The Truth About Hollywood

"Hey, Mom!" I greeted as I walked through the door after school. I was a junior at Jefferson High School a few miles away. "Any news?"

She had a careful look on her face. "Okay, there is one audition. Scar said not to get your hopes up though because everyone will be lobbying for the part."

Scar was my agent, and I loved her dearly. She could always find auditions before anyone else and landed me a place in the lineup. Ever since I was a little kid, I'd always wanted to be an actress. It was a long shot, I knew, but I couldn't help but be attracted to all the glamour that Hollywood could provide.

"What's the part?" I questioned as I opened the cupboard to grab the bag of pretzels. I took a small handful and ate one before Mom jumped into action and took the bag away from me, putting it back where it belonged. I never understood that, since I was not by any means fat, but Mom was crazy about my weight. Even I wasn't nervous about how much I weighed.

As usual, I shot her an annoyed look. The second she left, I'd definitely grab the bag again and dart to my room before she could stop me.

"It's the part of a girl named Diana. Everyone wants the part because she goes through a huge character arc. She starts off as this good girl, always does her homework and babysits and is responsible...boring stuff." I made a face, since that kind of described me. My mom hated how I was a good girl and she was always complained about how she wished I was like her when she was in high school, going to parties and doing drugs and having sex... We were kind of backwards.

"But then," Mom's eyes lit up with excitement, "she turns bad because her boyfriend is a bad influence on her."

"I don't know if I can play bad..." I trailed off wonderingly as I took a water bottle from the fridge.

"It'll be a good test though, won't it?" She pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head. "You'll be great, Claire."

"Okay. When is it?"

She finished giving me the rest of the details, letting me know that she gave me a whole week to learn the character and my lines. Thanks a lot, Mom...

She made a little squeak before saying, "I'm so excited. You're definitely landing this part." She always said that, and it hasn't really been right yet, besides a Twix commercial (Mom hated that), and a one-shot part on a CSI-type show where I got murdered in the first two minutes. Not exactly dream roles. Well...I did like eating about six Twix bars in a day, though it gave me a little bit of a stomach ache. It was totally worth it.

After giving my shoulder one last encouraging squeeze and smiling, Mom said something about getting ready to go out to dinner with Dad. I loved how the two of them, after twenty years of marriage, still went out for dinner dates.

"Study your lines!" Mom called as she shut the bathroom door.

I rolled my eyes and took the script on the table. It was simple, just a bunch of papers stapled together book-style with big letters spelling out DARWIN HIGH, and underneath, "Episode 101: First Day."

After stealing the pretzels again, I darted upstairs to my room and shut the door while Mom was distracted by showering.

For the rest of the night, I read over my lines and tried to get into the mind of my character. She's not a major player in the first episode, but she did have a couple of scenes. It wasn't really hard to think how she did, since at the beginning, she was kind of exactly me.

I had a good feeling about this part, just because I could relate to it so much. As much as I possibly could, I hoped and prayed that I would get this part. I wanted it more than anyone else did, I was sure of it. Now all I needed was to make sure that I performed as well as I hoped I would.