Chapter Twenty-one – Biting Words

It's muggy today, and my clothes feel like they're sticking to me in the heat. It makes me uncomfortable especially because this stupid shop has no air-conditioning. Last time I checked this wasn't the 1800's. And what's more, I can feel two eyes burning holes into the back of my head, like someone's drilling through my skull with a red-hot poker. This girl has been staring at me for five minutes now. Here I am, just casually browsing the make-up, and this girl stops a few metres away just so that she can gawk at me. I only wanted to get in and out. I was going to grab some new make-up and toiletries to stock up on for tomorrow. It's the Fueled By Ramen 15th Anniversary show in two days, and Paramore are playing. Summer and I were going to watch the show online, having a rave from the comfort of my sofa, but then Taylor broke the news that he'd got Summer and I plane tickets to New York, coupled with backstage passes to the show. I've never been to New York before, only California on holiday once, so I can already imagine my head spinning at all the stimuli – the shops, the lights and the show.

Speaking of head's spinning, I turn mine to glance at the girl. I have to quickly clear my face of a startled expression because suddenly she's just a couple of feet from me. It's like being in a horror film or something. I look back to the make-up, hurriedly grabbing the eyeliner I was looking at, but before I can make my escape the girl speaks.

"Are you Taylor York's girlfriend?" the girl asks innocently enough, as though this is a perfectly normal question to ask a stranger.

I look at her blankly for a second, wondering how she even knows this, before replying in an even tone, "Yeah, I am."

I suppose now you'd expect fangirling. Maybe she's a huge Paramore fan and has somehow found out about me and Taylor. As far as I know, no one knows about us except for our immediate family and friends. However, the girl does the unexpected. In one venomous motion, she looks me up and down as though I'm a tramp who's accosted her in the street, then, with a disgusted look, she laughs at me.

The words are tumbling out of my mouth before I can stop myself, automatic defence. I return the girls look with a sickly sweet smile, and in a sarcastic voice I reply, "Yeah, because I laugh like a bitch at people I don't know." And with that I storm off to the checkout, buy my make-up and stomp out of the shop.

In under an hour I'm over at Hayley's house, the two of us sat on the sofa in her basement, cradling cups of coffee in our hands. I've explained the situation to Hayley, having not calmed down enough to regret my biting retort. Hayley is frowning at me, mulling over the story I recounted.

"What did the girl look like?" Hayley asks, taking a sip from her steaming mug.

"Urm, she had long brown hair, it was slightly wavy... um, an oval face? I don't know, she just looked like your typical teenage girl," I answer.

Hayley continues to frown until something registers on her face, like the last pieces of a puzzle have just been put into place. "I know exactly who that was," she says, giving me a 'here we go again' look.

"Who?"

"Isabelle Farro, Josh and Zac's little sister."

I stare at Hayley in disbelief for a second, then I can't help myself – I burst out laughing. "What? Are you serious? Who told her?"

"I guess Josh did," Hayley says, unable to stop herself from laughing with me.

"Like how old is she?"

"Fourteen I think."

I laugh even harder. "And she had the nerve to come up to me and give me such a disgusted look?"

"She probably thinks big brother Josh will protect her," Hayley jokes.

My laughter dies away, replacing my amusement with curiosity. "Wait a second," I mumble, whipping out my blackberry. I log onto twitter and check my followers, and sure enough I find exactly what I was looking for. I show the screen to Hayley. "Exactly as I thought, she followed me on twitter a few weeks ago. She must know what I look like from my profile picture." I check Isabelle's twitter profile picture and see that it's definitely the girl from the shop.

Hayley takes a gulp of her coffee and says, "Forget about her anyway, she's just an-"

"Immature little girl," I interrupt, not regretting the insult, not even regretting the fact that I practically called her a bitch to her face. She was acting like one after all. There was no need for her to be like that.

"-exactly, and we have more important things to think about, like the Fueled By Ramen show. Have you packed?" Hayley continues.

"I'm ready and raring to go. I just have to pack my toiletries," I reply, grinning at the prospect of the next few days. Tomorrow we catch a plane to New York, first class, and the day afterwards is the show.

"Well I'm glad your set, I still have a whole suitcase to pack," Hayley replies, grimacing at me before she takes another sip of her coffee. She eyes me over the rim of her mug.

I grin knowingly at her. "Would you like some help with your packing?"

She grins back at me. "Aww, thanks so much for offering Callie, you shouldn't have," Hayley answers, already putting her cup on the coffee table and heading for the stairs.

I roll my eyes and follow her, but with each step a sinking feeling in my stomach grows. I can't place what it's about, but immediately one name comes to mind – Josh. Is there going to be backlash from what happened today? Have I only made things worse?