Chapter 1

At 18 year old Madeline Jones sits causally in the chair staring at the interviewer sitting across from her, Sarah, who was muttering to herself as she looked at her list of approved questions before finally turning her attention to the young woman.

"So Madeline, you are most successful actorness of your generation, tell me what was it like for you, when did it all start?" Sarah asked

"I was about 6 years old when I asked my Mom to let me try acting, she agreed and after calling around to many talent agents, we finally found, Mr. Percival Di Meo, whom I have come to trust and admire over the years." Madeline answers.

"What were you feeling at the time?" Sarah asked

I remember being very nervous after many auditions, butterflies swirling in my stomach as I waited for the call from him." Madeline replies.

12 years ago...

"Did I get the part?" she asked anxiously her agent on the phone with her mom, Maria sitting beside her offering unwavering support.

She could hear Mr. Di Meo sigh sadly on the other end. "I'm sorry, Madeline…" Madeline immediately braced for disappointment. "…you go the part!" Mr. Di Meo immediately changed his tone to excitement, and Madeline instantly perked up.

"Really?"

"Yes. Congratulations! Now I need to go over some legal things. May you put your mother back on the phone?"

"Sure!" Madeline took the phone off her ear and ran to her mother. "Mom, I got the part!"

Her mother's heart-shaped face surrounded by short way brown hair, immediately lit up with a proud smile as she hugged her daughter fiercely, "Oh Maddy cakes, I'm so proud of you!"

"Mom, don't call me that anymore. I'm not a baby." Madeline complained.

"But you'll always be my baby even if you're a big star on TV." Marie gushed causing Madeline to blush before simply handing the phone back to her.

"Here's the director. He wants to talk to you." she mutters before making her way towards her bedroom, not the least bit interested in hearing the boring stuff about contracts and lawyers and stuff.

She shutters remembering having to sit though that with her parents when they were starting out, their lawyer, Ms. Brody along with her parents went on and on about it for what felt like forever.

Eventually she lands her first role in a show that coincidentally was about a girl named Madeline who lived in convent with other children and for the most part she enjoyed being around other kids her age playing and hanging out, but she also learned quickly that some were really mean or impossible to work with, sometimes there were parents or guardian who were overly strict or pushy, or nice and supportive like her parents and sister.

As she walks into the room, she goes to her drawing desk, quick to make a bunch of pictures of her family, friends, animals or just made up using her imagination.

But soon enough she grew bored and puts away her stuff before moving on to her toys, as she was playing she wished that she could call her best friend, Honora aka Honey as she is affectionally known and tell her the good news, but her mom was using the main phone.

Maybe when her big sister Katie came back from walking the dog, she could ask her to borrow her cell phone, even though she will never admit it, Madeline was jealous of Katie, at fourteen she was old enough to have a cell phone and a TV in her room, she even had her own computer.

When Madeline asked for the same things she was always told that she was still too young, which was frustrating for the 6 year old.

She couldn't wait for Katie to get home so she could tell her the good news, despite the 9 year age gap Madeline had a lot of fond memories of Kate always looking out for her and protecting her just as she continues to do now, like whenever Madeline felt overstressed, Katie always stepped in and went to great lengths to take her mind off things, playing, joking, even helping her with lines for a role or homework and as an added bonus she was very fond of their dog, Ginny, just then, the door knob wiggled until the door was pushed open to admit a bouncing and happy mini chocolate lab and a teen girl with long and straight brown hair and piercing blue eyes walked in after.

Madeline ran up to her big sister and threw her arms around Kate's waist. "Kate, guess what?!"

"What?" Kate asked with a fond smile as she picks up her sister and gives her a swirl around making the younger giggle as she said

"I got the part of Sofia!" exclaimed Madeline.

"That's great!" Kate said her smile strained, the apprehension in her voice that thankfully was missed by the younger girl as she ruffles Madeline's head affectionately the child noticed a book peeking out of Katie's backpack. "What's this?" she asked taking it out of the bag.

"It's a library book about the FBI. I'm thinking of being an agent when I grow up." Kate explains simply, while gently taking the book back.

"I thought you wanted to be a cop like Dad used to be?" Madeline asked

"Yeah, but I figured I could do more good as an FBI agent than as a cop."

"That's cool, but when you're an FBI agent, we'll still play together, won't we?"

Kate smiled at Madeline. "Of course, little sis."

Just then Marie poked her head in the room. "Your Dad just called, he's coming home early and we are all going out to dinner tonight to celebrate."

"Awesome. Where?" Madeline asked.

"Any where you want." Maria said.

"Um. How about Chuck E. Cheese's?" Madeline asked.

Marie smiled. "Chuck E. Cheese's it is. Oh and Madeline, you, me and you're father are going to the studio this Friday to go over your contract."

Madeline groaned. "Ok."

Around 5 in that evening, Jerry Jones, a bald man in his late 30's still pretty fit from his days as a cop walked in through the front door after a long day at the office. Madeline ran up to Jerry, and he lifts her up in the air, spins her around, and then hugs her. "How's my little superstar?"

"Awesome, Daddy! I got the part of Princess Sofia!"

"That's my girl!" Jerry said, his face beaming with pride.

Marie walked in followed by Kate to greet her husband, Jerry put Madeline down and went to kiss his wife. It was a simple kiss, nothing passionate about it. The Jones's prefer to let nothing hold them back when the kids weren't watching. When the kiss was broken, Marie said, "Go get changed. We're going to Chuck E. Cheese's to celebrate."

He smiled. "Yes, m'lady."

Marie just shook her head fondly.

Jerry then turns his attention to Kate and said "Hey Katie bell, how's high school going?"

Kate shrugged. "Alright. Listen I was wondering if you could teach me how to shoot this weekend."

Jerry sighs and said, "We will see, I have to go change."

"Yeah sure. Ok," Kate said, a little bit saddened by her father's response. She knew that "We will see..." translated to "never." She learned it from past experiences that her interests and needs were second to Madeline's.

The family of four piled into the van and soon enough they were making their way into the parking lot of the restaurant, Jerry barely had the car parked when Madeline booked it inside with Katie following after her, while their parents followed at a much sedated pace and after about 10 minute wait in line and getting stamped, they were sound surrounded by sounds of the arcade machines, laughing, screaming kids of various ages, the smell of pizza in the air

They walked to the hostess's table where they were greeted by a young woman around Kate's age.

"Welcome to Chuck E. Cheese's. I'm your host Sammie. If you would, please follow me."

The family did and they were lead to a table near a stage with animatronics Chuck E. Cheese, Helen Henny, Mr. Munch, Jasper T. Jowls, and Pasqually. The family sat down and Sammie handed them menus and left. Just a minute later, a young man around the same age as Sammie came by Kate saw him and noticed his black haired crew cut, acne free skin, and his brown eyes.

"Hi, my name is Mac, and I'll be your waiter today. Can I start you off with drinks?" he said causing Kate to blush a bit at hearing his graveled voice.

"Yes, I'll a have a Diet Coke please," Marie said.

"The rest of us will just have Coke please," Jerry said.

Mac wrote that down, Kate watched him as he jotted their orders down. She noticed that he had pierced ears diamond stud earrings – and it appeared he used to have some kind of piercing on his lips, she had a feeling he probably had a tattoo although she reminded herself that just because he had piercings, doesn't mean that he had a tattoo, but she hoped he did, she thought tattoos on guys were sexy.

"Do you guys need time to order?" Mac asked.

"No, I think we know what we want," Marie said. "Two pizzas – one cheese, one pepperoni." She looked at her family, and they nodded in agreement.

Mac wrote that down. "Ok then. I'll be back with the drinks." Mac left, and Kate watched him.

"Mom, can Kate and me go play?" Madeline asked bringing Kate back to the present.

"Sure. Kate, do you have your cell phone?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. I'll text you when the pizza comes. Watch your sister and stay together."

Jerry pulled out a twenty dollar bill and gave it to Kate. "Use this for tokens."

"Ok," Kate said.

Madeline grabbed her big sister's arm, pulling it. "Come on, Kate. You can help me win."

"Sure," Kate said she loved helping her little sister, while Madeline was blessed with creativity, Kate was blessed with athleticism and good hand-eye-coordination, useful skills for arcade games.

