The Truth About Hollywood

As my alarm clock went off at nine thirty the next morning, I groaned, oh-so-tempted to hit the snooze button.

"You better be getting up right now," Mom ordered, slamming her fist against my door.

I protested loudly in gibberish so there was a possibility that she could hear me as I got up and pulled on a pair of jeans and a Beatles shirt.

"Are you really wearing that?" Mom looked slightly horrified. I looked down at myself before raising my eyebrow at her.

"What's wrong with this?"

"You look like a slob. You're going to be meeting some new people...will you please change?"

"It'll be fine," I sighed. "I'm not going to dress up to meet my cast members. I don't have to impress them."

She looked angry before turning around and giving me the box of Raisin Bran. As she put it down on the table, she stared long and hard at me. "Are you wearing the makeup I bought you?"

"Um...no."

Mom let out a huff and walked out of the kitchen. "Tell me when you want to be a girl, okay?"

I rolled my eyes as she stormed up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door. More times than not, I felt like I was the adult and she was my teenage daughter. If it weren't for the wrinkles that were starting to show up around her eyes, I'd probably fall for the illusion. I smirked slightly at the thought. Okay...so I was a bitch sometimes. Sue me.

Since Mom was now upstairs, I didn't have to subject myself to the awfulness that is Raisin Bran. I hated it, but Mom loved it, so she forced it on me all the time. I, however, more loved the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, sugar and all.

"Are you ready?" Mom came down the stairs a half hour later. She again rolled her eyes when she saw that her dramatic display hadn't made me change.

After grabbing my script off the table in the living room, I nodded and followed her out the door.

"Will you at least be polite and act like a girl?" Mom begged. "It'll be the least you can do, considering they might mistake you for a boy."

She ranted a little more before I finally said, "You know what, Mom? Leave me alone. I don't need you nagging me all the time."

"I can't believe you just said that to me." Mom's voice wavered, but that didn't faze me. She was always a drama queen because, as mentioned before, she was like a teenager.

I crossed my arms and looked out the window. Personally, I believed that I had a right to stand up to her. I didn't need her to be on my case all the time. Sure, I wasn't the epitome of girliness or whatever, but I wasn't manly.

"Call me when you're ready to be picked up, and I'll send your father to get you," Mom said, putting the car into park in front of the studio.

"Okay, thanks. Bye." I got out and shut the door loudly, trying to get out my frustration so I didn't take it out on other people.

"Claire!" a slightly familiar voice called. I turned to find Annabelle running toward me, the heels of her shoes clacking against the concrete of the sidewalk. Ouch... As I looked down at my Converse, I felt a little out of place. Maybe Mom was right... I should have worn nicer clothes.

"Hi!" I greeted. Annabelle gave me a hug.

"I knew you would get the part. You were a total natural."

"Thanks," I grinned. "Congrats on getting the part of Luciana."

"Thanks so much! I got so excited when I got the call...I literally started screaming."

I had a flashback to when I got my call and laughed. "I can empathize with that."

We walked into the studio and followed the series of signs put on the walls.

We walked into a room after what seemed to be forever. Inside, there was a man with short brown hair that was gelled to be spiked and hazel eyes. He had red rimmed glasses, and he looked to be in his mid-thirties.

"Hello! You must be Claire," he shook my hand, "and Annabelle. Welcome! We're just waiting for...well...everyone else."

"Sorry I'm late!" a boy exclaimed as he ran into the room. He had shaggy light brown hair and really bright blue eyes. He was also probably about five feet, nine inches.

"And you are..."

"John," he finished, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "John Smith." John had a thick Southern accent.

"Nice to meet you," I smiled. He shook my hand and smiled at me.

"Nice to meet y'all too. I'm so glad to be working on this project. It's gonna be real great, I just know the station will pick up the pilot."

After about ten more minutes, the rest of the people came. "Alright, cast!" the man, who we found out was one of the directors who was going to be working on the first episode and was named Levi. "We're going to leave you guys to get more acquainted with one another before we do the read through. Just sit at the table and talk to each other. Bond, children, bond!"

He then walked out of the room while the six of us stared at him with confused looks.

"He's a little weird..." Annabelle trailed off, chuckling lightly.

