Heyy guys! This is my first fan fiction posted on this thing! I'm really excited about this story! I have so many ideas, plus i have a lot of chapter written out already, so I can update a lot. Anyway, give it a chance, I promise there will be wayyy more JB in it than this first chapter! And don't forget to write a review! I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Oh my gosh, this past year has been so crazy for me! I really can't believe I got so lucky. I just hope 2008 can be as good as 2007, even though I have a feeling it will be even better. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Sarah Cortez, I'm sixteen years old, and I live on Long Island in New York. I'm a pretty outgoing girl, and I like to entertain people and laugh. I have a mom, a step-dad, and two younger siblings (a sister who's eleven, and a half-brother who's eight). My real dad died of cancer when I was six. It was terrible for me, and not a day goes by that I don't think of him. It's the most hard to know that I don't really have a lot of memories of him. I have a lot of really great friends, I play competitively in soccer all year round (I would say I'm pretty good), and I love to shop. I'm a size three or five, depending on the jeans, thank you mom, and I love shopping at Hollister, Abercrombie, and Forever 21. Don't get me wrong, I don't always wear those brands, but I like to dress nicely and long necklaces are my thing. I love shoes too. I get really good grades in school and take mostly honors and AP classes. I have a lot going for me, but I would say my life is pretty boring – or WAS pretty boring, until recently.
Okay, I guess I should start at the beginning. Last year, February to be exact, I got roped into taking a few headshots. I don't really know how it happened, but it did. My friends got a hold of them and one of them, whose dad knows some people who have connections, sent them in along with some other information, to an agency. Little did I know, a few weeks later, I'd be getting a call to go to an audition for a guest appearance on a Disney show. Whoa! That was totally unexpected, and I was extremely thrilled. I mean, I have always wanted to be famous, I always said that every since I was little, and I thought it would be amazing to act. I never really acted before though, sticking to sports and dance, but I knew deep down I could pull out and amazing performance. My friends all tell me that I have a great personality that stands out, and I like to think that I'm kind of funny.
Anyway, so I convinced my mom to take me to the audition in New York City (good thing I live on Long Island about forty five minutes away, not a bad drive), and before I knew it, I was getting a call back – to go to LA because I got the part! You have no idea how amazing that feeling was. Better than winning the county championships with my soccer team, better than getting straight A's, better than anything I ever felt. For me, someone who had always dreamed to be in the spotlight but never had any experience, it was really surreal to land my first job at my first audition.
So, in April, I flew out to LA with my mother in tow (she had decided to be my manager) to meet with my new agent and to start filming the episode of what I found out to be Cory in the House. Before I did though, I had a few days of meetings with my new agent/manager, discussing my expectations, my future goals, and other things such as my image. My agent turned out to be a really nice woman named Margret, but she insisted that I called her Maggie.
After that, she had taken me to a really high end salon in LA to get a makeover. They lightened my extremely dark brown hair a tiny bit, and added some subtle highlights. They waxed my eyebrows, showed me how to do my makeup, painted my nails, and cut and styled my curly hair into a sleek straight look for the time being (something that I would never be able to achieve at home, but hey, it looked good for then). Maggie said that they would work on my wardrobe after the episode and after they saw if I got any more jobs.
I went to film the next day, and it went great! The cast was amazing and really welcoming, and I felt right at home. They told me I acted like a pro, and they were shocked to find out that this was my first time acting ever. The filming lasted only one short week, and I was soon flown back to New York, keeping in great touch with Maggie.
May came around and I turned sixteen, having the best party imaginable (without spending 124,000). That was also a great month because my episode was supposed to air on Disney Channel. Surprisingly, the episode I was in debuted very well on Disney Channel and Maggie was calling me not long after it first aired with some more jobs. Disney wanted to bring me back to shoot an episode of Hannah Montana. HANNAH MONTANA! Okay, so I'm sixteen and everything, but I have two younger siblings who watch Disney Channel constantly, and even my friends watch some shows. This... was… huge!
I was flown back to LA in June to film the episode. Selena Gomez was not able to come back to the show for another episode as Michaela, so the writers had hastily written in a new rival pop star for Hannah. It was so fun playing the mean girl, and I had a really great time on set with everyone. The whole cast, including Emily, Mitchell, and Miley were great, even though I sensed a little jealousy from Miley, but I never told anyone that.
