Stars for Sale

Chapter Five: Opportunity is Not a Lengthy Visitor

I sit by the now-smoking fireplace and cry without shame, the tears streaming down my face. The only part of my mother I ever had was in that journal. Although I did take copies of the designs I had drawn, and the pictures Mum had doodled, it just wasn't the same. I had always depended on the journal to take care of me. I could pour my heart into that journal and it would never laugh at me, never judge what I said and believed. My tears fall into the ash and I put my hands into the warm soot and I cry harder.

"Goodbye, mum. Goodbye forever."

I wipe my face with my ashen hands. I can feel the dirt on my face, but I leave it there, not caring. Nothing matters to me anymore, now that the last part of my mum is gone. I open the door to the house and walk in, trying to control my gaspy breaths for air.

Kimberly's sharp voice breaks into my thoughts.

"Oh my god! Look at her face, Becca!" Now directly talking to me, she says, "Hey, Cinderella! Better get a move on, because we're going to the Charity Ball tonight and I've got a lot of stuff that needs fixing up!"

I stuff my backpack full of clothes and the small trinkets I still have left. My USB port goes in, as well as my locket and all of the letters from Charlotte. I'll leave tonight, I think, as I shove the rest of my measly wardrobe into my bag. I'll have the chance, because the rest of the family will be at the first fundraising ball, and then I can run.

But where? asks my doubtful mind.

"Wherever, as long as it's away from here," I mumble to myself.

Becca is standing in my doorway.

"Still talking to yourself, 'Cinderella'? God, hurry up. We've got to be there in, like two hours!" She chews on her lip, then marches up the stairs.

I push my backpack underneath the covers and follow Becca upstairs.

"Reuben Michaels told me he would be there." After came a violent squeal.

"Do you think he likes you? He must like you if he told you he would be there, right?

"There have been all kinds of rumors that Talen Frost will be there. Talen Frost! The hottest, most amazing person in the world, and I didn't believe it until I read in People that he would be in NYC this week and I was freaking out because you know, TALEN FROST and I can't even!!!!!"

"HE'S EVEN BETTER THAN REUBEN MICHAELS! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

Becca leaps from her chair, causing me to let go of the crown braid I was attempting to construct out of her incredibly short hair-because she had insisted.

I sigh and watch Becca and Kimberly dance around the room. They were all too excited about the appearance of Talen Frost, a seventeen-year-old star whose appearance on YouTube had prompted a series of movies which included him as the main character. I couldn't deny he was handsome, but people like that had never attracted me. And my father had also become one of those people.

All they seemed to care about was associating with the right people, gaining fans, and becoming well-known, a common household name. But what then, I often think to myself. What happens when you're gone? Who cares about you when all you had means nothing?

I close the door behind me, not bothering to lock it. Whatever happens to my father's family is of no concern to me now.

I walk away.

Not looking back.