by Kailin Gow
Rachel cuts me off and smiles widely. “That my boyfriend and I were playing vampires last night, and he took it too far, biting me for real that I actually got teeth marks.”
I nod, “Yup, that’ll do.” I shut off the engine, and opened my door. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Rachel responds, and we head into class.
*****
Rachel is grinning from head to toe, so pleased with her first time teaching. “I didn’t know it’d be so fun,” she says. “I mean, what a bright group of kids. What they came up with is so imaginative. Even funny! It was like they were entertaining me instead of me entertaining them.”
“Told you you’d like it,” I say, locking up the doors of the Academy and walking with Rachel to my car. “So what girlie thing do you want to do? Ice cream, a manicure, streaks in hair, or shopping or…”
“Hey, let’s leave the car here and walk over to that cute shopping area near the beach. They have an ice cream shop there, a beauty salon, and some cute boutique stores,” Rachel says. “Maybe we can get all of those things in today.”
“Maybe…if there’s no wait, but if not, then what do you really want to do?”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter,” Rachel says. “The important thing is, I’m here, back in Malibu, with my best friend, and being here with you is all that matters.”
“Aw,” I stop and hug her. “Thank you, Rachel. I’m just happy being here with you, too. I wish you were back here all the time, like when we were kids.”
“I know, me too. I think Drew and Nat feel the same way. Only, unlike me, they’re actually doing something about it.”
“Hey,” I say, “just because you’re a girl doesn’t mean you can’t too. If you want to be here, you’ll find a way. Plus, if you really like acting and want to pursue it, you should be here. You can always help me out with the Academy…”
Rachel’s eyes light up. “That would be perfect, Summer. After I graduate from high school, I can try to get into college around here, major in Drama, help you teach classes at the Academy, and see Ryan all the time. Oh, I’m so excited about this! Why didn’t I think about that?”
“Because I think you always had things planned for you. Because you’re the kid sister, the youngest one, and no one expects anything from you. It’s just the opposite with me where I’ve always been taught by Aunt Sookie and my mom to be self-sufficient, to be independent, to take care of myself.”
“To grow up too soon?” Rachel asks.
“Maybe, and now I’m really feeling it since Aunt Sookie’s gone.”
“I’m really really sorry, Summer. I should have been here for you more right after. You just seemed like you were handling it so well, and it seemed that Astor wanted to whisk you away with him right after so he can have you all for himself. And while Nat and Drew may not have liked that, I felt that was what you needed the most at that time…to get away with someone who wasn’t as close to Aunt Sookie as we were. I even had to assure Nat and Drew, just so they wouldn’t try to wrestle you away from Astor and bring you back to the Pad…Drew especially, since he’s impulsive like that.”
“No, that was fine,” I say, now knowing why they haven’t really contacted me as much afterwards. They thought I was with Astor all this time, when all this time, I’ve been in Malibu at the Pad with an occasional weekend visit with Astor.
“We’re here!” Rachel said happily. “My favorite salon here in Malibu. The Beautique. Let’s go in and get manicures. I’m getting purple with blue and silver glitter. What are you getting?”
“Have to see what they have. Maybe nude with a bit of mahogany at the tip.”
“Ooh, I can picture that now. Very sexy, Summer. When did you start getting this way? BTW, I love that you are.”
The elegant brunette lady who owns the place, Kitty Richards greets us, and directs us to a manicure station, as we talked.
“Can I get you something?” a hip and pretty blonde girl asks. “Water, tea, coffee, ice cream?”
“Did you say ‘ice cream’?” Rachel’s face perks up.
“Yes, we have five flavors. Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Coffee Dream, and non-fat Butterscotch.”
“Um, can I have Coffee Dream and Chocolate?” Rachel asks.
“Sure,” the girl responds. “And you?”
“I’ll have Coffee Dream and Butterscotch,” I respond.
“Good choices,” the girl states before taking off.
