Chapter 6, Part 1
When we finally returned to the Thompson casa Garth was waiting in the kitchen with pizza and as soon as the smell hit my nose I realized just how hungry all this had made me. It was hard to keep from descending on the pizza and eating it right out of the box, but I made myself grab a plate.
To my surprise, not long after I had taken my first bite, Emilia strolled into the kitchen, heading for the cabinet for her own plate. She sat down across from me, feigning disinterest as she pulled pizza from the box. It was still weird to see myself, my sister, so up close and personal and I couldn’t help but watch her, knowing that was actually what I looked like when I did the things that she was doing. It was like having a mirror follow you around all the time, constantly replaying your movements and actions.
Emilia finally looked at me and arched an eyebrow. “So what’d you think? Not exactly a hoe-down, was it?” She smirked. I figured she had seen some of the footage of me being blinded by camera flashes and trying to make a break for it so as to get away from the photographers.
I shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad. I got to meet a lot of cool people.” Emilia rolled her eyes as she finished her first slice of pizza. “People want to like you, Emilia.”
“People do like me.” Emilia informed me frankly. “Have you never looked at a Billboard Top Ten chart?”
Before I could inform my sister that wasn’t exactly what I meant, the phone in my pocket started buzzing, causing me to jump in surprise from the sudden vibrations. When I wrestled the phone out of my back pocket, I beamed down at the tiny screen announcing who was calling.
Emilia didn’t miss the gesture. “Who’s that? Your boyfriend?” Her tone was teasing, as though she couldn’t imagine I would answer in the affirmative.
Of course, I couldn’t, but that wasn’t going to bring me down at the moment. “No, it’s my brother.” I got up from the table and headed to my room to take the call in private.
It wasn’t until I’d spent a few days away from Zach that I realized how much I truly loved and maybe underappreciated my brother. Not many people I knew had a sibling they were so close in age to, but my dad hadn’t really wasted any time in getting married after he moved to Independence after Linda had made a bee-line for Hollywood. I used to really enjoy hearing my father tell the story about how he and Beverly rekindled their old high school romance, because Beverly was more of a mother to me than Linda had ever been, so I used to pretend that their love at second-sight story ended in a marriage and pregnancy with me. But I guess Zach was good enough, though it was a little weird to eventually adjust to the idea of having another sibling out there, one I was even closer to in age.
Up in my room I flopped down on the window seat and finally silenced the ringing. “I was just thinking about calling you.” I said by way of a greeting and at least it was the truth. After I’d consumed a majority of the pizza, he was going to be the first person I called.
“Sure, after you were done smoozing the press.” Zach retorted. “I saw you on TV.”
“How’d you know it was me?” I questioned, though I figured that was the only logical assumption, seeing as I was still in Hollywood and hadn’t already thrown in the towel and run back home.
Zach scoffed. “Emilia would have had to be drugged to act that way. And not drugged in the way she probably usually is but as in tranquilized and mind-controlled.” He replied frankly. “You’re just too nice, Scout.” There it was again, that quickly-becoming-dreaded ‘n’ word.
I leaned against the window, peering out into the backyard. “Emilia isn’t really so bad.” I had no idea where those words had suddenly come from and wondered if maybe I wasn’t being mind-controlled into spitting them out. Hadn’t I been worried only hours earlier that she was going to jump me for my outfit?
This time, Zach laughed. “Have you gotten to know her since you’ve been there?” He sounded both interested and doubtful at the same time.
I frowned at my reflection. “Not exactly…” I twisted a strand of hair around my finger. “But I’m sure she’ll come around…it’s just a lot to get used to.”
Zach was quite for a minute, as though he was actually thinking about what I’d said. Then he questioned, “Have you met anyone famous yet?”
Oh boy, he was going to love this. “Yeah…maybe one person…” I could practically hear the impatience in Zach’s breathing. “I met Joshua Beckett today.” I went for nonchalant and was surprised that I actually managed to pull it off, because our meeting hadn’t exactly been the stuff to write home about, especially not after I’d learned about his history with Emilia. Sure he’d asked me out to dinner, but only because his manager had suggested it was a good idea. Obviously we were just puppets of the people who controlled the assets.
“Joshua Beckett…as in the drummer for The Retrievers Joshua Beckett?” Zach repeated and I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. But he seemed to sense my reaction because he continued with, “I can’t believe it Scout, you better have gotten a picture. I’m moving out there. Do you think I could meet Alexa Vega?” My brother had always had a soft spot for the spy kid.
I shrugged. “You never know. And there are plenty of extra bedrooms in this place.” Linda probably wouldn’t even notice if Zach took up residence.
“I feel like there’s so much to talk about.” Zach had momentarily switched the conversation back to real-life, no doubt abandoning his day-dreams for the moment. “What’s your mom like?”
Before I could reply, I heard the woman in question shouting, “Emilia Thompson!” from somewhere in the house in a tone that signaled that somehow, someway, my sister had managed to cause more trouble. “Angry.” I replied, getting up from my spot and moving toward the door. “I promise I’ll tell you everything, but right now I think I should go.” I hung up before Zach could complain about our brief conversation, heading downstairs to see what all the commotion was about.