Chapter XI

"Are you nervous? You look nervous," Brandon said, making me turn my head to glare at him and his constant foot tapping.

It was as if he was more nervous that I was.

"Can you stop doing that? Its not helping," I said, getting more annoyed by the passing second.

"Stop what? Talking or tapping my foot?" he asked and I let out a groan of annoyance.

We were currently sitting in his car, outside the location I had been emailed. I had been asked to bring someone who would not disclose the location of shooting or I would be chucked out of participating in anything related to this movie.

My first choice was to bring along Sydney, not because Brandon wasn't good at keeping secrets, but because in situations like these, he couldn't give a proper pep talk to save his life. In fact, I remember him making me even more nervous before my first showcase two years back. It was good luck for me that I didn't throw up before even walking on stage.

Ever since then, Sydney is my personal cheerleader. But since she was rehearsing for her musical, she couldn't accompany me.

"Why don't you just stop existing?"

"Ouch. But we both know that your life would be dull without me in it," he countered.

I rolled my eyes at him, not bothering to respond, even though deep inside I knew it was true.

"Plus, not being in your life would mean not being in Sydney's and that won't do," he continued to blabber.

I let me gaze settle on him. I've had the longest suspicions that he liked Sydney as more than a friend but I've never had anything concrete to go by. I already tried to confront him on this topic but he would easily evade it by joking or laughing. And it was hard to tell if he was telling the truth or not because of his easy-going personality.

Brandon was good looking. There was no doubt about that. He had chiselled features and a pretty good body, given his active participation in sports. I already knew that he had his fair share of girl followers but he wasn't the one to take advantage of anyone. Thats what I loved the most about him, he didn't treat people like objects. But for some strange reason, he never even dated anyone. Overtime Sydney and I pestered him about this, his answer would always be "I'm still waiting for Katherine Langford to ask me out."

He didn't ever give out straight answers and somehow managed to divert the topic every single time. This did ignite my curiosity regarding the already prevalent suspicions.

"Is there something stuck on my teeth?" Brandon's voice snapped me out.

"What?"

"Why have you been staring at me like that for the past few minutes? I know I'm handsome, but you look creepy," he said, giving me a flat look.

I mirrored his expression. "Why are you my best friend?"

He opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by a knocking on his side of the window.

I looked past Brandon to see a very annoyed Adrian standing there in tattered clothes, which I assumed was his costume for today's shoot. My eyebrows shot up in surprise, seeing him hunching there.

He was wearing a grey t-shirt which was pretty torn on his right abdomen, showing off parts of his defined stomach where were long slashes of blood trails. The leather jacket he had on was close to falling off. I couldn't see the rest of his outfit but from whatever I could see, everything looked pretty real. Kudos to the makeup artists for the look.

Brandon seemed surprised at first but lowered the window, to let Adrian speak.

The moment he did, Adrian directly looked at me. "If you're done with your flirting, William wants to see you," he said, before straightening up and starting his way back. I rolled my eyes at his lack of acknowledgement of Brandon.

I didn't bother to respond to Adrian, instead I turned to face Brandon who was giving curious glances to Adrian.

"Do you think he's jealous?" He suddenly asked me, catching me off guard with his question.

"I think you've gone a little too high with your expectations. I don't think he's coming even a bit close to liking me because of the trouble I put him through the day at school," I responded.

I'd be happy even if he treated me like a acquaintance. 

I followed Brandon's gaze towards Adrian who looked pretty irritated but with one look at his face, I knew that I was right. He was super pissed but it had nothing to do with me. At least right now.

Being an aspiring actor, I somewhat knew how to read expressions which sometimes did come in handy.

"I guess I gotta go," I said, turning my gaze back to Brandon. "Will you come to pick me up?" I asked, giving him a hug, which he gladly returned.

"Of course! Since Sydney's practice doesn't end till late, I'll be at your service for the day. Now go, before he asks one of his bodyguards to chop my head off," Brandon said, glancing at Adrian who had stopped a few feet away and was tapping his foot impatiently.

I snorted before getting off.

I heard a loud "Go kick butt!" before Brandon revved up the engine and left. I chuckled, looking at his retreating car.

"Can you be any slower?" Adrian's voice reached me and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

"What crawled up his ass?" I muttered, walking towards him.

Once I was within two feet of him, he turned and started walking. I threw a deadpanned look at his back. So much for courtesy.

He led me through a maze of different corridors and hallways, which I was sure I was going to get lost in, if I had to find my way alone.  The walls were off-white in colour with beige linings on the top and the bottom. They looked as if they'd just been painted, since I could barely see a mark on them. There were circular lights hung on the ceiling right in the middle, giving an impression of an expensive place.

