Starlet

21. Audition

The next day, I go to the theater so happy and excited. I jump up and down. I've got my outfit on under a regular human dress. My boobs are funny. But I'm ok. There are about 40 people here. Most of them wear what they wear normally. Some are in beat up clothes. A lot have their hair like mine, but nobody is going to be using my outfit. I smile and run to my spot.

Leo sits beside me. "Told you, you'd get it."

"I was worried. I thought I forgot to audition myself."

Bayden gets up on the stage. "This is Zeke and Nicole again. We're running the 2nd part of the script lines. Lynn and Andy, you can start us off."

The scene starts with the girl reading on the beach and Zeke sneaking up on her. Then he tries to figure out what she's reading. She hides it. He eventually finds out it's a romance novel. He picks on her, and then they walk around checking traps and talking. Flirting the whole time.

"Why are we doing this scene?"

"He's seeing how well the 2 characters connect. If anyone has chemistry. Some people naturally repel each other."

"They seem to be ok."

"Yea. It's not too bad, but it looks forced at times. Hell you sitting on his lap looked more natural than him tickling her. Neither of them are bad, he's just seeing who should be with who on stage."

"I get it. How do people act that though?"

"They don't. No matter what they try, it will end up looking forced. Not all roles need chemistry with someone else though, so don't worry about that. Or some are so minimal it wouldn't matter anyway."

"Ok."

"LEO AND WHISP. YOU'RE NEXT."

We go up on the stage and I stand behind a curtain and take off the dress. I put the flower in my hair, grab the book, and go out to sit on our make-shift sand chair. We're pretending its sand.

Leo is across the stage behind another curtain. He is staring at me with dark eyes.

I get almost to the chair and hear yelling. Tye and Dipak are on the stage.

Bayden yells, "STOP. COSTUME DEPARTMENT GET UP HERE."

Dipak looks at me. "No. That's not what we meant."

"But the brain said this is what a woman on a deserted island would wear after 4 months."

"Are you serious?"

Bayden finally gets to us. "I want everything about this outfit. This is the outfit she will wear in the final. It's done perfectly."

"Yes I'm serious. I would have to make my own clothes. The old clothes will have worn out. Plus, I'm on a beach, it's not like I need to dress like a... I don't know. This seems good."

I've got about 5 people from the costume department twirling me in circles and making drawings.

Tye rubs his eyes. "Please tell me you're wearing something under it."

"Yea, I got underwear on."

Dipak coughs. "If we come up with a skin-colored 1 piece swimsuit, that might actually be better."

Tye nods. "We can do that. Put her in something the same color as her skin and tight. Then put this over it. Wouldn't be able to tell from out there."

Bayden looks around. "Did you all get it? The skin-colored thing is a good idea too. Less of a chance of an outfit malfunctioning. Especially 1 that small."

Dipak nods. "I guess that would be alright. I'm not a big fan of a child on a stage like this."

"Not to worry. We'll make sure she stays more covered than this." He shoos people down.

"I just put this together last night. I needed something. I didn't think it would be a big deal."

"I have a tank top coming. I do not trust those coconuts. And you do have something on under the skirt, right?"

"Yea I got underwear on."

"Ok. Oh, here it is." Bayden hands me a shirt.

"It's blue."

"Pretend it's skin colored and put it on."

Dipak, Tye, and Andy crack up laughing.

"FINE." I go back to the side and go back further.

I hear Dipak say, "Don't even move from that spot."

The brain helps me get the coconut top off. Then I put the tank top on, and it gets the coconuts back on. Then I go to the stage and grab the book. Everyone is off the stage now.

Leo smiles at me from behind his curtain. His eyes are fine now. I must not be sexy with the blue.

I sit down on the sand chair and pretend to read.

Then he sneaks up behind me and we start the scene. I try to hide the book behind my back, and he wraps his arms around me to get it. He's warm.

I think we do ok though. I don't know if it looked forced or not. But we get the lines and try to flirt and tease each other.

