Excerpt

I was practically skipping. From what I'd heard, Marcus was *single*, it kind of seemed like we had good chemistry. Maybe I could just say his and make sure he realized that we'd be good together. I was allowed backstage without question. Marcus's room had two doors, I went through the first one and peeked inside the second one. Crap. He was busy. There was a girl with him, and they were together. Looking closer I saw that it was Sarah. The first few times we'd met it had been a little awkward, I got a vibe that she didn't like me. But then she became my understudy, and everyone said she was better than I was. And god, we were the same age. I felt too defeated to move, I just sat down by the door and contemplated how many levels of stupid I was. After awhile I heard "I'm sorry, I gotta go. But we'll be together later."
I jumped up and leaned against the wall, trying to act normal. When Marcus saw me, he smiled.
"Hey Lexi! What's up?"
I opened my mouth to respond, but my nerves got the best of me. Marcus hugged me and moved to leave.
"Can we talk later?"
"Ye...sh....okay." I stuttered in response. But he'd already ran off, leaving me just standing there.
The door opened again and Sarah walked out.
"Hi?" She asked, looking puzzled at seeing me.
"Sorry, hi" I responded embarassedly.
Sarah gazed at me, "If you wanted Jonathan..." she pointed out the door.
I looked at the floor.
"No, really. It's not..."
She nodded, but her expression was completely flat. "Oh?"
I tried to improvise "I came to see you!"
"Oh?" still no change.
"Yeah. I heard you're in charge of making the It Girl movie. And I was offering--"
"--I'm going to look elsewhere for Jenny."
"The mirror?" I countered harshly.
"No." Still unchanging expression.
Something in her voice made me feel a little bad, but I kept going. "I wanted to help with the producing and--"
"--I'm really not into just slapping on executive producer credits."
"No!" Why was she assuming that was what I wanted? "I meant with the writing or directing..."
"I'd prefer to save money and do it myself."
"You have to let me help!" I yelled frustratedly.
Sarah sharply raised an eyebrow, "Have to?"
"I'll work cheap. And it'll make your life easier, I promise." I plead.
"I'm sorry." She moved to leave "I have to go."
"Will you at least think about it?" I was acting quite desperate for something I thought of spur of the moment.
"Maybe" she responded quietly before turning and leaving.

I hated her.