Jordan Jaye is the country’s heartthrob. He is a 17-year-old pop star with a multi-million
fan following. Teen girls show up in large crowds to his shows, and chant his name,
like he is the love of their lives. Emily Lowe is a high school art student.
She is highly talented, and dreams of making it to an art school in New York. She lives in a small
town with her parents, who work a lot. So much so that even when they are at home, they are in their
own world and too busy for Emily. Emily does not mind that. Over the years, she has learned
to navigate around her parent’s busy schedules. Emily enters the kitchen to find both her parents
busy on their phones. She writes down a message for her mother, and then leaves for school.
After school, Emily works part-time as a pizza delivery person. She gets in the delivery car
and turns on the radio. The host has Jordan Jaye on his show, promoting his first world tour. The
RJ is amazed by Jordan’s success. He is only 17, and has got so much going for him. World tours,
new albums, throngs of fans all cheering for him. Jordan is humble about his success. When the RJ
brings up his new girlfriend, Nikki Brown, he does not have much to say but that he is having a great
time. Emily, while listening to this, cannot help but feel a little judgmental about it.
She arrives at the delivery address, but when she sees the name on the receipt, Emily dreads going
inside. She rings the bell and her ex-friend, Jessica opens up. There is a party going on at
the house, and Jessica isn’t pleased to see Emily. She begrudgingly pays the girl for the pizzas, and
ends up over-tipping her. Emily tries to return the money, but Jessica flaunts her privileged
status, and asks Emily to buy something cute, or get her nails fixed with that money. Emily has
her judgmental look on her face. Jessica calls Emily out for judging and being jealous of her,
because she has a better life than Emily’s. Emily delivers the pizza, and gets out of
there as fast as she can. She cannot deal with Jessica’s narcissistic self anymore.
Jordan’s waiting backstage, seeming completely uninspired, when he gets a text message from
Nikki. It’s a picture of her, and a message that says she can’t wait to see him in Vegas. Jordan
ignores her, and then leaves to greet the fans. Inside the tour bus, Jordan’s mother,
who is also his manager, gets talking about the tour, and all that Jordan needs to do. Jordan is
too exhausted to care. Jordan’s team informs him of the PR offers he has, one of which is
to co-host the Teen Awards. When Jordan asks who his co-host will be, the team informs him that the
show organizers want him to host it with Nikki. Jordan does not like that idea, since they are
not together anymore. But his mom tells him that the fans want them to be. The team suggests,
that maybe they could reunite at the awards, but Jordan does not like that idea. He is never
dating Nikki again, and would like his mom to tell Nikki’s management, to make her stop texting him.
The team also wants Jordan to finalize the songs for the new album, but Jordan does not like them.
They all sound the same. But his mom just asks him to pick some anyway. It is what the audience
wants. Jordan does not like that idea, but he does not really have a say in anything. He is
exhausted, and decides to go to bed for a while. Inside his room, Jordan plays online video games
with his friends. None of them know that this Jordan is Jordan Jaye. One of the boys brings
up how his girlfriend is obsessed with Jordan Jaye. He hates that guy, and has no idea what
his girlfriend sees in him. That offends Jordan. The other friend thinks that, because Jordan
Jaye is an unapproachable celebrity, girls put him on a pedestal. They compare him with their
real boyfriends, so they can get a reaction out of them. That puts Jordan in a mood. He barely
has a life outside of his stardom, and his own friends think he is more fictional than real.
Later that night, Jordan’s tour makes a stop in a small town for dinner. While Jordan stays back
and watches his mom and his team leave, he plans to escape. With his skateboard,
Jordan leaves the bus. Emily stops at a gas station to fill up the tank.
While strolling the town, Jordan bumps into some of his fans. They recognize him instantly,
and Jordan makes a run for it. The girls chase him down the street,
as Jordan runs for his life. Emily is just about to leave, when Jordan knocks on her car door. He
asks her if she knows who he is, but Emily cannot recognize the guy in her panicked state. When she
spots the fangirls chasing him, Emily decides to let him in her car and they speed away.
Back on the bus, Jordan’s mom checks up on him. She thinks
he is sleeping, and so the tour bus leaves. When Emily finally stops the car, Jordan is
pleased with having lost the fangirls. He takes off his cap, and praises Emily for her nice
driving skills, when the girl finally recognizes him. That scares Jordan into thinking she is
another fangirl. He asks her to not scream, and bribes her with concert tickets, or whatever else
she wants. This astonishes Emily. How conceited is he, that he just assumes that she is a fan of his?