We sit back down afterward. "Your coconuts stabbed me."

I laugh and rub them. "They are pokey. That'll be something else they'll have to fix. Make them not real coconuts or something."

Dipak sits in front of us. "What's wrong?"

"He doesn't like coconuts. They're too rough."

"He doesn't need to touch them."

"We're acting. Look." I point at the stage. 2 other people are on it now. They are absolutely terrible with each other. I tilt my head. The only thing I can think is, how can they be that bad? He tries to get close, and she leans away, then throws the book at him.

Dipak watches and laughs.

I whisper, "Did we do better than them? I know he doesn't like my coconuts, but I don't think he tried to avoid them that much."

Dipak and Leo start laughing.

Leo shakes his head. "I don't even know what to say to that."

Dipak looks at him. "You had better not say anything. And yes you 2 did better than that."

Leo itches his arm. "You're coconuts made me bleed."

I crack up laughing. "I'm so sorry."

"Yea, I can tell. I'm gonna sand those damn things down."

I lose it. I put my head down and cover my mouth, so I don't get yelled at by Bayden.

Dipak is laughing. "Let me see it. We'll show Bayden and the costume people what it did to his arm. They'll have to make adjustments to it."

I turn around. "Ok, untie the back." I untie the back of my neck and Dipak gets the other tie. I sit there in the blue tank top while they roam around talking to people.

I watch the rest of the groups perform, and they do decent. Some better than others.

Then Bayden gets on the stage again. "That's it for today. You'll get another letter tonight if you're called back for tomorrow's audition. You will be running this again with another person or 2 if you are given the letter."

I run all the way home. There's no letter anywhere. So I sit on the porch and wait. It takes a whole hour for the letter to come. I was starting to lose hope.

The next day's rehearsal is amusing. I have to do the part with Andy, Ben, and a man named Tim. Andy tries flirting with me and I get excited and want to play. I jump on his back and he cracks up laughing. Bayden tells us we're coming off like brother and sister, and we should never try flirting again. We both laugh at that.

Ben's a little stand-offish with me. So I pull him in by his belt buckle. He looks at Bayden. "I forgot I like boys for a minute." Everyone cracks up laughing at that.

Then I run it with Tim. We get into it. I think I do the best with him.

I watch Leo run the lines with 3 girls. 1 of them doesn't like being close to him, but I don't think he liked her either. They tolerate each other. They make it work. The next 1 goes good. They don't seem close, but it's natural looking. Then he has Lynn. She over flirts with him so much. She is all over him. She whispers something in his ear when it's over. I see his eyes darken for a second before he fixes them. Interesting.

Then I watch a bunch more people do the part again.

I feel myself getting jarred awake. I open my eyes and look at Leo. I guess I fell over and was sleeping on him. I stretch big.

"Today is over. Bayden is about to make his speech."

I stare blankly into space.

He laughs as Bayden gets on the stage.

"Thank you everyone. This concludes the rehearsals. Parts and understudies will be posted by 8 tonight on the windows out front. The first meeting will be tomorrow. We'll go over all the practice information. If you get a part, tomorrow's meeting is mandatory. It is mandatory for all departments."

I stand up and try to brush the wrinkles out of my dress.

"You worried?"

I shake my head. "I hope for a little part. I hope I did good enough for that."

"You'll get a main part."

"Bayden won't give me a main part. He said I'm to young last time. He wants me to get more experience. The most I could hope for is understudy."

"That's stupid. You're the best actress here."

I shrug my shoulders. "The youngest for sure. You'll get a part though. And you seemed to have at least some chemistry with all of them. Most of it looked pretty natural."

"Well, so did you."

"Bayden told me and Andy to never do that again."

He chuckles. "You 2 have chemistry. It's just not romantic chemistry. You're not going to be playing a couple anytime soon. But you could play friends or family easily."

"I guess that makes sense."

He walks me out. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Hope so. Have a good night."

"You too."