Catch a Rising Star

Arriving in Los Angeles

Catch a Rising Star

A/N: Huh. This actually was a quick update compared to my other stories. Probably because I'm getting closer to one of the best parts. And I can't wait for Branch and Poppy to meet. That, and I was basically watching "Trolls: The Beat Goes On" all day today, so that might have been part of the motivation.

So let's get on with Chapter 4! Roll it!

Chapter 3

Arriving in Los Angeles

After a long flight, the family from Kansas arrived in Los Angeles. After getting their luggage and exiting the airport, Branch and Harper were waiting outside of the car rental building for their grandmother. Harper was getting impatient, however, as she paced back and forth in front of Branch, who was seated on a bench, reading one of the books he brought with him, "The Call of the Wild."

Harper saw him reading and sighed. "Really? That one?" She asked, gesturing to the book. "I think that was one of the books on my summer reading list."

Branch looked up from the page that he was reading. "Yet, you didn't read any of those books last summer. And you wonder why you're having a bit of trouble in your English class." He said with a light scowl.

"You should read one of these sometime." He added. "They're classics."

"Hey, at least I read!" Harper said.

With a dry look in his eyes, Branch reached into his sister's backpack and pulled out a teen magazine with Poppy Summers on the front.

"This is all pictures." He said.

Harper snatched the magazine from her brother's grasp with a roll of her eyes. Branch returned the eye roll as he turned back to his book. Then, Harper looked back towards the building, searching for any sign of their grandmother.

"What's taking Grandma so long?" She asked. "Let's just get a car so that I can meet Poppy Summers!" She squealed as she looked down at the magazine in her hands, staring at the pink haired superstar on the cover.

Branch looked back up from his book to stare at his sister with annoyance. "Uh, Harper?" He asked her. "You can't drive."

Harper scoffed. "Yeah, I can." She retorted, reaching into her purse and pulling out a small card from her wallet. "I have my driver's license."

Branch just scoffed. "No, you can't." He said, pointing behind her. "Check the sign."

Harper followed where her brother was pointing at and saw the sign on the side of the building. It said, "You must be 25 years or older to drive or rent a car from Los Angeles Car Rental."

"What?" Harper exclaimed in disbelief, and turned back over to her brother, who had a smug little smirk on his face.

"And I'm not twenty-five for another year, little sis." Branch said to her with that mocking smile before turning back to his book.

Harper just huffed in annoyance at her brother. "But now, how am I supposed to do what I wanna do?" She asked out loud.

"And what might that be?" A voice asked her. Harper froze when she saw her grandmother coming towards her and Branch.

She gulped, briefly stealing a glance over at Branch, who still had that smug smirk on his face before getting back to his book. Wanting to wipe off that smirk and figure out how she could get around town to meet Poppy, Harper quickly came up with an excuse.

She quickly came over to stand next to her brother, a wide smile on her face. "Um, so that... Branch and I can go sightseeing?" She asked with a smile.

Branch looked over at his sister with his mouth dropped open in disbelief. But he quickly closed it, holding back a retort, and just rolled his eyes instead.