August 3, 1996

Los Angeles, California

2:00 PM

It was yet another bright summer afternoon in southern California. Birds were singing, cars were honking, and the heat was as oppressive as ever.

For most, it was just another Saturday, but for Henry Sullivan and his mother, it was a big day. It was a day they had spent months preparing for. It was the day Henry would start working on his first professional acting job.

Henry had loved acting for as long as he could remember. He was fairly experienced with it, despite being only a nine-year old. He first participated in his school's drama club during a Christmas show in kindergarten, and almost immediately, it was obvious that he was extremely talented on stage.

He acted in the drama club for a while, and he quickly worked his way up from playing small bit parts, to background characters, to leads. As early as the start of second grade, he began being cast as the lead in plays, above kids much older than him.

And for good reason, too - Acting was like second nature to him. He had the innate ability to make the hardest of parts look effortless. While everyone else in the club was too focused trying (and failing) to remember their lines, he was fully engaging himself in a character, going the extra mile to make sure his performance was convincing. He would try to walk like the character, talk like the character, even think like them. He would spend nights memorizing his words until they became etched in his mind. He would find ways to deliver his words in the funniest way, in the saddest way, in the way that was the most subtle.

Even without all of the practice that he did, he was still amazingly charismatic. No matter what character he was playing - a hero, a villain, a love interest or a complete joke - he seemed to be able to make you root for him. He had a natural, goofy charm that shone through any character he played.

Of course, with great talent came a great ego. Henry tried to stay humble about it, but there was always the temptation to be arrogant. After all, he was a lot better than the rest of the kids in the club. It wasn't even funny! He was giving the performance of a lifetime, and all of the other booger-eating kids were too busy sucking their thumbs to remember who they were even playing. Luckily, the attention that he got - the compliments from his teachers, the audience's applause, and most of all the rest from everyone else in the drama club - helped him stay modest. After all, he may have been more talented than the other actors, but that didn't mean he was better than them. Except at acting. He was better than them at acting, of course.

Despite that, he continued to stay in the drama club for a couple of years, and the thought of acting professionally never crossed his mind. That is, until a certain performance at the end of third grade: The Alice in Wonderland show.

It was opening night, and Henry was scheduled to act as the Mad Hatter. It was a role that required a lot of personality, but he was far from nervous. He had been practicing for weeks at that point, and was more than ready to show the fruits of his labor.

However, as all of the club members began preparing for the curtains to rise, something became very apparent. The girl playing Alice - Lisa Moore, a fifth grader - wasn't there. At first, there wasn't much of a worry. After all, Lisa had a habit of being late, but she'd been there in time before. It was probably just some bad traffic.

And yet, as showtime approached closer and closer, she still wasn't there. It became harder and harder to ignore - where the heck was she?

And about 10 minutes from showtime, everyone got the answer. The theater teacher rounded the cast and crew together backstage, and explained that she had just gotten a call from Lisa's mother explaining why Lisa couldn't make it: Lisa had broken her arm during soccer practice earlier that day. She wouldn't be able to make it for the show.

Immediately, panic set in as every teacher and student attempted to come up with a half-decent plan for what to do. Some people suggested having the drama teacher read Alice's lines from a script, some people suggested that the children act in an Alice-less version of Alice in Wonderland, and some suggested just canceling the show outright.

As most of the others were arguing, Henry began to think, and an idea came into his mind.

So he walked in the middle of the room, cleared his throat, and shared his suggestion for how to solve Alice's absence.

He could do it. He knew enough about Alice to be able to perform as her. He knew where Alice was supposed to be. What she was supposed to say. How she was supposed to say it.

Yes, it might be a bit silly to think that he could do both Alice and the Mad Hatter, all by himself, without even being cast as the former, but he really, truly knew the play well enough to be able to play her. And even if he sucked - it was better than nothing, right?

He could do it. He could save the show.

Most of the other kids stared at him like he had just grown a third eye. Even though he was well-respected among the members of the drama club, it seemed he was biting off more than he could chew - Henry, even as good as he was, could perform not only his own role, but an entirely different role that he hadn't practiced for at all? Yeah, right. He was going to make a fool of himself up there.

