“Linda! I just got a letter from my new agent! They want me to do a show in Bayside!” 

"Really? That's great!"

"I'm doing an interview, autograph signings, a charity event, the whole nine yards! Can you believe it?"

"Guess you're moving on up in the world, huh?"

"Why do you sound sad about that?"

“Well, I'm not exactly moving up in the world myself. Article writing is depressing as sin, plus the pay isn't as good as I thought.”

“Didn't we discuss you not doing so many articles since it might make your condition flare up?”

"The doctors said my condition is stable. It shouldn't flare up for a long time. Although you might be right, I might need to rethink my career in journalism.” 

“Just take a break from it for now.” 

“Well… maybe I could help with the celebrity section. There's always a need to bad mouth some lucky, talentless idiot for the unlucky, talentless masses.” 

“Ugh! Do you need to be like that? That's so mean!”

“I'm just joking around. Wait a minute, that town is a three hour drive away. How will you get there?” 

“It's also thirty minutes by train, and it just so happens they will reimburse me for the tickets. Did you want to come with me?”

“Ah, well, sure. I could use a break from the turmoil.”

The next day, Lily and her sister hopped on a train out of town. Both of them could count how many times they left Star Canyon on one hand in the time they’ve lived there. As much of an exciting treat as this was, Lily couldn't help but think it was a thousand times better with her sister. This way they can look out for one another and they can share in the sightseeing joy.

Once off the train and in the main area of the station, Lily immediately spots someone with her name on a marker board. Lily waved to them and they waved back.

“Um, hello, my name is Chrissy. I'll be your new manager from now on.”

“Hi! I'm looking forward to working with you! I'm sure you'll be better than that jerk Mr. Sharp!”

Chrissy lets out a nervous chuckle, “I heard about that. He does have a bit of a temper. Anywho, let's get you sorted at the venue. Please follow me.”

Lily, Linda, and Lily's new manager loaded up in a taxi and headed out from the station. Lily couldn't help but stare out the window and gaze out over the freeway they were on. The plentiful palm trees, a distant beach with crystal blue water, all the buildings that looked like they were made with ninety percent glass.

“My, that's a cute dress,” Lily took a nicer glance at her new manager. Her green, poofy dress that had a vest like top for her chest looked like it had a hard time getting in and out of doorways. Her cute ribbons in her short blonde hair kept in bows made her look sweeter.

“You know I'd figure a manager would dress more… I don't know, professionally? They certainly wouldn't have a cuter dress than their clients!” 

“T-thank you. I-it's just what I'm used to wearing. Never was one for suits.”

“Cool. I get the feeling we're going to get along super well!”

“Y-you think so?”

“I know so!”

“Both of you close the windows,” said the driver, “We're in hostile territory now.”

“Hostile territory? What does he mean? We're not in a war zone.”

“Just do it Lily,” Linda said, “I've heard and read about this area, it's for the best.”

Lily rolled up her window and just as it closed, a thrown soda can splattered its contents onto the glass. 

“That's what I mean!” Yelled the cab driver.

For the rest of the trip, Lily felt on edge because of what she witnessed. Bayside was known for rich and lavish houses for movie stars who worked their acting gigs in studios all over town. What she saw was a vast contrast to that notion - practically armies of the homeless, walking about shaking and babbling to themselves, all living in tents and cardboard boxes, cooking food over barrel fires, and smoking god knows what kind of chemicals. The encampments and shanty homes stretched on the side of the road for miles upon miles, nearly the entire taxi ride. Some were directly in front of open businesses like restaurants and small stores, which some had “We're Open” signs yet have two sets of doors or padlocked doors. Most of the buildings, however, were empty and vandalized with broken windows, stripped and beaten down walls, and graffiti.

“Dear Lord, it was never this bad in Star Canyon. All these poor souls… There's like thousands of them. Not a single street corner doesn't have someone begging on them.” Lily let out a deep and heavy sigh after expressing her thoughts.

“It's the sign of the times, sad to say…” Chrissy explained.

“If these are the times, the times have been around for decades,” the driver said.

“I hear a lot of them are wannabe actors who never got so much as a commercial. Even those who get a role or ever make a movie or two end up broke as sin. Some even end up drug addicts with how many there are already showing up at parties.”

“That's a bit of a myth,” Chrissy said, “I would say less than ten percent of people are wannabe actors who could've ended up that way. Most are just unable to find work anywhere, especially in acting or entertainment.” 

