Chapter Text
“Victor, remember that you’ve got to get on a Zoom meeting with the casting director for Zed and Addison’s movie in about 10 minutes”, Vera messaged me.
“I’m really nervous, Vera. This can only mean good things, right?” I typed back.
“I don’t know. All I can say is that I’m really hoping for the best”. Vera then sent me the link for the Zoom call. It’d been two months since the callbacks. Two. Months. This role meant everything to me. I poured my heart and soul into the auditions, into the callbacks, into everything I did for this role. I didn’t even know the name of the character, that’s how serious this was, and that’s how true I was to the secrecy of everything.
I went to my living room where my computer was sitting. I opened it up, entered my password, and clicked on Google. Looking at the link Vera sent me, I typed it into my computer. The screen of my computer then opened up to Zoom, a waiting room. And so I waited, in the waiting room. And I waited, and I waited, and I waited. I tapped my leg and picked at my nails. As I ran out of nails to pick at, I got up and walked over to my fridge. As I opened it up, I got a big whiff of something rotten.
“Oh God, gotta clean that out later,” I told myself. I reached into the fridge and grabbed a Gatorade. Blue, of course. The gatorade washed down my dry throat and refreshed me as I drank half of it. 10:27, my watch said. Time flies when you’re incredibly stressed over a humongous life choice that you aren’t even in charge of. But, everything would be fine, right? I could get more auditions, get more offers, and land more roles. This isn’t the total end all be all. It was merely a stepping stone, early in my career. Nineteen is young, one role isn’t going to end my ca-. The computer screen changed from the waiting room to a big square video. My face appeared in a smaller square in the corner. In front of me was the casting director, Erica, and Zed Necrodopolis and Addison Wells.
“Oh, um, hello?!” I said as I saw Zed and Addison. “I’m sorry, but I’m really nervous.”
“No it’s fine, we get it,” soothed Addison. “You’re probably just as nervous as we are.”
Zed nodded beside her. “Yeah, one wrong move and this movie blows up in our faces,” he looked at Addison, “speaking of which, we have something to tell you.”
“Oh God, did I get it, did I not? Is that why I’m here? You guys are here to tell me I missed the part, but since it’s coming from you two, it’ll hurt less, because you’re Zeddison.” I rattled off.
“No no, slow down Victor,” Erica said. “Just stop talking and let them speak.”
“Yes, right, sorry.”
“Okay, Victor, we called you here because, yes, we do have news for you and something to tell you,” Addison glanced towards Zed.
“You got the part!” Zed and Addison said in unison.
I blinked twice. I smiled. Then, I jumped up off my couch and screamed in excitement. “Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Thank you!” I heard the three of them laughing through my computer, but I didn’t care. I felt like I was on cloud nine. All I wanted to do was dance and scream and sing, but then I remembered I was still on a Zoom meeting. I quickly sat back down.
“Sorry, I just really wanted this role, I’m sure you hear this all the time, but I’m such a big fan of your work, so again, thank you so much for this opportunity and thank you for taking a chance on me.”
“We’re so glad you’re happy, Victor. And, this is no ‘chance’. We saw something in you that we didn’t see in anyone else. So yes, you’re our Rowan Kent,” said Zed. “We would like you to be available tomorrow for our final round of auditions: chemistry reads. We’ll need you back at where callbacks were, and you’d need to be there at about one in the afternoon. Could you do that?”
“Yes, I’ll be there, don’t worry,” I promised. “Thank you again for choosing me, I swear, I’ll work my hardest and I won’t let you down.”
“We trust you won’t,” assured Addison. “And I’m sure you know this, but you can’t really tell anyone that you’ve booked this, okay? You could tell your family, manager… and that’s really it. We’ll see you tomorrow, Victor!”
“Bye!” I logged out of the Zoom meeting and sat in silence for a while.
“Wow, I did it! I got the role of a lifetime,” I thought to myself. “Now, I just have to perform like my life depends on it.” I drank the rest of my Gatorade and threw the bottle away. Still reeling from the excitement, I went outside and walked to my car. Going for drives always calmed me down. I entered the car and connected my phone to the CarPlay. I opened the phone and called Vera. I figured that she deserved to know that I got the role first, I mean, she was the one that even told me about the role in the first place. I pulled onto the road as the phone rang. Eventually, at a stoplight, Vera answered.
“Hello, Victor?”
“Hello, Vera!” I exclaimed.
“Well, don’t you sound happy. I assume you have news for me.”
“Yeah… I got the part!!” I yelled inside my car.
“Really?! Congrats Victor! I’m so happy for you, really. I think that this’ll be great for you. You deserve this role. I mean, I know you worked as hard as you could to get the role.”
“Thank you, Vera. Really, you’ve been one of the few people who has believed in me for more than like, five years. You’re the one that told me about this role, I can’t thank you enough.”
