The Year of the Great Seventh by Teresa Orts Read Free Book Online Page B

You’re making me nervous.”
    “I’m just a bit tired. I didn’t sleep well last night. That’s all.” I rushed to explain, trying not to give too much importance to the subject.
    “You’ve been absent lately. Is everything all right?” Megan seemed unsatisfied with my explanation. “It’s still about the fight, isn’t it?”
    She was aware I was hiding something from her and was heading straight for the evidence. In a not-too-subtle attempt to get Megan focused on her problems and not mine, I tried turning the conversation around. “I’m fine. I got over it. What about you? You seem a bit stressed lately.”
    Megan’s eyes hardened behind her sunglasses. Then the awkward silence filled the car again. She seemed immersed in her thoughts. Her eyes fixed on a black Hummer ahead of us.
    “I guess I can’t really fool you… There’s actually something that’s bothering me,” she announced. I could tell by the seriousness of her voice the conversation was going to take a twist that I might not like. She slid her sunglasses up and caught my eye as she drove. A piercing pain punctured my stomach. She’d caught me off guard. I wasn’t ready to discuss Nate with her.
    Megan brought the car to a halt behind the black Hummer. The traffic was terrible and a caravan of cars blocked the road. “Do you remember Alex Giordani? He was at Ethan’s party.”
    I nodded silently, inviting her to continue.
    “He just got signed to play the main character in a new production, and I’ve been offered the supporting role.” She tapped her fingers anxiously on the steering wheel.
    A wave of relief invaded my body. She wasn’t going to bring up Nate.
    “And that’s what you want, isn’t it?” I asked, as I couldn’t imagine what the problem was. Megan appeared in movies often, and I didn’t understand why she was worried.
    “The thing is that I don’t know if I want to do this anymore. I think I need a break. I want to have a normal teenage life. I do enjoy acting, but I never chose this. My parents did. It isn’t my choice anymore. It’s become an obligation.” Megan spoke with a trembling voice.
    “What are you going to do?” I didn’t really know how I could help her overrule her parents’ decisions.
    Megan resignedly raised her eyebrows. “Mom already signed me up for the role and she didn’t even ask me.”
    “Can she do that? That has to be illegal,” I said in shock.
    Megan shook her head from side to side. “She’s my manager and my legal guardian.”
    The car behind us honked. The traffic was flowing again, but we hadn’t noticed. We could see the sign for the studios at the end of the street. Megan shunted the accelerator and sped toward it.
    She spoke in a tone as if to convince herself. “This movie is different. This is a bigger budget movie. Up to now, most of the films I’ve done were independent and almost no one watched them. Some of them didn’t even make it to the theaters. After this, I won’t be able to walk on the street without being recognized.”
    I knew Megan enough to realize she was speaking with real anxiety. From what Mom told me, Megan’s parents were pushy and expected her to “maximize” the talents God had given her. Leaving the family pressure to one side, I knew Megan loved acting. She needed a friend to reassure her she could definitely fill her shoes, and that was where I came in.
    “You have to do it,” I said firmly.
    “What?” Megan murmured, stunned. She drove past one of the studio warehouses with a number “1” painted on the steel gate.
    “I’ve heard you explain too many times what you feel when you’re acting. You can’t let your parents’ pressure make you forget that. Think of it like this: opportunities like this won’t come often, so you need to make the most of them. You’re sixteen, and in two years you’ll be able to have absolute power over your own decisions. This situation is only temporary.”
    “What about my life? My