Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

As of today, “It Girl” has started. It was the start of something new. Holly held the invitation she had gotten in home room for tonight, school was over now and it was time for her to go home, get ready, and go to this mysterious location.
“Holly?” Marie asked from the upstairs as Holly entered her home with Sydney following in a close behind, chatting away into her cell phone.
“Yeah?” Holly said as she dropped her bag at the front door and made her way into the living to get a little head start on her homework (school was almost over and she didn’t have much work left).
“Need a ride tonight? You and Sydney,” Marie said. Holly smiled, Marie was swamped with work right now and still offered to take them to the competition.
“You don’t have to, I know you have work,” Holly started but cut off.
“No it’s fine.”
“Are you sure? We can always ask dad,” Holly said knowing that would be a better choice for things tonight.
“Oh. Well can he take you?” Marie asked unsure of the whole situation.
Holly paused for a moment to think over things, she hadn’t asked Daniel yet but that could work…right? “Yeah, yeah he can,” Holly lied for the sake of her mother. Then Sydney overhearing that last part, gave her weird expression. Holly just mirrored her expression.
“Well….” there was a long silence that made Holly uneasy, “okay.” Holly sighed as she got back to her homework in peace. Now only if she could finish so she could get ready for the competition tonight.

“Mwah!” Rachelle pursed her lips as she applied some pink lipstick to her lips, “Yum,” Rachelle then smacked them and made her way over to her closet. She had just finished applying all her makeup, and loosely curling her hair.
Rachelle didn’t have the biggest closet in the world, but she sure seemed to fit most of her clothes in it. Though most of the time, she gave them away to good will when she was done with wearing it a couple of times.
“Everything I ask for, Everything I ask for-” Rachelle’s phone sang as Rachelle hurriedly rushed over and picked it up.
“Hey J,” Rachelle said breezily knowing it was Jamie on the other line.
“Shelly! I need your help! Can’t. Find. Outfit. Need. Help,” Jamie spat out as Rachelle giggled, Jamie was in a clothes crisis.
“Well I would love to help but I don’t even have an outfit planned,” Rachelle said, placing one hand on her hip and examining her assortments of clothes.
“Okay but just tell me one thing, magenta or periwinkle?” Jamie begged on the other line.
“Def periwinkle,” Rachelle said as she reached out for her fun and flirty yellow blouse and some old blue jeans she had. Sunny side up.
“Okay then! Bye,” Jamie purred.
“Haha, see you soon!” Rachelle giggled, snapping her phone shut as she started getting ready for possibly the best night of her life.

“I am Sydney West, future film mogul here to show you the inside look at the world of teen girls under pressure by a thing we like to call ‘fame’,” Sydney said as she pointed her old video camera at her face. As much as Sydney dreaded the idea of a show equivalent to Toddler’s and Tiara’s (a show she protested), this would be a perfect documentary and possibly the movie that makes her career.
“In this documentary,” Sydney continued, “you will learn all about the things they don’t show you on reality television. So sit back, relax and be enlightened by Hollywood’s best and worst.
“Shit,” Sydney slipped the very occasional cuss word as she exhaled a deep breath she had been holding in during the short intro to her film.
Sydney looked down at her outfit which consisted of a Dunder Mifflin Paper Company t-shirt and some jeans. Perfect outfit to wear to the start of a competition to see who can look the best.
“Syd!” Daniel, Sydney’s dad called from outside Sydney’s door.
“Yeah?” Sydney said gathering up the things she needed as she dropped them in an old bag she has had for a couple of years now.
“We’re leaving,” Daniel said as Sydney straightened herself up and gave herself a once over in the mirror. Sydney smiled at her imperfect image.
“Coming,” Sydney said as she swung open the doors to her room.
“Hey, you look great,” Daniel said as he let Sydney walk in front of him.
“Why thank you, and don’t you look dapper?” Sydney joked a little surprised her dad was dropping her and Holly off. Didn’t he have something tonight.
“Thanks,” Daniel said as they both went over to Holly’s room.
“Holly? Time to go,” Daniel said as he knocked on Holly’s door.
“One minute!” Holly shouted back as a silence swept over them. When Holly said one minute it usually meant 10.
“Now if you want me to drive you,” Daniel warned, putting on his fatherly voice. There was no response, but soon enough an annoyed Holly came out.
“I’m here,” Holly muttered as Sydney and Holly both followed Daniel out to his car.
As soon as they were both far enough behind Sydney whispered something in Holly’s ear, “How’d you get him to drive us tonight? I thought he had some important meeting.”
“And miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime to see his daughters become icons to girls everywhere?” Holly said surprised as she winked at Sydney.
“Icons? An opportunity of a lifetime?” Sydney said in disbelief. Sydney knew Holly had done something else. Their dad would never skip a meeting to do something so…like this.
As soon as the car started up and they were on their way, Daniel had started up a conversation, “So are you guys excited?”
“Aren’t we always?” Holly answered with another question as Sydney shrugged.
“Syd,” Daniel started, “You okay? You don’t sound too happy about this all,” Daniel said turning to look at Sydney for a brief second, his green eyes glimmering.
“Oh trust me I am,” Sydney said, then remembering her movie. Things couldn’t be too bad at this ‘It Girl’ thing…right?

