You didn't think I'd leave you guys hanging forever, right? XD

I'm not that heartless!

In addition to finally updating, I gave the cast page a huge makeover, and put it before the first chapter, so it didn't interrupt the flow of the story.

Everyone still looks the same with the exception of...Eli! I decided to use a modern actor instead of one from the late 90s/00s. They look similar, it's just waaay easier to find pics and gifs now.

Say hello to new Eli!

Aww, so cute! *pinches cheeks* And check out the new cast list page! I'm happy with the aesthetic.

Without further ado, here's the aftermath of what happened in the last chapter!

Misery Loves Company

By: theinkslingerr

Track 29: Through the Looking Glass

After my mom had demanded to know why there were paparazzi on the lawn, Rocco and I took one look at each other before racing over to the window. We inched the curtains aside to see a small group of people with cameras, coffees, and mics loitering not too far from the bushes. What I assumed to be their vehicles lined the sidewalk, and the entire scene garnered curious looks from nosy neighbors.

My stomach sank, and Rocco cursed behind me.

"I'd also like to know who you are, and what you're doing here at six in the morning?" My mom added, forcing Rocco to turn around. He slapped on a charming grin; the same one that had Paula giggling like a schoolgirl when they first met.

"I'm Rocco Alden. I'm on Misery Loves Company with your daughter."

My mom didn't giggle like a schoolgirl. Instead, she looked confused, and I could tell it wasn't because she'd just gotten off the night shift. She'd forgotten. "It's Enid's web show, remember?" I prompted. This was so typical of her.

"I came over to help Miz with some questions she had about the contract," Rocco continued smoothly.

She looked past us at the sheaf of papers on the coffee table, and lifted an arched brow. "Did you now? Were you hoping to find the answers under my daughter's clothing?"

"Mom!" I screamed as Rocco blushed furiously. "We weren't- our clothes are obviously still on! He was just helping me. It's not like you bothered reading the contract."

Her tired face hardened. "That's because Paula was letting Enid do it, so I figured-"

"You could phone it in with me?"

She frowned, lips thinning until they were just a line on her face. I'd seen pictures of my mom at nineteen, and she was beautiful. Warm brown skin with a golden undertone, a nice smile, and the same high cheekbones I'd inherited. No wonder my dad had wanted a piece of that. Now she just looked exhausted and disinterested in anything that wasn't ham or Living Single reruns. Even in the few pictures I'd seen of her holding me as a baby, she'd appeared resigned. Always unhappy with her little bundle of misery.

"Sorry, this is my fault." Rocco raised both hands in surrender. "I shouldn't be here. Especially since it looks like I brought the paparazzi with me. I'm in a band, so they must be after a story."

My mom fixed him with a caustic stare. A stare that must've terrified her patients instead of put them at ease. I was really glad Rocco was here, because I didn't know how I would've explained the paparazzi otherwise. It's not like I could've told the truth. "Hey mom, there's a pic of me and Dominic Finn sucking face in a bathroom on the internet, and they're here to get the scoop. Who's Dominic Finn, you ask? Just the drummer in a super famous rock band. He actually slept with the girl that took the picture right after he kissed me. She posted it, because he didn't profess his undying love or invite her to their concert the next day."

Nonchalant bordering on apathetic was my mom's default mode, but judging by how shocked she looked a few minutes ago and how irritated she looked now, the truth would not go over well.

"I need a shower," she announced, turning toward me. "And when I come back downstairs he better be gone- without those people outside getting the wrong idea. Then we're going to talk."

I groaned as she shot Rocco one more withering look before disappearing upstairs.

"Do you think she likes me?" he asked dryly.

"Rocco, how'd the paparazzi find out where I live?!"

"It's probably not hard to find someone's address online. Especially if you've got a ton of resources at your disposal," he murmured, peeking through the curtains again. "Let's just hope they don't have any friends at the DMV."

There were about six people out there. Four were conversing, one was barking into a phone, and the other was pacing around with his giant SLR hanging from his neck. "I can't believe we didn't realize they were out there," I said. If the curtains hadn't been drawn, this morning would've been even more of a disaster. "How're you gonna get out without them seeing you?"

"Your backyard," Rocco answered, grabbing his phone off the coffee table. He paused, then sent a text to someone.

