Something Real (41 page)

Pride—faltering at first, then stronger—surges through me. I’m doing this; I’m finally standing up for myself. There are murmurs in the audience and then—scattered applause. Not everyone is clapping for us: most people look confused.
Snap. Snap. Snap.
More pictures. Hundreds of them.

Mom: “Get up.”

She forcibly pulls me and Benny out of our chairs, gripping my arm so hard I wince. As we stumble down the stairs and across the convention floor, the moderator puts his hands up in the international gesture of Everyone Please Shut Up. My siblings follow our departure with shocked eyes—the little ones still don’t get what happened, but they know we’re in trouble. Lex actually smirks and shakes her head admiringly. I raise my eyebrows as if to say,
See, you’ve been underestimating me all along
. When we get to the hallway where the greenrooms are, Mom lets go of us; she looks like she’s going to have an aneurysm.

“How
dare
you embarrass our family like this,” she says. “Do you have any idea what the repercussions of your little prank will be?”

I’m itching to yell back. To say,
Didn’t you listen to the letter? It’s not a prank!
But I can’t take the tape off yet.

Mom throws up her hands as a MetaReel camera comes into the hallway.

“I don’t know what to do with you two. Benny, first it’s drinking, now this. Bonnie™, you’re acting like a child, throwing tantrums, getting violent … this is simply unacceptable.”

Violent? Oh, right, the notebook throwing.

She pauses, taking us in, measuring her breaths until they are socially acceptable inhales and exhales. “I know you want a rise out of me, but you’re not going to get it. Hopefully someday you’ll learn there are more appropriate ways to voice your concerns. Excuse me while I go clean up your mess. Again.”

I look at my mom for a long moment. I don’t know what I was hoping for—maybe I wanted her to drop everything and demand that the cameras be turned off. Or perhaps I thought she’d scream at me so America could see, once and for all, how messed up our family is. I know one thing I wasn’t expecting: her indifference.

She turns toward the press conference and says over her shoulder, “Don’t even think about going back out there.”

The camera stays on us for a while, but eventually drifts out the doorway, returning to the press conference and the red carpet. Benny and I look at each other, and his eyes crinkle up, like he’s smiling through the tape. I nod.

It was worth it.

Viewpoints with Eileen Smith KTOK AM 540

EILEEN SMITH:
Good afternoon. If you’re just joining us, today we’re talking about the outrageous protest by
Baker’s Dozen
stars Bonnie™ and Benton™ Baker during the show’s live taping last night at the Ultimate Reality™ Expo in Los Angeles. I’m here with Chuck Daniels, the head producer of the MetaReel show. Chuck?

CHUCK DANIELS:
Thank you, Eileen. I just want to say that Bonnie™ and Benton™ have always had my ear when it comes to any problems they’re having. As you probably saw on last week’s episode, Bonnie™ was pretty upset about her mother reading her diary. I believe she’s just acting out with some normal teenage aggression. Both kids are back at school today without tape, and the family has gone back to normal.

EILEEN SMITH:
What do you think of the MetaReel boycott the United Parents Coalition is calling for?

CHUCK DANIELS:
I think it’s great that people are engaging with the show.

EILEEN SMITH:
Is MetaReel considering including more protection and benefits for the child stars of your programs?

CHUCK DANIELS:
Well, Eileen, I just make the show. You’d have to talk to our legal department about all that. But I’d like to point out that the contracts we have are good enough for the parents in our programs, and last I checked, the buck stops with them.

EILEEN SMITH:
Let’s get some other viewpoints in here. I’ve got Nancy Fraser from Boston on the line. Nancy?

NANCY FRASER:
Hi, Eileen. Hello, Chuck.

CHUCK DANIELS AND EILEEN SMITH:
Hi.

NANCY FRASER:
Well, I just want to say that as a mother of three, I can’t imagine how hard it must be for Beth. I’ve been watching the show since the very first episode, and I think Bonnie™ has just gotten a little too big for her britches. If you ask me, what that girl needs is a good spanking.

EILEEN SMITH:
Okay, uh, thanks, Nancy. We’ve got Tim Birch on the line from Phoenix. Tim, what do you think of Bonnie™ Baker?

TIM SMITH:
I think that girl needs to run as far away from her crazy family as possible. What MetaReel and her parents are doing is criminal. Forcing these kids to be on camera is—

CHUCK DANIELS:
Now let me make this clear. MetaReel is in no way forcing these children to be on the show—they have a father in Florida. Bonnie™ and Benton™ are aware that remaining with their mother means staying on the show. Trust me, we’re not handcuffing kids to our cameras.

EILEEN SMITH:
We’ve got to go to commercial, but don’t switch that dial! If you have a question for Chuck about
Baker’s Dozen
or a comment about last night’s episode, pick up your phone or put on that Bluetooth if you’re on your commute. We’ll be right back after these messages from our sponsors.

SEASON 17, EPISODE 28

(The One with the Lawyer)

I’ve never realized how Chuck’s face resembles a piece of ham. It really does. It’s a big hunk of pink, glistening flesh with a ring of fat around the outside. Put some brown sugar on him, and you’ve got Christmas dinner. His beady little eyes flash at me when I come down the stairs. It’s Wednesday, the day after the vow, and I’ve been holed up in my room, doing homework. It had been a great day at school. For once it feels good to be a celebrity. Schwartz started a round of applause for me in class, and a few people actually came up to me to say they thought what we’d done was awesome. Diane Le Shrink gave me not two but
three
packs of Skittles, and Patrick dragged me into the janitor’s closet for half the lunch period.

