Starling

"Hanna?" Starling pushed open the bedroom door, and nearly fell backwards when a pillow plowed into her face. "I guess I deserve that."

Blinking to clear her vision, she gulped at the sight before her. All 5'2" of her friend's frame was trembling, her fists clenched at her side. The pink glasses were pushed atop her head, and the smokey eye makeup was leaning more towards smudged, a clear indication that tears had been shed.

"I thought we were friends!"

"We are friends," Starling promised. "I planned on telling you. One day."

"One day?" Hanna fumed. "One day as in tomorrow? Graduation day? When we were eighty?"

"You don't get it. Once someone knows he's my brother, they change. I can't trust that people are my friends because of him or because they actually like me for me. It's why I moved here last year, to get a chance to grow up, out from under his shadow."

Some of the tension seeped out of the other girl, and she leaned against the desk behind her. "I wouldn't have been like that." But Starling didn't miss the tremor in the syllables, the damning notes of uncertainty.

"I know you wouldn't now. But I only got one chance to start over, and I couldn't waste it."

"Do you really hate your brother that much? Your freakin' twin brother!" Hanna's bright lips curved upwards, a beacon of forgiveness, and they dropped to the nest of pillows piled before the flat screen television.

Her friend handed over her drink, and she let the carbonated coke bubble on her tongue as she pondered how to answer. Her relationship with Griffin defined complicated. No human being was closer to her, knew her better than her brother, but therein lay the bulk of their problems. He wielded information like a sword, cutting her where it hurt the most. There was a reason he'd risen so far in the ranks of Hollywood.

"I don't hate him. We used to be really close," she began, deciding she owed her friend the truth. "Our mom got us involved in the acting biz pretty early. You remember the movie Drunk with Kids?"

"Yeah, it's one of my mom's favorites. She watches it everytime it comes on t.v."

"You know the boss character? The one with twins? Griffin and I played the twins."

"Shut your mouth," Hanna squealed, leaning forward with arms gripping one of the pillows tightly to her center. "I cannot wait to tell my mom!"

"No, Hanna. You can't. This is just for you to know."

"Ugh, now I know why you kept it to yourself. This is torture for a person. But why did you stop acting?"

Starling picked at her nails, watching the periwinkle polish fall to the plush carpet. Hanna's question had so many answers, so she went with the simplest one. "Things were starting to heat up for us. We were in works to sign a record deal as a brother and sister set, but I hit puberty. Well, it may be more accurate to say, puberty hit me. I gained a lot of weight and had acne issues. Suddenly, I wasn't looking like a hot commodity, and they changed their minds. The only way they'd sign was if it was Griffin as a solo act."

"Oh shit," Hanna breathed.

"I was crushed, and it wasn't long before the other job offers started drying up. The last role my agent snagged for me was a before picture for a ProActiv commercial, and I refused."

"Then you moved here?"

No, that wasn't until my world fell apart. "Pretty much," she said. "I didn't fit in that world anymore, so I asked my mom if I could move in with my grandma. We also agreed that I could pretend to be an only child. I see them in the summer, and he stays away from here."

Hanna went on her knees and wrapped her slender, brown arms around Starling's neck. "I want you to know I won't tell anyone, but I don't know how on earth you're gonna keep it quiet, since he's living here."

Starling returned the hug before tucking a strand of her frizzing brown hair behind an ear. Eyes narrowed, she patted around the floor until her fingers landed on the smooth glass surface of her cell phone. She typed out a quick message to her mother and hit send. "He is not staying here. I can't change the fact that they're filming his show here, but he sure as hell better find another place to live. He can rent one of those fancy ass town homes."

"Can he stay there without an adult?"

"He's practically grown in Hollywood years. He can do as he pleases. The fact that our mother isn't here, tells me she's too busy with a new lover to bother keeping an eye out on either of us."

"Gross," Hanna gagged.

"Tell me about it."   

The sound of a car door slamming outside of the house drew their attention. As one, they stood and rushed to the window, moving the lacey curtain back just far enough that they could peer out without being seen. A large, black expensive model SUV had pulled up. Multiple people were swarming about, pulling out luggage or shouting on cell phones.

"Hell no," Starling hissed. "This is so going to be all over school now." She started to turn away, but her brother's raised voice stopped her.

"Crack the window," Hanna urged. "We need to hear what's going on."

The window protested, the edges old and stuck together from a recent paint job, but she managed to pry it open. The chaos outside poured into her room, and both girls held their breath as they eavesdropped.

"No, no, no. All of this needs to go to the address I just sent Lewis. This is absurd. Can't anyone do anything they're told?" Griffin snatched a suitcase and tossed it back inside the vehicle. "You all need to be out of my sight within thirty minutes; I'll be replacing anyone I see after that."

"Um, your brother is a diva," Hanna said, drawing out the last word as she rolled her eyes.

"Griffin, I thought you were staying here." Their grandmother had wandered down from the porch, her face anxious as she watched everyone scramble away.

"Sorry, Nana. I think it's going to be a little crowded here. I promise I'll be back for Sunday lunch." He leaned over to place a quick kiss on her cheeks. "Tell my sister I said bye?"

"You should tell her yourself."

"She wouldn't want me to," he answered, walking away from her to get into a flashy sports car that pulled up. He glanced up at the window, his eyes lingering on Starling. She made no attempt to hide, and he said nothing else, only motioning for his driver to go.