One Week
Chapter Four
�Can traffic move any slower?!� Haylee�s annoyed yell voiced what was going on in each of the girls� heads, Cammy in particular. She was eager to see her boy band best friend in action. The mall was an hour and a half away from their school, and their patience was wearing thin. The long drive wasn�t the only thing that was testing their patience.
�Haylee, how in the world can you become an obsessed Dream Street fan overnight?� Riley queried, eyeing the print outs of Dream Street facts in her younger sister�s hands. She�d been reading them aloud for most of the car trip.
�I�m not obsessed,� she protested. �I just like knowing background info.� She re-read the pages. �For instance, did you know that Jesse got nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of Adam Chandler, Jr. in the ABC soap opera All My Children?�
�Seriously?� Kelly said, changing lanes. �Did he win?�
�Well�no�� Haylee admitted slowly. �But he did win a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor.�
�Awesome,� said Sammi. Fifteen minutes later they were pulling into the crowded parking lot of The Los Angeles Mall. The five girls quickly ran into the mall, greatly anticipating what awaited them.
Cammy and her friends stared. Their eyes were huge, and their mouths open.
�Whoa�� Haylee muttered.
The mall was a zoo. Teenage girl after teenage girl swarmed around a makeshift stage in the middle of the mall. They all screamed for Dream Street or one of the guys in particular. Some of them were wearing outfits that would shock even Britney Spears. Was this the world Matt lived in on a regular basis?
Cammy turned to her four friends. �Guys, I had no clue it would be this mobbed. If you want to just go, feel free. I�ll get a ride home with Matt.�
�No way!� Haylee yelled. When her sisters and friends turned to stare at her, she recovered with, �I mean, I didn�t sit in the car for an eternity just to turn right around and go back home.�
Riley got a sly grin on her face. �Haylee li-ikes Jesse! Haylee li-ikes Jesse!�
�Shut up! I do not!�
�Do too!�
�Do not!�
�Do too!�
�Do not!�
�Do not.�
�Do to�hey!� Haylee blushed furiously as Cammy and her friends laughed. �Come on, they leave for New York on Sunday, why would I bother getting a crush on Jesse?�
Cammy looked at Haylee with a surprised face. �They�re leaving Sunday?� she asked incredulously.
�Well, you didn�t expect them to stay here forever, did you?� Haylee replied. Cammy shook her head no, and followed her friends towards the stage. Losing Matt yet again infuriated her just as it had ten years ago. It wasn�t fair. Cammy and Matt understood each other like no one else; she felt like she could truly just be herself when she was with him. Not that she put on an act with Riley, Kelly, Haylee, and Sammi. There was just something about Matt that brought out the total kid in her. One week with him just wasn�t enough.
Cammy and her friends stood among the screaming fans, awaiting the concert.
�That was AWESOME!!� Cammy and her friends walked away from the concert blown away. Cammy couldn�t believe that the kid who had made his dog howl in agony the first time he tried singing, that same kid had just sang his heart out (and was good) for a million adoring fans. The other four were equally phenomenal. The girls were walking to the pizza place that the guys would meet them at, talking about the performance and the guys.
"How about that 'I Say Yeah', huh?" Riley said, giggling. During the song, Dream Street had done some crowd-pleasing pelvic thrusts. The fans' shrieks got significantly more intense, and a few screams had even escaped Cammy's and her friends' mouths. Cammy kept replaying that moment in her head. She mentally slapped herself. She wasn't supposed to think about her best friend doing pelvic thrusts; it just wasn't right. But Cammy couldn't help herself. As long as no one knew, she figured it didn't matter.
Fifteen minutes after the girls got to the pizza place, the guys arrived. "Sorry, we had to sign a few autographs," Greg apologized.
"It's okay," Kelly assured him. In no time at all, they were served their pizza.