Why hadn't I thought of that? I guess waking up to find the paparazzi outside of your house made it hard to think straight.

Rocco's phone buzzed, causing relief to color his face. "Eli's gonna pick me up down the street in a few minutes."

"What about your car?"

"I'll send someone to get it after the paparazzi leave."

"When do you think that'll be?" My rapid fire questioning had to be annoying, but I knew nothing about how the paparazzi operated. I mean, did they work in shifts? Break for lunch? When could I leave my house?

"Probably never, if we don't call the police and get them off your lawn- which is private property, by the way. If they wanna hang out on the sidewalk, Eli's got an uncle on the force. He could probably persuade them to leave," Rocco explained while he composed another text.

"The police? We have to call the police? I'm sure they've got better things to do..."

"Lawrence won't mind. He'll just get autographs for the other officers' daughters, and come out of it a real American hero."

His tone was joking, but it caused my head to start spinning. The Paparazzi. Bribing law enforcement through their daughters. My mom catching Rocco on top of me. I was so far out of my comfort zone, I needed a passport. "I don't think I can do this."

"Do what?" Rocco asked, frowning.

"This. The picture, and- and now my mom. And school- oh god, I can't go to school. I thought I could handle it, but-"

"I'll be your Duckie."

"Huh?"

Rocco tried to tuck an errant curl behind my ear, but it just sprang back out. "I said I'll be your Duckie," he repeated softly. "We haven't known each other long, and I can't promise to lip-sync serenade you at your place of employment, but I'm here. I won't let them break you."

My heart melted and slid into my stomach as I struggled to keep my face neutral. It wasn't the Pretty in Pink reference itself that was making me feel warm all over. It was Rocco basically saying he'd be in my corner when nobody else was- not even my supposed best friend.

"Go to school, OK? Not gonna lie- it'll probably suck, but if you skip all those kids'll do is wait for you to come back. Then it might be worse."

I heaved a sigh, knowing he was right. My two choices were to postpone the harassment or get it over with. Last week I'd chosen to postpone it, and things hadn't been any easier. All it had done was give Jessica and her clones more time to plan. And give me tons of homework to catch up on. "If...I go, and I can't do it-"

"Then I'll come get you."

My mouth dropped opened.

"I swear," Rocco said. "Just text me, and I'll come to your school and pick you up."

The thought of Rocco pulling up in front of Beechmill High in his shiny Range Rover was mind-boggling. "Geez, it's like you want your fangirls to kill me. Why don't you hand out pitchforks while you're at it?"

He laughed, cupping my cheek with a rough hand. "Not sure where to get 'em. Besides, you don't owe my fangirls anything. You don't have to justify yourself to them."

I sighed, and let it change into a small smile. "Thanks."

"No problem. Listen, I've gotta go. Eli's waiting. Do you have any sunglasses or a hat I could borrow?"

I stared into Rocco's hazel eyes for a moment, wanting to tell him he'd been the only thing keeping me from flying out of my seat during the rollercoaster ride my life had turned into. I wanted to admit that when he wasn't teasing me himself, he made me feel safe.

But those words refused to come out no matter how much I wanted to say them, so instead I said, "I don't have anything big enough to fit your head."

His eyes narrowed slightly, then he grinned and pinched my cheek.

"Ow!"

After my cheek stopped stinging, I went upstairs to grab a pair of sunglasses and a beanie for Rocco. They were indeed too small for him, so I laughed, and he looked ready to pinch me again.

Eventually, we said our goodbyes, and he slipped out of the sliding glass doors leading to my backyard. When he got to the wooden fence, he turned around and waved, then climbed over it.

A heavy feeling settled in my gut as he disappeared from view. I didn't want to see Enid or Jessica. Aside from Rocco, I didn't want to see anyone for the next two years. All I wanted to do was hide in my room, but he just had to go and be right. And offer his unwavering support. I sighed, trying to shake the apprehension weighing me down. Even if school was horrible and I didn't take Rocco up on his offer for a ride, at least I'd get to see him tonight during the meeting with Ackerman and the PR team. I held onto that thought as I trudged upstairs, took a shower, and got ready for school.

When I wandered back into the living room to grab my keys, my mom was on the couch looking over the contract tentatively. Her tight coils were smoothed into a bun, and she was dressed in jeans and a pretty yellow blouse. When she saw me, she slipped the contract on the coffee table and nodded toward the window. "The cops are getting the paparazzi off the lawn. Did you call them?"

