Caught up in the spotlight
Shaking from the stage fright
How did I end up here?

-Sick Little Games, by All Time Low

Joe and Nick arrived at Macy's house ten minutes later. They got off the car quickly and rang the bell. About a minute later, Macy opened the door.

She was wearing her pajamas – consisting in blue sweatpants, a white top and a light blue jacket- and her eyes were red. She had been crying. When she saw them, she started crying hard and jumped into Joe, since he was the one standing closer to her. Joe just could hug her back and try to comfort her as she kept on crying.

Joe looked at Nick. And then he could see that his young brother looked broken. He wanted to be the one hugging her. Joe sent him an apologetic look as he hugged Macy tighter.

After a couple of minutes, they pulled apart.

"I'm really sorry, Joe. I—" she said as she wiped away her tears. "Nick. Oh my gosh, thank you so much for coming" she said as she took his hand. Nick froze. He surely didn't expect that.

Macy let him ago and blushed. She crossed her arms on her chest.

"It's pretty cold here. Don't stay out there, come in" she said as she walked through the door. The two brothers looked at each other for a second and followed her.

Macy sighed as she sat on her couch. Her laptop was open and was placed on the table right in front of the sofa. She had just read the article.

"Won't your mum be upset if we...you know, we come here so late?" Joe asked.

"Huh? Oh no, don't worry about that. She's on a date. She won't arrive till midnight or so" she said casually, staring at the screen. The two boys noticed it and felt bad for her. They sat on the couch – each one sat on one side of the girl.

"Macy, we feel—" Joe started to apologize, but Macy cut him off.

"Stop apologizing, guys. It's not your fault. Really! This is all just a mess...Someone must hate me or something, — "

"Nobody hates you" Nick interrupted her. "They're paparazzi. They live for this. And we're just their newest victims" he explained her. She gave him a weak smile.

"Well, what are we gonna do? I'm not sure what you guys do in these cases, but I'd rather not have people thinking I'm a b—. You know what I mean" Macy said.

They stood in silence for about ten minutes. Nobody dared to say a thing. It was becoming awkward when Nick spoke.

"It's probably not the best idea, but we could...you know, break up?" he suggested shyly.

"Well, that's an option" Joe supported.

"You wanna break up with me? Am I that bad?" Macy said, joking. Nick half-smiled. It was kinda funny, but the situation was too awkward.

"You're not any bad, Mace" Joe said. And right after he finished his sentence, he realized how...weird it sounded.

"Thank you" Macy said smiling brightly, making feel like he hadn't said anything wrong. "So, you guys really think that if we break up, they'll forget about me?" she asked, not really convinced.

"What I personally think" Joe started "is that if you guys break up, they'll go for Macy. If you stick together, they'll go for you two. But it's your decision". They stood in silence for some other minutes.

"So?" Macy asked.

"So" Nick continued. "We have two options: pretend we're a couple or face the press separately".

"What do you wanna do, Mace?" Joe asked.

"Honestly?" Macy said as she bit her lip. The brothers nodded. "I wouldn't like to face the press alone. I mean, you guys are used to it, but I'm not. But I understand that you wouldn't like to be my fake boyfriend, so—"

"Macy" Nick interrupted her, taking both of her hands. "It'll be an honor to be your boyfriend".

There was an awkward silence, and Macy looked shocked. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"Eh, uh, well, you know, I meant 'fake boyfriend', not your real boyfriend...You know what I meant" Nick said as he blushed and looked away. Macy smiled shyly.

"Okay, thank you" she said. She turned to Joe "What about you, Joe?" she asked. "You're part of this, too".

"Me? I'm just the brother who's trying to steal the girlfriend. I'll stay aside for a while. Maybe if they see me with Stella they'll all calm down. But it is important for us to be apart".

"Really? But you're my friend! Why can't they get that?" she exclaimed.

"The press doesn't usually get the boy-girl friendship. For them, they're always a couple" Nick explained as he looked at her.

