Away From The Spotlight ((Eevie))

[Esmeralda Mendez]

Ezzie couldn’t believe she was doing this. A few weeks ago, Ezzie was dying to get noticed and make her name known. Her manager had even strongly advised her to stay as close to the spotlight as possible. Now she was just plain sick of it. She had so many run ins with the paparazzi this week alone. She didn’t like it. Not one little bit. First there was the incident in the park last month. It was the first Ezzie related event that made it into the tabloids. She had been out in the park with Ethan and they had taken a picture of her with him, only they hadn’t caught her face. What nonsense was that? They had been trying to share a personal moment together. But that was only the beginning of it. About a month later, Alyssa had pressured her into giving a tell all exclusive about her past experiences. She had started to break down and cry about a half hour after she had finished telling Conan O’Brien about her life on the streets. Two hours after she had cried her eyes out, she was mobbed by paparazzi while eating a simple dinner at a diner. That was the point at which Ezzie had started to get annoyed with the media men. What really ticked her off was yesterday, when they had been found looking through the Jacobs’ garbage cans. Mr. Jacobs had to call the police. As if that wasn’t enough, that morning, Ezzie was home alone at the manor, and they had been found looking through the windows while Ezzie was cleaning.

Ezzie had just about enough of them at that point. Against her better judgment, Ezzie stepped outside to reprimand the nosy men. She specifically remembered telling them that ‘there was no story to be found, and that their time was being wasted in annoying the living daylights out of her, her family, and the neighbors.’ She couldn’t stand them anymore. She called the police once again and they were now in the works of a restraining order. When the Jacobs returned home, Ezzie escaped out the back door wearing baby blue sweats with the hood over her head and dark sunglasses. Her face and hair were almost completely concealed. Hopefully no one would notice it was she this way. She just wanted a little time away from the spotlight. She decided it would be smart to go into Diagon Alley. The place was packed with people, most of which who knew her name. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t so smart to be there, but Ezzie wanted to go anyway. The wizarding world, however big it may be, was nowhere near the population of the muggles in the area. She had found the tabloids in the magical world to be much more gentle and laid back than the tabloids in the muggle world. Ezzie turned the corner into the Leaky Cauldron trying hard to keep her head down, and out of the sight of the other people around. She ordered a Butterbeer to go and walked outside. She wanted to go into Flourish and Blotts and maybe pick out a few books here and there. Ezzie was on good terms with the owner, and decided she’d pay her a visit. It had been a long time since she had last seen her. Ezzie was about to walk into the store, when she bumped into an older girl and accidentally knocked her to the floor. During the excitement of it all, Ezzie’s hood and sunglasses fell away from her face. She gasped and tried to hide her face with her hair. It seemed a bit selfish to pick up her sunglasses and hide her face properly before she knew the older girl was okay.

“Gosh, I’m soo soo sorry! Are you alright? I didn’t see you there!” Ezzie felt so bad. She wasn’t watching where she was going and now this girl was hurt. In addition to her guilt, Ezzie could feel people staring at her. It was too late. People had seen her. So much for getting away from the spotlight.

[Eevie Bloch G6]

Eevie followed her aunt around Diagon Alley, permanently glued to her phone. Okay, so perhaps not literally, but she might as well have been. She hadn’t stopped texting Jude since the moment she had woken up that morning. Bethany had made some comments about her never really being there when they went out, although she was physically present – her mind was ‘with Jude in the States.’ Eevie saw no problem posed with this, so she didn’t quite understand where her aunt was coming from – but once her aunt started to get really whiny about it and started to threaten to take her phone, Eevie would begrudgingly tell Jude she had to go and promise to text him later when she could. Bethany had done that when they were eating and the moment they left the Leaky Cauldron, Eevie had whipped out her cell phone and gone at it. Texting Jude was the only way Eevie could be happy throughout the day when she wasn’t on the phone with him. She hated, absolutely hated, the summer holidays for the pure reason that her boyfriend was across the globe. “Eevie, pay attention!” Bethany yanked Eevie out of the way of a wizard flying by on the newest version of some broomstick or another. She sent her aunt an apologetic smile; this was how she got when she was texting Jude. She completely blocked out anything else in the world. Nothing else mattered except Jude’s words. She sure did love words.

