"Mom! Ariel is trending online!" Audrey Crouch, the second eldest of ten children in the Crouch family, yelled from the bunk bed she shared in the room with her three younger sisters as she scrolled through her phone.
It had been a long, stressful day of mindless scrolling, and she had been surprised to see her nominal foster brother’s face being discussed in the school group chat.
"Shut up, Audrey!"
"Yeah, shut up!"
"Ugh, I hate you get out of my room!"
"What did you say?!"
The noisy sounds of her siblings running around the house, her brothers playing video gas, her dad watching the ga on TV, and her mom screaming back could be heard, along with the sound of her mom turning on the blender in the kitchen, probably making so fake healthy smoothie for whatever fad diet she was currently following.
"Audrey! What! Did! You! Say!"
"I said Ariel is Trending! Like Online!"
"Oh my gosh, like stop screaming, Audrey!"
"Shut up!"
"Uh, Audrey, shut up!"
"Oughhhhhhhh I hate it here!"
As four separate voices began screaming at her in quick succession, each one louder than the last, Audrey wondered why she even bothered.
"Co here, Audrey! I can’t hear you!" her mom scread once more before the sound of the blender rang out again.
"Ugh, fine!"
Grumbling to herself, Audrey grabbed her cell phone and stomped all the way to the kitchen, wading through toys and things piled in the hallway until she got to the ssy kitchen and saw her mum making herself a smoothie while sothing was burning on the stove.
She quickly shoved past her lackadaisical mom and covered the pot before turning it off.
It seed that dinner was ruined tonight as well.
She would just find a bag of chips in the cupboard or sothing.
"What did you say about that ungrateful brat? Why is he on the internet? Is it the principal again? I told that school not to bother about him, especially after that bullying nonsense and him being sick! If he doesn’t want to financially contribute to this household and listen to my rules, then he can stay the hell away and suffer the consequences of his own choices!" her mom, Analise Couch, spat out as she sipped her smoothie while rubbing her baby bump.
She was expecting her 11th child.
"No, it’s not that. Apparently, he like joined an idol show, and his picture was like trending for a little bit. Look."
Audrey turned her old cellphone so her mom could see the short clip of Ari removing a strangely painted motorcycle helt surrounded by boys who were wearing similar black jumpsuits like he was.
And unlike when he lived at their house and constantly frowned with that judgntal look of disgust in his eyes, he had a mischievous smile that made his green eyes sparkle as he held the microphone to his mouth before the video cut off.
She quickly swiped through the gallery, showing her mom the different pictures that she had seen online.
Analise Crouch glanced down at her phone screen before pushing it away and continuing to drink her smoothie while rubbing her belly.
"So? Seems like he finally learned how hard life is without a ho and decided that he was no longer too good to sell his face for so money. If only he had agreed to accept all those deals that we got for him, he wouldn’t be doing so random talent show that no one’s heard about. I don’t want to hear about that brat." Analise Crouch complained.
She had to admit that Ariel was one of the most beautiful children that she had seen.
Even with a pale face filled with shadows from lack of sleep and drenched in tears from a life-changing accident, he had a striking beauty that she had really only seen in famous celebrities and models.
Unfortunately, that external beauty masked an extrely cold and stubborn personality that didn’t seem to care about being punished in the slightest.
Ari would talk back to whoever he wanted, do as he pleased, and didn’t care how her husband or children felt about it.
Most of the ti, he pretended not to understand or speak English, so he didn’t have to interact with them.
Her efforts to get him to use his good looks to earn money for the family and even form connections and opportunities for her other children had been t with sarcastic laughter, a flurry of rapid-fire French that sounded like curses, before a harsh rejection, causing her to waste a lot of money paying back unfilled contracts that she had signed in Ari’s na.
Now that he wasn’t in the house, although things were harder financially, she felt better not having to see that unsmiling face and piercing eyes that seed to see through her.
"Mom! This show is really big! It’s not so talent show! And if he makes it to the end, he’ll beco famous and win hundreds of thousands of dollars! His face has just been revealed, and there are like so many posts trying to like find out more about him and his family. Aren’t we like technically his family? We could like use his connections from the show to beco rich and famous. Even the eliminated contestants are like gaining so many followers and are getting so popular. Shouldn’t we like contact him? Shows like this need parental permission and like they have family segnts. We could like totally appear on tv and like beco so popular. I can like finally be an influencer."
When she heard her daughter ntion money, Analise Couch thought it over as her eyes sparkled.
When she and her husband had first taken in Ariel, that was the best ti for their family.
The money had been flowing in from both the governnt and from lawyers after the incident, and since Ari hadn’t been in a state of mind to manage things, she had simply taken her cut for taking care of him and lived a lavish life with her 10 kids and husband.
Their family had moved to a bigger house, traveled often, worn designer clothing, and eaten great food, all without Ari, who was still moping and sad, even months after the accident.
Her husband had even quit his job to pursue his dreams as an actor and codian.
Unfortunately, the money ran out, and even after they sold off everything in Ari’s estate without telling him, leaving not a single scrap of furniture and clothing behind, that money also ran out.
They could only downsize once more and live off unemploynt benefits, her husband’s occasional jobs, and Ari’s governnt assistance checks.
Then, to make matters worse, Ari woke up one day and decided that he would use his own support checks for himself, and when they threatened him a little, he called their bluff and left, leaving them in a worse financial state than they were in previously.
But if Audrey was right, this show was an opportunity to get famous and turn things around once more.
They could win a large amount of money without doing any work.
"Audrey, would you say he’s popular? And how long has this series been going on?"
"It’s like a show, Mom. And it was fild recently, but the show’s been going on for like over a month. And yeah, he’s kind of a villain and obviously he’s like trending so he’s probably totes popular."
"A month." Analise tapped her chin while thinking out loud, "So he’s skipping school to film for over a month. No wonder the school kept calling. As his legal guardian, I never approved of this with the show or with his school. Find the contact information of the show imdiately."
"Uhhh...okay." Although Andrea rolled her eyes, she dutifully began searching the internet for the contact information on her phone.
After all, he couldn’t be on the show if she, as his legal guardian, didn’t give her permission.
And since he was still a minor for now, he could be arrested for truancy if he skipped school without his legal guardian’s permission.
If he wanted to continue his activities, he would have no choice but to make a deal with her; otherwise, she would get him kicked out imdiately.
After all, there was only a limited window of ti to squeeze everything out and control him before he turned 18, and she planned to take full advantage of it.
Smiling to herself, Analise Crouch picked up her phone to call the administrative staff of Ariel’s high school.
****
"Hello? Yes. I’d like to find out the location of my foster son, no my son. Ariel Matisse. A little birdy told he’s not in school where he’s supposed to be."
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