But, in the end, there were no better options. Every other suggested either ruined the show or cancelled it outright. And so, the theater teacher gathered everyone together, and announced that Henry's idea was the one that would go through.

The show started a few minutes late, with the theater teacher giving a short speech explaining what had happened to all of the parents in the audience. As the curtains drew, all of the actors backstage watched and whispered to each other about what they thought Henry would do. Some really thought he could pull it off, some wanted to see Henry embarrass himself, and some just went with whatever would get the show to start.

And somehow, ludicrously, he pulled it off.

Henry, with nothing but a script and his time spent practicing behind him, played both Alice and the Mad Hatter - sometimes in the same scene together - perfectly. He remembered every line, and he made each and every line sound convincing. He could have conversations with himself, switching between sounding curious and nervous to sounding wacky and off-putting at the drop of a hat, without even breaking a sweat.

The day after the play, he noticed the attention everyone at school who was there gave him - it wasn't often people talked about his acting outside of the drama club. His drama teacher called him one of the best students she'd ever seen. The girl in his math class he had a crush on said he was cute. Some older kid he had never met before shoved him in his locker and told him to get a life. It felt great.

And yet, that lunch period, after all of the attention he got, a thought came on his mind:

I'm wasting my time here.

I'm too good for this school. I'm too good for this drama club.

Ok, jeez, maybe that's a bit much. I like the drama club. But...I don't know. I like being here, but like...is it holding me back?

Yeah. Yeah, I think it is. I really think I am too good for this.

Why am I even sticking by these people? Half of them are too jealous of me to like me anyway.

Yeah. I've got serious talent. I could be like, one of those professional Shakespeare actors. I could work on Broadway. My singing sucks, though. Ok, so not Broadway, but there's still a lot else I can do.

Oh my god.

I could be a movie star.

Or a TV star. Same diff. I could do either of them.

I could be like, the next big child star! I could be the new Macaulay Culkin.

Oh my god. Yes. That's it.

I'm going to be a movie star.

After coming home from school that day, he told his mother about his plans, and she immediately agreed to help Henry find places to audition. She was overjoyed to see her son so confident and talented in doing something that he loved, and she loved the thought of her son sharing his talent with the world.

After the school year ended, Henry spent his summer auditioning for whatever was in the area that looked fun. His mother warned him before he started auditioning that Henry would likely come up empty that summer. She explained that because of how many kids wanted every role, there were so many choices that he would probably not get anything. Not because he was bad, but because there were so many people competing for roles that the chance of him being picked were very, very small.

She was wrong.

After only a few weeks and a handful of auditions, Henry had gotten a role - he would be the co-host ofKaBlam!, a new children's variety show, and he would introduce the cartoons that played during the show during intermissions.

A few weeks after that audition, Henry was called down to the studio to start work on the show. He didn't know what he'd do on his first day, but he was told one thing: he'd be meeting his co-host. There wasn't any information given to him on who his co-host was, or what they were like - only that it was a girl.

As his mother drove him to the studio, he was ecstatic. Here he was, at his dream job! It had barely even taken any time. Only a few months ago he wasn't even considering doing this, and now here he was, ready to be half the face of a show that would be broadcasted to millions across the world. Even he, with his expectations a bit inflated, did not expect for things to go this smoothly for him.

They pulled up to the gates of the studio, where they were let in and directed to a parking lot by a guard.

Henry felt as if couldn't hold his excitement any longer.Holy cow, He was on an actual Hollywood studio! He felt a bit starstruck by the whole experience. He saw trailers, giant buildings, people passing by his car - one guy in an astronaut costume. It was everything he had hoped for and more. The people looked cool, the buildings looked cool, even the parking lots looked cool.

After his mother parked her car, Henry immediately leapt out, where he was greeted by the guard who was guiding his mother's car.

"Hey, kid," he said. "I'm just going to point you and Lois to where you're going to go for today."

"Lois…you mean mom?" Henry asked.

"Oh, yes. Sorry. Her."

As if she were summoned by that, she walked out of the car, with her purse in hand.

