Penelope Rose:
Is it too early to say how much I loathe bees?
Mood = Hateful 😠
Penelope got some sushi from the Grub Truck and Festus yelled her order to himself.
She texted Beck before Festus handed Penelope her eight California rolls and headed to the table that Jade and Beck were occupying.
She opened her container and Jade exclaimed, "Ouch!"
Penelope was alarmed, "What happened?"
"Are you okay?" asked Beck.
"I just got stung by a bee and couldn't be happier," Jade replied sarcastically.
"At least that bee is dead now so you don't have to kill it," Penelope replied, flicking the dead bee off the table.
"Hey, sit," Beck called over.
Penelope almost groaned because of course it was Tori that he called over.
"Thanks," Tori said.
"Cool," André added.
"Penny and I don't want them sitting here," Jade said.
"André's cool, Tori's not," Penelope told Jade.
"You know it's great that you and Penelope are so open with your bitterness," Tori told them.
"Good," Penelope said. "It repels the people that I hate."
"Jade's just grouchy 'cause she just got stung by a bee," Beck explained.
"See that?" complained André, "Everybody but me. Come on, bees. What's a guy gotta do to get stung?"
"Go piss off the hive, then you'll get stung," Penelope told him.
"Ooh, script pages?" said Tori, reaching over and taking the script pages.
Penelope snatched it from her and handed it to Beck, "It's not for you."
Tori asked, "You're auditioning for a play?"
"Sort of," replied Beck. "It's a movie."
"That's go great." Tori asked, "What movie?"
"I'm taking your pickle," Jade said, taking the pickle and biting it. She gave Tori a smug smile.
André asked, "What movie?"
"A movie called Miss Fire," Beck explained. "It's about this woman cop who gets fired and then goes on this crazy rampage."
"That's so cool," Tori asked. "Who plays the woman cop?"
"Melinda Murray," Beck answered.
"Shut up!" said André.
"You're gonna star with Melinda Murray in a movie," said Tori, sounding impressed.
Penelope and Isadora had grown up hearing stories about their dad, Daniel's, acting gigs. He had starred in a movie with Melinda Murray when he was around eighteen or nineteen. The stories that he told them were not very pleasant because he described working with Melinda Murray as a 'living hell'.
Melinda had 'corrected' Daniel's lines during shoots so they either sounded better or awful. She made them retake several scenes. She threatened to fire people because it had to be her way or the highway. Melinda even had Daniel film a drowning scene way too many times so he can get the fatigue just right. Daniel almost quit acting because of her, but he continued anyway. Daniel had joked that working with Melinda had given him some minor PTSD, but just the name 'Melinda Murray' alone made Daniel look like he was having war flashbacks.
Penelope knew that Melinda Murray had been divorced, but Penelope liked to think that Melinda's husband was the one who divorced her.
"Well, I'll be playing waiter number one, and I only have two lines," Beck explained. "That's if I get the part."
"You'll get it," Penelope told him.
"So where's the script?" Tori said, "I wanna read it."
"That's not how it works," Penelope told her. "You can't just read the whole script whenever you want."
"You don't get the whole script unless you get the part. They only give you a few pages to audition with," Beck said.
"Or they give you bits and pieces so you're acting in the dark," Penelope told her. "You know, not to spoil the twist ending or to get a genuine reaction."
"Ow!" cried a girl. "I just got stung by a bee." She was looking at her arm.
"Oh! Her? Really?" exclaimed André, standing up.
Why was he so hard up on being stung? Penelope hadn't been stung either. She stepped on a yellow jacket with her barefoot once though.
Beck wasn't in Sikowitz's class because he had to go shoot a scene and he had texted Penelope and Jade that there was a problem with lighting.
However, they were doing how saying dialogue in different ways can evoke different emotions. Sikowitz was using Tori as a demonstration.
"What did you do to my pants?" exclaimed Tori.
"Good," Sikowitz said, "Now terrified."
"What did you do to my pants?" asked Tori in a terrified voice.
"Falling off a cliff," suggested Sikowitz.
"What did you do to my pants?" asked Tori, dragging out the 'a' in pants.
"Excellent," Sikowitz said. To the class, he explained, "Now, as you can see, the same dialogue can evoke an inifinite number of emotions, depending upon how the actor chooses to play it." He paused and pointed at Tori, "Like a robot."
In a robotic voice, Tori asked, "What did you do to my pants?"
"Wrong," exclaimed Sikowitz. "Robots don't wear pants. It a trick." He did a little dance. He got on the stage, "Tori, you may sit. I suggest using a chair."
"I'll give it a shot," Tori replied sarcastically. She went to sit down and Beck entered the class.
"Sorry guys," Beck said.
Cat asked, "How was working on the movie?"
"You know," Beck replied with a shrug.
"Beck, you're late," Sikowitz told him.
Beck got on the stage as he spoke, "I'm sorry. We're doing this scene and there was a problem with the lighting."
"Say it like a robot," Sikowitz ordered.
"There was a problem with the lighting. I'm very sorry," Beck said in a robotic voice.
Sikowitz made a buzzer sound and said, "Wrong."
