373" Faith Miranda Landen! Your light better be out in twenty minutes!" came the screeching voice of Ms. Landen from the bottom of the stairs. " I know you've finished your homework!"
" Got it, mom," Faith Landen called back, covering the mouth piece of her phone. Then she rolled her eyes as she flopped, belly-down onto her bed. " Sorry bout that, Yolanda. My mom burnt her casserole today and then it got even and attacked her," she grumbled.
" Ooh, giving your mother a taste of her own medicine, huh?" Yolanda Signer chuckled on the other end.
" Ha, ha, right," Faith yawned as she flipped the pages of her textbook pointlessly. " Change of subject."
" Okay," Yolanda agreed. " What Duvall?"
" No!" Faith squealed, her cheeks heating. " No, Yolanda. I'm not going to let you convince me into entering that contest!"
" But, you've liked Trey since what? Five?" Yolanda teased in a cooing voice.
" Actually, it was eight," Faith corrected immediately, wanting her Trey facts straight.
" Whatever," Yolanda shrugged. " You're the only person I know that gets aggressive about these things," Yolanda laughed, taunting her like she always did. " Trey owes his career to you."
" Well, he's the one guy who rules my world!" Faith announced pointedly.
" Well, for a guy who rules your world, you're not doing anything to be near him."
" Yolanda, I know where reality ends and obsession begins," Faith shot back. " And going into this contest and actually thinking I'm going to win it is obsessive. It's not going to happen."
" Trey gets the say in what school he wants to do his new project," Yolanda repeated for the umpteenth time. " And he is asking for the names of schools from his fans so.I say, go for it! What have you got to lose?"
" Earth to Yolanda, we've got our pride and dignity to lose, telling him that we go there. There is no way he's going to choose our school," Faith sighed, heavily.
" And why not?"
" We're a provincial school in a provincial town," Faith stated sadly. " Trey won't see anything special about Victorice High in the city of Victorice."
" The other schools in the country are just as provincial as ours," Yolanda insisted. " Only we stand out because we have you."
" And what am I?"
" You're the most devoted watcher of " Medical Heroees," and the biggest follower of Trey's every move," Yolanda beamed proudly. " Trey should feel lucky he's got a fan like you."
" Well, anywho, I'm still not budging," Faith stammered, though she was very flattered. " Trey Duvall will just never know this fan exists.'
Faith waited for Yolanda to convince her to change her mind but all that answered her was a defeated sigh.
" Okay, Faith, if that's how you want it."
" It is," Faith promised.
" But that doesn't mean I can't put in for it," Yolanda revealed mischievously.
" What! Why would you do that?" Faith demanded, bolting wide awake.
" Somebody's got to do it," Yolanda shrugged.
" But you don't even like Trey Duvall!" Faith sputtered, wondering why her heart was beating so fast.
" Jealous?"
" No!" Faith retorted, though she was.
" Well, it shouldn't be a problem then," Yolanda sang. " I'm going to do it."
Faith tried to cover up her yawn, but she was unsuccessful, even her vision turned blurry from tiredness.
" Knock yourself out," Faith groaned, covering up another yawn. " I'm too tired to argue with you anymore, Yolanda."
" Yeah, okay, my mom's going to have a cow if I don't get up on time tomorrow," Yolanda told her sarcastically. " I'll let you get back to choosing your impress " Jesse" outfit."
" Oh Yolanda, don't even mess with Jesse, he's..so cute!" Faith gushed which was probably going to make Yolanda sick.
" Right, he is, well, I'll see you tomorrow, -k-?"
" Yeah, okay," Faith managed to say before falling to sleep. " Night."
" Night."
Faith turned off the button to her cordless and placed it on her bedside table. She heard the door creak. Faith quickly climbed into bed, ready to forget Yolanda had mentioned the stupid contest or that "Jesse" existed.
" Faith, you still up?"
Faith glanced to the door and saw that her older brother. Christian Landen, was standing there.
" No, I'm not," Faith joked.
" Well, mom's having a cow so why don't you do the right thing and go to sleep. You've got a big day tomorrow," Christian whispered, blew her a kiss and then turned out the light and softly closed the door behind him.
" Oh yeah, another big day of making eye contact with Jesse Whitener, getting tons of homework and helping out my brother at his dental practice and." Faith murmured, her eyelids drooping when her eyes popped open in alarm.
" Oh no!" Faith gasped, pulled the covers away and then reached into the drawer of her bedside table. She pulled out a small red diary and a flashlight. She turned the light on and opened up her book. " Can't believe I almost forgot you, Trey. Almost."
She pulled the matching pen that served as a marker and positioned it over a blank page. She thought about what to write which was difficult, being she couldn't betray Trey Duvall. He was the only guy in the world who had done nothing to her. So, she took a deep breath and began writing.
"Hi Trey, it's me again, Faith Landen, your BIGGEST FAN! But you know I'm a fan of you, Trey, not your star persona. I don't even need an autograph to know, I've fallen in love with who you really are."
Faith grinned. Everyday, she seemed to be getting better at this, despite the late hour.
".and I don't need to win some stupid contest to know you do know me. But is Yolanda right, Trey? Am I not your fan if I don't do the contest? I hope not because 't like my school, heck I can't wait to get out of this town. Why would I want you to endure that same pain? You deserve so much better, every moment of screen time, every cent you then, anything is better than Victorice, trust that much, Trey. I still believe we'll meet, but somewhere, in a better place, at the perfect time. And I'm going to live for that day, Trey Duvall, And I know you will too,
Love,
Faith"
Faith reread the entry and frowned. Was the ending too corny? Shoot, the whole thing was probably full of fluff. But it was for her eyes only, so it didn't' matter did it? Faith could be permanently red in the face if Trey Duvall ever got wind of the weird, corny teenage fantasies she had since first spying him in a magazine ad at eight years old. She'd barely been able to read, write or spell, but Trey Duvall, she never forgot, even to this day. Yes, Faith's favorite celebrity was Trey Duvalll, the dashing twenty-seven year old actor who was the center of Faith Landen's little world and he was the only one who could make everything feel better. But who was she kidding? Having marriage ceremonies at eight years old was cute, believing Trey was the one for her at sixteen was just ridiculous.
She gave her journal one last look, locked it and said goodbye to her Trey shrine until the following evening.
" Goodnight evil world," Faith murmured as she closed her eyes, " And goodnight, Trey."