"Agh, I hate them!" Macy said as she frowned. "Well, not hate, that's too bad...I dislike them. Very much" she crossed her arms. Nick and Joe both smiled sweetly at her.

"But we can still hang out at school, right? Like you said..." Macy looked at Joe with hope in her eyes.

"Sure" he smiled. Then his face fell. "Although the same guys that took pictures of us could do it again..." Macy hid her face in her hands frustrated.

"You think this is going to last long?" she asked as she passed her hands through her hair, trying to fix it. Nobody knew the answer.

"I guess" Nick said "that until they find another 'in-couple'. Then they won't notice and we'll break up".

"Nick, you're already thinking of breaking up with me? What kind of boyfriend are you?" Macy said with fake angriness as she punched his shoulder.

Later that night, the boys went back to the firehouse, leaving Macy with a different face that the one they found when they came to see her.

* * *

Macy's POV

I woke up feeling happy. Well, my life wasn't being any easy, but at least I hoped that things would go some better. They couldn't go worse anyway, right?

I looked through the window. There were just about five or six paparazzi. Well, there weren't twenty like the day before. Things were starting to calm down. I took a deep breath and walked to my car. They started with the questions. I didn't answer to any of them. I just smiled politely and got on my car. In there, I felt safe. I did it! I could survive! Then I started wondering that maybe I could be able to go through that without Nick. But knowing that Nick supported me was the reason why I could do it, so I needed him. I just hoped he didn't mind much, and that there wasn't any girl he liked.

I arrived at my locker and felt like somehow everything was back to normal. Then Nick came around and I remembered that he was my boyfriend now, and things were definitely not normal.

"Hey there, girlfriend" he smiled. Nick Lucas smiled. To me. That was really strange. And it felt...good. In some way.

"Hi" I whispered. I was blushing. Blushing?! I wasn't supposed to blush! He was my boyfriend –fake boyfriend, after all. It wasn't real. It was for—for... To avoid the press.

"How was it this morning? Many paparazzi?" he asked. It took me a minute or so to answer. But why? Why did my heart race all of sudden?

"Oh, uh, there were just five or six. I walked to my car and didn't say a thing" I said focusing in my locker. I didn't want to, I don't know, get lost in his eyes or something like that. I was definitely having a weird morning, so it was very probable. Too probable.

"Cool. Seems like they're calming down. Hey, you coming for lunch?" he asked.

"Er, sure" I said. He was probably wondering what the hell I was doing in my locker. I just took books and put them in again. Anything to avoid the eye contact. He was about to say something (I didn't need to look at him to know it. I just knew it) but the bell rang. I quickly closed my locker and turned around. "Well, see you later" I said as I walked away. I slowly sent a look to my locker; Nick stood there, confused. I felt bad for him. I would probably have to explain myself later. But how could I when I didn't even know why I acted like that?

* * *

At lunch time, I had partially thought of what I would say to Nick. He was my friend, right? I could tell him my fears and worries without hesitating.

I stopped walking when I saw that Nick was sitting in the atrium with a bag on his hand. What was he doing there? When he said that we would meet at lunch, he meant all of us (as in Kevin, Stella, Joe, him and me), didn't he?

"Hey Macy" he said when he saw me standing there.

Oh. Maybe he didn't.

"Hi. Where's everybody?" I asked as I sat beside him.

"Oh, Kevin wanted to have lunch with the cheerleaders and Joe told me that he didn't want to be seen near you". Ok, do you find normal to say that? Deep inside, I knew what he meant, but still... It didn't sound good. At all. "Macy, don't-don't take me wrong, what I meant is—"

"I know what you meant" I said, trying to force a weak smile. "Don't worry".

"Yes, yes I worry" he said. Wow, I didn't see that one coming. "What is wrong with you, Macy? What's bothering you? Was it something I said or did or--?"

"No! I'm just—" I stopped as I passed my hand through my hair. I always did that when I was nervous and/or frustrated. "I'm really stressed. And I don't even know why I feel strange when you treat me like that".

