"Welcome to La La Land!" My English professor smiled at the beginning of class, greeting us all with a shout. Today was my first day at UCLA. I was twenty, so a late bloomer for college. Out of high school I didn't know what I wanted to be, so I took two years off and was just now starting college and decided to major in business. Maybe one day I would own my own business, I wasn't sure yet. I was born and raised in Virginia, so coming all the way out to California was a huge deal. I didn't know anyone out here, except now for my roommate who I had barely seen for the past week that I had been moved into my dorm due to her constantly leaving to go party.
"Is this seat taken?" A low whisper pulled me out of my thoughts as I looked up to see a guy trying to quietly sneak in. He had brown hair and dark brown eyes that looked friendly.
I smiled, "Late on your first day?" I joked, matching his whispering tone as I nodded and motioned for him to sit.
He quickly obliged, seeming relieved to not have been noticed by the professor who was rambling off about the syllabus for this semester.
"I'm Tyler," He smiled at me.
I returned the grin, "I'm Olivia."
.....
After that, the rest of us becoming friends was history. We quickly stuck to each other like glue throughout the first few weeks of college. Tyler was a chemistry major who had just moved to California all the way from Maine. He didn't really know anyone or have any friends either, our friendship was a match made in heaven: two loners find each other.
We currently were sitting on the grass in the courtyard, studying for an upcoming American History test we had on Friday. Turns out, even though our majors were different, Tyler and I had a lot of classes together this semester. I was thankful, because pretty much every class I had someone to sit next to so I didn't look like I was alone.
"Do you want to go grab dinner or something after?" Tyler asked.
I frowned, "I wish, I literally have less than five dollars in my bank account right now."
"Oh come on, I can pay for you," Tyler offered.
"No way," I shook my head. "I would feel bad. We can go grab dinner at the food hall? I get three swipes a day with my meal plan in there."
Tyler laughed and pretended to gag, "Food from the food hall? What do you want food poisoning? I think I'll pass."
I shrugged and shook my head at him teasingly, "I have yet to get sick at all from there, thank you very much."
"Have you thought about getting a part time job to make some extra cash?" Tyler asked.
I huffed, "I have, I just don't know how I'll balance being a full time student while working."
"Let's just look what is available," Tyler offered and opened up his laptop. I watched as his fingers flew across the keyboard of his Mac laptop.
"Available Work Near Me"
He quickly slammed the enter key as the web pages loaded underneath the results.
I couldn't help but laugh as a bunch of open cast call modeling and acting gigs popped up.
"That is the most Californian results page I have ever seen," I continued to laugh.
Tyler joined in, both us being from Maine and Virginia weren't used to seeing open casting calls like this before.
"I take it that's not what you meant by part-time work search?" Tyler smirked after we had calmed down from laughing.
Jokingly we opened the casting call website and looked through the listings.
"Look at that one!" I pointed at one titled "SEEKING UNKNOWN NAME TO BECOME NEXT BIG REALITY STAR!"
Tyler let out a small laugh before hitting on the listing and opening it up. He cleared his throat dramatically before reading the listing description aloud.
"Seeking 4 current unknown persons to become the world's next big reality stars. Go from drab to fab as the country cheers you on from all over for your every big life moment as a group of cameras follow you around to showcase your life. You'll be welcomed into the big world of Hollywood warmly and openly as you will soon become a recognizable face and household name! Open casting call on September 20th, RSVP for your spot alone! Serious inquiries only."
I rolled my eyes, "That is entirely too vague."
"I dare you to audition for it," Tyler smirked.
"Me? What in the world would anyone want to see me do on a reality show?" I laughed. "I spend most of my nights on my couch in pajamas watching Law and Order: SVU."
Tyler shrugged, "That would make it even funnier for you to audition. I double dog dare you."
"Well I guess I can't turn down a double dare dare."
Tyler grinned as he hit the "RSVP" button and it opened up a questionnaire.
"Oh boy, what are they going to ask?"
Tyler and I began filling out the information, the first part was pretty basic as it asked for my name, date of birth, eye color, hair color, height, and weight. Though, I'm sure why my height or weight mattered, but I guess they must have a specific type of girl they were looking for.
"Favorite color?" Tyler asked.
"Why in the world do they want to know that?" I laughed, "Purple."
Tyler typed that in before moving to the next question, "Favorite food?"
I shrugged, "Macaroni and cheese."
Tyler typed and went down to the next question, "What's your family like?"
"How did we go from color and foods to now deep stuff about my family?"
"Hey, if you're going to be a reality star they're going to want to know everything about you," Tyler laughed.
I shook my head, "I am not going to become a reality star."
"What's your family like?" Tyler asked again.
"Normal," I shrugged, unsure how to answer. "My parents are divorced but still civil, they divorced when I was 12. I have a younger brother and sister, I am the oldest. They both live with my mom, though have good relationships with my dad and step mom as well. I don't know what else to say."
"Hmm..." Tyler thought. "We have to juice it up for reality TV."
I watched as Tyler began typing a response.
"Child of a broken home, my parents had a sad divorce when I was 12 that split up our family unit. I have two younger siblings, a brother and a sister, who both still currently live with my mother. We have a civil relationship with my dad and my step-mom, but sometimes things can get a little sticky..."
"Tyler, that's a lie!" I frowned.
"So is all of reality television," He answered.
I nodded, "I guess you have a point there... fine, next questions."
Tyler and I continued going through the questionnaire as it had fifty questions. The questions ranged from more simple things like my hobbies, if I was in school and what my major was, to more serious topics like did I have any enemies, what was the most traumatic memory of my life and if I had any current addictions to alcohol or drugs.
"Okay, I think we are finished," Tyler looked at the laptop and smiled. "You ready to submit it, Miss Reality TV Star?"
I rolled my eyes, "Tyler, I'm not a Reality TV Star. This is all just for fun."
He laughed, "I know, but it's just so funny not to make fun of you."
"If you're going to then I won't submit the questionnaire."
Tyler quickly dashed his finger down and hit the "submit" button at the end before shooting me a cheesy grin, "Too late, I just did!"
"Tyler!" I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest.
He smirked and shut his laptop, throwing it into his bookbag and standing up. He held out his hand, helping me stand up off the ground as well.
"Come on Reality TV Star, I'm taking you out for McDonald's... we're not eating at the food hall."
I rolled my eyes, "As if McDonald's is healthier?"
"At least it will taste better!"
We laughed as we walked out of the school courtyard and headed off to Tyler's dorm so we could get in his car and head off to our fancy dinner at McDonald's.
....
Thanks for reading chapter 1 :) Of course you can vision the characters however you'd like, but just thought I would show you how I do in case you wanted a taste of what I'm envisioning.
Olivia:
Tyler: