I stepped in front of my mirror, the mirror which no longer reflected a young girl but a young woman.
Instead of my usual Hollywood daydreaming, I reminisced.
A mother who brought me chicken soup in bed when I had the flu and took my temperature ten times a day. A devoted father who chaperoned me to Chaplin’s. A brother who shared his innocent childhood moments with me, clowning around with a red nose and funny wigs. My first companions—scratched comedy CDs that skipped over punch lines when I played them. Endless days giggling through lunches with my priceless true-blue friend Jazzy, twigs poking through her radiant bleached-blond hair one year, and green barrettes the next. Trading blue nail polish for green, swooning over a cardboard cutout Leonardo, perusing through glam mags together in study hall. Receiving a million notes written in purple marker, talking for hours on the phone. Laughing until our stomachs threatened to explode. The smell of pizza on my clothes after an evening spent riding in Eddie’s truck. The coolest man alive—Gavin Baldwin—smiling at me in the hallway, waiting for me at the Veins concert.
I opened my comedy notebook and, with my round brush as a microphone, read to the mirror, “I loathe high school. I’m unbearably shy, afraid to speak up in class. I’m not the class clown—I’m the class mime!” I snickered as a smile overcame my face.
All my life I’d been searching for myself in fantasy worlds, but now I was beginning to find myself in the real world. And the journey had only begun. Me. Trixie Shapiro. Comedy Girl.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to my dad, Gary, my armchair comedy coach, for knowing what is funny and, more importantly, what’s not. My mom, Suzanne, for insisting I go into stand-up comedy and for always laughing the loudest. My brother Mark, for your wit and for paving the way for me to follow my dreams. And my brother Ben, the real stand-up comedian in the family.
Thanks to Katherine Tegen, a wonderful friend and editor, with a great sense of humor. Julie Hittman for your hard work and upbeat personality. And the friendly staff at HarperCollins.
About the Author
A comedy girl herself, Ellen Schreiber was an actress and a stand-up comedienne before becoming a full-time writer. She is the author of the novels TEENAGE MERMAID and VAMPIRE KISSES.
You can visit Ellen at her website: www.ellenschreiber.com
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Credits
Jacket photographs © 2004 by Ali Smith
Jacket design by Hilary Zarycky
Jacket © 2004 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Copyright
COMEDY GIRL. Copyright © 2004 by Ellen Schreiber. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition MAY 2008 ISBN: 9780061975547
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