How to Land a Movie Star novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Wills

My brother arrived at the gate at seven that night with his right hand wrapped in a dish towel.

The guard called up to the house and said, "There's a kid here who says he's your sister's brother, Mr. Wray."

"That sounds right," Corin said. "Let him in."

I was standing in his kitchen holding a spatula I had not been asked to hold.

I had decided to make dinner because I did not know how to be a guest.

The fridge held eggs, a lemon, bread, and a single sad block of cheese.

Wills came through the front door with his sandy mop in his eyes.

He stopped in the hall.

"Dude," he said. "You're actually tall."

"So I'm told," Corin said.

"I've seen all your movies. I watched the lighthouse one nine times."

"It hasn't come out yet."

"The trailer," Wills said. "Nine times."

I put the spatula down and took his wrist and unwound the dish towel.

His knuckles were split open and purple.

"Wills."

"He deserved it, Hed."

"You could have broken a finger. You'd have lost the semester."

"He called you a thing, Hedy. In front of the whole class."

"I know what he called me, I read the comments."

"Then you know why."

Corin had gone to the freezer and come back with a bag of frozen peas.

He put them in my brother's good hand.

Then he took the bad one, turned it over, and studied the knuckles with a professional frown.

"You hit him with your thumb tucked in," he said.

"Yeah?"

"That's why it's split. You want the first two knuckles, and your wrist straight, and you don't swing from the shoulder."

Keep reading free with an account. Start How to Land a Movie Star from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.