Slightly tweaked the plot idea. Enjoy a preview! Full fic coming??? Idk eventually…
Chloe strutted her way through the school halls. She was riding high off of a fantastic weekend, how could she not beam to express some of that joy. She had to fight the urge to squeal with excitement.
Her award season had come to an end for the year. Unbeknownst to her classmates, Chloe had bagged four Grammy Awards. Double the amount that her breakout album had won her. She was eternally thankful. To think she had gone from a little girl singing for her mom in the living room to being in the middle of her second national tour.
Rachel Heartbreak. A way to honor her mother. To chase dreams and achieve them. Music had always been in their lives. Her own father was a retired country singer. Now he spent his time ensuring Chloe had a successful career. After her mom passed her dad had closed the door on his own music. But with Chloe in the spotlight she caught him playing guitar again sometimes. She even tried getting him to help write her songs, no matter if he never did much more than bring her snacks.
It had almost been an accident. Somehow landing every step of her career thus far with near perfection. And the ability to physically turn off the side of her the whole world saw made it all the more better. To go home and take off the blonde wig. To use Rachel Heartbreak as a parasol so that Chloe Valentine could stay hidden in the shade. Sometimes it was awkward, sometimes the school got mad she took so many "vacations," but she was three years in and couldn't look back now.
Brooke was waiting by her locker with her books for the day set to go. Chloe needed to release some of her excitement. She rushed the remainder of the way to her friend and pulled her into a tight embrace. The two stood in the hall and squeezed each other as though they hadn't seen one another in months.
Brooke pulled back first, holding her hands still as she bounced lightly in place. "Did you watch the Grammys last night?! I swear I sent you like a million texts about it!"
If only she knew. "Yeah, sorry. Dad had me running around the house all night with chores. But we had it on in the background. Why?"
Brooke moved to grips her shoulder so she could shake Chloe. "Rachel fucking Heartbreak happened! Her performance was insane! She swept the entire show!"
"I think you're a bit too excited about her. When will your obsession end?"
Brooke shrugged. "When she stops being an icon? When she proposes to me? Who knows!?"
Chloe forced herself to scoff as she turned away to retrieve her books. As she went digging in her locker she begged her face not to blush. Brooke making comments like that about her other self wasn't new, Brooke was the most popular age demographic that Rachel best appealed to. Lately it had just…felt different.
They walked to class shoulder to shoulder. She was still buzzing as she sat at her desk and pulled out her phone to check Instagram. She made sure to double check she was on Chloe's account before allowing herself to actually view her feed. On the off chance someone was looking at her she didn't need to risk somehow exposing her second account's follower count.
"We should go to the mall this weekend," Brooke leaned over a bit closer and spoke to her with a small grin. "When is the last time that we hung out?"
"I can't. My dad and I are flying to visit family." In actuality she had to get on her tour bus asap once school was out Friday. The hard part about trying to live her life as normal was that her concerts were only on weekends. Fans loved it since they didn't have to take time off of work or school, but it did mean a time crunch for her.
"Damn. Well, take photos for me. When's the last time you went to Tennessee?"
Two weeks ago for a concert. It was the first time her grandmother had been able to attend. "…I'm not sure. It's been a while."
The bell rang and cut off their conversation. Chloe turned to face the front of the room and pulled out her homework to hand in. As their teacher was walking around the room collecting the various papers their door burst open. A boy stumbled in and offered the room a sheepish smile. Their teacher wasn't impressed.
"Sorry!" The boy shuffled a bit forward. "It's my first day, I got lost."
"Oh," the teacher walked back to her desk and checked the attendance sheet. "Well, then…" she peered down the list quickly. "Jakey. Please take a seat."
Open seats were slim pickings. Either on Chloe's opposite side to Brooke or in the back of the room next to the two geeks playing on their handheld consoles rather than paying attention to class. Jakey made the smart move and took a seat next to Chloe. She glanced over at him a few times. He seemed familiar. Something about his nose. His hair was obviously bleached blonde, but it was professionally done. Very even, not brassy. It was nice. Maybe she had seen him at a concert or something. The trouble of being one of the most popular teenagers in the world tended to be that she saw a lot of faces.
"Hi," Jakey caught her attention properly.
Chloe offered a polite smile. "Hi."
She watched him give her a look up and down. He leaned a bit closer to her and dropped his volume to a lower tone.
"Are you a dream? Because I think I've been destined to see you every night."
Chloe felt the color drain from her face. No fucking way. He wasn't just some new student. He was Jake Dillinger.
Jake was another pop star. He blew up at age ten with his boy band Boys Mighty Cheer. A few weeks ago news broke that Jake had left the group to take time off and pursue a solo career. He was also Rachel Heartbreak's ex boyfriend.
Dating Jake had been weird. It was more of a publicity stunt than a real relationship. But Chloe had enjoyed their fancy dates. And they had ended things on a good note. She had never revealed that her whole identity was a sham to Jake. He probably didn't even recognize her. But using the same bad pickup line over and over was bound to blow his cover.
How the hell had they ended up at the same school? Was this him taking time off? Dying his hair and slightly changing his name? Chloe couldn't judge, she wore a wig as her cover. But at least Rachel and Chloe were completely different names.
"Yeah, no. Not happening." Chloe wrinkled her nose. "Where did you wash up from?"
"LA. How about you? I hear some country twang in there."
"Wouldn't you like to know, lover boy."
The two cracked into light giggles. She didn't know why he was there, didn't know why Jake had given up on the band, but it was nice to see him. It would be fun to let him see the real her, even if he didn't know it yet.
"What are you laughing about?" Brooke peeked over at them.
Chloe motioned between her friends. "Brooke, Jakey may just be the perfect third wheel for our little entourage."
There was a sense of danger having her two lives so close, but wasn't that part of the appeal? Besides, if Jake was going to live a double life he would want to try and keep things that way. All she had to do to make this work was never bring up Rachel Heartbreak and they would be set.