“No, Victor. You need to take more pride and accountability in yourself,” insisted Vera. “You did this yourself; you spent time auditioning, you are the one with the acting skills. I think that you need to give yourself more credit for all the things that you achieve by yourself.”
I turned the corner, driving along the coast. The beach was filled with people playing beach volleyball, sun tanning, or swimming in the ocean. This was the only other thing that gave me as much joy or relief that acting brought me. Driving slowly by myself in the city I love. Vera’s words rung something deep inside me. Words that I often heard from her or Vargas, but didn’t take to heart. Why is that? Maybe now that I landed this role my ears opened up. Maybe I was finally starting to believe her.
🎥
“That’ll be thirty-seven dollars and sixty-two cents at the first window.”
“Thank you,” I drove forward in the drive-thru line as I pulled out my credit card from my wallet. Pulling up to the window, I gave the worker my credit card. He took one long look at me as he swiped my card
“I’m sorry, but you just look really familiar… are you an actor or singer or something?”
I took a moment to think. It wasn’t like I had anything to hide. “Yeah, you probably know me from ‘An Emptying House’. I played the youngest son.”
He snapped his fingers. “Oh my gosh I totally see it now. My family loves that show, we would watch it every time a new episode came out. My daughters especially loved you on it. Well, you’ve really grown up.”
“Oh, thanks,” I said. “Yeah, puberty does wonders when you’re on a show for longer than like three years.”
“Well, it was nice meeting you, have a nice day!” He handed my card back to me.
“Nice to meet you too, tell your daughters I said hello!” I drove forward to the second window, where the lady was ready with me food. I thanked her, grabbed my food, and called Vargas.
“Hey Victor, what’s up!” Vargas greeted.
“Hey Varg, I was just wondering if you were at home, and if your parents were around.”
“Uh, I’m not home, but I’m sure they are and I could drive over there, why?”
“I have something I want to tell you guys, good news, I promise.”
“What, you finally get a girlfriend?” I could see his smirk appear in my mind.
“Ha ha,” I said, “no, something else, something better. I bought food, granted, it’s fast food, but still food.”
“Well, I’m sure my parents will love a visit from you,” he said. “Yeah, I can make it over there in like five minutes.”
“Perfect, I’ll see you then, Vargas!” I hung up. The Thompsons were more family to me than anyone else on this earth, so they deserved to know I got this role. I was at their house more often than I was with Auntie when I was younger. The Thompsons were my family as far as I was concerned then, and as far as I’m concerned now.
“How do I tell Auntie about the role?”, I thought to myself. Obviously, it’s not like she would be super upset about anything. She never was when I auditioned or landed a role. She was happy, too happy sometimes. I could recall when I first auditioned for ‘An Emptying House’, she would keep me up late in the evenings and into the early morning most days giving me acting techniques, tips, and going over lines. Looking back, I can be grateful for the help she gave me, but I can also understand that I was literally like nine at the time, and at that time I just wanted to go to bed, I didn’t understand why I was up so late.
She wanted the best for herself, which she thought meant having me do the best for the both of us. As an actor, you never want to stop auditioning, to stop getting offers, or to stop falling out of the limelight, it just happens. And it happened to Auntie, something I don’t think she could ever really accept.
I decided on texting her the news after I left Vargas’ house. Why focus on her when I can celebrate with people I actually consider family. I continued to drive to the house, glancing at the food now and then to make sure nothing spilled or fell over. It was nearly one in the afternoon, the sky was clear, not a cloud in sight. Summer in Los Angeles got hot, but I loved it.
“Maybe I could ask Vargas if he wanted to go to the beach after we ate.”
I pulled into the Thompson’s driveway and shut my car off. Grabbing my phone, keys, and the food, I walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. It wasn’t long before I was greeted by Vargas.
“Hey man, come on in, I’m dying to hear the news you have,” he stepped aside to let me in. I took off my shoes and started walking to the dining table. I was stopped by Venus’ voice from the living room.
“Oh no, Victor, please, join us in the living room, we’re watching Survivor, and Vargas, help him with the food.”
“Mom, it’s two bags of food and drinks,” he insisted.
“Yeah well from what I can see there’s two of you and four drinks, that divides up pretty evenly, so help him,” she said.
Vargas chuckled and took one of the bags from me, as well as the drink tray. I gave him a nod and we walked to the living room, where Venus and Morgan were sitting. We placed the food down and Vargas joined them on the couch while I sat in the reclining chair.
“I know, it’s just McDonald’s, but what I want to tell you is important to me, and I figured that bringing food would be nice,” I started, “but if you guys don’t want it it’s fine.”
Venus waved me off. “Please, this is perfect. I didn’t feel like cooking dinner tonight so this fits right into my plans.”