Confused, Beck asked, "Wrong?"
"You said you were sorry and everybody knows robots don't have emotion and, therefore, cannot feel regret," explained Sikowitz. "You kids have got to do your robot research!" He stomped his foot a few times for emphasis. "Beck, sit."
Beck took his seat and Penelope noticed how everyone leaned towards Beck, having their eyes on him, probably because they wanted to know more about Miss Fire. Even Jade leaned forward to look at Beck.
Penelope didn't get the interest. When she and Isadora were young kids, their mom had used them for a few music videos.
Penelope remembered one music video that had female pirates, and her and Isadora playing with pirate ships and dolls in a kiddie pool, like the 'live action' stuff was just their imagination while they threw the dolls into the pool signaling the band members 'dying'. Then their mom, revealing herself to be the lead singer, would poke her head out of the back door of a house and called the two girls in for lunch.
Then again, that was different from a movie. So Penelope leaned forward slightly, curious about the movie making progress Beck was having.
"Now, as we've clearly demonstrated, dialogue can impact a scene in many different ways, depending upon – Dear Gandhi, I'm boring myself. Beck, tell us all about the movie," Sikowitz said. He squatted on the stage.
"Okay," Beck said. "Well, my call time was—"
Sikowitz got up, jumped over to Beck's seat and led him to the stage to talk about his part in the movie.
"My call time was this morning at five a.m," Beck started.
"Oh, that's early," Cat said, giggling.
"The only people I know that get up that early are roosters, serial killers, and my sister," Penelope said. "And I know Isa isn't part-rooster." Maybe she shouldn't talk about her sister's 'hypothetical' crimes.
"Yeah," Beck replied. "Well, they did my hair and makeup and then the costume designer came to my dressing room and—"
"Wait," Jade cut in. "The costume designer was in your dressing room?"
"Uh-huh," Beck answered.
Jade asked, "Was she cute?"
"He was adorable," Beck replied with a smile, knowing that he had made Jade jealous.
André asked, "Did you meet Melinda Murray?"
Penelope almost rolled her eyes at the mention of the woman.
"No, not yet," Beck replied.
"I bet she's been stung by a bee," André replied because apparently he was still obsessed with getting stung.
"I wouldn't know," Beck replied. "You can ask her yourself."
Everyone seemed confused.
Penelope asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Yeah, what do you mean by that?" asked Tori.
Penelope glared at Tori, because she didn't need an echo.
"The assistant director told me they needed extras for a couple of scenes," Beck said. "So, if any of you guys wanna do it—"
Everyone rushed and started shouting, but luckily the bell rang.
"All right, everybody read chapter seven for tomorrow and study robots. Good Gandhi, I left my harmonica in the men's room," Sikowitz said, rushing out of the room.
They picked André , Tori, Jade, Penelope, Isadora, and Cat as extras.
Isadora wore a regular skirt and white top with thigh-high socks. Penelope wore her nicest outfit with skull leggings and her owl pocket watch necklace.
"Hey," Tori greeted. "We saw you working that hot girl over there."
"Yeah, I think she's into me," André replied.
Penelope questioned Tori's taste in women, because that woman wasn't really all that hot, no offense to the woman. She was pretty, but not hot.
"Right," Jade replied. "We could tell by the way she ran screaming from you."
Penelope laughed.
"Okay, people, people listen up!" called the director. "Melinda's on her way to set. First positions, please."
To the extras, Cat excitedly exclaimed, "First positions!"
She got strange looks from them and they went to their 'positions.'
Isadora, André, and Tori had a table to themselves, while Penelope and Jade had a booth to themselves because the director liked the idea of there being 'goth girlfriends' and wanted it to look like they were on a date. Cat went to the bar to pretend to talk to a man and a woman.
Melinda walked on scene with a few stagehands to prep her.
"All right," the director said, "Now action. Melinda and Jeff will start their dialogue, and then our waiter, uh—" He pointed at Beck.
"Beck," he said.
"Beck," the director repeated.
"Our boyfriend," Jade said, motioning to her and Penelope.
"Their boyfriend," the director repeated. He gave them a look in disbelief, because these two were sharing a guy? "Their boyfriend will come in, do his line then move off to the left. Who's not ready?"
Nobody said anything. Jade and Penelope reached across the table and took each other's hands, as was instructed by the director.
"Good. Roll," the director instructed. He left the set and sat in his chair. He said, "Rolling. Speed."
The Second Assistant Cameraman got onset with the clapboard and said, "Seventy-four apple, take one." He clapped it and went off set.
"And action," the director called.
"Why the disgusted look on your face?" asked Jeff.
"I'm having dinner with you," Melinda replied.
"See, that's the kind of attitude that you got you fire," Jeff responded.
"I got fired because I was set up," Melinda argued.
"Good luck proving that," Jeff argued back.
Melinda started, "I don't have to prove anything all I needed was—"
"I'm sorry, the chicken breast isn't available today," Beck interrupted.
"Wait," called Melinda. "What did you just say? Cut. Can we cut so this guy can learn his line?"
So the stories Dad told me were true, Penelope thought.
