The Truth About Hollywood

"Claire," I heard a whisper in my ear. The room was bright, way too bright. It stung my eyeballs, and I turned away, pulling the blanket over my head, shutting out the light and the sound.

"Claire." This time, the voice was sharper, a little louder. "Wake up. It's past eight."

Eight? Did that mean anything to me? "Go away," I mumbled, yawning loudly.

"C'mon," the voice sighed, ripping the blanket off me. Curling up into a ball, I shivered for a second, trying to regain the heat that had been stripped away from me. "Please."

After blinking a couple of times, I turned over and found Danny staring down at me. "How is it," I wondered drowsily, "that you're the one sleeping at my house, and yet you woke up before me? I'm the one who has an alarm clock."

"I'm talented," he smiled. My heart beat a little faster for a second before I stood up.

"Sure, you keep thinking that," I replied patronizingly, tapping the side of his face with my hand a couple of times. His eyes closed each time that I made contact with his cheek, which made me giggle a little.

"Alright, I'm going to get dressed now," I voiced, grabbing some clothes out of my drawers and making my way toward the bathroom.

Within a half hour, we were out the door, driving down the street toward the studio. When we arrived, Levi was looking quite glum.

"Don't report to hair and makeup," he informed us. "Take a seat in Diana's living room set."

"Okay..." I trailed off, shooting a look at Danny. He shrugged in response, obviously not knowing any more on the subject than I did.

Annabelle was the only one there, sitting on one side of the couch. I took the middle, and Danny sat on my other side. "Do you have any idea what's going on?" she questioned, running a hand through her brown bangs.

Sighing, I replied in the negative. "Where are James, John, and Stella?"

"Not here yet. It's still early, though."

As if on cue, James arrived, sitting down on the floor in front of us. "Was it just me, or did Levi look ticked and upset at the same time?"

"It wasn't just you," the three of us answered at the same time.

"That's what I thought." He stared off into the distance, probably trying to figure out what was going on before Levi told us, always trying to be the insightful one.

Not too long later, Stella and John joined us, John sitting in the big armchair, Stella perched on the arm. We were all talking in hushed voices, trying to figure out, what, exactly, the news was.

"Holy shit..." I trailed off, my face blushing. "What if the news is that the show is cancelled?"

"What?" Stella screeched. "There's no way they could take it off the air. I mean...I'm in it, right? I've been carrying the show this far!"

"Stella, we've taped six episodes or something," I reminded her. "That's not that much."

"Still," John drawled. "Our show has had really high ratings. Haven't you guys been asked for autographs?"

"I don't really go anywhere where that's a possibility," I coughed, slightly embarrassed. "But...I guess we'll just have to-"

"Quiet down, guys," Levi started loudly, putting his hands in the air. "I have some bad news."

Stella immediately jumped to her feet, her pumps clacking against the hardwood floor. "They are not taking this show off the air! Only over my dead body! I will fight this! They can't take this face," she gestured to herself, "off the air!"

"Sit down," Levi told her in a tired voice. She did as she was told with a dramatic pout, crossing her arms across her chest.

Levi waited for a second before starting what he was saying again. "The show's not cancelled."

There was a wave of sighs through the group, but we were still anxious. What was the news going to be? Though the worst news was ruled out...

"The station is pulling one of our episodes and they're stopping the airing of new episodes until we redo it," Levi muttered indignantly, surveying our faces.

Instant uproar. "What?" John snapped. "They can't do that!"

"They can."

"What episode?" I questioned, staying quiet.

"The one where you sleep with Danny. They're saying that it was too much. We were too obvious about it, and you're not allowed, on the station, anyway, to be on camera without a shirt because you're only sixteen."

My face filled with a nice red color. "Oh."

Danny put a reassuring hand on my back, and I could feel the warmth through my shirt. "Does that mean that we have to retape the whole episode?" Danny wondered aloud.

"Yup. Which puts us way back and production. I really don't need this stress right now." Levi took a couple bunches of his hair in his hands, breathing deeply.

"Levi, stop," I whispered, standing up and putting a hand in his shoulders. "It's cool. Do you have the new scripts yet?"

"In my bag," he responded.

Without another word, I took them out and handed them around. It seemed like I was always having to take charge of something lately. "Well, gang, let's get cracking."