“Honey, dinner is like six hours away,” Morgan countered.
“Like I said, I don’t feel like it,” she repeated. “Let’s eat while Victor tells us his news.”
The bags crumpled and rustled as we pulled out our burgers, chicken sandwiches, and fries. I sipped my Sprite and began.
“So, you already know a little bit, but as a reminder, I’ve been in the audition process for a big movie coming up. Well, this movie is hopefully going to propel my career forward, so I really wanted to land the role. I first auditioned for it about, um, a little over two months ago, I believe. I got a call back after my first audition, and just this morning, I received the news that I got the part!”
“What, that’s amazing Victor!” Venus set her burger down and got up and hugged me. “I’m so proud of you!”
“You really think this’ll bolster your career, Victor?” Morgan asked.
“Yeah, I think it well,” I answered, “it’s being written and directed by none other than Addison Wells and Zed Necrodopolis after all.” I said and shrugged my shoulders as if it were no big deal.
“It’s a Zeddison movie?!” Vargas exclaimed.
“Yeah, it is,” I smiled, “so I have high hopes for it.
“Well Victor, I’m really proud of you, and if you think this is a life changing role, then I know that the product is going to be the same,” Morgan said. “And I know that you’ll put your heart into this role, just like you do with all your roles. You can count on us to be there at the first showing the theatre’s got for us.”
“Thank you, Morgan, that means a lot to me.”
“Who else have you told?” Vargas asked.
“Just you guys and my manager,” I answered. “I was planning on telling Auntie after all of this.”
“I’m sure she’ll be proud, Victor,” said Venus. “And if she isn’t or if she crosses a line, you know that you don’t have to hesitate to call me or Morgan.”
“Yeah, I know, thank you for always…” I racked my brain for the words. “Thank you for always being family.”
That seemed to strike a cord with Venus, as she started tearing up.
“You okay, mom?”
“Yeah, of course,” she said as she started tearing up, “it’s just that this Sprite is so spicy! I mean, what is McDonald’s putting in their Sprites?”
Morgan handed her a couple tissues and she muttered a quiet thanks. “Well, why don’t we eat up this food and you can continue to tell us all that you know about this role.”
We watched Survivor, ate McDonald’s and told stories. I could forget all about the stress of auditioning and waiting to hear back for once, and I could just enjoy what time I had with my family. On the screen, contestants vied for Immunity Idols and plotted one another’s demise. In our conversation, we talked about certain directors that plotted Vargas’ demise whenever he goofed off on set and crazy fan stories that we had.
When it was all said and done, the food thrown away, and Morgan and Venus falling asleep, it was about three in the afternoon, the sun was still high in the sky, shining through the windows. The light fell on them faintly, as if an angel was casting a spell of protection on them. Maybe it was my guarding angel as a thanks for all that they had done for me. I got up and walked to the kitchen, grabbing a glass from the cabinet, I filled it up with water from the fridge and drank it all down in one gulp. I filled it up again and set it on the counter.
“So, you gonna tell your auntie?” Vargas asked from in front of the counter.
“Yeah, I am, but I was first going to ask you if you wanted to go to the beach. Then I would text her that I got the role.”
“Hmm, and she knows you even auditioned for this role, right?”
“I tell her all the roles I audition for, sometimes I just end up telling her when the cast is announced,” I took a sip of my water. “And she’s always happy for me.”
“I just didn’t want you to forget, you know,” Vargas said quietly. “Technically, she’s the only family you have, and if this role is important as you say it is, then I think she should know as soon as possible.”
“I know that!” My voice raised on its own. I took the final sips of water. “Sorry, I know, and I’ll tell her when we leave for the beach, if you want to.”
“I do want to,” Vargas smiled, “when would we leave.”
“Well, I’d have to drive back to my place, get changed, and depending on what we want to do, I’d have to pack some stuff.”
“Okay, so let’s say five,” proposed Vargas. “Do you wanna meet at Enzo’s for ice cream?”
“That’d be great!” I washed the glass out and set it in the dishwasher. “Tell your parents I left, I don’t want to wake them up.”
“Will do, I’ll see you then, Victor.” He walked me to the door. “I truly am happy for you, Victor, I’m sure you’ll do a great job in the movie.”
“Thank you, Vargas,” I dapped him and then exited the front door. I entered my car, buckled up, and began the drive back to my apartment.
🎥
The bell dinged as I entered Enzo’s in my board shorts and t-shirt. Five o’clock on the dot. Vargas was there in line already, a beach towel draped over his back, behind two people.
“So, you got a plan after this?” Vargas asked as I entered in line with him.
“Well, I figured we could play beach volleyball, walk on the beach, take photos, and go for a swim if we really wanted to.”
“Sounds perfect.”
The people in front of us got their ice cream and it was our turn. I looked up at the menu and saw a special that piqued my interest.
