Fifteen Minutes

“Nervous.” She tried to smile. “I can’t figure it out. I just . . . I don’t feel right about things.”

The old man put his free arm around her and together they walked into the family room. For now the TV was off. Zack’s mom was at the computer, but as they walked in she stood and came to Reese. “It gets serious starting tonight.”

“Hmm. Very serious.” Again Reese had to remind herself to smile. “You checking the website?”

“I was about to. I haven’t looked in a few days.” His mother shared the same concerned look. “I can be obsessed with all the media attention.”

Reese allowed a sad laugh. “It’s overwhelming.” Between Twitter and the updates on Yahoo and other gossip sites, someone posted a different story or photo shoot or event involving the top twenty from Fifteen Minutes every few hours.

When they had moved into the kitchen to work on dinner and she was alone, Reese finished typing in the web address for Fifteen Minutes. The site opened immediately, as flashy and polished as any Reese had ever seen. The home page had changed him, with Zack and Zoey clearly featured. “Watch a real- life Romeo and Juliet story that includes more drama than we’ve had any other season.” The home page had changed since the last time she’d looked at it. Her reason for checking now was something she’d seen on Twitter earlier.

Shocking revelation—don’t miss it!! Tonight on #Fifteen Minutes!

Her heart raced ahead of her. She scanned the page, looking past the announcement of show times and dates and the fact that tonight was the debut of live performances. Then she saw something that made her heart drop to her knees.

A headline near the top of the home page read, “Romeo and Juliet?” Beneath that in smaller print it read, “Season ten involves every kind of story. Even a love story. Watch the preview now.”

Reese’s palms felt clammy and the room started to spin. It can’t be Zack, right? That isn’t possible. She closed her eyes and remembered what he’d told her the last time they talked. He was more frustrated than she could remember him ever being. Frustrated and tired. “They keep trying to make a story out of Zoey and me,” he’d told her. “It doesn’t matter how many times I tell them I have a girlfriend.”

She had sympathized with him, but hadn’t the uneasy feeling come upon her around the same time? She gripped the edge of the desk and blinked her eyes open, staring once more at the white triangle play button. She could click it and the preview of the Romeo and Juliet story would play. Her fingers trembled. There was nothing to fear. Zack hadn’t done anything wrong. His feelings for her hadn’t changed. She steadied herself and started the video.

The piece was only thirty seconds long and it moved quickly. “On tonight’s show,” Kip Barker said into the camera as the preview started. The top twenty rehearsed a dance number behind him, with Zack and Zoey clearly featured. “Watch a real-life Romeo and Juliet story that includes more drama than we’ve had any other season.”

A quick cut showed Zack singing his heart out and then the judges asking if he was single. “No,” he told them, “I have a girlfriend back home.” Just as quickly the image changed and Zack was onstage finishing a group number, his arm around Zoey. “Every season involves some kind of heartbreak,” Kip said in the voice-over. “But this season it gets personal.” Video snapshots from half a dozen photo shoots showed Zack and Zoey constantly together. “What happens,” Kip said, “when the pressure gets too great, when circumstances throw two unsuspecting people together.” The shot became dimly lit, Zack and Zoey sitting in an empty, darkened hallway, lost in what looked like some serious conversation.

Reese wanted to shut off the computer or look away, scream for time to stop, but it was too late. The next shot showed Zack facing Zoey in the same hallway, his hand alongside her face as he moved closer for what absolutely looked like a kiss.

The video cut back to Kip in front of the rehearsing contestants. “Find out what’s happening to this real-life Romeo and Juliet”—Kip sounded deeply dramatic—“tonight . . . when the live shows begin . . . on Fifteen Minutes.”

Reese stared at the screen, and for several seconds she couldn’t breathe or cry or scream. Had he really kissed her? Zack, the guy she’d loved all these years? She could see him sitting beside her in the pre-dawn light the morning he left for auditions. Nothing will change, I promise . . .

The memory of his words stabbed at her. Why hadn’t she seen this coming? The signs were all there. The answer—the only answer—was that she had trusted him. Implicitly. Perfectly. Other people might let success change them, but not Zack. Not her guy.

Reese stood and black spots danced before her eyes. I’m going to faint. Please, God, don’t let me faint. She had to leave, had to get out of Zack’s house before she threw something or fell on the ground in a heap and never got up. She wanted to run to the other side of the world, as far away as she could from the Fifteen Minutes craze and the fact that in just a few hours everyone would be buzzing about Zack and Zoey. And people who didn’t know her from Texas to Tacoma to Tampa would feel sorry for the girl back home.

She closed her eyes for a moment. This couldn’t be happening. She grabbed her keys and started for the door, but then she stopped. None of this was Zack’s family’s fault. She was about to turn back and make a quick explanation about her departure to Mrs. Dylan and Grandpa Dan, when Zack’s father and brother entered the house. They looked hot and worn out, but they must’ve seen something in her face that made them stop cold.

“Reese?” Zack’s dad took a step closer. “You okay?”

She shook her head. “No, sir.” Her tone remained kind, gentle. The go-to voice for any good Southern girl. “I need to get home.”

“What happened?” Duke came to her and touched her arm. “Something with your family?”

“The show.” She pointed back at the computer. Words wouldn’t come. The shock was too great. “They’re showing something tonight . . . with Zack and that girl.”

Grandpa Dan and Zack’s mom joined the others in the room and seemed to sense immediately that something was wrong. “Honey, what?” Grandpa Dan came to her, his brow furrowed. “What happened?”

Zack’s father took control of the moment. “Reese said there’s going to be something on tonight’s show about Zack and some girl.” He looked to her. “A girl from the show?”

“Yes.” Reese needed to leave. She had to make this quick. “Her name’s Zoey. Zoey Davis?”

The other four nodded, all of them holding tight to every word. “Go on.” Grandpa Dan still stood beside her.

“I watched a preview . . . on the computer. They’re calling Zack and Zoey this season’s Romeo and Juliet.”

Grandpa Dan sighed and looked out the window. “That’s not right.”

“Is there any proof?” Dara moved to the spot next to her husband, her troubled eyes on Reese. “About the two of them?”

“Sort of.” Reese grabbed a partial breath. If she didn’t leave soon she’d start crying. “The preview only showed part of the video. But they look . . . very close.” She didn’t want to talk about it. She couldn’t. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to see the rest.” The right thing to do might’ve been to walk around and give hugs, bid everyone a proper good-bye. But she didn’t have time for that. “I need to go.”

“Okay.” Dara hugged her. Together the family walked her to the front door. “You’re going home?”

“I’m not sure.” Reese could feel tears welling in her eyes again. The sadness was gaining ground. “I’m sorry. I’ll talk to you soon.” She looked at Grandpa Dan and over her shoulder at Zack’s dad and brother. “All of you.”

Grandpa Dan gave her a side hug as she headed out. “We’ll watch the show. And then I’ll call Zack myself.” He held Reese’s gaze. “Whatever this is, there has to be a reason. That boy loves you.”

Reese couldn’t talk. She nodded and smiled and hurried down the steps to her car. She felt like she’d fallen into a dark hole, a nightmare. Was she really leaving before the show even began? Had that video really happened? And had Zack really kissed her?

“No,” she whispered the word out loud as she reached her car. “He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t.”

Tears fell down her face again. How could you, Zack? The question drilled itself into her mind. She missed him so much. Missed walking with him and riding beside him and laughing late into the night. The real Zack, the one the world knew nothing about. That Zack consumed her heart and mind. The same