"I LIKE IT LIKE THAT HEY WINDOWS DOWN CHILLING WITH THE RADIO ON!” I sing, dancing around my room to Hot Chelle Rae’s I Like It Like That. New favourite song. I stopped for a second while the rappers came on. I didn’t like their part very much, it kinda ruined the song. I looked around at the progress that I had made on my room. I was very large and had a really cool view over the pool and tennis courts, and over the horizon, you could just see a blue smudge going from east to west. The ocean. I sighed. It might not be Hong Kong, but California definitely had it’s benefits. Mum and me had gone shopping for some new stuff to put in my room and lots of new outfits for me to wear to school, because they don’t do uniforms or something. How weird; every school I had ever been to had a uniform, I never pictured myself being one of those kids who got to go to a school that didn’t have one. I shrugged and continued dancing around to my music, organizing my desk and putting my new silvery covers on my bed. The theme of my room was “City Chic” as the magazines me and my mum had flipped through liked to call it. It looked really good so far, I had a queen-sized bed with mulit-coloured pillows and layered covers. On my walls I had special stickers that were like wallpaper, but were just the designs. On one wall a huge corkboard was hanging, covered in Polaroids of Pheebs and I. My desk and shelves held little momentos of Hong Kong and all my friends.
“TALLY!!” My brother called from downstairs.
“WHAT?” I yelled back.
“WE’RE GOING OUT TO DINNER WITH MY AGENT AND HIS FAMILY!” I sighed. Fun. I remember that mum and dad told me yesterday that we were going out to dinner, I had just tried to forget. His kids were probably like two, and he was probably a huge prick. Oh well, at least I got a chance to wear one of my new outfits. I opened the doors to my walk-in wardrobe, another perk to LA, and walked in. What to wear, what to wear? I wondered. I walked over to the bottoms section of the wardrobe and started rifling through numerous shorts and jeans. In the end I picked a pair of ripped, white washed jeans. Then I moved to the tops section. Much harder to pick from here, as mum and I picked dozens out when we went shopping the day before. In the end I decided on a cute sleeveless top that bunched up around the bottom, and for shoes I chose a pair of white canvas shoes. I then rushed to my bathroom to have a shower and do my makeup.
After I had spent thirty-five minutes showering and then another fifteen applying my makeup perfectly, I decided that I was ready. I had straightened my hair and then slightly curled the ends, so that it hung prettily over my shoulders. I had never been one of those girls who denied how pretty they were, or who assumed that wearing makeup made them look ‘fake’. If you want to be pretty, then what the hell, go ahead and be pretty. There isn’t a problem with wanting to look your best, now is there? No, didn’t think so. I give myself and my outfit the final once over in the mirror and decide that I look perfect. I then walked downstairs to see my brother playing Xbox on our giant TV screen. He was dressed really nice, with a cute little button up shirt and dark blue jeans. I sat on the couch next to him.
“Hey Lex.”
“Hey Tal.” He continued shooting on the screen, cursing when he missed or was shot himself.
“Bro, you suck.” I told him and he just laughed.
“I don’t. I rock.” I rolled my eyes. Modesty has never been mine or Alex’s best quality.
“Where are mum and dad?” I asked him. He shrugged.
“We’re hereeeeee!” my mum sang from behind me. She walked around to the TV and turned it off.
“Hey!” Alex protested, and my mum smiled at him.
“We’re leaving now.” Alex grumbled something unintelligible under his breath and stormed out to the car.
“You look stunning sweetheart.” Mum told me.
“Thanks, you too.” She grinned and did a little twirl.
“You really think so?”
“Yep.” She was wearing a floaty, flowery top and bootleg maternity jeans. She looked fantastic, especially if you factored in the fact that she was heavily pregnant.
“Shall we go?”
“What about dad?”
“He’s going there from work.”
“In that case, we shall.”
I wiggled in the soft, leathery seat of the limo. Gordy and my mum were talking about something funny, and Lex was listening to music while reading over a thick pile of papers. His script. I turned my music up one notch and stared out the window. We were going right into the heart of Hollywood. I could see huge houses up on hills and hotels and touristy shops littering the streets. People were walking around with their faces stuck into cameras and video recorders, no one appeared to be actually looking with their eyes.