The night opened at a small place in Laguna known as Spark. Spark was at the top of a very tall building and the walls were all windows that overlooked the ocean.
“Oh my God! This is friggin fabulous!” Rachelle gasped as she walked into the room where 29 girls were socializing and giving once-others to the others. Rachelle checked her cell phone for the time to realize she was a little late, but it looked like Holly’s friend hadn’t made her appearance yet so she assumed she was safe.
“Rachelle there you are!” Sydney’s happy voice said walking over.
Rachelle turned around confused. Was Sydney already over things? “Hey,” Rachelle said noticing Sydney holding a video camera awfully close to her face. Rachelle then moved the camera out of view.
“Aww, come on! Give the camera some love darlin!” Sydney joked as she zoomed in at Rachelle’s rolling of her eyes.
“Um, why are you filming people again?” Rachelle asked. Sydney always seemed to be filming or thinking about filming something.
“To exploit the industry,” Sydney said shrugging. Rachelle couldn’t help but giggle and feel happy that things were good between them again.
“Shelly!” Jamie’s voice rang as she wrapped one arm around Rachelle giving her the chills. Jamie. It Girl Competition. Together.
“Hey Jamie,” Rachelle said not bothering to turn around, she already knew what she would see.
“So…” Jamie started drifting off into a gap of silence. Rachelle looked at Sydney who sort of looked annoyed but still was at peace filming.

“Holly, quick! Look through the door! What do you see?” Ana frantically slurred through sipping her ice water and tapping away into her Blackberry.
“Um,” Holly murmured, “Okay,” Holly said peering through the door from the staff kitchen to the dining room. All the girls were just talking and hanging out, no one seemed bored, “I see 29 girls chatting,” Holly said dumbly.
“No! Holly! What do you see?” Ana asked walking up behind Holly.
“Didn’t I just say it?” Holly said pulling on one of the ringlets of her curls.
“No, you said you see 29 girls chatting,” Ana quipped, not too happy with Holly’s answer.
“Yeah?” Holly said a little nervous now. What was Ana on to? They were becoming good friends but Ana seemed a little harsh tonight, but then again it was the first day of a supposed raved about tv show.
“But Holly you are wrong,” Ana said flatly, “What you see is wrong because those aren’t just girls chatting, those girls are the future to one of the best teen shows of all time,” Ana cracked a smiled showing her extra white (almost creepy) teeth.
So Ana was just joking ,” Haha right,” Holly smiled lightly.
“So Holly can you just do me a favor and gather all the girls, the food is coming out soon,” Ana said.
“Okay,” Holly said, putting on her confident face and breezing through the door. But as soon as she faced the room of catty girls, her stomach dropped a little. This is what she was going to put up with through the weeks of the competition. Holly could barely handle them for 7 hours a day, how could she handle 24/7?
Whatever Holly, you can do this, Holly said to herself in her mind. You are the star. You are on top. You are next ‘It Girl’.
“Attention,” Holly said loud enough to get everyone’s gaze on her long enough to give her the once over all over again, a bead of sweat formed in her underarms. Ew.
“Anyways, Ana, our lovely producer of the show, has a few words to say. Also, the food is coming out in a few minutes so enjoy!” Holly mustered up, hoping she didn’t sound too lame.
In the corner, Holly noticed Sydney giving her the thumbs up and motioning her to come sit with her at the sleek table she occupied in the corner. Holly over-looked her for a brief moment before strutting over to Sydney.
“Hey,” Holly smiled as she took a seat across from Sydney.
“Hey,” Sydney mirrored as she took a sip of her water nervously. Holly didn’t know why Sydney was so nervous, usually she was all happy and talkative but tonight she was jumpy and nervous.
“So what do you think?” Holly asked tracing pictures in the granite table top.
“So cool!” Sydney lied as she looked up from her drink, Holly was staring at the table though. Sydney felt bad about lying to Holly but this wasn’t her thing.
“Holly! Sydney!” Rachelle said walking up to them and leaning on their table for two. Jamie trailed closely behind her. Holly couldn’t help but giggle a little, Jamie had over-done it with the periwinkle dress. But she kind of pulled it off.
“Rachelle,” Sydney smiled weakly as Holly remained tight-lipped. Awkwardness filled the air as the four stayed there for a little bit.
“So how are you liking this layout?” Jamie perked up, trying to act cool, but it just turned out sounding bad.
“It’s pretty cool,” Holly lied. The layout was in fact amazing, but never would she admit that to Jamie. No one else bothered to say anything.
“Hellllllooo ladies!” Ana cheered on as she excitedly skipped into the room.
“Hey,” the group of girls replied in unison.
“Ok, so I’m Ana and I am the host of ‘The Search of the Next It Girl‘. With finding the next ‘It Girl’, you guys will have to work hard to show us why you deserve to be our winner, but for the first round I am going to have to can some of you guys already. 15 to be exact,” Ana tried to sound dramatic and professional as the other girls started to gossip already.
“So right here, I have, Phillipe, and a hat filled with all your names. When I call your name, I want you to leave right now,” Ana said with an icy tone. Phillipe handed her the hat as she placed in on the bar.
“Let’s begin shall we?” Ana smirked as she placed a manicured hand in the hat and pulled out a name.
“Our first person to go is…” Ana looked down surprised a little but then a smirk came upon her face, then sadness. Holly’s palm’s started to sweat. What if it had been her?
“Rayna Carlos, I am so sorry,” Ana said as Rayna, a scrawny girl in their freshman class stood up and scurried out. Sydney looked down sadly. That girl probably actually wanted to be there.
“Next up we have…” Ana pulled out another one, “Connie Farks.”
Jamie snickered a little as Connie confidently left the room, “Connie is such a bee-yotch.”
“Shhh! I want to see who she calls,” Rachelle hissed, a little annoyed by Jamie’s immaturity.
“Leaving next is Frannie Hunter,” and so the names went on til’ the final 15 was revealed. Thankfully, Holly, Rachelle, and Sydney were still in, and so was Jamie.