“So, what’ll you two have?” The man working behind the counter asked us.
“What exactly is the bloodfruit flavor?”
“It’s like a dark cherry, a little tart, a little sweet.”
I looked at Vargas and shrugged. “I’ll take a small bloodfruit in a waffle cone please.”
“The same for me,” Vargas added.
“Gotcha, that’ll be six dollars.”
Vargas moved to hand the man money but I put out my own hand and stopped him. “Please, it’s my treat, a thank you to you and your family.”
“Victor, you’ve already gotten us McDonald’s. Let me pay, it’s just six dollars.”
“Exactly, it’s just six dollars,” I handed the lady working the register a ten dollar bill.
“Enjoy your ice cream, have a good night,” she said as she handed me my change and the man handed us our ice cream cones.
“Thanks, you too,” I said.
“Have a good night!” Vargas said as we exited the building.
I bit into the ice cream. The flavors were intense, yet exactly how the man described. It was sweet, yet not overwhelming, tart, but not overpowering.
“Dude, how do your teeth not hurt?”
“Huh?” I took another small bite of the ice cream.
“You just bit into the ice cream," he pointed out. “Are your teeth just super, like, insensitive?"
“I guess,” I shrugged, “I’ve always preferred biting my ice cream.”
“Maybe you have fangs for teeth, and they’re like, secretly hidden, and that’s where all your nerves in your teeth are. They’re in your fangs.”
“Aw shut it, I’m no vampire,” I gave him a light shove. “You’ve got melted ice cream running down your cone and fingers.”
“Oh, shit!” He licked the cone and his fingers. “Great, now my hands are gonna be all sticky.”
“How sad,” I teased.
We walked down to the beach as we ate our ice cream and talked. I had previously set up a spot for us, so that we wouldn’t have to do it when we got there. After about a five minute walk, we made it to the beach, the sun already setting slightly. It cast a faint golden and orange glow on the entire beach, like we were all in a giant tanning bed. Kids screamed and splashed in the ocean. Some people were packing up and washing themselves off. Others, like myself and Vargas, were just arriving. I spotted our chairs that I had put up, and motioned for Vargas to follow me. As we hit the warm sand, I could feel it as it got on my flip-flops. There weren't many things that could beat the feeling of walking out to the beach and feeling the overwhelming warmth of the sun and the sand combined. We made it to the chairs and set our towels down onto it.
“So, whaddya want to do first?” I asked.
He looked around a bit, eyes covered by his sunglasses, so I could see reflections on them, and stopped. I turned to see where he was facing, and saw two girls, about our age, one blonde and one with black hair, sitting in their chairs reading.
“Vargas. It’s not even been two minutes,” I scolded, “you seriously can’t be thinking about girls.”
“Oh come on Victor, live a little, we’re young and dumb,” insisted Vargas, “this is how we get girlfriends. By having a cute meeting on the beach.”
“I’m not even gonna say how many things are wrong with what you just said, but I’ll just leave it at this: you need help, you creepy perv.”
“La la la,” he put his hands over his ears, “I can’t hear you!” Vargas began walking to where the girls were sitting, step by step. I stood where I was, just wanting to have a fun evening with my friend. He gave me a big grin, but I shook my head back at him. This was one of those moments where I wanted to look away from the train wreck, yet couldn’t turn away. He made it to them, and I saw them set their books down. I could see Vargas talking with his hands, and then he pointed to me. My jaw went slack. The girls looked at me, the blonde had on sunglasses, and the other had a pair on her head. I gave the trio a small wave, and saw Vargas laugh. The girls got up and started walking over to me, Vargas leading the way.
“What has he gotten us into this time?” I thought.
“So, Victor,” Vargas approached me, the girls right behind him, “you won’t believe this, but this is Olivie and her friend Nova.”
The blonde took off her glasses, ran her hand through her hair, and set them on the top of her head. I would recognize those sapphire blue eyes anywhere. Eyes not like the clear sky earlier today, eyes like the ocean in front of me. Striking, powerful, soft, yet scary.
“Well, isn’t this a nice surprise,” said Nova.
“Yeah, who woulda thought that we’d meet again so soon,” I said.
“Wait, you guys have met before?” Vargas asked.
“Like a couple months ago at an audition,” explained Nova.
“You act? I thought you just sang?” Olivie giggled at Vargas’ shocked face.
“Well, a girl can be multitalented, can’t she?” Nova teased. “But enough about work, I'm here for fun, not work.”
“Vargas was just explaining to us that you two wanted to play volleyball and asked if we wanted to join you, if it’s okay with you, of course,” said Olivie.
“Fine by me,” we began walking to the net and lines, “but how do we wanna divide up the teams?”
