Woo! Birthdays! Hmm, would it be possible for an imaginary friend to become real for Laney? I sense a love story! 
Haha, is it that obvious? I don't love imaginary friends, but I thought it would be fun to include one, and it fits with Laney's character. It's going to be interesting though ... this one seems to have a few negative traits! We'll see where the story takes us.
Part 17: Hit Movie ComposerAmory got right to the work of growing up, almost as if he couldn't wait to catch up with his older cousins. He looked to any of the older people in the house to learn his essential skills.
But when he was upset, it was only cousin Laney that he wanted and no one else. His parents could only stand by helplessly until she came in and swooped him up, stopping his tears. She may have been a loner, but she was great with kids. Her imaginative stories washed away all the tears and brought smiles and giggles back to his face.
Between the skillful efforts of everyone in the house and Laney's snuggles and stories, Amory was soon ready to age up. His newly youthful daddy brought him to the cake and everyone held their breath for him to grow up. Soon they could sell off the last crib, hurray!
And grow up, he did.
"Wow," said Laney, "He's gonna be a looker. Watch out ladies."
Behind her, Pal grumbled.
"Oh, grow up. He's my cousin. It's just an observation." She knew that Pal had a bit of a crush on her. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. He was her best friend, but he was also still very much a doll ... not human. She just couldn't really feel anything about him except friendship. He was very moody though and got upset with her easily. She was sometimes tempted to just tell him to go away, but he was kind of her only friend, and she also felt a little responsible for him. Without her friendship, he would be nothing anymore. Even if he hadn't turned out to be the nicest imaginary friend she could have had, he was what she had.
The whole situation got even weirder when she got a mysterious phone call. The person on the other end identified themselves as a Dr. Coppelius and indicated that he knew she'd been talking to "people who aren't there." He said he could help her if she would simply gather something for him: a rainbow gem.
How on earth was she going to find that? She knew you could sometimes find precious stones and such around the town, but she would have to look everywhere. At dinner, she brought it up casually.
"So, this girl at school told me that there's this cool kind of gem called a rainbow gem. It sounds so pretty, I wonder if you can find those here in Sunset Valley."
Amanda frowned. "The only place I've ever seen anything like that is--" she stopped abruptly and cleared her throat. "Actually, now that I think about it, I've never seen anything like that around here."
That told Laney all she needed to know. The only place Amanda went where she wouldn't want Laney to go was the abandoned warehouse. Everyone knew it wasn't really abandoned. It was where the biggest criminal gang had their headquarters. If Laney was going to look there, she was going to have to be extremely careful. So she waited until the dead of night. It was a new moon so it was practically pitch dark outside. She put on her darkest clothes and snuck out.
Luckily, she didn't have to poke around too much. She was able to find what she needed in a forgotten corner, near some garbage bins. After she grabbed her loot, and a couple of other precious stones that were just sitting around, she bailed as fast as she could. How weird that criminals would leave this kind of stuff just lying around, she thought. They wouldn't have to be criminals if they would just collect and sell it. She took it straight to the science center. Dr. Coppelius said she could bring it any time. Maybe he lived there or something.
She expected to be greeted by some strange old man, but instead she was greeted by a ... robot? Um ... okay, then. He asked her to insert her sample into a compartment in his chest, which he did. He left and soon another robot returned. He told her that her sample had been recombobulated into an elixir that could transform imaginary people into real people. If she would insert a sum of simoleons into his mouth compartment, the elixir would be hers.
"Uh ... I don't have any simoleons," she said.
The robot then explained to her that if she did not purchase the elixir, she would have a partial credit on her "account" in payment for the gem. She could complete the purchase later when she had the rest of the fee.
"Hey wait," she said, hardly believing she was having a chat with a robot. "Do you take other gems?"
She pulled out the other gems she had collected that night and the robot opened yet another compartment. She put them in.
"Yes. This is sufficient to complete your payment." The robot slid open his chest compartment and a bottle of golden-brownish liquid rested inside. Laney snatched it, storing it away in her backpack and left quickly, wanting nothing more to do with robots. But as she walked out, she was greeted by the ominous red and blue of flashing police lights.
They dropped her back home where she knew her father would be waiting up for her. Since he never slept and all. L4z3r, of course, was not pleased to see her.
"Laney, what do you think you're doing? You really can't be sneaking around like this!" He had his sternest face on and Laney got a little scared. She'd never seen him like this. And even worse, she had no excuse. There was no way she could tell him what she had been doing, it sounded crazy.
"I'm sorry dad, I didn't know I wasn't allowed to go out at night," she lied. "It's not like I ever sleep."
"My mother and I have told you several times already about the curfew. Laney, this is for your own good. This is not just to keep you down. For one thing, having a child in the household who's known for breaking the law could really hurt your aunt's career. If she doesn't come down hard on you, she could be seen to be doing favors for her relatives. And by "come down hard" I mean much more than just a grounding."
Laney instantly felt bad. She hadn't even thought of how her actions might affect other people.
"But it's more than that, Laney. You and your brother have been fairly sheltered by our family's position and the money we have, but not everyone in this town likes having aliens living among them. And a lot of them like it even less if they are mixed alien-humans. If you're caught out alone at night by someone like that, really bad things could happen to you."
Laney looked down at the floor. A tear slid down her cheek and onto the floor next to her shoe, where she stared at it, hard. She felt really stupid. All of what her dad was saying was true and she hadn't stopped to think about any of it. And that was not to mention that her dad didn't even know where she'd really been, which was totally stupid and dangerous. She thought she was so smart, but she was just as dumb as any teen. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and then her dad took her in his arms.
"I've never wanted to talk to my children like this," her dad said. "But you need to hear me and understand what I am saying. I know I've scared you, but you need to hear. Just understand that I love you more than anything and if anything happened to you, your mom and I would never forgive ourselves."
"Am ... am I grounded?" she sniffled.
"No," he said gently. "I think that you've taken my words to heart and I'm going to give you a chance to prove that. I'm going to limit your punishment to staying home from the dance tomorrow night. Please show me that you've heard me and that you understand. And also understand that I won't be this lenient if it happens again."
"I know, dad. Thank you."
Missing the dance wasn't so bad. She probably wouldn't have gone anyway, and now she had an excuse. She headed back to her room to plop down on the bed and pull herself together. Pal was right there.
"Hey, where'd you go?"
"I got you a present."
"You did? Let me see!"
"I can't, it's not ready yet. It won't be ready for a long time, actually."
"Aw, man."
She glanced at her backpack with the elixir in it. She couldn't give it to him now. Not while she was still a kid, basically. She might not be able to give it to him ever. But maybe when she moved out on her own, if she still wanted to do it, it would be easier to pull it off then.
Topher pretty much missed the family drama. He had spent the whole night practicing speeches in the mirror.
If he was going to win friends and influence people at school, he had to be at his best and most charming. Laney laughed when she walked in and saw what he was doing.
"You really don't need to do that, To. Those kids are going to be falling all over themselves to be your friend."
"I dunno, Laney. They are all rich and from powerful families. I'm just ..."
"How do you even think you got into that school, To? Our family may seem all over the place to us, but we have lots of money. We're fourth generation Greythorns. Amory's grandpa is a famous astronaut and his grandma is a rock star who also pretty much runs the entertainment center downtown. Uncle Rooney's mom is huge on the modern art scene and our dad is making waves with none other than Bella Bruce. You're just as important as any of those kids."
"Yeah, but what have I done? Some of those kids have already written novels and stuff."
"Oh who cares? I wrote a novel already, that doesn't mean it's any good. I'm published and those other kids are published for the same reason you got into the school -- our families."
"Well you might be right about the other kids, but I hear the teen girls are already going crazy over 'My Imaginary Boyfriend.' It's the new fad to pretend you have an invisible lover."
"Oh great. Well at least I wrote it under a pseudonym."
"Don't be surprised if there's a movie deal in it."
