I can remember the exact moment when I decided I wanted to be a star one day. Just like my favourite entertainer, Mister Kain Jones. There isn’t anything that man can’t do and he is handsome to boot! Looking back to my first impression of seeing him on tv, it was only natural to anyone who knew me; I had a huge crush on the guy.
Teenage crushes aside, my name is Liam Smith and I’ve been in the foster care system since I was a young child. My parents passed away, though I don’t really remember what happened and since then, I’ve bounced around from carer to carer. That’s all going to change, however, now that I’ve finally turned eighteen.
I am now legally allowed to sign a contract with Lotus Pond Entertainment, though getting an interview with their company can be difficult if not outright impossible. You have to jump through so many hoops, have some sort of special talent that you’re totally amazing at, or else you can say goodbye to even getting your application looked at.
The only saving grace with trying to aim for this company over any other is that there are so many branches of entertainment in the L-P-E that you have got a bigger chance of finding a place as a potential rising star than the others.
Now, I know what you’re probably thinking, “but Liam, why does it matter if you work there or not? Are you just a groupie trying to get in with your favourite star?” And the answer? Yes and no. I admit part of me hopes that I’ll be able to see Mister Jones since he now runs the company as the CEO, but the real reason I absolutely must join this company over the others?
They’re simply the better company. They have better opportunities to cast in movies or daytime TV shows, and they have bigger studios where you can learn all kinds of music. Of course, that’s because Mister Jones’ father, the man who owns the company itself, is one of the richest people in the world.
There is one more reason the L-P-E is simply the better choice. Though I hope I won’t ever need to make use of it; they specialise in Companions and through those Entertainers, one can rise in the ranks, learn the skills needed for other opportunities and get your name out there.
From what I understand, Companion's are exactly what the name implies. You get hired to join some rich man or woman for a night as their date while they party and live the high life. It is a less than ideal route but it is one that some people take, and if you’re popular enough in the role of Companion, you’re far more likely to get promoted into other roles.
Still, I have enough talents that I’ll never even have to look at agreeing to that form of Entertainment. There’s nothing wrong with keeping all the big-name people company during their parties or whatever, but I have bigger and better plans!
With a deep breath in, I feel just about ready and confident for my interview. I don’t know how I ensured my place, but in the next half-hour, I’ll be in front of some stuffy hot-shot who has to see what I’ve got to offer. I have my doubts it is Mister handsome himself, but I’m still looking forward to this, albeit really nervous!
Standing before me is the main branch of the company, though they have many buildings all over the world, each of them almost as large and as impressive as this one. I’m here early, but in this job that is usually looked on favourably. No one likes a late star and being tardy during an interview is a surefire way of failing before you have even begun.
I look down at the directions on the piece of paper the company sent me, detailing where I needed to go and who I needed to speak with and ask for. The only question was, when would too early be too early, or too late be too late. So many people were coming in and out of the building’s main entrance, but I did not know what kind of impression going in too early would make. Would it make me look desperate? But then too late, and I’d look like I wasn’t taking this seriously enough.
After a bit of self-inflicted anxiety, I made my choice to go in now. At worst, they would think I was just over-excited, wouldn’t they?
The signing in desk was busier than I thought it would be, but thankfully, there were many employees there to help sort people out and let them know where they were going, so it took little time at all to get to me. I was thankful that I came in when I did though, as the queues were getting longer by the minute.
The receptionist who helped me explained where I needed to go, down the hall on the right, take the last turning left, then the first right, and it would be the door at the end of that hallway. I could remember that. Right? She gave me a guest pass with my name and age on it, then sent me on my way with a smile.
This was it… this was the moment I was waiting for. My big chance at stardom!
