Chapter Ten: Lola's Big Break and the Long Wait

Lola took deep breaths. She'd asked Lana, Rita and Lincoln to go with her to her commercial tryout. She was sitting in a room with almost fifty other boys and girls. Only three of them would be chosen for the commercial. So it was a big competition. And Lola couldn't deny being nervous. Lincoln put a hand on her shoulder. He'd been training with his new bionics for months now and he was much stronger, despite his body not looking much bulkier. But his hand was so gentle.

"It's gonna be okay. Whether you win or lose, whether you get the commercial or not, we're proud of you." Lincoln said. Lola nodded, continuing to go over her lines so that she didn't forget any lines in her nervousness. She went over the lines obsessively and then began repeating them in her head without the script. She was going to get it perfect. She watched as three kids at a time went in and then came out with the word that they'd be in contact with them. Lola knew that they always said that, but only the kids who were going to get callbacks would be called again.

Finally, Lola, Ginny and Phineas were called in. Lola smiled at Phineas. He was kind of cute. They went into the room and were given their roles and told to act it out. The goal was to see how good their chemistry as actors was even though this was the first time they were meeting. Phineas and Ginny might not be there next time. Or Lola might not be there next time and they'd need to know how to work with their co-actors on the fly. Lola gulped. Her role was the one she knew the least. She'd had trouble with some of the lines and Lisa had to help her pronounce them.

But she could do it. She'd repeated the difficult words over and over until she could say them with ease. She could do this. She went first and spoke to Phineas. They were having a pretty easy conversation when Ginny came in and Lola was supposed to admire her clothes. How trendy and elegant they were. Lola hadn't yet seen the clothes they would be wearing in the commercial. But she was excited about it. She was always interested in fashion trends, much like Leni was.

They finished their interaction and were thanked for their time. The three each gave the judges their numbers and were told that they'd be in touch. Lola went back to Lincoln, Lana and Rita. Suddenly, her head jerked around.
"Lindsey Sweetwater!" Lola snarled. Lindsey looked up, smirking at Lola.
"Oh, Lola! Hi! I didn't even recognize you there!" She said, smiling sweetly at Lola, though there was an obviously mocking tone to her voice.

"Well, well… What are the odds? We're both called to the same tryouts." She said. Lola nodded, smiling back, her tone changing completely. Sweet but dangerous. Two girls scoping each other out, trying to psych each other out.

"So, you just got out? How did it go? How were the judges? Any advice you can give me?" Lindsey asked.

"Well… The blonde female judge is really tough. I've heard about her. She judges harshly a lot of the time." Lola said.

"Oh, that's too too bad. I'll have work hard then. Well, good luck… Not like you'll need it." Lindsey said.

"You too. Best of luck from me." Lola said. Lincoln shivered. He hoped he never had to be in commercials. Lola's competitiveness was coming out in full force right now, especially since Lindsey was her rival in this as well.

"Lindsey Sweetwater, Franklin Albertson and Amelia LeCroix." The judge said.

"Well, I gotta go. I guess we'll see who the judges liked at the callbacks." Lindsey said, heading in. But Lola heard a slight tremble in her voice. She had psyched Lindsey out, though Lindsey had made Lola nervous as well. Lola wasn't used to not being unrivaled. There were few situations where Lola could say that she lost. Once was against Lindsey. Once was against a girl named Emily Krenshaw, another was in the state pageant that Lori went with her to.

And Lola was worried that this would be another time that she lost. They went out to the van, climbing in. Lana and Lisa had made their dad a new van. Between Lisa's super science and Lana's handywoman know-how, they'd created a van that was, like all of Lisa's inventions, more advanced than anything on the market. It easily powered its way up hills, it had 'glass' on the windshield and windows that could resist hail and stones and other hazards. And those were the least of its features. They'd given it to Lynn for his birthday last year. Each of the kids had suggested a feature.

Lori suggested that it have a wi-fi connection so that no matter where they were, it could connect to the internet and texting and games and such. Leni suggested the leather interior, which Lisa modified so that it wouldn't get ridiculously hot in the sun. Luna suggested a killer sound system and an ability to connect to every station in the world, including all satellite stations. Luan had to think about her suggestion, but she ultimately went with a television on each of the seats that could access every television channel on the planet.

Lynn recommended heating and cooling and vibrating seats that worked as massage chairs for after a game. Lincoln suggested a universal video game system and headphone jacks. Normally each kid would only suggest one thing, but Lisa liked the idea, mainly because it allowed her to prove how brilliant she was and she put all those things in. Lucy recommended charge cables on each of the seats' arm rests so that electronic books and tablets could be charged in the event of long trips. Lola suggested mirrors and panels that you could put makeup kits in so that she could get going and still work on her appearance.

Lily suggested tables that were gyro-stabilized so that a person could read, write or draw in the car without worrying about messing up. The car was about as advanced as a car could get and was more of a luxury vehicle than any luxury vehicle had ever been before.

"So, how do you think you did?" Lincoln asked.
"Great! Yeah! Judges 2, 4 and 5 loved me. Judge 3, well… She was iffy at first, but she saw how good I was." Lola said proudly.

"Good." Lincoln said. He was sure that if anyone was going to get a callback, it was Lola. She had been a pageant prodigy since she was a child.