Page 2 of Star Pupil

Chapter 1

Avery

I’d never worked as hard as I had over the last three months. Ten hour days, with six on set, three in class with Mrs. Stanton and one for rest and relaxation, didn’t sound like too much when I’d signed on to take this role—but I hadn’t factored my mom into the equation. She barely left my side, staying within sight and sound of me at all times, including my time spent in hair, wardrobe and make up. I’d never spent this much time with her back home, and it was exhausting.

The only time I was free from her was during my state-mandated education hours because she had no interest in sitting in a classroom with me. There wasn’t anyone for her to schmooze in there except for Mrs. Stanton, and my mom had made it clear she didn’t think the set teacher who’d been assigned to me was worth the effort. My mom really could be a bitch sometimes, so it shouldn’t have been a huge surprise to me that she was taking full advantage of her role as my “momager” to get whatever she could out of it for herself.

“Avery!” Mrs. Stanton jumped up from her seat and wrapped her arms around me for a hug. “Happy birthday.”

When she pulled away to grab a gift bag from her desk, I had to fight the tears filling my eyes. It was my first present of the day, and she was the only person who seemed to even remember today was my birthday. My mom had never been one to go overboard for it, but at least she’d always given me a card. I’d spent years excusing it away by telling myself money was tight so she couldn’t afford to do much. But I couldn’t use the same justification any longer since she had more than enough money to spend with the ridiculous amount I was being paid to be in this movie.

“You really didn’t have to get me a present.” My voice was soft, but it didn’t hide the affection I felt for my teacher. The time I spent with her in the classroom tended to be my favorite of the day because she was just so genuinely nice.

“Of course I did,” she chided. “You only turn eighteen once, and you deserve the very best.”

It went unsaid that she knew my own mother couldn’t be bothered to make sure I got it.

“Thank you,” I whispered, peeling back the brightly colored tissue paper to find an e-reader. “Oh, wow! You really shouldn’t have.”

“I wish I could take all the credit for it, but the gift card inside is the only part that’s actually from me. My boss ordered a bunch of these for us to use in the classroom, but then he decided he wanted to use a different brand. When he offered them to us, I managed to snag two. One for you and one for me.”

“I don’t care how you got it. I love it!”

She beamed a smile my way. “I thought you would.”

I reluctantly shoved the e-reader back into the bag. “I wish we didn’t have that pre-calculus test to get ready for, or else I’d ask if we could skip straight to my literature lesson today.”

“I’m sorry, Avery, but you don’t have class with me any longer.”

“But I’m so close,” I sighed. My shoulders drooped in disappointment. I knew the studio was only required to provide a teacher for us until we turned eighteen, but I’d been hoping they’d let me continue with my education for the last month of filming. “I guess I’ll have to see what it will take for me to finish up my work once we wrap up filming.”

“No, Avery,” she interrupted my rambling. “You misunderstood me. I’m not going to be instructing you any longer because it’s been decided you’ll have a new set teacher to make sure you’re ready to graduate soon.”

“I don’t understand,” I whispered. “You’re doing a great job already. Why do I need someone else?”

“This is a good thing,” she assured me. “Griffin, I mean Mr. Stone, rarely teaches in the field any longer, but he’s the best we have.”

“I find that hard to believe since you’re amazing.”

“You and I both know all my amazingness is spread thin on this set,” she laughed. “And I’m hoping with some one-on-one instruction, you’ll reconsider taking the SAT.”

“Why bother?” I asked. “We both know my mom is already weeding through scripts, trying to decide which movie I should do next. There’s no way she’s going to agree to let me go away to school.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t take college classes online, just like you’ve been doing with high school.”

“It’s too late,” I argued, fighting the hope she’d fostered inside me. I already knew my mom wouldn’t go for that option either since it would require me taking time out of my day to study. “I’ve already missed the application deadline for most schools.”

“Most, but not all.” She opened a drawer and pulled out a stack of brochures. “There’s still time to apply to any of these schools, and they all offer online classes.”

She tucked them into the gift bag with my present. “Promise me you’ll at least look at these.”

“Yeah, I can do that.” It was the least I could do since she’d gone to all that effort for me. Just because I was going to look at them didn’t mean I was actually going to apply.

“Perfect!” She paused to give me another hug before glancing up at the clock on the wall. “You’d better run along to meet your new teacher.”

“Where do I go?”

“I can’t believe you haven’t heard already! Don’t let it go to your head, but you must be doing an amazing job because they’re treating you like you’re a big deal now that you’re an adult.” She did air quotes around the last word. “You’re being moved out of the dressing room you’ve been sharing with Stella, Brooke and Grace, and into a trailer of your own. Mr. Stone should be there to meet you in about ten minutes.”

---