Born to Perform

Chapter 22

After standing about awkwardly for about ten minutes, waiting for someone to get me a script but slowly realising that no one really cares that I’m even here, finally Nathan approaches me and hands me a huge pile of pages. 

“You can fix the pages together if you find a stapler,” he says nonchalantly as I try not to drop the papers and let them fly around the room. “I’ve called your new agent and she’ll come and meet you sometime this week. She’ll organise all your interviews, events, sponsorships and press meetings,” he rattles on. I can hardly keep up. Events? Press meetings? I’m just some small-town nobody. What would the press want to talk to me about? I suddenly realise that Nathan has kept talking while I was thinking so I start nodding and looking like I’ve been listening. 

“And you’ll be sharing a room with Jenna in the hotel next door while we’re filming here,” he concludes, handing me some keys to a room. I try to stop my jaw from dropping to the ground. I didn’t think I’d have to share a room, especially not with one of the most talented actresses and singers of this generation. 

The keys are labelled as number 315 on a shimmering metal plaque - wow, this hotel must be fancy. I look up to see that Nathan is walking away from me. 

“Dinner is at seven and curfew is nine,” he calls over his shoulder before disappearing into the depths of the building. I examine the studio. It’s nearly empty now that today’s work seems to have finished. I walk back out the way I came in and am temporarily blinded by the harsh sunlight that greets me. LA is nothing like Rosedale. 

I wander round to the exit of the studio’s parking lot and see the outline of the city silhouetted by the sunset. This really is the city of dreams, I think to myself as I approach the towering building with ‘Hotel Corazon’ written above the entrance. 

The automatic doors part to let me through and my shoes click on the marble floor as I enter. The hotel lobby is very grand with oak panelling and red velvet everywhere. I am about to approach the woman behind the check-in desk but, seeing the silver keys in my hands, she gestures towards the staircase with a fake smile plastered across her face. I return a slightly more genuine smile and start to make my way up towards my room. The walk to the third floor seems to last forever and my heart drums louder and louder with each step. I wonder where my luggage is, remembering that I left it in Nathan’s car which was nowhere to be seen in the parking lot. I wonder what the room will be like and what it will be like living in LA for the next six months. And I wonder what Jenna will be like - will we get along really well and be best friends or will she be the new Elisha in my life? I hope for the former but, given how bored she looked during my audition, it’s more likely to be the latter. 

When I finally arrive at room 315, I pause and take a deep breath. First impressions are everything, I remind myself, so this is my one chance to make Jenna like me. With that in mind, I turn the key in the lock and let myself in. 

The hotel room is bigger than I imagined, with white walls, lace curtains, a TV, two comfy-looking chairs, loads of floor space and two single beds, upon one of which lies my new roommate. She doesn’t look up as I let myself in, or when I say a quiet ‘Hey’ in greeting. She is sprawled on her stomach reading some fashion magazine and barely seems to have noticed me. I spot my suitcase at the foot of my bed and can only assume that Nathan had it sent over - that was pretty fast. 

I haul my suitcase onto my bed and open it up, comforted by the sight of my familiar clothes. I start unpacking, piling my clothes up on the bed, and nearly jump out of my skin when I hear a voice. 

“Half the wardrobe space is yours,” Jenna says in almost a monotone, not even looking up. I stare at her for a moment, catching my breath after the fright. She just keeps flicking through her magazine.