Chapter 1
"Let's take it from the top. Bella, you're doing wonderful, Ashton, you need to be a little louder please."
"Okay, sorry sir." Ashton called to the director.
"No problem, and what did I tell you about calling me sir. Please call me Skip."
"Yes sir."
Skip just shook his head and waited for everyone to get into place. They were ahead of schedule, the opening night being a month away, almost everything was ironing itself out very nicely. He watched as they performed Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious perfectly. Bella and Ashton's voices blended together very nicely.
When the song was finished, Bella glanced at her friend Keira who was sitting in the audience watching. She smiled when Keira gave her the thumbs up.
It had been her dream since she was a little girl to become a broadway actress. Ever since she met Julie Andrews when she was six years old, she knew she was going to become an actress. Julie Andrews had been her Idol ever since. She knew all of her movies, musicals, and broadway performances. She nailed this audition after Skip found out she was such an avid Julie Andrews fan, and she had the perfect voice for the part.
"You did awesome." Keira greeted her when Bella went over and sat down.
"Thank you." Bella smiled at her friend.
Bella and Keira had been friends since they first started college four years ago. They were roommates and they knew everything about each other. Bella knew who Keira's childhood best friend was, and Keira knew who Bella really was. Both of them had their own secrets and that was one of the things that drew them together.
"When are you done here?" Keira asked.
"As far as I know, we should be done pretty soon." Bella answered, her eyes on Skip waiting for instruction.
As if he knew she were watching him, Skip turned to Bella and smiled, "You may go if you want Bella, we're done with you're scenes for the day. Awesome work love."
Bella returned Skip's hug and went to the dressing room to change. Skip was from England and had come to NYC to teach and landed a job at Julliard after the directors saw his astounding resume. He'd worked with acting companies all over Europe and he made himself a name wherever he went.
"I still can't believe that you don't feel uncomfortable hugging him." Keira shuddered as she waited for Bella to finish changing.
"Keira, he's a flaming homosexual. Why do I have to repeat myself everytime. It's just a hug, it's not like we're getting it on set or anything. His boyfriend is really nice. You need to get over it." Bella answered as she buttoned her jeans.
"Blah blah." Keira rolled her eyes.
"So what are we doing tonight?" Bella asked.
"I'm studying for a theory test I have tomorrow." Keira sighed deeply.
Keira was a music major with an emphasis in classical performance. She played the violin and was considered one of the best players to have come through Julliard in many years.
"That sounds like fun." Bella smiled sarcastically.
"I know, do you have any homework?"
"Yeah, I need to write a 5 minute monologue for a female character that has just been raped and has found out that she's pregnant with the rapists child."
"That sucks." Keira shuddered.
"Yeah, it won't be that bad." Bella said as she shut off the lights and walked out.
The girls took the subway back to their loft apartment and decided to relax before starting their homework.
"This feels nice to just lay here. It's been so long since I just took a moment to relax." Bella said as she lay on her back on the couch.
"Oh girl, I know what you mean. I could lay here forever." Keira replied as she lay on the other couch.
The girls were constantly on the run. They were always either in school, or working their part time jobs. Keira worked in the music library on campus, organizing music and books while Bella worked in one of the cafe/bar's next to the college as a waitress. Both of them loved their jobs, but found as they were getting closer to graduation, the harder it got. It was mid-January and graduation was in the middle of May. Both of them had pracitcum's and final projects to finish keeping them even busier.
"I don't even remember the last time I did something not school or work related." Keira sighed deeply.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. We should go out to eat." Bella said as she felt her stomach rumble.
"As great as that sounds, I can't afford it." Keira replied.
"I'll buy." Bella offered.
"I can afford it moneywise, I can't afford to miss out on the homework time. I have so much to do."
"Well, let's splurge and order a pizza or something." Bella suggested not wanting to make anything.
"That sounds like a good idea. Do you want Pizza Luccé?" Keira asked.
"Of course, thats the only place to go, or order from in this case." Bella smiled.
"Yeah. Half cheese and half mushroom?" Keira said as she grabbed the phone.
"I'm starving, we should get two." Bella suggested.
