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her last name?” She’s following right behind me.
    Jeez, I can’t believe her. We’ve been here like what? A week? And she’s already familiar with the local who’s who. “I think it’s Wood,” I say, going into my room and throwing my books on the floor in the corner since I
still
don’t have any furniture, which is getting really old by the way.
    “Wood. Wood,” she says, squinting at the wall. “I think there’s a Wood in my yogalates class.”
    “I don’t doubt it.” I boot up my laptop and make myself comfortable on the floor.
    “Rio, you’re not e-mailing Paige and Hud are you?” she asks, standing over me, all disapproving.
    “No,” I lie. “I’m doing homework.”
    “Good. Because, we live
here
now, and it’s really time you made some friends at your new school. Kristi seems really nice and I think you should give her a chance.”
    “Mom, can I please just do my homework?” I point at my computer. “Of course,” she says, smiling. “I’ll let you know when dinner’s ready.”
    And the second she leaves I instant message Paige.

Seven
    The next day in AP English I’m sitting at my desk when Kristi looks over and says, “Hey, Brazil.”
    But I don’t correct her this time because I know she knows my real name. She’s just trying to be all cute or something.
    “Is your mom Jahne Jones?” She stares at me, waiting for an answer.
    And while I’m hesitating, Mrs. Abbot says, “Open your books to page one twenty-five. Hunter, would you read for us starting with the second paragraph?”
    And luckily I’m off the hook for now. Because I don’t know if she meant Jahne Jones from her mom’s yogalates class, or Jahne Jones former almost-supermodel. And the truth is, I don’t really feel like talking about either one.
    My mom is complicated. Well actually, my mom is pretty simple, it’s our relationship that’s complicated. I mean, it’s not that she’s a bad person or anything because she’s not. It’s just that she’s extremely interested in things that don’t really do it for me. Like she’s really into shopping, and I don’t know why, but even though I like nice things, I think wearing a ton of labels is kind of embarrassing. She’s also really into her looks, and I never feel comfortable with mine.
    But now that I’m taller and my braces are gone, people are starting to say we look alike. Which I guess is a compliment, but to be honest, I’mnot really comfortable with that kind of attention like she is. It’s like, my mom lives to be in front of the camera, but I’d rather be behind it.
    And for the record, Jahne is
not
her real name. She was born Jane Jones. But when she became a model they thought that was too plain so they added an
h
and changed the pronunciation to
Jahne
. She started traveling the world on fashion shoots when she was only fourteen, so she didn’t really finish high school, but she took her GED and she reads a lot so she’s not stupid.
    Because of her job she met all these famous people, like rock stars, movie stars, and other models you might have heard of, and even though she was once on location with Christy, Linda, Cindy, Naomi, and Claudia, she never quite made it to their level. She’s more like someone people vaguely recognize but they’re not sure why.
    Then, when she was around twenty-four, she was on a flight from L.A. to New York, and sitting in first class right next to her was Griffin Jones (her future husband/my dad). They started dating, blah blah blah, and within three months they got married and she didn’t even have to change her last name. (I just hope somebody had the good sense to make sure they’re not related or something because how gross would that be?) When she had me at twenty-five and a half, they moved to the ‘burbs and that was pretty much the end of her modeling career.
    Anyway, I know my mom would love it if I came home and told her about the question Kristi just asked me, and that’s exactly why I won’t