"Yeah, totally," Stella agreed, flipping her blonde hair behind her shoulder. I was starting to feel like I didn't like Stella too much.

"So...let's sit down and start...talking..." John voiced, gesturing toward the table. We all sat down, Annabell on my left and some kid I didn't know on my right.

"What should we start with?" I questioned, looking around at all the people in front of me.

"Well...I don't know half of your names..." A kid I also didn't know spoke up. "So why don't we go around and say our names?"

"Good. Why don't you start?" John urged.

"Alright, um...I'm James, and I come from Nebraska." He had dirty blonde hair that he gelled into disarray and dark blue eyes. He was the tallest of all of us and was lean.

"Oh, that's fun," I replied sarcastically. Then, I realized that everyone was staring at me and I blushed. "Sorry..."

"No, it's really boring," James laughed. "So next?"

Stella smirked slightly and said, "I'm Stella, named after Stella McCartney, and I come from LA."

"Can't say I'm shocked," the kid next to me muttered under his breath. I let out a little snort of laughter.

He looked over at me and smiled. I turned away and felt my face heat up again...this was starting to get old. These people probably thought that I was some sort of weirdo who always had a red face.

"Oh, is it my turn?" John asked. "Well, I'm John Smith, and I come from Oklahoma."

"John Smith?!" Stella squealed. "Like the guy who discovered Pocahontas?"

"You can't really discover a person..." I trailed off, wondering how on Earth a person could be so stupid.

"Um, yeah..." James interrupted me. "That's who he is."

"Totally knew it." She grinned.

"Anyway..." the boy next to me started. "My name's Danny, and I come from New York."

"Danny? What's the name for that? Dannothy doesn't really sound right..."

"Um...Daniel?" Danny looked like he wanted to kill her because she was so stupid.

"That's it! Right. Forgot." She pulled her cell phone out of her purse and started to text.

"I'm Claire," I spoke up, "and I come from...the next town over..."

"Really? That's really cool," Annabelle smiled. "You didn't have to move or anything."

"Nope. It's really awesome. I love that aspect of it so that I don't have to leave my friends behind or anything."

It was quiet for a second, and I felt really badly. "Sorry...I know that you guys all had to do that, and...ugh. I'm so sorry, I'm just insensitive sometimes."

"It's fine," James granted. "Don't worry about it. I think we've all pretty much gotten over that."

It was silent again, and I sank down in my seat.

"Um, I'm Annabelle," she said, breaking the silence, "and I'm from Canada."

"Ohhhhh, Canadaaaaa," Danny sang, standing up and putting his hand over his chest. "Uh...that's kind of all I know."

We all started laughing loudly, except for Stella, who looked up in confusion. "Did I miss something?"

"Oh, no," Danny shrugged. "Nothing that would matter to you."

We talked for a while longer, laughing and joking. I had a feeling that I was really going to love my cast.

"So wait..." I started, biting my lip and looking as the ceiling as I thought about what I was going to say. "Are we all amateurs?"

"Are you kidding?" Stella snapped. "I'm not an amateur. I was in New Moon."

"Were you?" Annabelle asked, pretending to act intrigued.

"Yes. I was the person next to the person who was next to the person who got pushed by Kristen Stewart while she was running to the clock tower to save Rob Pattinson."

"Oh, I'm so sorry that I missed that," Danny rolled his eyes. "It must have been one hell of a performance."

"It was," she snuffed.

"I'm not an amateur either," James said. "I was in an episode of Angel, one of the demons in that family that was being hunted by the Scourge. I was really young."

"Yeah, you had to have been," I thought aloud. "Sorry, I love that show."

"Anyone who has sense loves that show," Danny seconded with a wide smile. "But I am proud to say that I am an amateur. I think I've been in one commercial."

"One commercial and the first five minutes of Murder Mystery."

"I can't get over that you were in that show," Annabelle gushed. "But I am really an amateur. I haven't been in a single thing."

"I just did local ads in Oklahoma," John shrugged. "Nothing real big."

"OKAY, GUYS!" Levi announced as he walked into the room, throwing the door back against the wall so it made a loud bang. "How about we go through that script, huh?"

We all nodded as Levi passed out the final scripts. Then, the read-through commenced.