Original Work: You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home, Chapter 7, Part 2
Chapter 7, Part 2
As soon as I was in view of the kitchen, Schapelle and Linda got to their feet, though Garth still looked as relaxed and half-asleep as he had before, a signal that he was on Emilia duty once again. I wondered if he appreciated or resented this change in lifestyle; I guess it all depended on the mood that Emilia was in when she woke up. Good-byes were exchanged and I was ushered outside and toward the car waiting in the driveway, where I climbed in the backseat beside Linda.
Schapelle turned on the radio as the driver steered by down the steep driveway toward the street, scanning the stations until she found the one that she was looking for. “This is the radio you’ll be doing an interview with.” She twisted around in her seat so that she was facing me. “Real nice guys, I’ve met them several times before.”
“Does that mean that Emilia’s been on the radio with them before?” I questioned, to which Schapelle nodded. “Then I doubt they’re going to be that nice.” I muttered this last part, though it seemed like common sense to me. People weren’t exactly receptive toward Emilia, though past grudges didn’t seem to stop most people from approaching when it was clear I wasn’t going to throw a camera in their face.
I was quiet for most of the ride, listening to the two personalities on the radio bantering back and forth amidst playing music, giving traffic and interviewing another celebrity. It was hard to believe that I was in the same city with, let alone the fact that I would soon be sitting in the same chair as a teen-drama starlet I’d watched on television dozens of times. My friends would never believe half the stories I told them, regardless of whether I’d actually seen the people I was talking about.
“In the next hour, we’ll have Emilia Thompson on air.” Said Jeremy Windsor, one of the men chatting on the radio once the latest Britney song had come to an end. “I’m sure this is an interview you guys aren’t going to want to miss.”
“That’s right.” Chimed in his partner in crime Austin Reynolds. “After her bipolar behavior yesterday, I’m sure you’re all interested in seeing how she’s going to act today.” He chuckled. “Maybe the drugs have worn off.”
His co-host laughed as well. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Maybe we’ll lose another mic.” They laughed heartily at that, as though my sister destroying studio equipment was a story they enjoyed telling at parties. Maybe it was, who knows.
I gave Schapelle a pointed look and she shrugged. “Well, they’ll be disappointed today, that’s for sure.”
“People laugh and make jokes about it, but they hate me.” I informed her frankly. “Well…they hate Emilia, but it might as well be the same thing. They don’t want me on the show.”
But Schapelle didn’t seem swayed by my words. “You’re just going to have to change their minds Scout.” She turned back around and stared out the windshield at the bumper to bumper traffic that stretched out endlessly in front of us. I just hoped it cleared up soon, because being late to my interview wasn’t going to do well with my track record.
It seemed, however, that none of the other drivers shared my concern and we inched along. Traffic was never a problem in Little Paris. Thinking of the far from crowded streets of my home town got me thinking about the people who lived there and I pulled my phone from my purse, where I’d stashed it last night before passing out on the couch, and saw that I had a few text messages and a voice mail. Most of the text messages were from Jordan and Zach, though there were a few from people in school that I hadn’t even known had my number in the first place. It seemed that they were a little more interested in my existence now that they knew why I was going to be absent from school for a while. I wonder who was spreading news of my absence and hoped that the story they were hearing wouldn’t get out to the press somehow, though I doubted journalists would come sniffing around Independence for their next big story.
The voice mail was from my dad and hearing his voice made me miss home more than I ever thought possible. He understood that I was busy and requested that I call when I could and I wished that I could call him right that second, but I didn’t want to get him in trouble at work by distracting him. I knew that I’d been mentally promising myself to call home since I’d been here, but I made the promise yet again; as soon as I was done with this stupid interview and the commercial, I would give my dad a call, just to see what he was up to. I was all ready mentally instructing myself not to break down and whine about how much I wanted to come home, but that was the mind set that I was currently in; I might be nudging Emilia’s career in the right direction but Emilia hated me, the only conversations Linda and I were having were about ‘work’ and the person I was closest to since coming here was Garth, a man who I had absolutely no blood relation to. I supposed I was doing what I had come here to do, helping Emilia’s public image, but it still didn’t seem like there was any point to me being here. No one believed Emilia was actually having a change of heart and as soon as I went back home to Little Paris, Emilia would just go back to her old ways and all this would be for nothing. Those were not the things I needed to perk me up this morning.
I thought about texting Zach and Jordan, but there was just too much to convey in a few lines of text. Though I did respond to my brother’s question as to how my efforts to ensure he meet a certain celebrity were going.
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