The list came down to this:

1. Holly Raddin.
2. Sydney West.
3. Elizabeth Helms.
4. Rachelle Williams.
5. Jamie Alan.
6. Chelsea Banks.
7. Amanda Draper.
8. Scarlet Douglas.
9. Kailey Bruno.
10. Josina Clark.
11. Miranda Duke.
12. Caitlin Kingston.
13. Victoria Ryland.
14. Vanessa Donahue.
15. Lily Hanson.

After the tension broke down and the suspension was all gone, Ana broke out a huge smile.
“Now that they are gone…let the fun begin!” Ana squealed as some very appetizing food came out on silver platters.
“Oh my…wow! We made it!” Holly gasped hugging Sydney as they both laughed.
“Here you go miss,” a waiter said as he placed down some steaming hot pizza. The girls both sighed.
“I love pizza!” Sydney gushed as she carefully picked out a nice big piece.
“Tell me about it,” Holly joked.

“It is still so weird that we made it!” Jamie said as she twirled some spaghetti onto her fork and shoved it into her petite mouth.
“I know! I though I was going to go home the whole time!” Rachelle said as she just picked at a piece of bread. She popped a small piece into her mouth. Jamie tried to act cool and try to do with same with the spaghetti but ended up spilling it on her dress.
“Shizz,” Jamie muttered as she dabbed a napkin at the red stain.
“Haha,” Rachelle couldn’t help but laugh at Jamie. Jamie blushed a shade of scarlet as a camera crew filmed the whole thing.
Rachelle turned around to see the crew. She was on tv now, they would catch all of these embarrassing moments on film, and maybe even air them. Rachelle had to be careful now, or she would end up like Jamie [which could not happen under any condition].

“Hey Hollz,” Ana said as she made her way towards Holly’s table.
“Hey,” Holly beamed, trying to look happy. But the whole thing ended up looking wrong in the end.
“So…” Ana started as she twisted the ring around her finger.
“What brings you to this table?” Sydney spoke up in her most ‘professional’ voice.
“Oh nothing much…just wanted to say congratulations,” Ana said before starting off. Holly blushed as Sydney inspected her.
“Something is off about her,” Sydney said as she took a bite of her pizza. Yes something is, Holly thought to herself as she tried to get comfortable again. Like that would happen.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

