Famous by Todd Strasser Read Free Book Online Page B

to be famous. He was going to be a star.
    Next, he will ask, “It’s a big leap from school performances to an actual career. How did you prepare for it?”
    And he will answer, “I took acting and voice lessons. I went to the acting and modeling conventions and cut school to go to open auditions. That’s where the agents saw me, and that’s how I signed with Elaine Mazur, my first agent. That really helped, because she could schedule me for auditions after school.”
    And then he will ask, “How did your parents feel about what you were doing?”
    And he will answer, “Truthfully? They weren’t paying attention. Elaine would give me papers for them to sign, and I’d forge their signatures. My parents openeda bank account for me when I was fourteen, and I had my own debit card, so when I started getting checks for commercial work I’d deposit them and then use the card to get the money. Elaine’s bookkeeper filed my taxes. Everything got sent to our address at home, but my parents almost always worked late, so I’d get to the mailbox first, take out the things for me, and leave the rest of the mail for them. All my parents knew was that I’d done some commercials, and they thought I was going to a few auditions a month. They had no idea I was out there hustling almost every day.”
    â€œBut they must have found out at some point, right?”
    On the screen Avy will say, “Oh, yeah. It all came to a head when I got offered the spot on
Rich and Poor
. The teen reality show, you know? It would have meant being out of school for April and May of freshman year, but the producers promised to hire tutors to help the kids keep up with their schoolwork. You know that kid Brad Cox? The one who’s now starring on Nickelodeon’s
Dave in Deep
? He got his start on
Rich and Poor
the same season I was supposed to be on the show. And now he’s one of the hottest teen stars on TV. That’s how close I came. That would have been me.”
    He will pause here, his face tightening with anger at the memory, and light a cigarette, snapping the Zippo closed. “Of course, there was no way I could miss two months of school without my parents knowing, so Ihad to talk to them. I tried to reason with them, but that didn’t work. Then I begged, I cried, I screamed, I slammed doors. I mean, this went on for days. They just didn’t understand. Their son, an actor? No freaking way. Their son, a TV reality show actor? Even worse! Like most stuck-up snobs, they just assumed reality TV was crap. How in the world would that help me get into a good college? What about the so-called career they envisioned for me? You have to understand who my parents are. Typical upwardly mobile, social-climbing uptight white corporate straight arrows. Both lawyers. The types who truly believe that the first eighteen years of life are nothing more than a prelude to a college application.”
    His hands will be fists, eyes narrowed, jaw jutting forward. For Avy, his parents stopping him from being on the show was the ultimate act of betrayal. It didn’t matter that there is no real way to know what would have happened had they let him take the part. For every Brad Cox who goes on to a successful career in TV, there have been hundreds, maybe by this point even thousands, of eager, starstruck wanna-bes whose brief bursts of fame on reality TV shows led nowhere.
    â€œHow did you feel about that?” he will ask himself on the screen.
    Avy will sit back, cross his arms, and lower his forehead. “You want to know the truth? I’ve never forgiven them. I hate them.”

MARCH OF TENTH GRADE, SEVENTH DAY OF SPRING VACATION IN LA

    WHEN I SUGGEST THE SHOT I WANT FOR MY PRIVATE COLLECTION, Rex’s face goes stony.
    â€œOh, come on, Rex, you looked so cute,” I beseech him. “I told you it’s just for my private collection. I’m already sworn to secrecy