Page 2 of Dear Rockstar (Dear Rockstar 1)

Carrie stuck her tongue out. “Fuck you, Watson.”

“Hush! Wait.” Wendy paused, licking ketchup off her fingers. “You’re talking about the new guy? I saw him with his dad registering in the office when I was changing my schedule.”

“What did you change to?” I picked up one of Wendy’s discarded ketchup packets and licked some sweetness off.

“Turns out I don’t need as many math credits as I thought. Thank God.” Wendy tore open another packet.

“Lucky you.” I made a face. I hated math. Although I hated science even more. Both of which I had to make up, along with most of the rest of my senior year.

“You saw him?” Aimee perked up, like a dog with a bone, just not letting it go. She licked yogurt off the back of her plastic spoon and grinned over at me. There was an actual blueberry stuck in her teeth now and I knew I should tell her, but I didn’t, just out of spite. Because I knew what she was thinking—if she fixed me up with a Tyler look-alike, I’d stop thinking about the real Tyler Vincent all the time. “Did you talk to him? He’s not a youngin’ is he?”

That’s what we called the smart kids, the seventeen and eighteen year olds who had their own accelerated classes at the academy. They were the minority here, misfits in a school of misfits.

“I heard him tell the counselor he was twenty.” Wendy shoved a few ketchup-slathered fries into her mouth before opening the wrapper on her fruit pie. “From some little backwards state that starts with an M. I can’t remember. The big city is gonna be culture shock for that poor, poor boy. Maybe you should show him the ropes, Sara?”

Wendy leered at me, waggling her pierced eyebrows.

“Oh, a cornchip?” Aimee frowned, looking disappointed.

“Looking like that?” Wendy snorted, slapping Aimee’s hand away when she reached for one of her fries. “You saw him. He didn’t look like a farmer to me.”

“Maryland?” Carrie guessed between bites of fries. I snitched one, avoiding her hand slap, my stomach thanking me loudly. “Massachusetts?”

I couldn’t contain my curiosity any more. “Okay, what did he look like?”

“Tyler Vincent,” Aimee insisted again. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!”

“Michigan?” Carrie was still guessing.

“Come on, Wendy, tell me the truth.” Of course, I knew better. There was only one Tyler Vincent, the center of my known universe, and everything revolved around him. What did I care if a new transfer student from some backwoods state sort of resembled him? It wouldn’t be the real thing. It would be like trying to replace sugar with saccharine. Regular yogurt with “light and fat-free.” Yuk. “Does he really look like him?”

“Minnesota!” Carrie exclaimed, slapping the table triumphantly.

“None of the above.” Wendy shook her head, turning her attention to me. “If it’s the same guy I met in the office… wow. Sara, he’s a dead-ringer for Tyler Vincent. Aimee’s not joking. Same eyes, same hair, same cheekbones.”

“I told you!” Aimee stuck out her tongue.

I cocked my head at Wendy, incredulous. “Same dimple in his chin?”

“Right. Here.” She touched her finger to my chin to show me, grinning. “He even dresses like a rock star. All black, and he was wearing this shiny belt…”

“Yes! Like it had diamonds all over it!” Aimee exclaimed. “It’s definitely the same guy!”

“Missouri?” Carrie guessed, wiping a bit of blueberry filling off her face. I snitched another one of her fries while she had her eyes closed, concentrating.

Wendy’s eyes widened. “That’s it!”

“Missouri? It was Missouri?”

“No!” Wendy scowled. “Diamond! Dale Diamond!”

“Crap,” Carrie mumbled, taking another bite of her Hostess pie. “Who knew there were so many states that start with M?”

“Dale Diamond.” Aimee grinned. “He’s even got a rock star name!”

So a new transfer student named Dale Diamond had found his way to Iselin, New Jersey from some podunk state and was clearly cashing in on his resemblance to a famous rock star in order to impress girls. From Aimee and Wendy’s reaction, it was working, but while I loved Tyler Vincent as much as the next girl, I wasn’t impressed. The new guy might look like Tyler Vincent—but the fact remained, he wasn’t Tyler Vincent. That’s all that mattered to me.

“Montana!” Carrie practically yelled it. “It has to be Montana! That’s the only one left!”

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