Hi! Thanks for clicking on this story! I'm a huge CLAM fan, and this is my first FanFic. This is set eight years after the books ended, and the idea is that before high school ended, Massie (through Skype, since she was in England) and the other PC girls convinced Claire that she should break up with Cam, and go out into the world and live a little. She did, but has always regretted it. She moved out to L.A. and takes classes at a local college while trying to pursue an acting career, and gets the role of a lifetime. Only, her love interest is... Well, I'll let you find out. :)

Enjoy :) And please review

Oh, and all characters belong to Lisi Harrison
_

Claire Lyons had never been so nervous. Well, she had, but not quite this way. She was nervous in a way that made it feel like the world was slowing down around her, when all she wanted was for it to get to the point.

Claire bit down on her nail so hard, for a second she thought the whole nail would chop off. 'Why am I so nervous? I can't NOT get the part. Right?' She thought, her eyebrows scrunching together as she pondered the possibilities. She was standing in the middle of Picket Fence Productions studio, awaiting that little man with the clipboard she had seen earlier to come and reveal her fate. She paced back and forth, and back and forth, scanning the room constantly for Mr. Brooke (the man with the clipboard).

Claire had just auditioned for the biggest role of her career. She was an aspiring actress, who hadn't gotten her 'big break' yet. And she probably never would, if she had blown this audition. It was a movie about a girl named Katie, who was just your average high-school student (only smarter), who gets the opportunity to fly out to the UK and go to a mega-exclusive boarding school. There, she runs into the typical "mean girls," and has to juggle school and her aspiration to be a famous tennis-player. But the main storyline revolves around Katie meeting William, the star-stud soccer player and- you probably guessed it- they fall in love. It's been done before, and won't be the best movie, but it sells. And it's the perfect jumpstart to Claire's new Hollywood life. For the past three years, she had been living in L.A. getting guest roles, cameo appearances, and a few small commercial parts. The only experience she'd had was being the lead in the blockbuster: Dial L for Loser, but that piece of information often failed to impress people since the movie practically tanked. But now, so many years later, Claire wanted to give acting a chance again. So instead of getting the real college experience, she high-tailed it to L.A. right after high school, enrolled in a community college where she could take most of her classes online, and found an agent who was crazy enough to represent her. At the time-

"Ms. Lyons?"

Claire whipped her head around, nearly tripping over her own ankle, and came face to face with Mr. Brooke, the infamous man with the clipboard.

"Y-yes?" Claire stuttered.

Mr. Brooke's eyes lowered to the clipboard he was holding in his left hand and started tapping on it with his pen. "Hmmm…. Let's see… Ah, yes. Claire?"

"Yes…?" Claire moved her head around, obviously annoyed with Mr. Brooke's slow responses.

"You got it," Mr. Brooke looked up, his face expressing boredom. "The part, I mean. It's yours."

"WHAT!" Claire shrieked, exploding with surprise and pure happiness.

"Yup. Ms. Andrews said you had a certain…" Mr. Brooke tapped his chin, searching the air for the right words. "Quality. Which doesn't sound like much, but it is. Ms. Andrews never complements people. She said she thought you reminded her of Katie, and that acting might not even be needed."

Claire just stood there, jaw dropped, staring at him. This was it. She was finally getting her big break.

Mr. Brooke, looking tired of the conversation, rolled his eyes. "Snap out of it, sweetheart. We have business to discuss."

Claire quickly straightened up, and tried her best to conceal her enormous smile.

"So shooting starts next Monday, be on set by 5:00am sharp. Dress in whatever, we will just give you something different anyway. Also, shooting in England isn't for another month, since we have to shoot all the American shots, but make sure your passport is all up to date because we don't want to have to deal with anything last minute. Kay?" Mr. Brooke raised his eyebrows.

"Check. But, um… When do I get to meet the male lead?" Of all the exciting things about this movie, the male lead stuck out in Claire's mind. He was supposed to be super attractive, really athletic, and kind. So whomever they find for that role will probably be like that too (or at least the attractive part).

"I was getting to that," Mr. Brooke snapped. "He is a college soccer-player, pretty well known in the circuit. He's acting just to get noticed by more people or something, I'm not really sure."

"Uh, okay. That sounds good to me." Claire shifted from each foot to the other, hoping Mr. Brooke would tell her more about the mystery guy.

"Follow me if you want to come meet him," Mr. Brooke gestured for Claire to walk with him through two black doors.

