Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious. Not much use now, seeing as the last episode aired. You will be missed.
PROLOGUE
"Caterina Valentine, 9-years-old. Is that you?"
"Yes! But everyone calls me Cat!" I make sure to smile as I stand in front of the panel of adults. They're in charge of casting for the commercial I'm auditioning for. They wanted to talk to everyone by themselves, so right now it's just us in the room.
A lady speaks up. "It says here that you've been acting for a long time. Do you like acting?"
"Yes! It's a lot of fun! I get to play pretend and when I get my make-up done I feel like a princess!"
The panel people are all smiling and some are even laughing a little. Sometimes I think they're laughing at me, but Mom says when they do it's a good thing and they think I'm cute.
"You have a very nice smile."
"Thank you! I like smiling!"
"Now Cat," a man with glasses on talks next, "one of the girls in this commercial is very sad that her toy has broken. Can you look sad for us?"
Think of Grandpa in Heaven…
I think of Grandpa and his hugs, his jokes, and tears start to slide down my cheeks. The panel of adults start talking to each other. I can't really hear what they're saying until the man in the glasses speaks up.
"That's really impressive. Thank you Cat."
I think they like me!
…
It's been a few weeks, and I got the part! I've had other auditions, too, and I wish there was someone other than family I could talk to. I can't seem to make any friends at school. They don't like me.
Our teacher is in the middle of a spelling lesson when the class phone rings. It only took a moment before she hung up the phone back up.
"Cat, that was the office. Apparently your mother is here to pick you up right now."
"Oh, okay."
I start packing up my things, but I hear the whispers.
"She always gets out of class. Famous people are so lucky."
"She thinks she's so special because she's on TV."
"Yeah, she's so stuck up."
"I wish I could be in a commercial."
I rush out of the room and meet my mom at the office. I still feel like I could cry at any second, but I do my best to steady my voice and stay strong. Because mommy said that crying makes me look ugly, so I try not to do it in front of her.
She grabs my hand and we walk to the parking lot to find her car.
"We're going to go home and get you into that nice new sundress, because guess what? We're going to drive to your new job! You got the lead role for the long-running musical 'Sunshine on Cloud Nine'! You get to perform at the Orpheum Theatre! Congratulations!"
We're already in the car and speeding off. My mom looks happy, but I want to ask her anyway, even though it might make her upset.
"Mom, why do I have to miss school? The other kids-"
"The other kids aren't as special as you." She cuts me off. "And remember what I told you: we all only have so much time to spend, so sometimes things must be sacrificed to make room for more important things."
"But mom I…" I trail off.
I'm always alone.
…
It's our first day for "Sunshine on Cloud Nine", and we're having a cast meeting, where we meet everyone with speaking roles and start reading the script together. Mom and I were stuck in traffic, so we're a little late. I look around the room and everyone is older than me, except one girl. She looks my age.
I'm about to walk over to her, but the director is already in front of us.
"Sorry we're late! Traffic was terrible." My mom explains.
"That's alright, you're not too late. Just don't make it a habit." He turns around and faces everyone else, and claps his hands together loudly. "Alright everyone, time to start the introductions! We have decided to double cast the main role, so now we have two leading ladies."
He looks over to the other girl and motions for her to come forward. She walks up to us and we stand side by side, then he places his hands on our shoulders.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you Cat Valentine and Danielle Murano, who will be playing the role of Penelope!"
Everybody claps and Danielle turns to face me, sticking out her hand. "I'm excited to be working together with you. Let's do our best!" She gives a small smile.
I take her hand and shake it, but then I jump into her and hug her. I can tell she's shocked, but she hugs me back a little.
Together is such a wonderful word!
…
We're a month into rehearsals for the show, and it's really fun! I'm so glad it's double cast, otherwise I never would have met Danielle! Mom doesn't like it. She says the director should have been satisfied with just me, and keeps telling me not to lose to "that other girl". Why does she always make it about winning and losing? I don't get it. She's my best friend! People are still mean to me at school, but that's okay, because I have Danielle now.
"Alright, everyone! Take five!" The choreographer calls out. Everybody starts moving around. Most people go to get their water bottles, and Danielle and I do the same. After we're done drinking, she turns to me.
"I need to go to the bathroom. Do you want to come with me?"
"Sure!"
We walk out of the dance studio and down the hallway.
"How'd you get so good at dancing?" She asks. "You're picking up the moves a lot faster than I am. I'm pretty jealous."
"It's because I've been taking dance lessons since I was three." I explain. "You're doing really good though, Danielle!"
"Thanks."
We go to the restroom, and we start heading back towards the studio. All of a sudden Danielle stops and grabs my arm.
"Shhh! Do you hear that?" She whispers.
I shake my head, and she pulls me to one of the doors in the hallway. It's open slightly, so we can hear the people talking inside.
