My head was buzzing. Words were swirling around my head, diving and accelerating - making beelines and doing waggle dances. Some were doing the salsa, while some attempted ballet, with a poise-admittedly not worthy of a ballerina.
I grunted lowly, biting the end of my pencil. I had written countless stories before- this I will admit confidently- about fairies and ogres, princesses and princes. Cut me some slack, I was only 7. I loved writing. It got me out of the real world and into a world where James Carlyle wasn't a famous movie star and I- Lazeera Carlyle- wasn't the daughter that he paraded for the world to see. It took me to a place where I didn't have the stupid name Lazeera which who knows means what. What's with celebrities and their trends to give their kids weird names? Who names their kid Apple? Right... Gwyneth Paltrow. Why give your child a name that will make sure they get bullied at school?
Of course I was never bullied at school. I hadn't had the privilege of stepping onto a school property; yard or premises. I was homeschooled. Basically all I knew about school was due to television, which I must add may have fed me incorrect information. Apparently at every school there was the popular boy, who was always a jock, a trust-fund baby and attractive. I am assuming all rich guys are good football players. There was the popular girl, a mean likely to be blond cheerleader who was destined to date the popular guy. And then of course there was the social ranking ladder. Let me not forget the nerds, who occupied the bottom step, the geeks who were closely ranked with the nerds and the Goths who refused to be on any ladder, citing that their souls forbade something like that...or wait, was it the hippies? Did hippies go to public schools? Oh no, this was too confusing.
I sometimes dreamed of going to school, normal school. In which category would I fall into? Where would I rank? I thought I had an answer to that, sort of. I was the daughter of the man who ranked in the Forbes top 10 influential people list- a fact he liked being reminded of everyday, even though he 'modestly' said it didn't matter to him. I came from a wealthy family, I had bodyguards, the paparazzi loved taking pictures of me and I was by society's standards beautiful. That probably outweighed jocks and cheerleaders.
I chuckled at my stupid rant as I adjusted my feet to sit comfortably on the bed. I had been sitting Indian-style for a while and my legs were starting to feel uncomfortable. Maybe instead of writing a story I could just write a blog. I wasn't that good of a writer anyway. Lately whenever I tried to write, words floated around my head, making no sense to me. It was like I had suddenly lost inspiration. Dreaming of a way out of my life wasn't appealing anymore. The more I dreamed, the more I got sucked into my uncomfortable celebrity life. I needed to get away, find the me that I wanted to be and not what bloggers thought I should be like. Only a week ago my mom-bless her- had offered me a way out, and I was going to take it.
I wrote at the top of my page in bold: THE NEW LAZEERA.
I erased it quickly. If I was starting afresh, the name Lazeera had to go. I had to think of a name that would blend in a small town in the middle of nowhere, certainly not a ridiculous name like Lazeera.
Fortunately for me, leaving my life didn't mean teary goodbyes and whatnot. I had no friends. Being homeschooled meant I spent the day with my private teacher, the maids and my bodyguards and sometimes my dad and his wife. Anyone else would contaminate me- no one had said those words, but they probably thought that. I made friends with daughters of my dad's celebrity friends, but either I moved or they moved and we failed to stay in touch.
I wrote on the top of my page: EMMA PRITCHETT
That name was unfamiliar, and soon it would belong to me. Mom had come up with it, but said I was allowed to change it. I couldn't think of a name. I probably had the syndrome Gwyneth had when she picked her daughter's name. I shook my head at my digs at Gwyneth Paltrow. She was a good actress who was probably having a bad day. She may not have named her child, but she approved of it. There's a line between unique and ridiculous. Was she doing a favor for Apple Inc? There I go with my rant again!
