Six

As soon as we got home, I forgot about my mom's tea and I shot to my room. I quickly connected my phone to the charger and dialled June's number.

"Did you get it?" Was the first thing she asked as soon as she answered.

"I don't know." I answered honestly.

"What do you mean you don't know? Was the audition bad or good?" She screamed.

I winced, removing the phone from my ear. "Well I think I nailed it! I even cried! I think it was perfect...except I overdid it a little. Okay a lot. I didn't even get to finish the whole monologue."

She paused for a second. "What happened?"

Somehow she always knew when something was bothering me.

"So remember how I barely remembered the details of the night my dad and my brother died?" I dropped my voice to a whisper.

The sound of crinkling paper, followed by a shutting laptop filled my ear before June returned.

"Ok, talk."

"I remembered. I don't know how but while I was halfway through Sapphire's monologue, I remembered everything. Everything Mom told me about the night was true but she didn't mention that she cracked. She cried, June, and screamed. I've never seen her that desperate except well, I guess I have but I forgot."

"She did what?" June breathed.

She was just as shocked as I was. "I know right. And uhm, I saw both of them die. I saw it all."

A pause. "Oh baby, that's why you blocked the whole thing out. That was too much for any twelve-year-old, not to mention you. Did you tell your Mom that you remember?"

"How could I?" I sighed. "It would destroy her. I'll just pretend I don't."

I knew she didn't agree before she even replied. "Lying is never the solution."

"I know but what can I do, June? I'll tell her eventually but right now, she's stressing about bills and stuff."

"She's always stressing about bills."

"Exactly. I don't want to add to her problems."

A pause. "Ok, May. I get where you're coming from. You want to protect her. But you need to tell her soon. Imagine how she'll feel knowing that her extremely transparent, borderline over-sharing teenager lied to her? We both know that would hurt her more than finding out that you're coming to terms with Matt and your dad's death. You had to remember so you can properly grieve and eventually move on."

As always, my best friend had the best advice. "You're right. I promise to tell her."

"Good. So how did Andrea react to your bawling your eyeballs out over a boy?"

I smiled. "They loved it. This one lady even cried."

She screamed excitedly.

Thankfully I anticipated it so she didn't blow my eardrums. "Well that's amazing! I'm so proud of you!"

I laughed. "But I didn't get anything."

"I don't care! I'm just glad that you went there and did your best. Did Andrea fall of her chair?"

"No! She liked me though."

"Oh well that's fine. She'll fall off her chair when they find a guy hot enough to be Ace."

I smiled. "Yeah, about that: I think I know who Ace might be."

June paused and for a while I thought she had fainted. It has happened before.

"Is. He. Hot?" She asked through her teeth.

"Well I met two guys today and I think they both have a chance. The first-"

"Names, May, give me names!"

"Ok! Well Jet has the look: he's really hot and he's rich. He has manicured nails June. Man-i-cure-d!"

"No way! You don't like him, do you?"

I blinked twice. "What makes you say that?"

"He sounds like a pampered rich boy and you can't stand those." She replied.

I sighed. "You know me too well. So that's Jet. But Jason, he's the other boy I met, fits the character so well. He's cute and caring and fun. I think he'd be perfect and well, I won't mind crushing on him at all."

"May, what did you do?" My best friend asked me in a weird voice.

"What? Why?"

"You really like this Jason guy and from what I hear, you've gotten to know him really well. Did you have-"

"No! I did not have my first kiss yet! For the love of food why can't we get through a conversation without bringing that up!" I screeched.

"I thought it really happened this time! I'm sorry!" She screeched back.

I sighed and told her the whole story.

When I got to the donut part, she screamed.

"It was a freaking donut May! A donut! He didn't offer you a GUCCI sweater! What is wrong with you?! And you love donuts! I can't believe this!" She yelled.

At this point I had my phone lying next to me and it wasn't on speaker but I could hear her clearly.

"I'm sorry! It just felt weird! I literally just met the guy!" I defended myself.

I heard her sigh I'm frustration. "Gosh, seriously though. And what's this guy's deal? One minute he has you against a wall and the next he's being an adorable piece of shit! Like I'm suffering from a high dosage of confusion right now!"

"I don't know. I think he's cute though." I said.

"Wait, what does he look like?"

"Well he has curly reddish brown hair and these gorgeous brown eyes. He even has a dimple on his left cheek when he smiles and he is adorable! I seriously can't deal with him!" I gushed.

June laughed way too hard. "I've never heard you this frustrated over a guy. I have got to see him. I'm coming back soon and we'll find him on Instagram. If that fails, we'll hope that he gets casted for the movie. Who knows, you two could be the lead roles."

"Don't say that! It'll hurt when the role goes to someone else so don't get my hopes up. How was the funeral?"

I could almost see her rolling her eyes. "Two words."

"It sucked?"

"You have no idea. I barely knew the guy's name and there I was sitting there while everyone cried their eyes out. I almost felt bad but hey, I wasn't about to cry fake tears for him. That would be worse."

I sighed. "Yeah, that's true. I'm exhausted dude, we've been talking for hours and I can feel my voice disappearing."

"Oh shame, poor baby. Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow." I replied, ending the call.

As soon as I ended it, I saw that I had two missed calls from an unknown number. I sighed and ignored it: I was too tired to care.

I got up and changed into my pyjamas then headed to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. On my way there, I saw my mom watching the news.

Afterwards, when I was walking back to my room, something on the TV screen caught my attention. It was a woman with black hair and neon pink eyeglasses. Andrea Romes.

I grabbed the remote from my mom, ignoring her protests and turned up the volume.

"...so far. We have decided on our leads already but we are still waiting for confirmation from our Sapphire. I know, it was quick and people think that we may be taking too many risks but I don't care. The Wrong Cinderella isn't just an average book and so it shouldn't be like other movies." Andrea said, smiling at the camera.

I didn't wait to hear anything else. I just shot to my room and grabbed my phone. I was about to call my best friend when I got a call from the same unknown number that had called before.

I wanted to reject the call but then I felt bad because the person had already tried to reach me twice. I answered, wondering who it could be because I had no other friends besides June.

"Hello?"

"Good evening. I'm so sorry for calling this late but the boss needed to find out. Is this May? May Holden?"

The voice sounded oddly familiar. "Uhm, yes. Who is this?"

"Oh darling it's Ms Green from the auditions today!"

My heart stopped beating.

"Andrea asked me to call you personally because she needed to tell you that she succeeded! You are our Sapphire!"

My mind went blank.

"Of course, there's a lot of paperwork that needs to be done because you're still a minor but that can be arranged soon."

I couldn't feel my toes or my fingers or my anything.

Am I dreaming?

"That is if you're still interested. Are you?"

My throat felt drier that a desert.

"Uhm yes. Of course." I managed to croak out.

I heard her laugh through the phone. "Oh don't sound so nervous darling! You'll be amazing! And that handsome boy from earlier is going to be your Prince Charming. Just don't tell anyone the full details yet. We're trying to keep this under wraps but you know how these reporters are."

"Uhm, no. I don't."

At this point, my body was on autopilot because I swear my brain could not process what was happening. I couldn't even react.

"Oh well, you'll find out soon enough. I'll call you later darling. Get some rest." She said before ending the call.

I gulped and with shaky fingers, dialled June's numbers.

"Why are you calling me again, you idiot?" She asked.

"June, I got it."

She paused. "You got what?"

"The part. I got Sapphire. I got it." I repeated.

We both didn't say anything for three whole seconds until we both let out excited screams at the exact same time.