Rising Star (6 page)

“
Let’s take it for a
drive,” Beth said, interrupting her thoughts as she climbed into
the passenger side. Selena shrugged off her worries as Beth’s
excitement washed over her. Beth found a rock station on the radio
and turned it up to an ear-shattering decibel. Selena felt the
steering wheel vibrate to the beat as she drove. Good thing we’re
out in the country, she thought. Wouldn’t want to get pulled over
for disturbing the peace.

“
You’re sooo lucky,
Selena,” Beth yelled over the music. “My parents only got me a new
saddle when I turned eighteen.”

“
I know, I was there,
remember? But you know they did all they could afford to, right?
I’m not sure how my dad could even afford this car.” Selena turned
the radio down as she spoke.

“
I know. Well, you can at
least give me a ride to school tomorrow, right?”

“
Of course.” Selena
cranked the knob on the radio and blasted the music again as she
flew down the dark, shadowy back roads. Beth’s excitement was
catching, and Selena sang along with the song as she drove. She
felt free as they flew along, the car gave her a sense of freedom
that she’d never known. Just think, no more asking for permission
to use the pickup, she thought. Matt crossed her mind as she drove,
his name wandering across her mind even as she sang along with the
radio. She stopped singing as she imagined him here with them, his
blue eyes shining with mischief as he sang along with the song too.
Selena glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Matt’s face, just as
she had imagined it. He was smiling happily from the back seat,
blue eyes shining as he sang.

“
Watch out,” Beth screamed
over the music.

Selena slammed the brakes and slowed the
car. She’d been so busy watching the mirror, she hadn’t seen the
hairpin curve on the dark road. She yanked the small car around the
curve, still much too fast.

“
Holy cow, Selena,” Beth
said as she turned the stereo down. “You okay?”

“
Yeah, sorry.” She glanced
in the mirror again, but Matt’s beautiful face had
disappeared.

Chapter 9

She was working on her story again a few
days later, typing away on her old computer, when her cell phone
rang. Her heart leaped as she thought of Matt. She could see his
twinkling blue eyes as she thought of him, with the mischievous
light shining out of them. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her
breath as she picked up the phone.

“
I’m calling for Angelique
Deveroux,” a lady’s voice on the phone said. “Is this Selena
Summers?”

“
Yes,” Selena answered,
confusion heavy in her voice. She had been so sure it was Matt this
time; now her brain had to switch gears as she heard a female
voice.

“
Angelique is interested
in interviewing you for a magazine layout. Would you be able to fly
out to L.A. next week?”

“
Um…I guess so.” Selena
was at a loss for words. Then she remembered Don’s phone call. This
must be the lady he’d sent her picture to. Selena hadn’t took it
very seriously and in fact, she had forgotten all about
it.

“
Good, I’ll book the
flight and send you the details.” The lady took down Selena’s email
address.

Selena hung up, dumbfounded. How was she
going to explain this to her parents? She had completely forgot
about Don’s call and had never mentioned it to her parents. There
were only a few days left of school before graduation. Would her
parents let her miss those last few days? Would she be back in time
to graduate with her class? She hadn’t even found out how much the
job pays or how long it would last. Not to mention the fact, she’d
been spending all her free time working on her novel. She was much
more interested in selling her book to a publisher than being in
Don’s movie or modeling women’s clothes. She felt sure the only
reason they were interested in someone like her, was because the
stick-thin models probably couldn’t sit on a horse without falling
off.

“
I can’t believe it, my
baby’s going to be in a magazine?” Selena’s mom screeched when she
told her about the phone call.

“
It’s just an interview,
mom. I don’t know yet if I’ll be in anything.”

“
I’m not too crazy about a
teenage girl going alone to L.A.,” her dad chimed in.

“
I’ll be okay, dad. A
driver is meeting me at the airport and taking me straight to
Angelique’s office. I’ll never be alone while I’m
there.”

