Behind the Scenes

PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE
I awoke with a jerk in an unfamiliar place, my mom's hand on my shoulder, gently shaking me. I sighed with relief after I took in my surroundings. We were on an airplane. "Honey, we've landed," she said. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, looking around the plane. We were flying coach, and I had just taken a very cramped and uncomfortable nap.
I had missed the whole descent back into Chicago, and now the pilot was telling us to carefully get our carry-on bags from the overhead departments. Tired passengers elbowed us out of the way, anxious to get out of the plane.
I grabbed my magenta floral duffel and my mom grabbed her black one. We carried them unsteadily out into the busy terminal of O'Hare Airport. Luckily, our luggage was some of the first to come around on the spinny thing. I rolled my eyes. I was so tired I couldn't even think of the word.
"You excited to be home, honey?" Looking over at my mom, I nodded almost imperceptibly.
"We aren't home, we're in the airport," I grumbled. But in reality, I was thrilled to be back in Chicago. I had been in LA since the end of April last school year and all through the summer. I had been shooting a comedic mini-series that had been sold to YouTube and Netflix called Thumbs Up and a horror movie called Heaven and Hell on Earth. Now, my first day of school was in two days. I hadn't talked to my friends in a while. When I called them, they usually just wanted to hear details about the other actors I worked with, and when I texted them, they were usually kind of dry and boring. Of course, I didn't take it too personally. They had lives, just like me.
My mom and I struggled with our bags, taking a good two minutes to fit everything through the door. People behind us gave us annoyed looks and huffs, even though there were many other exits that weren't blocked. When we finally got outside, we stood there, both completely silent. My mom had managed to be peppy the whole trip home, which was slightly irritating. But now, her eyes had bags under them and she looked as lifeless as a rag doll. Her short, curly blond hair was kind of messy and her shirt was wrinkled.
Of course, that was nothing compared to how I looked. My long, straight brown hair was in a messy bun, and my sweatpants had cupcakes on them. They looked like something a three-year-old might have worn instead of a girl who was fourteen and going into her first year of high school. My gray Cali hoodie was so long that it could be a dress, and I was wearing duck slippers. An unfamiliar white Porsche pulled up to curb and honked, making me startle. I started to open my mouth to mumble some rude words when my mom gasped and ran over to the window.
"Harris! When did you get this car?" My mom exclaimed. My mouth dropped open as my dad stepped out of the car.
"Jill, honey! Long time no see!" My dad cried, kissing my mom on the cheek. He walked over to me and gave me a huge hug.
"Winnie, I saw you on TV! You were fantastic! I watched every episode of your show at least five times!" I gave my dad a tight hug, breathing in the scent of his freshly washed flannel and his aftershave.
"Yeah, it's true. He did. To be honest with you, it got pretty old after a while," a sarcastic voice said from behind me. I whipped around. My older sister, Hannah, was standing behind me.
"Oh my gosh!" I squealed, running over and hugging her tight. "Hey, are those my jeans?" I asked her, pulling at the stretchy denim. Hannah smirked mischievously and I gave her a playful slap on the arm.
"Dad, when did you get the car? It's amazing. So much better than our old beat-up Subaru," I laughed.
My dad beamed, clearly proud of himself. "Yesterday morning," he replied. "We wanted to surprise you."
"Well, we certainly are surprised. It's a very nice car, Harris. I'm impressed," my mom said, giving him another kiss.
"Okay, come on, cut it out," Hannah groaned. "Let's go home, it's, like, midnight." We climbed into the (squee!) Porsche, and I heard a familiar giggle. I gasped.
"Oh, Adam!" I smiled. Adam was my baby brother. He was only two and was strapped into his car seat. I was expecting him to be home with our nanny, Geraldine, sleeping. I missed him tons. Sometimes I thought he understood me more than anyone else in the whole world. Well, besides my best friends, Gloria, Tia, and Eddie. I was thrilled to see them. I patted my brother on his curly, golden-haired head and he smiled a watery smile, accompanied by a gurgling sound.
I stared out the window, lost in thought the whole way home. Filming had been the genuine best experience of my entire life. On the last day of shooting, I cried my eyes out. The cast of Thumbs Up had been mostly boys, and sometimes I would get a little bored with them when all they wanted to talk about was video games, but we had all become close friends. My social media had gained millions of followers and likes. My Snapchat story had more views than I could've ever imagined getting. I had been in short films and commercials before, and done theatre and modeling, but hadn't gotten famous for any of that. It built up my resume, though. I had gotten my work permit only last year, and I had gotten lucky at an audition. The casting director for Heaven and Hell on Earth had really liked me for the role of the little ghost girl who lingered on earth, and then they recommended me to the casting director for Thumbs Up, who then asked me to come in and recite a monologue for them. I had to audition six times, with six different types of monologues.
"Welcome home!" My dad proclaimed after we halted to a stop in our driveway. Relief filled every inch of my sleep-deprived body when I saw my brick Georgian house, with the Japanese maple tree and lilac bush in the front yard. My mom grabbed Adam, and the rest of us took several trips to get all the bags inside.
"Winnie, sweetie, you can unpack and deal with all that stuff in the morning. Just go right on up to bed," Dad told me. I nodded, not about to argue. Hannah, who I shared a room with, followed me up to change into her pajamas. My head felt like it weighed a ton. I switched off the light and flopped into bed, not even taking off my clear aviator glasses or the minimal amount of makeup I was wearing. Hannah slipped on an oversized T-shirt and a pair of baggy shorts. I was about to protest that those were mine, that my being away didn't make it okay for her to take my clothes, but I fell fast asleep before I could.