WHOA.

I am sailing high over the Caribbean! The bright blue water is so clear, I can actually make out rocks and coral below the surface. I can see the beach near our hotel, people jet skiing and swimming, and look! There's my Winch boat with Matty, Rod, and Pierre. It looks like a Matchbox car from up here. I quickly shut my eyes again.

This. Is. Terrifying.

Yet . . . kind of exciting too. No one can see me up here, not even the paparazzi with a long camera lens. That's a parasailing plus, for sure. I'm used to living my life under a microscope, so this ride is pretty freeing -- even if only for a second.

Don't get me wrong -- I love being a Hollywood "It" girl. I've been playing cotton-candy-sweet Samantha on the hit TV show Family Affair since before I started kindergarten. I get invited to the best parties, I'm on a first-name basis with Zac (as in Efron), and I have Stella McCartney on speed dial for fashion emergencies.

Being a teen star is like winning the lottery, but it does come at a price. When my non-celebrity best friend Liz breaks curfew or fights with her dad, she loses Sidekick, cell phone, and TV privileges for a week. When I screw up, Perez Hilton knows before my parents do, and then when they do find out what I've done, they can download my embarrassing moment on YouTube.

The light blond hair on my arms stands on end. It's sort of chilly up here. The wind picks up, smacking me in the face, and my chair suddenly lurches right. I'm flying high above the exclusive Parrot Cay resort again now, which is where we're staying. The villas look like dollhouses and I can see the pathways to the pools and tiny people lounging on the beach. I wonder where Mom and Dad are right now. Hopefully they're not anywhere they can see me. Before I know it, my chair sways to the left and then I'm descending.

Of course! Just as I start to enjoy myself. Within minutes there's a loud thud and my chair lands on the back of the boat as if I'd never even left.

Ahhh . . . land, sweet land (well, sort of). I've missed you.

"That was awesome," my brother Matty says as we disembark a few minutes later and walk onto the beach boardwalk. His Ralph Lauren bathing suit is completely soaked from the quick jump in the water he just took to cool off. He shakes out his hair and water pelts me in the face.

"Watch it!" I laugh.

"What?" Matt protests. "I want to look good in case we run into anyone." He slicks back his hair. Honey-blond locks, fair skin, green eyes -- looking at Matty is like looking at a mirror, except, well, he's a thirteen-year-old boy and I'm a seventeen-year-old girl. But still.

"You mean like Maya?" I tease. Matty met this cute redhead at our resort and has been drooling over her all week. The two of us are so busy taunting each other that I don't realize someone else is talking to me until they're blocking my sun.