“Braedon and I know each other,” she said. “Braedon, this is Amy, the scholarship winner of the Academy this year.”
“Well, well, well. Looks like Liam is still picking them pretty,” he held his hand out to me, and I shook it, but immediately felt uneasy. There was something about the way he looked at me that I didn’t like, as if he were judging me. I felt myself sit up straighter. I may have gotten here on a scholarship, but I had talent too. If there was one thing I still trusted about Liam, it’s that he wouldn’t have thrown the school to the wolves by casting a horrible actor even if I hadn’t been the best one.
Porsche had been right about the waiting. It was agonizing. Despite being the only four in the waiting room, it was over and an hour and a half before someone appeared at the door. Exiting just ahead of her was another group of what appeared to be dancers, tired and sweaty.
“Alright, next group? Dancers, you’ll be at dance call for two hours, so if you need to call anyone, do it now.”
“Wait for me?” Porsche asked, as she stood, putting her stuff away. “You’ll probably be called in and done before me.”#p#分页标题#e#
“Uh…sure,” I said, shrugging. She was just about to leave when she turned back.
“Shoot. Amy, be a dear and text Liam, tell him I certainly won’t be able to teach today,” she said it without even waiting for an answer. If she had gotten one, however, it would have been a frustrated growl from me. And I’m sure she knew that. This was a set up.
I slid my phone out of my pocket, scrolling down the contacts. Liam was still saved as ‘Lover’, lest anyone find my phone when I left it lying around. My heart was hammering more than before. The nervousness of the audition combined with the fact that I now had to make contact with Liam. The only audition I had even done was with him and the only acting advice I had ever gotten was through him as well. Doing all of this alone was weighing heavily on me.
At the last second, I hit call instead of SMS and brought the phone up to my ear. It rang once, twice, three times, and I was hoping it would go to voice mail when Liam picked up.
“Hi, it’s Amy,” I said, the words tumbling out.
“Yes?” He sounded annoyed and I could hear the background noise of the school hallways.
“Porsche just went in for dance call, so she wants me to tell you she won’t be able to teach tonight. And I’m uh…still waiting.” My heart was beating so hard that I could barely get the words out. I felt sweat dripping down my back and I knew my voice was trembling. I was frustrated at myself for feeling this way, but no matter how many calming thoughts I tried to think, nothing was helping.
“Ok,” Liam sounded gentler now, and the noise in the background faded. “Is everything alright?”
“Um, yeah.” Suddenly, I didn’t want to hang up on him. I didn’t want to shut out his voice. “Thank you. For this.”
“Not a problem,” he replied, and I heard a note of concern. “If you don’t feel like walking back, Amy, please do call me, I can certainly arrange for you to be picked up.”
“I’m fine. Really.” But even listening to him was slowing the beat of my heart. I heard a noise and looked up, to see someone standing at the door again, looking directly at me. “Got to go.” I hung up the phone abruptly, shoving it into my pocket.
“Are you Amy?” The woman at the door asked, and I nodded. “Come right this way.”