“Wow,” Rachel said. “A manicure and ice cream at the same place. What else could I want?”
“Entertainment news, gossip, and all that good stuff,” I said, nudging her to look up at the big screen playing clips and interviews from one of the Entertainment TV shows. The girl with the ice cream returns, and she says. “Oh, if you’re afraid of not being able to eat your ice cream while getting your nails done, we can make them shakes, and you can drink your shakes with a straw so you don’t have to use your hands.”
“Okay,” I respond. “Make mine a shake.”
“Me, too!” Rachel says, laughing, “Only, can you add some whip cream to it, with a cherry on top?”
The girl smiles and responds, “Sure.”
*****
A moment later, we’re sitting there, getting our manicures, sipping our milkshakes, and watching television when I hear a gasp come from behind me. Some woman in her early thirties has her eyes glued to the big screen, and she is getting excited. “Oh, he is so hot,” she tells her friend, another woman in her thirties.
“What I would give to be able to lick his face,” she says. “I’d give my right eye if I can spend the night with him, letting him have his way with me.”
“That’s not even what I would do, Nicole. I’d rock him so hard, he wouldn’t be able to walk the next day.” She laughs.
“Oh, the toys?” her friend said. “He’d be great for a threesome, wouldn’t he? He’s got that angelic look, but he’s sexy as hell too with that body, sunken cheeks, and full pouty mouth that I could do so much with.”
Rachel and I stare at each other in disbelief, hearing how these women go on about having sex with some hot guy when Rachel nudges me, pointing at the television screen. It’s Astor, and he is in his costume, with a white open shirt falling to his black leather pants, exposing his smooth muscular chest and rippled abs. His blonde hair, which is now shoulder length is around his face. The women aren’t kidding. He looks so damn sexy, even I forget I am dating him, or had dated him. He is being interviewed on the set of his latest movie, and looking into the camera, answering the questions a beautiful television host asks him.
“All this couldn’t have happened for me if it weren’t for my late friend and mentor, Sookie Jones, and her Acting Academy where she coached me,” he says. “She passed away a few months ago, and I’m dedicating my performance in this film to her.”
“Any special plans for Christmas break when you finally get to go home from the set?”
Astor looks right into the camera, his blue eyes glistening. “To go back home to Malibu and be with my girl, Summer.” His eyes water up, looking into the camera. “I know that being away making this film has taken me away from you for a bit, but my heart’s always been with you, Summer,” he says. “I love you.”
“Aw,” the hostess responds. “That’s so sweet. She’s a very lucky girl.”
“I wish she would see that,” Astor states, his face showing a bit of sadness.
“A rough patch right now?” the hostess asks.
“Nah,” Astor says quickly, as if he just remembered he’s on national television. “We’re good.”
“Well, millions of your fans would be happy to see you single, you know?” the hostess says. “Or at least dream that you are.”
Astor laughs. “And I love my fans very much, too. Really. I wouldn’t be able to make the films that I do, if I didn’t have all of their support.”
The hostess smiles and states, “What a super nice guy. I wish you the best.”
“T
hank you,” Astor responds, kissing the hostess on the cheek, causing her to blush.
“Oh, that Summer girl must be such a bitch to not appreciate him,” Nicole states.
“I hate her with a passion,” her friend responds. “Must be a total bitch.”
“A bitch we fans have to bring down so Astor knows there are better girls out there for him. Girls like us.”
“Definitely, Steph. Girls like us who have boobs and a real body. She’s probably some skinny model with a boy’s body and all hair.”
“Yeah, probably starves herself.”
“Here she is,” Nicole pulls out her phone and shows a picture to her friend. “Her name’s Summer Jones. What kind of a stupid name is that…like some kind of James Bond girl. Okay, so she’s not skinny and has lots of curves.”
“I really hate her now,” Steph responds. “Is she one of those Victoria’s Secret models? Probably as dumb as shit.”
“Not probably. Is. She doesn’t deserve him.”
