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 was no use worrying about it now. I knew I had talent. Everyone I had met had said as much. My only issue was the constant swapping of schools because of my situation, but that had no bearing on my skill level.
Finally, the number of people who were making their way into the canteen had trickled down into less and less. At a guess, this meant they were the last submissions the company had accepted to see. There were several groups of people, some on their own, talking to people they knew, others had come in groups to work as a group if they could, and then there were those who, like me, were alone.
It had been a long time since the last person had come into the canteen when at last one of the staff members holding a folder came out and got our attention with a raised but polite voice as they said, “now listen up everyone. We have decided that because there are so many of you, we’re going to split you all up into groups of your talents and send you back into the room so you can find out if you have gone onto the next stage or not.”
A few whispers broke out between some of the people waiting. I expected they might do something like this, as it would take far too long to go through every person, one at a time. Far quicker to do it in groups. That meant I would find out if I passed or not with a group of other actors or singers. Though which group they put me in, I wasn’t sure yet.
Slowly the staff member called out names, causing the canteen to empty with the bodies of those waiting. None of them returned, so I assumed those who had passed the trials had either been told to come back another day for another round, or they had been moved into another room within the building.
Finally, it came to my turn. I was with a group of other singular people who looked just as nervous as I felt. We headed back into the room and onto the stage. Out of all of them, only I and a young woman seemed to have any confidence between us. The others fidgeted with their hands, some brushing their hair, while others twisted the corners of their shirts.
The group of judges were sitting in the same spots as they had been before, and I wondered if they had even moved or had a break in between all the people they had interviewed. My gaze lingered on the man with the hat and sunglasses. His arms folded across his chest, and he didn’t seem too impressed. I hoped that wasn’t a bad sign.
“You all have some wonderful talents,” the woman from before spoke out, snapping my attention away from the man. “However, we do not have any room in our roster for so many actors, so some of you will go home today.” She paused, allowing us to dread those words. “The rest of you will have to compete with one another in order to go onto the next level,” she finished.
The man in the hat whispered into her ear briefly, and the woman nodded her reply. She then called out a couple of names, pointing at each of them as she did so - none of which were me. However, those she had called out had been the more nervous ones among us. I had a feeling they would be the ones let go.
“You will go home, I am afraid, but you have talent,” she said with a smile. “We will keep your forms for reference, so if someone else cannot continue the interview we will call you back in,” she added.
I had a feeling it was them. That meant I had at least got a little further towards my dreams. I let out a silent sigh of relief and watched as those who hadn’t made it through left in tears. Of those of us left, the more confident girl was one of them. It wasn’t too surprising she had made it. I could tell, just from how she posed herself, that she was sure of her abilities. She would likely be my biggest rival.
There was silence between those of us left, as the group of judges decided between them what sort of contest they wished to put us through. Since we were all actors of sorts, I imagined it would be something along those lines. Though I couldn’t even imagine what they had in mind for us to do.
After what seemed like forever, and the man in the hat seemed to demand something from the others, the lady finally turned her attention back on us and with a smile said, “we’re going to pair you into two at random and you’ll have to act out a scene for us. We will have you improvise the whole thing, to see how well you work under pressure.” She paused there and glanced between us. “Though do not think that you can let your teammate carry you, as a pair you’re still going to need to outshine the other person.”
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
The first blow lands in my gut, causing me to buckle over as far as I can go while being held by the big dude behind me. I don’t even have that much money on me, or even a phone. I had to scrape up what little I could just to afford the outfit for today and that meant selling what little I owned. It was a cruel irony in a way. The leader didn’t hold back his punches and when he had grown bored with hitting me; he let his friends have their fun. At least they weren’t punching my face… THWACK My cheek stung from the blow. I shouldn’t have tested fate by thinking about it. It was inevitable, really. Another blow landed on my other cheek. Regardless, I did my best to endure their onslaught of punches. As they slowed down, I shot them a small glare. I refused to give them the satisfaction of showing them any pain. Big mistake. The leader had the big fellow knock me to the ground and before I could get up or roll away, the fiv
When Kain had said limo, he had really meant the longest freaking car in the entire world. I was pretty sure he had a swimming pool in this limo, a bar and probably an entire house! Or maybe I was just being overly dramatic because I was not used to seeing a limo… all I knew was that this really was the longest car I had ever seen in my life! I was so stunned at the size of this thing that I had almost forgotten about the beating I had just endured. Drake seemed somewhat uncomfortable allowing Kain to open his own car door, but with me in his arms, he had little choice. Once the limo’s door was open, I remembered what was going on and tried to squirm my way out of his grasp. “You don’t need to take me anywhere. I’m fine and will manage!” I try to protest, but Drake doesn’t seem to listen to my request to be let go. Kain stands aside and allows Drake to put me into the limo, but before I can make my way back out again, Kain is already ge