It had all sounded so glamorous. An entirely different land full of culture, history, and music. She received the call about three weeks ago, that she would be working as her Uncle David's assistant, who was a director working on another legitimate movie. The movie she'd help working on? Well, that was a secret. It had all happened so fast, her biggest dreams were to become a star director, just like her uncle. And now she was in England, straight out of high school and ready to burst into college. Then again, if she became a huge director at the age of eighteen, she wouldn't need to go to college, really. But the chances of that happening were quite slim.

"Ray...Ray, honey, wake up." She could feel her uncle gently nudging her shoulder, not wanting to wake her, but it was time for work.

The girl groaned, sitting up in her bed, eyes barely open. She put a hand to her forehead and looked up as her uncle just shook his head. David Yates. He was a very round, jolly sort of man, portly, with balding gray hair. He was forty-seven years of age. She mumbled a great deal of words in protest, but David wasn't listening.

"Sorry, didn't catch that. David muttered in his rich English accent, Ray frowning. Her uncle was British, she understood him perfectly, but sometimes it didn't go so well the other way around. "Come, now, we're leaving in an hour." David said firmly, Ray looking at her watch.

"I can't get ready in an hour!" She protested, David shrugging.

"I wanted to let you sleep in a bit." He said, Ray muttering.

"It's four-thirty." David just smiled and exited the room with as much stealth as he did coming in, shutting the door behind him.

Ray got up and made her way around the bedroom. It was quite a large house for a man who lived alone, but who wouldn't want all that space to themselves? And here she was, just getting used to a cramped apartment with five people living in it at a time. She showered, brushed her teeth, blow-dried her hair and began putting on her make-up. She didn't look a lot like her uncle one bit. She reached about 5'5", maybe 5'6" if you counted her hair, which was a dark brown with bangs cut across the front like Daisy Lowe's. She had hazel, almond-shaped eyes, pouty lips and her body mimicked that of an hourglass quite well. What else would you suspect of an American girl?

"Ray, are you done yet, love?" Her Uncle called from outside the bedroom door. "Almost!" She answered right back, barely in her undies. "Alright, I'll be warming up the car!"

"Ugh..." She grunted, after getting dressed she grabbed her purse and flew down the stairs, into her Uncles' truck and buckling her seat belt. "Ready! Let's go!" She yelled, David just raising his eyebrow at her. He was dressed normally, jeans, shirt, jacket, and a hat. Directors didn't have to dress fancy these days. "Right. It's going to be a long day."

"Are we stopping for coffee?" Ray asked, fiddling with a buckle on her purse. "Of course." David laughed, most of the drive was silent. Except for idle conversation like,

"How do you feel today?"

"Just peachy."

"How's America?"

"We finally got a black president."

"So I heard."

"Mm-hm."

Stuff like that. But there was one question in particular that interested her. "Have you prepared your speech yet?" David asked, handing Ray her Vanilla latte with double shot espresso.

"Speech?" She yipped, hot coffee blistering her tongue and throat.

"It's hot, love!" David cautioned her, after handing it to her, but she didn't care at the moment.

"What speech?" She spat, he never told her about any stupid speech. She thought she would just walk in, look cute for a few weeks, get coffee and doughnuts for her Uncle and be done with it all. Gaining a few experience points in the process and meet new people, perhaps? Right? No one said anything about her having to publicly speak.

"Everyone new to the team gives a speech when they first arrive. You're lucky. Usually we spring it on them." He noted, seeing the disbelief on her face. "I guess." She muttered, blowing on her coffee. "Sorry love? I can't understand you when you mumble." He said, smiling as she stuck her tongue out at him.

When David and his niece arrived at the studio, located somewhere in Warford, Ray looked around wildly to try and get a gist of where they were.

"Are we-" She did a full 360, her Uncle smiling widely. "Where are we going?" She asked, they were on Leavesden Studio. She knew which studio her Uncle worked on, but the movie was a mystery. She didn't know much about the place, from the outside it looked like a large warehouse. It was what was waiting on the inside that worried her - or who. Then she felt sick. But what movie could it be? Who would she meet? Would she become richer from the experience as a whole, or just fetch her Uncle coffee every now and again? She pondered these questions in her head as her Uncle steered her around a corner, only to catch a glimpse at a few faces, a few of them were quite recognizable. Funny. She didn't know anybody from England, except her Uncle.

