So I ended up learning something very important about Theresa that I didn't approve of. She was dating her ex-boyfriend Eddie. Also, she had dropped out of high school. I really wished that she hadn't done either of those things. I knew that school in Chino left very room to succeed, but there was no chance if you didn't try. I didn't want her to just be another Hispanic stereotype. She was intelligent, but she was wasting her time doing these jobs that she didn't have a future in and even her parents weren't actually citizens, she was. There was no reason for her to be a motel maid at 16.
Anyway, she was working at a place called the Mermaid Inn. I didn't know what to tell her. One of the other things about places like that is the owners are pretty much always racist. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to talk to her. If I had, I would had talked to Hadley's dad about being a production assistant. I was filming some of my better emotional scenes today and I liked to think that I nailed them. I didn't think that I would win any awards for the show, but I hoped that I would at least make a difference.
I was with Crimson when we finished.
"You know when you first got hired, I didn't expect you to be so good." She admitted. "Especially since you haven't actually been through anything like that."
"Thank you." I replied. I knew that not everyone who was trans had supportive families. It was why I didn't come out before. I would probably have to talk about where I grew up at some point, but I wanted to wait until I was older. "So in case I don't come back, it was really nice working with you."
"I think they would be stupid not to invite you back to be on the show full-time." She declared. I would have time to decide if I wanted to do that or not. Being on the show full-time meant that I would not be able to go to school anymore. I wanted to keep close with my friends still. "So are you coming to Grady's birthday party tomorrow night?"
"I didn't know that he was having a party." I declared.
"Yeah of course he is and I'm sure that he'll be okay with you coming." She declared. "You should invite your friends. I know I would like to meet them."
"I'll talk to them, but I'll probably need to ask my parents to make sure that I can go." I said.
"I do not miss having to deal with my parents." Crimson remarked. "Well I hope that you can come. It's going to be pretty fun."
At that point, Hadley's dad called me.
"Hey Harold." I answered.
"Do you have time right now to do an interview?" He asked me.
"Um I guess I do. Who would I be talking to?" I replied. I was a bit surprised by that.
"I've got Michael Ausiello from TVLine hear and he wants to talk to you." He explained.
"I thought we weren't going to do anything about this until the episode aired." I replied.
"We aren't, but he likes to have his site updated immediately after the episode airs, so needs to do it in advance." Harold explained. "I promise none of this will leak."
"I guess I can do it. Should I change?" I asked.
"No, it's just a print interview so you don't have to unless you want to." He told me.
"I'll be right there then." I declared. I was a little nervous about doing an interview. I did know that he was gay, so I was a little less nervous than I would be talking to someone else. I didn't know if they wanted me to do TV interviews or not. According to my dad, there was a possibility of promotion of the show in my contract, but it didn't specify what that was.
"Hey, Rhiannon." He greeted me after I arrived. He probably noticed that I looked a little bit tense. I supposed that I was not too good at hiding it. "Are you nervous?"
"Yeah, I've never done anything like this before," I explained. "This is my first interview."
"Well I'm glad that I get to be the first one that you talk to." He declared. "So I'm just going to ask you a few questions about show and yourself. Don't feel pressured to answer anything that makes you uncomfortable."
"Okay." I replied as I took a seat at the table across from him.
"Well we're gonna start with something easy. How old are you?" He asked. Part of me felt like I should have an adult with me, but I didn't think I needed one in this capacity.
"I turn 16 next month." I replied.
"What does it mean for you as a trans person to play a character like this on a show on such a popular show like this?" He asked. That was a bit of a hard one. I had to think about it. "Take your time."
"I think that what I like most is that I can provide someone for people like me to relate to. Like when I was growing, there weren't trans characters on TV unless they were a joke." I explained. "And even when people started to appear they were all closer to my parents' age than they were to mine."
"I can totally see where you're going with that. It was the same for me growing up. There really weren't a lot gay characters when I was growing up and like you said, a lot of them were jokes." He replied. "Do you think that's what drew you to this part?"
"I don't think you should write about my answer to this." I stated. "I would like to say that I went through a long audition process but I really only got the job because I'm friends with Harold's daughter and the role wasn't trans until after I was cast."
"Gotcha." He replied. "Well what was life like growing trans?"
"I don't feel comfortable answering that." I declared. "I'm sorry. There are just some things that I don't want to talk about. My family situation is kind of complicated."
"Okay…well what advice would you have for young trans kids?" He asked.
"I think the most important thing is to have a support system. I wouldn't be able to do this without my friends and my girlfriend. I know not everyone's families are supportive but my advice to find people who will accept you as who are you. Can I say to get away from the people that don't?" I answered.
"I don't think it would be a good idea since that's not an option for everyone." He declared. "So I think I have enough for the interview. It was nice talking to you."
"You too." I replied.
