Chapter One
Heather slouched on the bus bench, scratching her leg. She was dressed down today and her clothes felt uncomfortable on her. It was funny what one could get used to wearing, she thought, remembering just yesterday she had worn a black mini-skirt and pink tank top--without underwear. Today Heather had on a jean skirt and a designer T-shirt and looked almost respectable as she scanned the line of passengers coming in from out of town on this beautiful day in early June.
It was boring being here, but it was damn sight better than hooking, she mused. She told herself to be grateful for the break because soon she'd be back on the streets fulltime, turning tricks.
Billy always had his "bottom girl" at the Hollywood bus stop, the prime spot to find new meat, as he liked to say. Heather herself had been one of the innocents who had passed through the dirty bus station four years ago. It seemed like a lifetime now to the twenty-year-old. Heather wasn't even her real name--it had been so long, the name she'd been born with seemed like a stranger to her. Like so many others, she had dreams of being "discovered" before she ran out of money. Ha. What a fucking joke. Yet they never stopped coming--fresh-faced teens from Iowa, Ohio or Alabama, all convinced they'll be the next Cameron Diaz or Lindsey Lohan. What a fucking bunch of idiots!
Many will arrive just as she had been, not running to some dream as much as fleeing a nightmare. Her stepdad had started molesting Heather when she was thirteen. When Heather offered up that as the reason her grades had fallen and her stepdad denied it, her mother refused to believe her. So at sixteen, she had fled west with vague ideas of stardom. She certainly had been pretty enough to make it--and she might've, if her money had not run out less than a week after she had arrived.
Heather sighed and shifted position to watch another door where passengers were filing through. Any girl who takes a bus to Hollywood might as well hang a sign around her neck that says: "I'm nearly broke and desperate!" It was so easy to find new talent for Billy, Heather almost felt guilty.
She spotted a potential candidate at once, a cute sandy-haired teenager coming through the door from the Phoenix bus, a small suitcase banging against her thigh. Heather had to move quickly now, for she knew there were other bottom girls who were always circling. Heather got up and approached the girl. Close up, she had that familiar wide-eyed look, caught between expectation and fear, and Heather immediately pegged her as another runaway. She guessed her age between sixteen and nineteen. She dropped her purse as the girl walked past and cursed as she bent down to scoop up the items that had fallen out. The girl, Heather noted with satisfaction, stopped to help her.
"Thanks!" Heather said brightly. "I'm so clumsy!" She stood up. "You meeting someone here?"
"Uh, no, not really," the girl said. She had on jeans and a dark green Notre Dame T-shirt that fit snugly over her breasts. Heather noted how she must be a solid C-cup at least. She felt a twinge of envy and wondered for a moment if they were real. Shit, of course they're real, she thought, the girl hasn't been corrupted by Hollywood yet!
"Are you?"
"Yeah, I was--but I just got a call to say she missed the bus!" she lied smoothly. "My name's Heather. What's yours?"
"I'm Kristy, with a K."
"Well, if you need help with anything, let me know, okay? I've lived here for years." She stepped back, as if she was about to walk away.
Kristy picked up her small suitcase and looked around. "Uh, could you tell me of a good, cheap hotel around here somewhere?"
Heather laughed. "Well, there's good and expensive, or cheap and dirty--which do you want?"
"Well, I guess I'd better take cheap and dirty," she said, grimacing at the thought.
"I know a place that'll do." She checked her watch. "I got time. Come on, I'll take you there if you'd like. It's just a couple blocks away."
"Oh, that'd be great. Thanks."
She led the girl out into the California sunshine. Kristy squinted and averted her eyes.
Heather smiled at her reaction. This was going to be too easy, she thought. Girl fresh off the bus, doesn't know shit, can't even stand the bright sunlight. Must be gray all the time back home in Peoria. "Come on, it's this way. Where ya from?"
"Indiana. Evansville."
Heather nodded to herself, thinking, I was close. The girls had to dodge around a homeless man who leered at them. Heather gave him the stink eye but she noted Kristy just seemed afraid.
"What brings you out here--or do I even need to ask?"
Kristy laughed nervously. "Yeah, you got it. I want to be an actress. How about you?"
"Me too. Although life has interfered with my plans somewhat. I'm working as sort of a model just to make a few extra bucks."
"Ohh, a model! I'd like to do that too--you know, to get started. Who do you work with? How did you get started? Do you think they could use me?"
Heather laughed and held up her hands. "Whoa! Slow down!" She made a show of looking Kristy up and down. "Well, you certainly are pretty enough. Maybe if you lightened up your hair..." She paused. "Let me ask you some basics--the same things the agencies will ask. First of all, how old are you?"
"Eighteen."
Heather raised her eyebrows. "Really? 'Cause you don't look it." Perfect, she was thinking--the younger-looking, the better.
"Yeah, just turned eighteen three weeks ago."
"Wow. You look young--which is good in this town, let me tell you."
Kristy giggled. "Oh good."
"How tall are you?"
"Five-four."
"Hmm, might be a little short."
"You think?"
"Yeah, most of the top models are five-nine or so." Heather had no idea, really. It just sounded good to her. Besides, she didn't want the girl to develop any self-confidence. Now it was time to throw her a bone. "But your breasts, I must say, from a modeling perspective, well, they're perfect. Are they real?"
Kristy blushed and looked down at the sidewalk. "Uh, yeah."
Heather recognized that odd kind of embarrassment about her body. She guessed at once Kristy had been molested by an over-eager relative. Her father, stepfather or uncle. Maybe even a brother. She probably grew tired of fighting him off--or fucking him--and fled west as soon as she had graduated from high school. It was a sadly familiar story.
