"I wonder what Alex's doing," I muttered, leaning back on the bed.
"She's probably questioning her sanity," Elis joked. I glared at her. "Sorry, I was just trying to make you feel better."
"Well, it's not helping any," I growled. Using the remote, I turned on the television.
"Pop singer Alexandria Emerichian has disappeared," the MTV News announcer, Serena Altschul, said. "It seems as though she 'jumped ship' in the middle of the tour, claiming to have a 'family crisis.' Yet, we talked to her family and it seems as though she hasn't even called home for a week. For all anybody knows, she could be with a secret lover on the sandy beaches of Hawaii."
"What the hell is this?!?" I cried, sitting up. I listened for a few more minutes about the numerous reasons Alex could have left the tour for, one of them that they seemed to emphasize was that "secret lover in Hawaii." I sighed, falling back onto the bed, tears of frustration streaming down my face.
"You're going to Hawaii?" Claire said, her tone a mixture of amazement and amusement. "You better be taking me with you."
"Crap, crap, crap, crap . . ." I said, banging my head on the wall. I had just seen the little piece MTV decided to do on my whereabouts and I didn't like it one bit. I considered calling them, or calling the other, or at least someone who could figure it out, but I knew I couldn't. Most or all of them have either caller ID or a tracker system. They'd find out where I was in an instant and both Claire and I would be mobbed.
"Hey, you're damaging my wall," Claire joked, trying to lighten the mood. I glared at her. "Sorry."
"What am I supposed to do about this?"
"Hey," she said, laying a comforting hand on my arm. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure if I know Elis, she's already taking care of it."
"We said nothing," Dave, Alex's father, said.
"Then, how did they find out that she hasn't called home in a week?" I asked, pacing the hotel room with the cell phone glued to my ear.
"We were talking about it the other day," Josh suggested. "Maybe they overheard us?"
"Maybe, my *ss," I growled. "They were spying on you. Most likely trespassing on your property. I'll have them ruined so fast they won't know what hit 'em."
"Elis, don't worry about it," Dave said. "You take care of the tour and we'll find Alex."
"No, don't find Alex," I warned. "Let her be by herself. That's what she asked for and that's what we promised her. I'm giving MTV a call now to straighten the record." I sighed. "Just keep watching and call me if any other rumors start to pop up." I hung up the phone and turned to face JC. His face was contorted in rage.
"How could they do this to her!?!" he yelled. "All she wanted was peace a quiet and she's getting bullsh*t for it!"
"It's the media," I said. "They can do anything they want as long as it's legal." Dialing MTV's private celebrity line, I put the phone up to my ear.
"Hello, MTV Studios, New York. How can I help you?"
"This is Elisbeph Wolfrum. Get me the producer of MTV News now."
"Please hold." A few seconds later, a deep male voice picked up.
"This is Kurt Loder, MTV News producer. How can I help you?"
"Yeah, this is Elibeph Wolfrum. What the hell do you think you're doing saying all that crap about Alex on internationally television?"
"Ms. Wolfrum, we report what we're told and-"
"You weren't told where she was going!" I yelled into the phone. "You had no legal right to plant those stories in the minds of the people around the world and you know it. You will retract those things or I will sue your *ss for every last penny you've got, you understand?"
"We understand," Kurt said, his voice sounding slightly shaken.
"Get on it and I want to see it in tonights MTV News Report. If it's not, you won't hear the end of this." I hung up the phone and sighed.
"I just called the Firm," Mel said as she, Roxie, and Star burst into the room. "They said they'd take care of it."
"What the hell were they thinking?" Star sighed, sitting down next to JC.
"They weren't thinking," Roxie said.
"I just talked to the producer of MTV News," I said. "I told them to have it on tonights news or they'd get sued."
"We have a concert tonight," Roxie said. "How are we gonna know if it comes on?"
"Call Dave," I said, tossing Star my cellphone. "Tell him to tape MTV from 8 on. If it doesn't come on then, tell him to give us a call. I'll go down and ask the hotel to tape it for us as well." With that, I left the room.
“You had damn well better change it!” I screamed into my cell phone. I paused, listening to the person on the other line. “If you don’t get this fixed in 24 hours, call me. I’ll go up there and fix it myself.” I slammed my phone shut and threw it on the bed.
“I didn’t know short people could threaten.” I sighed and turned to see Roxie standing in the doorway.
“Shut up,” I said, flopping down on the bed next to my phone.
“Don’t worry about fixing things,” she said, coming in and sitting down next to me. “Elis already called MTV while Mel called management.”
“How’s JC taking this?” I asked. She shrugged.
“I think he’s still in shock. Do you really have no idea where Alex is?” I shrugged.
“Not a clue,” I said, truthfully. “I’m pretty sure she told someone, but I’m not sure who. Justin couldn’t keep a secret for his life so if he knows, it’ll come out sometime or another, JC wouldn’t be this distraught if he knew, I’d be with her if I knew, Lance wouldn’t tell if he knew and he’s a pretty good actor so we wouldn’t be able to figure it out anyways, and Joey doesn’t know.”
“How do you know Joey doesn’t know?” she asked.
“Because Alex knows he’s too easy to bribe. If you offered him pizza, he’d talk.” Roxie laughed. She sighed and brushed her hair out of her face.
“This is getting to be too much.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I wonder if Alex saw this.”