I touch my lips as I remember his heat, the way his skin melted into mine.

“Bonnie™, did you hear what I said?”

I look at Chuck, my face flooding crimson. “Uh. No. Sorry.”

“I said, we need to go outside for a little chat.”

Outside, as in, not overheard by MetaReel. So when he wants privacy, it’s okay to ditch the cameras?

“We can talk here.”

He looks in the direction of the living room, where Puma Guy is capturing a few of my brothers arguing over a soccer ball. “No, we can’t.”

Sighing, I get up and follow him out the front door. It’s a cold January day, the sky a slab of marble, and I shiver, wishing I’d grabbed my coat. He’s silent as we trudge through the dead grass along the security fence. Finally he stops in the middle of the side yard and fixes me with a seriously sinister glare.

“Just what exactly do you think you’re doing?”

Annoyance surges through me—who is this guy? He’s not my dad, not my teacher, not someone who should have any authority over me at all. So why is he in control of my life? I force myself to stand a little taller.

“It’s none of your business what I’m doing, Chuck. That’s sort of the point.”

He sticks his doughy face closer to mine, his pointed nose inches from my own. “I’m only going to say this once, Bonnie™, so you better listen. I can
ruin
your family.”

“You mean like how you ruined it four years ago?” My voice cuts through the space between us. “You knew Dad was in that guesthouse. You knew when you told me to go get him. How do you
sleep
at night?”

His eyes are cold, betraying nothing: no surprise, no guilt. “Push me, and I will make your mother wish she had never signed up for this show. I’m not going to let you and your faggy brother fuck up my entire career because all of a sudden you’ve gotten camera shy.”

I stare at him, too shocked to even wipe away the drops of his spittle that have sprayed my face.

“No more stunts,” he says. “I’ve got the goddamned ACLU on my ass, reporters calling night and day. One more prank like this, and we’ll pull the plug on the show and sue the hell out of your family for defamation of character and lost revenue. It’s your choice. But I’d think long and hard. MetaReel isn’t going to play nice.”

He doesn’t wait for me to respond. By the time I find my voice, he’s already gone back into my house—no. He’s gone back to the
set
. Cold uncertainty pushes against my ribs, filling me up. Chuck isn’t bluffing, that much is clear. My elation over the great day at school evaporates. The statement we made would be meaningless if we just keep doing the show, but if we say anything, then we’re responsible for landing my family in the poorhouse.

I’ve got to talk to Benny.

I trudge back across the lawn, but when I get inside, he’s sitting at the kitchen table with two cameras on him, holding the cordless phone to his ear. Mom and Kirk lean against the counter, watching him. When she sees me, Mom points to the table—
You. Sit
.

I sit.

Which doesn’t make me feel like a badass revolutionary at all.

“Dad … no. No, we don’t want—” Benny puts his hand over the receiver. “It’s Dad. He’s offering to have us go live with him.”

I hold out my hand, and Benny places the phone in it.

“Dad?”

“Hey, honey.” His voice is fake-happy, tight. “I was just talking to Ben about you guys maybe coming to stay with me. Sounds like it’s pretty rough over there for you.”

“They put you up to this,” I say.

“No!” But even though we’re hundreds of miles away, I can tell he’s lying. He’s clearly under duress.

“Dad, Benny and I aren’t going to move to Florida. We only have four months until we graduate.”

He sighs. “But—”

I open my mouth to say we didn’t do the vow of silence just so that we’d get secreted away by MetaReel, but Chuck catches my eye and gives an imperceptible shake of his head.
Big Brother Is Watching You.

“Look. Thanks, Dad, but Benny and I have a life here. We have school and … friends.”

I think of Patrick, of leaving him to go live with my alcoholic father and whatever floozy he’s shacking up with in Miami. Or Benny leaving Matt before they can go to the winter formal together. No. There has to be another way.

“Well, okay, if that’s what you want.”

He’s so obviously relieved that I want to beat the phone against the table.

“Yes,” I say, trying to control the emotions that are desperate to burst out of my skin. “That’s what I want. Benny?”

He nods.

“And Benny too,” I add.

“Well, I … I love you guys.”

Long dramatic pause.

“Huh,” is all I say.

I hang up the phone and look at Mom. She shrugs her shoulders and turns back to the soup that’s simmering on the stove. Right now, we have a policy of détente—it’s Cold War status up in the Baker house.

When Benny and I get back upstairs, I pull him into my room and tell him about the conversation with Chuck.

“You’ve gotta call that lawyer back,” he whispers. He looks at the door. “Like, now.”

I think of how Lark™, my little brother from India, still wets the bed even though he’s nine. Benny, hiding who he is because he doesn’t want his sexual orientation to make national headlines … and drinking on the sly because the pressure is too much. Lex, screwing lots of boys because she doesn’t get enough love or attention at home. And the others—night terrors, temper tantrums, and God knows what else. I could walk away and let them sort out this mess for themselves. Not have the lawsuit. Just get out, graduate, and move on. Or I could stand up for all of us.

“Yeah.”

I pull her number up on the cell phone Patrick gave me. After the third ring, a crisp what-is-it-I’m-saving-the-world voice answers.

“Melinda Greenberg,” she says.

“Hi. Uh. It’s Chloe. Chloe Baker.”