“Idiot tourists.” I heard Gordy mutter, as he made a left turn onto a crowded street. He pulled to a stop in front of a trendy looking restaurant.
“This would be your stop.” He announced to us in a funny train conductors voice. I could feel butterflies in my stomach, though I wasn’t really sure why I was nervous. It was just a dinner with my brother’s agent and some snotty nosed little kids. Nothing to be scared about. I opened the door of the limo and slid out, my brother in tow.
We followed mum into the restaurant. The décor was very trendy, all polished black wood and creamy white accents.
“May I help you ma’am?” A waiter asked my mum.
“Yes, we’re meeting our friends here, their last name is Baker?” The man nodded and smiled, and I noticed how very good looking he was. I mean seriously, what is up with this town? Do they like hide ugly people away or something? Put them in special homes for hideousness?
“Right this way ma’am.” He weaved us through a maze of tables before bringing us to one with an extremely beautiful family sitting at it. There was three kids, a boy with light brown hair who seemed to be a bit older than me, maybe sixteen or seventeen, a girl who I was instantly envious of because of her perfect blonde hair and stunning face, and another young boy who must’ve been the same age as Lex with the same colour hair as his sister.
“Rob, Anna!” My mother exclaimed, and they stood up to give her a hug.
“How are you?” Rob asked mum.
“Pregnant, obviously!” Anna, mum and Rob laughed. Alex and I stood together feeling awkward.
“And you must be Talitha and Alexander! It’s so nice to finally meet you both.” I forced a smile, and Lex offered an easy grin.
“Nice to meet you too.” He said.
“How old are you guys now?” Anna asked.
“Fourteen and ten.” I responded, then winced when Alex elbowed me.
“I’ll be eleven soon.” He informed everyone.
“Well, that’s just great isn’t it?! Nicholas here is sixteen, Alice is fourteen and Joshua is eleven!” Rob said, gesturing to each of his children in turn. Alice looked waay older than fourteen. I would’ve pegged her for at least eighteen. I sighed. Although I was undoubtedly very pretty, I was not as beautiful as Alice. No frigging way.
We all took our seats, kids at one end of the table, adults at the other. Alex and Joshua hit it off right away. Turns out they both loved the same video games, music, foods, and sports. Meanwhile, Alice, Nick, and I all sat in awkward silence. It was Nick who decided to make conversation.
“Sooo… dad tells us that you guys came up from Hong Kong.”
“Yep, that’s right.”
“Did you like it there?” I smile.
“I loved it there, no where in the world compares to Hong Kong.” Nick smiled at me, and I noticed the cute little dimples he had. Then Alice spoke.
“Isn’t it like, really polluted there? Like disgustingly polluted? Like you get mutations if you breathe the air? That must be true, cause you’ve clearly been breathing in too much of it.” My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. What. A. Bitch. Even Nick turned to look at his sister in shock.
“Alice!” he exclaimed.
“What? The girl looks like she could use a bit of honesty. You’re hideous hon, and that outfit is too.” I clenched my jaw. No one, absolutely no on talked to me like that.
“You insufferable bitch,” I hissed at her, “you must think that you’re so much better than me because your hair is fluffed to perfection and your nails are neatly manicured, but let me tell you something; great hair and great nails, will not get you anywhere in life. Have fun becoming a Tai Tai, or as you American’s might say: Desperate Housewife.” I smirked and gave Alice the ‘look’. The ‘look’ that says, I beat you. Suck it, you ugly slut. Alice looked at me in surprise. Guess little Miss Perfect wasn’t used to people standing up to her like that.
“Bitch, I know I’m beautiful.” I informed her, “Don’t think that you can make me change my mind about that.” Nick looked awfully surprised as well. I guess he wasn’t used to people standing up to his sister either.
“You know what?” She asked me, her shocked look replaced by a clever, calculating one.
“What?”
“I think that we could be great friends.” I smiled. Bad beginnings make happy endings.