"That would be awesome. Maybe I can be a millionaire before we even graduate high school."
"I hope so. You can donate to my campaign when I start running for office."
Suddenly there was a honk outside and they ran to the window.
"Wow, guess your ride's here. That's pretty fancy."
"Well, it IS Smuggsworth Prep. Anyway, they can't send anything less for the twin brother of the author of 'My Imaginary Boyfriend!' They have to leave room for all my imaginary girlfriends."
"Oh, shut up!" Laney punched him in the arm, then gave him a fierce hug.
"I'm really going miss you. I don't know what I'll do without my twin. It's always been us two."
"Don't worry Laney. Your imaginary boyfriend can keep you company."
"To!"
"I'm just kidding! I'm gonna miss you too, sis. But I'll call you every weekend."
Laney sighed as she watched him pull away. He didn't know how right he was. Now all she had left was her imaginary boyfriend.
After seeing his son off, L4z3r wanted nothing more than to sit down and restore some brain power. Between his two kids, he was exhausted. But his phone rang with a number he didn't recognize. He was about to hit "ignore" when some weird impulse made him answer it.
"Is this L-Four-Zee-Three-R?"
"Um, you can just call me 'Laser.'"
"Oh, thank the Watcher, babe. I was going to go batty if I have to keep calling you all that letter-number mish-mash."
"Blame my parents! So ... may I ask who's calling?"
"Oh, forgive me, babe. I'm an idiot first class with no manners! This is Jay Trout-Shelby. The director?"
"Oh, Mr. Shelby! Yes, of course. "Swollen Hearts" is one of my wife's favorite films of this year."
"Hey, great to hear it, babe. Listen, I'd like to meet with you regarding an opportunity. I've heard your music with the Unfiltered Quartet and I love it, babe. It's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. What's say we have lunch and I'll tell you my proposal?"
"Um ... sure Mr. Shelby. I don't have rehearsal until the evening, so I could meet you today if you like?"
"Sounds perfect, babe. Meet me at the bistro at 1pm."
At the appointed time, L4z3r went down to the bistro. There was a man sitting out front dressed in a sharp suit and sunglasses, reading a paper.
"Excuse me, are you Jay Trout-Shelby?"
"That's me, babe. You must be Laser. Whoa I must say I did not expect you to be the alien type, but all the better. It explains that cosmic quality to your music."
"Er, yeah I guess. Although I've never been anywhere but this planet. In fact I've never been anywhere but this town. But I'm really glad you like my music."
"Sure, babe, it's perfect. Now what's say we get something to eat. I just love the salmon here. Then we'll talk about what I have in mind."
They settled down to eat, and to L4z3r's surprise all they did was ... eat. He had expected the director to talk about what he wanted as they ate, but nope. He was fully focused on his salmon.
Eventually, he pushed away his plate and started to talk.
"Listen, babe. I'm working on a new movie. This one is going to be an epic adventure about a yacht team competing in The Sim's Cup. It's called 'Champions of Boating' and it's going to be dramatic - sun, sea, storms, danger, betrayal, heartbreak and victory snatched from defeat. All of it, babe. And I want you to do the score. I think you can give it the right scope, make it into a real saga, you know."
In his mind, L4z3r had already started envisioning it. A sparking, sunlit sea and a boat with the wind in its sails, then dark stormclouds and clashing waves, sailors on the rigging ... yes, he already had the start of a tune in his mind.
"Are you with me babe?"
"Yes, yes, I would love to take part in your project. And I'm sure I could get the quartet and the symphony to perform."
"Whoever you want, babe, we'll get 'em. You start thinking about it, I'll have the paperwork sent over to you tomorrow. The studio is practically drowning me in money to do this film, I think you'll be quite happy with the terms, babe."
"Wow, thank you. It was so great to meet you, Mr. Shelby."
"Of course, babe, of course. Just write me a masterpiece, will you?"
Lifetime Wish Achieved: L4z3r Greythorn - Hit Movie ComposerOnly one more for this generation!
Next Time: Snow Day! Plus Amanda works a crime scene.