“Honestly, Eevie, if you aren’t going to pay attention to your surroundings, why don’t you just go back to the Leaky Cauldron? You’ve already got your candles and I can get the stuff you need for school easily.” Eevie was about to say something but Bethany shook her head in protest, “Just go. You’re only causing trouble.” With a frown, Eevie waved good bye and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. She was free of her aunt, yes, but she hated feeling like she’d disappointed Bethany. “Bethany’s done it again, hon. Back to the Leaky Cauldron I go. I won’t be leaving you again today.” Eevie opened the brick wall that lead to Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron as she slipped her phone into her pocket. The wall danced aside for her and Eevie stepped into the back alley that led to the Leaky Cauldron. She preferred Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley for the sole reason of the eating places available in Hogsmeade compared to the ones available in Diagon Alley. The Leaky Cauldron was always so dusky and dim and she hated it. The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade on the other hand was always so cheery. It was a pub, yes, but it was friendly. The Leaky Cauldron had a different feel to it. Nonetheless, Eevie entered the Leaky Cauldron like she was told, just as Jude texted her back.

Eevie pulled the phone from her pocket and flipped it open to read the text. She should have waited until she was sitting down, though, because in that moment someone slammed into her and knocked her to the floor. Eevie gripped her phone tightly so it wouldn’t fly from her hands like it had that one time when she was out camping with Bethany. It had fallen into the river and the whole camping trip she was without contact with Jude. Jude had, understandably, freaked out and when Eevie returned home and got a new phone she had to spend nearly 3 hours telling him that she was alright. Jude was a mellow guy, really laid back, but when it came to Eevie? He freaked out over everything. Anyway, Eevie lay on the floor of the Leaky Cauldron, her phone gripped in her hand and her eyes wide. The girl who had ploughed her over was staring down at her and apologizing. A calm smile crossed Eevie’s face and before she did anything – she replied to Jude’s text. Then she stood and smiled at the girl, not aware of any change of attitude around them; “Chill; it’s fine.”

[Esmeralda Mendez]

Ezzie looked around the Leaky Cauldron. People were staring. They had already seen her. There was no getting away now. She knew what was to happen next. People would whisper and point. They'd pull out their cell phones and cameras and those with owls would send them out to family and friends. Eventually, word would get out that Ezzie Mendez was in Diagon Alley, and Ezzie would have to leave and run for cover. She was getting really sick of all this. She just wanted to be alone. Away from all the madness that was the media. Hopefully her wishes would be granted when she returned for school soon. She looked down at the girl who looked a bit older than she and held out her hand for her to take. Instead of reaching for her hand, however, she reached for her cell phone. She quickly typed in a few letters and numbers and put it away. She assured Ezzie it was all fine and rose to her feet. Ezzie let out a sigh of relief as she quickly placed the hood back over her head, hoping the crowd of people would go away. She hated being stared at in such a way. She just wanted them to ignore her completely, just like they used to do when Ezzie was still homeless. Ezzie smiled. “I’m really glad you’re okay.” She said with a smile. “Because if you weren’t okay, I don’t know what I would have done! I mean trust me, if something had happened, you would see me at your side every day fluffing your pillows and…cooking and cleaning and…” Ezzie stopped herself. She was rambling. Ezzie tended to ramble when she met new people. “Sorry.” Ezzie said. “I tend to ramble a lot. Well anyway, let’s just say I’m happy you’re all right.” She smiled and removed her hood. She didn’t care about hiding herself anymore. They had already seen. They already knew.

“Well, I’m Esmeralda Mendez. I’m more commonly known as Ezzie.” She smiled. She had never seen this girl before, not even at Hogwarts. Looking at her for another moment though, Ezzie remembered seeing her around the common room sometimes. She remembered seeing her around the Great Hall as well. She was a Gryffindor, just like Ezzie. “Well, anyway, even if you are okay, I’m really sorry. I really should have been watching where I was going. I totally wasn’t paying attention. I mean, I was really just trying to get away from all this, I can really see this wasn’t the best place to go if I wanted to get away for a while. But now that I’m here, I might as well enjoy the twenty or so eyes that are all staring at me. I’m not exactly dressed to be looked at right now, but whatever. It’s all cool.” Ezzie turned around. A little girl and her mother were the closest to her, and behind them were about a dozen other people just staring. Ezzie smiled at the little girl. Her mother spoke up. “I’m sorry, Daisy is really shy. She’s a really big fan. Do you think you could maybe give her an autograph?” The woman looked young, but kind. Ezzie thought giving the little girl an autograph was an excellent idea. Ezzie smiled. “Sure! I’ll be glad to. What do you guys want me to sign?” She looked up at the mother, who held out a pen and paper. She took it from the lady’s hands and began to write.

“Dear Daisy, Hope you are well-Ezzie Mendez.” She smiled as she handed the paper and pen back to the little girl who hugged it tightly and squeaked a word of thanks as they walked away. She turned back to the older girl. “Sorry about that. Umm, do you want a butterbeer? It’s really the least I can do for knocking you over like that.”Ezzie looked around and noticed an empty table over near the corner. It was definitely away from the sight of others. She walked up to the bartender, not knowing whether the girl was following her or not. “Um one butterbeer please. And…” Ezzie looked to the girl to see what she would order.