CHAPTER 3

Jayden Jason

Jayden was excited about being famous. He didn’t know what he’d be famous for, but he figured Lucy would know. And she did.

“You must be Jayden Jason James, aka Triple J,” Lucy said with a sly smile. “I hear you’re the most popular kid in school and have a huge following online. I see you also have an undeniable star quality about you. Let’s do lunch.”

“Doing lunch” in Hollywood means making deals at a fancy outdoor café with caviar and paparazzi. Here in school, it means making deals at the cafeteria with day-old fish sticks and that one weird kid from Classroom 10 watching them eat.

“Now, I want the Triple in Triple J to mean something. Do you know what a ‘triple threat’ is?” Lucy asked. Jayden shook his head and ate a fish stick.

“It means you’re famous for three things instead of one. You can sing and act and model. Maybe you could act in a movie about a model who sings! Maybe you could even write the movie, do the soundtrack, and design the clothes. What do you think about fragrance? If you can do seven things, you could be a septuple threat!”

“Sure, I can do whatever,” Jayden said.

Dollar signs lit up in Lucy’s eyes.

And somehow Jayden did do it all—and he made it look easy.

Triple J wrote his first screenplay that night. The next morning, he filmed all his movie scenes. That afternoon, he recorded his first album, then began to design clothes for his new fashion label. After that, he took a private jet to Italy to model in his first fashion show the next morning. He was a natural.

Within a week, he was bigger than a star—he was a global phenomenon.

His brand name—Triple J—was in magazines, in TV commercials, on the Internet, in movies, everywhere. In almost no time at all, he became a tredecuple threat. Meaning, he had thirteen different talents. It’s almost as if he had clones helping him out.

If you’ve ever seen his movie, the credits say:

A TRIPLE J PRODUCTION STARRING TRIPLE J

IN A FILM BY TRIPLE J

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK BY TRIPLE J

AND ORIGINAL DANCE CHOREOGRAPHY BY TRIPLE J

EDITED BY SOME WEIRDO

PRODUCED, DIRECTED, AND CATERED BY TRIPLE J

Yes, Triple J could do anything. He’d even gone into the catering business. In between filming scenes, he grilled omelets for the local homeless shelter. “Triple cheese omelets coming right up!” he’d say.

He quickly became Lucy’s biggest moneymaker. The new deals were pouring in and were going to make Jayden Lucy rich! All Triple J had to do was sign a new contract.

“No thanks,” Triple J said.

Lucy nearly choked on her triple grilled cheese. “What?!”

“I’m tired of the biz. Feeding the homeless has shown me there are more important things in life than starring in movies and recording hit records and sleeping on big piles of money. Giving is truly better than getting.”

Lucy was furious. “You have lost it! You can’t just leave! You can’t quit! I have you under contract!”

“So sue me.” He laughed. Lucy tried, but Triple J had given all his money to charity, hopped on a plane to Tibet, and become a monk.

There, he learned to meditate. But after a few weeks of absolute quiet, he became absolutely bored. So he came home.