A weekend away without her parents and with people her age—people who could maybe even become her friends—that’s what mattered to Stella. She couldn’t tell them about the way her heart leaped and her hands shook when she got the video invite from Jewel. She didn’t trust them to understand how scared and nervous and excited she was to meet the other Golden Follows. The sheer ache of possibility nearly left her breathless. If her parents knew the real reason she wanted to go, they’d never agree.

Unless.

Perhaps.

She did make it about Jewel.

“Life experience,” she countered, argument forming at the speed of light. “As in, I don’t have any.”

When they didn’t respond, instead exchanging another look that resembled confusion, Stella continued, “Think of the college personal-essay material this could potentially give me. Everyone else is going to write about their community service or well-spun tales of their family histories or how being on a rowing team taught them indispensable lessons about teamwork, while we all know they were never on that team to begin with. I can’t match that. All I have is I’ve moved around a lot and studied so hard my brain mass increased.

“But if I write about spending a highly publicized weekend with a famous recluse who built an empire before she turned twenty-one?” She stared at the stove for a moment, giving her brain time to squeeze out some raw potential. “From what I’ve researched, Jewel had a hard time in school and barely graduated before striking it rich in the acting game. Then she bankrolled that success with her family’s money to create a start-up that led to a probable billion-dollar company. Check this out: “The Fame Monster: The Importance of Being Educated.” Who is she really? A puppet or a self-made genius? And how did knowing that and meeting her in the house that social-media technology built affect me and my goals for the future.” Stella took a calming breath. “It’s a little rough, but give me time. Like, say a whole weekend to gather inspiration and source material.”

Diane sipped her wine, eyeing Lloyd. “That would be a compelling and unique subject for an essay.”

Dear God, I’m amazing, Stella thought, careful to keep her smugness off her face. She had just struck golden-plated familial pay dirt, wholly by accident.

Lloyd worked at a law firm specializing in criminal and entertainment law but was also a published author of bestselling supernatural crime novels. Diane, a prolific writer with several nonfiction books under her belt and more on the way, moonlighted as a visiting creative writing professor at whatever university paid her fee and was near her current research subject.

Of course they’d want their only child to follow in their authorial footsteps.

But then Lloyd said, “You’ve never traveled alone before. That’s too far for your first time.”