"Ally Dawson to the Principal's Office now!" A voice boomed from the PA system, jolting the entire class awake, excluding myself. Mr Brewer was going through the Cold War, which was the main reason why everyone was asleep. Well, everyone would still be asleep no matter what topic the teacher was covering. But I'm the good girl, the straight-A student. I never fell asleep in class.
After realizing what the announcement said, several whispers echoed throughout the class. I raised my hand to ask Mr Brewer for permission to leave. He nodded with a look of annoyance. As I walked down the aisle from my seat right at the back of the classroom to the door, I could feel people's stares on me. I was nervous. I had never been called to the Principal's Office before. What on earth did I do? I abided by all the school rules, I turned in all my assignments on time, I never skipped school, I worked for the school paper and I was popular. Not bitchy-popular, but nice-girl-popular. The kind of girl whom people like because they're a nice person, and not because they're pretty or rich.
"Damn, Dawson, what did you do, score an A-minus?" joked the class clown, Dave Moreno, earning laughs from the entire class. I rolled my eyes and continued walking towards the door. I opened the door, walked out of the classroom and closed it.
I walked down the dreary path that ninety percent of the school had walked before; the path that I, in all eleven years of schooling, had never taken before and always avoided. After about five minutes, I finally reached the door. Many had entered this room, and not many had survived. I, Ally Dawson, was about to put my life on the line.
Plastered on the door were the words PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE. My brother had been in here countless times, it was practically his second home. Whereas I had no idea what lay ahead of me. Detention? Suspension? E-e-ex-expulsion?
Slowly grabbing the doorknob, I pretended to admire the silvery coating of the doorknob to stall time. Unfortunately for me, the doorknob turned by itself, the door opening to reveal the face of a bald man wearing black thick-rimmed glasses, with a small stubble on his chin. He was wearing a smart brown suit with a red tie. Ah yes, the Principal, Professor Walter. Don't ask me why we were supposed to address him as Professor. I honestly don't know either. Most of the students here at Hayboom High School just refer to him as "the Prof".
"Miss Dawson. I've been expecting you," he said, stepping aside for me to enter the dreaded room. That would have been way cooler had he been sitting on an office swivel chair, facing away from me, and then turning to face me and delivering that whole "I've been expecting you" phrase. Though if he had done that, I would probably have peed in my pants.
The first thing I noticed when I entered the office was that there were other people there. The second thing I noticed was that there were five other people – the Prof, the Vice-Principal Miss Tenner, two men in black wearing dark shades like FBI agents (coincidentally, one of them really looked like Tommy Lee Jones) and a young man with blonde hair. I found the blonde man to be vaguely familiar, but I couldn't put my finger to his identity. I couldn't fully recognize him, as he was wearing sunglasses.
The office was pretty dimly-lit, with the curtains closed. It truly felt like a prison. I couldn't see how my brother could endure five-hour sessions in this office. I wonder why those men were wearing shades – it was dark enough inside. What were they, FBI agents?
"Everyone, this is Alicia Dawson, but you can address her as Ally," the Prof introduced me to the four other people seated on the couch. "Hi Ally," everyone greeted except for that blonde-haired dude who appeared to be super bored. Someone's got an attitude. "Ally, this is everyone," the Prof finished with his introduction.
"With all due respect, Professor, who exactly is 'everyone'?" I asked curiously. Hey, it'd be weird if they all knew my name and I didn't know theirs, wouldn't it?
I could've sworn I saw the blonde guy chuckle a little. He had a pretty cute mouth, and when he smiled, you could see his upper set of teeth. His teeth were so straight. Well sue me for being observant!
The Prof nodded his head, as if he understood my confusion. "I'm sure you know who Miss Tenner, the Vice-Principal, is," he casually said as he held out his arm towards Miss Tenner. I nodded. "These two men are bodyguards licensed with the FBI. This is Agent Darm and Agent Dummere," he gestured to the two men in black from left to right. I tried my best to choke back a laugh as I smiled to them and shook hands. Agent Darm and Agent Dummere? Sounds like Agent Dumb and Agent Dumber. Like that Jim Carrey movie "Dumb and Dumber". Hmm, I wonder if they lived up to their names.
