Something Real - Hardcover

Demetrios, Heather

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805097945 ISBN 13: 9780805097948

Verlag: HENRY HOLT, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

Seventeen-year-old Bonnie™ Baker has grown up on TV—she and her twelve siblings are the stars of one-time hit reality show Baker's Dozen. Since the show's cancellation, Bonnie™ has tried to live a normal life, under the radar and out of the spotlight. But it's about to fall apart . . . because Baker's Dozen is going back on the air. Bonnie™'s mom and the show's producers won't let her quit and soon the life that she has so carefully built for herself, with real friends (and maybe even a real boyfriend), is in danger of being destroyed by the show. Bonnie™ needs to do something drastic if her life is ever going to be her own—even if it means being more exposed than ever before.

Heather Demetrios' Something Real is the winner of the Susan P. Bloom PEN New England Discovery Award.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

When she's not traipsing around the world or spending time in imaginary places, Heather Demetrios lives with her husband in New York City. Originally from Los Angeles, she now calls the east coast home. Heather is part of the Summer 2014 Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA class at Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a recipient of the Susan P. Bloom PEN New England Discovery Award for Something Real. She's never been on reality TV, but her grandmother keeps begging her to do The Amazing Race.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Something Real

By Heather Demetrios

Henry Holt and Company

Copyright © 2014 Heather Demetrios
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8050-9794-8

Contents

Title page, 
Copyright Notice, 
Dedication, 
Epigraph, 
Baker's Dozen Cast, 
Season 17, Episode 1 (The One with the Cameras) Fireside Chats with Kaye Gibbons, 
Season 17, Episode 2 (The One with Bourbon and Cigarettes), 
Season 17, Episode 3 (The One with the Retake) Praise for Recipe for a Happy, Healthy Family, 
Season 17, Episode 4 (The One Where I Ditch School), 
Season 17, Episode 5 (The One with Uno), 
Season 17, Episode 6 (The One with the Retro Sunglasses), 
Season 17, Episode 7 (The One with Spearmint Gum), 
Season 17, Episode 8 (The One with the Tell-All), 
Season 17, Episode 9 (The One with the Zombie Apocalypse)Baker's Dozen: Season 13, Episode 2, 
Season 17, Episode 10 (The One with the Scones), 
Season 17, Episode 11 (The One with the Photo Shoot) Baker's Dozen Promo Video, 
Season 17, Episode 12 (The One in the Janitor's Closet), 
Season 17, Episode 13 (The One with the Pepsi Freezes) Meet the Baker's Dozen!, 
Season 17, Episode 14 (The One with the Skittles), 
Season 17, Episode 15 (The One That's Live) Baker's Dozen: Season 10, Episode 9, 
Season 17, Episode 16 (The One at the Mall) Associated Press Article, 
Season 17, Episode 17 (The One with the Movie), 
Season 17, Episode 18 (The One with the Autograph) Baker's Dozen: Season 13, Episode 9, 
Season 17, Episode 19 (The One with the Enchiladas), 
Season 17, Episode 20 (The One with the Notebook), 
Season 17, Episode 21 (The One with the Tabloid), 
Season 17, Episode 22 (The One with the Wrapping Paper), 
Season 17, Episode 23 (The One with the Fort), 
Season 17, Episode 24 (The One with the Diary), 
Season 17, Episode 25 (The One with Kaye Gibbons), 
Season 17, Episode 26 (The One with the Red Shirt), 
Season 17, Episode 27 (The One with the Duct Tape) Viewpoints with Eileen Smith KTOK AM 540, 
Season 17, Episode 28 (The One with the Lawyer), 
Season 17, Episode 29 (The One with the Boutonnieres), 
Season 18, Episode 1 (The One with the Beach Balls), 
Season 18, Episode 2 (The One with the Suitcases) Celeb.com Article, 
Season 18, Episode 3 (The One with the Letters), 
Season 18, Episode 4 (The One with the Cap and Gown), 
Acknowledgments, 
Author bio, 
Copyright, 

CHAPTER 1

SEASON 17, EPISODE 1

(The One with the Cameras)

It took me four years, seven shrinks, three different hair colors, one Zen meditation retreat, and over six hundred mochas to get to this moment.

