All About the Hype Read Online Free PDF Page B

side. My heartbeat spikes. There are dozens of people around us, but my attention is
now entirely on him. He looks hot in grey jeans and a fitted black shirt. His rolled-up sleeves reveal his comic-book-style POW! tattoo on his right forearm.
    ‘What’s wrong with the playlist?’ I ask, trying to act cool when all I really want to do is pounce on him. ‘I love this song.’
    ‘So do I, but Isaac over there tells me he’s only allowed to play stuff from the 2000s for the first coupla hours.’ He glances in the DJ’s direction. ‘So far
we’ve had The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, The Libertines, The Streets and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.’
    ‘What are you complaining about?’ I smirk. ‘You love those guys.’
    ‘Yeah, but do we really need to hear
only
stuff from your dad’s decade? He’ll be playing Fence next.’
    Fence is the name of Johnny’s band from before he went solo.
    ‘I was born in the 2000s,’ I point out. ‘I’m sure it’s more about that than my dad’s ego.’
    ‘If you say so.’
    I grin at him because I know he’s teasing. ‘I’m sure you can get on the decks later,’ I say.
    He cocks one eyebrow at me. ‘You think?’ He sounds sardonic. ‘I’m sure Isaac would love that.’
    ‘Who
is
Isaac?’ I ask with a frown.
    ‘Isaac Paulson.’
    ‘Oh, wow.’ No further introduction needed. He’s, like, an
incredibly
famous DJ. ‘My dad really went for it.’
    A couple of seconds later, the smile on Jack’s face fades.
    ‘So.’
    Even from this one word, I know that’s the end of our light-hearted conversation.
    ‘Tom, hey?’
    ‘I had no idea he was coming,’ I reply fervently, hating the change of subject. ‘But I’m glad he did,’ I add, prompting Jack’s eyes to widen fractionally.
‘I mean, I emailed him,’ I quickly explain. ‘I wanted us to stay friends. I’m glad he’s willing to try.’
    Jack stares at me humourlessly for a long few seconds. ‘You want to stay friends,’ he repeats slowly.
    ‘Surely you don’t mind?’ I say irritably. ‘If you avoided every girl
you’d
ever hooked up with, you wouldn’t have any female friends at
all.’
    He averts his gaze and I feel a little bad, but unfortunately what I’ve just said is pretty damn accurate. Agnes told me that Jack has messed around with loads of her friends – even
Lottie – and I have no idea how many girls he’s gone all the way with. I’m sure he had sex with Eve, my All Hype predecessor.
    As my thought process plays out, I feel increasingly nauseated. And here I am thinking that we might actually have a shot at being boyfriend and girlfriend.
    ‘How many girls have you slept with?’ I find myself asking.
    His eyebrows jump up. ‘Are we really having this conversation now?’
    ‘No.’ I shake my head and look away, slightly mortified that that just came out. ‘No, we’re not. I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to know.’
    We stand there in stony silence. ‘Hey,’ he says eventually, rubbing his thumb across my hipbone. I jump at the contact, then glare up at him. ‘People are gonna think
we’re having an argument,’ he says.
    ‘Aren’t we?’ I challenge him.
    ‘No,’ he says reasonably. ‘We’re having a conversation. But this subject is not going down too well so how ’bout we change it?’
    ‘Great idea,’ I reply sarcastically.
    I stiffen as he slides his hand round my back and draws me closer, leaning in to speak in my ear. ‘You look hot, by the way.’
    My body softens towards him and then Brandon sticks his face between ours, making us both jerk away from each other. ‘Hands off my bandmate,’ he jokes, pointing one finger mock
accusingly at Jack.
    Brandon is tall, slim and very good-looking with light-blond hair styled in a quiff. He has a tattoo of a seagull on his right shoulder, and you can just see the bird’s feet poking out
from beneath the short sleeves of the tropical Hawaiian shirt he’s wearing. A little bit of irony in the middle