Kate and Madeline went to a machine that converted cash into tokens. Kate put in the twenty dollar bill and out came a ton of tokens. Kate divided them equally between two buckets and gave one bucket to Madeline. "Here you go, little sis. Don't lose them."

"I won't, Kate. Can we go play ski ball first?"

"Sure, why not? Ski ball's my favorite."

With Kate in the lead, the two girls navigated around crowds of kids to the ski ball pits. Kate and Madeline put in a few tokens in their respective ski ball machines and nine balls rolled in. Kate saw exactly how high the 100 mark was and how small that space was. She rolled the ball just at the right speed at the right angle, and it landed in the 100 mark. She repeated her strategy with the other balls, getting a high score of 1800 which is the highest possible score. Madeline, on the other hand, was not as strategic as she was winging at it with most of her balls not even giving her a score. A few landed in the ten mark. She ended up with a measly score of thirty. When she saw Kate's high score and pile of tickets, she asked, "How did you do that, Kate?"

"Strategy. If you want to get a hundred every time, you have to factor in the height of the 100 mark and the diameter of the circle. Then you have to adjust the speed of the ball and aim it just right."

"Huh?" Madeline asked.

"Start another game, and I'll show you." Madeline did what she was told. When the balls rolled in, Madeline grabbed a ball. "Ok," Kate said. She pointed to the 100 mark. You see how small that circle is?"

"Yes."

"It's a small target so you don't want your ball flying all over the place. You need to control it. However, it's high up so you don't want to launch it with two little speed."

"Ok. So how do I do all that?"

Kate grabbed a ball. "Look at me." Madeline nodded. Kate stretched her arm with the ball in hand back. "You see the position of my arm? The farther back it is, the higher ball will go, and because of the height of target, you're going to need it. Don't launch the ball too hard or else it will bounce off the wall, but don't launch it with too less power or it won't even make it. Now notice that your target is on the corner of the square so I'm gonna launch it at an angle. Now watch me launch it." Madeline did, and Kate made her target. "Now you try."

Madeline stretched her arm all the way back and positioned her body at an angle. She then launched the ball, but her angle was off, and she didn't have enough power to launch it. She missed her target. She at least got a ten for her efforts.

Kate grabbed a ball and gave it to Madeline. "Here I'll guide your arm." Kate stretched Madeline's arm all the way and then moved her sister's body at the right angle. "Ok when I say 'go' you're going to let the ball go. Ok?"

"Ok," Madeline said.

Kate moved her sister's arm with what she believed would be the right amount of power to launch the ball. "Go!"

Madeline let go of the ball, and it landed in the 100 mark. "I did it!"

"Did you feel the power from that launch?"

"Yes."

"Ok. Now do it on your own." Madeline repeated Kate's instructions, and she succeeded in some. Other times, the ball made it in the ten mark and the occasional forty mark. A few times she didn't get a score at all. The end result was a high score of 1080.

"Thanks, Kate," Madeline said as she collected her tickets.

Kate rubbed her sister's head affectionately. "Any time, little sis."

For the next forty minutes, the two sisters played together sometimes against each other. Kate often taught Madeline how to strategize to win tickets or in the case of the racing and shooting games, how not to die. The girls were racing down the slides and throwing balls at each other in the ball pit when Kate's phone beeped. "Time out, Madeline." She took out her phone and looked at the screen and saw that she got a text. "It's from Mom. She said the pizza's here."

"Yay!" Madeline cheered as she quickly climbed out of the ball pit before practically running towards their table, making sure to avoid bumping into anyone.

Kate quickly texted her mother back and then put her phone away, following after her sister.

"How was it?" Marie asked as the girls sat down.

"Great! Kate taught me how to ski ball, and I got a high score of 1080!"

"That's awesome, sweetheart!" exclaimed Marie as she gave Madeline a slice of pepperoni pizza.

"I got an 18000," Kate said as she got a slice of cheese pizza.

"So Friday, your father is getting out of work early. At three o'clock, we'll pick you up from school and drive to the studio and go over your contract," Marie said.

"Ok," Madeline said, not really thrilled about it.

