Next Door to a Star by Krysten Lindsay Hager Read Free Book Online

makeup, she might look a little bit like Valeria. Grandpa came in the kitchen to get the barbecue sauce and saw my magazine.
    “Hey, Chandler Ashton,” he said.
    Chandler Ashton was Valeria’s character on the show. Grandma asked him how he knew her name and he shrugged.
    “I must have seen her on a news program or something,” he said. “Am I going to do the corn on the grill too?”
    “Dad, do you watch Charmed Lives ?” Aunt Maggie smirked.
    “You know your mother doesn’t approve of those types of shows,” he said. “Hadley, do you want to set the table?”
    I nodded, but I hated eating outside, because you get bugs in your face and you spend the whole time guarding your food. Clark was eating at his friend’s house for dinner, so I was stuck sitting next to Lily, who was having toddler meat sticks for dinner. She kept waving her hands around and getting hot dog water on me. Then she dumped her toddler cup over my plate and little drops of juice got on my potato chips. Aunt Maggie took the cup away from her, but my chips still had red stuff all over them.
    After dinner, Grandpa took us out on the boat. Aunt Faith stayed home because she gets seasick. I was nervous at first, but it was kind of fun when the boat hit choppy water. Grandma didn’t find it fun at all and she kept telling Grandpa to slow down. My mascara was smeared under my eyes when I got back to the house.
    “Weird question, but why does Charlotte live with her Grandpa? Where are her parents?” I asked Aunt Maggie as we walked inside.
    “Her mom passed away two years ago from a rare blood disorder. Her parents got divorced a long time ago,” she said. “I don’t know if she sees her dad—”
    “He was no good,” Grandma interrupted. “Her mother was a saint to put up with him.”
    Maggie touched my arm. “Why don’t you go over there with some cookies?” she said. “We’re going to do boring grownup stuff tonight. You should hang out with your friend.”
    I figured even if Charlotte hated me, there’s no way anyone would slam the door in my face if I had homemade cookies. So I took my chances and walked over and rang the doorbell.
    “Those cookies look good,” Mr. Lidstrom said when he answered the door. “Let’s get a nice glass of milk to go with those.”
    Charlotte took a cookie without saying anything. They were watching Entertainment Tonight , so Mr. Lidstrom took the plate into the family room. Char sat back down on the couch. She was looking through old issues of gossip magazines and some issues of Soap Opera Digest . She didn’t say anything, so I picked up one of the issues and started to flip through it.
    “Here,” she said, pushing something toward me. It was a picture of Jack Brogger.
    “Thanks,” I said, hoping the gesture meant she wasn’t too mad at me anymore. “What’s new?”
    She shrugged and kept turning pages. Then she looked up. “Do you want to go downtown tomorrow and hang out at noon?”
    “Yeah, I’d love that.”
    She nodded slowly. “Okay.”
    Uncle Stu sent me a text saying it was getting late and Grandma wanted me home, so I got up to leave.
    “See you tomorrow?” Char asked.
    “Definitely.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
     
    Simone called me the next morning and asked me to come over. I knew I should go meet Char, but I didn’t know if Simone would ever invite me over again. I mean, it wasn’t like TV stars regularly called my house. Okay, so it wasn’t like anybody called my house, so I couldn’t tell Simone I was busy—especially when Lauren Gere was coming to town. Instead, I called Charlotte and told her I couldn’t hang out today. She started to ask why, but I said my grandpa had to use the phone. I felt so crappy lying to her, but I figured she’d understand if she had the chance to hang out with Simone, wouldn’t she?
    Simone was sitting on her bed when I walked in her room. She was wearing a tiny orange t-shirt that showed off her tan