It was Monday and Ocean Bay High was now the home for the casting call for ‘Search of the Next It Girl’. Girls were lining down the hall and in the auditorium waiting to be interviewed to see if they were trashy enough to be on tv.
“So are you going to try out for it girl?” Tina Ritter, Sydney’s good friend had asked while walking down the halls that day.
“Already got in. You guys?” Sydney turned and asked Tina and her other friend Abella.
“How did you already get in? Auditions just started,” Abella said, her hazel eyes widening.
“Marie is friends with the producer of the show or something,” Sydney shrugged not caring at all about some show exploiting teenage girls who were already under enough pressure, “I mean do we really need another crappy reality show? People will just trash everyone on it. I really don’t see the perks of being on it. To tell you the truth I don’t want to be on it, but I don’t want to hurt Marie,” Sydney went on as she gathered her things for her first few classes.
“Yeah, but you know there is only 30 spots on the show, and they narrow it down to 15 in the first episode,” Tina went on pointing out useless things to Sydney.
“True, hopefully I can get off in the first episode,” Sydney sighed sweeping her brown hair out of her face.
“Hey you should make a show out of that show while you are on it, it would be funny to watch,” Abella joked.
“What you’re not trying out either?” Sydney asked confused. Abella wasn’t one for reality television but she always liked making a fool out of celebrities (there would be a guest judge each week apparently).
“No offense, the only way you could get me on that show is Kevin Jonas,” Abella joked. Abella and Sydney always joked around about celebrities, Kevin Jonas was one of them.
“You never know,” Sydney pointed out. Then it hit her! What Abella had said before. Make a show out of a show. Or better yet a documentary. Showing the truth to reality television and what it does to teens.
“Abella you are a genius!” Sydney gasped realizing how great her movie could be.
“Um….ok?” Abella said a little confused.
“That’s a first,” Tina joked.
“I know right?” Abella continued, both of them forgetting about Sydney’s sudden discovery.
“Okay? Anyways,” Sydney continued, “I am going to make a documentary showing the truths to so called ‘reality television’,” Sydney beamed excitedly as Tina and Abella fake smiled.
“Cool,” Tina squeaked out as Sydney rolled her eyes smiling.
“Make sure Kevin is in it,” Abella added smiling and showing off her bright pink braces she had to keep on for one more month.
“awh mah gawsh ya guys,” Sydney said in a weird voice, and she looped her arms around the two pulling them in and pulling out her camera she always kept by her incase of a startling discovery.
“Before It Girl,” Sydney said snapping a picture of the three smiling.
“Can’t wait to see what we look like after,” Tina muttered her brown eyes unclear on why Abella and her were in the picture.
“You guys have to do this with me! Exploit the industry and give them a taste of their own medicine!” Sydney begged as she put back her camera.
“Fine okay,” both Abella and Tina nodded.
“Yay I love you guys,” Sydney said pulling both in for a hug. This was going to be fun. Very fun indeed.

“Shelly we have to do this together!” Jamie begged in the quad during lunch on Monday. Jamie was Rachelle’s best friend ever, but right now Rachelle wasn’t so sure about Jamie.
“I don’t know James,” Rachelle continued, reapplying some lip gloss she had gotten at Sephora yesterday at the mall with her dad. Jamie stared at Rachelle in awe, her blue eyes widening. Jamie had always had a girl crush on Rachelle, it was obvious. In fact, most of the school had thought Jamie was a lesbian and had a major crush on Rachelle and was just waiting for the right time to get to Rachelle. As if that would happen.
“Aw please! Sydney and Holly are doing it right?” Jamie begged adding in Rachelle’s two friends (who she wasn’t sure about either). Jamie didn’t even care for Sydney and Holly but if it made Rachelle happy she would include them in her quest for popularity.
“True, but I’m not sure it’s my thing,” Rachelle dragged on lightly, batting her long, dark eye lashes. Who was she kidding?! ‘It Girl’ was one of Rachelle’s dreams, and Rachelle would snatch any opportunity coming her way. So why not this? Plus it would snag her some acting roles, and Rachelle dreamt of being an actress.
“Are you kidding me!?” Jamie said reading Rachelle’s mind.
Rachelle just grinned as she patted Jamie’s bleach blond head lightly, “Oh little Jamie, you know me,” Rachelle said pursing her light pink lips and smacking them in Jamie’s face. Jamie winced. Inside though, Jamie was growing butterflies. Why did Rachelle have to be so pretty?
“Yeah, I do and I know you wouldn’t pass up on this deal!” Jamie said pulling on Rachelle’s thin wrist. Rachelle looked down at her. Rachelle was a couple inches taller which didn’t help Jamie look better.
Rachelle looked into Jamie’s big, blue eyes. They were pleading for her to do this with her, “Fine,” Rachelle said as Jamie pulled Rachelle in the direction of the auditorium.