The heavy doors opened with a loud groan, and then revealed a large set meant to be a classroom. It looked like your typical public school classroom, except for the blaring spotlights shining down on it. Seeing this made Claire grateful that she still looked young enough to be a high schooler, since the character she was portraying was just turning seventeen.

"Claire? You coming?" Mr. Brooke called back as he made his way across the set towards another door.

Claire realized she had stopped walking and had to jog to catch back up with him.

"Sooo… What's the guy playing William like? I mean, you said he's a soccer player like the character, but is he nice? Handsome? Charming? Charismatic-"

"I don't know!" Mr. Brooke barked, holding up his hands and rolling his eyes. "I've never met him. All I know is what I told you already."

Claire looked down trying not to look too disappointed. A part of her- the more scandalous part- wanted him to be amazing. She had a boyfriend, Kirk, but in all honesty, he was boring. They were only together because their friends had begged them to hook up, saying they were "Absolutely perfect for each other," and now Claire could tell they were both looking for a way out, but were too nice to be the first to say something. So maybe if the guy playing William is amazing, Claire could break-up with Kirk because she found someone else. Normally that would seem even worse than just doing it now, but Claire new somehow that Kirk would have done it the same way.

Claire and Mr. Brooke came up to the next door, and he politely held it open for her. They emerged into a small waiting room; the exact one Claire had been in five hours ago, before her audition. It seemed different now, probably because earlier Claire felt as though she was going to puke from nerves, whereas now, having scored the starring role, she had a newfound confidence.

"Okay… I'll leave you to it then. He should be here in about five minutes." Mr. Brooke said while checking his watch. He then left, leaving Claire with her thoughts.

She stood for at least ten minutes, too nervous to sit. But when she realized her soon-to-be-co-star was running a little late, she made her way over the chairs.

She sat in one blue comfy chairs and pulled out her phone.

Two new messages.

One was from Massie, telling her to 'break a leg, but not literally, because being a gimp is extremely unattractive,' and the other from Kirk, asking where she wanted to go out for dinner.

She smiled at the one from Massie, grateful that her friend had remembered that the biggest audition of her life was today. But Kirks just made her mad. Mad that he had forgotten the audition, and mad he couldn't just make a nice reservation, and surprise her with a fancy dinner, instead of expecting that she always pick some take-out Chinese place that made her sick the day after.

Food.

Claire realized she hadn't eaten all day. Not this morning, when she left her apartment, since she was already running late, and not when they had food set out during the audition because she was afraid it would all come back up while she was reading her lines. And she had passed many vending machines, but hadn't brought and cash dollars.

Her stomach let out a low, long grumble. She needed food, fast. She even felt a wave of dizziness come over her. Why didn't I eat- I should've- I need- Her thoughts started to jumble together, and she started to stand. Her knees sort of wobbled, and her vision became slightly blurred.

Claire took small steps to the door, figuring there might be food on the other side. She started to waver, and as quickly as she could, grasped onto the door handle for support. She pulled it open slowly, and squeezed out, now holding onto the wall. She glanced up, and saw Mr. Brooke and the casting director Ms. Andrews talking to someone. The someone had his back to Claire, but for some reason he seemed familiar to her. Claire spotted a snack table and clenched her stomach. So close! She started to make her way towards it when Mr. Brooke spotted her.

"Claire! There you are! I have someone I'd like you to meet" He bellowed, his voice sounded louder than usual and it made Claire jump.

"Uh, hold on," Claire managed, not taking her eyes off the snack table.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the boy Mr. Brooke and Ms. Andrews were talking to turn around.

"Claire?"

She stopped short. Then she whipped around to face the way-too-familiar voice. He was walking toward her now, eyes narrowed, like he was trying to recognize her. And if it weren't for the dizziness and sensation of falling, Claire might have recognized him too.

He was walking faster now, almost to her, arms stretched out. "Are you okay?" Claire thought she heard him ask her this, but wasn't sure.

Then, she was falling. She closed her eyes, expecting to hit the ground and wake up, since maybe it was all a dream, but she didn't. She landed in the boy's arms, which had managed to catch her only inches from the ground.

She slowly opened her eyes and noticed something. In all her dizziness, and falling, she managed to make out something strange in the boys face, which was now staring worriedly at her.

Something familiar.

Something startling.

Something that had taken her years to forget.

One of his eyes was blue.

But the other, was green.

That was her last thought before everything went black.