CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
searching, pt. 2
the next person in was tasha. she cautiously stepped inside right after harley and her friends skedaddled. "i'm auditioning for emily," she said, apparently needing no introduction. i expected nothing less from her. at least she wasn't trying out to be an extra. she must have had enough of blending in with the people around her.
tasha read through the excerpt that was given to her by maeve, who was now a piece of wall adornment. we all sat back and waited for her to start. she would be reading the opening scene, the one that we didn't get to read at jordyn's house. it took place at "ext. school entrance - day" where the two are the only ones there after hours.
she gave walker a cue to start the dialogue. "hey, emily!" said caleb. walker managed to get the full two words out this time! i half expected maeve's phone to go off again and interrupt, but that wouldn't make sense anyway. it wasn't like jordyn could call her at any time.
caleb had the confidence of a mouse trying to sneak past a sleeping cat. "what are you doing here at almost four?"
"oh, just waiting for the besties. what about you, boo?" said tasha. emily certainly didn't say that. i glanced at the excerpt, questioning if maeve was messing with me. but she wasn't. emily's first line clearly read, "oh, nothing much. just waiting for my friends. what about you?"
"that's not the right line," jordyn muttered.
"i thought walker said he wanted actors on his level. i'm being adventurous and creative, adding my own twist, if you will." tasha crossed her arms with blatant sass.
walker and i exchanged looks of apprehension. i could tell he had no idea what to say being pulled into tasha's defense. "uhh, i didn't really mean improvising."
"improvising? this is improvement," tasha said. "this script is boring."
shutting her down, maeve snapped, "if you don't like the script, you can leave."
tasha slammed down the paper on the piano in front of me. when she did, i noticed her acrylic nail was breaking. was that why she was in such a bad mood? i couldn't think of another reason why she would be so bitchy.
her hair flipped, creating strong winds as she stormed out of the room. for a few moments, there was a silence of disbelief, our eyes darting from one person to the next. until there was an abrasive creak that broke the silence.
tasha reentered with a toothy smile. "how was my audition?"
i was so puzzled. "we already told you--"
"the show i just put on was my audition." tasha closed the door once again, waiting for the smiles to slowly spread across our faces. but they never did because we were just so baffled.
"that's not how an audition works," said maeve.
"but i thought you're supposed to show your skills. you know, like a rabbit pulling a magician out of a hat."
"what? isn't it the other way around," said jordyn.
"we're kind of running out of time here," i interjected, "so you can actually audition now or you could keep the line of people moving."
i offended tasha. "you know what? i don't want to work with people who don't appreciate my creativity." she turned to leave, and before she did, "and this isn't my audition."
there was another slam of the door. we waited a few seconds to make sure there wasn't a romeo and juliet type double plot twist before we discussed what had just happened. "i mean, she had me convinced at first," said jordyn.
"sure, yeah. but that was just bizarre," said walker, shaking his head.
"maybe i would consider casting her if hats was a horror film," said maeve.
"i'm not adding her to the notepad though, right?" i asked. my pen was hovering over the paper with uncertainty.
at the same time, everyone yelled, "no!"
"okay! okay! let's call in the next person."
it was either going to be madeline or jamie. both were dreadful options. but luckily, the less dreadful one walked in next. "wish me luck, maddie," said jamie, waving.
"good lu--"
the door was shut and so was jamie's mouth as she looked around at the four of us. she was the one in the trio of clones who looked distinctively frightened earlier, and that hadn't seemed to dissipate at all. "hi. i'm jamie douglas."
"...who are you auditioning for, jamie," i asked.
"jamie-- i mean y/n-- i mean emily."
she tried to laugh off the previous slip up as maeve handed her the excerpt that was slammed onto the piano. she cleared her throat and read aloud, "hey, emily!"
"caleb says that," whispered walker stoically. jamie hit her head with the paper a few times before mouthing an apology. he repeated the line, "hey, emily!"
"nothing. friends, you?"
caleb hadn't even said his second sentence. and that was just... words. the second hand embarrassment was unbearable. i closed my eyes to prevent further disturbance to my mental health, so i didn't get to see my friends' reactions but i would assume they were doing the same. no one said a word.
"uh, sorry," jamie rushed. then she forced out, "oh, nothing much. just waiting for my friends. what about you?"
"no way, i'm also waiting for my friend!"
"oh. that's so cool... i'm gonna go." this was another line that emily never said in any world. jamie backed up as she said that, reaching for the handle. she desperately made her much needed escape from this mutual torture chamber.
"bye, jamie," i considered saying, but i couldn't get the words out of my mouth. it just felt too mean. i now pitied two of the four chemistry clones, was baffled by one, and agitated by the last.
we didn't have any time to debrief the misfortune that went down because madeline snuck past her poor friend as she escaped. as she did so, she said proudly, "i'm madeline grace vaughn and i'll be auditioning for the role of emily!"
i experienced some whiplash from the striking difference between madeline's and jamie's entrance. there was no time to recover. she was radioactive with a toxic ego that i couldn't get close enough to to tell if it was genuine or not. maeve quickly gave her the script, which was a new one since jamie took hers accidentally.
"okay, walker. i'm ready," she enthused.
"hey, emily! what are you doing here at almost four?"
"oh, nothing much. just waiting for my friends. what about you?" that was already better than the last two emily's.
caleb and this third emily were hitting it off worryingly well. they had the perfect amount of awkwardness and chemistry that i was picturing when writing this scene. i read along with them like it was an audiobook, counting down how many lines there were left. i couldn't watch this go down. it was concerning how good madeline could act and i did not want to have her be the best option.
at last, the final line of the excerpt arrived. "you're not gonna regret it," called emily as she was leaving the scene. but as madeline said this, she looked directly at me. it felt personal, like she was telling me i wouldn't regret casting her. yeah, right.
jordyn forgot that we didn't particularly enjoy madeline and cheered for her. "great job!"
she bowed her head gratefully. "thank you, thank you very much." okay elvis.
"the casting will be up monday," said maeve monotonously.
"i look forward to seeing my name on the list!" madeline handed maeve back the script looking satisfied with herself. then she turned to walker. "have a great day."
once she was gone, i aggressively sighed. "that was very... very."
"agreed. she even gave us her middle name," derided walker.
"so what am i writing down," i asked, hunched over the piano.
"that she had a good tone, chemistry with caleb," maeve suggested, counting on her fingers, "oh, and that she was insufferably smug?"
"she was a little obnoxious with the pride aspect," i acknowledged. as i wrote this down, i thought the pen was going to burst and stain the page with ink i was pressing so hard. "walker, did you enjoy working with her?"
he pondered for a while. "well, i'm not sure if i can work with her in more than chemistry class. it takes quite the toll on my ear."
"i thought she was fine, actually quite talented," said jordyn. "but i also don't feel like listening to you complaining about her constantly when filming."
"he's got a point," said maeve.
"no, yeah. she's got the skill for the part," i admitted. "if we find another great emily with less of a, i don't know, madeline attitude though, there might be some competition."
we came to an agreement to settle with that for now and were ready for the next person. as they burst into the room, my eyes lit up. the theater kids had seen the fliers. it was the unnamed boy.
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thank you for reading chapter 24!