“So you got in already? Lucky!” Beth exclaimed pushing strands of her auburn pin-straight hair back. Beth was Holly’s good friend, they both aspired to be designers but Beth wanted to act too.
“Yeah, I guess it’s pretty cool,” Holly shrugged but inside Holly was exploding with happiness. A chance to be California’s next ’It Girl’.
“Any chance they are still auditioning?” Beth asked a Holly led her to the audition room.
“Sure,” Holly said as she pushed open the door to see a ton of girls showing their talents off to a table of three judges.
“Holly!” Ana said from across the room, she quickly made her way over to Holly.
“Hey Ana,” Holly mumbled humbly smiling. Holly didn’t know Ana would actually be here.
“So great to see you here!” Ana said air-kissing Holly as Holly weirdly air kissed her back.
“Yeah?” Holly said a little confused. Why was Ana so perky? Then Holly noticed the Venti Chai Latte in Ana’s shaky hand.
“Hey, I’m Holly’s friend Beth,” Beth said holding out her hand for Ana but Ana didn’t notice, “Okay,” Beth muttered pulling her hand away.
“Anyways, see any other girls here that are decent enough for this?” Ana said ignoring Beth completely. Awkward.
“Um….” Holly scanned the room and looked at the girls in the room. With all the girls in the room, Holly honestly couldn’t find one person she truly thought could be here in the competition. Except for one person…”Actually my friend Be-” Holly started but got cut off by Ana.
“Yeah, in a second sweetie, I’ve got a phone call to take from some ‘major’ company or whatever that wants to sponsor ‘It Girl’.
“Oh, okay,” Holly mumbled staring down at her golden gladiator sandals shyly. Ana obviously had something wrong with her. She refused to have anything to do with Beth.
“She hates me!” Beth hissed amazed as soon as Ana was out of ear-shot.
“No she doesn’t!” Holly lied trying to make Beth feel a little better but they both knew that Ana wasn’t too fond of her anyways.
“Holly tell the truth,” Beth said blandly narrowing her eyes.
“Fine, she didn’t like you,” Holly dragged on a little disappointed. Hanging out the other day with Ana wasn’t bad, she had thought Ana had been really nice and it felt as if they were really friends. So why did Ana hate Beth?
“See,” Beth said as they exited the auditorium. Of course there was a student body member putting up a list for ‘It Girl’.
“Maybe she didn’t hate you,” Holly trailed off, her blue eyes full of thought. Maybe Ana was just trying to start up a conversation, but she was too nervous. Maybe…
“I wonder who made it,” Beth said not caring one bit.
“Wanna see?” Holly asked, curiosity sparking inside of her suddenly. Beth shrugged as they walked over to the list.
1. Holly Raddin.
2. Sydney West.
3. Elizabeth Helms.
4. Gayle Cooper.
5. Jane Fife.
6. Rachelle Williams.
7. Jamie Alan.
8. Becca Scott.
9. Chelsea Banks.
10. Rayna Carlos.
11. Amanda Draper.
12. Ruthie Carlyle.
13. Scarlet Douglas.
14. Kailey Bruno.
15. Andrea James.
16. Josina Clark.
17. Miranda Duke.
18. Frannie Hunter.
19. Caitlin Kingston.
20. Victoria Ryland.
21. Haley Klavin.
22. Angie Paulson.
23. Denise Krick.
24. Emma Stanley.
25. Connie Farks.
26. Jules Esparza.
27. Olivia Fogell.
28. Vanessa Donahue.
29. Lily Hanson.
30. Kassie Mason.

Holly stared hard at the list til the hallways became a swirl of creamy whites and turquoises. These were the people who made the list?

Marie Julie Raddin

Full Name: Marie Julie Raddin.
Eye Color: Blue.
Hair Color: Blonde.
Age: 37.
Married to: Daniel West.
Ethnicity: Swedish/Caucasian/French.
Holly’s single mother, until she met Daniel through mutual friends. Soon after they got hitched and Marie had another daughter, Kat. Marie had Holly right out of college and the relationship never worked out. Marie has full custody over Holly and now Daniel has custody too. Marie now has two step daughters. Tracy (out of the house) and Sydney. Marie works as a mother half time but works at home booking flights for famous clients. Marie was only 21 and finishing college when she had had Holly. The father of Holly though wasn’t the best person so Marie left him and started her own booking business. Marie is a big influence on Holly and is glad to be one for Holly.

Daniel Raymond West

Full Name: Daniel Raymond West.
Eye Color: green.
Hair Color: dark brown.
Age: 39.
Married to: Marie Raddin.
Ethnicity: Irish/Caucasian/Jewish.
Daniel West is the father of Sydney West, Tracy West, and Kat West. He is the step father to Holly Raddin. Daniel’s first wife died a while back from a brutal car crash. At first it was hard on him, especially raising two girls, but then he met Marie at a mutual friend’s party. After a couple months of dating, they got married and had another daughter, Kat. Daniel is a popular columnist for a popular California magazine. Daniel also wrote a book about being a single father of girls, which became very popular. Now Daniel was asked to take a tour around the US to promote his books. Which would mean leaving his family for awhile. Also he was offered syndication for his column.

Eve Grace Williams

Full Name: Eve Grace Williams
Eye color: green.
Hair color: dark brown.
Ethnicity: Greek.
Husband: Roger Williams.
Age: 37.
Eve William’s is Rachelle’s mother. She owns Williams Architect and Design with her husband. Eve is the designer in the Williams’s company. Eve is a stern but sweet mother who really just wants to look out for Rachelle. Eve often spoils Rachelle and takes her shopping. When Eve was younger, she used to be a model and now is retired from it. That is one reason her family is so wealthy. Rachelle inherited her good looks from Eve and Eve hopes Rachelle can one day model too.

