I woke up at three-fifty and headed out to see Chris holding a megaphone. He smiles at me as I blush. "You really need to learn how to sleep in." He said as I shrugged. I was going to walk by him when he grabbed my wrist twirling me into his chest as my cheeks dusted pink. "Then again, these are one of the few times we get to be alone off camera." He said this with a smile as my blush only got darker. "You're so cute when you look like a tomato." He whispered in my ear as I shudder against him. He chuckles as he kisses my cheek. "Cover your ears." He said as I do so taking a few steps away from him. He blows the horn. "All crew on set! Call time is 4am." He then kisses the megaphone. "I love this thing." He winks at me as everyone tiredly exits there trailers complaining...except for Izzy who prances out of the trailer. I stand by DJ who looks down at my flushed complex with a raised eyebrow. I shake my head as mostly everyone goes and freshens up.
We meet back by the trailers, guys on one side, girls on the other. "You're on a film set now and you're gonna learn that show biz is not all red carpets and pool parties. Today you're gonna get schooled on how tough on-set production life can be." Chris said walking around.
"Whatever, I can deal. I once had a summer job at a petting zoo. It's so adorable, everybody feeding the adorable goats their adorable cabbages, but somebody, i.e. me, had to shovel up the less adorable end of the digestive process." Gwen said. Chris went over to her.
"Well, speaking of number two, it's time to pick your teammates and then try to stick it to the team your boyfriend chooses." We wait as Gwen stands by me and Trent by Lindsay. "Okay, let's get this bloodbath started. You're gonna choose schoolyard style, boy, girl, boy, girl. Ladies first...since we have no ladies here, Gwen." She sighs as I look towards the ground.
"I don't know...Duncan."
"I choose the beautiful Lindsay." I hear her cheer.
"Because I like to keep things cool, I pick Leshawna." I hear Leshawna cheer as the two high five. I keep my eyes glued to the ground.
"I choose Justin."
"Oh, pick all the good-looking contestants. That'll get you far."
"It will in show biz."
"DJ," she said as a felt a pat on my shoulder. I look up to see him smiling at me. I nod as I look over to Kaleidoscope who waves at me. I wave back.
"Beth," Trent said.
"We choose Heather." She was shocked as she went over.
"I choose Owen," he cheers.
"Uh, hello? Don't wicked skills count for anything? I mean, who else here went to film camp, and is fully trained as a junior cinematographer, with a thorough knowledge of lighting filters, film stock-"
"I pick Harold, if for no other reason but to shut him up." Gwen said cutting him off.
"Wise choice," he said walking past her.
"There were no there guys left." I look at her in shock.
/I stare at the camera in silence for a few good minutes and blinking for a good while. "Don't I have the male defining Y chromosome? Don't I have the male reproductive organ? Doesn't that make me a male? Sure I look, sound, and occasionally act, dress, and think like a female, but that does't make me a girl." I say in a whimper. "Right?"\
"Still," Harold said as I shook my head and looked at the ground.
"Um...I guess Izzy is on my team then...Izzy!" She doesn't move as I look up.
"It's Kaleidoscope." I remind him as he sighs.
"Right, E-Scope?" She turns towards him.
"Here," She said with a smile.
"That puts me on your team Gwen." I said softly as I walked by her. I pull out the necklace she gave me and look at it.
"Gwen, I christen your team The Screaming Gaffers." Chris said as I stood by DJ who hugged me and held on to me. "Trent, you're The Killer Grips." He said as both Beth and Heather complained, but I stopped listening as I felt tears fall from my eyes. I hugged DJ tighter as he held me closer to him. "Your challenge for each team-to set up a film set." I looked towards Chris.
"Ha, we'll be scarfing flapjacks by 7." Leshawna said.
"Oh, will you? As location manager, I would like your sets to go...there!" He points to the top of an artificial mountain.
"You just love doing this to us." Gwen said glaring at him.
"Yes, yes, I do." He pulls out a walkie-talkie. "Chef! Clear for traffic up there?" He then pulled out his favorite megaphone as I covered my ears. "Lights...camera...action!" I rush off and push a cart up the paved path, then go back and grab a light taking it up.
Soon we're down to only the trailer left to take up. We see Trent and his team in the lead. "Hey, new best friends! how do you like that? Are you going to cry together? You punk wannabes? Cause your team is going down." We all gasp.
"Uh, not cool...not cool at all." Duncan said as I nodded.
"Oh, don't worry. We are taking Trent, I mean that team down." She smiles towards DJ.
"Oh, no...don't expect me to...what if the trailer rolls back down the hill and possibly hurts someone? What then? I couldn't handle being responsible for that." DJ said as Duncan and Gwen look at each other with a devious look in their eyes. I shudder as Chris walks over. I tune into him speaking and tune out the two trying to convince DJ to pull the trailer.