"Sure, I'll get one mushroom and one cheese." Keira nodded then placed the order. "They'll be here in half an hour."
"Thanks Keira." Bella said sitting up. She grabbed her wallet and got money to pay the bill and walked to the fridge to get a Diet Coke. She knew she shouldn't have pizza, as she needed to watch her figure because she needed to maintain her weight, but she was so hungry it sounded delicious.
"I'm not sure if I told you or not, but Josh is going to be staying her next weekend." Keira said as she turned on some music.
The girls both had very different music tastes. Even though she's a classical music major didn't mean that Keira liked listening to it, she actually really didnt like it much. She preferred listening to pop and country, it didn't help that her best friend from growing up was in one of the most popular boy bands ever. Bella on the other hand listened to a lot of classical music. She adored Charlotte Church and vowed to one day meet her, Bella also listened to a lot of show tunes. As she was a big fan of Julie Andrews, she had a lot of her soundtracks, the latest including Princess Diaries 2.
"That's okay," Bella nodded.
Bella had met Josh one time before when he'd come to pick Keira up for dinner. She knew he was in a famous band, but she didn't really know much more about him. Keira didn't talk about him much, they apparently had a unique relationship.
"I'm hungry." Keira whined as she kept looking out the peephole to see if the pizza was there yet.
"It's still going to be quite a while before it comes." Bella chuckled.
"Blah blah."
"Who is this we're listening to?" Bella asked changing the subject.
"It's Nsync, you know Josh's band."
"Oh, yeah. They're not a band right now though are they?" Bella asked having heard something about some of them doing solo acts.
"Right. Justin put out a solo album as did Josh. I'm not sure if they'll be getting back together any time soon, but most of them are still involved in the industry." Keira smiled with pride when she thought about Josh.
"Why are you studying classical music when you don't like it?" Bella asked the question she'd asked many times before.
"We've had this conversation before. I've always wanted to do music, but my parents wouldn't let me do anything but this. Besides, just because I'm studying classical doesn't mean I can't get a job doing something else. There are a lot of country acts that use violin players. And besides, I can play piano too. Remember that Alicia Keys and Vanessa Carlton both got their education in a classial school and look how they've become." Keira smiled when she thought that one day that could be her.
"I have faith in you Keira. You can do it." Bella smiled at her friend.
"Thank you Bella. That means a lot."
"I mean it. So he's coming this weekend? What's he doing in town?" Bella asked.
"He's just coming to visit. That's all. No press, no concerts, nothing but coming to see me. I'm so excited. You'll be able to get to know him better." Keira smiled excited.
"Are you finally going to tell him how you feel?" Bella questioned knowing that Keira had had a crush on him for many years.
"No, I don't want to ruin our friendship." Keira replied shaking her head.
"Okay." Bella nodded. She'd never felt love herself, so she couldn't really tell her what to do.
Growing up, she'd always stayed to herself. She wasn't like her brother, Nikolai who'd always been in trouble and in the tabloids. She was always quiet, the perfect daughter, her parents were always proud of her. Until she decided to go to Julliard. They insisted she'd never make it and that she was waisting her time. They expected her to marry and settle down right away.
"The pizza's here." Keira said jumping up when she heard the door bell ring.
Bella handed her the money and went to the kitchen to get some plates down from the cupboard. She inhaled the pizza that Keira had just set down and almost cried. It had been so long since she'd had something that good. Normally her meals consisted of yogurt, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
"Here's your mushroom, you can have cheese too if you'd like, but I'm not having any of yours." Keira said as she put some cheese pizza on a plate.
"Gee, thanks." Bella laughed as she followed Keira into the living room.
"Did you wanna pop in a movie?" Keira asked breaking the silence.
"I don't know." Bella shrugged enjoying her pizza.
"Yeah. If we're going to veg, we're gonna go all out." Keira said as she walked over to the TV and turned it on. "What do you want to watch?"
"Never Been Kissed?" Bella suggested knowing there were few movies they agreed on, that being one of them.
"Sounds good to me. I love Michael Vartan in this movie. And Drew Barrymore is a cutie." Keira put it in and sat back down and they started the movie.
~*~
"So, JC are we still on for this weekend?" Chris asked his friend on the phone.
