Read Online Phone Calls From a Rock Star by J. L. Paul - Free Book Online

warned. “This is your chance to pay Lance
back.”
    “ I’m not concerned with
paybacks; I’m concerned with Jake getting mobbed.”
    Annie and Cammy exchanged a glance but
remained silent.
    ***
    “ Daddy?” I said brightly
into my cell phone. I paced the sidewalk outside the Admin building
hoping my voice would cheer him. “I need you to do me a huge
favor.”
    “ What do you need,
princess?” he asked. I grinned. I absolutely adored being a Daddy’s
girl.
    “ Well, the Fall Festival is
this weekend, and I need you to sign a permission slip allowing one
of my friends to come on campus this weekend . . . as sort of my
date.”
    “ I thought your mother told
me you were going with some football player?” he mumbled in an
absent tone, more than likely focused on a case file or something.
“Did something happen?”
    “ Yeah, he sort of asked
someone else. But it’s okay,” I hastened to add. “My friend, Jake,
said he’d take me, but I need your permission for him to come on
campus.”
    “ Do I know this friend,
Jake?” I wanted to groan but I didn’t. So sometimes being a Daddy’s
girl wasn’t so wonderful—especially when it came to things like
boys and dances.
    “ Well, you don’t know him
yet. But I hope to introduce you to him during Thanksgiving break.”
Okay so that wasn’t the total truth. But, it wasn’t a bad idea. I
wondered if Jake would consider coming to my house if they were off
for the holiday. I could just imagine Seth’s face.
    “ Is he your boyfriend?” Dad
continued to grill me. I could hear him rustling papers on his end
and I hoped he was busy enough to cut the inquisition
short.
    “ No, Dad. He is just a
friend. I was upset because the jock dumped me for a cheerleader
with a big chest, and when I told Jake, he volunteered to take me.
He’s a very nice, decent guy, Daddy. You’d love him.”
    I crossed my fingers, hoping he wouldn’t ask
any more questions. “Okay, fax me the form. But do it now—I’m due
in court soon.” I nearly jumped for joy. “But I want to meet this
boy.”
    “ Thanks so much, Daddy!
You’ll meet him soon, I promise.” He chuckled and ended the call. I
raced inside the building to get the form from the secretary. I
grabbed a pen and filled it out best I could. I scratched
‘graduate’ in the school section, hoping no one would question me
on it. I had no idea what school Jake had attended and if he had
even graduated at all. Age. Hmm, I was pretty sure Annie had told
me he was twenty. I reluctantly scribbled that in the space. I
stared at the form, horrified by how little I actually knew about
Jake. I knew he had a younger sister about my age and a father in
Chicago. I knew his mother left when he was very young. I knew he’d
been playing in bands most of his teen years and that the drummer,
Nick Collins, had been his best friend for practically ever. I knew
he was smart but hated school because it annoyed him. I knew he
formed Controlled Environment when he was fifteen and got his big
break at seventeen.
    But I didn’t know his address or what he
liked to do when he wasn’t playing music. All the times we spoke on
the phone and I rambled on and on about me but hardly ever asked a
single thing about him. I shrugged and filled in the form best I
could before faxing it to my dad. I would grill Jake when I saw him
this weekend and find out every single detail I could.
    ***
    Before I knew it, Friday came. My friends
greeted me at breakfast with a small, chocolate birthday cake which
I couldn’t even eat. By lunch, I was nothing but a total basket
case. Annie and Cammy tried to coax me into eating, but I was
afraid nothing would stay down. Not even a greasy meal from my
favorite fast food restaurant sounded appetizing.
    My cell rang and I jumped, spilling Cammy’s
milk. I snagged a couple nearby napkins to sop up the mess but
Cammy grabbed them from my hands and glared.
    “ Answer the phone,” she
ordered.
    I checked the number. It was