“Most businesses don't want to operate in an area like this.” The driver added. “Most of the city is like this, outside the studios and gated communities. No businesses, no jobs, no money, no nothing, as they say.”

As they got past the downtown area, things seemed to brighten up scenery wise. Less beggars and dirty streets to shiny buildings with brightly lit signs and people with suits and suitcases going about their business. Off in the distance on the cliffs the twins could spot lavish and massive mansions probably costing tens of millions of dollars.

Even somewhat elaborate tourist attractions, like a number of white colored waterfalls and the ever famous Bayside sign, each letter having its own sign with dazzling lighting from the reflection of the sun, were on full display in the area.

“Well this is a far cry from where we drove through a while ago,” Linda commented with her chin in her hand, elbow on the door.

“That’s Bayside for ya, kids,” said the driver, “Money over here, no money over there. It’s show biz after all.

“Yeah, Chrissy spoke up. “Bayside hires so few people for their productions. It’s often the same few people, but once you make it as one of those people, the money just rolls in.”

“You think I have what it takes to make it here, sis?”

“Just try not to be one of those people who make it and become a jerk.” 

The taxi ride was about an hour, where the driver would drop off the trio past some steel gates, manned by a few guards. Lily leapt out to see the studios, only to find they were in front of a bunch of dull looking warehouses.

“So this is what Bayside Studios are like,” she said, “Hmm.”

“Disappointed?”

“Yeah. They look like boring old boxes.”

“A lot of magic happens in those boxes. Don't worry. Now I hope you're ready for your interview. It'll be over here in this trailer. We're just waiting for the journalist. Um, your sister can be with you during it, just make sure she doesn't interrupt or anything.”

“Not to worry, I'll keep my mouth shut.”

The trailer wasn't exactly the most comforting place to have your first interview of your career, Lily thought. The air was cold, dim, and smelled only of metal.

The only thing Lily had to stare at was a portrait on her left of a famous actor even she would recognize at a glance. Jimmy Humphrey was known for all sorts of works on the silver screen. Lily only knows him for his role in one of her favorite sitcoms growing up, “Fly Guy,” about a retired pilot trying to be hip and happening with his kids. He would later fall from grace after his wife divorced him, saying he was the most evil man in entertainment, and took nearly every dime he had. The reason why was never fully known outside of court, even when a lot of people made their own assumptions. After all the harassment he got, he later went into hiding. Nobody even knows if he is still alive or not.

Lily felt a little bit like crying reminiscing on old Jimmy. But before a tear could shed, the interviewer swung the trailer door open. 

“Sorry for the wait, Little Miss Sunshine, if it's okay for me to call you that. But I'm on a tight schedule today, so let's get this done.” The man puts down a voice recorder on the table in front of them and pulls out a pen and notepad.

“Well, I hear you're the talk of your hometown. And the internet has taken notice.”

“Really? I'm that popular now?”

“Don't be too modest, you may have only performed in Star Canyon, but people have seen your videos. You have quite the voice, not to mention magic ability. You've got the whole internet abuzz.”

“I was not aware I was the talk of the online world.”

“Secret filming huh? Oh well, your name is out there now, so lucky you.”

The interview went on a little long with many questions Lily had a hard time answering. At one point, Lily couldn't help but look to Mr Humphrey for a little strength to get her through her first publicity interview.

“I'm sorry, but you're staring at the portrait behind me. Is it bothering you?”

“Well, maybe a little.”

“Yeah, old Jim was a real nasty piece of work.”

Lily could feel a fire in her belly making her blood boil a bit at the sound of that. “No he wasn't! Was what he got really what he deserved?”

The interviewer looked taken aback with what Lily said, but then he spoke up. “It's the industry, Little Miss Sunshine, you screw up, you get chewed up and spit out, and that's if you're lucky.”

“I don't get that. I really don't get that! I don't see the point in kicking people while they are down, or as some do, hover over them like dark clouds, using their words to keep them from getting back up every chance they can, for what seems to be for the rest of their lives. What's even the point in any of that? Anything else would be a better use of your time, especially lending them a hand and helping them up. You don't even need to do that if you feel indicative. Just leave them to their woes, which should be punishment enough. Whatever happened to redemption?!”

The interviewer stared at Lily with some astonishment.

“But that's just the way I see it.” Lily beamed a bright smile as a conclusion.