"Uh...sure." I peeked through the blinds to see a tall police officer with Eli's perfect bone structure herding the agitated men and women into their cars, saying something about it being early and a residential area. His blond partner was leaning up against their cruiser trying not to laugh.

God, that was fast! Thank you Eli, and thank you Uncle Lawrence.

When the last car drove off, Lawrence opened the police cruiser's door, stopped to look at my house, and winked before climbing inside. I gasped, letting the flimsy, off-white blinds close. He knew I'd been watching? I chanced another glimpse outside, and saw the cruiser rumble to life then disappear down the street, leaving my quiet neighborhood the way it'd been pre-paparazzi takeover. Shaking my head at the craziness of it all, I walked over to the front door. "OK, see you later."

"Sit down, Misery," my mom said. "I'll drive you to school after we're done."

My shoulders slumped as I sat down next to her on the couch. I was hoping she'd forgotten about this during her relaxing shower. "Who's Dominic Finn?"

I blinked slowly. That was not the question I'd been expecting. I thought I was going to get interrogated about Rocco. Had she stopped at the grocery store and seen a tabloid before coming home? Or finally learned to use her smart phone? "Um, he's just some dude in Rocco's band."

"The paparazzi seemed to think he was more than that, because they wouldn't stop yelling his name at me when I pulled into the driveway."

"W-what?" Suddenly, I couldn't breathe. How could I not see that coming?

"Along with a few other keywords like kissing, bathroom, and picture," she drawled. "What were they talking about? What's going on?"

I didn't want to tell her. Mostly because I didn't know how she'd react, and well...there was a tiny part of me that felt ashamed. I already knew what the rest of the world thought of me. They were calling me a slut and a whore. What if my mom thought the same? We weren't close by any stretch of the imagination, but I wouldn't be able to handle that. I looked down at my lap. Should I lie? What could I possibly make up when the paparazzi had already clued her into the truth? "It...it started with Blue Vendetta knocking on our door..."

After explaining just how popular they were, I told her everything.

Well, almost everything.

I left out certain details, and the massive fight I'd had with Enid the night before. When I got to the part about Dom kissing me, I tried to keep things as vague as possible, but she interrupted me at every turn.

"He followed you into the bathroom?"

"N-not really," I squeaked. "I was coming out of it, and he...well- we just sort of...fell back in?"

For a thirty-five year old, my mom looked pretty youthful, but in that moment her creased forehead and deep frown made her look every bit her age. "Did he try to force himself on you?"

"No!"

"You can tell me, Misery."

"I know. I mean, I guess I know. But that didn't happen. Dom just...misread some things."

"What things?"

"We were starting to get along, and I got...comfortable." Why was she being like this? She'd never cared to learn the nuances of my behavior before. I could've been an evil clown that ate children, and she wouldn't have noticed. Now she was trying to get me to share?

"I can't believe you let yourself get roped into a dating show."

"You signed on the dotted line," I said angrily. "But Misery Loves Company isn't a dating show. It's more of a make-over slash how-to thing."

"I didn't think you were into that."

I bristled. "How would you know?"

My mom leaned closer, and the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. "Watch how you're talking to me right now. I'm the one who should be upset. I came home to this nonsense! From now on, no more boys unless I'm here."

"So, never then?"

"You're sixteen- you think you know it all, but boys like Dom and Rocco are nothing but trouble," she said. "You're already in hot water, because one tried to get in your pants. Two, if we count what I walked in on."

"I'm tired of telling you nothing happened with Rocco. He's different from Dom," I said through clenched teeth.

"Misery." Her dark brown eyes were imploring. "Take it from me. Be careful with this whole thing."

Oh. I suddenly understood.

This was about my dad. She never talked about him much, but I knew the story. Sweet and charming until I was born, my dad took off the second he'd laid eyes on me at the hospital. He'd changed his mind about being in our lives, and we hadn't heard from him since. Sometimes my mom acted like he didn't even exist.

I stared at her now, trying to see the situation through her eyes. She may not have been warm or affectionate, but I guess she cared at the end of the day. That, or she didn't want to be a grandmother at 35. "Fine." I cleared my throat. "No boys if you're not home. Are we done?" I stood up, slinging my back pack over my shoulder.

