Suddenly Starlet

Suddenly Starlet--Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty Seven

            Laney and her mom had been playing spit for over an hour when a knock came at the trailer door. Ignoring it, Laney slammed down the last few of her cards and lifted her arms up in triumph.

            “Sucka,” Laney yelled out. “I beat you again! How many is that now, Mom? Like twenty to three?”

            Someone pounded on the door again. Mrs. Herman rolled her eyes at her daughter and then called out, “Come in.”

            Laney watched as the perky girl from earlier popped her head in and flashed them both a big smile. She pointed at Laney and winked. “Time to head to the set.”

            “Oh,” she answered, looking around her trailer. She picked up her script, which was practically mangled by now. Rolling it up in her hands, Laney stood up slowly. “Um, okay.”

            Her mom grabbed for her sweater and her purse and looked at Laney. Then, she glanced at the girl in the doorway and said, “Lead the way.”

            A short walk later and they found themselves back on the set of Diane’s bedroom. Only this time, there were more people there than had been the night of the read-through.

            Laney looked around amazed, as she studied the people fluttering around her. She watched as men manned cameras, held long poles with microphones on the end of them and others controlled the light, which was currently shining brightly toward the set.

            Laney saw that Chad, Wes, Breeze and Tanor were already there in the room and were apparently discussing the scene. Chad glanced up and noticed Laney standing in the doorway and motioned for her to join them. Leaving her mom behind, she brusquely walked over to the group.

            “Hey guys,” Laney said, making her voice sound more cheerful than she felt. The fact that she’d been relatively calm over the past hour, didn’t do much for her as she walked under the hot lights.

            “Well, now that we’re all here, why don’t we start blocking the scene out,” Chad said with a smile. Before they could answer, he was already moving into action.

            Laney could tell that Chad had ingested more than his share of coffee that morning. He was moving excitedly around the set, muttering to himself as he went along. Laney leaned over to Wes while the others watched Chad, and whispered, “What’s up with him?”

            “Nervous energy would be my guess,” he whispered back.

            “Okay,” Chad said, finally sitting down on the prop bed. “Everyone off book?”

            They all nodded. Laney discreetly tossed her script offstage after noticing no one else had brought theirs along. She also assumed that “off book” meant they had their lines memorized. Which she did, despite the newfound changes.

            “Good,” he said. “Okay, at the beginning of the scene I want Sharon and Shane sitting on the bed, kind of far away from each other. Diane should be sitting in Justin’s lap over on the bean bag in the corner.”

            Tanor and Breeze made their way over to the bed and sat on opposite ends, facing each other. Wes walked over to the beanbag and fell back into its cushy middle. Scooting his butt from side to side, he seemed to find a spot that was comfortable and settled there, placing his arms behind his head. “This is one comfy beanbag chair,” Wes said jokingly.