Senior Year Box Set полностью

We would need to get him a golf cart or scooter. If there was a problem, I didn’t want my security sucking air when I ran. When I was in Cuba, and I’d gotten serious about running, they’d rented a cab so that they could follow me.

We cut across the quad at a good clip while Manaia gamely kept up. Lexi surprised me. She was more of an athlete than I expected. The only girl who had ever given me a challenge before was Peggy, and she was on scholarship to run cross-country at State.

The drone was soon back and doing a slow circuit above us while we ran downhill back to the house. It wouldn’t be long before the paparazzi figured out where I was staying. When we got to the house, we ran around back to the pool area. I made Manaia stand under the outdoor shower to cool off.

“Crap! I’m so screwed. I told Fritz that I could easily keep up with you when you went running. Everyone else begged off. I might have gotten a little cocky,” Manaia admitted.

I began to laugh.

“It’s not funny. After yesterday, Fritz said I was on probation. I can’t mess up again.”

“Fritz is playing with you. When I was in LA last year, I took his team out to run and about killed them. That’s why none of them wanted to have to keep up with me,” I explained. “You do realize that I’m an athlete, right?”

Lexi shook her head, and Manaia decided to stay quiet. I stepped inside to shower and get ready for the day. While passing through the kitchen, I sat the drone on the counter and plugged it in to charge.

◊◊◊

As I stepped out from my shower, I heard voices. It took me a moment to figure out it was my dad and Hana. I’d forgotten to turn off the video feed from the drone to my phone. I was about to do just that when Lexi hurried into the kitchen.

“Quick, he just got out of the shower.”

That caught my interest.

“He won’t be happy when he finds out we stole his cookies,” Hana said.

“Stole is such a strong word. He was taught to share, and we all know he didn’t plan to let us have any after last night. If you feel so bad about it, give me yours,” Dad told her.

He was so dead to me. I watched as the three of them wolfed down the cookies they’d stolen. I’d even shared with them. Granted, I hadn’t planned to let them have any more. That wasn’t the point, the traitors. My mind split between storming the kitchen and letting them know that I found them out and plotting an act of cold revenge. It might be better to play dumb for now.

Then it dawned on me. The drone might be handy to have around. What else was going on that I should know about? Here lately, I’d found I was kept out of the loop about a lot of stuff.

I set that aside for now got ready for my day.

◊◊◊

We were early for the first meeting with the cast. Pepperdine was happy that we were using their campus as the backdrop for the movie. Lexi had my schedule and knew where we were to go. It turned out to be a large conference room in the administration building. In the back, they had a light breakfast set up. I took advantage and made myself a cup of tea.

One of the assistants came in and put name tents around the table to show us where we were to sit. Fortunately, they were in both English and Japanese. It looked like Hana and I were together at the far end. I expect that was because she might have to interpret for me during the meeting.

Suddenly, people began to flow into the room. If I’d thought about it for a minute, it would have made sense. Their hotel shuttle had just arrived. I spotted two people I recognized from My Butterfly, Jiro Yamashita and Haru Doi. Hana waved at Jiro, and he nodded to me. Then the two of them wandered off for some alone time. Hana had stayed in Japan to get to know him better, and if their immediate interaction was any indication, they were still close.

Haru had played the female lead in My Butterfly and was going to be the lead in College First. We spent a few minutes catching up. She made sure I knew that she’d dumped her boyfriend, Ricky Nagai. He’d made some assumptions about Haru’s and my relationship. For starters, he assumed that Haru and I had one. What Haru wanted was the press coverage that came with being seen with me. If she’d been with me this morning, she would have run towards the paparazzi.

A man in his forties got everyone’s attention.

“Take your seats. I’m Daisuke Otsuki, your director,” he said in Japanese. It was good that Hana was in my ear because I got maybe half of that. “I want to go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves.”