She stood up too. "Yes, but I want to talk to whoever's in charge of Dom and Rocco. I don't like the fact that this picture's out there."

"Please don't do that."

"I wasn't asking. Tell me who to talk to or I'll get someone at the hospital to help me look up the info."

I sighed. Was it terrible that I wished she was being her usual apathetic self? "I'll give you their manager Ackerman's phone number but-"

"In person," she persisted.

"Then you'll have to go to Philly. That's where Blue Vendetta's label is. I'm um, actually supposed to go there after school to talk damage control."

"I'll come along," My mom said in a tone that brooked no argument. She grabbed her purse. "Let's go or you'll be late for school."

The last time my mom had driven me to school, I was still sleeping with stuffed animals. We drove with the heat blasting in awkward silence until she asked me if I'd eaten breakfast.

I shook my head as I cracked open my window. It was kind of nippy for the end of September, but the car was starting to feel like a sauna. My mom turned into a Dunkin Donuts parking lot not far from Beechmill High, and joined the drive-thru. There were a million cars in front of us, so I took out my phone, and tried to occupy myself with random apps while steadily avoiding Instagram.

YouTube. YouTube might still be safe. I tapped on it, immediately feeling a pang of regret when I saw videos of Rocco bombing on stage at the pop-up. I'd been so wrapped up in me and Dom's picture getting leaked, I'd almost forgotten Rocco was going through stuff too. God, I was being selfish. People were making crazy gifs of the incident, and he'd spent the whole night comforting me.

"Misery?"

My mom's voice jarred me from my thoughts.

"What do you want to order?"

In a daze, I ordered a breakfast sandwich and a caramel macchiato. I ate and drank slowly for the duration of the ride, hardly tasting anything as my mind raced faster than my mom's Toyota Corolla.

We eventually pulled up in front of Beechmill High, and I stumbled out, caramel macchiato still in hand. This was it. The moment I'd been dreading all morning. The moment I was beginning to dread every morning since the start of Misery Loves Company. I took a deep breath, letting the crisp air fill my lungs, and stepped forward unsteadily. The Corolla's passenger window rolled down. "I'll see you when you get back, OK?" my mom said.

"If I survive," I mumbled under my breath.

My day turned out to be a Tim Burton movie; strange, cartoonish, and a bit of a nightmare. I went to my locker to find printouts of me and Dom kissing, memes, and "funny" social media comments taped all over it. I almost laughed, because honestly it was so cliche. The milk-filled condoms had been more original. Doing my best to ignore the snickering and snide comments behind me, I started yanking everything down. This was mild. Maybe I could actually get through this day without a mental breakdown or help from Rocco.

I heard a particularly nasty laugh, and turned around to see Jessica and her clones gliding by. "I don't think I like Dom anymore," she said loudly so everyone could hear. "Bestiality's a no-no in my book."

Her friends, and a couple of other people lining the hallway cackled, but to my surprise some rolled their eyes. A few girls even glared.

But no one said anything.

Except Tiffany Lynch, who felt the need to ask, "How many STDs do you think they caught from that bathroom floor?"

My hands started to tremble, and I visualized throwing the last of my caramel macchiato in their faces while explaining how STDs worked. After five seconds of serious consideration, a masculine hand landed on top of my cup, forcing me to lower it.

"Hey, Jessica," Josh said lightly.

She stiffened, and a look I couldn't place flitted across her face. "Um, hey." She suddenly turned to her friends. "Let's go, girls." With one last wide-eyed glance at Josh, Jessica took off down the hall with her confused clones in hot pursuit.

I gaped after them, a bit puzzled by the hasty retreat. "What was that? Thought you didn't know her..."

"I don't." Josh was yanking the printouts off my locker and crumpling them into one giant ball. "Not really, anyway."

"What're you doing?"

He sighed in exasperation. "What does it look like? I'm gonna toss these in the trash."

I watched him, completely stunned. So much had happened since our tentative truce in the Iron Barrel parking lot, I'd almost forgot about him. At this point, our turbulent history seemed to be the least of my problems.

"This is progress," Josh muttered under his breath.

"Excuse me?"

He grinned. "You're not scowling. Or flinching."

I was so taken aback by the observation, I had to stop myself from touching my face to make sure.

