Star Bright

Chapter 1-2

“I already told you, I’m not taking the part.” Julian did not so much as look at the script his uncle was attempting to place in his hand.

Uncle Eddie, of course, had no interest in whether Julian wanted what he was giving him. “It’s exactly the part you need right now. Sweet and cute and harmless.”

“It’s high school. I’m done playing teenagers.”

“What a joke. You know any actor with sense keeps playing teenagers as long as they can get away with it.”

“No matter how stupid they look.”

“Once the bloom is off the rose, there’s no getting it back. The curse of age may not hit the male of the species as hard as the female in this industry, but it’s still—”

“I’m only just twenty-one.”

“Exactly! And as smooth and pretty as any sixteen-year-old.”

“Oh, do you really think so, Uncle?” Julian said sweetly. “Certain previous comments of yours have hinted otherwise.”

It was possibly the most daring thing he’d ever said to his uncle, skirting this subject in the full hearing of the limo driver, and Julian felt a bit lightheaded as he waited for him to react.

If he’d hoped to fluster him, though, Julian should have remembered that the man was incapable of shame. Uncle Eddie, as both Julian and the entertainment industry called him, merely gazed at him steadily. If some ugly light far behind his eyes hinted anger at being called out, only Julian could have seen it.

“In a world where twenty-six-year-old ‘teenagers’ are more the norm than not, you would have no trouble with believability in the part,” Uncle said, voice only slightly clipped.

“It’s such a shame I don’t still look the way I did when I was thirteen,” Julian said, hardly able to believe he was speaking the words. “What was it you said then? That I was the most beautiful boy you’d ever seen?”

Had the driver’s glance in the mirror been a bit…startled? The limo jerked as it stopped at a red light, as if the driver almost hadn’t seen it in time.

Uncle’s voice was stone now. “It’s always a shame when a sweet child grows up into a difficult and petulant adult. It’s not unusual for a former ‘child star’ to turn out as a prick, but I thought I’d raised you better.”

“You didn’t raise me at all, Uncle.”

“You act as though I’m refusing to let you grow up, but you may recall that against my better judgment I let you take Gunpowder, and look how that’s turned out—”

“All the preliminary reviews are raving.”

“I’m talking about your own reputation, now that you’ve proven you can’t conduct yourself as an adult on the set.”

“She was the one who couldn’t conduct herself—” Julian bit his tongue, knowing too late that he’d made a mistake.

Uncle, of course, never missed a chance to go for blood. “Oh, she started it, is that your defense? You and every other kindergartener on the playground? Yes, Julian, you are clearly mature beyond your years.”

The lightheadedness had not gone away, had in fact progressed to a sort of buzzing in his ears. Julian entertained a brief fantasy of climbing through the sunroof and screaming the truth about his uncle to every person they passed. He half-believed no one would hear him, even if he shattered their eardrums. It was as if a force field surrounded his uncle, one that warped reality to suit his wishes.

“It’s funny you should mention conducting myself as an adult,” Julian said. “A rep from a cologne company asked me yesterday about being the face of their ad campaign. I said I would run it by you, and do you know what he did? He laughed, Uncle! In genuine surprise! And he asked, wasn’t I twenty-one now?”

Uncle Eddie looked at him, his expression neutral. So utterly neutral that Julian knew he was finally being heard.

“Doesn’t the time fly,” Julian said softly. “You’ve done so much to take care of me over the years. I’m sure it’s a shock to us both to realize that as of four days ago, for the first time in my life, I am in complete control of my own money and my own decisions.” You have no power over me now. You can’t hurt me. Wishful thinking, but he could make it true, couldn’t he? “I’ll be making some changes,” he said, hoping his voice wasn’t shaking, “to how I do things.”

For the space of a breath, Uncle’s expression was something very ugly indeed. Then he blinked, and the usual genial mask settled over his face.

“We’ll discuss the role tomorrow,” he said blithely, as if Julian had never spoken at all.

No. Frustration and panic welled up under Julian’s skin. You don’t get to disregard me anymore. You don’t get to will reality into your mold.

“Don’t worry about it now,” Uncle continued. “It won’t do to walk into the Constellation Gala looking as if we’ve been quarreling. The last thing you need is another public argument, after all.” He sighed heavily. “I hope you understand, Julian, that however much we disagree, I have only your best interests at heart.” He reached over and squeezed Julian’s knee.

It was hard to describe the white-out scream that flashed across Julian’s senses.

No.

He opened the car door behind him, half-fell out onto the sidewalk, and slammed the door on his uncle’s shocked face.

The light had changed, and the limo pulled away before Uncle could come after him. Julian gulped air, rubbed shaking hands against his trouser legs, and began walking in the other direction.