"So what made you pack up and come out all of a sudden?"
"Well, I've always wanted to, you know. Isn't that every girl's dream? Come out here and star in some movie or TV show? So after I graduated, I decided, 'now or never.' You know?"
Heather nodded. "Yeah. But it can be tough to break in here. I hope you're not expecting to be discovered overnight."
"Oh, uh, no. I guess not. I mean, I'll do what I have to do to work my way up."
"Are your parents backing you?" It was a key question and Heather kept an eye on Kristy's face when she asked it.
"Uh, no." She looked away, pain evident on her face.
Heather hid her smile. Can I peg 'em or can I peg 'em? she thought. "Oh. You plannin' on surprisin' them when you suddenly show up in a movie?"
"Yeah, something like that."
They reached the end of the block and Heather paused to let Kristy soak in the tawdry scene around them. The bus station was in the worst part of Hollywood--and there really weren't that many good parts. Back in the twenties, Hollywood probably seemed like paradise to most of those in the frozen Midwest, but over the years, it had attracted too many of the poor and wild-eyed dreamers. This led to a gradual decline in the populace as they began to feed on each other in order to survive. Too many today were humanity's cast-offs: Crazies, drunks, street preachers--and whores. Lots of whores.
"You don't have any support system out here? No relatives or friends you can call on?" This was important, for the ideal girl would be completely alone.
"No. Just me."
"That's pretty brave."
"Yeah, I'm beginning to realize that."
The light changed and Heather started across, walking quickly. "It's not much further."
They crossed and Kristy hurried to catch up. Heather was walking fast on purpose. She wanted the girl to develop a strong desire to stay with her so she wouldn't be left alone in this scary place. It helped bond them. They walked another block until they came to one of the sleaziest motels in town: The El Rancho, know universally in the neighborhood as the "El Rauncho."
"Here it is. Costs just forty bucks a night. Pretty cheap around here."
Kristy just stood and stared at it, her mouth ajar, taking in scene before her: The fading pink paint, the litter scattered across the parking lot, a huge, angry pimp arguing with a hooker in front of a graffiti-marred Coke machine, the room on the second floor with the broken window and the tattered remains of a crime scene tape still dangling from the doorknob. Heather waited for a long minute before she spoke up, putting cheer in her voice she did not feel.
"It's not so bad if you get a place on the second floor. Just be sure and lock your door. Maybe move some furniture in front of it."
"I-I can't ... I can't stay here," Kristy said, shaking her head.
Worked every time. No farm girl would be caught dead in a place like this. "Oh, well, if you can afford more, there's a place three blocks over that's much nicer."
"H-how much, do you think?"
"At the other place? Hmm. I think it's sixty-five a night. It's not much cleaner, but it's much quieter at night, so at least you can sleep."
Kristy began shaking her head and Heather saw the tears there. For a moment, she felt sorry for the poor, naïve girl. She remembered how she had felt, coming off the bus. She had fallen under the care of Maureen, another of Billy's bottom girls. But she was dead now from an overdose. It seemed so long ago Heather could hardly remember what her first day had been like.
"There must be something else," Kristy said. "A shelter? Something like that?"
There were two or three in Hollywood, Heather knew, aimed at teens just like Kristy. They were always crowded, but she could probably get some help from them. Or get advice to turn around and go home before it was too late.
"No, not really," she lied. "I mean, there's a shelter for abused women--I don't think they'd let you in, though. You aren't exactly abused, right?"
"Not yet."
"Well, come on, it won't be so bad." She started walking toward the motel and Kristy hurried to catch up.
"Wait, wait."
Heather stopped. "What?"
"I, uh..." She looked around, her face worried. "That nicer motel. You say it's sixty-five a night?"
Heather could see the calculations going on in her head and knew Kristy was figuring how long her money would last. She herself had arrived with just two hundred dollars and had stayed just two nights in a crappy motel before she succumbed to Maureen's siren call to share a room with her--and Billy. "Yeah, about. I'm not sure--I haven't stayed there in a long time. It might be a little more now."
"Well, okay, I guess."
Heather led her down a dirty street to the Aladdin Hotel, a step up from El Rauncho, but not by much. It was a two-story motel laid on two sides of a parking lot that faced a busy intersection. At least there were no broken windows or hookers, although the place hadn't been upgraded since the eighties.
"Oh, that's better," Kristy said, looking relieved.
"Come on." Heather led her across the street and waited while she checked in. The price had risen to seventy-three a night, including tax. She watched as Kristy pulled out a wad of bills with shaking hands and paid for one night.
"Thanks," Kristy said as they walked out. "I guess I'm all set."
"Sure," Heather said. "You gonna be all right?"
"I guess so."
"Tell ya what. I don't live too far away. I'll give you my cell phone number and you call if you need somethin'. Okay?"
"Oh, that would be great! You've been so nice."
"Hey, we girls gotta stick together, right? I mean, this town can be rough if you're not ready for it."
"I do feel a bit overwhelmed."
Heather jotted down her number and passed it over. Kristy seemed hesitant to let her go.
"Do you know of anyone who maybe needs a roommate?"
Heather recognized it at once as a desperate attempt to determine if Kristy might crash on her couch. She didn't rise to the bait--yet. It was too soon.
"No, but I can ask around. Okay, I'd better go. You sure you'll be all right?"
"Yeah, I guess."
Heather left, stopping once to wave at Kristy as the poor girl headed to her room. Give her two days, she thought. She'll be almost out of money and desperate for someone to help her.
Unless, of course, she wins a movie role first.
She laughed all the way back to her apartment.
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