Chapter 2, Part 2
I felt my heart sink into my chest; I knew this was the end result that Linda was aiming for. I couldn’t help but think about The Prince and the Pauper, where the Prince had been so eager to trade places with the Pauper and vice versa; both had wanted to see what life was like on the other side. I doubted that was the same situation that I was facing here; I didn’t really want to put myself in Emilia’s shoes and I’m sure that Emilia would be less than enthusiastic about trading places with me. I liked my life here and I had to admit, there wasn’t much about the life Emilia was leading that seemed appealing.
Briefly, Linda actually looked sheepish, but that expression was quickly replaced by that all-business look I had seen before. “Not take her place, exactly, because I think there are some things that people would notice…” She paused uncertainly. “Or…do you sing?” I shook my head quickly, to make sure she got the picture. “See, some things aren’t replaceable, some things people would notice.” She looked at my father. “But Scout has a lot to offer that Emilia…still needs to work on.”
My dad laughed, shaking his head and leaning back in his seat. “I really can’t believe I’m listening to this. You’re suggesting that I give you my daughter so that she can play nice with the press to keep Emilia out of trouble? Because you heard this idea from an eight-year-old.”
“You know what they say, Mitch: children are the voices of reason.” Linda replied coldly. “You act as though Scout would be nothing more than a trained monkey. If we actually wanted to press to believe that she was Emilia, with a serious attitude adjustment, she’d have to be Emilia most of the time. People would have to believe she was Emilia, with all the benefits.”
For the first time, I let myself really, truly imagine what it would be like to be Emilia, to be some internationally known and loved pop star. I was sure that my sister got anything and everything she wanted, money was no object, no request was too extreme, nothing could be denied her. It might be nice to lead that kind of life; I was sure her closets and wardrobe put Carrie Bradshaw’s to shame and, if the teen magazines of MTV exposes were to be believed, “lavish” was an understatement of the way Emilia liked to live. At the moment, I couldn’t help but think what’s not to like?
But at the same time, it was almost like I would be just a trained animal, let off the leash to perform and then reeled back in. I couldn’t be the good side of Emilia forever, someone would eventually catch on, not to mention the fact that I had my own life to led. And who even said I could pull off being Emilia, attitude adjustment or not.
“How long, exactly, what I be doing this?” I questioned, looking at Linda. “If I decided I wanted to.”
“We’d just need the press to come back to our side, get out some stories of Emilia’s good side, her true personality. Good enough press to get the CD sales back up, sell out the concerts, get people thinking she’s someone worth their time and money again.” Linda replied.
I gave her a doubtful look. “And after this, why don’t you think Emilia will go back to being her normal self?”
Linda pursed her lips, a brief moment of thought. “Hopefully seeing the correlation between good attitude and good press and increased popularity will help Emilia realize that her attitude has a lot to do with the public’s acceptance of her.” Even now, she talked as though she was trying to sell a product, like she was pitching to executives and business partners.
I seriously doubted that Emilia would get the wake up call but decided that nothing I said could convince Linda of that fact. I felt like I was standing in the middle of the road and I could either go back the way I had come or start in a completely new direction and suddenly neither way seemed to be very appealing. I shook my head. “I’ll have to think about it.” I muttered.
Linda looked perplexed. “Scout, this would be a great opportunity-”
“She said she’d think about it.” Dad interjected, giving Linda a stern look. “That’s nicer than what I would have said.”
Sighing, Linda nodded once. “My flight leaves tomorrow evening.” She got to her feet, giving me a faint smile. “I’d certainly like it if you were on the plane beside me.”
I forced a smile onto my face but I was sure everyone could tell there wasn’t much truth behind it. “I’ll think about it.” I said again.
Not long afterward, we were saying our goodbyes to Linda, but I knew that we weren’t going to be seeing the last of her. I had the feeling that if I didn’t give her the answer she wanted to hear right away, she might find a reason to delay her flight.