Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi, or Life Starts Now by Three Days Grace

And now it's your chance, to move on, change the way you've lived for so long, find the strength you've had inside all along, cause life starts now.

Clare

Walking into a fresh new place, where no one had a clue of your name; it was kind of refreshing. Knowing I could leave everything behind and never have to deal with the same people as I did in Ottawa. A new start, a new first impression. A new chance to tell someone my story and exclude the parts that no one would ever know. It was only for me to know.

The theatre was simple; just an auditorium with a medium sized stage that was risen about 4 feet, that was incredibly normal and bland, but I'm sure that when a production is staged, the whole place comes alive. No one was here yet except me, and I was sure that in no time it would be full of people ready for auditions.

"Can I help you?" I heard a voice behind me. It was a girl about a year older than me, with blue eyes and light brown hair. She was beautiful – she had curly hair and nice looking clothes; that to me looked a little expensive. She held a clipboard in one hand and a coffee in the other with freshly manicured hands.

"Yes, I'm here for auditions?" I said nervously.

"You're in the right place! I'm Fiona," she extended a hand, which I took graciously.

"Thank you, I'm Clare," I nodded, "What play are we auditioning for?" I asked curiously.

"The Fault in Our Stars by John Green," Fiona smiled proudly. She seemed to be one of those people who worked hard for what they had, even if it was right in front of them, and I liked that. I liked that she was ambitious, although fortunate.

"I think that is my favorite not-part-of-a-series book ever. I think I cried throughout seventy-five percent of it. Augustus was just too damn perfect," I gushed.

"Shhhhh, don't ruin anything, silly! I'm just doing casting for the play right now, and I decided to read the book too, but I'm only on chapter six. The real director will not be here until the first day of rehearsal. He likes to do all the big shot work and leave everything to the cronies, i.e., me," Fiona elaborated, "but you remind me a lot of Hazel already. You're refined, polite, and beautiful in the way that Hazel didn't know she was; you're radiant." I blushed, "Why, thank you."

"What is it you have to offer Degrassi plays that would make us pick you to play Hazel and any other part of main cast now?" Fiona switched right to business mode and moved her pen to her clipboard, while finding a seat to sit on, and looking at me expectantly. I took a deep breath, and concentrated my words perfectly.

"I'm punctual. I have a ride readily available no matter the cost. I persevere. I don't stop until something is perfect. And acting is what I love; what I'm passionate about. I love being in a theater and touching people's hearts," I said carefully, looking at Fiona for any sign of doubt, and to my surprise, she smiled a little while writing something down.

"Please give me your best audition of Hazel. It can be anything you wish, but prove to me that you're Hazel, go," she chopped her hands together like the black and white movie markers they clap together to start a scene. I composed myself. I jumped up on the stage, and performed something I had for so long sat in my bedroom memorizing just to remember in the darkest of times:

"There will come a time when all of us are dead. All of us," I glided my arms in towards my stomach and outward to the audience, "there will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything. There will be no one left to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra, let alone you," I made eye contact with Fiona to make sure she got the emotion. I used few hand motions, and gazed up to the back of the room, as if focusing on the entire audience and not just one person, "everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this will have been for naught." I shrugged, directing my attention to my shoes before looking up confidently, "maybe that time is coming soon and maybe it is millions of years away, but even if we survive the collapse of our sun, we will not survive forever. There was time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be time after. And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that's what everyone else does."

Fiona clapped and I smiled as I stepped off the risen stage and approached her seat, "Damn, girl, you're certainly something." Fiona said surprised. "Was it that good?" I said nervously, shrugging my shoulders. "Yes, God, yes, it was perfect. I could feel the emotion coming from you. It was like you're a meteor and the sonic boom effect was every bit of emotion you threw my way. You made it personal and general, relatable and made me really stop and reevaluate my life," she said, "I think you're it. Like really it. You can be our perfect Hazel. I can't just give you the role here – I have to decide my part and then the boss man has the final word. But I think you have the best chance overall to get the role."

I smiled, and hugged Fiona as she took it by surprise, but accepted it nonetheless, "Thank you, so much. This is only my first day here. So I wanted to come in with a boom, I guess, and start over from my old life, you know?" I rambled.

"I do know. Why do you think I came here? I'm originally from New York. The prep school kids can really get to you after a time. At first, I resented the thought of public school, but now after getting involved in so much, I like it. Everybody isn't rich and snobby. Nobody is extremely poor. We're all normal, floating in a sea of normalcy, living our normal lives, drinking our normal coffee before the start of a very normal day, and you know what? I like that. I like that I can do what I please before society has a chance to shut it down. I can go about my life, and nobody really cares because we're all normal, and there isn't anything different about being normal." Fiona said.

"I think I just quoted you in my head so I can write it down somewhere to inspire me." I responded, laughing a little.

Fiona chuckled, "And that, my dear Clare, is something worth doing. All normal people need inspiration to keep going. I just happen to be yours today," she patted my curls lightly, a sisterly gesture, in my opinion, and although it was unexpected, I smiled lightly as I watched her walk out of the theater.

End of Chapter Two