Theodora Twist by Melissa Senate Read Free Book Online Page B

City Mall, to provide free dresses to you and Theodora in exchange for featuring the shop. We’re thinking the last episode will feature the prom—getting ready, the prom itself—and then goodbyes the next morning as Theodora leaves Oak City.”
    Ashley smiles at me. “Showing America she’s really just a regular teen with regular worries, regular dreams, and a regular life outside of her not-so-regular job as an actress.” She smiles at me. “Any questions?”
    “Well . . . why us? Why me?” I ask.
    “Your family is our first choice for a number of reasons,” Blair says. “First of all, you’re representative of the new American family—Mom, stepdad, teenager, new baby. Second, you live in the house that Theodora grew up in, which adds a wonderful sense of nostalgia and poignancy. As if this is the life Theodora would have led had she not been discovered. And third, you and Theodora were friends before she became a star. That’ll add a completely new dimension to the show.”
    I have no idea what to say. TMI overload. I need to think.
    “Take some time to discuss it as a family,” Ashley says, as though she read my mind. “It’s a big decision; you’re going to be on national television, on a reality TV show, your every move filmed. It could very well change all of your lives. As discussed, you would receive a very handsome compensation package for your participation. I will need your answer by Wednesday. If you say no, we’ll need to line up another family.”
    My mom smiles at me, then turns to Ashley, Blair, and Baseball Cap, whose name I forget. “Well, Stew and I have talked long and hard about it, and we’re on board. But it’s got to be Emily’s decision—if she’s uncomfortable with the idea, it’s going to be a no.”
    My mom and Stew are willing to have their every move filmed for national television? My mom walking around in the same stained sweats day after day and Stew “I Don’t Change Diapers” Stewarts emerging from his study only for pretzels? Are they out of their minds?
    Jen and Belle both freeze in the middle of pouring maple syrup on their Belgian waffles. The three of us are in CoffeeTawk, a popular coffee lounge that serves amazing waffles. I’ve just told them about Theodora’s People.
    “You’re going to be famous,” Belle says. “Omigod. You’re going to be on a TV show!”
    “Wait a minute. That means we’re going to be on a TV show,” Jen says. They suddenly look at each other and shriek.
    Belle’s hands fly up to her hair. “I have to get this frizzpuff straightened. And I have to lose five pounds. I have to go shopping!”
    “Nope, you can’t,” Jen says. “You’re supposed to be as is. That’s the point, right, Em?”
    I hold up a hand. “Wait. First of all, I didn’t say yes yet. It’s crazy! If I get a zit, a camera will zoom in on me putting on Clearasil. This is going to be a hit TV show?”
    “I think it’s more like Theodora putting on the Clearasil that’ll bring in the viewers,” Belle says. “Not that she’s ever had a zit.”
    “Okay, backtrack,” Jen says. “You and Dora Twistler were friends in seventh grade for what—five minutes? What happened again? Why did you stop being friends?”
    “I don’t know,” I answer honestly.
    When Dora was twelve, her father died of a heart attack. One minute he was alive and well, and the next he was gone. Because I was the only other kid in our middle school whose father had died, my guidance counselor called my mom and asked if I’d be willing to talk to Dora about her loss. I said okay, and the next day, my mom drove me to the Twistlers’ house—the very house we live in now. I didn’t know Dora well; she was a little different even then, listening to music I’d never heard of, wearing twenty bangles on each arm, talking about film noir, whatever that is. She was cool. I was . . . not.
    When I walked into her house (my house now), she was sitting on her bedroom floor, huge