Teen Idol: A Young Adult Novel of High School Secrets, Hollywood Stars, and Tabloid Chaos

Teen Idol: A Young Adult Novel of High School Secrets, Hollywood Stars, and Tabloid Chaos

High school junior Jenny Greenley is so good at keeping secrets that she's the school newspaper's anonymous advice columnist. She's so good at it that, when hotter-than-hot Hollywood star Luke Striker comes to her small town to research a role, Jenny is the one in charge of keeping his identity under wraps. But Luke doesn't make it easy, and soon everyone -- the town, the paparazzi, and the tabloids alike -- know his secret ... and Jenny is caught right in the middle of all the chaos. “Instantly engaging. Humorous. Great fun.” - Kirkus Reviews “Brisk and bubbly. Snappy and fun.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A thoroughly enjoyable story. Cabot does her usual excellent job of creating believable characters that act and sound like real teens.” - VOYA High school junior Jenny Greenley is so good at keeping secrets that she's the school newspaper's anonymous advice columnist. She's so good at it that, when hotter-than-hot Hollywood star Luke Striker comes to her small town to research a role, Jenny is the one in charge of keeping his identity under wraps. But Luke doesn't make it easy, and soon everyone -- the town, the paparazzi, and the tabloids alike -- know his secret ... and Jenny is caught right in the middle of all the chaos. Meg Cabot ’s many books for both adults and teens have included numerous #1  New York Times  bestsellers, with more than twenty-five million copies sold worldwide. Her Princess Diaries series was made into two hit films by Disney, with a third movie coming soon. Meg currently lives in Key West, Florida, with her husband and various cats. Teen Idol By Cabot, Meg HarperTrophy ISBN: 0060096187 Chapter One I witnessed the kidnapping of Betty Ann Mulvaney. Well, me and the twenty-three other people in first period Latin class at Clayton High School (student population 1,200). Unlike everybody else, however, I actually did something to try to stop it. Well, sort of. I went, "Kurt. What are you doing?" Kurt just rolled his eyes. He was all, "Relax, Jen. It's a joke, okay?" But, see, there really isn't anything all that funny in the way Kurt Schraeder swiped Betty Ann from Mrs. Mulvaney's desk, then stuffed her into his JanSport. Some of her yellow yarn hair got caught in the teeth of his backpack's zipper and everything. Kurt didn't care. He just went right on zipping. I should have said something more. I should have said, Put her back, Kurt . Only I didn't. I didn't because ... well, I'll get back to that part later. Besides, I knew it was a lost cause. Kurt was already high-fiving all of his friends, the other jocks who hang in the back row and are only taking the class (for the second time, having already taken it their junior year and apparently not having done so well) in hopes of getting higher scores on the verbal part of the SATs, not out of any love for Latin culture or because they heard Mrs. Mulvaney is a good teacher or whatever. Kurt and his buds had to hide their smirks behind their Paulus et Lucia workbooks when Mrs. Mulvaney came in after the second bell, a steaming cup of coffee in her hand. As she does every morning, Mrs. Mulvaney sang, " Aurora interea miseris mortalibus almam extulerat lucem referens opera atque labores ," to us (basically: "It's another sucky morning, now let's get to work"), then picked up a piece of chalk and commanded us to write out the present tense of gaudeo, -ere. She didn't even notice Betty Ann was gone. Not until third period, anyway, when my best friend Trina?short for Catrina: she says she doesn't think of herself as particularly feline, only, you know, I'm not so sure I agree -- who has her for class then, says that Mrs. Mulvaney was in the middle of explaining the past participle when she noticed the empty spot on her desk. According to Trina, Mrs. Mulvaney went, "Betty Ann?" in this funny high-pitched voice. By then of course the entire school knew that Kurt Schraeder had Betty Ann stuffed in his locker. Still, nobody said anything. That's because everybody likes Kurt. Well, that isn't true, exactly. But the people who don't like Kurt are too afraid to say anything, because Kurt is president of the senior class and captain of the football team and could crush them with a glance, like Magneto from X-Men . Not really, of course, but you get my drift. I mean, you don't cross a guy like Kurt Schraeder. If he wants to kidnap a teacher's Cabbage Patch doll, you just let him, because otherwise you'll end up eating your lunch all by yourself out by the flagpole like Cara Cow or run the risk of having Tater Tots hurled at your head or whatever. The thing is, though, Mrs. Mulvaney loves that stupid doll. I mean, every year on the first day of school, she dresses it up in this stupid Clayton High cheerleader outfit she had made at So-Fro Fabrics. And on Halloween, she puts Betty Ann in this little witch suit, with a pointed hat and a tiny broom and everything. Then at Christmas she dresses Betty Ann like an elf. T