Famous Parents

''Hey, have you heard that a third year student in our school, is actually the daughter of Michelle Queen?" A group of teenage girls where gossiping amongst themselves in one of the hallways of the school. "No way! For real!? Then her Dad must be Raymund Lanson! WOW - such a great family!" "I know him, I know him! Isn't Raymund the first English person to ever win the award for best composition? And his song was on that car commercial too, right? I love that song!" "They say Michelle Queen and Raymund Lanson are always at home. Isn't that great?" "I want to see her! What class is she in? Let's go see! She must be really pretty!" "Well... not really... the teacher told me she doesn't really stand out. They say she is just a plain and boring girl!"

"Lele, the tune is 'la, la, la-!' Try it one more time!" the music teacher explains to me, "La-!" "No. Again." "La-!" "How many times do I have to teach you so you will get it?" the whole class began to whisper, "Pfft. It would've been better if she had her father's talent in music...", people where starting to giggle. "I'm going to let you repeat the test next week. Make sure you practice!" "I'm sorry..." I look at the class with embarrassment. I hate music.
"Okay, please read the next one, um... Lele." "Y-Yes." I stand up nervously, "A... At... Spri... Spring's... Dawn... Th... The... Night... Ra... Rain... Tur... Turns... Whi...-" "You can read more carefully so you won't get confused." "O-okay. N... Night... Ra... Rain... Turns... Whi... White... White... Th... The... Moun... tains... some... wh... what..." "Ahhh... Okay. Enough. I've had it. Ah... so you're afraid of public speaking, huh...", my head faces the ground, "Y...Yes. So-Sorry..." I keep hold of the text book, still looking at the yet to be said writing. "It's a pity. After all, you're the daughter of a famous actress. You should learn a thing or two from you Mother about standing in front of a crowd.", I hate standing in front of a crowd. Even when it's the end of the school day I get a few girls coming over to me. "So, you haven't told your Mother about it yet? Well, it must be hard when your Mom is a famous actress." "Hey, does she always practice her lines at home? I watched 'The Moon's Waltz' this week! I cried so much! Please tell your Mom she did great!" I try my best to smile, "Tha... Thank you." I've never even seen any of the TV shows my Mom is in.

"I'm not kidding!" I complain to my tutor and good friend Jake, both of us in my room, sighing with my head on my studying desk. "Why do people have to keep on bugging me about TV shows that have nothing to do with me... It sucks being tone-deaf. Telling me I should learn something from my Mom... heck, she's been shooting on location since last week and hasn't even been home since then!" "Yeah, yeah, I know, so let's do Math's now...", he claps both his hands together impatiently. "But Jake..." "Call me Mr Roberts when I'm tutoring you!" he snaps, "You're just trying to bear everything, Lele. You should just tell them clearly that your not living with your parents anymore." I turn to face him, "But they won't listen to me! They'll keep on saying 'You're the daughter of two celebrities!' " If I don't say anything, they will all think I'm too self-important. But if I do answer their questions they say i'm too boastful. I sigh.

"I just laugh and try to do everything they say, but the best period for me was in Junior High, when I failed and everyone just continuously ignored me. But you know, my Mom really got worried... cause of that time I cried and ran to your house next door.", he listens carefully to what I say, without saying a word. "And even if I wanted to talk to my Dad, he has been living in New York for most of the time now. And my Mom has been out shooting on location and performing on stage. So there's no one else in this house aside from me and the maid.", I look down at the floor as I talk. "Well, things like that just make you stronger.", he looks at me with sympathy in his eyes and tries to encourage me. "When I finally get into college, I want to leave this place and start to live alone. So one day, when Dad and Mom come back home, they'll be surprised that I'm not here anymore!" I say as a joke and laugh. Suddenly, I felt a warm, tender hand on top of my head, making me stop talking and joking around. "Aww, don't say that. I can't let my little cat leave." I blush like a confused, small child, "Anyway, let's go practice that song you need for your class tomorrow." "To...Tomorrow? With you...?" I blush, "I don't want to go on a karaoke date with you... you'd just laugh at me..." I look away in embarrassment. "It's not a date! It's a special lesson!" he instantly says as I turn away. When i'm with Jake, I feel at ease. "Eh!? That sucks even more!" "Leave everything to me!" he grins and puts his thumb up. Jake only sees me as just plain old "Lele".

