Emancipated Read Online Free Page A

brunettes, black girls, white girls, Latinas, and Asian girls.
    Candace chose a seat and then Grace sat beside her, giving her an encouraging smile. She and Grace had arrived in California just four days ago after a month of packing and paperwork. Two days before, they’d taken a trip to court to pick up the permission for Candace to live as a legally emancipated individual. Grace’s emancipation had been arranged in Texas before they’d left. Now they were able to enter into legal contracts, to choose their own school, and most important to Candace—to keep all the money they earned.
    Candace turned to a stunning Filipino girl who was flicking through pages of the script. “Is this the right place for auditions for ‘Gina’ in Downtowners ?”
    The girl nodded and smiled. “My agent told me: ‘Age seventeen to twenty-three, fresh-faced, athletic build, stage combat training essential, previous screen experience preferred. Wear clothing suitable for physical training.’”
    â€œSo you don’t have to be blond?”
    â€œI think the character’s head is shaved, so it doesn’t really matter.”
    â€œHer head is shaved . . . ?” broke in Grace, but Candace silenced her, eyes flashing a warning.
    Candace’s mother, Katelyn, strode into the room, trailing an oriental-floral scent that had been personally blended for her by one of the noses at Guerlain. Katelyn swept an appraising glace across the dozen or so other girls before sitting down next to her daughter.
    Doubtfully, she glanced around, then placed her Chanel handbag on her lap. “Darling, this looks like acrapshoot.”
    Candace didn’t reply. She rolled her eyes at Grace, who suppressed a grin.
    The two stepsisters had been lucky enough to get along from the day they’d first been introduced to each other about six years prior. The girls immediately discovered that they shared a sardonic sense of the ridiculous. There was something surreal about seeing your parent dating someone else’s parent. One pointed this out to the other and the chemistry was instant.
    Candace was nervous, staring at the script. There were only two lines—the pages were just somewhere to focus her attention, somewhere she might escape for a few minutes from her mother’s incessant, unsolicited advice.
    Candace had wanted only Grace at the audition, but Katelyn was going to drive the two girls to the Venice Beach house right after. Then they were going to pick up the car Candace’s mom had leased on her behalf—a Prius. Katelyn had insisted. “It’s that or you can use a bicycle. Bad enough we have to increase the family’s overall carbon footprint by having you live apart from me, but you know how it is with Jarvis. His work demands such intense privacy.”
    Grace was counting the minutes until she and Candace moved out of Jarvis and Katelyn’s Malibu house and into a place of their own. They’d been staying with Candace’s mother and the Dope Fiend since their whirlwind move from San Antonio. Katelyn had insisted on doing everything by the book: “In my Venice house, you’re my tenant, not my daughter. Legally responsible for keeping the place in order. You’d better remember that.”
    There was definitely a weird atmosphere at the Malibu house. Candace could see that it wasn’t easy on Grace. Katelyn hated Grace’s mother, Tina. She blamed her for the failure of her own marriage to Candace’s father, even though it had actually been Candace’s mother who’d done the dumping. But mainly, Katelyn resented Tina’s obsession with Candace’s career. It made her own relative disinterest seem distinctly unmotherly.
    Luckily, all the bad vibes would soon be a thing of the past. Katelyn’s recent generosity more than made up for her helplessly supercilious manner. She’d decided, without any prompting from Candace,