Chapter 4

Sheldon continued to run lines with Penny until she felt comfortable enough with the material. When Penny finally got back to her apartment, she read through the audition scenes for the other characters. Aside from Sarah and Tim, there were some other classmates of Sarah's, another professor, a friend of Tim's, and the head of his department at the university. Sarah's roommate, Diana, was the only other part she could potentially end up with, since the girls were about the same age. Diana seemed a bit more conservative and focused, whereas Sarah was more free-spirited and gutsy, qualities Penny admired.

Penny woke up early Thursday morning. She was rather anxious about the audition, yet annoyed that she had to put in a 6 hour shift at the Cheesecake Factory beforehand. Like always, Penny made some coffee, showered, and put on her uniform. She still had an hour before she had to leave for her noon shift, so she sat down with her laptop in an attempt to keep writing her autobiography. It didn't need to be too long; it was merely an exercise for acting class. Penny enjoyed writing about her life, and contemplated continuing writing her personal story after the assignment was due.

Alright, where did I leave off?

Penny looked at what she wrote already. She noticed she was cut off mid-sentence when Sheldon came over that night.

"I just wish…" What did I wish? Dammit Sheldon, now I have no idea where I was going with this.

She erased the erroneous three words and stared at her machine for a few minutes before typing:

I've been a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory since I moved to Pasadena. Occasionally, I get to be a bartender there as well. It's a little stressful, and there are some days I don't want to get out of bed to go to work, but it has its moments. The guys come here every Tuesday night and order relatively the same thing every time. With Sheldon, it's exactly the same thing every Tuesday, down to the tedious, yet sanitary, preparation of his barbeque bacon cheeseburger.

Penny stopped typing. She didn't want to end up off topic by babbling about all the stupid things Sheldon does. Ironically enough, they do consume a decent chunk of her life. All of her friends could easily say the same.

She gave up on the writing and began to think about the play again. She wondered what the audition would be like. Would there be a big turn out? Would Mikey's handiwork attract a big crowd opening night? Hopefully people wouldn't walk out mid-show like the RENT showcase she was in.

Penny took a deep breath, put her hair in a messy bun, and left for work. Throughout her shift, she imagined the men auditioning with her. The role would probably be easier if she performed against a good looking guy. Definitely older than her, but not so old that it starts getting creepy. Dark hair, maybe distinguished eyes. And definitely tall. No offense to Leonard, but their love story would hardly hold a crowd for two and a half hours.

Finally, Penny finished her shift and made her way to her apartment. She rushed in and changed into her predetermined college attire. She printed out a copy of the scenes Larissa sent her and stood in front of the bathroom mirror with them.

"Oh yes, I'll be there. Oh YES, I'll BE there. I'll be THERE." Hmf. I'm thinking way too much. Just say the lines stupid.

Penny rehearsed a few more times in the mirror before gathering her stuff and leaving for the audition. On her way over, she started to think.

I suppose Larissa's going to be there. Why would she tell me to audition if I'm essentially her competition? Does she think she's better than me? Or maybe she's helping Mikey with something instead. No, she's definitely auditioning. She's a nice girl and all, but she is three years younger than me. Then again, who knows how many other girls will turn up?

She tried her hardest not to get into her own head and proceeded to listen to Raj's Beyoncé CD instead.

When Penny arrived at the Pasadena Theater, she noticed about 8 girls her age, a handful of attractive men, some people that didn't look fitting for any part either, etc… She signed in at the front and waited in the auditorium with the others. Larissa came over to sit by her.

"Hey Penny, I'm glad you could make it. Maybe we'll both get cast and get to work together!"

"Oh yeah that would be fun!" Granted I'm Sarah and you're not.

"Well good luck then!" She said before thumbing through the script. It was obvious they were auditioning for the same part. Although like always, Penny said that she would accept any part.

"Hey ladies! I'm so glad you want to be a part in my show! You're both so damn cute; I wish I didn't have to make any cuts!" Mikey said as he walked up to them.

"Mikey! Of course we're here. We support you, and we need resume fillers anyway." Larissa said while laughing a bit.

"Hi Mikey, the script looks pretty solid. This should be fun." Penny replied.

"Okay well good luck, dad and I will start calling names in a bit!" He said as he ran up toward his table in front of the stage.

Mikey proceeded to introduce himself to the room and explain how the auditioning process would work. He would announce the scene and call up various actors/actresses to do a read through on stage. They would run through each scene a handful of times and callbacks may or may not be necessary.

By the third run through of scene 1, Mikey called Penny's name. She ran through scene 1 with some guy. He looked more like Wolowitz than a college professor. But she did her best and that was that. Next, she watched Larissa run through the same scene with a nice looking fellow. He reminded her of the teacher from Glee, not that she watched the show particularly often. He was tall with soft, curly hair. He looked the part, and was a pretty good actor. Unfortunately, Larissa interacted with him well, which made Penny nervous.

By the third scene, Penny was feeling better about her chances. The aforementioned actor's name was Cole. She finally got to run through a scene with him, and felt more comfortable with the role. He was about Sheldon's height, maybe a bit heavier, but still relatively thin. The only thing that worried her was they could easily pass for friends rather than student/teacher. She hoped she looked young enough to avoid the confusion, but she worried nonetheless.

By the fourth audition scene, Penny began to worry more. She was called up first to do the run though, but she was told to read for Diana, Sarah's roommate. They called some perky young girl up to read for Sarah, which added to Penny's diminishing confidence. Reading for Diana wasn't bad, but it wasn't what she wanted.

By the end of the audition, Mikey told everyone that they'd receive a phone call in the next few days informing them on casting decisions.

Penny drove home that night rather nervously. It was just a small play at the local theater, but she felt drawn to Sarah's character and became rather obsessed with obtaining the role. Maybe working at the cheesecake factory without any acting gigs for so long left her desperate. Or maybe she missed the old days. Either way, she went to sleep that night anxiously awaiting the phone call to come later this week.