Jordan thanks Emily for her help, and asks her to pretend like they never met. He gets out of
the car, but seeing as he has never been to this town, he is most definitely lost. Emily lets him
back inside, and Jordan is again grateful for her help. Though she does not really feel like
helping him anymore, Emily accepts Jordan’s request for a ride back to the tour bus.
When he gets there, Jordan finds the bus gone. Emily suggests he calls his people to come
and get him, but Jordan has a different plan. He has never been out on his own,
without his management or his mother knowing about it. Emily dryly congratulates him on having a new
life experience. Jordan decides he is not going to call anyone, and that he will just take a flight
to Vegas the next day. Emily asks if he wants her to drop him at a hotel, but Jordan can’t
go to a hotel. He might get recognized, and then the press will get involved. Things will
get out of hand. Instead of that, he asks Emily if he could hang out with her, until he leaves.
Emily calls him insane for even suggesting that. She can’t bring the guy home with her.
Emily is adamant about not letting him crash with her, but when Jordan offers 500 bucks,
and promises to be gone the first thing in the morning, Emily is forced to consider. He can
only stay one night, and will sleep on the floor. They shake on it, and Emily takes Jordan with her.
They stop by the bowling alley to kill some time, before her parents go to bed. They play a few
rounds, and find themselves enjoying each other’s company. Jordan notices the almost vacant arena.
Emily likes being there, because it is somewhere she can get away to find some peace. When Emily
finds out, that Jordan does not get to go out much because of his work, she does not believe it. He
is a celebrity, so he can do whatever he wants, right? But that is not the case with Jordan. He
tells her, that he has been performing ever since he was 8, and has not really had time for the
normal stuff. Emily wonders if Jordan was forced into it, but he tells her that he always wanted to
be a singer. He begged his mom to make it happen, and she did. Now his career is her whole life.
Jordan wants to know more about Emily and her story. But Emily does not think she has one
to tell. He asks her a few questions, but there is not much he can make of it. Emily tells him,
that not everyone has life figured out as he does. Jordan does not have life figured out either.
Emily takes Jordan to his house, and sneaks him in through her window. The second he steps
inside her room, Jordan is wowed by the art on Emily’s walls. Emily does not think it is all
that good. Even though Emily got accepted into a bunch of art schools, they are not cheap, and
she has been saving up ever since. She confides in him about the kind of art she wants to make.
The kind that is a part of everyday life, and not just confined to a museum or a gallery. But it is
illegal. Since her dad’s a cop, and she lives in a small town, her options are pretty limited. Emily
needs to change clothes, ao she asks Jordan to get inside her closet. This is the first
time Emily has ever had a boy in her room. Jordan congratulates her on having a new life experience.
Later that night, neither of the two can fall asleep. Sometimes when Emily cannot sleep,
she likes listening to the quiet. It gets her thinking about life, and how nothing is really
real. Everything about life feels fake. Jordan gets that. He feels like that every day of his
life. Like he cannot be himself, because he is always being managed by other people. He always
has to be careful, and keep up the façade of what Jordan Jaye is supposed to be. These few moments,
are the only ones that are truly his, and maybe that is why he can’t sleep. It amuses Emily,
how the pop star ‘Jordan Jaye’ sleeping on her floor, does not feel weird at all.
When morning comes, Emily stumbles out of bed and trips over Jordan. Only then does she realize,
she had not dreamt the previous night. Jordan wakes up in a similar state. Emily plans to sneak
him out of the house, by distracting her parents. Jordan slips out the window of her bedroom,
while Emily goes out to face her parents. When neither of her parents even acknowledges her
presence, Emily gets mad at them. She reminds them that she only has a few months left, before she
leaves for college, and who knows how often they will get to see each other, then. She can’t even
remember the last time they had dinner together. Her parents are stunned by Emily’s outburst.
Outside, Emily catches up with Jordan. He wonders if Emily’s outburst was a distraction
or real. It was both, Emily thinks. She offers to drive Jordan to the airport, but Jordan has
different plans now. His show is not until the next night, so he can take a flight the next
morning. In the meantime, he wants to hang out with Emily. He kind of likes how it feels like
a vacation for him. This is the most normal he has felt in years. Emily agrees with his plan.
Jordan’s mom is talking to the detectives about him being missing, when she gets a call from
her son. Relieved to hear from him, she asks him if he is all right, and bombards him with
questions. Jordan assures her mother that he is fine, and that he will be back before the
show. His mother wants to come and get him, but he hangs up, promising to check in later.
