Lovesessed by Pamela Diane King Page A

write their own songs. There is a difference.” I
folded my arms across my chest defensively.
    “ But they are boys, who
are in a band.”
    “ Why do you always have to
be so logical?”
    “ It’s a gift.” She beamed
and took a sip of her carrot juice.
    “ Chase and his brothers,
Nick and Jamie, are very talented, especially to have achieved what
they have as teenagers. Carson has had five number one hits, and
they won Best New Artist at this year’s Teen Choice Awards. They
are the most popular teen band around, and girls go crazy for them
like they’re the Beatles. You know that I own all of their CDs,
well both of them, and I asked my mom to buy me their concert DVD
for my 14 th birthday yesterday. I’ve already watched it three
times.”
    “ What about
homework?”
    I rolled my eyes. “You sound like my
mom. There are more important things in life than
homework.”
    “ Tell your mom
that.”
    “ What she doesn’t know
won’t hurt her.” That had always been my motto to get away with
things with my mom. “My favorite video is for their song called
‘Summer of Love.’ Have you seen it?”
    “ No, but I’ve heard the
song. It’s very corny.”
    “ It’s not corny, it’s
romantic. The video takes place on a secluded beach at sunset, with
the three brothers walking in the water and singing. They’re all
wearing white, and Chase looks like an angel. I like to pause on
shots of him. A lot of their videos are filmed in slow motion to
create a more romantic feeling, and it definitely
works.”
    She did her best impression of my mom.
“Phoebe Parker, if you spent as much time on your schoolwork as you
do worrying about Chase, then you would be in College.”
    “ But Mom, Chase is so much
more interesting than school,” I whined. We both giggled. “Speaking
of Aladdin , I
want a genie who could grant me a wish. I would wish to magically
appear in a video with Chase, or that he would magically appear in
my bedroom.”
    Liz coughed on her carrot juice. “Your
mom would definitely freak out if Chase or any guy was in your
room.”
    I nodded. “My mom is so
uptight.”
    “ Well, I think my Mom
would freak out too.”
    I opened Teen Idol Magazine and flipped through the
pages until I found the page with pictures of Carson filming a
music video. “Look at this.” I said holding the magazine up.
“They’re filming a music video and look at these skanky looking
girls. I don’t like the scenes in their videos where they have the
‘love interests,’” I pouted.
    “ Are those the girls in
bikinis prancing, I mean dancing, around in their
videos?”
    “ Yes, they’re girls that
the brothers have to act like they’re in love with. They’re always
beautiful models who are really bad actresses. I can tell that
Chase is uncomfortable when he has to act those scenes. He is more
concerned with his artistic vision, than flirting with every girl
who throws herself at him.” I pushed the macaroni and cheese around
my plate.
    “ Sure he is,” Liz mumbled
under her breath. “Aren’t you going to eat today?” She eyed my full
plate critically.
    “ Love is all the food I
need.”
    She put her face in her hands. “Phoebe,
you can’t survive on love alone.” Her expression softened. “But
when people are in that infatuation phase, they often can’t eat and
can’t sleep.”
    “ Love is a delicious
torture. There’s just one tiny problem with being in love with a
teen idol,” I said.
    “ I think I can guess
what that is.”
    “ A million other girls
feel the same way as me.”
    “ I was waiting for you to
realize that.”
    “ But they just have
crushes on Chase. I know that my love is real.”
    “ That explains it,” she
said sarcastically.
    “ Not that I blame them. I
mean, what girl wouldn’t have a crush on him? He has everything a
girl could possibly want. He has the most stunning sea blue eyes
that I love to gaze into. He looks like a surfer with his golden
tanned skin and sandy blond