Starring Me
Starring Me
Krista McGee
© 2012 by Krista McGee
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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Published in association with literary agent Jenni Burke of D.C. Jacobson & Associates, an Author Management Company,
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.
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Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Scriptures taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible, and from the Holy Bible, New International Version
®
, NIV
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. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McGee, Krista, 1975–
Starring me / by Krista McGee.
p. cm.
Summary: Will seventeen-year-old Kara have to give up her acting dream when she learns that her audition for a television variety show starring a big-time teen celebrity hinges on her relationship with God?
ISBN 978-1-4016-8489-1 (pbk.)
[1. Auditions—Fiction. 2. Acting—Fiction. 3. Television—Production and direction—Fiction. 4. Christian life—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M4784628St 2012
[Fic]—dc23
2012006508
Printed in the United States of America
12 13 14 15 16 17 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my grandmother, Marie Brush,
thank you for your constant love and support.
And to my daughter, Emma Marie,
the most amazing birthday present ever.
Contents
I
want my parents to pick my costar.” Chad Beacon, current pop sensation, sank back in the leather chair.
Chad watched as the eight network executives sitting at the conference table stopped everything—stopped taking notes, stopped texting, stopped moving.
“Excuse me?” Samuel Dillard, the head of the new teen network, leaned closer to the table, his eyes tiny slits.
Dad folded his arms. “If our son is going to be spending several hours every day with a young woman, we want to decide who she’ll be. We want to make sure she shares our faith and our values.”
Dillard placed his palms flat on the mahogany table. “Mr. Beacon. We appreciate that you want to be involved in your son’s career. We applaud that.”
The others nodded their agreement before Dillard continued. “But this is a brand-new show on a brand-new network. We want Chad because he already has a fan base, but—”
“Quite a large one,” Mom interrupted. “After winning
America’s Next Star
, Chad’s popularity has been growing. More than we know how to handle, to be honest.”
“That’s for sure.” Chad thought back to his time on the popular TV show. Two years before, he had competed against hundreds of other young people to be chosen by millions of viewers as
America’s Next Star
.
“You wouldn’t believe how many shirts I’ve had ripped off—not that I wanted that. I tried to stop them, but holding one side of my T-shirt while a Hulk-sized girl is on the other, well . . .” Chad looked at his parents, both sending him “Shut your big mouth” stares. “Not the time for this conversation, right. Sorry. Go on.”
“Actually, this is exactly why we’re willing to discuss this show in the first place,” Dad said. “Chad is being pulled in directions we don’t want him pulled in. He’s just seventeen. We don’t want him to give up his childhood yet.”
“But we do want him to be able to do what he loves.” Mom placed a hand on her husband’s arm.
Dillard relaxed back in his seat. “Then we want the same thing. Chad is a talented young man—we’ve seen that. And I know his albums have sold well.”
“Quite well,” Dad affirmed. “But he wants to explore his other gifts as well.”
“That’s where we agree wholeheartedly. Those of us here at Teens Rock want him to be able to use all of his talents. Not just singing, but acting, comedy; we’re even willing to give him creative license when we begin writing the episodes.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about.” Chad spoke directly to Mr. Dillard. “Singing is fun, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t want to be
just
a singer.”
“And we don’t want that either, Chad.” Mr. Dillard’s broad smile made him look like the Joker from
Batman
.
“We appreciate that,” Mom said. “But Chad is still a teenage boy. The wrong kind of girl playing opposite him in this show could create more temptation than we want him to have to face.”
“Perhaps.” Dillard shrugged. “But we are interested in putting together a show that will be successful. You’ll be around the set. You can help him if his costar is too . . . tempting.”
“This is nonnegotiable.” Dad shook his head. “We choose his costar or Chad will not do the show.”
“This network may be new”—Dillard’s voice echoed in the cavernous conference room—“but we’re financed by one of the largest networks in the country. We’ve already got producers and actors lined up at our door. Advertisers are battling each other for sponsorship privileges.”
“We’ve done our homework.” Dad placed his elbows on the table, hands clasped. “We know all about Teens Rock. We like the idea of it. But we also know you need a popular young teen star to help get this show off the ground.”
“Look.” Dillard seemed like a deflated balloon. “We always do a thorough background check on the girls who audition.”
Another executive turned toward the Beacons. “And we have a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol already in place.”
“That’s wonderful,” Dad said. “But we want more than a young woman without a criminal background who isn’t addicted to drugs or alcohol.”
“That’s not what she was implying.”
“We’re not trying to be difficult, Mr. Dillard.” Mom looked at him and smiled. “But we take our responsibility as parents very seriously.”
“That’s an understatement.” Chad winked at his mom.
“Enough.” Dillard lifted his hand. “We understand your position. I think we need a few minutes to discuss it. Privately.”
Samuel Dillard stood and walked to the large door, ushering Chad and his parents out of the room. They walked back to the lobby of the Teens Rock office.
“So, what do you think they’ll decide?” Chad asked. The lobby was decorated to look like what he imagined the overpriced designers believed was the bedroom of an American teenager: splatter paint on the walls, retro furniture, and gumball machines sitting on a lime green shag rug.
Dad eased himself into an oversized beanbag chair and groaned. “I hope they’ll decide to get real furniture in here. Beanbags and sixty-eight-year-old bones do not mix.”
Mom held her husband’s hand as he helped her into another of the beanbag chairs.
Chad looked at his parents. When Bill Beacon met and married Maria over forty years before, they became Christians and committed to raise a large family that loved their Savior. But that dream faded as years went by and Maria couldn’t conceive. Finally, when the couple thought their chances were gone, God gave them a son.
“We have prayed over this decision,” Mom said. “If God wants you on that show, you know he’ll work it out.”
Chad leaned against the wall beside them. “And what if he doesn’t?”
“Sweetie.” Mom reached for his hand. “Do you want it if God doesn’t?”
“But this show sounds so perfect. I mean, come on, a teen version of
Saturday Night Live
? Me and the mystery girl hosting, with teen stars joining the cast every week for different sketches? I’d get to sing, act, even write some of my own stuff. I can’t think of anything that would be more fun than that.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Mom.” Chad groaned. “I want God to want this.”
“I know.” Mom gave him a sympathetic smile. “And God knows your heart. Even better than you do. And if this doesn’t work out, that just means he has something even greater planned for you.”
“So you don’t think it’s going to work out?”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Mom squeezed his hand before releasing it. “But if they come back and insist on their own choice for your costar, then we’ll have to walk away.”
“I’m not a kid.” Chad ran a hand through his blond hair. “I was with tons of girls on
America’s Next Star
, and hardly any of them were Christians. I handled that all right.”
“Yes.” Dad joined the conversation. “But we’ve discussed that before. That show was just for a couple months. And you were competing against them, not working with them every day.”
“And you were only fifteen.” Mom leveled her hazel eyes at her son.
“So I had fewer hormones at fifteen?”
“You better watch the way you speak to your mother, Chad.” Dad frowned.
“Sorry.” Chad closed his eyes. “I know you think this girl and I may end up dating.”