Movie Star? Superstar? I Thought I Was Just a Normal Kid!

"Oh my gosh! No way! I am so sorry! I had just gotten hung up on, and I thought he was calling back!" I had never been more thankful that the person on the other end of the phone couldn't see my face. It was tomato red!

"It's no problem. This is Mauri, right?" Zac asked.

"Thanks. Yeah, it's me."

"I heard that you were going to play the part of Sharpay's little sister. Is that true?" I soo couldn't believe that Zac Efron was calling me to find out something!

"Well, yeah. I mean, if my parents say yes then I'm doing it. But I can't really do it until they say okay." I replied, remembering my mom's words.

"Oh, darn. We - me, Corbin, Ashley, Vanessa, Lucas - watched your audition tapes. They were really good."

Oh. My. Gosh. Zac Efron just complimented me!! ME!

"Th-thanks." I didn't know what else to say. "I really hope my parents agree..."

"Trust me, we do too." He laughed. "You were the best by far... Huh?... Oh, okay. Hey, Mauri? The director wants to talk to your parents. Can you give me their number?"

"Uh... sure..." I gave Zac the number, and, within thirty seconds, the house phone started ringing.

"Oh, hey, Mauri, I gotta get going. We have an interview thing in a couple hours, and Jackie, the makeup artist, has already started fussing over Corbin. I'm next. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"O-Okay. Oh, by the way, thanks."

"No problem."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Mauri!!" Mom called from the living room, "Come here! We need to talk to you."

Please let me do the part! "Coming!" Please, please, please...

Downstairs, my parents were sitting on the couch. I took the armchair across from them and waited. They glanced at each other, and finally, finally, my mom said,

"You can do it."

"YEAH!!" I shouted. I got up and ran to my parents, hugged them both, and danced around the living room.

"Honey, sit down. We have some things to talk about." My dad looked serious, so I stopped dancing and sat.

"Mauri, you're going to finish the semester here." Darn. It was only October. "And we're moving." WHAT?! "To a more secure neighborhood. You and your mom will live in a hotel while you're filming. When you come back everything will be ready."

"So will I be here for Christmas?" I had so many thing running through my head.

"Yes. You and your mom leave January 5th. You'll have a private tudor while you're filming, and you may end up going back to your school now." Dad said.

After Mom and Dad had finished their speech, I ran upstairs and watched my movies. I tried to imagine what type of character Sharpay's sister would be. She would be Ryan's little sister, too...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up to the sun streaming in through my window. I checked my cell phone for the time, and saw that it was 9:30 AM and I had two voice mails. One was from my coach, telling me to practice, and the other was from the HSM producer, telling me that my parents had called and asking if I could call him back. Wow... So this is show biz....

Just then, someone knocked at my door. Who would come over this early on the weekend?

"Come in..." I turned and gasped.

At my door was a huge, furry... MONSTER!!!