left indents on the skin of her arm from my grip; it was a cold slap. “Oh no, I'm so sorry, I—”
“Forget it.” And she meant it, there was no space to argue. Watching me seriously, free of any smiles, Brenda made it clear she didn't want my apology. In that instant, I respected her, loved her, in a way I never expected. “Let's just get out of here.”
“I'd like that, yeah.” Brushing my hair back, I felt the oily sweat on my forehead. “Shit. I can't believe that even happened.”
“What exactly happened? I came to check on you, then I saw that girl blocking you in the stall, but...” Glancing in her mirror, Brenda froze. “Son of a bitch.”
Twisting in my seat, I spotted the car that had rolled up behind us. It was full of women, and I didn't need confirmation that they were the ones the blonde had called. They were pointing, yelling behind the windows. How did they know this was our car? “Drive, Brenda! Go, just go!”
“You think?” She slammed on the gas, rattling my spine with the inertia. We tore through the parking lot at record speeds, and the entire time, I kept my attention on the girls. It baffled me that they weren't following. I squinted at them until they became shapes that vanished in the distance.
Brenda didn't pull onto the freeway, an action that prompted me to gape at her. “Where are we going?”
She turned down a side road with a quick jerk of the wheel. “Going where they could easily follow us would be idiotic. The highway is a straight shot, too risky.”
“Right,” I said numbly. “Yeah. Okay.” I was faced with my own naivety. Stalkers, escape plans, what was all of this? Glory and fame, that's what being a rock star should be. Peering into the side-mirror nervously, I expected headlights to appear behind us any second. Not running away from people who want to harm you.
Brenda didn't slow down for a long time. When she did, it felt like the sign that we were out of hot water. “You alright over there?” she asked.
I answered with a dry laugh. “Not exactly.”
“Feels weird, doesn't it?”
“What, fleeing from maniacs? That girl back there... she looked at me with such hate. How could that be possible? She doesn't even know me.”
“She knows the Lola Cooper from last night.” Turning our car around the bend of a quiet street surrounded by trees, my manager shot me a look. “Don't be so surprised. Lots of people find it easy to hate a girl who has it all, especially if they think she doesn't deserve it.”
Pain stabbed through my chest. Lots of people find it easy to hate me? I was close to laughing, closer to crying. “It shouldn't feel so new to me when you put it that way.”
The sudden jolt that rocketed through the car interrupted our conversation. “Oh, seriously?” she cried, slamming on the breaks. I braced myself, only bouncing forward slightly.
“What, what is it?” I gasped, darting stares all around, expecting hateful teenagers to descend on us.
Brenda was half-way out of the car. “I think it was—yeah, no, it was. Fucking tire, dammit!”
Following her out, I spotted the source of her anger. The back left tire was shredded, useless. Covering my mouth, I crouched beside her on the empty road. “Did we hit a nail or something?”
Fingering the rubber, Brenda wrinkled her nose. “If 'something' means a knife, then yeah, guess we hit one.”
A knife. The implication was horrifying. “You mean someone did this on purpose.”
Dusting off her knees, she straightened and dug for her phone. “I'm guessing it was those idiotic girls back there. Are they insane? We could have been seriously hurt!”
It felt impossible to look away from the ruined tire. Someone—maybe multiple someones—didn't even care if we got killed. The pattern of my heart was erratic. “They must have been following us from before,” I said softly. "All the way from the grocery store."
Turning, cellphone to her ear, my manager leveled a look of disbelief at me. "What?"
“It's the only way they'd have had time," I explained hesitantly.
Her face was stone. Not responding to me, she spoke into the phone. “Hey, it's me. The car just busted a tire. Send someone down Pine Creek, off of—yeah. Yeah, not far from the mall. Just hurry, the show is in a few hours, and... yeah. Mmhmm. Fine, thanks.”
Shivering in spite of the warm air, I reached for my phone on