A Writers World...and a Story Preview

If you frequent my blog (which I know you don’t because no one does) then you would notice that I’ve added the Wattpad Widget to the right of the screen. If you have a wattpad, you should fan me and give my stories a read if you feel so inclined!

If you don’t have a wattpad and you don’t know what in the world I’m talking about, let me explain! Wattpad is a site for writers, it’s where writers can publish their works for other people to read. I would say it’s a little like a facebook for people who like to write. (I am somewhat unfortunately one of those people who like to write. Not that you’d be able to tell that from my 12 post blog…)

And I only say unfortunately because although I love to write, sometimes it is so hard to do!

But, just to give you a little taste, I’ll preview the Prologue of my story right here on my blog. That way, if you like it, go to wattpad and continue reading. If you REALLY like it, perhaps you would consider voting for it on wattpad, my story is in a contest on there and I would be every so grateful for your support!

K.

Thanks!

Star Girl

Prologue:

“All right Doll, I want you to give me that heart stopping smile!”

            Desirae did as she was told, grinning into the camera and the photographer behind it. Jacob had always been her favorite. Flashes exploded around her, and she flipped her hair over her shoulder, peering up at him with her best, who me look. She knew Jacob loved that one.

            “Perfect, Angel! Can you move a little more for me?” She was sitting facing him, so she turned her back to him and peered over her shoulder at him, then sliding onto her stomach, looked up at him with her elbows resting on the floor and her chin in her hands giving him a perfectly innocent look. Once more the flashes went off in her dark blue eyes before he lowered the camera for a moment. As soon as it wasn’t pointed at her, she let the smile slide off her face.

            “Are we done for today, Jacob?” she asked, doing her best to make sure her voice wasn’t whiney; but she was tired. To her relief, the photographer nodded, handing the camera off to an assistant and walking toward her. 

            “Yeah, I think we’re done for today. We’ll see how the pictures turn out and send them over to Johnson. He’ll tell us if they were any good.” He grinned down at her, “But as beautiful as you are, Angel, everyone will love them.”

            She flipped her hair over her shoulder, and grinned up at him. “Thanks for the pictures, Jacob,” she told him in a tone that was too grown up, the barest hint of her once thick southern accent coming through. 

            “No problem, Angel. You know you’re my favorite person in the world to photograph.”

            “Desirae Kimball!” The commanding woman’s earsplitting voice echoed throughout the studio. Everyone looked nervously toward the door before they hurried back to work and out of sight if they could manage it.

            Desirae’s eyes widened and she turned back into any other eight year old as she pulled a face, “My Mama’s here, I gotta go!”

            Desirae ran towards the dressing room, but the woman cut her off, grabbing her by the shoulders before she had a chance to go through the door. “Desirae, you should have already been changed; we have to meet Nick Johnson in less than ten minutes.” She looked down at her daughter, “Well hurry, what are you standing there for?” she insisted as she pushed her in the direction of the dressing room. “We’ve got lots left to do today.”

            Holland Davis, one of the most beautiful seventeen year old models in New York City, came up behind Jacob. “Looks like the child star has been here today,” she said, hearing the demands of Stephanie Kimball.

            Jacob turned to smile at the protégé, taking his camera back from the assistant, ready to go again. “Yes, she has. Desirae Kimball, child wonder. I hear she’s even giving you a run for your money, Holland.”

            Holland smiled, not the least ruffled as she took her first pose in a stunning black dress against a white backdrop. “She’s only eight years old.”

            Jacob raised his camera and took a few shots of the girl before he lowered it to look at her again. “Maybe so, but she already had a film, singing and modeling career. She was born a star.”

            As Holland raised one of her beautiful eyebrows, Jacob snapped a few frames of her skeptical look, “Yes, but will she die one?”

            *****

            Desirae’s feet didn’t even touch the ground as she swung them back and forth while she sat in one of the expensive leather chairs in Nick Johnson’s Manhattan office. She and her mother were waiting for her manager to arrive. While Desirae eyed the M&M jar on Nick’s desk, her mother was going over Desirae’s schedule in her thick, leather planner.

            “Can I have some M&M’s, Mama?”

            Stephanie appeared shocked and appalled at the suggestion, although her eyes never left the planner. “No, you may not. Why do you think you have a personal trainer?”

            Desirae rolled her eyes behind her mother’s back, sticking her bottom lip out in a pout. She knew it wouldn’t make a difference to her mother if she pouted, but maybe Nick. . . A thought struck her young mind.

            “Mama, when are we going home? Daddy said he was coming to see me tonight.” That made Stephanie look up at her daughter.

            “Your father is busy, he won’t be able to see you tonight Desirae.”

            She looked up at her mother blankly. The words didn’t seem to sink in or make any sense at all in her young mind. “But he promised.” Her childlike innocence still led her to believe that a promise was a promise.