“Well, I think it’s alright if we start out boys versus girls, Olivie here has been playing volleyball ever since she was a kid, so you guys don’t need to go easy on us,” Nova laid an arm around her friend's shoulders.”
“Good luck, ladies,” Vargas said picked up the ball.
“We don’t need it, hotshot, but good luck to you two as well,” offered Olivie. Nova and I played rock-paper-scissors to find out who would serve and receive first. I threw out rock at the same time Nova put out scissors. Vargas and I would serve first. He tossed me the ball and I walked behind the line. I got into position, tossed the ball up, and hit it. The volleyball went soaring over the right, right into the middle of the court. I ran into the lines as Olivie received it. Nova set it right to her and Olivie jumped up and hit it. The ball came flying down, but Vargas got to it by diving onto the sand, the ball just barely went up, so I bumped it further up while Vargas got into position. He leapt up and hit it, but Nova got to it. I got ready to receive it, but Olivie did this crazy jump set behind-the-back maneuver right as Nova was already in the air. She hit it and the ball landed right between Vargas and myself.
The girls cheered and clapped their hands together. Vargas and I looked at each other. We knew what was about to happen.
🎥
We didn’t lose that badly. The four of us played to fifteen, and the girls won 15-9. All in all, pretty good considering that midway through we learned that Olivie had not only played since she was four, but she was at her college because she was offered many scholarships to play volleyball there. We eventually swapped teams, Nova and I versus Olivie and Vargas.
“Alright LA, let’s do this.” Nova told me when we paired up.
“‘LA?’” I asked.
“What? Nicknames are fun, and LA is the only place I’ve seen you so, henceforth you’ll be known as LA,” she defended.
“Oh, so you plan on seeing me more often,” I teased.
“Oh shut it,” Nova threw the volleyball straight into my chest, I let out a grunt when it hit me. “We auditioned for the same film, so if we both get those roles, we’ll definitely see more of each other.”
How badly I wanted to tell her that yes, I had gotten the role. But, I’d only seen this girl twice, and I knew I wasn’t allowed to tell a lot of people, so I kept my knowledge to myself and played volleyball. We ended up not getting through the second game because Vargas and Olivie were arguing so much about positions and “the right form” while Nova and I were laughing ourselves into the sand. So, the four of us decided to go for a swim and build a sandcastle. We didn’t have any buckets, so it was a bit hard to mold the sand into an actual castle, or any actual figure. It ended up looking like a dark, wet, sandy blob with two pointy things from the top.
“It looks like a devil,” I said as I turned my head sideways to try to see it from a different angle. “What are the pointy things meant to be?”
“Like the tall castle thingy with the cone lookin’ roof...y’know it,” Vargas explained.
“A turret?” Olivie offered.
“So what’s the circle around it meant to be? Still not helping with the devil stuff, it looks like a place for a sacrifice,” I said.
“It’s supposed to be a moat!” Nova insisted. “Jeez, LA, it’s like you’ve never seen a stereotypical castle before.”
“This is anything but a castle,” I said.
“Yeah, it’s definitely not my best work,” said Vargas. It was getting dark, now that it was well past seven at night.
“Well, we better get going,” Olivie said as we walked back to their chairs, “big day tomorrow, gotta rest up well.”
“Thanks for hanging out with us, we had lots of fun,” Vargas said.
“We did too,” Nova said as she packed up her chair, “I’m sure we’ll see you guys some other time!”
“Yeah, have a good night!” Olivie said.
“Good luck on everything,” I winked at Nova. Hopefully she got the message I was sending.
Vargas and I walked back to our cars, tired from the day, but happy from the new friends.
“Well, this is where we part ways, good night, Victor,” said Vargas as he unlocked his car. “Congrats again on the role.”
“Thanks, Varg. Night!” I got into my car and drove back to my apartment. I thought about my new friends, my new role, and my day tomorrow.
“Oh shoot! I gotta text Auntie that I booked!” I remembered. Not now, not when I was driving, though. Couldn’t take any risks, there was no way I was losing this role because I was texting and driving. I made it all the way back to my apartment and stepped foot into my room before I finally texted Auntie.
“Hey, Auntie! Just wanted to let you know that I landed a big movie role! I really think that this could be life changing!” I sent the text, set my phone down, and let out a sigh of relief. Still feeling sandy from the beach, I got up and turned on the shower. I let the warm water rush over me, like the warmth of a summer day spent making new friends.
🎥
All I heard was the muffle of some random words. The words got louder, my vision got clearer, and I realized it was my alarm. My alarm was currently set to “Darling, I”. by Tyler, the Creator. I shut it off and rubbed my eyes. Despite my groggy state of just waking up, I knew that today was important. Today could change my life. Chemistry reads. I knew going into this movie that it was some type of rom-com, so when Vera suggested me the role, I was a little bit hesitant. But, she assured me, knowing Zeddison, it wouldn’t just be a rom-com. I’d had love interests for previous projects, but it was never the main focus. Now, I would be reading with different girls to literally gauge to see how much we could make it seem like we were actually in love.
