Smiling at Everything

Head high, shoulders back, fake smile on her face, Jazz walked around the couches and chairs to the coffee table planted in front of them. She dropped her makeup bag on the table and plopped to the floor.

"Jazz, I can finally recognize you again," Lestat remarked.

"Yeah, you're back to looking like a stripper," Dante added.

"I'm a Transformer," Jazz stated, "I go from spoiled rich kid to stripper in two point five seconds."

She figured making a joke out of it would help. Maybe it would lessen the blow of finding out she was from a rich family. It shouldn't have mattered and it probably didn't. However, after years of being in a band, her band mates were learning about her family life. To her it was a big deal.

But not in a good way. It was more of an invasion of privacy. Her friends would find out about it and sooner or later all of her secrets would flow out. She didn't want that to happen.

"That's an amazing trick. Neon, you should learn how to do that," Alex said.

Jazz shook her head, opening her makeup bag and starting her routine. She had some time to fix her makeup. Not as much as she had that morning but she had time to make it look decent. And she could talk while fixing her makeup. It wasn't that big of a deal.

"I'm sorry, my parents never required me to look like a spoiled rich kid everytime I saw them. I guess the trick won't work," Neon replied.

"So your parents make you dress like that around them?" Dante asked.

"It's expected of me," Jazz replied.

"What would they do if they saw you dressed like this?"

"I'd rather not find out."

"Aren't they going to the show tonight?" Zack cut in, "They'll see you dressed like that."

"Better yet, wouldn't they see pictures of you online or in tabloids? Anyone who cares about RxN and keeps up with us would see those pictures," Dante said.

Jazz shook her head, "They don't really care about the band so they won't see those pictures. And they won't come tonight. Robert will call, tell me my mother would rather go out to dinner with some colleagues, and apologize profusely. That used to happen all the time with my piano recitals when my parents were still together, except they wouldn't call and tell me. They would get me a present afterward."

"I don't think I could live like that," Arpeggio said, "I can't imagine my parents not caring about me and being there for me to lean on. Or Neon not caring about me. I would have been such an angry teenager if I was raised like that."

"You were a very depressed teenager though," Neon commented.

Arpeggio rolled her eyes, "That's not the point. The point is I don't understand how Jazz can smile all the time and be in such a good mood with parents like that."

Zack stiffened on the couch. Was Jazz going to answer that question? She had been truthful about everything thus far. And she obviously cared that they were finding out. She looked upset about the situation despite the smile on her face.

"I don't care that they don't care," Jazz stated, "That's how our family works."

It was partial lie. She saw no point in telling them her smiles were fake. They thought her attitude was real still. She wouldn't correct them.

"Well, I like your parents," Dorian spoke up, "You should bring them to the next Christmas party. They'd be the best entertainment."

"How about she doesn’t," Neon suggested.

"Do they always fight like that?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. Before the divorce, it happened every once in a while and they tried to hide it from their friends. Now they don't care who knows they hate each other. They can't be in the same room and be civil toward one another," Jazz stated.

"Which one has custody over you?" Lestat asked.

"I think they share custody. After the divorce, I lived more with my mother and saw my father once a month. Not that I saw either of them much anyway. For all I know, my father could have given up custody of me."

"What about Robert?"

"What about him?"

"How does he fit into the mess that is your family life?"

"Robert married my mother when I was seventeen, after I graduated high school. We moved in with him and I lived with the two of them until I turned eighteen."

"That's it? He just exists?"

"Well, he doesn't handle my discipline and I only lived with him for a year," Jazz said, "He did adopt me during the first six months of his marriage to my mother so he is technically one of my legal guardians. But he's more of goofball who lets me get away with things."

"He does seem a lot more laid back," Dante commented.

"He is."

"He gave me a high five," Dorian stated.

"Yeah, he does those type of things," Neon said.

"I bet he's not like that in the court room," Lestat said.

"Oh no. He's vicious in the court room. Don't get in his way when he goes into lawyer-mode," Jazz said.

She and her mother sat in on some of his cases before. Jazz had time during the year she stayed with them because she didn't have school and RxN was just getting noticed. She frequented Richard's trials far more times than her mother did, seeing as her mother had surgeries to tend to. Robert had actually been Jazz's attorney in one of the most important trials of her life. She recognized him the second her mother introduced her to him. But Jazz didn't think he recognized her so she never brought it up.

If he did, then he knew far more than she gave him credit for and he was amazing at hiding that knowledge.

"If I ever have trouble, I'm going to him to represent me," Dorian declared.

"You would," Dante returned.

"So have you ever had plastic surgery? I mean, considering your parents are plastic surgeons, wouldn't you get a discount or something," Lestat said.

"In the event that I need plastic surgery under my parents' standards, they can't perform the procedure. They're not allowed to work on relatives. They could recommend me to someone, I suppose, and probably get me a discount," Jazz said," But I've never gotten plastic surgery."

"Really? You hear about girls growing up with plastic surgeons as parents getting crazy amounts of plastic surgery all the time."

"My parents made it clear that I don't need it. When I start getting wrinkles, my mother is going to have a conniption fit."

"You're mother has had a lot of plastic surgery," Dante remarked.

"Yeah, she has," Jazz said, putting the finishing touches on her extravagant eye makeup, "She can afford it so she does it."

"A plastic surgeon and a lawyer, of course she can afford it," Alex said.

"What did your parents say when you decided to be a musician?" Arpeggio asked, "They’re both part of high paying jobs that require higher education. You didn't go to college."

"I come from a long line of people like that. Everyone in my family is a doctor or surgeon or a lawyer or an ambassador or senator or some other boring profession," Jazz said, closing her makeup bag, "No one found out till our first major tour. My parents were never around so I just didn't tell them until I had to find some excuse for long-term absence. And they didn't know I wasn't going to college because I did apply. They weren't happy that I decided not to accept my admission into Harvard and that I wasn't going to college in general. But they can't do anything about it so they don't fight it."

"You got into Harvard? Like the Ivy League?" Alex asked.

Jazz nodded, "On full scholarship and then some."

"Of course," Lestat said.

The door to the dressing room opened, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. Jazz glanced over her shoulder, eyes widening. She jumped to her feet, facing the man in front of her with a forced smile, the same smile she had on for the entire conversation.

"Robert," Jazz said, a nervous laugh escaping her throat.

"I won't tell your mother," Robert returned.

Jazz let out a breath, "What are you doing here? I thought you went to eat."

"Clarice met some old friends at the restaurant. They invited us over and your mother agreed," Robert said, "I'm sorry. We won't be able to make it to your concert."

He sounded genuinely upset that he wouldn't be able to watch Jazz perform. Jazz didn't doubt that he was. He was the one who tried to get involved in her life.

"It's fine," Jazz said.

"I really am sorry, Jazz. Don't be angry with your mother. She'll make it up to you. We'll probably buy you mass amounts of jewelry while we're here."

"I'm not angry. I understand she wants to see her friends," Jazz insisted, "I'll see you both when I get back."

"I'll be waiting," Robert extended his arms.

Jazz embraced Robert, kissing him on the cheek as she was taught to do. With a final call of "good luck," Robert left the room. Jazz turned to her friends, smug smile on her face.

"Told you so," she stated.