“No, it says here that she’s the owner of Aunt Sookie’s Acting Academy. Right here in Malibu.”
“No, do you think she lives around here? She probably does. The school is here.”
“Someone should burn down her school, with her in it,” Steph says. “Then Astor can be ours.”
“Yes, ours! Ha ha!” Nicole agrees, sipping her milkshake.
When she finishes, she looks up and sees Rachel and I looking straight at her.
Her face freezes, looking confused at first, and then like a light bulb switching on, she nudges her friend, Steph.
Steph looks over at us, and they both grin a wicked mean grin. “Bitch.”
I get up out of my chair. My nails are almost all done except for the pinky on my right hand. Rachel gets up, too. We pay our bill, and start to leave.
On the way out, I hear one of them say, “She’s pretty, but she’s not all that.”
At that point, Rachel goes back to our station, “Forgot my shake,” she tells the manicurist. “Thanks. Great job, we have to leave early though. My friend Summer Jones has an important date with Astor Fairway, you know.” She walks by Nicole and Steph’s stations and smiles widely. “Whom she gets to rock his world and lick his face all the time. Jealous much? Bitches!” She pours her milkshake over one of their heads and quickly walks out.
Rachel joins me outside, while I hear the bitches call Rachel a bitch and criticize her looks, and I laugh while we walk away briskly.
“You’d think by the time they’re in their thirties, they’d know better than to act like a bunch of insecure catty high school witches,” Rachel said. “Promise me when we get to be in our thirties, we won’t be like that.”
“And I thought high school had mean girls,” I say.
“Guess they never grow up, only uglier, older, and more bitter.”
“Guess so.”
We’re so close to the Academy now, I’m almost relieved that we could get away from all that. What had started as a pleasant day, became ugly because of a few bitter women.
“Don’t let them get you down,” says Rachel. “They’re just jealous they don’t have someone like Astor in their lives. He really did look amazing on television.”
“Yes,” I respond.
“Are you going to see him when he gets back into town?”
“We’re still friends, of course.”
“He wants more than that, Summer.”
“I know, but it’s complicated.”
“Oh, holy crapness!” Rachel shouts. “Who would do such a low thing?”
“What?” I turn away from her and look in the direction she’s looking.
The windshield of my car has been shattered, and someone had spray-painted in neon orange paint, the word, “Slutty Bitch” on there.
“Can’t be those women back there. They couldn’t get here that fast to do that.”
“Look there!” Rachel points at the glass doors to the Academy’s entrance.
The same neon orange spray paint had smeared the entire double doors and walls of the entrance. “Slut, Copycat, Stupid Bitches, Wannabe, Glad You’re Dead, Close Down. Whore, Hope You Shut Down, Unoriginal, I Couldn’t Care Less If You Died, Call Yourself an Acting School?” and more obscenities all over.
Rachel takes a good look at this, and let out a deep sigh. “I thought those bitches back at the salon were bad, this is ten times worse.”
I’m speechless. Cyber-attacks are one thing, but now these bullies had come out hoping to physically harm me and my property.
I’m glad Rachel is with me. I wouldn’t know what I would do if she wasn’t. I probably would have freaked out, especially since I am already in such an emotional state.
Rachel has her phone out, taking pictures of the car, of the doors, the walls, and the Academy. “I’m sending this to the police,” she says. “This is not acceptable. We’re not going to take this shit from anyone.”
Shortly after she sent off the photos, she gets a call. It’s Nat.
“Yes, she’s here. She’s fine. Summer’s a tough girl…the bullies won’t get to her.” She hands me the phone.
“Summer?” Nat’s soothing voice asks. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, I am,” I respond. “My car isn’t, though. The windshield’s been shattered by a brick, and the Academy looks like a graffiti artist’s latest project.”
Nat laughs. “Good to see you still have your sense of humor.”
“Trying,” I respond.