As I rounded the last corner, the number of people waiting in the hallway was unbelievable. There were people from all walks of life here hoping for the same chance as me to become a rising star. I knew there would be many people here, but I wasn’t expecting this amount of bodies! I wondered which of them were here to sing or to dance, or perhaps act.Would they split us up into our various talents? Or would we just go in one by one and show off what we could do? While I was mulling over my thoughts, one of the staff members stepped up to me.“Name?”“Liam Smith,” I replied with a smile.The staff member nodded and checked for my name on his list. On finding it, he nodded and ticked it off. “Very well, Mister Smith. We will call you in when it is your turn. Please wait here until then,” they said and moved onto the next person who had shown up.The waiting seemed like it would take fo
The waiting to see if I passed onto the next stage was excruciating. My stomach was turning into knots as I worried about if I could have done something better, or different. I had no way of knowing what the other contestants had done, or how well they performed. I didn’t even know if we were all going to be judged together or if they would split us up into groups of our talents and then decide from there.Then there was the number of people who had come here today. Each one must have had something exceptional to show off, or else they wouldn’t have got past the signing up or the first showcase. I wondered how many people they had denied already or if they were going to sort us out after. You could have all the talent in the world, but if you croaked during the moment that you had to show off your skills, there was no way you’d get in.I held my hand to my chest and focused on my breathing. I had to be confident and relax. There
Being paired with another person had its pros and cons for the interview. The pros being the fact that I had someone I could bounce off of during a scene, being able to work together also helped showcase how well you could work during improvised sessions. The cons were, if your partner messed up, it could reflect badly on you if their mistakes caught you out.I hoped to God they paired me up with the girl, assuming my hunch about her was right. Not because together we would both pass the test, but because she looked like she was least likely to mess up, which would be a risk for me too.Luck was not on my side, however, as they paired me up with one of the older, more nervous ones. The man wasn’t too much older than me, but he gave me the impression that this was not the first time he had tried to get hired here.Despite the disappointment in the match, I figured I should still be polite. I smiled at the man an
Waiting for the results was now even more arduous than before, all thanks to the man they had partnered me with. Would they disqualify us both for ignoring the options, or would they find it impressive that I had continued as though we had planned it all along despite knowing that was impossible.I couldn’t let the pressure get to me, however, as any sign of weakness meant I was not ready to deal with the stress of being an actor.After what seemed like forever, the judges had made their choices and called us back over to get the results. Despite working in pairs, some groups only had one of them pass to the next stage. That gave me hope that I might still get through.As soon as it was my turn to be judged, the woman who had done most of the talking was glancing down at the notes in front of her. She was quiet for some time before finally saying, “we said this was an improvised session, so it is no surpr
I can feel my heart thumping loudly in my chest as I start taking off my shirt. I can feel my cheeks burning brighter and hotter at the thought of showing off my body to those who are pretty much strangers to me, even if I have spent half of the day with them. Not to mention if that is Kain Jones! To be looked at by that man has my mind swirling. I have no way of knowing what sort of body they’re looking for with this role, I just hope I have such a body they are after. I know requiring actors to strip is quite common for performers, even if I wish that wasn’t a reality. As the last button is undone, the man in the hat made a short hum of thought before saying dismissively, “that’ll do. Thank you.” I didn’t even get to take the shirt all the way off. That… was a distinctly bad sign. Did he sense how nervous I felt? Or could see without me going fully topless that my form wasn’t what he was looking for? I could fee
I entered the room alone and came face to face with Kain Jones. My heart skipped a beat, but I had a feeling it had been him there watching us. His sunglasses were now replaced with a pair of reading spectacles. His strawberry blond hair and heterochromia blue and brown eyes are a clear give away which had been why he had hidden them both behind his hat and sunglasses and hardly spoke. He gestured to the seat in front of him and waited for me to sit down before he made my fate known to me. I sat as instructed. “You indeed show much talent, Mister Smith,” Kain said, his words milky honey despite the firm tone he spoke with. I offered a smile. “Thank you,” I replied, though with Kain’s blank demeanour I couldn’t tell if he was actually impressed or if he was merely being polite. There was an awkward silence between us as Kain shifted through the notes and things he had on me. He then lifted those beautiful eyes to meet mine and sa
The other young lad was just exiting the office as I made my back there. It hadn’t been long since I had left, but by the look of things, they had already rejected him. This did not surprise me; he wasn’t much older than me and his body type was not too dissimilar either. I offered him a small smile of comfort as I passed him by, but I had no intention of stopping to talk with him about things. As I found myself back at the office, I could tell that the CEO was still within, as I heard him speaking with someone on the phone’s loudspeaker. I couldn’t quite hear who he was speaking with, but at a guess, it was the woman from before. I almost felt bad for interrupting them, but I felt this couldn’t wait until they finished. I took a deep breath in and opened the door with a bit more force than I had planned to use. Kain paused in what he was talking about and looked up at me through his glasses. He did not look impressed to see me in the least. In
Shiya had been rather nice to me on the way down to the lobby and walked me to the front doors before leaving me outside to go back to her own work. She did not comment on what I had done, perhaps because there wasn’t much more to say about it. I just couldn’t believe someone like the Wulf man had got the job over me and had somehow kept it despite the filth he was. I couldn’t move from the spot for a while before I sighed and took a few steps to head home. I hesitated and looked back at the building. No. I would not give up just yet. There had to be a way to make the CEO see I was more than qualified to work for him. The fire inside of me hadn’t gone out just yet. I just needed an idea. I couldn’t go back into the building without the risk of security being called on me, but I could wait out here. There was no way Kain Jones used the front entrance, though. That meant there had to be a back entrance people came in and out of to come and go unn