Page 99 of The Spotlight Effect

I look up to see we are arriving back on the road we live on as we drive by. I'm pretty sure I see Zara outside, walking in the rain. “Go back,” I tell Charlie.

“I think I saw Zara.”

Charlie stops the car and backs up the person and it's her in some sweatpants, a T-shirt that’s soaked through, and a big MorningStar jacket with some yellow Converse.

“Z, why are you in the rain?” Charlie wines down the window.

“I didn’t know what else to do. I thought everything was okay, but Shawn won’t answer calls or texts. And we have each other’s location, so I know he’s been at the fortress, so I don’t understand why he’s not speaking to me,” Zara answers.

“Get in the car,” I tell her, and Charlie unlocks the doors. Zara gets in the car, good thing Charlie doesn’t care about wet car seats.

“When did you two stop speaking?” I ask as the car starts to move.

“The day after Shawn told what your managers told you two about me and Lexi.”

He must have scared her pretty bad for Zara to be walking here in the rain and that’s weird because he seemed completely normal lately. Although I’ve been in my own world so if he was off, I wouldn’t know. Charlie pulls into the garage of The Fortress, and we make our way inside and just so happen to find Shawn in the kitchen eating some fruit as we come in.

“We have something for you,” Charlie says in a sing-song voice, causing Shawn to look up.

“Did you walk here?” he asks Zara, looking obviously very pissed off.

“You weren’t talking to me, and it’s the only way I could see if you were okay, and no, I didn’t fully walk. I had my brother drop me off at the movies closest to here and told him I was meeting friends which he fell for, then I got on a bus that dropped me off a mile away and then I walked the rest here,” Zara explains.

“Till we picked her up,” Charlie says. Wow, I knew she might go through all that to see him, but I never thought I’d see it happen. He would totally walk in the rain or her, but damn, she lied to her brother, probably used all her allowance, and walked a mile. She has to be tired. Charlie hands her a bottle of water.

“You can’t do that. You should have called someone to get you.” Shawn stands up and puts his bowl in the fridge.

“And have them tell me you don’t want to see me.” By the sound of her voice, Zara is definitely about to cry soon. Me and Charlie share a look knowing it’s time to leave them alone. I hope Shawn doesn’t make her cry.

I go back to my room quickly before Charlie can get the chance to say anything especially about Alexia not being home to me. I don’t want to talk about it right now, especially with finding out about my dad suing my mom. I close and lock my door, so no one can get inside and bother me. I have no idea what to do about any of this. Everything is so wrong and nothing can be fixed, at least not by me.

I can’t do anything about my dad suing my mom, but I can go see my mom in the hospital. Plus, I need to get Bea so she doesn’t have to spend another night with her friends. I’m going to have to be a better big brother right now, my problems can be fixed later.

“You’re even more famous than you were,” Charlie says as I come down the stairs.

“I don't think that's possible,” Scarlett says, flipping her hair and flashing her pink highlights.

“Why would you think that?” I ask. He holds up a magazine and I go over and look at what he was looking at.

The article in Spotlight Weekly pictures me and Alexia at the beach, and it’s discussing what they think happened at the beach and what our possible future will look like considering I’m a rockstar. “What are you gonna do?” Kenan asks.

“Don’t know.” I shrug.

“You should start thinking,” he adds.

“Well, I’m going to see my mom now,” I tell them and head to the door.

The doorbell dings off, and for a moment, everyone kind of looks around because it’s sudden because I don’t think anyone invented anyone over. “I’ll get it,” Zara volunteers.” Getting up from her chair going to the door.

“Who is at the door?” Shawn asks Zara. No response. Shawn stands up and walks to the door as all of us look around at each other.

“Gray!” Shawn calls out. Panic weirdly sits in for a moment, but I sit the magazine down and walk toward the door. I didn’t expect to see who I saw when I got to the door, but standing in front of me was Jazzlyn. I haven’t seen her since she disappeared after the night, she took my virginity and left me heartbroken with a note.

“Go away,” I state.

“I came to give you something,” she says.

“No,” I reply.

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