"We're all proud of you," Jerry said. "You're going to do great just like you did on your last show. And look, you were the lead as your last part. Being the lead in a movie will be no sweat."

"I'm still a little nervous," Madeline said.

"Don't be. Just recently, I had to take an English test on a short story we were reading, as you know English isn't my best subject, and I was really nervous, so I read the story over and over, trying to understand it, I even went on SparkNotes for help, so I basically just studied my butt off and when it came time for the test, I took a deep breath, exhaled, and did one question at a time, I ended up getting an A. Preparedness, Relaxation, and taking things one step at a time will go a long way." Kate explained.

"Thanks, Kate," Madeline said.

Jerry looked at his eldest daughter between bites of pepperoni pizza. "When did you get your grade back?" He remembered that his eldest daughter never got As in English when she was in grade school and how hard she studied for the test two weeks in advanced.

"A week ago. I took the test two Fridays ago, and I got my grade back last Monday." Kate said while eating some pizza.

"How come you never told us about your grade?"

"You never asked," Kate said tersely as she swallowed and bit off another bite.

"Well, congratulations, honey," Marie said but not as enthusiastic as she was when she congratulated Madeline for getting the lead role.

"Thanks," Kate said monotoned.

Madeline noticed the change in mood and tried to brighten things up by changing the subject. "Hey, Mom, when we get home, can I call Sugar to tell her the good news?"

"By the time we get home it'll be too late. Tomorrow you can." Maria said.

"Ok." Madeline said a little disappointed.

"Do you know who else got casted?" Kate asked.

"No, but I'll find out at my first rehearsal. I do that the main characters include a king and queen named Roland the Second and Miranda. Miranda is Sofia's mother. Roland is Sofia's stepfather. And two kids – Princess Amber and Prince James. They're twins and are supposed to be a year older than Sofia. They're also Sofia's stepsister and stepbrother. There's also an evil sorcerer named Cedric."

'Two kids, heh? Gotta make sure they don't take advantage of my sister or give her a hard time.', Kate thought as her protective older sister instincts awakened.

Jerry put an arm around Madeline, and good-naturedly, he said, "Now you may now have this Roland dude as a 'father…'" He put air quotes around father. "…but you remember who you're real old man is – the guy who takes you out for ice cream and makes pillow forts with you on an almost nightly basis."

Madeline giggled. "I won't, Daddy."

He messed up her hair. "That's my girl."

With a smile on her face, Marie rolled her eyes at her husband's antics. "Honey, I'm sure Madeline won't have a conflict over which dad she likes best."

"Just making sure, sweetheart." Jerry turned to look at his little girl. "When Madeline was born, I quit my police job so I can spend more time with her since I didn't want to miss a second of Madeline's life."

Kate took a bigger bite out of her pizza and chewed it as if it were a tough piece of meat that refused to be broken up into smaller pieces. It bugged her to no end that her little sister got more time with her father than she did.

All Kate remembered was the occasional rides with her father in his police cruiser and visiting him at the police station with her mother.

Madeline, on the other hand, got father-daughter outings, nighttime stories with Dad, Dad watching her perform in all her school plays, Dad tucking her in at night, Dad getting involved in her academics, and other things. The worst part was that it seemed like her dad forgot that he wasn't involved in Kate's childhood. It wouldn't really hurt if her father got involved in her teenage years, but he didn't. Even her mother paid more attention to her younger sister. Probably because the two had something in common – acting. Kate knew her mother always wanted to be an actress. Except for one minor role in a G rated movie, her mother never got her career going. Madeline, on the other hand, succeeded more in her first seven years than Mom could ever hope to. It's not Kate's fault that she's not creative and talented like her sister. She loved Madeline, but sometimes she resented her.

After finishing their meal, Kate and Madeline played some more games until they had no more tokens. Kate more tickets so she had more options to choose from while Madeline had less. Madeline ended up getting a couple tattoos, some fake slime, a rubber toy lizard, a finger trap, and a candy necklace.

Kate got a large stuffed dolphin and a couple of tattoos. As Madeline left, holding her big sister's hand, she reflected on how awesome this day was and the bigger challenges yet to come.