Here it is; chapter 2! This story has been really fun to write so far!

I hope everyone is enjoying it so far. Thank you to those who reviewed and added this to your alerts. It means a lot.

2 - Auditions

Cornelia didn't hesitate before pushing open the door to the drama room. The room was silent when she walked in, except for the irritating clicking of her heels. All eyes focused on her when she stopped in front of the director, acting coach, and the scripts writer.

"Hey Cornelia," Hay Lin said it without looking up. She was busy flipping through the script. When she reached the monologue said by the character Meg, she stopped and looked up. "Martin's going to read you in."

Martin, that was his name. Cornelia was terrible when it came to names. Memorizing a script was easy, but for some reason, she just couldn't remember peoples names. Anyway, Martin started, obviously reading a line said by Hercules. His squeamish voice sounded like anything but Hercules, but Cornelia didn't complain.

"My name's Hercules…and you are?"

Cornelia knew not to take a deep breath because it was so ungraceful when it came to acting. Instead she breathed in silently through her nose as Martin spoke and then started with her line, "My name's Megura. My friends call me Meg," she smirked, making sure her tone had the smug sort of natural sexiness Meg's voice always carried.

Martin immediately cut that scene and flipped a few pages down. "Read scene five in act two." He said.

Cornelia flipped through the script she held and looked over what Martin was referring to. She took in the words and then tossed the script to the side and began in a convincingly worried tone. "Wonder boy! Thank goodness!" She took a few steps forward quickly, then came to an abrupt stop, as if Hercules was actually standing in front of her, "Down by the creak. Two children were playing and the was-there was this terrible rockslide."

"Good." Hay Lin cut her off. The rest of the audition went on like this; her being asked to present various lines to them, all carrying different moods. It was clear they wanted to see her range.

"Thanks, Cornelia. The cast list should be up tomorrow. We want call backs as soon as possible." Hay Lin informed her, and with that Cornelia was sent off.

She picked up the script she had tossed on the ground and let herself smile once more for the three judging her. She turned on her heel and started towards the door, which swung open just before she could reach for the handle. The sudden movement of the door caused her to stiffen, and then she found herself with her butt on the floor and her hands behind her back for support. Hay Lin, Martin, and the acting coach whom she still didn't know the name of were the one thing keeping her from cursing wildly at whoever had swung the door open so suddenly.

"Oh…geez, I'm sorry." Someone's voice broke the awkwardness of her trying so hard not to rub her butt (which was really hurting, for that matter).

Cornelia shook her head and forced herself to look up, "It's not a big-" she stopped when the stranger held out his hand and pulled her to her feet. "Thanks," she mumbled, and for the first time catching his eye. They were the color of the emeralds on the earrings she had gotten on her last birthday.

"Not a problem," he replied quickly, almost robotic. She could tell by his expression that he had noticed who she was. Sometimes everybody knowing you're name wasn't the greatest thing, especially if you could tell by their sudden realization that they weren't a fan. He immediately let go of her arm that she realized he had been holding rather tightly, and headed to the center of the room. Cornelia took that as her cue to get out.

Strange, she thought. Most boys tried to introduce themselves to her on their first encounter, and he didn't give her so much as a grin after realizing who he had knocked over. Upon closing the door, she heard his voice addressing the judges, "Hello, I'm Caleb, and I'd like to audition for…" and then she couldn't hear anymore. The door between them was like a sound-proof barrier.

... ...

Caleb entered the school Friday morning with Irma and Will on either side of him.

"And…you just bailed?" Will was clearly surprised. He had just told the two about how he knocked over Cornelia. "Caleb, you should have said sorry at least once more. Girls like that."

Caleb shrugged his shoulders, "I don't want her to like me. She's too full of it."

"You got that right," Irma mumbled beside him.

"So why is it bothering you?" Will suddenly questioned him.

"Bothering me? It's not bothering me, Will." he simply responded.

"Yes it is," Will demanded. "We've been friends since we were five, Caleb. I know that face."

Caleb groaned. Of course Will would notice that. Fine, he thought. No sense lying. "It's just…for a moment our eyes met…and…well, she's pretty fine." he chuckled at the end of his answer, and he felt Irma's fist dig into his shoulder again. "And I thought you were different! You're just as shallow than the rest of the guys in this place!"

