Them & I || Stranger Things Cast

I'm Such an Aspiring YouTuber, Joe

To hell I'm a smol bean.

~Emma Smith~

My mouth was wide open.
Joe laughed from the kitchen, seeing my exasperated expression, "They're bringing me to the con?" I was heaving.

Joe responded with an, "of course" and went back to mixing his hot chocolate. I took deep breaths in and out. This isn't happening.

"But how? Am I their-" I took another deep breath in, "-friend?" I asked Joe.

He laughed loudly, "You're so clueless. Yes, you're in the group. They've all definitely taken a liking to you."

"I practically WORSHIP them, how can they like me?" Joe rolled his eyes. I added, "This is my dream come true, let me have my moment." I got up off the couch and grabbed the brightly colored mug from his hands, taking a sip.

"Hey!" Joe reached over and tried to grab the handle, but I slid away across the hardwood floor on my socks. He raced after me and slipped on my blanket I previously knocked off the chair.

"At least you had a soft landing." I giggled at Joe laying on the floor in the blanket.

All of the sudden he quickly got up and shook me by the shoulders. It looked like a lightbulb had gone off in his brain. "You know what we should do right now? Make a fake audition tape." He suggested.

I snickered, "For what? Stranger Things?"

"You just read my mind."

Joe rushed off to grab a camera and a tripod from my room while I set up a white sheet behind a chair for a simple background. I smoothed it down and positioned the barstool. Joe came back and hastily set up the camera. He mumbled odd sentences under his breath. I caught a few, but they didn't make any sense, "...should have done this earlier..." and, "...the Duffers are going to kill me for not sending it to them last week..."

"Joe are you ok? You seem...rushed." I asked him.

"Yeah, course, let's just get this going." He said.

I sat on the stool before I realized I had no script. I asked Joe, "What am I supposed to say? I don't have any monologue or-" Joe cut me off by throwing a stapled stack of papers at me and gesturing for me to read the lines.

"Ok..." I flipped through the pages, "I'm not memorized at all though, Joe. How can I show any emotion while I'm reading off the script?"

He smiled and gave a thumbs-up, "Just do your best Emms. Can I yell action?"

"Not yet, I need to ask this before you start recording. Exactly how did you get an audition script for this role? I didn't even know that they were adding another character into Stranger Things." I stared straight at Joe.

He fumbled with his fingers and responded, "I just found out too, and I got a script. That's all there is to it. Ready, set-"

"Joe wait!" I interrupted him before he cut me off.

"-ACTION!"

I read the first line and tried my best to show facial expressions while I was reading. I looked up at Joe past the camera and tried to fake tears, "I was beaten by the men, Will. They kicked me and punched me and hurt me." My breath was uneven. I covered my torso from the camera, trying to capture how my character felt insecure in the scene.

Joe read off of his script, "But who Phoebe? Can you name anyone?" He had no emotion in his voice.

"Them." I held a shaky finger to a flower pot offscreen, "The bad men. They hurt me and my momma."

Joe took a shot at character development and showed a friendly tone in his voice, "Those guys over there? They aren't bad men. They are trying to help you get better. We all want you to get better." He paused for a second, "Can you tell us your name?"

I felt a small tear trickle down my cheek and held up my left arm where a tattoo of my number should have been. I wiped my eyes and sniffled.

Joe finished up the page, "I think that's enough for today, Hopper. She looks really bad."

He turned off the recording button and yelled out, "CUT!"

I laughed and dropped my script, "Good thing it was just the page or I would have just let the snot and boogers trickle out of my nose. It's hard to keep those things in there!"

Joe couldn't hold in his laughter, "Now you know what Millie has to do, but it's with fake blood, not boogers."

"You want one?"

"NO!" He grabbed both of my hands so that I couldn't stuff any fingers up my nostrils.

I relaxed my arms and fled from his grasp into the kitchen. I turned around with a Stranger Things cup and popped the question to Joe.
"So what are we going to do with the tape?"

Joe was too busy stuffing the camera into his jacket pocket to notice that I had asked him a question.

"Joe?" "What the hell are you doing boi?"

He looked up, surprised, and quickly thought of an answer.
"I'm cleaning the camera lens."

"To hell you're not."

"You like the word 'hell' don't you?"

I giggled, "Maybe a little."

He came over and picked up his cup of hot chocolate, "Well, what do you want to do with the video?"

I didn't need to think about that one, "I want to start a YouTube channel and post it."

"Seriously? THAT'S what you want to do with it?" He rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I'm such an aspiring YouTuber, Joe. Let me live life to the fullest."

"Such, hon."

I shot back, "You never know, maybe a talent agency could find my video and get me a gig or however that works."

"How do you think this crappy video is going to get any viewers in the first place?" He laughed and I playfully punched him in the arm.

"You're such a smol bean Emma."

"To hell I'm a smol bean."