Zac took the eraser of the pencil out of his mouth. "I was thinking..."
"Oh, God," Isaac said with a wry grin. "Enough said. Forget I asked. Where's Taylor?"
"I dunno," Zac mumbled. Isaac rolled his eyes.
"Fine then," he said. "I'll go find him myself."
After the door had been shut safely behind Isaac, Zac riffled through the stack of letters. One was from Grampa, one was from Blake Houston (one of Zac's friends from school), Lyle Young (one of Zac's friends from the neighborhood), Skye (you know who she is), and one from Jocelyn. He pushed the others aside, and tore into the one with Jocelyn's scribbly print on the outside.
Zac,
How is the tour going? Any ripped shirts or scary close encounters I should know about? I'm pretty sure something exciting is bound to be happening. Better than Tulsa, at any rate.
What's going on here on the set of 'The Days of our Tulsa', you ask? The same old: backstabbing, vicious lies, dirty scandals. Perhaps the most interesting thing is that I am going on a diet. Don't laugh! Mom says she's worried about my weight. She knows I get made fun of, and before she said it didn't matter. But, since I'll be starting high school next year she knows I'll want to date and I'll want to be pretty and blah, blah, blah. (She even made the disgusting comment that I might actually want to impress you. Haha, Mom, very funny.) Not only that, but there's a history of diabetes and high blood pressure in my family. So, I can officially not eat junk food. It's really not that bad. Without you around, I don't have anybody to pig out with.
Life is completely boring without you around. Who else is Mr. Smith going to make fun of all period long? He's been trying to pick on everyone, deciding who should be his next victim. Of course, none of them quite live up to your standards. Speaking of Old Twitcher, did you know he has a thang for Elvis? Well, okay, so he didn't come right out and say it, but everybody knows he does. He spent forever talking about the King. Your mom is an Elvis fan, right?
In a lot of ways, he reminds me of you and your brothers. Something Mr. Smith said stuck out in my mind. "He was practically a prisoner in his own home for the last 20 years of his life." I hope that never happens to you. I mean, it seemed like lately you can get out, but I know that was just because you were in Tulsa. People are really used to you roaming the streets. I've heard some pretty wild stories about your fans, though, elsewhere. My cousin, Melissa, is a huge fan of yours from New York. (She just about died when I told her I knew you, by the way.) She was talking about some of the crazy things the fans there do to get close to you. I was shocked, to say the least. You probably didn't want to hear that right now, right? Is the paranoia setting in?
How are things with your family? How is Mac's reading coming along? He seemed to be doing really well last week. What about the Thompsons? Are they all okay? Have you killed Jordan yet? I know you think it's obnoxious to have a 10-year-old girl stomping on your heals all day, but I think it's adorable. Who knows? She could be the love of your life...if her mother ever puts her on Ritalin.
Well, take care of yourself. This is Jocelyn Andrews signing off, saying good night, and good news.
Hogs and Knishes,
Jocelyn
PS: Did I tell you that I now aspire to be a TV anchorwoman?
Zac sighed and folded the letter. Jocelyn's humor -- though a bit dry, and not always that humoring -- was endearing. Especially considering that he was only a week into the 2 month, TORTUROUS grounding sentence his mother (and Lia's) had landed on him. He leaned over to the nearby dresser, and pulled out the notebook he kept inside. Immediately he began a letter back to Jocelyn.
