AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you, Emma,” said Mark. He turned to Freddie. I had noticed her swaying in the chair beside me, but I’d been too focused on my own nerves to pay much attention. Relaxing a little now, I turned to my side just as she slid out of her chair and crumpled onto the floor.
“Somebody grab a glass of water for her,” Mark yelled.
I jumped up, but Shar beat me to it, snatching a water bottle off the table, uncapping it, and pouring it over the top of Freddie’s head. Freddie’s eyes opened and she began to whimper, “Why did you do that?”
“That’s enough,” said Mark, putting himself between Shar and Freddie. He pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt. “We need a medic here. ASAP! Girl down. Stable but shaky.”
“I want to go home,” Freddie said quietly. Every girl in the room smiled or drew in a breath of relief, myself included.
“Are you sure?” asked Mark.
“Yes.”
“I heard we’ve got a case of the nerves,” said a big bear of a guy, appearing on the scene in periwinkle scrubs. He was pushing an empty wheelchair. I wondered what he would have done all day if Mark hadn’t needed him. He’d apparently been close by, just waiting for this exact scenario.
“That’s right,” said Mark. “Just a case of the nerves. Jett, this is Freddie. She could use some fresh air.”
“Hop aboard,” said Jett. He let Freddie settle in and whisked her away.
“We’re going to break for ten minutes so you ladies can use the restroom or get a drink,” said Mark as Jett and Freddie were leaving. “I know what happened just upset you all tremendously, but don’t worry about your friend Freddie. I have a hunch that she will be back. After your break is over, I’d like you all to meet me back here in this conference room, and you can look forward to your background screening and interviews with Detective Smith and Coco or Fran, who are two of our producers. There will also be another gentleman observing. Nothing to worry about, ladies, just be yourselves and answer honestly.”
Shyla wandered over to me, looking pouty. “I guess he didn’t even notice that I never got to introduce myself,” she said.
“I guess he got distracted when Freddie fainted,” I said.
“Do you think she’ll be back?” she asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“She looked really bad once her hair got wet. Didn’t you think so? Like a drowned rat! We need to do a ton of hot tub scenes, so they might want to think twice about keeping her around. She seemed boring to me, and boring is the kiss of death when you’re on TV. Have you gone to any acting classes?”
“No. It never even occurred to me. Have you?”
“Yeah. Sure,” said Shyla. “I took some here in L.A. with some lady named Brenda, and one back in Shreveport, but I don’t know if you can count that because I was just a kid. I think the classes with Brenda are going to help me out here. She helped me get rid of my accent, annunciate my words better, cry on command, and she even had a segment on dancing. She didn’t teach that part, though. That one was taught by a guy named Pablo. Do you know him?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Oh. He’s great. He taught me how to do the Roger Rabbit and a little bit of tap.” She demonstrated both for me.
“Those moves will probably make Bellamy like you better,” I said.
“Are you just saying that?”
“No way. I mean it. My interview video was full of stuff like that and they really ate it up,” I assured her.
Shyla smiled. “Let’s be friends. We’re going to need some friends if we get on here. I think it’s going to be a lot of mean girls.”
“Sure, that sounds like a good plan,” I said, feeling genuinely touched. It would be great to have a friend here.
She hugged me. “Sorry if I smell bad. I haven’t washed my hair since I last worked, so it probably smells like dogs.”
“I didn’t notice anything,” I said. Actually, she smelled a little like a wet rug.
“Whew! Good. Are you worried about being so old? We could lie and say you’re younger. I would do that for you. That’s the kind of thing friends do for each other.”
“I think the producers would have a problem with that. Plus, Bellamy is thirty-one or thirty-two, so I’m not really that old compared to him.”
“Right. Right,” said Shyla, smiling and nodding. She did not look convinced.
