Chapter Two

A Tale of Two Sisters

Feeling free was amazing! It didn't hit me until the morning after my graduation party, but I was finally able to go out and share my talents with the world! What a lucky world! Four awesome years at Hollywood Arts had prepared me for my soon to be flourishing career as a multitalented actress. I could sing, I could dance, and I could cry at the drop of a hat. Plus, I was gorgeous. I was definite future mega-celebrity material!

I woke up on the living room couch, surrounded by confetti and glitter. Voices were coming from the kitchen, most likely my parents. They were so blessed to have me as their daughter. Dad had given a heartfelt speech at the party last night, congratulating me on all my hard work. Mom couldn't stop crying. And hey, who could blame her? Her daughter was the next big thing!

I strained my ears to try to hear what my parents were saying. Maybe they were discussing my secret graduation present. I knew it had to be something huge. Actually, I had expected to get my present at the party last night but Mom and Dad hadn't given me anything. They were probably just waiting until the last minute, to make it an even bigger surprise. The anticipation was driving me crazy!

Tori had written me another song and performed it last night. I swear I have the cheapest sister in the world. All she does is sing songs for people. Not that the song wasn't nice. But can I wear the new song on an audition? No. Can I show it off at an award show after party? I think not. Everyone cheered and congratulated her when she finished singing the song. I know she's not as talented as I am, so it's nice that people wanted to give her a little self-esteem boost.

Although … that song was the only thing people talked about for the rest of the night. They called Tori "amazing", and "super talented" and "a real star". I hoped Tori hadn't heard any of that. I didn't want my sister to get her hopes up just to have them crushed in the future. She just wasn't destined for great things like I was.

People seemed to forget that it was my graduation party after a while. They kept hanging around Tori. All of my friends from school said they had their own things to do last night, so the only guests at my party were my parents, Tori, and her friends. Pretty funny that my sister's friends wanted to come to my party. I guess that just shows the wide range of people that enjoy my company.

The only one who didn't show up last night was Robbie Shapiro, but Tori had said that he was dealing with some issues. Whatever. Not like I needed Robbie at my party to have a good time. The rest of Tori's friends weren't too bad. Andrew's a nice kid and he's almost as talented as I am. Cat's just … well, Cat. Beck's a pretty cool guy, I guess. I barely talked to him at school. Amazing hair, though. His girlfriend Jade kept telling me that no one likes me and that Tori had to pay them all to show up at my party. What a kidder!

With a big yawn, I stood up from the couch. Confetti fell off my head. Wow, the house was a mess. The floor looked like a glitter fairy had thrown up everywhere. I felt kind of bad for whoever had to clean all of it up. Dad would probably make Tori do it, since she had the glitter and confetti cannons go off during her performance. I walked towards the kitchen.

"Treen, that you?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, it's me", I replied with another yawn.

"Don't move for a second", he said. "Close your eyes."

Yes! I knew it! This had to be my big graduation present! Maybe it was that Fazzini bag I'd pointed out a million times at the mall. Or maybe it was a second car! Or maybe my parents bought me my own apartment!

"Hold out your hand", Dad instructed.

I grinned widely and held out my hand. Dad gave me something with a handle. Yes! The Fazzini bag! But wait … the bag shouldn't be that heavy, should it? In fact, it was so heavy that I couldn't keep holding it. I dropped it onto the floor, then opened my eyes and gasped.

"A vacuum cleaner!" I exclaimed in horror. "You bought me a vacuum cleaner?"

"Trina, we've had this vacuum cleaner for years", Mom replied. "You've just never seen it before because you never used it."

My mother spoke the truth. Cleaning? Me? As if!

"Why are you giving this to me?" I asked in confusion. "I really don't want it."

Dad pointed at the floor. I shrugged. I knew it was messy, anyone with eyes could see that. Why couldn't he just get to the point?

"Get to work", Dad ordered. I blinked and didn't move. My ears must have been clogged or something because there's no way my father would be asking me to vacuum the floor on the morning after my graduation party.

"Huh?" I asked, staring at my parents.

"Come on Trina, you're an adult now", Mom said. "You graduated from high school last night. It's time you took on some more adult responsibilities."