"Without his belt holding them up, Owen's pant are slowing him down. Looks like The Screaming Gaffers still have a chance. Will DJ step up to the plate and save the day?"
"I said no!" DJ said as I wince a bit.
"Find out after the break to see if DJ rises to the call of duty." DJ then pops in front of the camera.
"I'm not gonna do it." He said.
"DJ, no one will be behind you. I promise." I say trying to convince him. He shook his head. Harold started to cheer for him asking him to do it as he continued to refuse.
The other team makes it to the top. We make our way up as the moving of equipment was only part one of the challenge. "It's time to make a movie." Chris said as we stood, in our teams, in front of two sets. My team complains about not having a trailer as I looked at our set. "You'll be making a feature about a thug who tries to go straight but can't resist the lure of the street."
"Yeah, it's been done." Gwen said bored.
"What about lunch? We have been working for eight hours and you are legally obligated by union rules to give us a meal break." Heather said
"Oh yeah? Who here is in the union?" Chris is the only one who raises their hand. "Yeah, I thought so. Now it's time to choose an actor to preform a scene. Chef give the teams their scenes. He hands us our scene. Gwen opens it.
"Big lucky parmeggiano." Gwen read as I sat nearby.
"A tough guy." The girls all look at Duncan who was carving a skull into the post of the set.
"What?" He asks looking at them.
"You have got to play the gangster." Gwen said.
"Don't typecast me. I don't even know if I can act." Duncan said angry.
"You want Harold to do it? He's as tough a butter." Heather said pointing at him.
"Don't expect DJ to be a tough guy. That's for sure." Chef said as DJ was about to cry.
"How can you say that?" My eyes flash gold as I growl lowly at Chef.
"Also Kaylub's way to girly for the role." Leshawna said as I look away.
"Duncan all you have to do is be yourself." I said as I stood by him. He takes the envelope.
"Alright, set up the shop! Whoever can get Chef, Mr. ex-Army Corporal, to show any emotion wins the challenge." We get started with the lighting and the sound check and other materials as I pull Gwen off to the side.
"What do you think I am?" I asked as she looked at me confused.
"I get get over it, but this morning you called me a girl." Her eyes widened.
"I'm so sorry, that wasn't what I meant to say. I mean you're so quiet and small sometimes that it's easy to forget that you're there at all." She said as I nodded. "I didn't mean to offend you or anything."
"It's okay. I'm glad we cleared this up." I said with a smile, but once she left I felt a tear fall.
/"Am I really that small? Am I really that forgettable?" Is this why my father never came to find me? I thought as tears streamed down my face.\
I see Chris spying on my team then he turns towards me and his eyes widen as I look away. "What's wrong?" He asked grasping my chin to make me look at him.
"N-nothing," I said looking away as I see Heather hanging upside down by her ankle attached to a light and wiring. "I have to go help my teammate." I start to walk away when he grabs my wrist. I didn't look at him. I feel his grip loosen as my heart hurts rushing away to help Heather down.
"Thanks for the...were you crying?" Heather asked in mockery. as I left quickly towards the edge of the fake mountain.
"And now for the final hair and make-up." I hear Chris say as I head towards the set. When I arrive I see that there's a makeup bag and that DJ was being lectured by Chef. I pick up the case and finish Duncan's makeup.
"Didn't know you did this...were you crying?" He asked his voice more concerned then Heather's. I just finish his makeup and walk up the set as Harold and Leshawna give him a weapon and a fedora respectively.
"and that's...action!" Chris said as the scenes started.
"When I was a young schoolgirl back in Poland frolicking through the field with my pet goat in the summer sun, those were my happiest days." I tilt my head. We got the wrong script...but Duncan's pulling it off. He continued to act as the scene was winding down. "I've lived a good, long life. I've loved, laughed, but what I miss most of all is my sweet little goat...Chopin...oh, baa, baa." He said then looked at me with those same sad eyes. I look back at him then avert my eyes.
"C-cut! okay, enough. it's too much for Chef to take." Chris said sounding like he cried too. "Duncan clearly wins for best performance. The Screaming Gaffers win it." I smile as Duncan comes over to me.
"I miss my sweet, little, Kaylub." He said as I blushed. "Really I am...can we-" I cut him off with a kiss on the cheek. He picked me up, much to my complaints, and carried me down. We threw a party in the boy's trailer for the team. We partied till I yawned and climbed up into my bed as the party ended.
I wake up a while later drenched in sweat and hyperventilating. I played Pokemon for the rest of the night.
/"Any time I tried to fall asleep I'll have a nightmare about being small and insignificant. I'm worried I won't get any sleep, which is bad." I sigh.\