Roger Charles Williams

Full Name: Roger Charles Williams.
Eye Color: brown.
Hair color: dark brown.
Age: 40.
Married to: Eve Williams.
Ethnicity: Caucasian/ Mexican.
Roger William’s is Rachelle’s dad. He works at Williams Architect and Design. He is the architect of the William’s business. Roger used to do theater when he was younger and wasn’t married, and passed the acting trait onto Rachelle. He has a very special bond with Rachelle. He is actually the only one Rachelle will ever sing to. If only Roger could help Rachelle out, he knows she is destined for a life of fame.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

The next morning, it felt like Holly had an ice cream hangover.
“Ugh,” Holly groaned as she got up and walked down the hall to her own room. Everyone else was still asleep and Holly was supposed to be asleep herself. But she just wanted to get out of her pajamas and into some real clothes.
Holly entered her room and already felt glad to be back. Even being away half a day made her realize that she’d much rather stay in her cramped up room than stay in Sydney’s spacey room. The first thing Holly did was go into her walk in closet and examined the new clothes she had on her first shelf. Holly always made and went shopping for new clothes, it was her favorite past time. Holly ran her fingers around her assortment of outfits. To the fabrics and color, Holly loved clothes.
After about ten minutes of going through outfits, Holly picked out a pair of dark wash skinny jeans with a chartreuse top and a dangling necklace she had put together. Holly kept her hair down and curly.
As Holly tried to creep down the hall and downstairs to make biscuits and eggs, she had a distraction.
“Holly?” Kat, Holly’s 4 year old half sister, asked sleepily as she entered the hallway. It was about seven and Kat was usually up by now but Kat had been up late last night playing dress up at the party with another woman’s daughter there.
“Hi Kat,” Holly whispered, wincing when Kat wasn’t looking. Holly loved Kat but she wasn’t in the mood to play dolls right now.
“I’m hungry,” Kat said walking over to Holly as hugging her legs. Holly was pretty tall for her age (5’9) and Kat fell short when hugging her.
“Want me to make you breakfast?” Holly asked sweetly as Kat just nodded, “Okay then,” Holly muttered picking up Kat and bringing her down stairs and setting her down on their leather couch in the living room.
“Holly?” Kat asked whispering.
“Yeah?” Holly said looking up from the remote she was trying to work.
“Can I have a blanket?” Kat asked pushing her curly blonde bob out of her face. Kat was usually hyper all the time, but today, she was off.
“Okay,” Holly said, handing Kat a blanket, “Want me to put on some TV for you?” Holly asked turning on the TV and putting it on a low volume.
Kat nodded eagerly, finally Kat was acting normal, “Hi-5!” Kat begged.
“Alright,” Holly laughed lightly as she turned on Kat’s favorite TV show. Soon Kat was enthralled with the TV, “Want me to make you a bagel for breakfast?”
“Yeah,” Kat said, not even looking up from the TV.
“One bagel coming right up!” Holly said walking into a bagel and putting it in the toaster. Holly looked out the window over looking the ocean and sighed. The sky this morning was a light shade of gray and everything looked so calm and sleepy. Holly suddenly longed for the bright sunset and the warm waters. Things were too gloomy and Holly needed happy.
Once Kat’s bagel was done, Holly ran upstairs wrote a quick note for Rachelle and Sydney and stuck it on Sydney’s door. Then quickly, Holly grabbed her purse and a jacket and skipped back downstairs.
“Kat, Mommy and Daddy are upstairs if you need them,” Holly said kissing Kat on the head and heading for the door.
“Okay,” Kat nodded.
“Love ya’! Bye,” Holly said as she left the house. Holly didn’t know where she was going today, but she was going out. Holly started walking up the hill and up to the shops (they were right by her house).
When she got there, she realized what she was going to do. First thing to do: go to Starbucks.
When Holly entered, she realized how long the lines were. But in the sea of coffee crazed people, Holly spotted Ana.
“Ana!” Holly called out, pleased to see a familiar face there.
“Oh Holly,” Ana smiled as she put away her Blackberry and grabbed her iced coffee and took a small sip, leaving a small ring of red lipstick on the cup, “Nice to see you here,” Ana went in for a hug and air kissed her.
“Yeah, it’s pretty nice,” Holly beamed looking around the shop awkwardly.
“Pretty early though, surprised to see you here,” Ana said checking her expensive looking watch and frowning.
“Yeah, well,” Holly started a little flustered, “I wanted to get a start on a great day!” Holly then did a silly hand motion that she suddenly regretted. But it seemed that Ana wasn’t fazed by it. Maybe she wasn’t even paying attention.
“Oh cool,” Ana fake smiled Holly smiled back. This whole conversation was awkward but Holly was going to stick it out, “Well I have a good half hour before I need to be somewhere, so would you like to talk? Coffee’s on me,” Ana offered sweetly.
“That would be great! Thank you,” Holly said a little hesitant. Half an hour? What could they possibly do or talk about over coffee?
“Great, what do you like to do?” Ana started the conversation by sitting down, “When the line dies down you can get your coffee,” Ana added in smiling. Hopefully the line would die down soon. Something seemed extremely fake about Ana, and Holly didn’t like fake people. But then again, Ana seemed pretty nice.
“Well..” Holly started on her life story as the two got into a long conversation with each other.
When their time was up, Holly felt as if it had only been 5 minutes.
“Well, looks like I have to go Holly,” Ana seemed a little disappointed at the abrupt ending they had to have.
“Oh,” Holly said a little disappointed too, “Maybe we could finish talking some other time,” Holly offered hopefully.
“Yeah, that would be nice, here’s my card. Bye! Say hello to Marie for me!” Ana said handing Holly her card and then walking out breezily of the coffee shop. Holly stood there just looking at the card for a minute. Had she just made friends with a TV producer?
Well Ana to her, wasn’t just a TV producer. Ana was a 5’6 Caucasian girl with blunt banged bleach blonde hairdo with ice blue eyes. Ana was a simple girl who originated from Florida, and had a boyfriend that should say ’I love you’ more often. Ana to Holly was a friend. And this friend, Holly was determined to keep.

