Passage to Australia [Passage to Australia Trilogy Book One]

Adventures in Australia Chapter One teaser - A Mirror Image

Chapter I

 Mirror Image

"Will they never leave me alone?"  The girl threw the magazine from her hand with an angry gesture and stamped her foot.  "Must they quote everything I say?  It's gotten to where I can't even express my opinion about a meal without it ending up in the tabloids!  Oh, will it ever stop?"  She moaned tragically and fell back onto a lush love seat, situated in the center of a very large white room.  Everything in the vicinity was a shade of white, from the plush carpet to the grand piano in the corner.  The love seat and matching full sofa were, of course, white, as were the lamps, shelves, and even the flat screen TV hanging majestically on the large white wall.

"You're only the most popular young actress in the country; of course they're going to hang on just every word you say."  This from another girl perched at the piano, eyeing the keys with something like distaste.  The piano was not responding to her doleful glare, so she turned her attention to the ever present cell phone, pressed a few buttons, and began texting.  Her friend on the love seat sent her an exasperated look before pulling out her own phone.  There was silence for a moment as the two girls, seated only feet apart, immersed themselves in different worlds.

"Here it is again, I swear, it never ends!"  The first girl burst out angrily, very nearly throwing her phone out the window before thinking better of it. 

"The Daily Telegraph has printed my interview with the television company, you know, when I denied the rumors about Stephen and Jennifer?"

"What's wrong with that?  That interview was supposed to be public."

"I know that," the blond girl admitted.  "It's just the last straw.  I can't take anymore of this publicity!"

Her friend seemed rather alarmed at her desperate tone.  "But, that's your life, Paige; you wanted it this way."

"I wanted to be in the news, not be the news!"

"I'm afraid there's nothing you can do about it now, you're the face of Australia's young woman."

"I know, and it's tearing me down.  I feel like I need to get away for a while, leave Paige Delanie behind and just be me."

"But you are Paige Delanie," her friend contradicted.

"No, I'm not!"  Was the vehement response.  "I'm Sarah Delanie just made to look like Paige Delanie."  She sighed, sunk again into the love seat and continued in a more subdued attitude.  "Paige is just a character; we both know that.  Oh, how I wish I could be simply Sarah  again, if only for a day."

"You could always do what they do in the movies," the other suggested teasingly.  "Find a double to take over for a while and you could enjoy being just Sarah, Plain and Tall."

"May!"  Paige exclaimed excitedly, jumping from her reclining position.  "That's a wonderful idea!  I'll find someone who looks reasonably enough like me to fool the public, and I'll just...disappear for a while."

"Paige," May reprimanded sternly, alarmed by her friend's enthusiasm.  "I was joking.  You can't be serious."

"Why not?  It's the perfect plan."

"Deceit is never a perfect plan, Paige; what if this person who looks like you can't act?  And it'll take the performance of a lifetime to imitate you, even for one day."

"You worry too much, May," Paige sighed while she gazed out the window at the view of the beach afforded by her luxury mansion.  "I'll find someone, and she'll pull it off wonderfully.  And," she turned back to her friend with a smile on her face. "She'll only have to do it for a week while I get some much needed R & R in, say, my country estate."