Jordan offers to treat Emily to some food, but first, he needs to get some new clothes. Walking
down the street, Jordan spots a poster of him outside a shop. Emily can’t help but laugh at
him. She makes fun of Jordan’s fans, who chased him last night, but Jordan defends them. He was
only running away from them, because sometimes his fans get too enthusiastic about him. Emily
wonders how weird it must be for Jordan, when random strangers come up to him,
claiming to know the real him, because they are his fans. But that is not the real him,
only what his PR agent thought would be better for his image. Emily feels a little sad for him.
At the diner, Emily asks Jordan some questions about him, from an online Jordan
Jaye compatibility quiz. Jordan ends up with a result, that claims that he has nothing in common
with Jordan Jaye, the pop star. A group of girls enters the diner. When Emily sees that Jessica
is one of them, she asks Jordan to quickly hide under the table. When Jessica spots her, she walks
over to Emily, and asks her to stop staring at her friends with a judgy look on her face. She thinks
Emily is just so pathetic, for thinking that she is better than everyone else. The girls get into
a verbal back-and-forth, and Jessica calls Emily a nobody. She thinks Emily’s aspiration to go
to New York one day, and become a great artist, is just hilarious. When Jessica finally leaves,
Jordan gets out from under the table. Emily tells him that Jessica used to be a friend of hers,
but then she found fame and popularity. She rushes him to leave the diner before he
gets spotted, but Jordan has a better idea. He walks over to Jessica’s table and takes
a seat. The three girls are so stunned to see him there, they can barely speak. Jordan goes
on to tell them, how he saw Emily’s artwork on Instagram, and was blown away by it. He
wants Emily to design his next album cover, but he can’t seem to convince Emily. He asks
for Jessica’s help to convince Emily, but before things can get out of hand, Emily
drags Jordan away. Jessica is still in shock. When they get outside, Emily berates Jordan for
what he just did. Now everyone will find out about his whereabouts. Jordan is not worried,
since he’ll be long gone by then. He urges Emily to display her art, not someday in the future,
but right here right now. His brilliant idea is to tag the school that night. Emily cannot believe
how crazy that is, and rejects his suggestion instantly. It takes some more convincing,
until she agrees to it. The two of them go shopping for art supplies,
while goofing around at the same time. Later, Emily sneaks him back into her house,
and while she prepares her designs, Jordan packs the supplies. When they are done,
Emily and Jordan sit on the roof, and spend some time with each other. Jordan asks about Emily’s
parents not being around much, and wonders if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Emily
does not really know. She does not think that her parents are bad parents, but they’re just
really busy. Jordan wishes that was the case with his mother. She is always around as a manager,
but he wishes she was more of a mother to him. Emily hears her parent’s car pull up in the
driveway, and gets Jordan to hide again. When she enters the kitchen, Emily’s parents tell her,
that they have thought about what she said that morning, and decided to have a family
dinner that night. Emily already has plans with Jordan that night. While she is trying
to mend the situation here, the doorbell rings. Emily’s father opens the door, and
Jordan introduces himself as Jay, Emily’s friend. Emily tells her family, that she will be hanging
out with Jay that night, when her parents invite him over for dinner. Emily tries to get out of it,
but Jordan readily accepts the invitation. Emily’s dad wonders if Jay is Emily’s boyfriend,
but the two kids dismiss that thought quickly. At dinner, Jordan is still able to keep up the
façade of being Jay. Jordan tells Emily’s parents that they met in art class. He goes
on to praise Emily’s art,and even compares her to the like of Banksy, a street artist who is
world-famous for the kind of work he does. Emily cannot help but blush at all the praise she gets
from him. When Emily’s parents find out that Jay wants to be a musician, her dad tells him
how he used to play in a band in college. He advises Jordan to be sure about what he wants,
and that he should only pursue that career for the right reasons. Not for fame or money,
but because he has something to say. Jordan is moved by his advice, and promises to consider it.
It is time for Emily and Jordan to leave, but when her father suggests showing Jordan some of his old
CDs, Jordan can’t say no. Emily’s mother thinks Jordan is just adorable, but Emily brushes it
off. Besides, she thinks he has a girlfriend. Her mother tells her to be sure about it,
and ask him if he does. Emily does not think anything could happen between them, anyway.
Their lives are not headed in the same direction, but her mother asks her to take a chance on it,
because there is no such thing as the right time. Emily and Jordan leave the house after dinner,
and break into the school. While walking down the hallway, Jordan wonders what his life would
have been had he chosen differently. Instead of being a superstar, he would have been a normal
school student, singing in a choir, dreaming endlessly of becoming a big star someday. Or
he could have been one of the guys in a band, with a parade of girls at their disposal, Emily jokes.
