Seeing Stars Read Online Free PDF

foot or so from Ruth, huffing and crossing her arms over her chest.
    “What?” Ruth said.
    Allison shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just not into it tonight. I told Dee I needed a time out.”
    “Oh.”
    Allison glanced over and then picked up the handle of Ruth’s purse, which lay between them on the ratty sofa cushion. “This is nice leather,” she said, rubbing it between her thumb and finger. “I’m guessing kid.”
    The purse was, in fact, Ruth’s only quality accessory, bought at Nordstrom Rack for 50 percent off. She hardly ever used it at home, for fear of scuffing it. She’d brought it to LA only as an afterthought, but she was glad, now. When it came to her purse, at least, she had nothing to be ashamed of.
    “Michael Kors,” the girl said. “Am I right?”
    Ruth was impressed in spite of herself.
    “Mine’s Coach,” the girl said, gesturing to her bag and school things neatly stacked just inside Mimi’s office door. “My mom’s husband bought it for me. I won’t even let anyone touch it.” She sighed, crossed one long leg over the other, and bobbed her foot up and down.
    “Do you like this class?” Ruth asked.
    Allison shrugged. “Dee’s cool.”
    “Bethy says he’s a little intense.”
    “Well, of course he’s intense. I mean, that’s why his kids are series regulars.”
    “We’d kill for that,” Ruth acknowledged.
    “Everyone would kill for that,” Allison said in a duh tone of voice.
    Ruth could feel her face getting warm. “Why do you like acting?” she asked. She was always surprised at how much easier it was to have an intimate conversation when you were sitting beside someone and not facing them. She and her mother had had their frankest talks driving between Seattle and Tacoma to visit Ruth’s aunt Vera.
    Allison thought for a minute. “I don’t know.” She frowned. “I really don’t know.”
    “Is it work for you? Is it hard?”
    “Oh, sometimes, if I’m playing like an unpopular girl or someone who doesn’t really get it. I don’t go out for those much, though. Mimi gets mad when Holly sends me out on character roles.”
    Holly—Holly Jensen—was Bethy’s agent, too. And those, Allison’s reject roles, were the ones Bethy was sent on.
    The girl had gotten up and was rummaging around in her bag, pulling out a can of Red Bull. Ruth didn’t approve of energy drinks, especially for children. “We don’t let Bethany drink those,” she said, watching Allison bring the drink back to the sofa.
    “Really?” The girl looked at her cheerfully. “God, we live on them.” She thought for a minute. “Last summer there was this kid at the Oakwood who had a nervous breakdown sort of thing. He was only sleeping like two hours a night for weeks, and then he started hallucinating, so his parents took him to this psychiatric clinic or something where they treat mentally ill people, and it turned out he’d been drinking like five Snapples a day . I mean, do you have any idea how much caffeine is in those things? Quinn Reilly—he’s another client—used to drink them, too, until Mimi made him stop because they sort of canceled out his Ritalin.” She fell back into the sofa cushions and sipped her Red Bull reflectively. “Anyway, we didn’t see the Oakwood kid after that. I think his parents made him go back to San Francisco or someplace. Which is pretty stupid, if you think about it, because it was Snapple . I mean, it’s not like it’s illegal.”
    “Well,” said Ruth.
    Chairs started scraping in the classroom. Allison hopped up. “Time for improv. I love improv.”
    And just as suddenly as she’d arrived she skipped off again, leaving Ruth feeling strangely enervated. Mimi’s current clients’ headshots and résumés were stacked in labeled cubbies across the room and Ruth had originally thought about using her time alone to look through them, but the thought was suddenly repugnant. She put her head back and closed her eyes and thought about how