I did what I did every morning: shower, hygiene, get dressed, breakfast, brush teeth, and then waste my time until I had to leave for whatever I had to do. By the time I was ready to leave, it was about noon. The building was just around fifteen minutes away, so I had time. I wasn’t given sides or a script to study, so I assumed I’d get them there. Deciding to actually be productive, I got a pen and pencil and turned on my TV to one of my projects where I had a love interest. I decided to choose a Netflix film that came out three years ago. If I noticed anything of note about my acting, I wrote it down. Didn’t look at my scene partner? Wrote it down. Felt like I rushed through a line? I wrote it down. My acting didn’t feel believable to me, even though I remembered filming this exact scene? Onto the notepad it went. It was quite hard to notice a lot of things to nitpick at. A professionally released movie isn’t supposed to have a lot of mistakes, yet all movies do. I looked at my watch and saw that it was 12:35. I turned off the TV, ripped out my notes, shoved them into my pocket, and ran out the door.
The drive was quiet. I had decided to not put on any music, podcast, or whatever. I wanted to be solely with my thoughts, focused on what was ahead. Some might say that I was thinking too much, others not enough. Doesn’t matter to me. I put my heart and soul into whatever challenge or task is put in front of me. Acting, answering questions, or simply baking cookies. I parked at 12:52. I was early, but not too early.
Walking into the building, I saw lots of people already there. Girls and guys my age, kids who couldn’t have been older than fourteen, and they all were chatting. A man in a grey blazer looked at me.
“Victor Hale?” He acknowledged me.
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“Please follow me.” The man in the grey blazer led me into a medium sized room. Zed and Addison were sitting down at a desk, with multiple stacks of paper in front of them. There were no other chairs in this room, except for the ones they were sitting in.
They both stood up when I walked in. “Hello, Victor, we’re so glad you made it today,” Addison greeted me. “Here’s how this is gonna work, we’re gonna give you some lines, no more than three scenes, two pages each. You’ll be reading with girls your age, your love interest, guys your age, your best friend, and some kids around fourteen to sixteen, who’ll be your character's younger self. We won’t be having you do one after another, but you will start us off. Zed and I are going to go out there, you’ll come with us, announce that we’ve begun, then call all the girls who are reading for Sophie Zahn. Since you’re the first person we’ve cast, there’s no need for them to read with anyone else for Rowan Kent. You’ll have a break, you’ll come back in with those reading for younger Rowan Kent, break, and then finally you’ll finish with reading with the guys who are auditioning for Tonio Abel. The readings shouldn’t take longer than two to three minutes each, and the breaks will be five minutes each, that’s when the others will be reading that don’t involve you. That sound good to you?”
It was a lot of information to take in, but I had prepared for this. “I’m ready.”
We all walked out to the hallway, and everyone turned to us. All eyes were pointed to me.
“Thank you all for showing up today, we’re excited to be starting the final part of this audition process. Congratulations on making it this far. Just know that whatever is decided, that does not take away from any of your abilities or talents, alright? Don’t be nervous, really go for it, and uh, break a leg.” Zed announced. Everyone applauded. “Could everyone reading for the adult Sophie Zahn please sit in the chairs closest to the room you’ll be auditioning in, thank you. We’ll need one brave volunteer to go first.”
A brunette girl, in a hoodie and sweatpants, raised her hand. Zed waved her over and we walked into the room. I looked to see how many girls were waiting outside, and I saw about three other girls. Another brunette, and two blondes. I was handed the pages of the script and read through them while Addison explained to us what to do.
“Just read it off to each other, no pressure. Feel free to skip or add anything that you want. We’ll call you in, but once you begin, it’s up to you two.”
“Hi, uh, I’m Angelica Brown,” she held out her hand.
“Victor Hale, good luck,” I offered.
“Alright, three, two, one, and action!” Addison stated.
“Rowan… I can’t believe it’s you. I thought you lived in California still,” Angelica whispered.
“I do, but I’m visiting London for a couple of days. You know how I always wanted to travel the world. After this, I’m off to Scotland,” I said. Something in me didn’t feel right as we continued the scene. Angelica was talented, but she didn’t feel like she understood the character well enough. She hit all the right notes, sad when she needed to be, reminiscent, but it all felt… superficial. We followed the script word for word, nothing changed, nothing added. When we were done, we turned to Addison and Zed. “That was a great job you two, we’ll let you know what we decide.”
“NEXT!” Zed yelled. In came a blonde girl who was just a little taller than me. She pushed up her glasses as she received the script Zed and Addison. We didn’t say anything before we were called in. She stumbled over a couple of words, nothing major, and she didn’t have much eye contact with me. I noticed that she would tilt her head to the left side whenever she faltered or if I ever did. At the end, she thanked Zed and Addison and walked out. The next girl came in, the other blonde.
