Disclaimer: Still don't own.

:}

"Cut!" Jade's voice rang through the sound studio, breaking the scene, while reminding the director why it had been a bad idea to build this movie around her. "Why's he saying that line?"

"Cause they're out of the chicken." The director replied.

"And what? I'm supposed to just chalk that up as yet another thing going wrong? Was that what drove me over the fudging edge? No, this scene, it needs to be change, cause while I have nothing against this kid, the line doesn't make any sense."

"Look, you're here, meeting with your old partner, from the force, when the waiter walks up and lets you know they're out of the chicken." The director tried again.

"Lame." Jade sighed. "Look, I told you before, when I was blackmailed into starring in this turkey, just because I might have threatened someone, and the studio chose to exercise and old option in my contract, that I wasn't gonna let the movie suck. No, I'm here, I'm committed, and we're going to make it make some sense, cause otherwise… Boy, whats your name?" her blue eyes shot through the young man playing the waiter.

"Bryce." The young man said.

"Bryce here will wind up on the cutting room floor." Jade finished.

"The scene, that part, is to drive home the normalcy of the restaurant. Making it look real." The director, someone Jade hadn't bothered to know, tried again. "I was warned about casting some indi darling…"

"My movies are main stream." Jade almost chuckled. "You were warned that I was also a director, a writer, and wasn't going to let some action film where I go nuts and go after a bunch of jerks suck. I mean… This isn't a remake, is it? Cause the more I look around, the more familiar this feels…."

"It's a remake of Miss Fire." One of the production assistants told her. "I looked it up on line. I mean, sure, Mister Marsdon isn't exactly touting it, cause that movie, didn't do so well. But this movie is a remake."

"And that's why this scene feels so familiar." Jade sighed. "Look, Kid… Bryce, I don't want to cost you this roll. Hell, I don't even wanna cost you this line. Just, when the film is made, it's establishing moments like yours that get cut, to save time, and then you wind up on the cutting room floor, never to be seen in this movie that, for all I know, might be your first major part."

"It is." A girl from one of the other tables said. Jade had wondered why there was a significant number of young adults, teens, being used as extras. And sure, no one would be looking, so dressed up as they were, no one would notice. Still, a picture was forming, and the girl with a reputation for being hard to work with, grumpy and difficult and all the worst of Hollywood, found herself oddly amused by the situation.

"Let me guess, friends of yours?" Jade asked, pointing to the girl who'd spoken.

"Yea, she's…" He looked for the word.

"You look young." Jade shifted. "Still in school?"

"Yes ma'am." He nodded.

"Can we get back to the scene?" The director asked.

"That depends, can Bryce here handle my fix?" Jade asked. "If I recall, this scene, it's almost useless, cause all I do is argue with my ex partner, then eat a substitute for the chicken. No, we fix this. I'm playing a character who's a bit paranoid, and the movie, it says, towards the end, that I'm right, and I'm being set up. I go nuts because of that paranoia, right? But in the original, she knew she was right, and just ran into a wall of bureaucratic, used to hide the corruption, and took matters into her own hands. Why make the film pretend I'm cray cray before the big reveal? You want the audience on my side. I say we change that."

"First off, I like the angle." The director said. "The whole is she isn't she. Second, you have no idea the amount of rewrite it'll take to make her seem less crazy."

"No, we just add a bit here and there." Jade argued. "Boy… I know your name begins with a b…"

"Bryce." The man said.

"Where do you go to school?" She asked, trying to calm things down.

"Hollywood Arts." He replied, and for a moment, she almost lost it.

"If Miss Valentine is your teacher…" She breathed out.

"We're in her advanced drama class." The girl from before offered.

"Cat, Cat, Cat, you have students in my movie, and you don't even bother to be an extra…." Jade lamented. "Just, I know how much you hate the machine. I get how they saw you as vulnerable, and tried to take advantage. Just, you could have been background, and I wouldn't have had to explain to numb-nuts there how this is a throw away scene." Her blue eyes locked on the director. "Ever hear of Beck Oliver?"

"Who hasn't?" The girl said, smiling. Her friends were starting to loosen up, finding the intimidating leading lady more approachable then expected.

Jade pointed at Bryce. "This was his roll, in the original. Only, as you can guess, after Melinda Murry got him fired, and then Tori Vega got him back on the film, and you have to know that was because of an accident, he wound up on the cutting room floor. Beck Oliver, who is known for his romantic movies, his charisma, everything, wound up on the cutting room floor, cause the line, it doesn't mater. Lets change that." Mischief gleamed in the girls blue eyes. "Bryce, you tell me the line, but use it to lure me towards the back. Nothing big, I'm gonna give you a couple of more lines. Basically, once you have my attention, you tell me that some people are watching me, AND your out of the chicken. That way, I'm not paranoid, but rather, I find the working class, those outside the conspiracy, are on my side, and it gives me more reason then I'm frustrated and a bit of a crazy bitch, to go and fight. Like the idea?"

"So you're just giving him more lines?" The director asked.

"Yep." Jade replied. "And Crystal over there doesn't have to get some dude to shoot me in the hand with a crossbow."

"My name is Gail." The girl said, but the moment was happening, as Jade did what everyone was afraid she'd do, and took over the production.

:}

Jade, you just can't take her anywhere. Still, the circle turns, and what a difference the person makes, right?