Love, Carly

By Marie Nadeau Lawson

Sixteen year old Carly Brown’s film industry bigwig parents cast her, against her wishes, in their new film where she’s completely unprepared for the fallout when she becomes an instant movie star and the press try to capture every aspect of her once quiet life in Beverly Hills, California.
Follow faithful diarist Carly through high school as she learns not to cut herself, wins her first Oscar and wins the heart of her first love, Aaron Linkletter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marie Nadeau Lawson
• Release date: Apr 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781468073096

Marie Nadeau Lawson

Marie Nadeau Lawson got her writing start at the age of eight when she and some friends decided to write a book about bunnies. Marie wrote the story while her friends drew the images. Upon completion the book was placed in the school's library.The years went by and Marie received her advanced degree in Counseling Psychology and forgot about writing save for the many reports she had to write for her job, until the day her youngest brother, Chris, suggested she start writing again. That night Love, Carly was born.Marie lives in sunny Southern California with her gray tabby cat.

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Love, Carly

Marie Nadeau Lawson

Love, Carly

By Marie Nadeau Lawson

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 Marie Nadeau Lawson

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Chapter I: My Life So Far

May 16 6:30 a.m.

Dear Diary,

My name is Carolina Desiree Brown, or Carly, for short. I live in Beverly Hills, California. My best friend is Karyn Roth. We’ve been best friends since my parents bought this house when I was three and we were in preschool together. Karyn’s something of a firecracker and for whatever reason decided we’d be perfect as best friends. I’m nothing like her at all so I never understood why she picked me. But, we’ve been best friends forever.

Okay, let’s move on to my favorite subject, guys! There’s this gorgeous guy that sits next to me in Geometry. His name is Aaron Linkletter. He’s tall and has dark blond hair, blue eyes and is brilliant.

He can do a Geometric proof faster than I can change my hairstyle. Believe me that is saying something. I can go from my hair down to a chignon is sixty seconds flat.

The thing about Aaron is he doesn’t know I exist. I mean, of course he knows I exist because I sit right next to him, but he never looks at me and doesn’t speak to me often enough for my liking.

Karyn says I need to be more assertive with boys.

Besides, I’m nothing to look at. I’m so-so in looks and have a decent personality, but I have no charisma. Besides, if you’re not a size zero around here, it’s like you’re committing social suicide because no guy will look at you if you’re over a size six and that’s pushing it. Me? I’m a size twelve.

I’m the tallest female in my class. Ugh! I hate being a size twelve with a capital H! I eat right and get a couple hours of exercise every day at school and home and I’m still a size twelve. I don’t get it! My mom calls it my baby fat. My mom has the perfect body. She’s a size four and she’s only five foot six. How I wish I could look more like my mom!

So, I’m invisible to guys like Aaron, who has captured my heart. There is no doubt in my mind I’m in love with him. I would have his babies and live on a deserted island with him. Well, in a couple of years. I’m not ready for marriage or anything. I mean, c’mon, I’m only sixteen!

Why can’t I be more like Karyn? She’s pretty, she’s nice, she’s charming and guys love her. I’ve wondered for so long now why we’re even friends. I’m not in her league at all.

My parents are good looking. Everyone says so. So, what happened to me? Why couldn’t I get their genes? Where did I sign up for the crappy genes in my gene pool? Where did my DNA go so wrong?

My mom’s a famous Hollywood director, who goes on location all the time. Her name is Samantha Ferguson-Brown. She’s won quite a few Academy Awards for her films. She keeps them in her bathroom near her tub-an odd place to keep your Oscars if you ask me.

Dad is a famous actor who works with my mom. You’ve probably heard of him-Justin Brown. My parents have been married for twenty years and I’m an only child. I don’t mind being an only child. It’s all I know, right?

Karyn has an older sister who’s a senior in our high school but she’s a serious snob who doesn’t bother to speak with us tenth graders.

