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Chapter 24: My Star's Light is Overrated

It's funny how we all look at the same stars, yet we see such different things.

~Starlight24

If anyone said that silence wasn't deafening, they were dead wrong. I could hear my heart thumping in my chest angrily, screaming at me for just telling everyone.

The four of them just had their mouths agape, and I was looking at the ceiling. The floor. The fan.

Wow, there were a lot of interesting things in my house like that little detail on the rug that I'd never noticed, or that little uneven chip on the bottom of the armchair.

Time was like a little snail that was sluggishly moving by, and the clock was ticking loudly punctuating our breathing. It was like one of those dramatic moments when you realize the evil guy you've been fighting turns out to have loved your mom (Harry Potter *cough* what?) or the guy you've trusted turns out to be evil.

I was tapping my chair slowly, waiting for someone to say something.

I coughed loudly, but no one responded.

"Guys... hi," I said awkwardly.

Hmm... what would get their attention?

"Um..." I began, trying to think of something that they'd respond to. "I'm pregnant."

Deeds' head whipped up. "WHAT!?"

I laughed. "Nah, just kidding. I just wanted to grab your attention."

"That's... that's not possible. How- when- what?" Marie looked lost.

"Wow, I'm so touched that you guys find this so hard to believe," I said, feigning hurt. It was weird that I was all lax while everyone else was stuttering like fish.

"Okay, please explain everything. No secrets, please," Hailey begged, her eyes wide.

"Alright," I sighed. "So basically, I'm Starlight24. I was a bored girl, alright? I had no life but my disease always threatening to kill me. I was never able to find out how everyone else was. I never actually led a life like a normal girl, and I really wanted to."

I looked back at them, and for once Deeds didn't look like she was going to interrupt me.

If Deeds wasn't going to interrupt me, then that was probably because this was something huge.

Eh, wasn't that big a deal...

"So I made Starlight just to use my time better. Writing was always something I enjoyed, anyway. So when she actually turned into a hit, I was really surprised. I'd expected it to just be a hit or miss, and it became a hit, I guess. So that's about it. When you all started talking about Starlight, I said I knew her because I wanted to move in to this new life with people liking me for my personality and not just because I was an online superstar, I guess."

Yep, I should've just said that a while ago.

"What?" spluttered Marie. "So you're an attention seeker that's NOT an attention seeker?"

"Um... if you put it that way, I guess?" I asked, unsure.

"Oh good god," Hailey said, resting her head in her hands. "This is so much to take in."

They were silent again.

"Guys, it's not such a big deal," I said, rolling my eyes. "I didn't tell you that I was secretly Kim Kardashian or something, just that I was Starlight24, a famous blogger. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, but I'm a little weird when it comes to my sense of dignity, alright?"

Cady was the first to react after I said that.

"Hey, Day?" she asked unsurely. "I don't care who you are, but I'll always be by your side."

My head snapped up to look into her eyes that I'd always found annoying and fake, but for once I could see the sincerity swimming behind those makeup rimmed lids and lashes and felt a surge of emotion course through me and towards her.

"Thanks," I mumbled, not knowing what else to say to that.

"I second that!" said Hailey, louder than intended before blushing a beet red. "I mean, I love you, Day Stupid Winters," she chuckled.

"Thanks so much, Hails. I love you too," I said, feeling a considerable weight being lifted off my shoulders.

"Eh, what sort of friend would I be if I didn't go along with this," Marie said, shrugging to try and act like this didn't matter, but I could see the spark of love in her eyes too. "I mean," she hastily covered up. "Which idiot wouldn't pass off to be Starlight's only friend, right?"

I giggled and hugged her before she could protest. I could feel my heart jumping with joy.

Then, I turned and looked expectantly at Deeds, who looked like she was deep in thought before she snapped her attention to my wide eyes. "Well," she began, unsurely, making my heart drop to my stomach. "This is really weird and stuff, but let me tell you this: Day June Winters, you are unlike any other girl I have ever met, and I don't care if you land up in freaking jail, but I'll probably be right next to you when you do."

I squeak of pleasure escaped my lips and I plunged into a freakily weird group hug and we stayed there, content. These were the best friends I could have ever asked for.

"You guys know what this means, right?" I asked, unsure. "I'm not ready to tell anyone yet. I mean... I'm going to be a freaky wannabe loner. Are you willing to do that with me?"

I bit my lip. Of course I wasn't selfish enough to allow them to simply throw away their popularity for me. If they wanted to leave, they could.

