Chapter 4:
They finally cared enough to tell me the reason for our move. Dad’s work had brought us here, and I despised his company for it. They were the reason my life had been snatched away from me, now dangling just above my grasp.
I decided that I would just stay in my room until all of this boiled over. They couldn’t keep me here forever… could they? All I could do was pray that something good would happen. And it did a few weeks later, but only to my twin sister.
Dad had asked her to come to work with him one day. It was just like him to not ask me to join them. I would’ve said no anyway, but it would have been nice to feel wanted for the first time in my life. But while I sat in my room reading my books, my sister was off with my dad probably having the time of her life. When they came home a few hours later, I knew I was right.
Dad’s company must’ve liked her, because she came with him almost every day after that. I guess adults just love energetic and happy kids, which was probably the reason they treated me the way they did. If we had stayed back home, maybe I would’ve turned out that way. But one thing was for sure. I wasn’t about to be happy now.
I’d been spending most of my time in my room, just like I’d planned. It wasn’t like home, but I tried to imagine it was. I knew it wasn’t real, but it was the only thing that kept me going. I would never fit in here.
However, my sibling had no problem starting new lives here. My older sister went to the mall and came back later with three girls her age that she had met in some boutique somewhere. My brothers went to the skate park, and some skateboarders tagged along on the way back. All my twin sister had to was walk down the street and half an hour later, she was back with a list of play dates she had already planned for the next week.
I still had no one. I had no contact with Colin, I hadn’t even known his address! I hadn’t even known mine. All I knew is that we lived beside each other. But not anymore… I wasn’t about to ask my family about it though. So instead I sat in my room, crying the days away wrapped up in my red blanket.
Of course, at this low point of my life, my twin sister decided that this was the time for her to jump on her dreams of being a singer and actress. So she asked Dad if it was okay, and he ended up driving her to her first audition the next week. She landed a small guest role, but it was enough to convince her that she was good enough to beat out everyone for the role she really wanted. She wanted to be the star of her own TV show. And I wasn’t about to get in the way of that.
She liked to brag to me about it every time she thought was necessary. Which meant she never really left me alone. All she would ever say was “Guess what my TV show’s going to be called? Something with my name in big letters… Obviously!” Or she would drone on about how many autographs she would be able to sign in her career. Her answer wasn’t even a real number.
Why couldn’t she get it? One stupid role would not make her famous. It hardly even made her known at all. She had to get her head out of the clouds before it ruined her life. She couldn’t keep dreaming that everything good was going to happen to her. I had learned that lesson the hard way, and even if she annoyed me, I wasn’t going to let that happen to her. She was my sister. Maybe someday she would understand.
So I told her. It was the only thing I could think of to save her. But I guess she took it the wrong way, because she stopped talking to me. And she started to turn against me. Her friends gave me dirty looks from across dinner tables, and I was being pushed farther away from the family than I’d even been. I guess she had been my only connection in there. And that bond was beginning to break.
Months passed by slowly, but memories of my old life faded more quickly than ever. The extra space in my head was filled with anger towards my family. I let it bottle up inside me. I knew that someday, I would explode with all the anger I’d ever felt, but I’d rather do that than show that everything here is bothering me. They already have enough to tease me about.
And then they told me to pack up my bags. We were moving… again.
This time, it was to a nice home in LA. They wanted to be there so that when their little girl becomes famous, our family wouldn’t have to move again. But we wouldn’t be bringing any of our old furniture, only some small possessions that fit in the car. Our new house was fully stocked with everything we would need to live in it. We would buy new clothes when we got there. I took my red blanket, and a pair of overalls for old times sake, and piled back into the van. I was eleven now, I had gotten used to the nature of moving, even if I’d only experienced it once. I was willing to go now, because my sister was finally starting to be nice to me again. Maybe moving to Hollywood would be good for her.
As soon as we arrived, my parents got her an agent. And a week later, she would be auditioning for a major role as a main character’s best friend, and she was definitely excited about it. There was no way to talk about anything so she couldn’t find a way to talk about it.
She auditioned, and the people thought she wasn’t quite suited to the part. But she kept trying. I was surprised at her determination. After all she was going through, she held her head up high and performed for those judges.
After two years, they decided who got the parts. This was the time I was actually going to be there for my sister, because I knew how much she had wanted the part. But there was no way she could have gotten the role of the best friend! I thought it was just too much for her to handle. She had been falling behind in school already, and I was surprised she hadn’t failed a grade.
The next day we got a phone call from the TV studio. They wanted to know when a good time to drop her off was to practice her lines, because she had landed the star role in the show! I wasn’t that enthusiastic about it, because it was just another thing she had over me. I couldn’t believe it had actually happened though. Her new life had been given to her wrapped in gold plated paper, and mine had still not gotten the resources it needed to glue itself back together. I was a shipwreck in the beautiful harbor that was my family. And I didn’t think I could handle it anymore.
And one thing I couldn’t believe even more was how wrong I’d been. My sister’s fantasy had become a reality, while I was stuck with the nightmare of my own life. She got more famous, and it was hard to even see her sometimes. She was always filming or practicing lines with her costars. She was a diva at home, where she never seemed to be anymore. And I can’t imagine what she would be like on set. I could tell her costars smiles were faked around her. Even they’re acting couldn’t make them look like they wanted to be with her, following her around all day. I knew they had there own lives, but she had the real power in the show. Power that no one, including me, could match.
She was becoming a different person, and I was standing by and letting it happen. This was my sister, who was tearing my life apart more than it had already been. She was messing with my head, and she was avoiding me at all costs.
But the thing that got me the most was that she had stopped our lovely chats, and replaced them with the insults she regularly threw my way. The more well known she got, the more I seemed to know her less. She has been talked about in almost every household, and you’ve probably seen her on your TVs once or twice.
I guess I’ve been a little mysterious on who my family is, only to protect them, but I’ve told you too much already. I guess I’ll have to reveal my secret now. You see, my full name is Jordyn Marie Cyrus.
And Miley Cyrus is my twin sister.
