Free Stars So Sweet by Tara Dairman

inspirational presentation by one of the most exciting novelists of our time. Please put your hands together for thirteen-year-old literary phenom Mr. Hamilton Herbertson!”
    At that moment, the boy Gladys hadn’t seen or heard from since the end of summer camp strode across the DTMS stage, clad all in black and grinning from ear to ear.

Chapter 9
    A SWIRL OF RAGE
    G LADYS’S HEART THUDDED SO LOUDLY, she was sure her fellow seventh-graders could hear it all the way at the back of the auditorium—or would have been able to, if they hadn’t been so noisy themselves. There were a lot of cheers from fans of Hamilton’s best-selling novel,
Zombietown, U.S.A.,
but also a few boos, probably from fellow Camp Bentley attendees. Hamilton’s snooty opinions about the childishness of summer camp had not won him many fans there.
    Gladys wasn’t sure if she wanted to cheer or boo herself. She and Hamilton had exchanged phone numbers at the end of camp, but he had never called her. She’d told herself that he must be busy finishing up the sequel to his novel, andshe knew how demanding deadlines could be. Several times, she had thought about calling, but in the end she’d always decided not to disturb him. Surely he would get in touch when he had time.
    What if she had been wrong, though? If Hamilton had time to make a presentation at her school, he couldn’t be
that
busy. Maybe he had decided that his friendship with Gladys wasn’t worth continuing after all. In fact, he’d probably already forgotten about her.
    Now Gladys felt an overwhelming urge to disappear. She slumped down in her seat and shook her hair forward into her face, though it would be hard to hide since she was sitting in the very first row.
    Thanks a lot, Charissa.
    Hamilton pulled a set of index cards from his black jeans pocket and cleared his throat in anticipation of his favorite activity: giving speeches.
    â€œThank you, Principal Sloane,” his voice boomed into the microphone, “and thank you, students, for that enthusiastic welcome. I’m honored to be here in my adopted hometown of East Dumpsford, speaking to you all today.”
    He looked up from his cards, and Gladys cringed. Any moment now, he would spot her—and even though
he
had been the one to fall off the face of the earth, she still felt embarrassed. After all, she had thought their friendship meant more to him than it really did.
    Hamilton glanced back at his notes before his eyes reached her side of the auditorium, and Gladys let out a small sigh of relief.
    â€œI am here,” he continued, “on this first day of school, to speak to you about the value of perseverance. Without it, I would not be one of the youngest number one
New York Standard
best-selling authors of all time. Now, in case you don’t already know,
perseverance
is defined as . . .”
    â€œUgh!” Parm whispered as Hamilton pompously launched into a definition of the word. “He’s so arrogant!”
    â€œI know, right?” Charissa whispered back.
    And there it was: mixed in with Gladys’s annoyance and embarrassment, a pang of sympathy. Hamilton didn’t
mean
to be so condescending; he had just never spent any time around other kids his age, so he had no idea how to act. She understood why Parm and Charissa would be offended by the way he talked down to them, since she’d felt that way once, too. But they just didn’t know him the way she did—or the way she thought she had.
    Opposing feelings were twisting together in Gladys’s gut like a frozen-yogurt swirl. Relief to see Hamilton alive and well. Anger that he had not bothered to get in touch with her. Pity over his awful stage demeanor. Humiliation at thinking he’d forgotten her completely.
    She had stopped listening to what he was actually saying, so she was surprised when the lights dimmed even further and the large screen behind him burst to life