Deeds gave me a small smile, yet so packed with emotion. "Day, you are a risk worth taking. We're in this together, alright? Popularity is overrated, anyway."

*****

Hey Lighters!

Guess what? Another boring entry today. It's probably my female hormones acting up and making everything I write turn into a freaking diary. I apologize for that and I hope you can bear with another deep thought for the day.

You remember that deep stuff I got myself into? Yeah... it's not exactly magically wiped off. Let me just tell you that a slate isn't easy to clean. You need to completely drown it in water before the dust decides to leave.

The thing is, whether you mess up or not, you need people to stand by you. Of course, I'm not asking you guys to form a mafia, mass murder a whole continent and get away with it because you've got people with you. I'm just telling you that the most important thing that stands out is friendship.

Alright, this is starting to sound super cheesy already. Hear me out, okay?

The thing is, I couldn't have asked for better friends. While I did this unspoken act of awful stuff, no one spoke to me. To be fair, it's not EXACTLY my fault but it kind of is. Does that make sense? Then again, nothing about me makes much sense. That was a rhetorical question.

Anyway, the thing is, I finally confessed the truth to my friends. At first, I must say their expressions were priceless and carried out so many facial changes that I think I could write a whole page about them. Then, it mapped to understanding, and my friends said the best things ever: they were willing to fight for me.

Let me tell you something about my friends that doesn't involve their identity (as much as I want them to be famous, I want ME to be a secret xD). They're popular, good-at-heart people that probably shouldn't be seen around the weird, clumsy, awkward loner that's been given my name. They're willing to give up all that just to be with me during a time when no one else is, even for the sake of their pristine images.

Honestly, what is popularity anyway? As long as my friends like me and I have them with me, it's the most popularity that I can ever dream of.

In my opinion, popularity is overrated.

Tnxoxo
Starlight24

I smiled happily, still unable to get my smile to wipe off my face. Sure, I'd lost a lot of stuff because of this little stint, but who cares? I'd lost my image, my popularity; but like I said, it didn't matter to me at all. I'd gained true friendship.

Alright, this was getting cornier than popcorn.

Popcorned. Shit, it had been ages since I'd talked to my annoying frenemy that didn't get out of my head.

As if on que, I saw a long message notification pop onto my screen. On normal circumstances, I would've ignored it and thought it was probably another fan (yes, I am so modest. Sue me) telling me how they loved me. Now, however, I was searching for that familiar popcorn kernel of a profile picture that I loved.

I only got weirder and weirder by the day, didn't I?

Sure enough, my heart lurched when I saw the sender being Popcorned.

Popcorned: OH MY GOSH I AM SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SORRY! So basically my phone was busted the whole week and we had to go to the dealer to get a new one and now I have a new one. I didn't mean to ignore you. I've been thinking about how to tell you and how to apologize to you all week in the night. I've not even been able to sleep. Ugh, I sound like such a sap but I've missed you a lot. Okay forget I said that, you're just as annoying as before. I missed arguing with you. Whatever. Now I'm rambling, and I feel like an idiot as usual. So all I wanted to say was that you've probably forgotten me in your busy schedule but I haven't forgotten you and... yeah. Okay bye before I make a fool of myself.

I had to physically clamp my mouth shut from laughing. What an idiot.

Starlight24: You're really dumb, you know that? Xxx

Why did I send those three kisses? I don't know.

Popcorned: *heaves a sigh of relief* nice to talk to you again, barf brain

Starlight24: You're such a dork. I missed you too though.

Popcorned: Yeah, it's kinda hard to NOT miss a guy like me

Starlight24: I can see that your blatant modesty still clings to you like a second skin

Popcorned: Second? More like first...

Starlight24: Can't argue with that...

Popcorned: Hey, this may be a long shot, but...

Starlight24: Yeah?

Popcorned: What is this terrible deed you speak of?

Starlight24: *wiggles hands mysteriously* it's a secret...

Popcorned: If you don't wanna talk about it, that's okay.

Starlight24: I don't mean to hurt your feelings or anything =(

Popcorned: Chillax, no harm done. Not like we're close enough anyway.

Starlight24: So let's get to know each other then!

Popcorned: Okay what's your name?

Starlight24: -.- no personal information like age, height, name and DEFINITELY not weight.

Popcorned: Whatever you say, fatty.

Starlight24: I AM NOT FAT!

Popcorned: Then why are you so scared of telling me how much you weigh, huh? For all I know I could be chatting with a blue whale's daughter

Starlight24: Weight makes me feel insecure for some retarded reason

Popcorned: Coming from a retarded person herself, it's not that hard to believe.