After a few minutes of walking, I couldn't bear the silence. The absence of anyone through the hallways was creeping me out anyway so I thought of taking the initiative to talk since Mr. Too-Cool-For-You didn't seem like he was going to strike a conversation anytime soon.

"What's gotten you so annoyed this early in the morning?" I asked, jogging a little to match his fast paced steps. I had a feeling that he wouldn't have responded to any kind of a greeting so I jumped straight to the point.

He didn't answer. Instead, he just increased his pace, as if trying to get rid of my presence sooner.

Okay, then.

If he wanted to be an ass for no good reason, I wasn't going to give him attention.

I zipped up my mouth and looked straight ahead instead of his leather jacket clad back. After a few more minutes of walking/jogging, we finally reached the place. Adrian pushed through the door and immediately I was witnessing a blur of people. People were running from one corner to another, talking animatedly with each other while doing something. However, there seemed less people here than I'd seen on the previous set, which surprised me, considering I thought that the number of people would increase by the day. Plus, I couldn't really figure out what was happening in the room right now.

I turned to say something to Adrian but he was already halfway across the room. He didn't even bother to spare me a word or a glance. How sweet.

I returned  my attention to the buzzing room, trying to spot a familiar face. I was so not going to Adrian to ask for his help. He already seemed annoyed enough.

I ran my eyes throughout the wide room, noticing how different the set was. This time instead of the dark, dilapidated room, there was a huge green screen on one side and a structure resembling a building on its right. High lights were hovering above the building and the screen.

I stepped further into the room, admiring the set at the same time, trying to spot anyone who could help me. Everyone seemed to be in a rush. There wasn't a single person sitting idle. I was almost about to give up when I spotted a familiar head with black hair and golden streaks.

I think her name was Brenda, she was intern I'd met in the Spooky Mansion. Feeling a bit confident, I approached her. She seemed like she was gluing a piece of wood to what looked like a hammer. I examined her attire, which consisted of baggy pants with an oversized t-shirt which was covered in fading white stains.

"Hey, Brenda?" I called out a little cautiously, a bit hesitant as to how to approach her for help.

Brenda's head snapped up in surprise. She turned her head to see who had called. Once her eyed met mine, a spark of recognition flashed through her eyes. Her lack of a negative reaction boosted my confidence to talk to her.

"Hey! Scooby Doo pyjamas?"

I chuckled, a little embarrassed about the first impression I'd made. Was that how everyone remembered me?

"Yeah. I kind of need your help if you're not too busy," I said, hoping that she'd agree.

"Of course! What do you need?" she said, straightening up and keeping the glue and hammer aside.

I let out a slow sigh of relief before smiling at her.

"Can you please take me to Mr. Gilbert? Adrian kind of abandoned me here," I said, motioning to the room he was supposed to be in.

She chuckled. "Sure! No problem."

She motioned for me to follow her and I did. We dodged a couple of people who were barely paying attention to where they were going. She led me out of the main room where the set was, through a completely different set of hallways, painted white from top to bottom. They were totally opposite compared to the ones Adrian and I came through earlier. Instead of the grand vibe the previous hallways gave, these one looked pretty normal. They were long and narrow, not giving a lot of room for a lot of people to pass simultaneously.

Maybe those were deliberately decorated in the certain way? No wonder they looked so fresh and new.

"Whats up with everyone today? Why does everyone seem in so much hurry?" I asked as a guy with blond hair nearly bumped into both of us, straying me from my observations.

"We're short on staff today. Somebody messed up the schedule for everyone and we're running late for the shoot," Brenda spoke, turning into a corridor on her right.

I nodded, understanding the situation a little better.

"Is that why Adrian is so annoyed?" I asked before I could stop myself.

She looked at me for a second, a pitiful expression painted on her face.

"Honestly, I feel bad for the guy. Imagine getting called four hours before the actual shoot because someone messed up the shoot schedule and then being layered up with makeup that took two and a half hours just to be told that it had to be done all over again because it wasn't right for the scene to be shot. And since we're short on staff, there was just one makeup artist doing his makeup which took even longer. In the middle of all that, he had to go and fetch you because he was the only one who was comparatively free," she explained.

I cringed and kind of felt bad for the guy. No wonder he seemed so irritated. Standing under the sun with a ton of makeup on you isn't the most pleasant feeling. I kind of felt a twinge of guilt poke my mind at the thought of him suffering a little more because of me.

Before I could dwell on it further, Brenda came to a sudden stop. I looked up to see that she had stopped in front of a door that held a sign reading 'Director Gilbert'.

All my thoughts vanished from my mind and I actually felt my nerves come back. On the other side of this door was the man whom I had dreamt to work with. It was hard to believe that I was going to actually go meet him and have a conversation with him. All of it suddenly felt a little surreal.

Was this really happening?

I could hear the beat of my heart through my chest. It was like a ringing in my ears, increasing every second as the realisation set in.