Josh gazed at one of the wrinkled copies of Dom and I kissing, and his playful grin morphed into a wry one. "Dominic Finn's a long way from Toad Wilkinson."

I began to help him clear my locker. "Who?"

"Wow, where's the loyalty? You don't remember Toad? Well, to you, he was Todd. Todd Wilkinson. You left a love letter in his desk in fourth grade."

My mind conjured up dark skin, gawky limbs, ashy elbows. A kind smile. In fourth grade, Todd Wilkinson had been the only person who'd treated me decently. My nine-year-old self took this to mean he was in love with me, so I snuck back into the classroom during recess and slipped a love letter in his desk. Which Josh ended up finding and reading in front of the entire class. Then he went out of his way to pick on Todd for the rest of the school year. Todd never spoke to me again, so the fact that Josh was recalling it as some pleasant childhood memory soured the caffeine in my stomach.

I set my coffee on the ground before ripping up and crumpling the papers in my hand.

Josh fell silent beside me. "I said the wrong thing again, didn't I?" he murmured after a minute.

"I just remember that story a little differently," I grumbled. "You hurt someone just for being nice to me."

His jaw clenched and we removed the rest of the printouts without talking. When my locker was finally harassment-free, he gestured toward my ball of crumpled papers. "Here, I'll throw them away."

I hesitated, then handed it over. "Why're you doing all this?"

Josh stood there looking at me, arms so full of trash, he had to crush it against his chest to stop it from falling onto the floor. It would've been funny if it wasn't such a strange moment. "I told you I wanted to start over."

I managed to nod in response as he turned and disappeared around a corner to throw away pictures of me kissing another guy.

And that was my morning. Trying to reconcile what Josh was to me now (Friend? Foe? Occasional Savior?) and dealing with people treating me worse than a child serial killer for kissing the guy on their phone's lock screen. One girl tried to spit on me, and a bunch of guys asked to "mess around" in the boys bathroom. On the flip side, there were people who had never given me the time of day being nice, because they thought it would get them things like backstage passes and concert tickets. I was sleeping with Dominic Finn- surely such favors would be within my power...

I didn't know which attitude bugged me more, and found myself in the bathroom multiple times, tempted to call Rocco.

By lunchtime, I was shaky. Emotionally drained. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Enid sitting at our usual table with groupies of her own, and agonized over what to do. Should I go talk to her? When friends had the kind of argument we'd had, did that mean they weren't friends anymore? So far, I hadn't seen her all morning- not even in the classes we shared, so she was either avoiding me or had come in very late.

None of the horrible things we'd said to each other could be taken back, but maybe now that we were level-headed we could talk. Maybe there was a way to fix things.

I swallowed the giant lump in my throat, and forced myself to approach the table.

Enid stopped mid-sentence, looking up sharply when I put my tray down.

"Hey..." I said self-consciously.

I expected something snarky or sarcastic in return. I'd mentally prepared myself for it on the short walk over. What I didn't expect was for Enid to get up, grab her tray, and just leave. Without saying a word. Me and the two girls she'd been bragging to watched her exit the cafeteria, mouths open in surprise. After a small delay, one of the girls stood, threw me a nasty look, and left too. The other one followed, but not before emitting a cough that sounded a lot like "slut."

I sat heavily in a chair, not caring when peas flew out of my tray and rolled across the table. I didn't know how long I sat there staring into space until someone else joined me.

For a wild second, I thought it was Josh. He'd been popping up everywhere these days. But it was Sienna, and she looked confused. "Was that Enid leaving?"

"Yeah." There was no point lying. "She...didn't want to sit near me."

"Oh." Sienna's confusion quickly turned into sympathy. "Oh." It made me wonder if Enid had told her she liked Dom. I waited for her to say something about me ignoring her text last night or leave to go find Enid, but Sienna said nothing and didn't budge.

It made the rest of lunch somewhat bearable.

When the bell rang signaling the end of the school day, I felt like I could breathe again. In seconds, I was out the door, racing home before anyone else could bully or suck up to me.

A few feet from home, I noticed Rocco's car was gone, and wondered what time someone came to get it. Or if he came back himself in full disguise. The mental image caused me to laugh for the first time in hours.

Inside, I changed, googled the Philadelphia branch of Blue Vendetta's label, and hopped in the car with my mom.