“
Mmm…and what about
school?”

“
I’ll ask my teachers
tomorrow if I can miss a few days. Graduation is next Friday, I
should be back by then. It’s only a few classes I would miss.
Anyway, it’s an interview. If she’s not happy with me, I’ll be back
the following day.”

“
I don’t think you should
miss the last few days of school,” her mother said.

“
She’ll be fine, Rosa,” her
dad answered for her. “Her grades are good enough, I’m sure she’ll
be able to miss a few days.” He kissed the top of her mother’s head
as he said it, then turned to Selena.

“
Go. Spread your wings and
fly, duckling.”

Selena laughed and hugged him. “Thanks dad.
You guys are the best.”

But, did she really want to go? Maybe it
would have been easier if her parents had forbidden it. Of all the
things she’d wanted to be when she grew up, a model was definitely
not on the list. Later that night, she stood in front of the
full-length mirror hanging from the door of her small closet. She
turned this way and that, striking a pose like the girls she’d seen
in magazines. This is just stupid, she thought as she finally gave
it up, flouncing down in front of her old computer. They’re going
to take one look at me, and wish they had saved the air fare. She
went back to one of her manuscripts, a Trish Black adventure she’d
never finished. As she read through it, she began making changes
and adding to the story, watching as Trish grew into the smart,
sassy girl from her other stories. Now this girl, Selena thought as
she typed, she could handle anything. She could solve a murder
mystery while pretending to be a model. Hmm, Selena paused as she
thought about it. Might make a good story. Trish was everything
Selena wanted to be. She was cool, confident and comfortable around
all sorts of people. She always had a snappy comeback to every
question and she didn’t take any guff from anyone. I bet she would
have taken Matthew Mason and wrapped him around her little finger.
Selena smiled in the dark as she considered it. Trish would have
been so aloof, Matt would have been chasing her down and begging
for a chance to spend time with her. Angelique and the modeling
business were all but forgotten as Selena lost herself in the world
of Trish.

Chapter 10

Selena’s dad drove her to the airport on
Monday. She’d had no trouble clearing it with her teachers; her
grades were among the top of her classes and she had already
accrued enough credits to graduate. These last few days were filled
with parties and yearbook signings, as high school, for her at
least, drew to a close.

Her father parked the red car and followed
her inside the airport to check in. He stayed by her side all the
way to the security checkpoint, where he gave her one last hug. “Be
safe, Selena. I love you.”

“
I love you too,
dad.”

“
Hey,” he said as she began
walking away.

She looked back and her father winked at
her. “Break a leg,” he said.

“
I hope not.” She smiled
and waved as she entered the line at the security checkpoint. I
probably will, she thought. I’ll probably fall all over myself and
break both my legs. I’ll be laughed out of modeling. No, I’ll be
laughed out of Hollywood; out of California, even. We don’t want no
half-breed hick girls here, she could just hear the Hollywood
people chanting at her as she moved through the line.

Selena made her way through security and
found the correct gate, her stomach feeling queasy. She had never
been on a plane before and she was feeling a little nervous. She
was looking forward to visiting a new city. From what she’d seen on
TV, Los Angeles might be like visiting another world. She imagined
it as a different planet, as she took a seat at the gate. A
different world from another galaxy, filled with strange beings
whose language was all beeps and blips. Her stomach knotted even
more as she followed other passengers down the boarding ramp.

She took a window seat on the plane and
watched as Albuquerque and the Sandia mountains grew smaller and
smaller, until the cars and houses looked like miniatures. As the
plane climbed higher, it passed through the fluffy white cumulus
clouds. Wow, Selena thought as she watched the fluffy clouds move
by her window. Now it’s not just my head in the clouds, but my
whole body too. She pressed her face into the glass, until she
couldn’t see the plane around her. Just her and the clouds,
drifting through them as if she were floating. She put a hand on
each side of her face, up against the window to block out the plane
and passengers even more. Just her and the clouds. Drifting above
them, now floating through one, watching as it broke up around
her—

“
What do you
see?”