I almost held my breath as Brenda knocked on the door. It took a few seconds but a muffled "Come in" was heard before she twisted the door knob and pushed the door open.

I swallowed hard and slowly followed Brenda into the room.

The moment I entered the room, the first thing I noticed was the giant camera kept beside a wooden desk, behind which sat a man who seemed to be typing out something on his laptop.

It didn't take me long to recognise who he was. A wave of excitement and nervousness washed over me as I looked at one of the best directors in the world sitting right in front of me.

It took a minute of standing there awkwardly before Mr. Gilbert looked up. He looked at both Brenda and me.

Before he could ask or say anything, Brenda spoke up,"Sir, this is Ms Woods. You called for her?"

I was a bit surprised upon hearing my last name from Brenda. I guess she already knew about me coming. No wonder she recognised me so quickly.

"Yes, of course. Thank you for escorting Ms. Woods. I'll take it from here," Mr. Gilbert smiled and Brenda nodded.

She turned to leave but not before giving me a subtle wink and a smile, which kind of comforted me.

Once she left, Mr. Gilbert motioned for me to sit down in one of the chairs that were kept in front of his desk. I quietly obeyed.

"How are you, Ms Woods?" he asked, a kind smile on his face etching a hint of oncoming wrinkles on his face.

"A little nervous, to be honest," I said, giving him an embarrassed smile, internally smacking myself.

He chuckled at my response, which calmed me a little.

"You were pretty great during the last shoot, kid. It reflects how passionate you are for what you want to achieve, which I'm assuming is in this line of work?" he says and I'm almost on cloud nine.

He just delivered a direct compliment. THE William Gilbert just complimented a novice like me.

I could finally die in peace now.

It took me a couple of seconds to regain my composure and put on a straight face, hoping that I didn't look creepy smiling so widely.

Once I was sure that a squeal wasn't going to escape my mouth as soon as I opened it, I responded. "Yes, sir. I wish to become an actor."

I was pretty proud of myself for not letting my voice break in between.

Mr. Gilbert gave a nod, seemingly a little impressed. "Why is it that you wish to pursue acting?" he asked, his eyes reflecting a little bit of curiosity.

An involuntary smile lit up my face, as it always did when I spoke about my passion for acting. In that moment, I almost forgot who the person sitting in front of me was. All I knew was that I was talking to someone about what I loved.

"Acting gives me a sense of thrill which I've never experienced through any other activity. The prospect of experiencing the world through the eyes of an entirely different character gives me a rush of excitement that I never want to leave. I feel like its a part of me which I won't be able to give up, ever."

Mr. Gilbert offered me a smile at my response. "I wish you luck for your future endeavours, Ms Woods. I hope this work experience helps you take a step closer to your dreams. As much as I would like to guide you through this process, I'm afraid my attention is demanded by a lot of tasks and I wouldn't want to waste your time here so I'll assign you to one of my best students here. I hope you enjoy your time here," he finishes and as if on cue, there's a series of knocks on the door.

"Come in!"

A mop of blond head poked into the room.

"Ah, here he is. Come on in, Mason," Mr. Gilbert called in the guy who didn't waste another second.

He had a playful smile on his face, which did relieve me a little from the expectations I had imagining a brooding guy.

I did a discreet once over of the guy as he entered. His blond hair was parted on his left side, leaving a wave falling over to his right. His hair didn't seem too gelled but the effort showed. He had an angular face with sharp features while his eyes were a dark shade of green. He wasn't too lean but he wasn't muscular either. In all, he was really attractive.

"What do you need me for, sir?" he asked, sparing me a quick curious glance.

Instead of replying to him first, Mr. Gilbert turned to me. "Mason here is partially in charge of the shoot, especially Adrian's role and he controls the requirements for the same. He'll be your mentor for most of the part. I hope you can assist him well," he smiled at me and I nodded, already feeling excited.

I was actually glad that he was going to assist Adrian. I wasn't aware of who all were cast in the movie but I wanted to work under someone from whom I could actually learn and for now, Adrian seemed like the perfect person. He was an incredible performer after all. Just thinking about being a part of this production had my mind filled with a whirlwind of excited thoughts 

After speaking to me, he turned to Mason and spoke," Guide her well, son. She'll be assisting you in most of your tasks from now on."

Mason nodded, not a single word of protest emerging from his mouth.

I cautiously scanned his face, trying to gauge out any sort of discomfort or lack of interest from the boy in front of me but I got none, which gave me hope of this actually working out well.

Giving a final nod of respect to Mr. Gilbert, Mason turned to me with a slight smile. "Ready to go?"

I simply got up, bidding farewell to the director in front of me and turned to face Mason. I guess he didn't need an answer to that question anymore because my actions answered it all too well.

Hell yes, I was.

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