" 'The Moon's Waltz', was the only drama that exceeded 30% in the television ratings! Her widely popular show, thank you for being here!", a beautiful woman appeared on the TV screen, no doubt about it, it was my Mom - 'Michelle Queen', is obviously just a stage name, her real name is Michelle Heathers, however, by being married to my Dad, her name is now, Michelle Lanson. "Ah, so Mom is today's guest in 'PumaPuma'. I can't believe she agreed to that... she usually hates variety shows.", we both ended up in the living room when Jake had finished tutoring me. "Well, PumaPuma is a pretty popular show, so she probably couldn't say no when the producers asked her to be a guest." "Wow... Jake, you sure know a lot even though you haven't even talked to Mom that much..." I look surprised and looked suspiciously at him. "Ah. Well. I just read something like that in a magazine. But anyway, that one, that song really takes a lot of effort to sing. It's really great, the theme song for 'The Moon's Waltz'." It seems like he's another fan of my Mom, like every other man or woman in this world. "I've been listening to Ash A's song, 'Crystal' a lot, it's really good." this isn't like him, not Jake, he's acting a little weird. "Huh...? Ash...what? Is that the name of a singer?" I have no idea what he's talking about so excitedly. "Ah, geez. At least listen to music every once in a while!", he snaps at me, which is also not like him. He's been getting more mad at me lately.

"Michelle, you're always topping our viewer rolls on 'Who is the ideal Mom?' But do you actually have time to do housework in your own home when you have such a busy schedule?" the presenter speaks once again and as always my Mom puts on an innocent mother's face on, which I am the only one in the world who knows that that face she's pulling right there on television, in front of thousands of people, is fake and always will be. "Oh, I always do." Lies. "Eh?! Seriously!?", don't feel sympathetic towards her! "Yes of course." Lie. "No matter how late I get home everyday, I still make sure that I cook breakfast for my daughter every morning." Lie. "Because my husband is always abroad, it's usually just me and my daughter at home, so we have really grown a close relationship with each other." Lies. Lies. Lies. LIES. "Wow... that's amazing! I want to eat Michelle's cooking too! I'm so jealous of your daughter!", the presenter laughs and has probably fallen in love with her looks and fake personality already, like most men do. "We're done! It's time for us to wrap up!"

"You know, Jake. I really haven't seen any of my Mom's TV shows, so I really don't know much about her work. But I have a feeling that she's absolutely phenomenal when it comes to acting." I sit next to him on the sofa. "Because... she's so good at lying." I can feel my face getting gloomier and gloomier as I talk about her. I suddenly hear a door open, "Thank you for today." I turn around, my Mom decides to come in, making a big entrance, with her cigarette in her hand and her glamorous, probably new clothing again on her body. Her beauty would obviously shock and excite most people, but oh no, not me, i've been used to how she looks all my life, her beauty now gives me a headache. Her manager appears from behind her in a business suit and glasses.

"Make sure you never say anything unnecessary like that in public Lele." "Mo...Mom!?" I don't know whether I should be glad or proud of her for finally coming home. " I didn't know you were coming back today!" I notice Jake blushing when he gets a glimpse of her beauty in reality rather than on TV. "I had some urgent business, good evening, Jake." she smiles, I don't know if it was a fake smile or a real one- she's an actress afterall. "Ah... um, good evening..." his words stumble underneath his breath, blushing and gets shy in front of my Mom, which I have never seen before. "Is the tutorial session done? I want to have a word with Lele." my Mom begins to get impatient already. "Yes... I was just about to leave. Excuse me.", he looked a bit sad that he had to leave. "Wa, wait, Jake!", I try to run to him but I didn't notice Mom's manager and bumped into him. "Ah, I'm sorry." I blush and look up at him. "Good evening. So... you're Lele." he smiles. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Louis Johnson. I am indebted to your parents." he smiles once again, kindly shaking my hand, he seems like someone to rely on, quite young and handsome too. "Oh, is this the first time you two meet? He's from the Lanson management." my Mom explains, "Ah, I, I see. Thank you so much for your efforts." Hey. Why is my Dad's manager here? I bow to him showing respects. I quickly look back, seeing Jake open the the door to go home. "Jake, about that karaoke.." Jake looks back at me, but I know that he's not looking at me... he's looking at my Mom. "I'll just text you the details later. See you later, Lele.", all that was left from Jake was the sound of the echoing slam from the door. I stood their in deep thought, forgetting about my Mom. "What are you still doing their, Lele? I said I wanted to have a word with you. Come here now." here we go... I wonder what my loving mother wants from me now. "Ah, the maid already left for today, right? You go make me some tea then." she's back, and that's the first thing she says to me? No hug, no 'How are you?' well... that just shows how much of a 'good' Mom she is. But the worst thing is - I do as she says.