“Nova Bright?” I asked as my jaw dropped.
“Well, long time no see,” she joked.
“I guess I understand why you’re in Los Angeles now, you’ve made it this far into the casting process.”
“Don’t sound so shocked, LA, I’m not new to the industry,” she said as she was handed the lines and started looking through them. “When you have one of your songs choreographed and remixed on TikTok, well, that just means you’ve got fame rivaling the Beatles’.”
“Wait, it’s not that one song, uh, uh,” I snapped my fingers trying to remember, “Stars Align?”
“Bingo! That’s it,” she said.
“Wait, I love that song,” Addison interjected, “I just never had the chance to listen to the raw, non-remixed version.”
“Really, thank you-.”
“Anyways, three, two, one, action!” Zed interrupted.
“Rowan Kent, what’re you doing all the way here in London?” Nova said, though, in a pretty good American accent.
“S-Sophie!” I said, recovering from hearing her without her normal accent. “Yeah, um, I’m here because I’m traveling through Europe. Y’know, that thing we said we’d always do together.”
“Yeah, that must’ve been, what, like over seven years ago?”
“Eight. We were twelve. I remember it,” I smiled, “we were in my backyard, in the tree we’d always climb up. You were looking at the stars, and said ‘I wonder how far away they are?’ and I joked, ‘I wonder how far away Europe is.’ Then you scolded me for joking about your biggest interest.”
“I remember that tree,” Soph-, Nova, looked up at me. “Is it still up?”
“I don’t know, not long after you moved away, we moved to a different part of California.” As we continued to build off of each other, I felt this tug to her, this sense of familiarity, like I really had known her for years. When we finished reading, we turned to Zed and Addison. They were grinning as they looked at each other and turned back to us.
“That was amazing you two seriously,” Addison said. Nova blushed at the statement.
“Thank you for your time, Nova,” Zed said. “Next!” The final girl came in. When I read with her, I couldn’t focus, my thoughts were still on the previous girl. The tug I felt was gone with this final girl, nothing felt familiar. It all felt weird, unnatural. We finished and I was given my break. I walked into the hallway, Zed with me and was greeted with a familiar face.
“Vargas, what are you doing here?” I was astonished.
“What are you doing here?” He countered. We burst out laughing. “I didn’t know this was the role you got!”
“Yeah, it’s pretty amazing, are you here for a role?”
“Well, duh! I’m auditioning for Tonio Abel.”
“Dude, wouldn’t it be crazy if we got to be best friends in another project!"
“That’d be amazing!”
Zed cleared his throat. “Will all Sophie Zahns please come with me?” All the girls got up and followed him into the room.
Vargas and I continued talking, and I looked over my notes that I had brought a bit. If I could be in this movie with one of my closest friends, that would be amazing! Not only would this boost both of our careers, but we’d be doing it together. Time flew by as we talked about the audition process, “Yeah, I didn’t think I’d make it this far,” the beach day we had, “Dude, you were awful at volleyball,” or life in general. It was nice to know that I didn’t have to perform in front of anybody. I could just be me.
“Alright, now, could we please have all Rowan Kents follow me?” Zed appeared from the room as all the girls exited. I got up, as did three other kids. So, there were three kids who were in contention for young Rowan Kent.
“So, for this, we’re just gonna have you all introduce yourselves to Victor, and then it’s up to you. No script, no sides. You could talk about literally anything. Sports, books, TV, how you got here, etcetera. We’ll need someone to go first while the other two wait outside,” explained Addison.
“I can go first,” a boy with curly brown hair raised his hand, the other two slowly walked out. He stuck his hand out for me to shake, which I shook. “My name’s Benjamin Blanch, I’m sixteen, and everyone just calls me Benji.”
“Nice to meet you Benji,” I replied.
“If there’s something I could ask you, Victor, I would ask how you stay true to yourself and keep your life separate from the fame. I’ve seen nearly every movie or show you’ve been in, and when I see the character, and then I see you doing press, it’s really like you completely separate yourself.”
“Um, yeah, I don’t know how long you’ve been in the business, but it’s difficult to keep your life private, damn near impossible I’d say. But, I know that I am very true to myself, so if there is a question I don’t want to answer, or if I feel like someone crossed a boundary, I let them know. There’s no shame in saying no. Of course, you could always just skirt around the question, but I just tackle it head on, so they know what I’m comfortable with. In this industry, you never know when someone is being fake to you, or when they’re being genuine. My personal life is personal for a reason, and I’m pretty good at spotting when someone just wants to be around me for my fame. But, you know, you’re young, so you’ll have time to learn on your own, but if you ever need guidance, don’t be afraid to ask.”