When Rachelle and Sydney woke up, Holly was already gone.
“Awwww, looks like no fun today,” Rachelle yawned as she stretched out her arms and sat up in bed. Sydney turned over in bed and looked at Rachelle, she looked silly with her dark puffy hair.
“Well, we don’t need Holly to have fun,” Sydney pointed out. Sydney was already fully awake but wanted to still stay under the warm, thick, white covers that the three had slept in last night.
“Yeah, but do you think we should post-pone it?” Rachelle asked lazily plunking her head back on the pillow she had slept on.
“I guess if you want to,” Sydney said a little upset by Rachelle said. She loved Rachelle and Holly but they could always do something else together later. Right?
Rachelle just nodded a little.
Sydney sighed, “Do you need a change of clothes?”
Rachelle nodded again, “Sorry?” Rachelle squeaked out a little afraid of Sydney at the moment.
“Okay, let me find something,” Sydney got up and walked into her closet. Sydney wasn’t in the mood to look at clothes so she took the first shirt she saw and the first pair of jeans.
While Sydney was looking for clothes, Rachelle had texted her father to pick her up.
“Here you go,” Sydney said passing Rachelle the outfit. It was a pair of blue jeans and a flowing white v-neck shirt.
“Thanks,” Rachelle muttered as she walked into Sydney’s bathroom and started getting ready. Rachelle borrowed Sydney’s hairbrush and some perfume. Would Sydney mind if she did that today? Sydney didn’t usually mind but something told Rachelle that today Sydney wasn’t too happy.
While Rachelle was getting changed into the borrowed outfit, her phone buzzed on the counter. Rachelle picked up her Sidekick and checked the message.
Be there in Ten. So be ready. Rachelle’s dad had texted her. Rachelle sighed a little of relief. If she took a little bit longer to change, she would have less time to spend awkward time with Sydney.
So Rachelle just messed around a little bit til it seemed appropriate to come out. But when Rachelle strode outside and collected her extra clothes, Sydney was gone. Probably putting away the vacuum or something. Suddenly, a twinge of guilt came to Rachelle, she forgot to help clean up. But when Rachelle looked around, she realized Sydney wanted her to stay to help. Holly had already ditched them and Sydney had gotten clean-up duty.
So Rachelle started trudging downstairs to meet back up with Sydney, who was now eating a cup of yogurt in the kitchen. Kat was downstairs too, playing with her mini kitchen.
“Hi Kat,” Rachelle said waving at Kat. Maybe being nice to Sydney’s little sister would make amends.
“Hi Shelly,” Kat said. Kat called Rachelle Shelly because it was more simple and it was short. Rachelle wasn’t a big fan of the name Shelly, but if it helped Kat.
“Sydney?” Rachelle said in a small voice.
“Yeah?” Sydney asked looking up. Sydney looked fine now but Rachelle didn’t want to risk anything.
“My dad is coming in a minute to pick me up,” Rachelle said, ready for the pain. But none came.
“Cool,” Sydney responded without a hint of anger or sadness.
“Oh,” Rachelle said surprised by Sydney, “Yeah.”
There was a small silence. Rachelle hated silence. Couldn’t Sydney say something? Maybe she was giving her the silent treatment.
“Hungry?” Sydney asked lifting up her yogurt cup.
“Not really, I’ll probably go get something with my dad later,” Rachelle shrugged feeling a little back to normal now.
“Oh okay,” Sydney laughed a little as she scooped up another bite.
“What flavor?” Rachelle said trying to strike up a conversation to kill the time.
“Strawberry,” Sydney said a little too bluntly.
“Yum,” Rachelle mumbled. Thankfully, Rachelle’s phone buzzed in her pocket. Rachelle didn’t even bother though. She knew who it was, “Looks like my dad is here, bye!” Rachelle said walking out the door quickly before Sydney could say anything else.
“Bye?” Sydney said a little confused. Was Rachelle mad at her?