School was just letting out, so I went there. As soon as I got there, I was met by Summer.
"So did Grady Bridges invite you to his party?" She asked.
"I mean Crimson did." I said as Kaitlin came out. I gave her a kiss. "She said it's tomorrow night."
"What is?" Kaitlin questioned.
"Grady Bridges's birthday." Summer replied. "You have to let us come with you."
"Well the first thing that I would have to do is talk to my parents to make sure that I can go. I've never been L.A. before." I told them.
"Well you should definitely go then." Kaitlin replied. "It'll be fun."
"I wonder if I should get him a gift." I remarked.
"Babe, there is nothing that you can get him that he wouldn't be able to get himself." Kaitlin declared.
I supposed that made sense. I didn't supposed that the parties were about gifts with celebrities. They were more about having a good time. I did want to go even though I was nervous about going somewhere like L.A. It would be my first Hollywood party. I didn't think that I would ever go to a Hollywood party. I had heard they could dangerous but maybe it would be fine. I mean honestly what was the worst thing that could happen. I knew not to have any alcohol or drugs or anything.
The other thing that I was thinking about was how lucky I was to have a supportive family. It was why I felt comfortable coming out to the world like this. I didn't know what I would do if I was still in my old house. It's possible that I would have run away. My old mom didn't like me and the last thing that I wanted was to let her know what I was doing now. Part of me wanted to work with other abuse victims. I would eventually talk about the abuse I had growing up, but that was something for another day.
When I got home, I found that Rose was watching The Valley. It was not any of the episodes that I was in as they hadn't been released yet.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I need to be able to act like I'm a fan of the show so I don't make a fool out of myself." She replied. "This Grady guy seriously looks like he could be my brother and his character is just like a cishet version of me. It's no wonder why Summer likes him so much. If you could him or me who would you choose?"
"Neither. I'm gay and you're my sister." I pointed out. "Besides, he's way too old for Summer. Just because you had some unfavorable sexual encounters doesn't mean that you can't be together."
Of course there was still an issue with going to the party and that was convincing Mom and Dad to let us go. I could tell them that it would be a great chance to really get to know my castmates. Things were different when you hung out offset because no one was working then. I hoped that that would work and they would let me go. It was probably something that we could talk to them in the morning about.
I hung out with Kaitlin a little bit before I went to bed. She wasn't staying over. Things were still a little bit weird, but we were getting through it. If the two of us could work through a weird sexual encounter, Summer and Rose would be able to as well.
In the morning, Rose and I went into the kitchen where Mom and Dad were having breakfast.
"Rhiannon, is it just me or do our parents look better every day?" She asked. They was probably the most obvious attempt at brownnosing that I had ever seen. There was no way they wouldn't see through that.
"What do you want, Rose?" Mom asked.
"Mom, can't a child just admire the beauty of her parents in the morning light?" Rose retorted as Dad chortled;. She was making a fool of herself. "Also there's a party in Hollywood tonight."
"Hell no." Dad declared. I was pretty sure that there was nothing that she could say without making it worse, so I decided to try. I was pretty sure that they trusted me more.
"So it's one of the cast members' birthday and he's celebrating tonight. I want to be able to get to know them out of work." I stated. "We'll be back by midnight and I promise that no one will use any drugs or alcohol."
"Which one?" Mom asked.
"Grady Bridges." I answered.
"He's cute." She replied.
"Will you keep your sister out of trouble?" Dad asked. I nodded. He looked like he was going to say yes. "You call when you get there and you better not spend too long there. That town will steal your soul and it's probably not safe at night."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Rose declared as she hugged him. "Now we just have to tell everyone."
"This isn't going to become a regular thing." Dad warned me.
"I know. I don't even like to party, but I want to do this because I might not get another chance to hang out with them."
I got dressed for the party. It was going to be at a club, so I knew that I should probably dress accordingly, even though I didn't actually know what people wore to the club. It was still pretty casual so I put on a white tank with a pair of blue shorts. I went to meet Kaitlin wore was wearing a red jacket over a black tube top and red shorts.
"You look stunning." She told me.
The first thing that we ended up experiencing on our way to LA was the traffic. Vicki was driving and we had Rose, Marissa, Holly, and Summer with us. I had considered seeing if I could get the studio to send a limo but I was doubtful that that would deal with our traffic issues. Luckily the vehicle was big enough for all of us.
The party was…at a strip club. That was probably something not to tell the parents. Why did they not think to tell me that ahead of time? They knew that I was underage. I was pretty sure that we only got in because we were with the party.
"Seriously how does he play high school?" Rose asked as she looked Grady.
"It's Hollywood." I stated. I supposed it was a good time to call home. I knew it would be a bad idea to do it from the inside. I also noticed that Summer and Holly were apparently fighting with Paris Hilton.