"And finally, this is the star. I'll let him introduce himself to you. I think you'll recognize him," the Prof said, gesturing for the blonde guy to introduce himself.
The blonde guy stood up and took off his sunglasses, tossing them onto the couch, but it hit the cold hard floor instead. I stared at the sunglasses. One of the lenses had dropped out from its hard impact with the floor. Ouch.
I stared back at his face. He looked really familiar. It felt like I had seen him like a thousand times before. His eyes were hazel brown.
"Yo, I'm Austin Moon," he said, holding out a hand for me to shake. Remember when I said I had seen him a thousand times? I take that back. Try a bazillion times. My best friend, Joanne, was a hardcore Moonbeam (the name of Austin's fanbase. Just like how Lady Gaga's fans were called Monsters, Miley's Smilers, Demi's Lovatics, and so on and so forth). She forced me to look at his face 24/7. I even had to endure his face being my phone's wallpaper for a week thanks to Jo. I'm not exactly the best at technology, so it took me a week to figure out how to remove it.
"Ally Dawson. Nice to meet you, Austin," I said politely. He smirked and said, rather cockily I may add, "Of course it is. Everyone loves meeting me."
I take back my words. It wasn't very nice to meet him. I mentally made a note to tell Jo to stop fangirling over this jerk because he was, well, a jerk. I forced a smile and looked back at the Prof.
"Umm, Professor Walter? Why am I here, and more importantly, why is Austin Moon, world-famous teen pop sensation in singing, acting and dancing here, at Hayboom High School in Miami, Florida hours away from Hollywood?" I asked, rather impatiently. I had a History class to get back to! I couldn't miss a lesson or that would jeopardize my chances of topping the school again. After losing out to that German transfer student on the paper on Nazi Germany last year, I was definitely going to have to step up my game on the Cold War this year. And to be wary of any Russian transfer students. There were none so far. Thank goodness.
"Mr Moon here has landed a movie deal, where he plays an average American high school student. As he has never been to a real high school before, he will be studying at Hayboom High School for three weeks under the pseudonym of Chad Cooper," the Prof explained.
"Okay. What does this have to do with me?" I asked. I hoped that the reason wasn't what I thought it was…
"We want you to be his student guide throughout these three weeks." Shit. "You will be his buddy, guiding him around school, answering his queries, showing him how to live like an American teenager. Basically, you'll just be his BFF, as you kids call it these days."
I nodded.
One of the bodyguards handed Austin a pair of huge nerd glasses. Austin unwillingly put them on, got up on his feet and walked over to me. He leaned against the door, placing his hands in his pockets and smirked at me.
"You ready to go, Dawson?"
I sighed. "Does he seriously have to go to every single class I go to?" I asked desperately, hoping that they would change their minds once they saw how I was so not willing to be a prima donna's 'BFF' for three weeks. That was 21 painful days.
Miss Tenner nodded, giving me a sympathetic look as if to wish me good luck for the torture I was about to be put through. She must be equally as turned off by him as I was.
"Let's get out of here then, BFF," Austin said with a smirk. Does this boy ever stop smirking?
I pushed him away since he was blocking my way, and opened the door. I held it open for him as he walked out. "Ladies first," I said with gritted teeth. He narrowed his eyes at me as he strutted out of the Principal's office.
I don't like him already.
A/N: I hope you liked this! This story is very loosely based off Meg Cabot's novel Teen Idol, though there are many major changes. And as usual, I'm making references to Sonny With A Chance. There's a huge one right there: Austin Moon's alias, Chad Cooper. I wanted to add the Dylan, but that would be weird.
Anyway, feel free to comment, suggest, criticize and review! I love hearing from you guys, so I know how to improve.