Caleb continued laughing, louder than before, and Will joined him. He only stopped when a small Asian girl with her hair in two high pigtails was bobbing down the hallway in their direction. In her hands was a long piece of paper.

"Hay Lin!" Caleb called out to her, and broke into a slow jog, "How'd my audition go?"

Hay Lin flashed her teeth, "Well, they think you're an incredible actor."

"Great, so I got the part?"

Hay Lin shook her head, "Not exactly."

"Well then…" Caleb started, but stopped when Hay Lin turned and tacked the paper she was holding to the Bulletin board they were standing beside. At the top it said in large, bolded letters: Call backs. And underneath it had separate lists of Characters with a few names of those who auditioned underneath. Caleb immediately turned his attention to Hercules' father, since he tried out for the old man, but his name wasn't there.

"What? Hay Lin, you said you would get me the part!"

Hay Lin flashed her teeth once more, "And I did." Caleb looked at her, evidently confused, and Hay Lin brought up her arm. With her index finger she pointed to Hercules' name, and ran her finger along the two names beneath that. Caleb's was the second down.

"Hay Lin!" He turned towards her, half-yelling, "I said I wanted a small part!"

Hay Lin took a step backwards and replied, "If it were up to me, you would have gotten Hercules anyways. You really convinced me you were upset with Irma yesterday at lunch." She pursed her lips once tightly, then continued, "But this decision was all Martin's and Ms. Monty's decision."

Caleb ran a hand through his hair and ground his teeth together, "Why would they give me that part?"

"Well, aside from the fact that you were really good as his father…" Hay Lin seemed to lose her train of thought.

Caleb stood, waiting with his teeth still ground together.

"When you walked in yesterday, and knocked Cornelia down," Hay Lin started up again, "They thought they noticed a connection similar to Meg and Hercules. Or…at least a connection they wanted to see."

Caleb crossed his arms and soaked that bit of information in, "Wait-what!?"

Hay Lin sighed and pointed to Meg's name on the cast list. "There was only one girl good enough to play Meg, and that was Cornelia." Under Meg's character was only one name. Cornelia Hale. "Ms. Monty, Martin and I all agreed that it was obvious she was really good. No other girl had a chance at getting this role." She paused and turned back to Caleb, "So it comes down to you being Hercules or not being in the play at all. And I'm telling you now Caleb, after seeing the instant connection between you and Cornelia, you've got the upper hand."

Then he caught Hay Lin's eye. He noticed that when she talked this time her voice was lowered to a whisper. She was telling him he wasn't supposed to hear, "You and the other candidate for Hercules are both gonna act with Cornelia at call backs today. Whoever does best with her gets the part."

And then she walked past him. Caleb stood still for a moment, contemplating whether that had really happened. It did, obviously. He noticed that Will had joined him, or rather, Will was looking at the cast list.

"Wow Caleb!" Will turned to him with a bright smile. "You're in!"

Not just yet. Caleb thought, but he already knew the truth. He had to either deal with it and hold on to the lead role, or give it up and not have the credits to graduate.

"Oh my God, the list!" A girls shriek came out behind him. And then three girls ran in front of him. Caleb immediately recognized them to be Cornelia and her two little follower girls, Alchemy and Elyon.

He stood by Will, watching Cornelia run her slender finger along the list until she stopped at Meg and gasped. "I got it! I'm Meg!" She spun around and was rewarded with her friends hugs and squeals.

He looked down at Will, who was returning his 'let's get out of here' expression. They continued on down the hall, and Caleb immediately became drowned in his thoughts. He needed that role, or he'd be stuck at Sheffield for a whole year longer than he needed to be. Sure, Cornelia was great to look at, but a pain to be around; and he was going to have to deal with that squealing all year long. Yep, this was going to be a long, long year.

I don't have much to say, so I'll just skip to the little preview of chapter three:

... ...

He didn't expect anyone to reply after that. And they didn't. For some reason, they were all staring past him. Suddenly feeling like he knew the exact reason why, he turned around, and was facing someone's chest. A girls chest. It took self control to keep his mouth from dropping, and behind himself he heard Matt snickering.

"Eyes up here," the voice that the chest belonged to said. Caleb had to blink several times before anchoring his neck so he could look up at the girls face. Unmistakably, after seeing the blonde hair and the eyes he had looked into just yesterday, he knew the chest belonged to Cornelia Hale.

... ...

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