The Secret Life of a Star

Chapter Three

Chapter three:

School was absolutely amazing; I can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to come! Well the work side of it is pretty boring, but the social side is amazing! Weeks passed and Sally Martin was laying low; there were no interviews, no concerts, just Sally Martin letting Sally Harrison have what she’s always wanted. Amy, Claire, Mike and I had become extremely close in the little time I had spent at LA High. I never knew what real friendships were like and what I was experiencing now was way better than those superficial ones Sally Martin had to deal with. Every day, I would come home from school and I would tell Mum about my day; always involving my friends. Every time I talked about school, Mum’s face lit up like the sun. She was happy I was enjoying myself, happy that I was experiencing something I wanted to. “So, are there any boys?” Marie asked one morning. “Yeah there was one. But I can’t go there.” Yes, Robbie was dreamy and hot and amazingly gorgeous, but there was no way I was going to get killed. “Isn’t the whole idea of this is so you can experience high school?” Marie was right, but still; my point made previously. “He is dating the popular girl Melissa and she would kill me if I even looked at him.” Marie just kept doing her stuff like she didn’t hear a single word I said. Marie was just about finished my Sally Harrison look when Mum burst through the doors with her phone in hand. “Sorry Sally, no school today. You have to do an interview on TV.” I was devastated! My first day away from school; how on earth was I going to cover this one up tomorrow? “Can’t I do the interview then go to school afterwards?” I pleaded with Mum. She walked away like she was on another one of her missions, so she didn’t hear a word I said. “I’m sorry cupcake” said Marie. At least she could tell how upset and devastated I was.

We were on the way to the TV interview; Mum and I were sitting in complete silent. I saw this as my opportunity to try and convince Mum to let me go to school after the interview I had no idea I was doing. “Why can’t I go to school afterwards?” She looked at me like this was a reoccurring conversation. “Because, when we get home you have to transform yourself from Sally Martin to Sally Harrison. Then you have to see Marie, and by the time that’s done school would basically be over.” Just before I could open up my next argument, Mum’s cell rang and that’s when I saw it. Instead of being happy normal Mum, she was now Mum/Manager of Sally Martin. That was another thing that missed now being a superstar. My Mum wasn’t really my mum; she was more like my manager and protector. To sum it up, Mum has changed dramatically and I don’t like it. Then my phone went off; it was a text from Amy asking where I was. I didn’t know what to say; because whatever I’m going to say, it’s going to be a lie. So just left it; I couldn’t lie to my friends so I thought it would be better not to say anything at all.

We arrived at the studio where the interview was being held. There were fans everywhere; some were in their school uniforms, others must have changed. I had missed the sight of fans, but I never missed the sight of flashing lights and paparazzi. Before we left the car, Mum had told me not to talk to anyone until we got inside the studio. I couldn’t care less, this isn’t where I wanted to be right now. With fans screaming my name and paparazzi calling out for me, I got another text message from Amy saying “catch up after school at your place.” Well that gave me plenty of time to get home and change into Sally Harrison. But Amy doesn’t know where I live, how is she even going to get there. I was so consumed with my internal thinking, I didn’t realise Gracie Kell, the TV interviewer standing in front of me with her hand out waiting for me to shake it. “Hello Sally! It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She said delightfully. I knew she was only being nice; it was her job to be nice. “Pleasures all mine.” I said. There was an awkward silence for a minute or two until Gracie got called away and I got dragged to my dressing room. As Marie was doing my hair and make-up, I noticed in the mirror that Mum did not look impressed. “What?” I said with a bit of an attitude. “WHAT?! You completely ignored Gracie!” Mum was mad! If we were in a cartoon, smoke would be coming out of Mum’s ears and nose. “I said hello and I was polite. What more do you want me to do? Do a dance for her?” I was getting mad too. I hated it when Mum and I fought, but I couldn’t stand her being this pushy. “Ok, Sally, I know you don’t want to be here.” Her voice had quietened downed a lot. Before she could say anymore I butted in, “ya think?” As simple as that, the argument was over.

