Hollywood and Mr. Popular (the original)

Chapter 13

"Would you mind explaining your piece to me?" A young woman im a grey pantsuit asked.

"Sure thing. Um, when I was little, my sister and I were really close, you know, we did everything together. We used to do these performances because she was better at singing and I was better at dancing. When she was around nine years old, she decided she wanted to be a celebrity. Mom took her to audition for a commercial so she could start off small and then she blew up. Artists wanted to sign her, people wanted to cast her in their movies, and she did a lot of modelling for kids stuff,

"Well since we were so close and we both liked performing, people assumed that I would follow in her footsteps. But, fame has never really been something that I wanted. It seemed to follow me anyway. Wherever I went people would always associate me with her and compare me to her, it was tiring. I wanted to be my own person but, I just couldn't catch a break. Even the people I thought were close friends only cared about her.

"I drew this picture to represent that although in appearance I'm just like Stela, we're almost polar opposites underneath." The woman nods her head with a respectful smile on her face while I silently reprimand myself for basically telling her my life story. In the million other times I explain my drawing, I keep it brief yet thorough. Ms. Rosa announces that the judges are discussing right now and will share their results shortly. Neither Dylan or Eli had bothered to enter the contest, but they were both here for support.

They sat in the chairs on the other side of the room along with some other parents, looking like they were deep in discussion. Part of me is worried comsidering my conversation with Stela yesterday but they're probably just discussing something football related.

Ms. Rosa calls the attention to her and stands at the front of the classroom.

"The results are in. In third place, Maya Lockheart." There's a small applause and Maya, a skinny redhead steps forward to retrieve her medal. "In second place, Jason Knowles." Jason, a smug looking senior steps forward and accepts the medal without so much as a smile."

"And in first place, with a unanimous vote from the judges, Javiéra DeVitto." I smile, stepping forward to accept my medal. Dylan and Eli make a show out of applausing, cheering and whistling like I've just scored the winning touchdown. I roll my eyes, smiling at their childish behavior.

Idiotas

"I would like to congratulate our talented winners as well as thank out overly supportive crowd." She shoots a look towards Dylan and Eli, who grin sheepishly at her. Ms. Rosa gives her closing speech and the three of us head home.

"Great job, Angelface," Eli says, "but I'd consider what you did cheating."

"Cheating?"

"Yeah. You can't just draw a face like yours and expect not to win." I roll my eyes, holding the door to my house open for the two. I find Mom in the kitchen and sit at the island.

"Look, Mom, I got first place in the art competition."

"That's nice, honey." She says, not even glancing up from her work. She's highlighting some paper work, most likely for Stela. Speaking of the devil, Stela comes bounding down the stairs, complaining about split ends or something. I roll my eyes, going upstairs to my room and putting the medal on my desk. I turn around finding both boys staring at me with weird expressions on their face.

"What?" I ask.

"You showed your mom your award back there and she acted like she didn't even care." Dylan says in a voice that sounded like he was the one being hurt. I shrug, lying back on my bed.

"She'd be acting if she showed any signs that she did care. But it's alright I'm used to it." And I was. No matter how many achievements I made, Mom would never truly be impressed with me until I was following in Stela's footsteps. I won't pretend that her brushing off my achievements didn't affect me though. In fact it hurt, bad. But there was no need for either of them to know that, though judging by their expressions, they already know.