We pulled up in front of Chip On Your Shoulder Records thirty minutes later. "You can go in while I find parking," my mom directed. She hated driving in the city, and had been pretty vocal about it the entire way down. Getting out of the car, I gazed up at the tall, reflective building as she drove away. Inside was even more intimidating. The lobby boasted a streamlined monochromatic scheme with pictures of all the represented artists lining the walls. Blue Vendetta's picture was near the top, cementing them as one of the label's cash cows. Leather sofas decorated the space leading up to a glossy black front desk. The stunning, raven-haired receptionist smiled when I greeted her. She kind of matched the desk, so I couldn't help but wonder if that was a job requirement. After I told her who I was, she checked her computer then led me to what looked like a small conference room.

Enid was seated at the long wooden table in the middle of the room, scrolling through her phone. She stiffened when she saw me, and I hung at the door awkwardly. I guess it made sense that she'd be at this meeting too.

She was the creator of Misery Loves Company, after all.

Eventually, I took a seat on the opposite side of the table, praying that someone would join us soon. After about ten minutes of uncomfortable silence, I tried to break the ice. "So, where's Paula?"

"I guess you didn't get the hint at lunch," Enid snapped.

I frowned. "That was-"

"Last night you said you were done with everything. Well, me too. After Misery Loves Company, you can get on with your life, and I'll get on with mine."

My stomach dropped as two very different emotions flared up within me. I had told her I was done last night, and at this point half of me wanted to shout, "Good riddance!" But the other half was scared. Scared of change. Life without Enid? What would that be like? Before her, it had been dull and lonely- what if it was again?

My friendship with Rocco was brand new, plus he was a celebrity. He'd get tired of me quickly, so was it smart to burn my only bridge no matter how unsteady it'd become?

I stared at Enid, torn between agreeing and pleading.

Ackerman strolled in then, saving me from having to do anything. The boys were behind him, including two people I'd never seen before.

I gasped once I got a closer look at Jae, Dom, Rocco, and Eli, because they looked battered.

Jae had a busted lip that was just barely starting to scab over, and bruising along a prominent cheek bone. Dom had a nasty black eye, him and Rocco sporting matching bandages around their arms. Angry red lines peeked out from under the bandages, a startling contrast against their pale skin. And Eli limped, wincing every time he put weight on his right foot. I stood up abruptly, and sputtered, "What happened?"

"You happened," Ackerman said testily, sitting down and throwing his phone on the table. A woman with blunt bangs and a severe business suit sat down next to him, along with a twenty-something who never looked up from the iPad he was typing on.

"Me?" I echoed, bewildered.

"Stop being a drama queen, Ackerman." Rocco slipped into the chair beside me, and Eli sat next to him. Dom took a seat two chairs from Enid, but Jae remained upright and obstinate, arms crossed at his chest.

"Drama queen? Oh, I wish I was blowing this out of proportion!" Ackerman exclaimed. "Misery Loves Company was supposed to be easy publicity. Something light and fun to distract from the catastrophe in Boston, but it's repeatedly proven otherwise. First, delays in shooting, fights in restaurants, and now this!"

Two thirds of those issues had been Dom! Including the original meltdown in Boston. Why was he laying all of it at my feet? I opened my mouth to say something, but Enid cut me off. "We can fix it!"

"Yes, we can!" The woman with the severe haircut chirped. When she smiled it softened her whole face. "Winona Springsteen, head of PR. I also like to call myself the Bob the Builder of the PR world. Nice to meet you."

"Hi..." Enid replied while I just nodded.

"So that the boys get the right kind of attention, and Misery can continue leading a normal life, I need to know one thing before we proceed. And I need you to be completely honest with me." She looked from me to Dom. "Do you have feelings for each other?"

"No!" I shouted as Enid rolled her eyes.

Dom shrugged. "I've been honest from the start. I just wanted to bang her."

That was when my mom chose to walk in.

"Bang who?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nobody!" I patted the chair next to me. "Nobody's banging! Sit here! Uh, we just started." I nudged Rocco, so he could roll his chair over and make room, but he was too busy shooting Dom one of his menacing smiles.

"Who is this?" Ackerman bit out.

My mom dropped into the seat next to me, quirked a brow, and just stared at him until he started perspiring. "I'm Misery's mother."