“When they insult you like that, insult Aunt Sookie and the Academy,” Nat solemnly says, “Summer, they’re insulting everyone and everything Aunt Sookie, you, and the Academy stands for, including us. Aunt Sookie helped so many kids, women, and all kinds of people reach their potential. She provided them a way to achieve their dreams, and she taught all of us what it’s like to really live. We are all better off because we knew her. And the attacks against you? It’s not acceptable. I’ll use everything I have, including Donovan Dynamics’ resources to find out who did this, and we’ll make sure they don’t do this again or there will be heavy consequences for them. You’re not going to be a victim to them, Summer. Aunt Sookie wouldn’t want you to.”
“Thanks,” I say. It seems that’s the only word I could say at the moment.
“I’ll be flying in tomorrow after I get a few things around here taken care of, but I’ll be there. Don’t worry, Summer. I’ve never said this to you before, but, I think you’re one of the most amazing people I know. And you know this already, but I’m crazy about you. Everything about you. You have a lot of people who love you, so don’t let the haters get you down. Anyone who is worth their salt, who is doing something important with their lives, who is making waves, will have them. Otherwise, haters aren’t even worth the time they put into hating.”
“True,” Rachel says, jumping in.
“Hey,” I say, “I thought this was a private call between Nat and I.”
“Oh, sorry,” Rachel responds, “I wanted to talk to Nat. Tell him what the police said. They just called me after I submitted the photos.”
“What did they say?” I ask, moving out of my catatonic state.
“They’re coming here to investigate, get fingerprints, photos, and other things…you know police things.”
“Match it with any past vandalism in the neighborhood, at the Academy, and stuff like that?” I ask.
“Yes, you’re recovering already, Summer!” Rachel asserts.
“I was shocked at first, saddened by the meanness of it, at how low a human being could get to say those things about anyone, but now I’m mad, and I want justice,” I say.
“So are we,” Nat responds. “Like I said, an attack on Summer, an attack on Aunt Sookie or the Academy is an attack on all of us.”
Chapter 11
Nat
I’m in the office at Donovan Dynamics, talking to the team Dad assigned to work on tracking the source of all the cyber attacks on Summer and the Academy. Despite everything Dad’s
done to break up the family with his affair and then the divorce, I couldn’t help feeling proud at this moment, to be associated with Dad, to be the son of the man who built this billion dollar company from scratch. Every executive here seems to have some reverence towards him, some form of respect.
The more I learn about this company, the more I see how what they’re doing is helping someone I care about…Summer, the more I begin to see how much work and genius go into making Donovan Dynamics what it is today.
It’s easy to dismiss something like this, or a company like that. There’s no personality, no face, no people you see associated with it. But when you look below the surface, it’s all there. The company is built by people. It’s the personality of the founders, and definitely the vision of theirs that is being carried out everyday.
“We’ve got traces that goes all the way to Sri Lanka, some to the Philippines, others to Germany,” Timothy Childs says. He’s one of the executives working on this project.
“A large concentration seems to be coming from Florida,” Peter Lee says. “Many of the comments, the blogs, and even the tweets originate from there.”
“What’s in Florida?” I ask.
“We found a blogger who is a major fan of Astor Fairway’s from there. She’s kind of a celebrity stalker. You wouldn’t know it if you look at her. Here’s a picture of her from her blog. A double bagger if there is one. Everything’s Peachy Reviews. Blogs about movies, movie stars, books, authors, music, musicians, gossip, and people she hates. She has a hate list and also a witch hunt list. She claims to be religious, but from her behavior, her hate list, and what she’s pushing, it seems the opposite. I mean I’m religious, and if I saw her stuff, I’d say she doesn’t live by her beliefs. She claims to be unbiased, but she reviews tons of her so-called friends’ or what she perceives as her celebrity friend’s books or music, and gives them glowing reviews, while she puts down their competitor’s books or music. A real peach that one.”
“Well, thank you Peter, for your honest opinion,” Timothy says. “You think this falls into the group that has been targeting Summer and the Academy?”