The director thought I was really good for an amateur, made some calls, and exactly four days after my episode of Hannah Montana aired, I got another call from Maggie, this time telling me that Disney wanted me to be in a Disney Channel Original Movie. The movie was staring Emily Osment, but the girl who was supposed to play her ditzy best friend had dropped out last minute due to some illness she had, and they called Maggie to offer the part to me. Me, of all the people they could have chosen, they chose me. I was beyond ecstatic, and learned that the movie would be filmed from the end of July all the way through august. I was a little upset, because I would be missing school soccer tryouts, but I had been on the team since freshman year, so I knew I might be able to talk to the coach about it.
We had to film the movie quick, because Disney wanted it out by November. That was unheard of for the company, but they were really trying to squeeze as much money as possible as they could from their actors. So, I filmed my first DCOM, which went terrific might I add, and it premiered in November, breaking some Disney records. I even got to go to the premiere, which was the best time of my life.
So, by December, I was yet again in talks with Disney. They had really noticed me, and all the success I had been bringing them (even though I thought it was just because of the other actors, not me), and they decided to invest in me. I knew that meant something big, but I wasn't exactly sure. Let me tell you, I wasn't expecting this at all.
First, Disney wanted to bring me back to Hannah Montana after Miley was finished with her Best of Both Worlds Tour with the Jonas Brothers. I was to play that rival pop star again, but this time, me and Hannah would call a truce, and even sing a duet together. Me! Sing! I had only dreamed of it since I was little, and now I was actually doing it! Even though it was only one song, it would get put on the third season's soundtrack, those executives promised, so I was to start vocal lessons to "sharpen my tone" or whatever. Then, they wanted me to star in MY OWN original series! I couldn't believe it! They were actually writing the pilot as we spoke, and I was beyond excited. Finally, they wanted to have me star in my own DCOM! They even threw me a party to celebrate, in which most of the Disney stars had stopped by to come to (minus Hannah and the Jonas Brothers).
Needless to say, I turned out to be one lucky girl last year. I was busy beyond belief, since I managed to stay on my soccer teams and somehow finish driver's ed, which means I can take my road test soon! This year is only going to be bigger. Maggie just called us a few days ago, and told us that Disney's Hollywood Inc. had gotten my family a home in the "Disney part" of LA. You know the neighborhood where every Disney channel star, including Hilary Duff, lives. I was really bummed about moving, but totally excited to start my dream. My mom agreed we would move out, just me and her, in a few weeks so I could start filming my pilot, and we would arrange for my dad, brother, and sister to meet us out there at the end of the school year. I just couldn't take my siblings away from their home in the middle of the year. I was upset myself, but I knew I had to do it to fulfill my dream. Even if that meant giving up soccer (just competitively, not for good), which was my life.
"Wake up!" my mom called from downstairs. I needed to get to the set for filming. It was January 7th and the start of the first full week of filming for my pilot of my new Disney channel series. I quickly got up, looking at the clock and realizing that I would be late if I didn't get ready that second, and jumped into the shower. I put on a pair of dark wash boot cut jeans, slipped on my new Coach sneakers (you know, the ones that look like converses), and threw on a zip up sweatshirt from Hollister over a white lacy cami, knowing that I would be changing as soon as I got there. I threw my hair up into a messy on purpose pony tail, clipping my bangs back into a small pouf. I applied a tiny amount of eyeliner, knowing that they would probably take it off as soon as I got there.
I ran downstairs with my large tote in hand, filled with all the stuff I would need for the rest of the day. I ate breakfast quickly and checked myself in the mirror and we were out the door. Our new house was gorgeous. It was gated, like all the other houses on the surrounding blocks, and it had two stories. It had five bedrooms and two bathrooms, a large kitchen, two dens, and a gorgeous in ground pool in the backyard, which was perfectly manicured. Disney would help pay for the house until I made enough money to pay it off.