"Mother-!" Ray cried, as they walked into a studio number 31. "NO! Take me home, now, please!" She whispered in an anxious tone, struggling with her Uncle. She wasn't ready for this. She hadn't expected it. "UNCLE!" She whined, who just laughed and shushed her.

"Shhh! SHHH! You're making a scene!" He laughed at her, and she tried to go dead weight like she saw on those Cops shows back home, but David just held onto her elbows and refused to let her go. She glared at him, and he just smiled, various heads turned in their direction.

"Why? Why, why?" She whimpered, David patting her on the back.

"You'll be all right. How about that speech then?" He asked, putting a hand behind her neck and pushing her over to a crowd of people. She kept her eyes tightly shut, this was all bull, it couldn't be true. She wanted to cry.

'Okay, okay, okay, okay. Run! No, stay. They'll all make fun of you if you run. They'll laugh if you mess up! RUN! NO, AAGHHHHH!'

As the war inside her head raged on, she realized how stupid she had been. Her uncle was directing the final installment of the Harry Potter films. Which meant Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson. They'd all be here. HERE! Where she was. Were they here now? Oh, God.

"You could have given me a heads up."

"Well, I'm giving you one now."

"Thanks." She growled, people calling over to David from halfway across the room.

"How could you not know? I only directed the last two installments. What were you expecting?" He chuckled, Ray did not find any of this funny.

"I was expecting a low-budget childrens movie or something, I don't know!" She hissed, and David scoffed at her.

"Silly girl. Alright, stand up straight, you'll impress people more that way. Speak clearly, and don't use any of that weird 'slang' like you usually do." Ray gulped, and opened her eyes, walking next to her uncle with her head tall, eyes straight ahead. She tried not to look anybody in the eyes, David raising his right arm to wave to the other crew members.

"Oi, David! Is this the new meat?" A short, hairy man cried as he eyed Ray, which made her fairly uncomfortable. A few others sized her up as well, giving her the once over. She felt naked. What was she wearing? An adorable green button-up plaid shirt that was rolled up to her elbows, skinny blue jeans and those cute brown cowboy boots she found at a thrift store a few weeks ago. Her breathing eased a bit. Clear plastic bangles decorated her wrists, her ears and fingers glittered with rings and her hair was actually cooperating with her today, which was seldom. Clothes and make-up gave her confidence, as sad as that was.

"No, Richard." David said plainly, not noticing his niece was currently being looked at as if she were a candy bar. "Everyone, this is the new director's assistant, Rachel Alexandria Sweet. Also known as Ray, Rach, or my niece, but there's no need to pull any punches with this one; She's a big girl." Quite a few people laughed at David's little joke, Ray just glared at him.

'That wasn't even funny...' She thought, she couldn't tell if they were just being suck-ups, or if English humor was drier than a raisin.

"Speech!" Someone cried, whom it was, Ray couldn't see their face, and then a bunch of hands grabbed her and she shouted out in protest.

'Crap.' She thought to herself, David patting her on the shoulder.

"SPEECH! SPEECH!" They all chanted, and Ray was set on top of some random crate. She sighed as David just smirked; She hated him right now.

"Okay, OKAY!" Ray cried, and the crowd of rowdy Englishmen settled to listen to her speak. Quite a few people had gathered around, she wouldn't be surprised if it was the whole cast and crew. She cleared her throat, trying to think quickly before saying anything; She wanted to seem intelligent, not slip in a bunch of "ums" and "likes" whilst she was talking, which is what she usually did. She took her time with her words and spoke slowly, when she was utterly nervous, she touched her hair, so she clasped her hands together to keep her from doing so.

"Well, first off, I realize I probably sound like I stepped straight out of a western film, but that's okay..." She spoke, the loudness of her voice shocked her, as if there were someone behind her speaking, she was only lip-syncing. She let her eyes swoop over the crowd once, her stomach turning over multiple times.

"I'd rather sound like a cowboy than a chimney sweep any day." She said, setting her hands on her hips, a few squeals and hoots at this. It was a bold remark, considering she was in a room of English people, but it was well-received. "But seriously, I'm really honored to be working here, at Studio 31, with you all." She swallowed the lump in her throat, hoping they weren't judging all Americans based off of her actions and appearance. She refused to let her eyes linger on anyone's face for too long, she's seen a few way-too familiar faces in there and it made her heart race. Yup. They really were all here.

"I hope I get the chance to become great friends with each and every one of you, and...I really hope I'll be able to take a few priceless memories with me back to America." She finished, what else could she say? She liked being liked, and to be liked by these people would be a reward in itself.