one of them - j.flatters

ii. in between the lines

MAY 2017 - LOS ANGELES
Sixteen year old Eliana had just dropped her suitcases in the hotel room that her mother had rented for this quick trip, both of them already in a car driving towards the Manhattan Beach Studios. Eliana still couldn't wrapped her mind around the fact that Los Angeles would be her new home for the next few years, it all seemed too good to be true. Coming from a small francophone town in Ontario, Los Angeles was the city of dreamers and Eliana was a firm believer in hers, especially now that she had been casted in the newest Avatar movie. Annie, Eliana's mother, had been the one to truly pushed the girl into acting, from a very young age, her daughter showed great interest and promising talent that would led her at the top of the industry, with the right coaching. So when Eliana's mother got the call that her daughter had gotten the role, she didn't hesitate twice to take the rest of the summer off from her job and intensely prepare her daughter to the role of her career, she needed to excel and impressed her co-stars from the first day and today was it. Eliana focused on the view landscaping from the car's window, there was no beach in Moonbeam, at least not ones that looked like these, so warm and exotic. Annie sat at the front of the car, condescendingly commenting under her breath from time to time on the driver's driving.

"Chérie, did you text your father? He wanted to know when we landed, wish you luck and all." Annie said to her daughter, her eyes still very focused on the road as Eliana drifted hers from the window to her cellphone. Just like her mother had instructed her, the girl texted her father, Victor, desperately wishing for him to also be there with her. Eliana's father wasn't a man of many words but he always seemed to know the right ones to comfort his daughter which was the complete opposite of her mother. Maybe it was the teenage hormones talking but every thing her mother did or said was irritating to the girl which only made Eliana feel ungrateful as Annie was the main reason for her dream becoming reality. She had been the one helping her rehearse her lines for the audition, not her father. "We're here!" The woman exclaimed as the car passed through gates and parked near a sand color building. Eliana quickly jumped out of the car, her phone deep in her jeans pocket as she had no desire of missing a single thing of her surroundings. The driver indicated them by which door they had to enter and they were soon joined by another member of the production team.

"Hi, Eliana. Mom. Nice to see you girls again." Margery, the casting director, greeted them with the biggest smile as she excitedly directed both Eliana and Annie toward the room, full of familiar and also unfamiliar faces. "Okay, everybody. We have our Kyalayi here, Eliana and her mother, Annie."

The girl shyly took a step back behind her mother, feeling like a kid all over again when many pairs of eyes shifted their attention to her. She might have been an aspiring actress, but the teenage girl certainly didn't do it for the attention, the warm shy feeling flustering her cheeks a red color. She waved at her new co-workers, recognizing Zoe Saldana who had always been such an inspiration to her growing up, and other cast members from the 2009 movie. James Cameron approached his newest protégé, gently gripping her shoulder and giving it a comforting squeeze, instantly putting the girl at ease, safe.

"Eliana, it is so great to see you. Are you ready to begin this once in a lifetime adventure?" James asked, his tone soft and almost quiet like he didn't want to startle the teenage girl.

"I've been ready my whole life." Annie giggly scoffed to her daughter's dramatic response.

"Poetic, I like it." Cameron retaliated, his head nodding to Eliana's mother, approving of the girl's previous comment. "You can take a seat where your name is and mom can sit on a chair behind you. Sounds good?"

Eliana smiled to the director before joining the other cast members at the tables which were all placed to form a circle in the middle of the room, her mother following close behind. Eliana looked at the girl sitting at her right side, her gaze fully focused on drawing flowers on the labelled piece of paper where her name was written. Trinity, it said. She didn't seemed to be older than eight years old and yet didn't appeared to be intimidated by what was happening in front of her. Eliana wondered if the young child realized how lucky she was.

"Can you do mine after?" Eliana whispered, grabbing the sheet with her name on it and sliding it toward Trinity's space, causing the young girl to look up, a gleaming smile plastered on her face.

"You want flowers, too?" She responded, pushing her own paper away and gently placing Eliana's in front of her, excited by her demand.

"Mhm." Eliana smiled, watching Trinity debate with herself on which colors she would use before the teenage turned her head around to see a tall, brown haired boy sitting at her left. He smiled back at her before quickly returning his attention to their surroundings, both of them too shy to start the conversation as teenage hormones made the girl's stomach twirled in every senses, an exciting feeling overwhelming her heart.

"Good afternoon, everyone." James started, his glasses at the tip of his nose that aged him, every member present locking their eyes on his confident figure. "I would like to thank all of you for taking part of this project. It will be long and maybe hard but most certainly, it will be an amazing experience. Now, let's dive right into Pandora." Turning pages sounds echoed in the room as everyone gestured their body the same way, the scenario in all of their hands. "Scene 1.1. Sam, the floor is yours."

Eliana carefully listened to each part of the script, from the dialogue to the descriptive, and sometimes find herself closing her eyes, imagining herself in Pandora. When her first lines came, her tone was soft and quiet and insecurity could clearly be heard in her voice which caused subtle comments from her mother. Now wasn't the time to crumble, Annie needed her daughter to be strong, to show what she was capable of. Then after a few rounds, Eliana became more confident and comfortable with her new coworkers, her change of tone proving it as they all noticed it. By the end of the second movie's script's table read, the young girl had chugged down all of her water, the itchiness becoming flagrant when she finally calmed down, her head throbbing like it always did when she public spoke and yet, she had never felt better, prouder.

"I can't save my family by running." Sam red the last line of the scenario, causing everyone to clap after it, smiles plastered on the cast's faces, especially the young ones as they all realized that today was the beginning of a long and extraordinary journey.

"Good job, everyone." James exclaimed, standing up from his seat while lifting his glasses on top of his head, the claps slowly fading away to let the man speak. "Let's take a small break and after we'll read the script for the third Avatar." Members of the cast and production all started to get up from their chairs, causing Eliana to follow their motion and turn to her mother, noticing the proud tears filling up Annie's eyes which the woman quickly wiped away. "Jamie, Eliana." James called from his place at the front, catching both of the teenager's attention as he waved for them to join him. When walking towards him, Jamie and Eliana exchanged confused looks with glimpses of worry that were rapidly demystified by James himself. "Since you're both from outside of the United States, I want you to practice your American accent. I'm well aware that it's a director's quirk but this film is all for the details. So the production will hire a linguistic tutor and you both will have to attend five lessons the week before we start training. Are you guys comfortable with the arrangement?"

"Yes, sir." Jamie was quick to answer as Eliana nodded to the man before they both walked back to their seat. "Official presentation: I'm Jamie Flatters but people around here call me Neteyam." Jamie exclaimed, surprising Eliana with his attitude's shift as if he had been hit with a confidence boost and the shy teenager from earlier had disappeared, making the girl to nervously chuckle.

"Eliana Martin or..."

"Kyalayi." Jamie interrupted, finishing the girl's sentence, causing her to grin at the boy and finally noticing the thick British accent in his voice as he pronounced her character's name, it was like music to her ears.

"Exactly."

"Did you met the others?" Jamie asked, looking around the room as his body towered Eliana's. Even if he seemed to be the same age as the girl, she couldn't help but noticed how mature and composed he looked, he fitted right in with the adults.

"I didn't, except for Trinity." Jamie locked his eyes back into the girl's when she answered his question, eager to introduce her to the younger cast as he had a hunch that they would soon be all the best of friends. Family.

"Well, then come on."