guaranteed confidential.

Dear Annie,

My boyfriend doesn't want to go to the prom, but I'd really like to. It sounds childish, but all my friends are going, and it's meant to be a "thing" that everybody does. How can I persuade him to come with me?

Prom girl without a date

Dear Prom girl,

You're right, it is childish. I mean, at least come up with a better argument than "it's a "thing" everybody does". Why don't go to an anti-prom party with your boyfriend? Or better still; actually listen to him for a change. Sounds like you are the dominant one in your relationship.

Annie

"Hey, Lucas!" I said, strolling over to where Luke Striker was sitting nonchalantly (...I hoped). "How are you?"

"I'm fine...well, I'm not really...well, my health is fine, I just...oh, God. I'm babbling, aren't I?" he asked, turning to me.

"Umm...not really," I lied. 'Cause I mean, Luke Striker...ahem, 'Lucas Smith', is a film star. And that's, like, the eleventh commandment, isn't it? "Thou shalt tell white lies to celebrities when they are doing something stupid".

"You're lying," he said.

"Not really," I said, for the second time in all of thirty seconds. I am intelligent.

No, really.

Anyway, we soon managed to break the ice. I ordered a lemonade and a blueberry muffin (the speciality of Rena, the owner of the café) and Luke- Lucas- ordered his usual iced water. That's the thing with celebrities. They only ever drink iced water and alcohol.

But I cut to the chase. "I had a look at that newspaper article," I said. "What do you want me to do?" Tell it like it is with boys- they don't know the meaning of the word "subtle".

"Well...I don't know," he said. "I've tried talking to Geri...but she just won't listen. I told her we weren't going out; I even said I'd get Lindsay to tell her that we weren't a couple, but she just goes 'Oh, yeah, I'm sure Lindsay will do anything for you!' I mean, what's that supposed to mean?"

I rolled my eyes and took a bite out of the gorgeous blueberry muffin. "It means that she doesn't believe you!" I said, refraining from adding "duh!" to that comment with (what I felt was) enormous self-control.

"But I'd believe her, if the situation was reversed!" he said. Deary me, he sounded like a petulant toddler.

"What, you mean if she was trying to persuade you that she wasn't going out with Lindsay Lohan?" I asked, cheekily.

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Now don't be childish," he said. "What I meant was- and anybody would have known this- I'd believe Geri Lynn if she told me that she wasn't going out with someone, if I thought she was."

"Would you?" I shot back. It's very easy to say things like that...but when it comes down to it, all you can think of is yourself. I told him so.

"Probably...anyway, this isn't helping. I need to know what to do to get her back," he said.

I thought for a bit. I realised that my rushing straight in carry messages to and fro and running 'round in circles wouldn't work...Geri would get even more suspicious and may guess that I was Annie...and to be honest, I didn't want to spend my life running between the two. I do have a life, you know.

No, really.

Eventually, we decided that the best thing to do was for me to stay out of it for a bit, unless everything got drastically worse, (because Geri Lynn was bound to get even more paranoid if another girl- especially one who Luke had known very well- was to suddenly jump in and tell her that no, Luke wasn't cheating on her) and that Luke should write her a nice letter. I helped him to write it, because I am such a kind, caring person.

And also I don't really trust boys to write "a nice apology letter" sincerely...even if their name is Luke Striker. Yeah, he's better known than, say, Scott, but underneath they're all the same.

Not that I told him this.

Dear Geri-Lynn, (we got, after several attempts)

Please don't screw this up and throw it in the bin! Please take the time to listen to what I have to say. (This sentence was deleted then re-entered so many times, before we eventually decided to keep it. We thought it sounded too formal.)

I swear that I have never, ever been out with Lindsay Lohan and have never kissed her except in the movie US 30. I am very sorry I gave you the impression that this was happening, and I think you should know by now that I would not do anything like this. (Again, we deleted then re-entered the last part of that last sentence, as we were worried that it sounded to accusatory, but, in the end, we decided it should stay.)

Please, please believe me when I say that this was never the case, and I want you back. I miss you.

Love,

Luke xx

PS: I love you

OK, so it's very smarmy and suck-y up-y, but Geri will want grovelling before she gets back with him, and...well, she's got it.

And she'll forgive him when she reads it, because Geri Lynn is a romantic at heart, and that letter is very, very romantic, if I do say so myself.

So then everything will be happy and rose tinted again.

Except...

I know that voice.

That voice is Scott.

Rena knows Scott's mom.

Scott wasn't going to visit his Aunt until later in the day.

I hear him asking Rena for something of his Mom's that she borrowed.

"Thank you, Jen," says Luke. "I really appreciate your coming down here." We both stand up- myself in a panic and Luke probably because he thinks I'm leaving.

We are the only customers in the café, except for an old couple over by the window. So when Scott comes through, it is very easy for him to see Luke pulling me into a hug.

A/N 2: I am looking for a beta-reader to help me with this story- I usually ask my friend Diana, but she hasn't read Teen Idol because they don't have it in Portugal, and I don't want to spoil the ending for her. If anybody is interested, would you mind dropping me an e-mail (my address is on my profile page)? Thank you!

PLEASE REVIEW!