Sugar and Spice_ An L.A. Candy Novel - Lauren Conrad [55]
“Actually, we were,” Gaby replied, air-kissing Madison. “Wow, you look hot!”
Jane started to mentally count to ten again, but only got up to three. “Madison, where have you been? You forgot about the gift bags!”
“Jane, you always stress about the details. It’s no biggie—I’ll send one of the intern boys over for them. Anyway, that’s so not important right now. I want you guys to meet someone.”
Jane noticed a girl standing directly behind Madison. She couldn’t place her, although there was something eerily familiar about her. She was eighteen-ish, blond, and stunning. Jane was surprised that Madison would hang out with a friend—especially on camera—who so clearly outshined her in the looks department.
“Oooh, are you a model?” Gaby asked the girl.
The girl smiled and shrugged.
“Guys, this is my baby sister, Sophia,” Madison announced.
Madison’s . . . sister? Jane had no idea Madison even had a sister. Trevor had gone out and hired a friend for Jane; was it possible he’d cast a “sister” for Madison? She knew his definition of “reality” was sketchy at best, but the possibility seemed a little extreme, even for him.
“She’s gonna be staying with me for a while,” Madison went on.
“Oooh, fun!” Gaby said eagerly.
“Good thing you have a big apartment,” was all Scarlett said.
Jane glanced curiously at Madison, then at Sophia, then at Madison again. Madison had a big, fake smile plastered on her face, as usual, but the expression in her eyes was troubled, almost pained. Jane had never seen Madison look like that before.
Something weird was going on. Was Madison unhappy about her (way prettier) sister sharing airtime with her? Or was it something else altogether?
Chapter 20
Gossip Fest
“Can you believe this night?” Scarlett leaned back in the passenger seat of Jane’s Jetta and put her bare feet up on the dashboard. Her laid-back demeanor was at odds with the seven-hundred-dollar dress that she was wearing on loan from some new designer. The cool April breeze blowing through the half-open windows felt great, especially after standing around in a jam-packed club all night. Scarlett was beyond tired but at the same time newly energized, because she was finally alone with her best friend . . . unmiked . . . and brimming with important topics to discuss.
“So where do we start? Sophia or Gaby?” Jane said. She, too, seemed ready for a marathon gossip fest.
“You mean, the crazy person posing as Gaby? Cuz that girl is definitely not Gaby.”
“Do you think Madison brainwashed her? Or Trevor? Or both?”
“I think it might be her new publicist, Annabelle. She was at the party tonight. Short, curly brown hair, leopard-print dress. She was hovering over Gaby like a mother hen.”
“Oh! Annabelle Weiss. I saw her name on the guest list. Ohmigod, I told Gaby to sign with her, didn’t I?”
“Yep.”
“God. Well, anyway . . . I noticed Annabelle talking to Trevor a lot. And Veronica Bliss. And she was hanging around Topher Gant, too. Hey, I wonder if she’s also his publicist? And maybe she arranged for him and Gaby to come to the party together? I heard publicists do that, to make sure their clients get into the magazines.”
Scarlett frowned. “You mean, like, fake that two people are dating so they’ll get more press coverage?”
“I guess?”
“Ew.”
Although . . . Scarlett realized that Trevor was doing something similar with her and Naveen (who was at the party tonight and who Dana kept ordering her to talk to). And that Scarlett was allowing it to happen. So what, exactly, did that say about her?
They passed the intersection of Sunset and La Cienega, and Scarlett was startled to see a gigantic image of herself on a billboard, wearing a hot pink bikini and lying on a gigantic Photoshopped bed of peppermint candies. The line WHO’S your FAVORITE FLAVOR? was spelled out across the bottom in huge red letters. Classy. It was part of PopTV’s new ad campaign, with each of the four girls in a different-color bikini against a different candy-theme background . . . because the ratings weren’t high enough already?