Chapter 2: Rumored To Be With Lions & Tigers &-!

"Why didn't you tell me that the meeting was today?" Alice said, frantically searching through her closet for something to wear. She had fallen asleep very late the night before, trying to research about the director. Which was largely unsuccessful, due to her agent not even giving Alice his or her name. Of course all I know is that the director is the biggest one in town, but that's absolutely nothing! Alice had tried calling her agent back, but each time she would receive a busy signal. The newcomer in the movie industry was determined to figure out which director it was and attempted to research online.

In the late morning, she woke up to the sound of her cell phone ringing, on her desk, next to her head. Once she heard her agent sheepishly tell her that everyone was going to be meeting at the corporate office in an hour, Alice had been a blur in her apartment.

"Sorry doll, I forgot! I was so excited for you that I... ha... forgot to mention that." Her agent continued to apologize.

"It's fine... I guess. I'm just surprised that we're meeting so early! I just said yes to the deal too, but I didn't even audition! Is that alright?" she asked her agent.

"Oh yes, Alice, he said no need to audition. He didn't think it was necessary because he's seen your work already. Oh, how's your day?"

The blond was too busy to respond, having the phone on speaker, and was dressed and ready to go. Except for the fact that-

*GRRROOOWWWWWWLLL*

The phone paused for a moment.

"Was that a lion I heard?" her agent tentatively asked. "You're not in a forest, are you?"

Alice laughed hollowly, rubbing her stomach and ignoring her agent's lack of geography knowledge.

"What? Oh, that? It was nothing. Just, uh, moving some things around." Oh no! I forgot to eat last night. Glancing at the clock on the wall, Alice calculated if she had time to spare. Shoot and I don't even have time to make anything to eat!

"You said it was at noon, right?"

"Yeah, and you better hurry up, you don't want to keep them waiting! Gotta go, need to finish this portfolio for Clarina. Ta ta for now!" Her agent blew kisses into the phone and hung up, while Alice grabbed her phone from the counter, and dashed out the crystallized front door and into the elevator.

With her earnings from her first movie, Alice was able to afford a simple but a bit costly apartment, mainly because she was paying for her security at one of the best hotels in Hollywood. She would have rented a house, but she didn't like having a place that large to only house a single person. The emptiness seemed to echo with just one person, and it frightened her just a bit. And she wasn't about to hire a cook and a maid, like some celebrities did. She preferred to do her own housework, because she didn't like burdening others.

As she had her purse on her shoulder, and her cellphone in hand, she flagged down a taxi (she didn't have her own car) and asked the taxi driver to take her to the address that her agent gave her. Sighing with relief, Alice relaxed when the driver told her she'd be there in 5 minutes. Using her comb, she brushed out a few kinks in her hair before she stared out the window of the passing scenery.

The front doors of the building flung open into the lobby, revealing a blond whirl who flew into the elevator, but not before nodding to the doorman and the secretary at the front desk. Pushing the button for floor number 17, she dusted herself off, trying to straighten out her clothes from her run and took off the tag she had accidentally left on the shirt. Hoping that she made it on time, Alice checked the time on her cell.

12:01 p.m.

The blond gave a sigh of both relief and frustration. I really hope they aren't the type of people who care if you're just a couple minutes off. Then I'm already off with a bad impression! I don't want that! I really wish that my agent didn't forget to tell me that. I wonder if there was anything else she forgot to tell me?

Lost in her thoughts, Alice jumped when the elevator binged, alerting her that she arrived at her destination. Taking a deep breath, the girl took a step forward when the elevator doors slid back.

Right as something red and blue rushed in front of her. Alice leaped outside of the elevator and flattened herself to the wall.

"Brother! Let's get these photos to the magazine before that stupid hare gets a hold of them! He'll just be ruining all our fun," said the boy in the blue outfit. Alice thought she heard a mischievous tone in his voice. Clenched to his chest, he held a black, shiny camera that he seemed to be protecting.

"Mhm, let's do that brother!" said the one in red, with a matching camera. With that, both escaped into the elevator and doors closed behind Alice. It wasn't another moment that she blinked until another person came running, yelling gibberish.

"Uh..." Alice stammered, utterly confused. She wasn't sure if she was to say anything, but the orange haired man turned his head.

"Those kids, where did you see them go?"

"I- they went there," Alice said, and pointed to the door. He nodded to thank her.

Then, he pounded the door, yelling "You brats! Wait 'til I get my hands on you!" He muttered under his breath, sounding something like, "I'll make sure you guys don't get your allowance for a week."

The ginger turned on his heel, and headed for the green door across the hall from the elevator, labeled "stairs."

As his purple scarf whipped out of sight, Alice rubbed her head.

I did get the right level, I'm sure. So who were they? Those boys looked pretty young... oh, whatever. But it's odd... why would they be selling the photos of whatever they took? Are the paparazzi starting out that young? And that other guy... he's really tall. And a bit scary when mad.

And their eyes... Alice thought there was something odd about them. Something... not normal. But what was it? Eyes aren't usually that strange to make her think about it. They are just eyes, nothing unusual.

The girl shook off any thoughts, wanting to relax and calm her beating heart, and continued on into the room. Alice thought that the decor was quite lovely, especially with all of the green clover symbols everywhere. It must be the logo for the business, she thought. It's definitely unique.

She turned a corner and and accidentally bumped into somebody. "Oh! I'm terribly sorry! Please excuse me," she said, and looked up to see who she had walked into.

"Hm," the man said. Alice looked at the guy, examining his appearance. Long dark blue hair (must be tinted, Alice thought), pulled into a ponytail at the base of his neck and trickled down almost to his knees. Two strands of shoulder length hair framed his sapphire eyes, and a small clock earring was placed on one ear. Too busy looking at his clothes (black coat with gold trimmings, a gold shirt underneath, and black pants), Alice didn't notice that she was staring until the man cleared his throat.

"Do you need something?" He sternly asked. Startled, Alice blushed red and shook her head. But remembering that she needed to find where the meeting was, just to make sure, she was going to ask the man when her stomach interrupted her.

*GROOOWWWWWLLLLL*

Silence.

The stranger looked around, confusion appearing very lightly on his face, searching for the source of the sound. Finding none, he muttered, "Couldn't have been a tiger." The man gave her a curt nod, looked about and continued on his way, not noticing the red spreading across Alice's face once again.

Waaa! How embarrassing! Thank goodness he didn't realize it was me. I'm practically starving... But I have to get to the meeting! I think I can go just for a bit longer... Alice was thinking when her stomach grumbled, protesting her action. But I don't want to make a bad impression on the first day.

She sighed, deciding the first chance she gets to go and stalk the restaurant two buildings down. The blond examined her surroundings. She was in another hallway, but thankfully, these doors had signs of where they led to. Alice was absolutely relieved to find one of the doors labeled "Meeting Room". Well, that's incredibly convenient. Lucky me.

She grabbed the brass door knob and turned it. Pushing the door open, Alice was greeted with the strange sight that laid before her.


Hope you can recognize who's who! The rest will be introduced next chapter.