fade into you |jordan li|

five. almost famous

   Ari didn't want to sit around in a fancy outfit that was picked out for her and take pictures, but she was forced to by her father.

    She wore an off white dress with a black blazer and black knee high boots, paired with gold jewelry. She stood posed next to her brother smiling as the bright lights blinded her while it captured their photos.

   "What's your problem with Jordan?" Andre asked through gritted teeth.

   "Nothing just stay out of it." She said back in a rude tone, mad that he even asked in the first place.

   "Pan down to the left." One of the photographers instructed to the other, trying to get good shots of Ari and Andre, even though they couldn't stop bickering. "And please stop talking." they silenced them.

    "Thanks guys we got it." The photographer said once they finally finished.

   "Got it?" Andre walked off the set with a nod, upset with his sister.

   Their father gave them both a pat on the back, laughing as they all walked together. "First national interview.. I had to rescue matchbox twenty from that nut job at lollapalooza before my first national interview, and here you two are. A junior and a freshman. Damn."

     "Yea it's crazy, right?" He paused for a second gathering his thoughts. "Can I talk to you alone dad?"

     "I'll just be over there." Ari said aggressively as she pointed to an empty space away from the two.

    "Hey, did, um did Luke say..?" Andre asked once his sister was away from them.

    "I loved Luke too.. like a son." His father answered, remembering the moments their families had spent together.

    "Yea, but did he give you anything?

    "What do you mean?"

    "Nothing. Never mind. No it's..."

    "Luke gave us what got you, and your sister here as the only other freshman in the top ten aside from Marie. An opportunity... I know it's hard." He remembered the last moments he had spent with his late wife. "Look, after your mother died I wanted to crawl into a bottle of Macallan and stay there, but we push through, no matter how hard it's gets. Cause' we're made of steel. You think you can do that son?"

   "Made of steel." Andre agreed, or pretended to.

    "I'm proud of you. I don't say that enough, but I am. You're gonna be a better polarity than I ever was."

    His last phrase made Ari, who was listening in flinch. The curse of compound v was her object manipulation as well as an increase in all of her abilities, including strength and super hearing. "You're gonna be a better polarity..." you. Are. Ari realized that she didn't even have a chance. Ari wasn't ever going to be better than her brother, she wasn't even going to be better than Marie. She felt like nothing, and in her eyes she was nothing.

   Marie came around the corner before Andre could respond with Jeff the social media manager. "Courtenay, you dirty slut. Sorry, I mean no disrespect."

    "Oh, none taken. Hi." She said getting Marie's attention. "Hi, hi. Im Courtenay Fortney."

   "Hi." Marie shook her hand.

   "I'm the Vought EP in charge of tonight's interview."

   "I have an interview?"

    "Yea, one on one with Hailey Miller. Jeff didn't tell you?"

   "Oh." Jeff realized he had forgotten to mention it.

   "Okay great. You.. do you have clothes?" Courtenay asked Marie before turning to Jeff, acting as if Marie was incapable of answering. "She have clothes?"