Suddenly Starlet

Suddenly Starlet--Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

“Sunshine Barrett,” the lady with the clipboard yelled out loudly across the room. “You’re next.”

Laney watched as a blonde girl calmly stood up and walked briskly over to where the lady had been standing. She paused at the door and smoothed down her hair, which was already lying flat against her back. Then, as if a switch had been turned on in the girl’s body, a huge smile appeared on her face and she walked through the door and into the room where they were holding the auditions.

Fascinated by what she had just seen, Laney let her face relax and then quickly brought her lips into a grin. She tried once more to bring the smile out of nowhere, but gave up before anyone could catch her practicing.

Maybe I won’t have to smile—ever, Laney thought sarcastically and turned to her mom.

“What kind of a name is Sunshine anyway?” Laney asked her in a hushed voice.

A grin spread across her mom’s lips and as she rolled her eyes toward the ceiling.

“It’s the kind of name a mom gives a daughter whose smile shines like the sun,” she whispered back to her just as stealthily.

            “That’s it. I’m officially doomed,” Laney said folding her arms against her chest and leaning back into her chair. “Can we just leave? They haven’t called my name yet, so technically I haven’t wasted anyone’s time.”

            Her mom looked hard at her before brushing some lint off her black skirt.

            “You’re just nervous because this is your first audition,” her mom said reassuringly. “I bet every one of these girls here are just as nervous as you.”

They looked around at the girls who were gathered in the tiny waiting room. Each of them had a script of some sort and were practicing their lines. One girl was reading her lines out loud as she waved her arms around frantically, while another sat in the corner, mouthing the words to an invisible leading man.

Her mom was right, everyone in the room seemed tense. But that didn’t change the fact that most of the girls in the room had at least been on an audition before. All of the audition stuff was still new to Laney and it made her feel years behind the competition.

“Look, Lane,” her mom said, and pushed a strand of hair behind Laney’s ear. “Mr. Hyperman saw a lot of talent in you. It’s about time you saw that talent in yourself, too.”

Too embarrassed to look her mom in the eyes, Laney went back to looking at the script that was in her lap.

“Besides,” her mom added playfully, “If you totally suck, we can always blow off the rest of the day and go to Disneyland.”

“Hey,” Laney replied, acting shocked and socked her mom lightly in the arm.

The door opened just then and the blonde walked back into the waiting room and headed straight for the exit.

“Laney Herman,” the lady with the clipboard said loudly. “You’re next.”

Laney took a deep breath and stood up.

“Get ready to put your mouse ears on,” Laney said to her mom as she brushed off her pants and walked over to the audition room. Turning back before she went inside, she flashed her mom a smile.

“Thanks mom,” she said and disappeared into the room.

* * * * *

Laney noticed the table full of people as soon as she walked into the room. In front of her, one woman and three men sat behind a table, clipboards and pens in hand.

“And what is your name?” the woman asked as soon as the door had closed behind her.

Remembering what the “Dummies” book had said about keeping the casting agents waiting, Laney walked immediately over to the table and handed her headshot and resumé to the woman.

“Hi. I’m Laney Herman. I mean, Laney Anne Herman,” she said as she remembered her “acting name.”

The woman nodded at Laney and placed her headshot on the top of a growing pile on the corner of the table.

“This is Ralph. He’ll be reading the part of Shane,” the woman said, pushing her black rimmed glasses up on her nose. “You can start whenever you’re ready.”

Laney turned to the guy named Ralph and tried to imagine him as a 15-year-old hunk. Which was nearly impossible to do, since Ralph was actually a 40-ish older man who was balding and had what Laney had heard described before as a “lazy eye.”

Laney smiled nervously and reached out to shake his hand.
            “Hi,” she whispered to him and then moved back to her place in front of the group.

Wiping her sweating hands on her jeans one last time, Laney began to search her brain for the first line she’d memorized.

“I told you I was sorry,” Laney said with intensity as she moved toward the balding man. “Why can’t you just get over it?”

“You know I can’t just forget how you treated me, Sharon. You called me a dork. A nerd. A joke,” Mr. Baldy answered her as if he had been repeating the same lines all day. Which Laney figured might very well have been true.

Laney managed not to laugh as she continued to say the corny lines over the next few minutes. She let herself be Sharon until she finally arrived at the end of the script. Going with the emotions her character was obviously feeling, Laney took a chance and threw herself onto the floor and pounded the hard wood with her fist.

“There is no me without you,” Laney said dramatically as she gazed up at Ralph’s bald spot.

Man, I can practically see my reflection in that thing.

After pausing for effect after she had delivered her last line, Laney stood up and brushed the dust off her jeans and smiled at the people in front of her. Proud and surprised at herself for how well she had played Sharon, Laney put her hands in her jeans pockets and waited for someone to speak.

The man sitting on the right side of the woman cleared his throat and made a note on his pad of paper.

“Do it again, but this time, leave the drama at home,” he said without a smile.

Leave the drama at home? What kind of direction is that?

Laney collected her thoughts as she walked back to her place near Ralph. She started her lines over again from the beginning, but this time making an effort to tone it down. When it came time to say her last line, Laney remained standing up.

No longer as confident as she had been the first time she’d finished, Laney remained silent and awaited their comments.

This time, the man only nodded as the woman looked up and gave her a thin smile.

“Thank you and we’ll be in touch if we need you,” the woman said as she began to scribble again on her notepad.

Still trying to get her head around what had just happened, Laney moved back toward the door.

“Um, thank you for your time,” Laney said as she reached for the doorknob.

Glancing back, Laney realized that none of them were listening anymore. Feeling her chest tighten up, she bowed her head and went to meet her mom in the lobby.