"Sorry," she began. "Henry should be here for the new show he's in, the KaBlam?"

"Ah, yes. That should be in meeting room 2 on the building to your right." He pointed to a large, glass building. "Just go up a floor and you should see it next to the elevator, ma'am."

"Alright. Thank you."

He and his mother walked into the building, checked in with a woman there, and rode the elevator to the second floor.

"So, Henry," Lois asked. "I bet you're excited for the show."

"Oh, you bet!" He said, grinning. "This is going to be so much fun."

The elevator stopped, and they walked to the meeting room, Henry could barely hold his excitement.

Lois knocked, and Henry's excitement peaked. This was it, this was what he had been waiting for.

"Come in," they heard from inside.

Lois opened the door to reveal...a fairly plain, mostly white meeting room. The only thing of note was a table in the middle of it.

"Ah, hello, Henry," a middle aged man, balding and sweating through his dress shirt said, "I'm one of the producers. Today you'll be meeting your co-host. It'll be a busy day, but for now, we'll just wait for your co-host to show up, and then we'll start."

"Ok," he said. Sure, the room may have looked boring, but this was what show business was. This was the start of his acting journey. Everybody's got to start somewhere.

And so he sat and waited.

And waited.

He waited in the plain, white room, with just him, his mother, and the bald man, for a long time, with barely anything to do but wait.

Normally, in a situation like this he would ask why they were waiting, or find a way to entertain himself, or see how far he could lean his chair back without it tipping over, but he wanted to give off a good first impression.

And that meant a lot of waiting.

He stared at a clock on the wall. 5 minutes passed. Then 10. Then 20.

"Hot day, isn't it?" The bald man asked.

Henry just nodded. After that, it was back to waiting.

He started resting his head down. Maybe he could sneak in a nap.

"Alright, how long are we supposed to wait?" Lois asked after at least 10 more minutes had passed.

"Sorry, ma'am," the bald man said. "Henry's co-host must be late. We can't do much about it other than just hope they show up. Sorry, I know Henry's new to this whole "acting" thing. Don't worry, you won't have to deal with this often." He chuckled. "Not really very professional of them..."

And then, as if they were summoned, the door finally opened.

"Sorry, are we late?" Someone asked.

And then, he saw, walking into the room, an overweight middle-aged man with a tucked-in polo and short blue hair. Holding hands with him, was a girl, about Henry's age, with long blue hair down to her neck that matched her father's, a red coat, a yellow shirt, and a green plaid skirt. She was grinning ear to ear.

It was his co-host.

"Oh, finally…" he heard his mother mutter under her breath.

"Sorry for being late," his co-host's father said, "June and I had some traffic."

The bald guy stood up from his seat.

"Ok," he said. "June, I'm glad you're here. Henry, this is June. June, this is Henry."

Henry got out of his seat, as June walked towards him. They looked at each other for a second.

"Hey!" June said, maybe a little too loud. "Nice to meet cha."

She held out her hand for Henry to shake. He hesitated a second, but shook it.

"Ok, kids," the bald guy said, "We were going to give you some time to meet each other, but," he pointed to his wristwatch, "We're a little strapped for time, so we're going to have to cut that. Instead," he said as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a few scripts, "We're going to do a table read."

He slapped the scripts down onto the table. "This is the script for the first episode. We're going to do something called a table read. That's where we read through the script for the first time, just to see how you two are with your lines, got it?"

"Uh," June began, "I think we both already know what a table read is."

Henry nodded his head in agreement.

"June!" Her dad called out. "Don't correct him. He's nice for explaining it to you."

She sighed. "Sorry."

"Oh, no," the bald man said. "I don't want to start any issues with our two little stars. This is a friendly environment."

"Well," June's dad said, "I just thought June should know when it's rude to correct people. Is that so much to ask for?"

"June," the bald man said, "Feel free to correct me at any time. I'm wrong. I know that."

"Why are you making this so difficult?" June's dad retorted.

"Well, sir-"

"Weren't we going to read the script?" Henry asked.

Both June's father and the producer looked at Henry, then each other.

"…Yeah." The producer said. "Let's do that."