            Stephanie reached out to touch her daughter’s hair, seeming a sensitive motherly gesture to some, but Desirae knew it was to make her all the more presentable. As her mother spoke, she turned away, fussing with the planner’s pages and her purse, anything to keep her gaze from her daughter. “He’s busy. You’re busy. You can see him another time. End of story.”

            And it was the end of the story for a moment. Nick Johnson came in, smoothly settling behind the desk. “Ms. Kimball, I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting. How did the photo shoot go?”

            “It went well,” Stephanie answered, although she’d spent most of the shoot in the car, arranging appointments for Desirae. “Jacob will probably have the pictures over to you this afternoon.”

            “Good, good.” He said absently. He was going through some papers on his messy desk. “We’ve set up a tour schedule for Des. She’ll wrap up the new horror movie at the end of June, and rehearsals should take about six weeks, so we’ve scheduled the first shows for her concert series the second week of August.”

            “So long?” Stephanie seemed surprised.

            “Well, I know we were going to shorten the rehearsal time, but since Des is a minor, we have to follow the rules. I think six weeks is about the limit. Levi Preston, the shows choreographer met with Desirae last week. He’s already picked out some dancers for her and they love her.”

            Stephanie smiled with large, perfect white teeth, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “That’s not a surprise. Who doesn’t love Desirae Kimball?” She asked him with a wave of her hand. “So how will the movie release and CD release coincide?”

            “Perfectly!” Nick’s high voice rang with enthusiasm. “They’ll be just a few weeks apart. She’ll be on everyone’s mind. The kids love her because she’s one of them, and everyone else loves her because she’s beautiful and talented. Desirae will be in the lights for a long time to come.”

            The office went silent as both manager and mother contemplated Desirae’s fame. She’d been in the public eye since she was five years old. Everyone loved her. And they were determined to keep it that way. Stephanie was, no doubt, more than willing to pay the price.

            As they went back to planning what needed to be done for the next few weeks, Desirae put her head down on her arm and closed her eyes, fading off into her own dream world. In her sleep her lips were still pouting, her thoughts far from the profit margin they wanted to create for her.           

            *****

            Cameron Jackson sighed as he leaned his head against the door to the New York apartment where his ex-wife and daughter lived. Stephanie always did this to make him break all his promises to Dessie. Finally giving up he left, realizing he had little choice. 

            He was leaving again the next day, and with Dessie’s schedule so busy for the next four months, he knew he wouldn’t be able to see her. She wouldn’t find time to fly down to Georgia to visit her father. Nor, he figured would she want to visit the man who had ‘broken’ all his promises to her.

            He caught a cab back to his hotel, looking at the billboards littering the city, plastered with his daughter’s face and brilliant blue eyes. He couldn’t comprehend losing her, but he feared he may have done just that.

            He trudged into his hotel room and was received by the smile of his wife of four years. “How’d the visit go?” Emily asked him softly.

            He didn’t have to say anything; she could read the pained expression on his face.  “She’ll know you tried, Cameron.” She said, trying to smooth the frown from his face. “Dessie loves you.”

            Cameron shook his head, “Stephanie will poison her against me.”

            Emily bit her bottom lip and sighed. She, like her husband, loved Dessie; but she could not imagine his pain. Stephanie had made sure that Emily was not allowed around the child after she realized that Desirae actually liked her step-mother.

            Cameron hit his fist on the table, making her jump. “She’s only eight!” he insisted. “She’s only eight years old. She works harder than any other super star out there and she doesn’t even know any different. She’s not allowed to have fun! She’s not even allowed to see her own father!”

            Emily rubbed her hand over his back, “Cam, Des knows you love her. You call her every day; you talk to her every day. That’s more than Stephanie does, and she lives with her!”

            “For now. . . but who knows when Stephanie will take that away from me too. I wish I could take her back to Georgia with us. She wasn’t meant for New York. . .she’ll never remember her home.” He hung his head, defeat written all over his face and in his posture as he finished softly, “she’ll never remember me.”

            “You are her father,” Emily reminded him fiercely. “She will always remember you.” 

            He ran his hands through his hair, frustration coursing through him. “Is it wrong of me to wish that she would fail?”

            Emily smiled slightly, “Dessie has more talent than half of the celebrities out there. She needs to use that talent because it is part of who she is. She’ll have to find herself in her talent. And then. . .when she realizes what she wants, she’ll go for it, and her mother won’t have any influence over her anymore. She’s just like her father that way.”

            He looked up at her, a rueful smile on his lips. “You should have been her mother. Stephanie doesn’t love her.”

            “Maybe she does,” Emily insisted. She had a habit of always looking for the best in people. “Maybe Stephanie just doesn’t know how to let people know she loves them.  Come on, call Dessie tomorrow. She’ll understand.”

            He nodded, trying to feel hope in Emily’s words. She was almost always right, but somehow, he doubted her on this one. She didn’t know the full capacity of Stephanie’s powers.