We go to a private school called the Brentwood Academy. It’s in Brentwood, which is about ten to twenty minutes from my house depending upon the infamous LA traffic.

My goal in life is to get out of high school in one piece and become a novelist. Don’t believe me? Well, neither do my parents for that matter. Not that they’re around long enough to care anyway. When my mom is here, she’s always on the phone hearing producers blabbing about some pitch or another for her next film.

My dad is always asking me to run lines with him. I don’t mind helping him out. I don’t. I mean, he’s considered one of the hottest actors around and I happen to love the guy.

Karyn thinks my dad’s hot. No one but her mom would find her dad hot. Mr. Roth is sweet and is always asking after my parents, but who finds patent attorneys sexy anyway? Just the job title brings to mind all these short balding middle aged men with bottlebrush mustaches, which is Mr. Roth what looks like. But I am pretty fond of him anyway. After all, he is my best friend’s dad.

We live in a beautiful house. It’s a Spanish style that was built in the 1920’s and was once owned by the famous blonde bombshell, Jean Harlow for a short time. It’s on about two acres and has a pool and a tennis court.

I’ve got to go. Mr. Washington, my New Media teacher, is glaring at me. TTFN. Ta ta for now!

Love,

Carly

On my way out of the oxymoronic Contemporary History, Karyn stopped me and demanded, Have you been hiding again? Karyn was beautiful with her straight ash blonde hair and sky blue eyes compared to by wavy ugly brown hair and muddy brown eyes. Everyone said I looked like my dad. Um, why, pray tell, would I have wanted to look like a guy? Where did I sign up for that?

No, I replied. I’ve been thinking about my invisibility to all the guys in this school. I’m gonna ask my parents if I can dye my hair and get contacts.

Karyn rolled her eyes, took a drag of her cigarette, a nasty habit she’d picked up in Europe last summer, and then said, and Carly, you’re not unattractive. You’re beautiful, in fact. Just because one stupid guy in this school doesn’t see that doesn’t mean every guy on the planet won’t. So, you’re a size twelve. Well, so am I. I just don’t let it stop me. You do.

You know, I did hate her sometimes. I loved her, of course, but I did hate her at times. She could be so, oh, what was the word, um, RIGHT at times.

Karyn continued, If you hate your size, diet and exercise. For all the hours you spend in your pool, I’ve never seen you swim in it. Want a hit of my cigarette?

I shook my head and said, I don’t smoke, Karyn, you know that. I do exercise in my dad’s gym with him five days a week plus the hour of PE we get. It doesn’t work. It’s not like I eat junk food either. I haven’t had a hamburger since we went vegan ten years ago.

Just then two senior guys walked by and one murmured to his friend, There’s that sophomore Carly Brown. I’d got out with her if she was thin.

The other friend nodded and uttered, Yeah, me, too. She’s a heifer, dude!

Karyn glared at the two seniors then said, Maybe you have a medical problem. Talk to your doctor. I rolled my eyes. I was as healthy as a horse according to Dr. Nussbaum. Healthy as a horse. Hmm, was that meant to imply, in some way, that I resembled a horse, Dr. Nussbaum? Damn. He was right.

The second period bell rang indicating it was time to see Aaron! The love of my life! He would never know how I felt about him if I had anything to say about it.

Karyn went on to her art class shaking her head as she put out her cigarette.

I walked into second period and slammed my books down on the desk where I always sat and smiled at Mike O’Connell, who sat on the other side of me.

Mike was a nice guy and a very good friend. Mike was decent looking with longish blond hair, blue eyes and wore wire frame glasses that sort of made him look like a 1970’s surfer dude. He was taller than my own six feet and seemed a little on the skinny side, but that’s because he was on the track team.

Anyway, Aaron walked in with Emily Fearn, the biggest tramp in school and kissed her! Oh, Aaron! Why her and not me? Part of me died inside at that moment.