Benji asked more questions, and we continued to talk. Most were about life as an actor, but we also joked around. He was a fan of football; I was a fan of basketball. He really enjoyed singing, I was not good at it one bit. “Well, that’s all I had to ask,” he said. When it was all said and done, I felt a genuine connection and care for him, maybe it was because I saw a bit of my younger self in him.
The next guy came in, Evan Daley, fifteen. He was shy, quiet, yet attentive. I felt as if when we talked, he had so much more he wanted to say, but he didn’t. Finally, fourteen year old Brady Daniels came in. He was loud, hyper, and eager. Sometimes it was overbearing, sometimes I felt like I wanted to join in and be as excited and hype as he was. When I finished talking with him, Zed told me to stay here.
“Would everyone reading for Tonio Abel please come in,” Zed called out. In came Vargas, and one other kid.
“I don’t want Vargas to get this role just because he’s my best friend, I want him to earn it. Show me you want this, Vargas.” I thought to myself when they entered.
“So, you’re each going to tell Victor a story that reveals something about yourself. Don’t say what it is, just say it. It can be funny, sad, uplifting, anything in between. Would one of you like to volunteer?” Addison said.
“I’ll go,” the boy who wasn’t Vargas said. He told a story about how when he was young, he came home from school to find his mother crying on the couch. He didn’t understand why or what was happening, but he instantly went over and hugged her, telling her everything was okay. As a young child, he missed lots of things. One being the bruise that was on her arms, trying to be hidden by her sleeves. He would later learn that his father physically abused her, and that she just couldn’t take it anymore, and was ready to end it all. Yet, when he hugged her, she decided then and there to live. Not for her, not for her abusive husband, but for her son, who was her light.
We were all teary eyed by the end of it. “That was beautiful, thank you for sharing. Vargas, whenever you’re ready,” Addison said.
Vargas told a story of how when he was a young child, he didn’t understand love. So, whenever his parents were affectionate, he did what all kids did, he looked away. They never stopped being affectionate, never stopped loving. He told us so many funny memories he had of them trying their hardest to embarrass him with their over-the-top affection. How there was never a dull moment with them around, they were the life of a party. As he got older, he understood what love was, and what love looked like. He had the greatest example of love right in front of him, yet he never noticed. With that, he vowed to show that type of love to whoever he would end up dating, marrying, and having kids with. Sometimes, he forgets that, and he just starts trying to date any random girl, yet he knows that if he ever had any questions, he could go straight to his source of love, his parents. By the end of his story, I felt warm, happy, and I’m sure everyone else did as well.
Zed and Addion led us out into the hallway, where everyone else was waiting. “Thank you all for coming, I’m sure you know that this is a pretty big movie, and as such, casting is a very big decision. You all did wonderfully, we will be sure to let you know what we decide as soon as possible. Again, thank you all for spending important time with us, but for now, you’re free to go,” declared Addison.
As I was walking out to my car, Vargas came bounding up to me. “Hey, Victor, how d’ya think I did?”
“Honestly, Vargas, that was probably one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen you do, acting or otherwise.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. Everything felt so genuine and real, and like you were speaking from a place that I’d never seen before.”
“Thanks, Victor, that means a lot. And I did. That was the first time I ever revealed to anyone what love meant to me.”
“Well, I think you have a good shot of being cast, really,” I said as I opened my car door, “break a leg, Varg.” I got in and waved goodbye to him. All I needed to do now was wait.
🎥
I couldn’t bear waiting. It had been over twenty-four hours. I knew that these decisions usually took weeks, or even months, but I couldn’t wait any longer. My emails were constantly refreshing, as I hoped to get any sort of notice. The funny thing was, I was already cast, I didn’t need to worry, yet I did. I wanted to know who I was starring with, who I would be working with for the next stage of my life. I had even cleaned out the expired and rotten food in my fridge. The TV was turned on to some random family sitcom, about three different types of families. Suddenly, I felt my phone buzz.
Hello, everyone. We would like to announce that we have our final cast for Across Space and Time, our next movie. This was the fastest a casting process has ever been for us. Seriously, everyone blew us away, and we knew instantly who the characters were. For all those cast, we start filming in ten days, the 18th of June. Final filming dates are TBD. For now, please keep all options and dates open until mid-November. Without further ado, here is your cast:
Main:
Rowan Kent: Victor Hale
Young Rowan Kent: Benjamin Blanch
Sophie Zahn: Nova Bright
Young Sophie Zahn: Petra Thatcher
Supporting:
Tonio Abel: Vargas Thompson
Mira Kent: Lorelei Quincy
David Kent: Luke Lawson
Joshua Zahn: Jim Stacy
Margaret Zahn: Pam O’Connor
Courtney Zahn: Ariel Summers