"Treat you like what? I treat you the same way I treated you yesterday, or last week" he asked.

"I—I don't know! Since I know that we're like an 'official fake couple', I can't see you the same. I'm sorry". I didn't know what I was saying; my mouth was just speaking the words that came to my mind.

"Macy," he said as he took my hands, like he did the night before "I want us to be friends. I'm sorry if I did or said something that made you feel uncomfortable" he apologized.

"Why are you always apologizing?" I said. My voice sounded like I was crying, but I wasn't; I was just touched.

"I don't know" a small smile was drawn on his face. "So, are we good?"

"Yeah, thank you" I hugged him without thinking twice. And he hugged me back.

"How about you come to the firehouse after school? You know, to do homework and hang out. And you could be with Joe without hiding from the paparazzi. I know you miss him" he said. I smiled brightly and hugged him again with enthusiasm.

"You're the best boyfriend ever!" I said, and I swear I heard him laugh. Just a little.

* * *

After class, Stella came with me in my car. We were about to enter to the firehouse when we heard Joe behind us.

"Hey there, ladies" he said.

"Hey" we both said at the same time.

"Nick invited us. You know, homework, hang out" Stella explained.

"Cool! I wanted to go running for a while, you know, keep fit and all". I nodded. Joe and I understood each other very well. From all of the brothers, he was the one who took sports more seriously. He reached the door and opened it. "Ladies go first" he said as he bowed.

Stella and I both laughed. She entered first and while I was crossing the door, he whispered in my ear "I'm glad you're here". I smiled and replied softly.

"Me too"

The rest of the afternoon went really fast, between jokes, laughs and food.

* * *

The next morning I had the feeling that things were going to be even better. I wouldn't feel weird with Nick and I would be able to hang out with Joe at the firehouse. There was nothing to worry about. Well, almost nothing.

Before turning on my laptop (a bad habit that I had acquired since the rumors started), I received a text from Nick.

Hey gf ;) We have a premiere 2night nd it'd be gr8 if you went there as my official (fake) girlfriend. But only if u want 2, ok?

C u at school xxx

Ok, he was very sweet and a great friend but...since when did he end up the messages writing "xxx"? That was new. Agh, I was paranoid. Yeah, totally paranoid.

I took a deep breath before looking at my laptop. And I obviously didn't like what I read.

Hello everybody? Missed us? We know! But we're back with more drama than ever!

First of all, there are rumors about two guys that looked like Joe and Nick entering to Macy Misa's house last night! Both of them were there to visit the girl! OMJ!

The next day, HMA students tell us that they saw Joe with Stella the whole day. Are these two definitely dating? We don't know, but it could be!

Back to the 'in-couple', aka Nacy, the students saw them together the whole day. But at lunchtime they had a little argument! Oh-uh...Problems with the two lovebirds? Could the fight be because of Joe? Anyway, the two lovers made out and finished their little argument with a double-hug! Cuute!

But later that day, Macy and Stella went to the firehouse and who was there? Joe! He opened the door and said something like 'Ladies go first'. The girls entered to the house, but while Macy was entering, Joe whispered something in her ear! And she smiled!! Our paparazzi say that he mouthed something like 'I'm glad you're here'. Aww, aren't them adorable?

So? Drama much? It isn't over yet, because tonight we'll have the opportunity to see them up close at the new Cristopher Wilde movie preview! Stay here for all of the information!

Great. Just great. If I went to that premiere, I had to watch everywhere not to do a bad step. And if I didn't go, they'll wonder even more about us, and that wasn't good. What was I supposed to do?

Ok, I'm like in hurry now. I'll just say that Nacy is still winning over Jacy. But keep on voting!

I wanted to post this chapter today, but now I have to go to bed. Hopefully, I'll update another chapter this weekend cause it's...Spring Break! Yay!

I hope you liked this chapter. Give me your opinion, ideas, songs suggestions...

Thanks for reading xxx

P.S. I'm really sorry if there are any mistakes, but I don't have the time to check it. Sorry!