Enid gazed at her from across the table. No doubt surprised she wasn't working.

"Welcome, Ms. Hayes," Winona said warmly. "Now that everyone seems to be here, we can get down to business."

The meeting lasted almost two hours, and by the end of it, the plan was simple. Or supposed to be: I had to pretend to date Dom for the rest of Misery Loves Company.

Everyone was vehemently opposed to it- even Dom, but behind Winona's friendly smiles was a sharp mind, and an even sharper tongue.

When my mom had calmly stated she didn't want me anywhere near Dom, much less in a relationship with him. Winona quickly said, "Perceived relationship. We'll never actually confirm or deny it. Trust me Ms. Hayes, we're going to want to get ahead of this. Spin our own narrative. If we give the general public that power, then I'm afraid their imaginations will run wild, and your daughter's situation will stay the same or get worse."

So, there it was. Dom and I had to get spotted doing couple-y things, so the picture of us kissing could potentially be seen in a new light. It'd be a Cinderella story of the wallflower and the rockstar, instead of just a dirty bathroom hook-up.

Jae stormed out after that, obviously thinking of how this would affect Ji-Hyun, and Eli followed to placate him.

I didn't want to be around Dom anymore than I had to, and I didn't want to hurt Ji-Hyun, but I could tell her it was fake right? Winona assured us that we wouldn't have to kiss again or get too intimate. Dom and I just had to get photographed during staged dates enough times to make people think the kiss in the bathroom was the start of something. This would stop Dom's party boy ways from eroding Blue Vendetta's credibility as serious musicians, and hopefully remove the scarlet letter from my chest.

My mom still didn't look happy, but she agreed. All eyes were on me next, and I glanced at Rocco. He stared back intensely, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking. Dom was also waiting for my acquiesce or dismissal.

I didn't know anything about narrative or how to change people's perception. I just wanted the whole world to stop calling me names. Sure, in 2017 those against slut-shaming were becoming a formidable army, but there were still a lot of people who believed in different standards for men and women.

Regardless of what my personal thoughts were on the matter, at the end of the day I was only human, and wanted the abuse to end.

So I agreed to do it.

When the meeting finally came to a close, Winona Springsteen shook my hand then my mom's. "I have a fourteen year old daughter," she confided. "I'll do right by yours."

My mom visibly relaxed. "Thank you. I'd like to have a word with you and Ackerman in private though."

Ackerman sighed, but made the rest of us leave the room. Enid practically ran out after greeting my mom. And I expected Dom to make some crude joke about us "dating," but he left quietly as well.

Rocco waited for me right outside the door, flinching when the dude who'd been taking notes slapped him on the back. "Where you been, Alden? Haven't seen you around."

"Been busy. I'll catch up with you later," Rocco said hurriedly.

Now mostly alone in the hallway, I lightly trailed the bandages around his arm. "I thought you weren't going to..."

"I didn't. Jae beat me to it," he muttered. "When Eli picked me up this morning, we went straight to Dom's place, because I still wanted to talk to him. Just talk, not throw elbows. When we got there, Jae's car was parked on the sidewalk and Dom's door was wide open. They were inside beating the crap out of each other."

"Oh my God..." I groaned, covering my face.

"It's been building for a while, and they were both so pissed off, it was hard to pull them off each other. Eli grabbed Jae and almost fell down the stairs, and me and Dom ended up on top of his cactus collection. It was like that Super Smash brothers game." Rocco rubbed his side gingerly.

"I'm sorry. So, so, so sorry." I didn't know what else to say. Did Hallmark make a card for inciting fights?

Rocco sighed. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. Ji-Hyun and Jeni are gonna kill us though."

"Can't believe I agreed to fake-date Dom."

Rocco paused before saying carefully, "Whatever you think is best."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means this probably would've gone away on its own. Someone else would've eventually done something stupid, and the public would focus on that."

"Yeah, but when, Rocco? Is there a time table for these sort of things, because I'm tired. So tired! I want peace."

"Then let's hope this doesn't backfire."

~~~

Author's note: Not a cliffhanger this time, but do you think the label's plan is going to work or backfire?

What did you think of Misery and Josh's moment by her locker?

As always, thanks for being patient with me! If you liked this chapter please VOTE, COMMENT, and SHARE. <3