Courage

Chapter Ten

[Maya]

I was sleeping really well until . . .

"Mayaaa," Francesca cooed. "Maya? Maya, Maya, Maya."

I pulled the sheets over my head, in response she pulled them off of me, revealing my grey t-shirt and booty shorts.

"It's paint day," she announced.

I got up, went to the bathroom, Francesca followed and watched me brush my teeth with curiosity in her eyes. Though I could be wrong; every time our eyes met each other, I looked away.

When I finished I rummaged though my wardrobe for an old t-shirt that I don't mind staining. Francesca was in a denim jumpsuit that was rather tight around her waist. Once I found a t-shirt and sweatpants, I met Francesca in her future closet, she was already painting. I grabbed a roller and joined her.

For once, I felt at ease with her. It's like all my worries and anxieties magically went away, or her intimidating aura was no longer there.

Last night, I even saw her maternal side. Camila had gotten drunk, and when we got home, she had a little meltdown about wanting to drive.

"I want my lavender Cadillac," she sobbed.

"You're drunk, you can't drive," was Fran's reply, lightly stroking her sister's curtain bangs out of her face.

Camila had also thrown up, Francesca held her hair back and rubbed her back gently while she did, telling her "Let it all out."

"Humor me, if we weren't painting right now, what would you be doing today?" Francesca suddenly asked.

"Well, right now, I'd be in bed, sleeping. But later, I'd probably be doing something with Caroline."

"Tell me about yourself," she insisted.

"What do you want to know?" I'm not much of an interesting person, she'll get bored after my first sentence.

"Anything. I'm genuinely curious about you."

"Okay . . . Well, I've lived in PA all my life. I have one sibling, my older brother Brandon. My favorite color's sage . . ."

"You know what, I'll just ask questions." Told you. But at least she'll ask questions. "What's your favorite movie and why?"

"Matilda. This is kind of silly, but I feel like I can relate to her when it comes to being disregarded by family," I explained. "What about you?"

"Jennifer's Body. It's how I discovered my sexuality, although I probably shouldn't have been watching that movie the age I was."

"You like Megan Fox?" I inquired.

"No, Amanda Seyfried."

"Oh," I nodded. "Wait, I had no idea you were . . . wait, are you bisexual or a lesbian?"

"Lesbian. Men have never appealed to me, ever."

"You've never come out to the public."

"I don't want to. My sexuality is none of their business. I'd rather have them think I'm straight, you know, boring basically. No offense, if you are, though."

"None taken." A little taken, actually. "So, you being famous, is it a lot of pressure?"

"It used to be. When you're well-known, people expect you to be nice, to everyone, all the time. And then when you make a mistake, it's everywhere, you also have people—who don't even know you— that will stop at nothing to make you feel like you're some sort of abomination." I started to feel bad. "It used to be a lot of pressure, but, as I got older, I just didn't give a damn, really, about how people perceived me."

"Well, that's good." I wish I could have her unbothered mentality.

"Growing up, I also noticed that, whenever I would say something rude to a fan or paparazzi, there'd be a magazine article titled something like 'Francesca Russo Shames Fan' or something equivalent. But whenever one of my brothers would do something similar, the magazine would be titled 'Leonardo Russo Shuts Down Rude Fan.'"

"I'm not going to lie, magazines do try to make celebrity's look bad."

"Yeah, I know. But I get shamed and called a bitch because I'm a girl, and my brothers get praised for it because they're guys. Honestly, that's just how the Hollywood industry is."

"That's sexist," I muttered. "Anyways, was it hard moving last year?"

"Not really. School was rather easy. It was also a little humorous, seeing how you all were so clueless with material I'd already learned," she admitted with a light chuckle.

"Glad my stupidity amusing to you," I said.

"I don't know why you say you're stupid. I'm almost sure you were in some of my classes."

"Yeah, I was. One of them was AP English Lit."

"Maya, I'm definitely sure you were in most of my classes. If majority of my classes were AP and you were in them, then you're definitely not stupid."