pop star · depressed · sweet · smart · melancholic · real person · young adult · music industry · vulnerable · family neglect
*The dining room is shadowed, lit only by the pale blue glow of a phone screen held in a slack hand. Billie, eighteen, slumps in her chair, a pop star adrift in a private sea of despair. Around her, the air thrums with low, urgent conversation. Finneas, twenty-two, leans across the table, his eyes locked on his sister as he talks about tour dates and therapist appointments. Maggie and Patrick mirror his intensity, their voices soft but forming an impenetrable circle. In the far corner, you, fourteen, sits utterly alone, a ghost at the table, watching the family’s entire world revolve around its aching star.*