"Hold!" a guy called.
"Melinda, please, only the director yells cut," the director pleaded.
"He said his line wrong." Melinda complained, "He's supposed to say 'we're out of the chicken breast,' not 'the chicken breast isn't available today.'" She used a fake voice to mock Beck.
Penelope had read the script and if she recalled correctly, Beck had said his line correctly.
"So let the script supervisor tell him that," the director stated.
"You know what? She's right," Beck said. "It's totally my fault. I'll get it right this time."
"Hope so," Melinda spat.
"Great, all right," the director said. "Uh, let's do this again. Roll."
"Wait, excuse me," Tori said, holding up her hand. She got up, holding a script, "Um, actually, Beck got his line right."
"What?" the director asked confused.
"No, no," Penelope jumped in quickly. "He messed up his line. Melinda is right, so sit down and shut up."
"Yeah, Penny's right," Beck said, nervously. "I got it wrong."
"See? Waiter Number One's line is, 'I'm sorry, the chicken breast isn't available today," Tori explained, ignoring both of them.
"Be quiet," Isadora growled at Tori. "You're going to screw up everything for him."
"Oh, yeah," the director said. "Kid, you got it right." He handed the script to Tori.
"Whoa, whoa," Melinda said rudely. "What are you?"
"Tori Vega," she replied. "Background player, big fan. Hi, Melinda Murray."
"Okay, an extra is correcting me on set?" asked Melinda.
Tori started explaining, "I'm sorry, but you yelled at my friend and he was totally right—"
"She's your friend?" Melinda asked Beck, interrupting Tori.
Beck started, "Yeah, she's—"
"Go!" commanded Melinda.
"Go?" asked Beck.
"I want you off this movie," Melinda explained.
The director started, "Melinda—"
"You want him here or me?" asked Melinda.
Nobody came to Beck's defense.
The director looked apologetically at Beck, "Kid, I'm sorry."
Penelope got up and followed after Beck, because her dad was right – Melinda Murray was a she-beast.
She caught up to Beck, who looked surprised to see her.
Beck asked, "Don't you want to be a part of the movie?"
"No, because she fired you," Penelope told him. "She had no right to do that because Tori couldn't—"
Beck cupped her face and kissed her. He pulled away to say, "You have no idea how much seeing you in that short skirt drives me crazy."
Penelope kissed him again tempted to find out.
"Um, guys, I'm right here," Tori stated.
Penelope and Beck gladly ignored her in favor of kissing each other.
Penelope Rose
M.M. unfairly fired my boyfriend because
SOMEONE couldn't keep their mouth shut.
Mood = Enraged 🤬
"Oh, great, here comes Jade and Penelope," Tori muttered as the duo and Beck came to their table.
André played some song on his keyboard while the triad stood there. Jade seemed amused at first.
Penelope asked, "Do we really have to sit here?"
Beck proceeded to pretend to think about it before saying, "Yeah." He sat down.
Jade huffed and said, "Fine. We'll sit with the girl who can't keep her mouth shut and got you fired."
André played on his keyboard.
"Beck, I-I swear if there was anything I can do to make it up to you, I would," Tori said.
"I bet you would," Jade replied sarcastically.
André started playing his keyboard again for background music, Penelope guessed.
"You know, if you really wanted to help, you wouldn't just sit there like a bag of doorknobs," Jade snarled. "You'd do something." She grabbed her lunch and took off. Penelope followed after.
"Where are you two goin'?" Beck asked.
"Anywhere but there," Penelope said.
André started playing the keyboard again. Jade handed Penelope her food and went to the table, "Okay, I'll open this..." She flipped the keyboard, removed the back, and tilted the keyboard to dump out the batteries, "And that's for you."
Penelope headed for Isadora's table where she was sitting her male guy friends/band mates. She shoved a guy, she was sure he was the drummer named Derek, out of her way so she can sit next to Derek, "Move." She sat down.
"Ooh, the twin's pissed," the bassist, Penelope was sure his name was Brady, said to Isadora.
"Blame Tori for getting Beck fired," Isadora replied.
"Thanks for pissing Penelope off, Tori," the drummer said to Tori.
Tori replied with, "What'd I do?"
"Ow! Goddamn it!" Isadora exclaimed.
Penelope looked at her, "What?"
"I just got stung by a stupid bee," Isadora stated, looking at her arm where a red mark was forming.
"Aw, come on," André exclaimed. "Sinjin killed a bee before it could sting me and she's lucky enough to have a bee sting her."
Derek was confused, "Why does he—?"
"Don't ask," Penelope told him.
Penelope rolled her eyes when she spotted Beck and Tori hugging.
"One, two..." Jade counted.
The two broke the hug, but still held onto each other.
"I wouldn't let her get to three," Penelope warned.
They finally separated.
"Better," Jade stated, going to Beck.
Penelope asked, "What was the hug all about anyway?"
"Tori got me my part back because an arrow went through Melinda Murray's hand," Beck explained.
Yeah, Penelope saw a picture on the internet from that. Her dad had laughed and cheered over the she-beast taking an arrow to the hand.