"But not vacuuming!" I protested. "I thought adult responsibilities would be like, having my own place!"

Dad snorted.

"Over my dead body", he said. "Now get to cleaning, please." He held the vacuum up for me to take but I didn't move.

"What about Tori?" I crossed my arms angrily. "She's the one who made the mess in the first place!"

"Tori's still asleep", Mom said. "She's so tired, poor girl."

"I'm tired too!" I exclaimed. "And besides, I have plans today. With my friends!"

"What are your plans?" Dad asked, crossing his arms as well. His face was completely serious. I hated when he went into cop mode. It was so intimidating.

"I-I … we didn't make plans yet", I stammered. "But we will!"

"You can make all the plans you want", Mom said. "After you clean. Come on, Trina, the faster you get started, the more time you'll have later."

I stared at my parents, waiting for either of them to shout "surprise!" or start smiling and admit that this whole thing was all a big joke. We'd all have a big laugh together, and they'd give me my real graduation present. But … they weren't smiling.

"Trina", my dad started with a sigh. Phew, here it was. The big joke reveal. "You're wasting time. Start cleaning."

My face fell. Oh. My. God. They really did want me to vacuum all of this glitter and confetti up. I was definitely not getting my present now.

"But Daaad", I whined.

"Just do it!" Mom commanded.

I went for my last resort. The pouty face. The one I intended to use on all my future auditions. It was a classic face, really. Any casting director would see it and just give me the role on the spot.

"Just get to work." Dad handed me the vacuum and I reluctantly took it. He looked at my face. "Smile, Trina. You're almost completely done with Hollywood Arts and then you've got the whole summer to do what you want. One Saturday spent cleaning isn't going to kill you."

Easy for him to say. He didn't have a fifty-dollar manicure.

… And why hadn't the pouty face worked?

Glitter was officially my number one enemy. I was on my hands and knees, scrubbing at the floor with all the strength I had, but the last bit of glitter would just not budge. Even worse, I was covered in the stuff. Glitter was all over my skin so I looked like I had some freaky disease. I scrubbed the floor again, and then looked at the sponge. Only a few small pieces of glitter had come off. Two pink fuzzy slippers suddenly appeared in front of my face.

"Trina?" It was my sister. "What are you doing?"

"I'm cleaning the mess you made last night", I said while gritting my teeth. "Where have you been?"

"Uh, in my room", Tori replied confusedly. "I was sleeping. I literally just woke up a few minutes ago."

"How convenient." I put on my best sarcastic voice.

"Let me help you", my sister offered as she took the sponge out of my hand.

"Well, it's the least you could do", I replied. I stood up and tried to brush the glitter off of my pajamas. It wouldn't come off. I moaned and stomped my feet. "I hate glitter!"

Tori adjusted her glasses on her nose and then got down on the floor in my place. She rubbed at the spot I had been trying to clean for an hour. My eyes widened as the glitter disappeared off the floor right away. How did she do that?

"You just have to use some elbow grease", Tori said as she gave the sponge back to me. Then she walked over to the couch, sat down and turned on the television. I tossed the sponge into the kitchen, hoping it would land in the sink. I joined my sister on the couch. There was some old black and white movie playing on t.v.

"So when are Mom and Dad going to give me my graduation present?" I asked her. "And what is it? Give me a hint!"

"I have no idea", Tori replied casually. Yeah right. She definitely knew something.

"It's getting pretty late, isn't it?" I asked, trying to probe her for any information at all. "I mean, graduation was yesterday. You'd think that they would give me the present at my party. Maybe they're waiting until Monday? That's the last official day of school."

"Uh, I don't know", Tori answered with a slight frown. "If they got you a graduation present, they didn't say anything about it to me."

"Ok, Tori." I grinned knowingly at her. She was an awful liar. Always had been. Obviously my parents had somehow forced her to keep quiet about my present. It definitely was something huge! Otherwise, why all the secrecy?

"Hey, have you seen my phone?" Tori suddenly asked, getting up and looking around the living room.

"Why would I know where your phone is?" I answered, holding out my hand to see my manicure. Ugh, two nails were chipped. They would need immediate repair. Guess I knew what my plans would be that day.

