Change Of Plans (On Hold)

CHAPTER ONE

                "I guess it's half timing...and the other half's luck."

Charlotte

My mother is the world's biggest drama queen.

“Charlotte! Honey, I feel like I’m going to die.” Mom moans from where she’s lying on the couch, one hand strategically placed across her forehead to maximize the whole I’m-dying-right-now effect. “It’s...so...cold.”

I sigh, shoving the metal end of the thermometer into her mouth. Thankfully, she can’t speak, but the beeping comes all too soon. “Ninety-eight-point-one. You’re fine, Mom.”

“Are you sure, Charlotte? I feel faint...”

“The average human is somewhere around ninety-eight-point-six degrees Fahrenheit.”

“That’s point-five degrees lower than average!”

“Half a degree won’t kill you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Like I said, you’re—”

“No! I’m not fine. I have the worst headache.”

Do not snap at her. Whatever you do, don’t. Snap. “Would you like some Advil, then?”

“Actually, daring, that’d be so helpful. Can you run and get me some?”

“Sure. Where is it?” I ask, heading over to the kitchen.”

“Oh, Charlotte...I’m afraid I’ve run out. I think I used it all at work. My job is very migraine-inducing, you know. Could you do a huge favor for me and go over to CVS for me? There’s ten dollars on the counter.” Mom gives me the puppy-dog look.

Less than twenty-four hours in Los Angeles and I already want to leave.

Coming here for the entire summer wasn’t my choice. Okay, fine, so maybe I did say yes, but my dad made me feel guilty when he caught me saying something along the lines of, “There’s no way I’m staying with her.” I was all ready and set for the summer—I was supposed to say home and study for SATs. But no—my dad had to use the guilt trip. “Your mother really, really misses you,” he reasoned.

“Yeah?” I snapped. “Then why didn’t she try sixteen years earlier?”

“She’s a busy lady; you know that. And besides, it’ll be a great opportunity for you. You never know what you’ll find in Los Angeles!” Because I’m a complete Daddy’s Girl, I accepted Mom’s invitation to stay with her.

My mother, in case you don’t know, is Angelica Laurel Brennan. The Angelica Laurel Brennan, one of the biggest fashion icons of 2012 and director of the 2011 remake of Guys and Dolls and one of many modernized versions of Cinderella, with Emma Roberts and Cody Simpson in it. As horrible as it might be for me to say, I’m not really sure what else she’s directed, because I made a promise to myself to never watch anything Mom-related, because that would mean that she was real.

Unfortunately, she is real. She is the real reason I’m currently standing in CVS with no one but one other sketchy-looking customer (who the heck wears sunglasses indoors?) and the clerk girl who’s got a nose piercing and is currently flipping through the latest issue of People magazine.

I head toward the medicine and hygiene isle, wary of the sketchy dude. For some reason unbeknownst to me, he’s looking at feminine hygiene products and/or pregnancy stuff. Or maybe he’s actually a she. Hey, don’t judge a book by its cover.

Although this is only my first full day in LA, I can tell that people are way too hyped up about this place. As far as I can see, the words “Los Angeles” is a shorter way of saying a bunch of tourists taking picture of every living creature that even sort-of-but-not-really resembles Johnny Depp, and rich people who try to make and maintain a high status by saying that they live in one of the most famous cities in the world. I have yet to see Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, or the “Hottest New Couple of the Year,” actress Danielle McKenzie and singer Keane Montgomery. I have yet to be stunned by all that Hollywood glamour. I have yet to be impressed.

My eyes finally scanned over a bottle of Advil and I snatch it off the shelf. Waiting in line behind the pregnant dude or whatever makes me a bit impatient. He literally has ten pregnancy tests. Why anyone would need more than one is beyond me.