Chapter One: Auditions

Scarlett's POV

Here I go again, to another audition that they will just turn me down at. I got off at 50th st. subway station, and crossed the street. I walked past Universal Pictures, and arrived at New World Stages. I opened the door and went the reception desk.

"Hi, I'm here to audition for Puffs." I said.

"Ah, well you may be surprised, but Universal has decided that they want to help with this cast and film the show live." The receptionist replied.

"You're kidding."

"So, you get to audition in the studio. I'll get someone to take you there." At that moment, another worker walked in the door.

"This another one?" She asked.

"Yup."

"Follow me." I followed her out of the door and to the studios. A worker from there took me in an elevator to a small black box theater. There were about fifteen people in the room. The worker handed me a clipboard, then left. I sat down two chairs away from another girl. I filled out my resume, (I am so sick of doing these.) and waited for something to happen. About ten minutes later, when a couple more people had arrived did someone who looked like they were in charge came into the room.

"Hello everyone. I am Trenton Mager, and I will be the screen director for this show. Now, we will cast four main characters, nine supporting characters, and 4 swings. The other seven people here will not be cast. Understood?" Everyone nodded nervously. "Good. Now, let's get started. Everyone take a sticker from down here and write your name and the number on your resume on it."

Everyone walked to the center of the room and grabbed a sticker. When I finished writing my name and number on it, I stuck it on my shirt at looked around at the other actors. They all looked fairly nervous.

"Alright everyone, during your audition, we are going to have you do a cold read, and for experimental purposes, will have you sing something." Trenton said, collecting everyone's clipboards.

I was getting more excited be the second. I might even have a chance to make it in this show.

"Okay, first up, Rachel Alee." Trenton took a young girl to a separate room. A few minutes later, Trenton and the girl came back out.

"Next, Edward Burns." Edward followed Trenton to the audition room. None too soon, he was back again.

"Riley Crabtree." Riley shakily got up and went inside the room. It took a while before she came out.

"Alurra Galaeda." She went in and came out.

"Brian Inere" Same scenario.

"Joyce Law" She was so nervous she almost ran into the door.

"George Nau." This is taking forever.

"James Okorie." Oh shoot, I think I'm next.

"Scarlett Pyralis." I stood up and walked hesitantly to Trenton.

"Come right in." He ushered me into the room.

Inside the room, three women and a man were sitting at a table. Trenton sat on a stool by the door.

"Hello and good morning!" One of the women said. "I am Lena Halem. These people are Clarissa Carson, Norbert Glam, and Isabella Ensie." Lena had a really bubbly voice.

"We are going to have you read this part of the script on Susan's part, then on Hannah's part." Clarissa said, handing me a paper.

"You can look over that while we look at your resume. We'll tell you when we're ready." Isabella said.

"Okay." I said. I looked over the scene, figuring out the ways the characters should say things.

"Alright. You can begin whenever you're ready." Lena said, her pencil at the ready. I started reading. Isabella read the other part. When I finished we switched parts. I liked reading this part better. When we finished, Norbert stood up and went to a piano that was in the corner of the room.

"I have some music for you, if you come over here." He said. I walked over to the piano. Norbert handed me a small packet of sheet music.

"I will play through this song so you can get the tune. Then you can practice once before you actually perform." I nodded. Norbert started playing and singing the song. After that, I sung along with him. Then I was ready to perform in front of the crew. I nodded at Norbert to start playing. When I finished, Lena quietly clapped.

"Excellent job Scarlett." Trenton said. "You can go take a seat and I will call the next auditioner."

We walked out of the room and I returned to my seat as Trenton called the next actor. I felt very good about my audition. There might be a chance that I will actually make it in for once. As I took my seat, I sat a little higher.

Riley's POV

I was getting pretty bored now that the initial relief was over. I felt pretty good about my audition, even though it was only my 2nd one in NYC. The girl that was sitting a chair away from me had just returned from her audition. She looked fairly confident. I noticed a couple other actors having small conversations. I should probably talk to someone to cure my boredom. After Trenton called eight more people, I moved a seat over so I was sitting next to the other girl.

"Hi," she said when she noticed me, "I'm Scarlett Pyralis."

"Riley Crabtree." I said pointing at myself.

"How did your audition go?" She asked me.

"Pretty good. This is only my second audition in New York."

"This is my eighteenth. I've been auditioning like crazy ever since I got out of college."

"I was a bit slower. I've been trying to get organized here. When did you get out of college?"

"About six months ago."

"Me too! You've really been auditioning." Trenton came and called the next person. We sat in silence for a few minutes until Trenton called three more people.

"What house are you in?" Scarlett asked suddenly.

"I'm a Hufflepuff."

"So am I! I hate it when they make it blue on the Hogwarts crest."

"That drives me insane." Trenton called another person.

"Is this the last one?" Scarlett asked.

"I think so." Sure enough, a few minutes later, Trenton, the person he had called, and everyone else that was in the room walked out.

"Okay everyone. Great job. We are going to take a break while we figure out the callback list. Meet back here at 1:15. That gives you about two hours to eat lunch, and do whatever you want to do." Trenton said.

"Just don't get drunk and hit by a car." Lena added.

"Good concept. We will see you in a few hours." Trenton shooed us off. Scarlett stopped at the door.

"I'm going to get carry-out, then eat in Central Park," she said, "Come with?"

"Sure." I said, and we headed off.

Trenton's POV

I hate making lists, because there's always someone who's not on it. Then I feel bad about it. But, here I was, going through papers to make a list.

"Hang on," Lena said, "I've got an idea."

"Oh boy," Clarissa sighed, "What is it?"

"Well, since none of us like making decisions, we can all take a random 5 people and decide which one would be a good lead, two who would be a good supporting character, which one would be a swing, and which one to cut." Lena said in one breath.

"Ok, but there's 5 of us and 24 of them. Who wants to be the person that takes one less person?" Isabella asked.

"I guess I will." Norbert volunteered.

"Alright, but you don't get to pick a lead, and you have to pick 3 supporting characters" Lena said.

We all took a stack of resumes. I had gotten the first four in the alphabet; Rachel Alee, Edward Burns, Riley Crabtree, and Alurra Galaeda, and Brian Inere. Lena got James Okorie, Scarlett Pyralis, Gabriel Pyuttnam, Cassandra Queen, and Eric San. Clarissa got Mary Ann Suva, Zoë Thompson, Wyatt Torn, Ryan Traviss, and Margaret Union. Isabella got Rosa Villa, Max Wade, Alexander Ware, Andrea Wilson, and Vincent Zabinski. Norbert got Joyce Law, George Nau, Colleen Sarno, and Mark Smith. After fifteen minutes of silence, Lena must have gotten anxious.

"Does everyone at least have who they want to demote?" She asked impatiently. We all nodded.

"Let's just throw their resume into the center so everyone can see it." I said. We all did that. The names thrown in were; Rachel Alee, Joyce Law, Gabriel Pyuttnam, Mary Ann Suva, and Vincent Zabinski.

"Now, we all know we need two more people to demote," Lena said, "Isabella?"

"I hate to say it," Isabella said, "But I think that George Nau and Wyatt Torn are the other two."

"I agree." Clarissa said, looking guilty. Me and Norbert nodded.

"Well then, let's decide which parts we'll have people read." I said. We started shuffling through the papers again. I'm really hungry right now. This is going to take a while.