"Got it!" Tori called out from the kitchen. She returned back to the couch and sat down, checking something on her phone. "Robbie's not answering any texts or phone calls. I'm really worried. His parents are going to Boca for two weeks today so he'll be home all alone. And he's so messed up right now! I don't think he wants to ever leave his house again."

"Why, what's Robbie's deal?" I asked, scrunching my face. That guy was so weird.

"Trina, I told you already." Tori rolled her eyes at me. Rude! "Robbie got kicked out of Hollywood Arts. Helen didn't like his audition and wouldn't give him a second chance. So he can't come back for our senior year."

"Really? Wow", I replied, taking my eyes off of my nails. "But I thought Robbie and his puppet were always a hit. Don't they always do some comedy routine or something?" Surprisingly, I didn't have to fake any concern in my voice. I truly did feel a little bad. Poor Robbie.

"He didn't perform with Rex for his audition", Tori explained. "He did a monologue by himself and it just … wasn't good enough."

"Well that was a mistake", I said. "You always have to go with your strengths. It's easy for me. My strengths are everything!"

Tori sighed impatiently for some reason.

"Robbie's really upset", she said. "He's shutting everyone out. We all went over to his house last night to invite him to your party but his mom said he was sleeping. At seven p.m!"

"That's understandable", I replied. "Sometimes we all need a nice long beauty sleep. Except for me. I'm always beautiful."

I flashed my award-winning smile. Tori shook her head and went through her phone again. I shrugged and turned my attention to the television. I had no idea what this movie was about, but it couldn't have been anything good since it was in black and white. Why did the world have no color fifty years ago? How did people match their outfits without colors to guide them?

"Oh good, you girls are both here", came Mom's voice from the staircase. She grabbed the remote and turned off the movie. Thank god, the lack of color was starting to make my eyes hurt. "I need to talk to you two about something."

"Is everything ok?" Tori asked worriedly.

"Everything's fine", Mom replied, sitting on the couch next to us. "There are just a few things we need to sort out now."

Could this have anything to do with my present?

"What do we need to sort out?" I asked, craning my neck to see if maybe Mom was hiding something behind her back. She wasn't. Aw man …

"Well", Mom began. "Tori just got her driver's license and you girls know that Dad and I can't afford to buy a second car right now."

I looked at my mother suspiciously. Where was this conversation going?

"Trina", Mom said to me. "Your father and I agreed to let you have the next year off to go to auditions and such instead of going to college. But Tori is going to need a way to and from school."

Tori gasped and covered her mouth in excitement. What was she so happy about?

"From now on you girls are going to share the car", Mom said.

My mouth dropped open. WHAT?

"What?" I exclaimed loudly.

"It's not a big deal, Trina", Mom explained. "Tori will use the car for school on the weekdays and you can use it after school hours and on the weekends."

"But – but what about this summer?" I asked in disbelief, standing up quickly.

"Well, you two will have to figure out some sort of schedule", Mom replied. "Maybe every other day Tori can use the car. Or if you girls can come up with something else, then do that. As long as you both agree, your father and I will be satisfied."

"Relax, Trina", Tori said, grabbing my arm. I threw her off. "Most of my friends drive anyway. I'm not going to hog the car or anything."

"But it's my car!" I almost shouted.

"Not anymore", Mom replied. "You know, Trina. You're not doing so well at acting like an adult."

"I am an adult!" I stomped my feet and pouted.

Mom stood up and patted my head like a dog. She smiled at Tori before walking into the kitchen. I turned and gave Tori the dirtiest look I could. She frowned back at me, then got up and started to walk towards the stairs.

The veins in my forehead started throbbing. My breathing intensified. I clenched my hands into fists and growled. But after a few seconds, the anger slowly disappeared and I dropped back down onto the couch in defeat.

I was just not having a good day. Tori sure was though. She got to sleep in, she didn't have to clean the big mess that she made, and she even got a car! I wouldn't have been surprised if our parents suddenly gave her a present for no reason. I totally understood the whole 'making Tori feel better about herself' thing, but it seemed like maybe everyone was going a little overboard.

Besides, I'm the one who just graduated …