When Jesse excused himself to the bathroom, Matt and Cammy looked at each other with mischievous eyes. "Shall we have a little fun with his pizza while he's gone?" Matt wondered aloud, picking up a pepper shaker and holding it menacingly over Jesse's slice.
"But of course," Cammy agreed, and took the garlic and oregano spices and covered Jesse's pizza slice with her best friend. The two loved practical jokes. The others watched and laughed as Matt snuck a hot pepper onto the slice, covering it with a pepperoni.
Haylee didn't say anything, although they could tell she wanted to. Finally, as Matt and Cammy were putting on the finishing touches, Haylee exclaimed, "Ahh! I shouldn't, but I just GOTTA help you guys!" She took a packet of hot sauce left over from that day's taco lunch at school, and began squirting it on Jesse's slice. "Hey, it looks just like pizza sauce," she said, a mischief-maker's grin on her face. "Go figure." Everyone laughed, but quickly hid the evidence as their victim neared the table.
"Hey, ya miss me?" Jesse joked as he slid into his seat. The other nine teens at the table held their breath as he took a bite out of his pizza.
The blonde almost hit the ceiling, he jumped up with such force. Cammy, Matt and their friends erupted in hysterical laughter as Jesse yelled and gulped down his Coke. "We still got it," Cammy laughed, slapping Matt a high five.
"Hey, I helped," Haylee reminded them, and was given high fives as well.
"And I'm really surprised that you DID help," Riley said, giving her sister a devilish smile. "Considering-"
"Watch it, Rilz," Haylee warned her. The girls laughed, while the guys sat wondering what they meant.
"Anyway," Matt said, changing the subject. "Did you like the concert?"
"Yeah, it was so awesome," Cammy said, grinning at Matt. "I'm impressed."
Matt smiled. "Really? I'm glad you liked it." He took a garlic knot and said, "So what kind of music do you listen to?"
Cammy shrugged. "I just listen to what's on the radio. Pop, hip-hop, rock. A lot of stuff. I really like LFO, 'cause it's like a mix of those three." She laughed. "Not that I'm as obsessed as your fans. Those girls were crazy."
"Yeah, the fans can get pretty wild," Chris agreed. "But who can blame them? Just look at me." The other teens groaned and rolled their eyes at Chris's ego. "What?"
The rest of the afternoon, the teens walked around the store and window shopped. Cammy and Matt joked around with each other non-stop; some might have classified it as flirting. Neither one of them would have called it that though, especially Cammy. She had a boyfriend, after all. But the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like it was the only thing holding her back. That and Sunday, when Matt had to go back home to New York. Cammy decided just to enjoy his company while it lasted, and she did.
The ten friends walked into a Hallmark store and looked around. Suddenly Matt shouted, "The beanie babies are attacking!!" and proceeded to fling the bean-filled stuffed animals at Cammy. She shrieked and flung them back at Matt. Their beanie war lasted all of five minutes, stopping only because one of the beanie babies had been impaled on Chris's spikes, and the cashier's contempt-filled glare was fixated on them. They quickly put the beanie babies back on the shelf and hurried out of the store.
They went to Tower Records next, where each girl was prompted to buy the Dream Street CD. Haylee not only bought the CD, but also the magazine and the Dream Street Live video. "Just trying to help them out," she told everyone who questioned her. However, Haylee was careful to not make eye contact with Jesse.
"Why doesn't she just buy a shirt that says I LOVE JESSE on it?" Riley laughed, and if looks could kill, Haylee could have been charged with murder of her own sister.
It was already dark when the teens decided to go home. "Maybe we'll see each other tomorrow?" Cammy asked Matt as they hugged goodbye.
"Yeah, we'll find time to see each other," Matt promised. He paused, as if there was something else that he wanted to say, but instead just turned and walked to Dream Street's mini-van. Cammy sighed and walked to the twins' convertible, which was already blaring Haylee's Dream Street CD. In her heart, Cammy wished that Sunday would never come.