Free All About the Hype by Paige Toon

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Little Miss Mulholland
.
    I grin and embrace her. It’s good to see someone I’ve met more than just the once.
    Lottie is a junior and in Eleventh Grade which, confusingly, is the year above me, even though I’m in Year Eleven back home. Unfortunately we won’t share any lessons, but Agnes, who
was one of the youngest in Lottie’s year, got held back and is still a sophomore like me. She had a tough time when her parents split. Her dad used to mess around a lot – much like my
dad did – and he and her mum finally got a divorce. Her mum remarried, but that marriage broke down, too, and her parents ended up getting back together. Sadly, her dad soon went back to his
old ways and they split up again, with her mum marrying Stepdad Number Two. Jack told me all about it. They’re his parents, too, of course.
    What Tom said about him isn’t true: Jack wouldn’t have opened his heart to me about his family situation if he didn’t care about me.
    I guess only time will tell how much.
    The day flies by. I’m increasingly grateful to Johnny for throwing me that party because, even though it went a bit pear-shaped at the time, it has given me a big
advantage. Most people seem to know me or know of me, and I find myself being welcomed by everyone with open arms. Even Gina Miranda, the edgy drama series actress, shows me her photos from
Saturday night, and Jenna Kelly tells me that the video she took of Johnny singing the All Hype song already has over a million hits on YouTube. My nerves are a distant memory by the time the final
bell rings.
    Agnes hooks her arm through mine as we walk out of the wide school halls to the front door.
    ‘Job done,’ she says. ‘First day of school complete.’
    Jack is already waiting and so, I see, is Sam. I wave at Jack, but go to say hello to the big bear of a man sitting in our slick black Mercedes.
    ‘Are you coming with me?’ Sam asks in his deep, gravelly voice.
    ‘No, with Jack.’
    He stares at the sky and I smirk at him.
    ‘Johnny said you’d follow behind.’
    ‘I will,’ he confirms. ‘Where are you going?’
    ‘Somewhere called Intelligentsia Coffee in—’
    ‘Silver Lake, West Sunset Boulevard,’ he finishes my sentence for me. ‘Hanging with the cool kids,’ he muses. ‘You’re getting to know your way around.
I’ll be right behind you.’
    I walk over to Jack’s car. He has his window open with his elbow hanging out and he watches me with a lazy grin as I approach. Brett, I see, is in the front passenger seat, so I climb into
the car behind Jack.
    ‘Hey,’ I say to them both. I nearly kiss Jack hello, but don’t in case one of my classmates sees and it gets back to Brandon or Miles. They used to go to school here, so
they’re still connected. At least Brett knows about us – Agnes told him – so we won’t have to worry once we’re at the coffee shop.
    Jack’s bluey-grey eyes fix on me in the rear-view mirror. ‘Good first day?’
    ‘Yeah, great,’ I reply with a grin as he starts up the car.
    Agnes chats away animatedly as we drive, filling the boys in about the day we’ve just had and the buzz around my birthday party.
    ‘Johnny singing your song has got, like, a million hits on YouTube or something,’ she tells them.
    ‘No shit?’ Jack looks stunned. ‘Jess, can you text that to Brandon and Miles?’ He grabs his phone from the centre console and passes it back to me.
    ‘What’s your passcode?’ I ask, as I switch on his iPhone. He tells me without hesitation and it occurs to me that he wouldn’t let me have access to his phone if he had
anything to hide. The thought makes me smile, but I wish I wasn’t being so paranoid. Tom has shaken me up.
    The journey to Silver Lake only takes about fifteen minutes and soon we’re walking into Intelligentsia. Sam, I notice with relief, stays in the car, presumably content to keep an eye on
things from out there.
    The terrace is buzzing with LA archetypes: hipsters, models,