Double Trouble

Meet Annie

California's POV

When Val turned up at my door, I had an overwhelming desire to slam it in her smug face. I couldn't help imagining all the things that could have gone wrong on my date with Gary, which would have been her fault.

She's meant to be my best friend. What sort of best friend ditches you with a guy you hardly know in a town you've lived in for barely 2 weeks?

I walked back to my bed and flopped onto it, sighing.

"What's wrong?" Antoinette asked me. Gosh, that's a mouthful.

"Can I give you a nickname?" I asked her, leaning on my elbows.

She smiled gleefully. "No one's ever wanted to give me a nickname before!"

I studied her carefully, pondering the nice ways I could shorten her name. I wasn't actually doing this to be rude. Antoinette was growing on me, regardless of Val's hatred towards her.

"Ant?" I suggested.

She shook her head. "Too bug-like."

"Nettie?"

"Sounds painful."

"Ann?"

"Old-ladyish."

"Toni?"

"Sounds like a man."

"Annie?"

She nodded her head excitedly. "Yes, yes, yes! I love it!"

I grinned at her. At least one of us was happy.

"And I can call you Forni, and we can have sleepovers together and share homework and watch chick flicks and go on dates," She continued.

"Annie," I stopped her. "One, you can never call me Forni. Two, technically, we already have sleepovers together. We're roommates. And three, I don't want to go on dates with you. You're not my type."

Annie poked her tongue out at me. I'd never seen her like this, so... carefree. Happy. Friendly, even.

"What's gotten into you today?" I asked her. "Why are you so cheerful?"

She looked at me suspiciously. "Can I trust you with the most important secret I have?"

I opened my eyes innocently and nodded. "Of course." My first thought was how interested Val would be, but then I remembered what she did to me, and I decided I wasn't going to tell her whatever Annie's secret was.

"Well, my dad called today. He's coming over in a month or so, to watch the school productions."

"So?"

"My dad is David Samson."

My eyes widened in shock, and I rolled dramatically off my bed with a loud thump. "David Samson?" I whispered. I was sharing a room with the daughter of one of the biggest film directors in the world?

"Yes, shh!" Annie answered. She jumped daintily from her bed and covered my mouth with her hand. "You can't tell anyone." She said solemnly, staring into my eyes.

I nodded. She let me go, and I sat up. "Why are you here, then?" I asked her.

She sighed loudly. "I was... A difficult child. It's hard to grow up in the spotlight, you know?"

I shook my head. I didn't know. In fact, I couldn't even begin to imagine it.

"Anyway, I was getting a bit rude and spoilt for Dad's liking, so he sent me here. Mrs Fernwick was a friend of my nanny's."

"You had a nanny?" I asked, amazed.

"Yeah, but I ran through them pretty quick. I was a right old bugger, for a 6 year old."

"Right, I get that, but don't you go home on weekends? Don't you see your dad then?" I asked.

"Well, no. I actually, uh- on weekends, I go to a, um, a support group." She seemed embarrassed.

"Where you on drugs? I told you, they're bad!"

She smiled weakly. "No, it's a depression support group. Mental illness and such."

"Oh." I didn't know what to say. How does one react to that sort of news?

"I'm fine now," she reassured me. "But I like catching up with old friends who were there in the tough times."

Hmm. Interesting developments in the Annie Samson story.

Annie Samson. That rings a bell. "Is your name actually Antoinette?"

"What makes you think it's not?" She sounded panicked.

"I've heard of Annie Samson."

"Oh." She answered. "Well, no, it's not. My name is Annie on my birth certificate, but when I moved here, Dad figured it would be better to have a new name, to separate my past from my future and hide from the media."

"Well, it seems to have worked." I smiled at her. "Congratulations."

"Thanks. Can you sing?" She changed the subject rapidly.

"Actually, yes." She smiled at me.

"Awesome! Come sign up for the production! We do it with the boys from Princeton Academy, so you can get yourself some loving." She nudged me with her shoulder.

I laughed. "Honestly, you are so different to how you usually are. We should do this more often. Plus, I already got myself some loving, thank you very much."

She giggled. I whispered all the details about mine and Gary's date. It felt wrong. This was the sort of stuff I should have been telling Val, but I told her nonetheless. She listened intently.

"Him and Flynn are always in the productions," she said. "Do it, and you guys can spend more time together!"

I nodded happily. It sounded like a plan.

Written by Ansel