"What do you mean?" JC asked obviously confused.
"We had plans, don't you remember? We talked about this already." Chris laughed.
"Oh, no. I completely forgot. I made plans to visit Keira up in New York this weekend. I haven't seen her in ages." JC said apologetically.
"That's okay." Chris said shrugging his shoulders even though JC couldn't see him.
"Want to come? I'm sure she wouldn't mind." JC suggested.
"Sure."
"Okay. I'll give her a call and then see what she says."
"Sounds good. Wanna go come over here? Joey and Lance are on their way over. We're kind of just having a get together just to hang out and what not. Justin won't be here obviously, because he's filming but it'll be fun." Chris invited.
"Sure, I'm just sitting here bored anyway. I'll just give Keira a call and I'll be there." JC agreed.
"Okay, sounds good. Talk to you later man."
JC hung up the phone then dialed Keira's number and smiled when he heard her roommate answer the phone. He wasn't sure where she was from, but she had an accent similar to an English accent.
"Hey Bella, is Keira there?" he asked.
"Sure thing, hold on." Bella said as she handed the phone to Keira, "It's for you."
"Who is it?" Keira asked before she took it.
"Sounds like Josh."
"Okay." she picked up the phone and answered. "Hello?"
"Hey sweetie, how are you?" JC answered.
"I'm good how are you?" Keira smiled at the sound of his voice.
"I'm good. Say, I have a problem. I was supposed to hang out with Chris this weekend and I promised him before I promised you, but I suggested that he come with me. Would that be okay with you if he came with?" JC asked.
Keira smiled and thought about it for a second, "It's perfectly fine with me. Let me ask Bella if thats okay with her." Keira turned to Bella and asked, "Would it be alright with you if Josh brings a friend with him this weekend?"
"No that's fine." Bella shrugged.
"Okay." Keira nodded then put the phone back to her ear, "She said that's okay."
"That's awesome. Look, I hate to do this to you, but I need to get going. I just wanted to call and see if that was okay."
"Okay, I miss you." Keira sighed not wanting to let him go.
"I miss you too K, I'll see you Friday." Josh said as he hung up the phone.
"So, he's bringing a friend?" Bella asked when Keira was off the phone.
"Yeah, I guess he forgot he had previous plans." Keira smiled and shrugged.
"Where are they going to sleep?" Bella asked curiously.
"On the couch," Keira shrugged.
"Are they tall? These couches might not be kosher for tall people to sleep on."
"Well, Josh is as tall as you, and Chris is like my height or so." Keira answered.
Bella was tall standing at 5'11" she was taller than anyone in her family, her brother included. Keira was a few inches shorter than her standing at 5'9", she always wished she were taller while Bella wished she was shorter. It would be good if she was a dancer, but she was an actress and she feared that would limit her.
"They shouldn't have any problems then." Bella nodded.
"I'm gonna have some ice cream. You want some?" Keira asked getting up.
"What kind?" Bella questioned, knowing she shouldn't have any.
"Moose tracks."
"Sure, I'll take some." Bella answered, she could always make up for it later after all. She'd finished almost three fourths of her pizza, what was a little ice cream gonna hurt.
Bella finished a bowl of ice cream and felt sickly full. "I'm so full."
"Yeah, I feel ya." Keira nodded putting her hand on her stomach.
"I'll be right back, I need to go to the bathroom." Bella said getting up.
"Okay."
Bella walked to the bathroom and looked at her face in the mirror. She turned on the water and splashed some water on her face. She stared at the toilet then back at her reflection. "I can't do this." she whispered to herself. She leaned over the toilet and made herself throw up everything that she'd just eaten. Flushing the toilet, she went back to the sink and rinsed her mouth out and felt much better. Now she wouldn't gain unnecessary weight. She was only 120 and needed to stay there. She kept thinking that losing ten pounds couldn't hurt her any either. She had to maintain her weight in order to get parts. She turned off the water and headed back out to the living room and found that Keira had gone to her room.
Bella went to her own room and started on her monologue that took a good three hours to complete and by the time she was finished, it was 10:30 and she had to be up at 5am for a 7am class. She went to bed and fell asleep soon after her head hit the pillow.