Starlight24: Shut up!

Popcorned: I speak the truth and nothing but the truth.

Starlight24: Well, there's this guy called Popcorned that I have been learning some pretty retarded stuff from, you know...

Popcorned: Tut tut, there's no real name called Popcorned, you know

Starlight24: DAMN YOU

Popcorned: Alright, so you go first since I'm really bad at this kind of stuff

Starlight24: Alright. What's your biggest fear?

Popcorned: Um, this is going to sound weird, but I have a fear of failing

Starlight24: AW, aren't you the cutest little nerd!

Popcorned: I'm not a nerd. I mean failing anything. School, sports, music, life.

Starlight24: *continues cooing in the background*

Popcorned: *flips you off*

Starlight24: I'm sorry but that's adorable

Popcorned: And this is why I think you're retarded. I tell you my biggest fear and you start COOING and think I'm being cute

Starlight24: I wish I could, like, pinch your cheeks or something right now

Popcorned: Very funny. My turn. What's one thing you have a weird obsession with?

Starlight24: Oh, that escalated quickly, didn't it?

Popcorned: Answer the damn question, will ya?

Starlight24: Impatient much? Hmm... I've gotta think about that. Probably, as weird as this may seem, I have this really weird obsession with stars.

Popcorned: Oh, I totally didn't know that from your name and stuff.

Starlight24: No, I've always found it interesting that the stars that burn the brightest usually die out the quickest. We look at the same stars, yet we see such different things. To me, it might show me my ambition in life or where I may land up in the vast infinity of the sky. To another, it may show a lost dream or a crushed set of hopes scattered across the inky black.

Popcorned: You render me speechless.

Starlight24: My favorite is Starlight, though. To me, it's not just the stars that keep me alive and wanting more. It's the brilliance that follows; the shine that trails after them. It's the starlight that makes it bright with wonder as they sparkle across the world. Even stars can't shine without darkness, and I feel like the ones with the dullest, most depressing backgrounds are able to contrast and make themselves shine the brightest.

Popcorned: Starlight, whoever you are, has made me look at stars a really different way

Starlight24: Glad I could help lol

Popcorned: Um, I hate to break the moment, but... who on Earth is Miss. X?

Starlight24: ???

Popcorned: You may want to look at your feed or look up Miss. X...

I immediately snapped back to my feed, where indeed, someone with the name Miss. X had posted something long. And by the looks of Popcorned's reaction, it wasn't good.

Hey!

Guys, it's me again! Tada! You're wannabe anonymous writer, Miss. X!

Anyway, I was scrolling through @Starlight24's stuff and I nearly puked. I mean, what's wrong with her? Does she want to tell us that popularity isn't important? Honestly, Starlight24 literally feeds off popularity. Does she think being the owner of a proud 6.5M follows shows loneliness?

And she thinks her life is so full of shit. This terrible deed she seems to have done is just an attention seeking stint to get sympathy. She's so full of rubbish; she's so full of herself. She uses us as her personal psychologists. She uses us as her personal vent machines.

She said that popularity was overrated, didn't she?

Well, newsflash, Starlight24.

I think STARLIGHT is overrated.

Peace out!
Miss. X

My heart dropped. I knew I got some hate once in a while, but I didn't think it was this bad. What hurt even more, was that people were actually agreeing with her. Did they really think that was all this meant to me? A therapy session that I used to get attention and popularity?

I went back to my page, and I could feel tears rush to my eyes as I saw my follows.

In a span of less than 5 minutes, I had dropped to 5.7M.

It's official. My Star's Light is Overrated.

A/N:

Here's a pic of a dying star. Enjoy.

OH. MY. GOD.

It's 3 am, and I couldn't sleep because I just NEEDED TO UPDATE!

You guys owe me big time lol. I'm so sleepy I didn't get any time to proofread this, so if there are any errors then you'll know the story.

For all I know, I could have been talking about like dancing watermelons or something. I'm not sure. 

Anyway, sorry if you guys found the whole stars bit boring. I'm SLEEPY.

How was that? Day's overrated? What's going on?

Song of the Day: Me Too by Meghan Trainor 

(I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist the irony of it all.) 

Anyway, I really enjoyed writing about her and Popcorned.

Teaser: Rejection is harsh only if you actually feel it

Thanks so much for getting me to 1K votes, by the way!

This chapter is dedicated to UniCake7 because her comments make me smile =)

Love you all,

~Lexi