Stranger Than Fanfiction(52)

His confession made his friends laugh and feel sad at the same time.

“Solid secret,” Cash said. “Let’s go to Topher next.”

“Oh gosh,” he said. “The night we were all watching the season six finale of Wiz Kids at Joey’s house, I was actually supposed to be watching Billy while my mom was at a Bunco party. I gave him some cold medicine so he would sleep and ran home to check on him every commercial break.”

His friends were flabbergasted—amused, but flabbergasted.

“I remember that!” Mo laughed. “We all thought you had diarrhea and just didn’t want to poop at Joey’s house!”

“Nice one, Topher,” Cash said. “Sam, it’s your turn to spill a secret!”

“I’ve got it,” he said. “This one time, I got so mad at my mom, I threw her pageant tiara out of the window of our apartment. It shattered into eight pieces. Thankfully, I was able to put most of it back together, but a good chunk of it was irreparable. So I replaced it using a wire hanger and Skittles dipped in glitter. To this day, my mom still hasn’t noticed the difference. I almost included it in the portfolio I sent to the Rhode Island School of Design.”

“Sam, you didn’t!” Joey said.

“Girl, that’s hilarious!” Mo said.

“I can’t even imagine what your mom would do if she found out!” Topher said.

The gang burst into laughter as they imagined what Candy Rae Gibson’s face would look like if she learned the truth.

“Mo, think you can top that one?” Cash asked.

“Well, I did go through this trolling phase once,” she confessed. “There’s this girl named WizKidLiz01 who also writes fanfiction. She was getting a lot of attention so I checked out her stuff—more than half of it had been plagiarized from my fanfiction! Needless to say, I was furious. I tried calling her out on it in the comments section, but no one ever acknowledged it—in fact, they only showered WizKidLiz01 with even more praise. I didn’t know how to handle my emotions, so I created a fake user name, HydeBitch666, and spammed her comment section with the foulest things I could find on the Internet. Then one day, as I was posting a GIF of a decapitated giraffe on her profile, I learned WizKidLiz01 was a little girl with Down syndrome.”

Everyone else gasped so deeply they made the fire flicker. They were so appalled it took a few moments before their shock settled into uncomfortable laughter.

“Mo, that’s awful!” Sam said.

“And I thought I was going to hell!” Joey teased.

“I’ve made up for it,” Mo said in her defense. “Every time WizKidLiz01 posts something new I leave her at least ten positive comments from my real account, and I always send her an e-card on her birthday.”

“Okay, I guess it’s my turn next,” Cash said.

“I doubt there’s anything we don’t already know about you,” Topher said. “And nothing that would shock us at this point.”

The actor was up for the challenge. “Let me think of something really good,” he said, and went quiet until he thought of the perfect confession. “I bet none of you knew my real name isn’t Cash Carter.”

“No way!” Joey said.

“You’re joking!” Mo said.

“It’s true,” he said. “After I was cast in Wiz Kids, I had to turn in some paperwork to the Screen Actors Guild to get my SAG card. Well, if your real name is already taken, you have to come up with something else. “Jackson” by Johnny Cash and June Carter happened to be playing in the lobby of the SAG headquarters, so I came up with Cash Carter.”

“That’s insane!” Sam said.

“So what’s your real name?” Topher asked.

“Now, that you’re not going to believe,” Cash said. “It’s Tom Hanks.”

The others laughed harder than they had all night.

“I don’t believe you!” Mo said.

“We’re not falling for that one!” Joey said.

“I’ll prove it,” Cash said, and showed them his driver’s license. “See, my legal name is Thomas Anthony Hanks.”

The Downers Grove quartet were amazed. Three days ago they thought they knew everything there was to know about their favorite actor, but he had more surprises in him than a Game of Thrones episode.

“Why didn’t you go by Anthony?” Sam asked.

“Because that’s my dad’s name,” Cash said. “And he’s not really in my life anymore—neither of my parents are.”

“Where are your parents?” Joey asked.

Cash stared into the fire, deeply hesitant to answer. But since they were sharing such personal stories with him, he wanted to share something personal, too. There was something between him and the teenagers he hadn’t felt with other people in a very long time—trust.

“Last I heard, my mom was still in prison and my dad was just getting out,” he said. “They’re not good people. They used to beat each other up and sometimes I’d get caught in the middle of it. Child Protective Services eventually removed me from their custody and sent me to live with my great-aunt Peggy in Orange County. That’s why I loved this place so much as a kid—it was the only escape I ever got.”