The voice broke her reverie, bringing her
crashing back into her seat. She heard the loud hum of the plane
again and the voices of the other passengers, muffled from the
noise of the jet engines.

“
There’s someone out
there,” Selena said loudly, turning to look at the older gentleman
in a business suit. “Out there, on the wing.” She pointed out the
window and smiled as the man leaned forward to look. She remembered
something like that from an old episode of the Twilight Zone, where
a man was seeing someone standing on the wing of the plane. Other
passengers had heard her and were leaning out the windows too.
“Where? I don’t see anything.” She heard their voices behind her
and ahead of her. She smiled as she leaned back in her seat and
closed her eyes. Now that’s something like Trish would have done,
she thought with amusement.

She had finished up her latest book in the
series before her trip and sent it off to several publishers. She
had been writing stories for years, but this was the first time
she’d been proud enough of one of them to actually give publishing
a try. She thought about her daring escapade as she relaxed in her
seat. How neat would it be to have her book become a bestseller?
She imagined herself giving an interview on one of the major news
channels. She pictured herself sitting on a stool facing the
handsome anchor of her favorite morning show in New York City. In
her fantasy, she was suave and cool and even funny as she described
her book to him. Her fantasies filled her mind throughout the
flight. She saw her book becoming a great detective series. She
would be able to spend her life doing the two things she loved
most…barrel racing and writing. Her stomach knotted with excitement
as she fantasized about her adoring fans, all waving her book at
her and begging for her signature. Selena, Selena, the crowd
chanted her name. She drifted off, the drone of the plane and the
chants of the crowd in her mind lulling her into complete
relaxation.

Chapter 11

Selena wandered through LAX, lost and alone.
The airport was enormous and she had no idea which way to go. She
certainly didn’t feel like the sophisticated, cool girl from her
fantasy. She felt more like a small town girl, lost in an enormous
airport. What am I doing here? I must look like a fish out of
water. She felt underdressed in her jeans and boots as she watched
the crowd surge around her, dressed in a variety of expensive
clothes and jewelry. She even saw a teenage boy with bright green,
spiked hair and a movie star from several ‘chick flicks,’ as her
dad called them. The star had two hefty bodyguards walking one on
each side of her. She had huge, dark sunglasses and a bright yellow
pantsuit. The boy with the green hair followed along behind the
bodyguards, earphones in his ear, his head bobbing to music only he
could hear. Yeah, nice disguise, Selena smiled to herself,
remembering her fantasy of another world. Yep, L.A. is not just a
different time zone, she thought, it’s a different galaxy.

Finally, she gave up trying to find her way
and followed everyone else from her flight as they made their way
toward baggage claim. She was moved along with the surge of people,
almost against her will. It’s either go with the flow, she thought,
or be trampled. She hadn’t checked a bag herself. Instead she
carried a gym bag and her backpack that she used for school. Her
father had offered to buy her a suitcase, but she had refused.
“This will do fine dad,” she’d told him. Now, she was beginning to
regret her decision, as she watched perfectly manicured ladies and
gentlemen in business attire, rolling neat black suitcases through
the airport behind them. She felt almost grungy in her jeans and
cowboys boots, carrying a gym bag. Yep, a fish out of water, she
thought with a shake of her head.

When she neared the baggage carousels,
Selena saw a group of men, dressed smartly in dark suits, holding
up white signs with names on them. She breathed a sigh of relief
when she saw a man dressed all in black, with a small black hat on
his head, holding a sign that read, ‘Selena Summers.’

“
I’m Selena,” she told
him.

He was a chubby, round little man with a
ruddy face. When he smiled at her, Selena felt her body begin to
relax. She had been worried that she would wander this enormous
airport for hours; now, she could feel tension easing from her
shoulders as she realized she’d overcome one hurdle.