"Hey there honey, having a good time?" A stripper asked as she grabbed me. Our eyes locked and both of our jaws dropped. It was my aunt. Mom was not going to be happy about this.
"Hailey." I stammered.
"Rhiannon…" She replied. It was then that a sleazy guy came and told her to dance some more. Why couldn't we just have a normal party? I wondered if I would be able to use my status to get her out of there.
"What are we going to do?" Kaitlin asked as she looked her over.
"I don't know but this is my mom's worse nightmare." I replied. "All she does is worry about Hailey."
I decided to call my dad's phone because there was less of a chance of her picking up.
"Please don't tell me Rose got in trouble." Dad responded.
"No, it's not her. It's Hailey." I said.
"You found Hailey? What's she doing there?" He asked.
"She kind of got a job as a stripper." I answered sheepishly.
"There are strippers at this party?" He asked in disbelief. I hoped I wouldn't be ground for this. "I should have never agreed to this."
"What should I do?" I asked.
"Don't do anything. Hailey is not your responsibility." He declared. She kind of was because she was family. "What club are you at?"
"Luna Chicks." I answered.
"Luna Chicks, that's just great." He responded. What was so bad about Luna Chicks?
"What are you gonna do?" I asked.
"I'll deal with Hailey tomorrow. Right now I want you to come home." He ordered.
I went to find Kaitlin.
"We need to go. We need to find everyone and go." I declared.
"Rhi, we can't just leave your aunt here." She said. Why did I have to have such a fucked up family?
"Who am I to tell her that she can't be a stripper?" I challenged. "What am I supposed to do? I'm not asking her for a lap dance."
"I know you'll come up with something." She declared. "We need to find her and get her out of here."
"Okay, you get everyone else and I'll do my best to capture Hailey." I offered.
"You're not going to be able to get her out of here by yourself." She pointed out. Why did I have to be so small? Oh right the hormones. I needed to come up with a plan. I wondered if one of my castmates would be able to help me out. I knew that it would probably wouldn't be a good idea to involve them in my drama.
There had to be a way to get her out of here. Kaitlin and I would probably be able to carry her but we would need to knock her out in to do that. I was not very good at fighting and I did not want to do anything illegal in order to get her out even though kidnapping was technically illegal. The first person we found was Rose.
"This place is awesome." She remarked before I saw Hailey and so did Rose. "Oh my god, that's Hailey."
"Yeah I know and we gotta find a way to get her out of here." I explained. Rose then rushed over to her.
"So this is aerobics now." She quipped. "My mom's going to freak."
"You don't have to tell her." Hailey retorted. "Not that she'd care."
"Of course she cares." I argued.
"I'm making good money here." Hailey said. I knew it was not how anyone wanted her to make money.
At that point, a man pushed her onstage, saying that she needed more cocaine. Well now I had something that I could tell the cops to get this place shut down. Of course they'd probably be wondering what I, a minor was doing there.
"Leave her alone." I demanded.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"What the hell is going on here?" Crimson asked. She had Grady with her. Well they were going to find out now. I sighed.
"It's none of your concern. This kid isn't even old enough to be here." The man declared. I blushed. I hated being called a kid.
"We weren't asking you." Grady replied.
"That girl over there is my aunt and I need to get her out of here." I explained.
"What can we do?" Crimson asked.
"Nothing. The party's over." The owner declared. He tried to throw us out. I knew that they did not need the bad press of a fight at a strip club. This wasn't happening. I just wanted to go home. I needed to be somewhere safe. I just needed to get out of here now.
"You know I've decided what I want my present to be." Grady declared. "Her."
That was pretty sexist, but I was pretty sure that it was just an act. It was a way to get her out of here. He handed the man some money and they took us outside. Well that solved one problem, but I still didn't know where everyone else is.
"Well that was weird." Grady remarked.
"Thank you." I replied.
"I'll take it from here." Jimmy interrupted.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" Kaitlin asked him.
"This is like an episode of the show." Crimson commented. "You know having a bunch of drama in real life isn't that much fun."
"I'll get her home." Dad remarked.
So we ended up getting everyone together and headed home. I was surprised that we managed to make it out of there without anything really bad happening, but I was also relieved. I knew that I didn't want to go another Hollywood party for a long time, possibly never again.
The following day, we were doing a little bit more shooting. Apparently one of the scenes didn't turn out quite right. Thankfully no one was hung over from the party last night. We didn't really talk about it because nothing really happened at all.
I was in the middle of a scene when there was a sudden interruption.
"There you are, Bitch." A voice replied. No. It couldn't be. She couldn't be here.
"Ma'am, this a closed set." The director replied.
"I don't give a damn. This little is my son." She replied. Why did this have to happen to me?
So Rhiannon's mother is back and you can tell that she is going to be a problem. Hopefully everything is going to turn out okay for her. Grady is played by Nat Wolff. Please don't forget to review.