We drove in the white SUV that my mom had rented while we were out here and got to the set. I was blown away with the set design, but didn't have much time to admire it as I was whisked off into wardrobe, and then hair and makeup, Maggie telling me random things that she thought were necessary for me to know. The other stars on the show were some new, some familiar. I would be playing a girl, who like every other Disney show, had two best friends, one guy and one girl, and a little sister, and there were also the typical mean girls and some cute boys that I was to crush on too, so there were a few kids around for me to interact with.
The day was long (we filmed from 7 am to 6pm, with some breaks in between for lunch and tutoring, and we also did school work when we weren't filming a scene; since I was the star, I was in almost every scene, so I required extra tutoring on my weekends, which we were off from filming), but I think it went well, at least, that's what the director, John, had told me. I smiled at my costars; a girl named Sasha and the boy who played Zeke in High School Musical (a movie I was in love with) named Chris, and went to my dressing room to change back into my clothes. I was starving and the entire cast was invited out to dinner. My mom had returned home, claiming she was exhausted and that she wanted to call back home to check on things. She agreed to let me go out with the cast, as long as I found a ride home.
The dinner was fun, full of laughs, and really good. I realized that I was going to have an amazing couple of years with my cast, since they were all amazing. Sasha was definitely going to become one of my best friends, and Chris was too. He had actually agreed to drive me home after dinner, and we soon found out we lived one block away from each other. It was crazy really, since Sasha was moving in down the street from Chris, and some of the other stars on the show lived by us too. We could probably carpool once filming really got underway.
The next few days flew by, and before I knew it, it was already Thursday. I wasn't really exhausted yet from filming, since we usually got home at a reasonable hour, and we had to wake up early like I did for school anyway. I was lucky enough to have them call filming over for the day early, and I was approaching my house at a little after five. I noticed a large van in front of the house next door, and wondered what was going on. Since we moved here, there has never been any activity in that house, or a couple of these houses for that matter, and I wondered who was living there. I hadn't really had chance to meet many neighbors, except for the ones that I had or was working with.
The sun was setting, so there was a dark shadow, and I could only make out the outline of the people moving around the big van. They were unloading a lot of suitcases, and I counted about five of them walking around. As we neared, I caught a glimpse of one of them, someone who had to be the father. He looked oddly familiar, but I couldn't quite place him. Before I could get another look at the others, my mom pulled into our longish driveway.
"Mom, who do you think lives there?" I asked her as we entered the house.
"I don't know. We should find out tomorrow or something. Maybe I'll go over and greet them. I need some friends around here," my mom laughed. I gave her a look that said never do that again.
She fixed us some dinner, and I had to go up to my room to do some homework that my tutor had assigned me. My mom wanted me to finish out the year with my honors and AP classes, meaning they had to hire an extremely expensive tutor and I was given a lot more homework than the rest of the kids. I sighed two hours later, at nine o'clock, needing to take a break. I stepped outside of the sliding doors in the den that lead into the back yard, and went to go sit in one of the chairs over by the pool. I sat there for a while, taking in my surroundings and thinking about what was happening to me.
"Dudes, come look, I think we have new neighbors," Joe said to his brothers, looking out the window to his room which was on the second story. The way his room was positioned, he could clearly see into the neighbors backyards, so he spotted the girl in the next yard easily. He was one third of the band called the Jonas Brothers, and they had just finished their tour with Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana, excited to start a three week resting period, with occasional appearances and meetings.
His brothers, Nick and Kevin rushed over to his side, and peered out the window to where Joe was looking. There sat a girl, looking around mid teens, looking out over her pool.
"Man, I think she looks really familiar, I just can't place her," Nick said, snapping his fingers.
"Do you think she works for Disney? I mean, a lot of people who live here do," Kevin said, moving away from the window, thinking it was creepy for them to be staring at her.
"I don't know," Nick said, stepping away too. Joe couldn't really make out her entire appearance, but from what he could tell, she was really beautiful. Finally, the girl stood up and stretched, turning around to go back into her house. She looked up at the sky one last time, eyes wandering over to the neighboring houses. Joe knew her eyes were about to land on his window and quickly stepped away from it, letting the blinds fall.
"Did she see you?" Nick asked, amused by his brother's reaction.
"I don't think so," Joe replied from the floor, since he had tripped over his own feet in his haste.