They arrive at their first stop, and Emily gets started with her art. Jordan helps her along the
way. They go around the school, painting at various spots. They are in the auditorium,
and Emily’s standing on the stage. She thinks about how nerve-wracked she gets,
just thinking of putting her art out in the world. She cannot imagine singing to a room
full of people, and wonders if Jordan even likes doing it. Jordan’s answer is both yes and no.
Emily thinks it is pretty cool how Jordan sings to so many people, but Jordan does not
think that they are cheering for the real him. Only the person put together by a professional
team. He does not even get to pick the songs he wants to sing. It is all decided for him by
someone else. Emily asks him to change it how he wants it to be. He has a large audience,
who wants to listen to him. He can just make the kind of music he wants to make. Jordan fears no
one would like what he has to say. Emily assures him that as long as he likes it, that is all that
matters. She asks him to see what he has as an opportunity, and not a trap. Life does not come
with guarantees, and sometimes people just have to take a chance. That gets Jordan thinking.
The next stop is the gym. While turning on the lights, Jordan ends up turning the music and disco
ball on. He asks Emily to dance with him, but Emily does not dance. Jordan gets her to loosen
up a little. The song changes to a slow romantic number, and Jordan challenges her to dance with
him. Emily takes the challenge, and slow dances with him. Emily is not the kind of girl who likes
to go to dances. Jordan asks when her next dance is. She tells him it’s prom ,and Jordan offers
to take Emily to the dance. He promises that he will come back after the tour and be her date.
Emily likes the future he is painting, but knows too well that it will not work. She asks him
to stop pretending like they are going to see each other after this. Jordan cannot understand
why not. Emily’s only being realistic. She will be going to college in a few months.,
and Jordan will get back to his life. But what if Jordan does not want to go back? Emily thinks that
he is just bored, and using her as an excuse to run away from his problems. He is not crazy
enough to throw his career away, for someone he has known only for two days. In a week or so,
this would be like it never even happened. He asks her if she did not feel anything
when they were together. Emily does not think that is the point. Doesn’t he have a
girlfriend? She knows all about Nikki Brown. Jordan tells her that he only dated Nikki,
because their managers set them up. Emily feels completely out of place in Jordan’s reality.
They get the last mural done and leave the school. But Emily does not feel good about
how she reacted. She apologizes to Jordan, and he apologizes for getting carried away
like that. Emily tells him that she had a great time with him, and Jordan feels the
same. They resolve their little issue, and Emily decides to show him something before he leaves.
It is after 6 in the morning, and Emily takes Jordan to show him something. They walk up the
hill, and sit and watch the sunrise. While waiting for Jordan’s car to pick him up,
Emily asks him about his plans after the tour is over. Jordan tells her that he will try a
different approach in his work. He has not felt motivated in a very long time,
and now he does. Emily is happy for him. As for her, after the artwork she left
on the school walls, she is sure that things will be different from now on.
Jordan’s car arrives, and he tells Emily about the amazing time he had with her.
He will not forget it for a very long time. He takes her phone and feeds his number into it,
wanting updates about whatever happens next. They hug, and Jordan is about to leave,
when Emily stops him and kisses him goodbye. When Emily returns to school, she feels different.
Happy. Hopeful. Her art is displayed on the school walls, and Emily is proud of it. Art for her,
has always been about changing things, but she realized that people can do that
too. Everyone is struggling in their own way, and to have recognized that, makes Emily feel
a little less alone. She has a fresher, more positive outlook toward life and her future.
Months have passed since Jordan left, but Emily and he have kept in touch the entire
time. When Emily gets a call from Jordan, he is in Tokyo. Emily is all packed for college,
and all that is left is to attend her prom. She promises to take a bunch of pictures for
him. Emily gets dressed for the dance, and leaves her room. Her mother asks her to go look outside.
Walking out of the house, Emily is surprised to see Jordan standing outside the limo. She thought
he was in Tokyo. Jordan had the weekend off, so he came back to take her to the
prom. Emily feels special. Jordan never fails to surprise her. Jordan always wanted to go to prom,
and Emily showed him that he had to have an actual life. He did the same for her.
He compliments her outfit, and Emily thinks he looks amazing in a tux. Jordan asks if she is
ready for a new life experience, and invites her to join him in the limo. Emily is ready.