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Aronnax stifled a yawn as she slumped over the table, pencil in her fingers. Alexa Magazine had printed out a survey for her to fill out for a little piece they were doing on her.

A survey, of all the inane things in the world. If she'd wanted to answer a bunch of random questions, she'd take a MySpace survey. At least those aren't seen by hundreds around the country.

Aronnax hadn't even wanted to be in this magazine. It was relatively new, and most of the people who worked there seemed so incredibly inexperienced.

Of course, her agent and manager insisted that she do it.

Any publicity is good publicity.

"What?"

Aronnax yawned and looked up at James, her best friend of several years. He was standing there, looking slightly confused, wiping his hands on a dishtowel.

"Nothing," she said.

"What are you doing?"

"A survey for this magazine," she said.

James laughed. "What, like a MySpace survey?"

"Sure. Only on paper this time."

"Fun."

"Not if you're the one doing it."

"Well, it should be done by now. You're been sitting there for, like, twenty minutes."

"What are you, my manager? I'll get it done." Aronnax tossed the pencil down and stretched her arms over her head.

"When does it need to be done?"

She rolled her eyes. "In an hour. Ivy's coming by to pick it up."

"Remind me to be somewhere else when Ivy's here." James rolled his eyes and walked away.

"Hey," she called after him. "You can't avoid her forever. You know she's coming on tour with us!"

James didn't reply. Aronnax slumped forward and picked the pencil back up. He'd been right; it should have been done by now.

And she hadn't even answered the first question.


Name?


What was she supposed to write? Just Aronnax? Her full name? A nickname? Something random like, "Katrina," just for laughs?

She scribbled "Aronnax" in the blank and moved on to the next question. If Ivy had any problems with that, she could fix it herself.

No.

Aronnax paused, rereading her name over and over.

That wouldn't do. She could hear Ivy's voice in her head, polite yet condescending: "God, Ren, give them some of that classic Aronnax charm you're so famous for."

"It's part of my charm," Aronnax murmured, carefully adding more words.


Name?
Aronnax, sometimes Aron or Ren, depending on who you're talking to.


There. She felt the Ivy in her head calm down. Next question.


Is that your real name?


That irritated Aronnax every time she read it. It was like these people had written this survey just for her, since everyone seemed to feel compelled to ask whether Aronnax was her real name or not.

And it was. She'd never been certain why her parents had named her that, but they had, and she'd ultimately decided to stick with it because it was unusual.

Yes, she wrote in the blank. You wish you had my name.

She could hear Ivy saying something about rewording that, but Aronnax didn't care.

A little sarcasm never hurt anyone.


A song that changed your life?
"Jesus of Suburbia" by Green Day.


Actually, she didn't have a life-changing song. "Jesus of Suburbia" just happened to be her favorite song at the moment.


Most embarrassing moment?
Probably any dream in which I'm naked or forget all the words to a song onstage, or a mix of the two.


Aronnax had long ago decided her life was nothing but a string of embarrassing moments, big and small, and she wasn't about to reiterate her life story to this dinky little magazine.


Favorite childhood memory?
Probably making all the home videos of me singing Olsen Twins' songs.


Aronnax paused, wondering what had happened to all of those tapes. She shook her head and moved on.


How do you get inspiration for the songs you write?


Aronnax hated that question.


How do you get inspiration for the songs you write?
I don't know. Random places. I just write what comes to me.


Ivy was going to have a field day with that.


Favorite thing about being on tour?


Aronnax did not like being on tour. Sure, the fans were nice (with the exception of the stalker kind and the ones who were on the verge of bowing down and kissing her feet), but it was so exhausting and draining and almost not worth the trouble.

Not that she had a choice, being that she was her band's lead singer and all.

She was already tired, just thinking about the tour that was coming up soon. The sooner it started, she figured, the sooner it would be over.

And she couldn't wait for it to be over already.


Favorite thing about being on tour?
The energy.


So cliched, she decided, but it was something that Ivy would probably like, even if it was short.


Any plans to start acting?


Aronnax wondered where these people got these questions. Ivy and Eric, her agent, had been trying to push her in that direction, especially recently.

Aronnax had never been interested in acting. She'd modeled for years, and dabbled in music on the side. She wasn't sure she could take any more, no matter how many roles they assured her would make her the hottest young starlet in America.

She figured she was hot enough.


Any plans to start acting?
Acting's cool.


She drew a winking smiley face after that sentence.

Keep them guessing.


Any final thoughts?


Maybe a warning against taking stupid surveys like this. Or something evasive and cliched about being yourself. Or blatant self-promotion.


Any final thoughts?
Hope I see everyone on the Keep Living Tour!

Peace & Love,
Aronnax


Aronnax threw the pencil down and headed for the kitchen. She needed some water.