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The idealist in me also had to face reality. As a relatively new player in Hollywood, there was almost no chance I could effect that kind of change. As big as my ego was—and what teen doesn’t have one—I had to accept that I didn’t have the power to fix this. My only hope would be that others stepped up. The other part of it was, it needed a woman to put it forward for the optics if for nothing else. It would be much more impactful if an established, successful star—like Rita James—led the charge.

“I plan to focus on Zander Lewis. He needs to pay for what he did to my friends and me,” I assured Chubby.

“Good. If that’s the case, I have someone for you: Jason Voorhees.”

I recognized the name. He was often in the news in high-profile cases.

“You think I can hire him?” I asked.

Chubby chuckled.

“He’ll take my call; I have him on retainer. I’ll tell him to take your case,” Chubby said.

“You don’t know how much I appreciate this.”

“Just pay me back by being kick-ass in our movie,” he said and then rang off.

It looked like my out-of-the-box suggestion of contacting Chubby had paid off.

◊◊◊

The afternoon turned into another grind. Around dinnertime, I received a text with a picture from my dad.

‘This is what I came home to.’

It was a picture of Adrienne and Tyler with the two women I lusted over—one being our new housekeeper—and three other women I would guess were models.

I sent him a text back and then forwarded the photo to Mom, Greg, Brook, Tim, and Wolf.

‘You should have led with … Thank You, David!’

Tim called me, and he had Wolf with him on speaker.

“Is this what we can expect when we come out after New Year’s?”

“Imagine that group all sunbathing in their birthday suits. You can’t have tan lines,” I teased them.

“Wait a minute. Did you see my girlfriend naked?” Wolf asked about Sarah.

Tim snorted.

“Of course he’s seen your girlfriend naked. He’s seen mine naked. Just be happy he has Brook and call it a win.”

“Ask to see her tan lines,” I said to get Wolf to redirect his focus.

“That’s an excellent idea,” he agreed.

We caught up on the goings-on. They did tell me that Dare had been bullied by the idiots I’d warned. Cassidy had gotten a little overzealous when she saw he had a black eye. The ringleader had since developed a noticeable limp, and his arm was in a sling. Tim promised they would keep a better eye on Dare. And he assured me that the three bullies understood that if anything else happened, I would do much worse to them than Cassidy had.

They filled me in on the football team. Yuri and Roc had stepped up and were already leading them in workouts for next year. The seniors had stepped back so the younger guys could step up. That didn’t mean that the seniors who had plans of playing ball in college had slacked off. If anything, their efforts had increased.

They were also all in year-end mode. Finals weren’t too far off, and the study groups had gotten more intense.

When I finally hung up and thought about the conversation, it just highlighted what I was missing back home. Lexi stuck her head into the study room I’d gone to for some privacy.

“You’re up.”

“Okay. Let’s do this,” I said and ran off to do another scene.

◊◊◊

When the day was finally over, it was nearly three in the morning. Mr. Otsuki had been smart in that he’d had all the big public scenes shot earlier in the day when students would be around to be extras. The rest of the evening and into the early morning had involved just the cast.

I found Hana curled up in a corner, asleep, with Lexi not far from it.

“She looks so peaceful that I almost hate to wake her,” I said.

“I complained to my dad about the hours you’re putting in. He told me that was the business,” Lexi said.

I scooped Hana up, and she woke up enough to wrap her arms around my neck. Lexi called Manaia, and he was waiting for us when we got out front. I assured them that we weren’t running in the morning. They were grateful for the extra sleep we could get.

◊◊◊ Wednesday December 7

I received an email from Rita James this morning with her recommendations for the Christmas song I would do for the show. She had put stars next to three of them that she seemed to favor. The three were all duets. That sounded better to me since I would have someone to carry me.

The first was the classic Little Drummer Boy, with a note that it was the Bing Crosby and David Bowie version, and I would sing it with Trip. I was to sing the Crosby part of the song. The second was a song I’d never heard before called The Gift. That one, I would sing with Halle. I guess that covered Rita’s kids. The third one was Silver Bells with Priyanka Amarnath. I had no idea who that was, but I trusted Rita.

Scrolling through the list, one jumped out at me. Santa Claus is Coming to Town, sung by Bruce Springsteen, had always been one of my favorites.