"One comic book…" Henry and June said in unison, reading off of the script. "Irreplaceable…Liver free…with jetpacks for all."

"Ok, and, that's good! End episode." The bald man said. "We're going to have to work on that a bit, but you guys were great!"

Both kids smiled.

"I think…yeah. We're going to take a break for about 20 or so minutes. I think I'm going to have a talk with your parents, mostly about boring stuff you probably don't care about. You two can go off if you want - there are craft services nearby."

"Ooh, nice!" June said. She turned to Henry. "I'm going to go get a snack. Wanna come?"

Henry thought about it, and then looked at his mother, realizing she had been watching their conversation. "Mom?"

"Well," she started, "I don't know, Henry. You could get lost, you don't know this place very well…"

"I do!" June said. "I've been in this lot for a while. We won't get lost."

Henry's mom seemed to think for a second. "…Ok. I'm fine with it. But Henry, stay with her."

"Thanks mom!"

The two kids immediately ran out of the room. June lead down a flight of stairs, out of the door of the building, and down a studio street.

Henry trailed behind, still partially in awe seeing the sights of the studio. The crew members walking down the street, the huge soundstages…he loved all of it.

He followed June into a soundstage, to where she went to a table filled with snacks.

"Oh wow," Henry said, "They give you free snacks? I thought you had to pay for everything."

"Yeah," June said, picking up some food, "Free snacks. Pretty cool, right?"

Henry nodded, and helped himself to a bag of chips.

June rolled down her left arm's sleeve, revealing a bright blue digital watch. "We probably can't stay here that long, but I like to come down here sometimes for a quick snack."

"You know, June," Henry started, "You know your way around this place pretty well."

"Yeah," June replied, "I guess I do. I've been around here a bit before. You nervous?"

"Yeah, kinda." Henry sighed. "You know, I've never done this sort of thing before. It's kind of my first time. I mean, I've acted before, but that was like, school stuff. I'm scared I'm gonna mess up."

"Oh, it's easy!" June laughed. "You'll do great. You're already doing great."

"Thanks, June. Oh, and thanks for being my co-host. You were great too."

He chuckled. "Did you read that one part in the script? Are they going to give us jetpacks?"

"Harry..."

"Henry."

"Henry...that's just special effects. They'll give us things that look like jetpacks, but they won't actually be jetpacks."

"Oh. That's...disappointing." He munched on his bag of chips. "So have you, like...been in anything? Do you know anyone famous? Who's the most famous person here?"

"...Henry, Henry. Slow it down with the questions."

"Sorry."

"And, no, I don't really know anyone famous. I was in a few commercials, and a few episodes of some sitcom nobody watched."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I was the main character's second best friend. It was a pretty lame role...this is kinda my first real thing too."

June started to rub the back of her neck.

"You know, sorry about my dad earlier. He's a nice guy, but he can get a little...short-tempered sometimes."

"Oh, don't sweat it, June."

She smiled. "Thanks. I think we're gonna have a good time here."

Henry smiled in return. "Me too."

"Anyway," Henry started. "Since we have some time, I should probably tell you about this time at school. It was the night of the show - we were doing Alice in Wonderland - and-"

"Oh, man," June said, looking at her watch. "Sorry, Henry, but we've gotta go back. It'd look bad if I was late twice in a row..."

"...Another time?" Henry offered.

June nodded and smiled. "Yeah, another time."

And so, they finished what was left of their snacks, left the soundstage, and went back to the building.

Hey! :)

I will make a promise as a writer, right here, right now, that I won't leave this fanfic without an update (either a new chapter or a reason why I'm not able to release a new chapter on time) for any more than a month. If it's more than a month and I haven't updated, that either means this story is over, I'm not able to reach my computer for whatever reason, the fanfic is dead, or I'm dead. This is both to respect my readers and to encourage myself to stop procrastinating and actually write.

Speaking of my readers, to the four people (if that) who will read this, please comment your thoughts! I love criticism, critique, encouragement, or comments of any kind. Yeah, yeah, if I wanted attention I would've written for a fandom with more than nine total members, but hey, KaBlam is where my heart lies, so that's what I'm writing for. See you all next time!