I step up to the blue velvet backdrop and face the camera. When the photographer isn't paying attention, I wipe the back of my hand over my damp forehead, then clutch my fingers behind my back, like I'm a two-year-old with a secret. I shouldn't have worn the sweater-shirt. The wool is itchy, and I'm about two seconds away from breaking out in hives. God, why won't he just take the damn picture? It's not like this is Seventeen. The last time they shot me, we'd spent four hours on my hair and makeup and another three in front of the camera. This is nothing compared to that, but it feels so much worse.

I want to bolt so bad, and this guy's taking forever, longer than he took for anyone who was in line ahead of me. But I have to stick it out. I've been psyching myself up for this all summer. A senior photo is an important pastime for a normal girl. And I'm a normal girl.

Finally.

I can do this. Breathe. It's not even a camera camera ... it's just a photo. One photo. That's it. And the name that will be underneath it in the yearbook? Totally unremarkable. Nothing Us Weekly would care about. Chloe Baker's a nobody.

The scruffy photographer crouches down behind the camera, like a sniper looking through a scope. The panic that had started out as a slight queasiness in my stomach is pushing past my ribs, pressing against my lungs.

The sweater itching. Sweat on my forehead. Nails digging into my skin. Keep it together. Just a few more seconds.

I'm a freaking basket case.

"All right, Chloe," he says. "On three. One, two —"

I smile as the flash goes off, and the photographer gives me a thumbs-up, then turns to the kid behind him. "Next!"

My first voluntary picture in four years.

I grab my backpack off the floor and throw it over one shoulder as I walk out of the makeshift photo studio. Giddiness wells up in me, like I mainlined a Pepsi Freeze and got a little too high on caffeine and sugar. I want to do something to commemorate the day — bake a cake or put a sticker on my calendar. Light a candle.

Behind me, a long line of seniors wait their turn for the yearbook photos, but since my last name is at the beginning of the alphabet, I'm among the first to go home on this rare half day. Thank God for long faculty meetings.

"Proud of you, sis."

My brother, Benton™, also a senior, gives me a hug. I knew he'd been waiting for me after he took his photo, which, because he's a well-adjusted person, is no biggie for him.

"Is that relief I see in your eyes?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "Maybe a little."

"Someday, you'll be proud of me for doing something that's scarier than a yearbook picture."

He gives my ponytail an affectionate tug. "Baby steps." We walk away from the line together and then he jerks his thumb toward the locker room. "I'm meeting Matt, so you can take the car, 'kay?"

"Have fun."

He gives me a wicked little grin. "We get his house to ourselves until he has practice at three."

I feign shock. "Scandalous!"

He laughs and then jogs off to meet his boyfriend, while I go the opposite way, toward the parking lot.

Maybe not freaking out is proof that I'm no longer a paranoid schizo. I mean, if my classmates haven't figured it out by now, they never will. Right? Right. It doesn't matter if they look at me all day long or have ten yearbook pictures of me. It doesn't. They'll only see Chloe Baker.

Still. A tiny part of me wants to turn around and demand that the photographer delete my photo. It isn't too late. But I keep walking, one foot in front of the other, out of the gym, through the parking lot, and to the car Benny and I share — a used silver Hyundai with dark-tinted windows, as unremarkable as I want to be.

It's one of those rare perfect fall days that we only get, like, three of in central California. The sun is shining, but the breeze bites, and even though the trees don't really change here, not like back home in New Hampshire, a few across the parking lot have turned golden or rust-colored. I smile at them, like we're old friends. Then I slide into the driver's seat, and when I turn the key, the radio starts blaring Lily Allen's "Smile," and really, how freakin' perfect is that?

My cell rings, and I put it on speaker as I back out of my spot.

"Chlo. You still coming over?" It's Tessa, one of my two best friends.

"Yeah," I say. "Just going home to change. This sweater makes me want to rip my skin off."

"Yikes." I can hear the heavy buzz of students all around her — her last name's Lee, so she'll be in line for a while. "Well, don't hurry. After this, I have to make sure the paper's good to go. There are about five articles that I know right now, without the benefit of psychic powers, are going to suck."

Tessa is the editor of the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: HENRY HOLT
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0805097945
• ISBN 13: 9780805097948
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 406
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar