Page 2 of The Spotlight Effect

Looking back over at my mom, I see the gleam in her eyes saying she just wants me to say yes, and I’m almost close to it before Dexter speaks.

“Better get ready for all the squeals, Sis.” Dexter tips his cup of water to me, and I flip him off too.

“Suck my invisible dick,” I tell him bitterly.

I’m still not going but have fun.

“You’ve been dying to see this band, literally begging me every day to wait in queue with you for their summer tour tickets since it was announced in February,” Mom reminds me. I remember and still want those tickets. “This is your chance to finally see them in person, meet them, and we get to hang out. Just us girls. Faith will be here. You two are always together and it could be good to go to a different place.”

“Fine, I’ll go, but I won’t enjoy it,” I say, bitterly leaving the kitchen.

I walk down the hallway to my room. Why didshehave to win? I was supposed to be going with Faith to Myrtle Beach forthe week, and now I’m going to LA with my sister and her stupid best friend.

I can’t believe I agreed to do that. Life hates me and I’m sure of it because every time I get excited for something, another thing comes to crush it. I do, however, have to tell Faith I can’t go with her anymore.

I get off my bed and walk around to my bay window, climbing onto the ledge to open it. I crawl onto the tree house platform and stand up, walking across to Faith’s window.

When Faith and I were seven, we begged our dads to build us a treehouse that connected our rooms. They did and it’s been our place ever since. I lightly knock on her window, and a few seconds later, she’s pushing back her white curtains and unlocking it.

“I wasn’t expecting you today.” Faith smiles and backs away so I can come in. I jump inside onto the white, fluffy carpet in front of her window.

“I came over to tell you I can’t come with you to Myrtle Beach for Spring Break,” I say, taking a seat in the inflatable chair on one side of her window.

“What do you mean?” Faith asks and sits in the other inflatable chair on the other side

“You remember The MorningStar sweepstakes I told you I entered?” I ask.

“Yeah, the one that Lia entered, too.”

“Yeah, well, she won, and Mom really wants to have bonding time, so I’m going for her. Plus, Dex and my stepfather have decided to take a boys’ trip.” I sigh, air quoting ‘bonding time’.

“That’s amazing, Lex!” Faith beams, jumping up from the chair.

“Excuse me?” I raise a brow.

“It sucks we won’t be together for break anymore, but you get to meet your favorite band in real life! And who knows, maybeyou’ll come back with a hot, rockstar boyfriend,” Faith says, twirling at the end of her sentence.

“Or maybe I’ll be in hell the entire time,” I deadpan.

“Oh, Lexi, look on the bright side. You’reobsessedwith this band, and you get to meet themin person,” Faith tells me. “Literally every fan's dream.”

She’s right—I amobsessedwith them. On one wall of my room is a small purple couch with posters of the band above it, basically covering the wall, beside the couch are my two guitars, and then my desk has a tower of their CDs and all their albums framed above it. Not to mention, I have every T-shirt they have ever sold on their site in my closet, and so many merch items like the lip gloss collection Scarlett Cross released, the purse Raven Dowson designed, and I won an auction for a hoodie Grayson Archer wore on stage. I watch Charlie West’s vlogs every week because he’s the drummer. I even have a whole shelf of my bookcase dedicated to them and all the other merch and things I have. I’m in love with that band and their music. I’ve even bought a jacket because it looks like the one Kenan Roars wore.

“Yeah, I guess I can look on the bright side.” I shrug and sink down into the chair.

“This is so exciting; I’m helping you pack!” Faith goes on about how great this is while I just sit, staring at her white walls and thinking of how I could possibly get out of this week, but I guess I can suck it up and be happy…or pretend to be.

Unfortunately,the week before we were due to leave passed by fast and now, I’m walking out of my final class before spring break. I immediately put in my AirPods and press play, and a song by Cigarettes After Sexstarts to play; I’m pretty sure it’s“Touch”. All I want to do is drown out everyone till I can get into my room.

As I’m walking, Faith appears beside me as normal, and we continue our walk together. On the wall coming up, I spot a Spring Formal poster. The theme isA Night Around the World.Faith is a part of the planning committee and says it’s going to be great and have plenty of interactions around, so I won’t just have to stay in the dance part. I still don’t care, though. I hate school dances. Approaching the wall, I rip down the poster and crumple it up.

“You know you can’t do that to everyone you see,” Faith says, taking one of my AirPods out.

“I can try.” I smile at her and toss the crumpled paper into the trash. Just where it belongs.

I feel someone tap on my shoulder just as we are about to exit the building. I internally groan, turning to see Astrid and Lia. Rolling my eyes, I take out my AirPods. “Can I help you?” I ask them.

“We want to go to Sonic,” Lia says.

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