The Reality of Fiction

By: Anjali Kakarla

 

“Aaahh,” I yelled as I tripped over my cat.  Why did all these things happen to me? Just yesterday I had turned around to look at a movie poster, and when I turned back around, my Caramel Ice Cream with Oreo Sand and Kit Kat bits had been knocked clean off my waffle cone.  I had laughed along with my friends, even though I didn’t feel like it. The next day at school Selina the new girl asked me if I was an actor. She had moved from Venezuela. But, before I could answer a bunch of people at my table shushed Selina.  Maya, my best friend even took her aside and whispered something in her ear. Selina looked as confused as I was. At recess, I tried asking a bunch of my friends about what happened with Selina, but they just changed the subject. Finally, I decided the only way to find out what was happening was to ask Luis.  Luis was a kind of weird kid who no one really talked to that much. So, I figured he would tell me.

“Hi Luis, do you know any actors that look like me?”  I asked. It was harder than I thought trying to find a fitting question.  

“Of course I do you’re Sophia Carwoode, you’re in the Reality TV Show: The Life of Sophia Carwoode.”

“What?!” This had to be some type of prank.

“It’s my favorite show!  Here I’ll show you,” he said taking his phone out of his pocket and clicking on the Netflix app.  “See, you’re like the most popular actor ever.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes.  There I was smiling.

“Here, you wanna watch it?” He asked.  “This is yesterday’s episode. By the way, nice job tripping over your cat,” Luis said smiling.

And then five seconds later I was watching my life happen on Luis’s cracked iPhone 6 screen.  “How is this possible? I’ve never been filmed ever, and my parents don’t even let me watch TV.”

“What do you mean your parents?” Luis asked. “They’re on a tropical island in the middle of the Caribbean.”

“What? No, my mom is helping at my little sister, Fiona’s pre-school.  And my dad is at work.”

“Wow! You really are good at acting.  Especially at acting confused.”

“Luis! I am not acting, I have never had anything to do with acting my whole entire life.”

“You don’t have to act anymore, I know your secret,” Luis said winking at me.  I decided that Luis couldn’t help me anymore so I walked over to my friends and started questioning them.

“Hey guys, do you um, know anything about me being in an uh reality TV show about me?” I asked finishing the last part super quickly.

“Um...nooo,” Maya said.  Everyone could tell she was lying.

“Seriously Maya I need to know this is about my life.”

“Fine, yes but you weren’t s’posed to know until tomorrow.”

“Why tomorrow?” I asked.

“Because the last episode is coming out today at 9:00,”  Maya replied.

“Um….. is it true about my parents?” I asked not really wanting to know.

“Yeah,” Maya said looking around. By this time the whole school had gathered around us.

“Is my ‘whole family’ a bunch of actors?” I asked quietly.

“Yeah,” she said cautiously “but your real family is coming to meet you tomorrow.”

“Oh,” I said looking around at everyone for the first time, I was not really sure if I wanted to meet them.

“On the upside, you are really famous, and you’ll never need a job when you grow up and you have a lot of fans.”

“I guess I do,” I said nervously.  Suddenly I thought of a question I didn’t have an answer to.  “How do they film me,” I asked eagerly.

“Um,  they kind of just hide where you can’t see them.  And inside your house, they have those mirrors that look like mirrors but are actually filming you, and the TV can also film you.”

“Wow,” I said not knowing how to take it in.

“Oh, and also the actors who play your family also double as prop people.”

“And cut,”  I heard someone say in the bushes.  Suddenly 12 people with earpieces and camera sets walked out.

“Nice job,” some of them said patting me on the back.

“You’re gonna be super popular for this.”

“We wanted to do a separate episode of you finding out but this much better, Stella’s gonna love it.”

“Who’s Stella,” I asked curiously.

“She’s your agent,” one of them answered.

Suddenly the bell rang and people started lining up at the doors,  I went to follow them when someone grabbed my shoulder and said “you’re not going back to school you’re going straight home you need to rest before you party tonight,” It was a woman, she looked like she was 30.  “By the way, honey my name is Stella, I’m your agent.”

The car ride was a blur.  Stella was on the phone the whole time.  The only thing I remember was how fancy the car was.  When I get home my whole fake family is there. But there acting really different.  

“It was an honor working with you,” my fake dad says shaking my hand very professionally.  Then my fake mom takes me up to my room and there is a fancy dress laying on my bed. She helps me get into it.

“I had so much fun with you for the past 6 years, I hope I see you again,” then she gave me a big hug.

“Bye….. uh.”

“Call me Sarah,” she said smiling.  She walked towards the door and then turned around to look at me “I’m gonna miss you alot if you ever wanna reach me…. You know my phone number.”  Then she quickly walked to the door and left.

What felt like 10 seconds after she left, Stella came bursting in.

“Oooh, your dress is gorgeous.  But you need some makeup your face looks disgusting,”  she said taking a pouch out of her purse. Once she was done putting my makeup on she said “lets go downstairs now everyone is waiting for you.  Remember today is your last day in this house tomorrow you’re are getting on a cruise and leaving.

“What!”

“Did you think you were gonna live here forever?”

“Yes!”

“Honey, you are famous now, you have to live accordingly.”

When I woke up the next day the party just seemed like a blur.

Then suddenly I heard the doorbell ring.  From the window in my room I could tell it was my real parents.  I ran downstairs just as Sarah opened the door.

“Hi Sophia,” my mom was smiling at me with her arms open for a hug.  She had sunglasses perched on her head. She was wearing a sundress. She kind of looked like me.  My dad was also wearing sunglasses. He had a suit on.

Not sure what to do I  awkwardly hugged her back.

“Are you ready to go?” My dad asked.

“I just need to grab my luggage.” I said.

“Oh, Stephen can do that he said turning around to look at someone wearing a tuxedo.

“Oh, okay.”

After saying bye to everyone.  I got into a limousine with my mother and father  and we drove off. After about half an hour of driving, we stopped at a dock.  

“Where are we?” I asked, looking around.

“We are taking you on a cruise to celebrate our reunion.”

I stayed quiet not knowing how to reply to that.  After we had gotten onto the cruise and got settled, I went to look around.  I saw a girl about my age watching the water she looked kind of sad. I walked up to her.

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know my life just seems so fake.”

“Believe, I have so much experience with that.”