The interview was like every other million interviews I have done before. They ask you what made you become a singer? Did you expect to be this successful? Is there a boy in the picture? It goes on, and on, and on for 15 minutes; the longest 15 minutes ever. But something about this interview boiled my blood against Mum again. Right at the end as we were saying goodbye, Gracie closed our interview by saying “you can catch Sally Martin at the LA plaza today doing her CD signing.” WHAT?! I wasn’t aware of this! Seem we were still on live TV, I sat in my chair smiling as I waited to be called off. “Thank you Sally! It was great to meet you.” Gracie said politely again. I was getting sick and tired of people always being nice to me! I hated it! “It was my pleasure Gracie. Hopefully we can do it again soon.” I smiled and walked back to my dressing room where the security guards were to make our getaway. Sitting in the room was Mum; looking like she knew she was about to get into trouble. “What is this CD signing that I have no idea about.” I said fuming. “I tried to tell you.” I couldn’t believe it! I was pacing up and down the room as I tried to figure something out to stop Amy from coming over. I was about to explode I was that angry at Mum. “Let’s go.” I said. With security guards surrounding me, I had never felt so claustrophobic in my life. The crowd of fans had gotten bigger and the paparazzi had gotten smaller (probably at the secret CD signing). We sat in the car with an awkward silence; though really I didn’t want to say anything just in case I say something I really don’t mean. “What am I going to do now Mum?” I asked. She looked at me with confusion. “What are you talking about love?” I looked at my phone to see that there were only a few hours left before Amy could leave school. “Amy’s coming over after school. She can’t know that I’m Sally Martin.” Mum looked devastated; she didn’t know about the situation she had put me in and she looked guilty. “I’m so sorry Sal, I didn’t know. We’ll do the CD signing for an hour or so and go straight home. I promise.” There was one thing I forgot to tell you about Mum; when she makes promises, she always keeps them. I’m 17 and she hasn’t broken a promise to me yet.

We arrived at the LA plaza and I was right at the studio. The paparazzi had moved on to here, along with a truck-full of fans tagging along. The line I had to try and complete seemed impossible! They were in and out of the plaza, around the corner and up the hill. It seemed like the whole world was here just to see me. As privileged as I felt, all I wanted to do was to get home and see Amy. Along with interviews, CD signings are all the same. You have fans come up to with CD’s, books, posters or a piece of paper just for you to sign. They ask you the same questions over and over again; and they take a million pictures. As much as I loved my fans, my mind was too preoccupied with other matters.

Two hours had passed and the line had gotten extremely shorter; I could actually see the end. Mum came up behind me and tapped me on my shoulder. “We gotta go now if you wanna keep Sally Martin a secret to Amy.” I sat there and thought about it. I was actually enjoying spending time with my fans, but keeping this secret was more important. “Ok” I whispered to Mum. She got a megaphone sitting behind my back drop and called out the rest of the fans that I had another meeting to attend. With the cries of my fans in the background, I ran to the car and we hurried on home. I looked at the time on my phone to see that Amy would only be an hour away from rocking up on my door step.

We arrived home and I had suddenly turned into the person in charge. “Ok Marie I need you. Mum, I don’t care about posters or anything like that, but hide the awards and everything else possible.” Mum was on a mission and so was I with Marie. I looked at the time again and realised that Amy could turn up at any second now. As Marie secured my wig on, the doorbell rang. From the upstairs balcony Mum noticed that it was Amy. She ran down the stairs to tell me. I was panicking, Mum was panicking, everyone was panicking. “I need to get changed yet.” I said. Mum looked around; obviously thinking for some ideas. “I got it. You go and get changed Sally and I’ll preoccupy Amy.” That was a great plan, and thought up in such little time. I was impressed! I ran up the stairs and into my room; changing out of Sally Martin and into Sally Harrison. I took one last look in the mirror before going downstairs. I looked good, really good! I walked down the stairs to hear Mum and Amy laughing, and then I heard Claire and Mike! This is going to be interesting.