Okay. I was happy for him that he had found love. Why did it hurt so much then? I put my head down on my desk so no one would see the tears forming in my eyes. I felt like my heart had been ripped out and my stomach twisted into one massive knot. I doubted I’d ever be happy again at that moment.

What was so wrong with me that he couldn’t love me like I loved him? Why couldn’t I be skinny and beautiful? Maybe Aaron would have loved me then.

Mike cleared his throat and asked, Are you alright, Carly?

Um, yeah, I replied feigning a smile as I dried my tears. Hey, my dad was an actor; I should have come by it easy enough. The acting gene must run in my family.

Mike asked looking uncomfortable, Would you mind if I came over later? You said last week you’d help me with my English assignment. I just don’t get Shakespeare. The language is frustrating at best for me.

I snorted and said, That’s because you don’t have parents who’ve made every Shakespeare play ever written into a film.

During nutrition, I sat in a stall in the smoker’s bathroom as silent sobs wracked my body. I’d lost Aaron for good.

It wasn’t until I made the first small cut the pain began to subside. I was always careful not to cut in rows or anything. Just random little ¼ inch nicks all over my upper thighs to deal with my life. I never cut too deep to cause major bleeding or cut my arms. My nosy friends would notice. They wouldn’t understand. I needed this. It was the only way to stop the pain of knowing Aaron would never love me.

Soon, it was lunchtime and time to catch up with Karyn, her gorgeous blond haired blue eyed boyfriend, Tim Rogers, and our other friends.

Catherine Taylor was the daughter of my dad’s frequent co-star, Melissa Taylor. She was one of the sweetest people I knew and we’d grown up together. We were more like cousins than the children of our parents’ best friends. When my dad was nominated for his first Academy Award, we all went together.

Catherine was considered one of the prettiest girls in school and my adopted cousin since her parents and mine were so close. She had long black hair, which was almost always curled to perfection and gorgeous green catlike eyes. She was five foot seven and all of the male students considered her hot where I doubt they saw me when I stood right next to her.

Catherine’s boyfriend, Dylan Hamilton, was on the track team with my friend, Mike. Dylan was nice. He was bit too jock at times but he was nice and he adored Catherine with all his heart. Dylan was about the same height as me with light brown hair which was kept as short as possible so he’d be more aerodynamic during track season. He had pale blue eyes which lit up every time he saw Catherine.

Andrea Harrison, who was in the drama club, always bugged Catherine and me to ask our parents to speak at club meetings. We were never in the drama club but Catherine and I gave Andrea bonus points for trying.

Andrea was a blonde in the truest sense of the word. There were rumors her parents were LSD dropping hippies in the sixties, so that would explain the almost constant vacant expression in her cinnamon brown eyes. Well, that and the weed she smoked with the potheads after school every day.

Catherine and I were the only students who had parents in the entertainment industry. Catherine’s dad, Richard, was her mom’s agent and once worked at the William Morris Agency until he decided to devote his full attention to managing her. Catherine and I were also the only students who lived in Beverly Hills. Most of the students lived in and around Brentwood except for Karyn, who lived in Pacific Palisades and Mike, who lived in Bel Air.

All during lunch, I watched Aaron and Emily make out under a tree all during lunch. A couple of times, Emily sneered at me as if she’d won something from me.

Karyn wrapped her arms around me and declared as she glared at Aaron and Emily, If he can’t see how wonderful you are, Carly, he doesn’t deserve you. You’re so much prettier than her. He’s an idiot and she’s a tramp.

Tears ran down my face and I said, No, I’m not, Karyn. He doesn’t love me because I’m not pretty, skinny or popular, so what is there about me for him to love then? Huh?

Catherine looked up from making out with Dylan and stated, Oh, love, you know that’s not true. You’re beautiful. Lot’s of guys think so.

Tim added, Carly, if I wasn’t so in love with Karyn, I’d be all over you.

Dylan vowed, "Me, too,