“Thank God you came!” Rachelle said thankfully hopping into her dad’s car.
“That’s fine,” Roger shrugged as he zipped out of there, “So how was it?”
“Tons of fun last night, this morning…not so much,” Rachelle spilled all the details to her dad and at the end he had his eyebrows furrowed and a stern look on his face (which he always had when trying to figure out something.)
“So how did things end up so badly?” Roger asked a little confused.
“I don’t know!” Rachelle exclaimed, “It just…happened!”
“Well I know how to solve it,” Roger said, his expression clearing and his brown eyes warming up.
“How?” Rachelle asked, eye brows knit in confusion.
“Chinese food,” Roger said skipping right past the way to their house.
“Yum! Really?” Rachelle asked all the sudden realizing how hungry she was.
“Yeah. How does P.F. Changs sound to you?” Roger asked going in the direction to the mall.
“Perfect!” Rachelle sighed.
There was for a couple of minutes a silence when all you could hear were the other cars driving and the soft sound of Lady GaGa on the radio.
“Dad?” Rachelle asked, sitting up a little in her seat, not wanting to get the outfit she was wearing from Sydney wrinkled.
“Yeah?” Roger said looking at Rachelle.
“Thanks,” Rachelle said feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. This was the life.
“Your welcome,” Roger hummed, “Hey is that your outfit?” Roger said noticing Rachelle’s outfit.
“No, I had to borrow an outfit from Sydney,” Rachelle said suddenly embarrassed by everything.
“Oh well then we should probably get you a new outfit or two at the mall.”
“Oh yes please!” Rachelle begged. Roger just nodded as Rachelle leaned back and sighed. Why was her dad being so nice to her today? She knew they had a good relationship but she didn’t think it was that good. Something was up.

After Rachelle had left, Sydney realized she had nothing to do today. She had been planning on hanging with Holly and Rachelle but they decided to have lives today. Now she was stuck at home with her parents and little sister. Fun. Sydney trashed her cup of yogurt and went upstairs. She had never changed out of her pajamas (if you counted a black wife beater and navy sweats pajamas).
“Hey Sydney!” Marie called from upstairs.
“Yeah?” Sydney yelled back. Sydney’s family’s way of communicating was yelling from different stories.
“Is Holly home?” Marie asked making her way downstairs. Marie looked so nice today, she had straightened her hair and her light blue eyes looked especially bright today.
“No, she went out for the day,” Sydney replied sadly.
“Oh, okay,” Marie said going into the kitchen.
“Hey Syd,” Sydney’s father said coming downstairs looking all prim and proper today (probably for a business thing) and kissing Sydney on the forehead. Sydney smiled. Her dad was always so warm and welcoming.
“Hey dad,” Sydney replied back as Kat ran into the room.
“Mommy! Can I have something to eat please,” Kat said tugging on Marie’s jean pant leg.
“Okay sweetie,” Marie said leaning down, “What would you like?”
“Um……chicken fingers please,” Kat said like she had just made the best discovery ever.
“Okay, they’ll be ready in a couple of minutes,” Marie said as Kat rushed out the room. Sydney grimaced at the sight of it. She loved her family but today, she didn’t feel much like being all warm and fuzzy.
“Too much love?” Daniel whispered into Sydney’s ear. Sydney looked up at her dad and tried to smile but it came out a little too weak.
“Kinda,” Sydney confessed.
“Something wrong?” Daniel said bringing Sydney out to the backyard where they sat down in the hammock.
“Sort of, I think there is some fog between Rachelle and I,” Sydney said looking down sadly. She hated when she got into fights with Rachelle.
“Oh, that’s not good,” Daniel said joking a little. Sydney and Rachelle over got into fights over little things since forever. And it was always was their dad’s responsibilities to fix it.
“Yeah, and Holly is out and I have absolutely nothing to do,” Sydney continued resting her chin in her hand and putting on a thoughtful face.
“Well, I do know a place you might enjoy a lot,” Daniel started as Sydney perked up.
“Really? What is it?” Sydney asked straightening up. Daniel looked at her with hope in his light green eyes.
“There is this place…” he started but then paused for a second, “that you will just have to wait and see.”
“Are you kidding me?!” Sydney asked a little bit happier but a little frustrated.
“Friday,” you will go there with me,” Daniel promised, “okay?”
Sydney paused for a second as if to go over her options. To go or not to go.
“Sure, that sounds great!” Sydney decided she might as well go, it could be the best thing that has ever happened to her, or the worst. But she would just have to wait and see.
“Okay, well I have to go to a meeting now,” Daniel said as he checked his watch, “Bye, love!” he said saluting Sydney as he walked out and down the outside steps to his car.
“Bye,” Sydney muttered as she laid down on the hammock. Sydney tried to get the mystery off her mind but the thought still lingered in her mind about Friday. So Sydney decided to stop fighting temptation and she closed her eyes and imagined.