Free We Only Know So Much by Elizabeth Crane Page B

within the last ten years?
    What? No! Ten years ago I was like, nine.
    Nine-year-olds can have mental illness.
    Maybe that’s what’s wrong with my brother. Ha!
    Polite smiles and blank faces. Augh, why does she keep mentioning him? She sounds like she’s twelve. Priscilla feels that tear coming up again.
    Have you ever been arrested?
    No! Jeez, no.
    Have you ever been on television before?
    Nah, not really. When I went with my family to New York once, we stood outside the ‘Today’ show, but we were kind of way in the back. It was lame. So we don’t have to repeat it, you should just go ahead and assume that most times when Priscilla makes a negative judgment, she also rolls her eyes.
    Have you ever appeared in a publicly released film or video of any sort?
    I wish!
    What is your favorite TV show?
    Oh my god, I love ‘America’s Next Top Model,’ I love ‘Gossip Girl’—well, for the clothes, mostly, the story lines are kind of lame. ‘The Hills.’ I die for Rachel Zoe. I love ‘GH’ . . .
    Blank stares, nods.
    ‘General Hospital.’
    Nods. Is this like some kind of a total mind-fuck, some super harsh joke being played on her? How could these all be the wrong answers? Because, seriously? It’s working. It’s an effective mind-fuck. Her mind is very effectively fucked.
    What is your favorite movie?
    She has an answer for this! ‘ Say Anything’! Totally. I know it’s super old school, but you know, Lloyd Dobler! You have to love Lloyd Dobler. I don’t even know how many times I’ve seen that movie. I like know half the lines. The boom box! Priscilla puts her hand to her heart in the most genuine display of emotion since the interview started, allows herself a half moment to imagine having her own Lloyd Dobler, drifts back in to see the panel, everyone doing that sort of “no, nothing wrong with that” face/shrug thing that also means there’s nothing really right with it, either.
    What is your favorite music to listen to?
    Priscilla does not really listen to music. She doesn’t dislike it really, she just doesn’t think about it much.
    I don’t know, I guess I like popular music. Or — dance music! I love to dance. Is that a hobby?
    Sure. Notes.
    Describe your perfect day. Cool, she can do this.
    Well, I’d get up around eleven, I guess, eat a waffle, meet Taylor and my friends at the mall and go shopping. And then come home and try on everything we bought and have a fashion show and then post photos online and then go to a party where we’re the only girls, or at least the only cute girls — well, that’s usually the way it is, but you know what I mean, and the rest of the party is all super hot guys — TV stars, maybe!
    The panel members crack a smile, finally. Jeez.
    What was the most exciting moment of your life?
    Priscilla has enough good sense to refrain from mentioning that this is the most exciting moment of her life, this one right now, wonders how they could not know that, but she does not have an alternative answer.
    God, I don’t know, I don’t know, huh, I don’t know. My life isn’t very exciting.
    Wait, what? Did she mean to say that? That wasn’t exactly what she meant. She should probably explain. But nothing else is coming out of her mouth. Dammit!
    How do you blow off steam?
    Priscilla has somehow never heard this phrase before. She imagines this literally, but that can’t be right.
    I don’t think I know what that means.
    Like, when you’re angry, or frustrated, what do you do?
    I scream? Priscilla is often angry and frustrated, and has no real, useful outlet for it. She slams doors, rolls her eyes, shoves, huffs, calls names. These don’t seem like the right answers. They might actually be right answers, but they don’t seem like it.
    What is your primary motivation for being on TV?
    Christ, these questions are so hard! College is easier than this. Priscilla knows “to get famous” can’t possibly be the right answer, but it’s the only one she has, and