"It's coming from in here! I think it's the director."
"Danielle, we could get in trouble! Let's go back."
She puts her finger to her lips, and the director starts talking again.
"Cat's experienced, so she's good, but Danielle on the other hand…"
"Danielle's doing a lot better than when she first started, don't you think?" I'm pretty sure that's the stage manager.
"Yes, but she's still not as good as Cat. She doesn't have as much training, and I'm afraid that pretty soon the audience will be able to tell how inexperienced she is. Maybe I should have gone with a single cast role."
I look over to Danielle, and she's frozen. I don't think I've ever seen that fear in her eyes before, she's always so strong. Suddenly she turns and marches off toward the dance room. I try my best to keep up, but she tries to stay ahead of me. I can't take it!
"Danielle!" I run in front of her and block her way.
"What? Do you want to rub it in my face? That you're better than me?" She's snarling at me, but she looks like she's about to cry. I don't want her to hate me.
"I… I can help you! I can work on the dancing and the acting and the singing with you! Let me help!" I plead with her. "I only get compliments because of past experience. I'll teach you everything! Please don't quit! Please…"
I feel like crying, too. I don't want to lose her.
She wipes her eyes, and hugs me. "Thank you, Cat."
…
Danielle has been coming over to my house, and we've been working really hard! She's gotten a lot better, and everyone is starting to see how good she's become! We've finally started working with the stage, and I'm in the audience watching Danielle practice her parts.
Once she's finished, the director walks up to the edge of the stage. "Great work, Danielle! You've really improved! I'm impressed."
Soon everyone is complementing her, and she looks so happy! I catch her eye, and give her two thumbs up, but she turns away.
Huh?
Maybe she didn't see me. I'll tell her later how proud I am of her!
…
It's a long time since Danielle's spoken to me. Usually we stay up late talking on the phone! I feel like she's avoiding me. Why? What did I do wrong? I just want to be with my best friend. Mom says I'm slipping, that I need to concentrate or I'll lose to her. I hope Danielle is just nervous about the show. She'll go back to her normal self after this is all over, right?
It's opening night, and Danielle is doing Act One and I'm doing Act Two, so we can both be a part of the first day. Our performance is being televised too, so it's very important for both of us to do well. We're not twins or anything, but wearing the same costume helps. Especially since Penelope's character has crazy curly hair, so we have to wear wigs. We both have brown hair and the wig is brown, too, so it looks more natural. I'm sitting backstage in my costume, waiting for my turn to get my make-up done. Danielle is getting hers done when someone bursts into the main room downstairs, where I'm sitting.
"Danielle just fainted! What do we do?"
What? It's less than an hour until we're supposed to start!
Everyone goes into a panic. I'm just in shock and I feel myself being dragged around, and I guess in the chaos they decided to get me ready to perform the whole show myself. Suddenly Danielle stumbles into the room.
"I can do it!" She yells. "I can perform! Please… let me perform! Please!"
They argue with her, telling her to sit it out since she's not feeling well, but she doesn't budge. We're both put through make up and it's almost time for us to start.
"Cat, you wait in the wings. If Danielle passes out, the dancers will take her offstage and you'll jump in. You can just improvise a reason why Penelope fainted, okay?"
"Okay." I look to Danielle. Her face is more focused than I've ever seen it.
She takes her place onstage and the curtains rise, and she's incredible! She doesn't even seem sick or weak or anything! But… her every expression, her ever move is just like mine. I realize that all this time I've been worried about her, thinking about her… she's been getting better. She's better than me.
Act One ends, and the curtain falls. Everyone is waiting in the wings for her, and as soon as the curtain is completely down, they rush out to the stage and surround her.
"You were amazing!"
"Incredible! Such professional work!"
"Tonight, a real star is born."
I stand frozen to my spot, watching as she gets the praise she deserves. I don't know why I'm not happy for her. Soon everyone goes away, back to their jobs or the dressing rooms. She's still standing onstage, and she sees me. She walks over to me and I will never forget what she said. Her voice was barely above a whisper, but I could hear her clearly.
"I will never let you have the spotlight. How sad for little Cat, having no friends, all alone. All you had was your fame. And I have that now." She smirks. "I win."
She leaves me there, and I don't even feel time pass. Someone points to the stage, telling me Act Two is about to begin. I stand center stage, and the curtain rises. I feel the spotlight, but I can't move. I can't speak. I can't do anything. I can feel my world crumbling under my feet, and I can't stop it. The only thing that's real are the words echoing inside of me.
All alone.
No friends.
I win. I win. I WIN.
It feels like an eternity before the curtains close again. The burgundy velvet touches the stage, and I feel myself falling. The world around me goes black.
A/N: Interested? Keep reading! I wanted to post the prologue and next chapter at the same time you you could get a feel of the story before you decide if you like it or not.
