Starstruck | C.H

1. Welcome back to LA

Sophia

I really don't know how I got roped into going onto this trip to LA. I really, really didn't want to go. Probably because it was my seventh time there this year and it was only June. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be going to see my Aunty and Uncle and my cousins I just wish they didn't live in LA. I'd been that many times that I was bored of it, it's completely overrated. Let me try to put how I feel into context. So a brand new theme park or leisure centre opens up, it's absolutely amazing for the first few times you go, theres new places to explore, things you've never seen before the lot but then you start to get bored of it as you've seen it all and explored it and been so many times. That's how I feel about LA.

I feel like I know the city just like how well I know Phoenix here in Arizona. The fact we go so often is because it's only like an hours flight to LAX. My mom is super close to her sister because they're twins. She always says "I can't be without her for more than a day Sophia, so you should know that even a few weeks is hard for me," She says this every time I ask her why we have to go. She is the biggest drama queen I've ever met.

I would happily stay home but I'm only 17 and my parents are pretty strict so they won't let me stay alone for more than two days. I have a pretty crazy life and a reputation that they just don't trust me. Which is totally unfair if you ask me. 

I was also really not looking forward to this particular trip as I'd finally graduated from High School and it was finally summer vacation before I went to college and it was also my birthday next month and I wouldn't be able to spend it celebrating with my friends as we're staying the whole of the summer. 

In fact we go there that often that my parents bought a second home right down the road from my Aunty and Uncles. A small but spacious apartment not too far from Venice Beach in a really modern condo in Santa Monica. Way too extravagant for my liking. I'm perfectly happy with my little suburban home back in Phoenix. But my parents say you can't not go to LA and live the Hollywood lifestyle.

So here we were stepping out of LAX for the one millionth time. My older brother Miles had decided to come with us this time, he was 22 and he was currently studying at Yale. Imagine this, your dad is chief of surgery, your moms a paediatrician, your brother is training to be a neurosurgeon, your youngest brother who has only just started high school has already showed his interest in becoming a doctor and then you, someone who has no interest in medicine and simply wants to play music. Imagine living with that life, well yep that's mine.

Sometimes I feel like I was adopted, I don't have the brains that my family have. Like don't get me wrong, I graduated with mostly B's and A's but I was never a real genius. I've always been into music and art and all the creative subjects. My parents for so long pushed me to show an interest in becoming a doctor, then when they couldn't do that, they tried nursing and then dentistry, the list goes on until they finally realised it wasn't going to happen and they finally bought me a guitar.

I remember distinctly what my dad said the day I got it for my 14th birthday, "since we're in LA so often, it only makes sense that one of us becomes a famous musician." 

I started a Youtube channel on my 15th birthday with a cover of "Dirty Little Secret" by The All-American Rejects and vowed to upload at least once a month ever since. In that short time I gained a small following of 50,000 subscribers which I was thoroughly pleased about. 

I used to get bullied all the time for it at school which is where I think I got my "I-don't-give-a-fuck-about-anything" attitude from as I learnt to literally block everyone out. I do however give a shit about my supporters. I have quite an online presence with my followers and I treat them more as friends than anything really, I'm constantly tweeting them updates about my life such as my last tweet: