From The Streets - Chapter 12 (Patreon)

“Well that was fast,” Angela laughed, as Sophie and Destiny came through the door.

“What, the interview?” Sophie asked.  Angela held up her phone to show Sophie the latest Daily Wail article about her.  ‘Sophie Dee seen cheating on Ashleigh ‘Destiny’ Brown with Mystery Girl’, and a photo of Sophie talking to Ariel.

Sophie giggled, “OMG that’s classic.” 

“Yeah, they even got Destiny’s name wrong,” Angela giggled as Sophie took out her phone.

‘Guys watch for TMZ article explaining dating rumors, pls don’t white knight or attack anyone over fake BS articles <3  ONLY TMZ has the real story! Met that girl in Ireland.  She’s a fan and a really nice person!’ she tweeted out.

“Man this internet thing is kinda fun,” Sophie said.  “Hope I used the term right?” she showed it to the others.

“Oh, aye that’s perfect,” Casidhe agreed.  “Ariel responded too,” she pointed.

‘Lol thx Sophie! <3  Ya we met at the hotel & she signed my tin whistle’ she posted, along with a selfie with the box that Sophie, Destiny and Angela signed for her.

“By the way can I sue for slander?” Sophie asked.

“I sure hope so,” Ellen said.  They looked at Megan and Juliette as the residents experienced with such things.

“Unfortunately, not really, unless they keep slandering you without an apology for this.” Megan stated.

“Damn,” Sophie sighed.  “I didn’t think so, but I had to ask.  I’m mainly worried about Ariel and like anyone else they decide to start dragging through the mud like that.”

“Yeah, oh hey look.” Megan giggled, “They publicly apologized for the article.  That’s faster than usual.”

“So that’s how they do it,” Sophie said.  “They make up some bull shite, post it, wait for someone to call them out, and then take it down with apologies so they can just keep on doing it.”

“Yeah pretty much,” Juliette said.  “We use ad blockers on our phones, but there’s big revenue in online advertising.  They use click bait articles like that to get people to visit.  More visits, more ad revenue.”

“And these are just the mainstream ones,” Angela nodded.  “We actually did sue a smaller tabloid for slander when they refused to apologize for printing a fake article about me and Destiny being incestual lovers.”

“Ugh yeah,” Destiny sighed, “That was fucking disgusting.  I mean we were 13 at the time.”

“Ewwww,” Sophie groaned as she propped up her foot.

“Yeah,” Destiny nodded.  “They kept running the sleezy story and more about us, so , in a rare act of kindness, Ms. Winters sued the shit out of them and got the company shut down.”

“Juliette and I tried to take down a bad fanfiction story, about our old show, My Brother Mark, but that didn’t work, because it fell under free speech.” Megan stated.  “Do yourself a favor and don’t look for it.  It’s nasty.”

“I wish I had taken that advice,” Juliette laughed.

“The problem with it is, once you start it, you can’t stop till you finish even if it is ugh.” Megan giggled.  

“Found it,” Rebecca said, looking at her phone.  “My Sister Mark.”  She very slowly pulled her phone away and placed it on the coffee table.  “Okay then, nightmare fuel.”

“See.” Megan giggled. “The horrible part is, it’s was written so well but it’s so bad.  Well anyway, you haven’t had a chance to see your new house yet and get settled, so we’re going to take off and give you some space.”

“Oh no, it's fine,” Sophie said.  “I love having you guys around - unless that was code for ‘We’re goin’ to do adult things in adult places’,” she teased

Juliette laughed.  “Nope.  Just sit in the hotel room watching Netflix.”

“We can do that here,” Sophie grinned.  “Someone did tell me propping my foot up was the best thing for it,” she winked at Megan.

“Sounds good to me,” Rebecca said.  “I don’t have to duck out until like 6 for a quick interview with the Mouse.”

“I just finished season 2 of LostGirls.” Sophie giggled. “I know you probably don’t want to watch that, but I’m getting caught up on TV and movies.”

“Is it weird,” Megan said, “That I like can’t remember half of what happened in our own show?  I guess because we don’t see it put together at the time.  I’ll totally watch.”

“I watched season 1 the other day.” Juliette said with a laugh, “Because I had that comic con thing.  It’s funny because I don’t see Megan on screen even though I know it’s her.  I see Red and Pinky.  And yeah, I’d love to watch with you.”

“You already know I’m a fan,” Destiny giggled as she sat down next to Sophie.

“Me too,” Angela laughed, taking one of the big lounge chairs.  “Des actually got me hooked on it.”

~oOo~

“Ugh.” Sophie yawned, trying to stay awake. “Can we postpone the water stuff till tomorrow?  I’m so beat.”

“It’s getting pretty late,” Megan said.  “We’ll hit the waves after lunch tomorrow.  Besides, you don’t want salt water in that cut,” she winked.  Rebecca had already left to do her interview thing, and Angela and Destiny and Casidhe and Ellen had headed home, the latter to help their mom with getting the condo set up, the former to tackle chores so it was just the three of them anyway.

“Get some rest,” Juliette said as she and Megan gave Sophie a hug.  “You’ve had a hell of a week even by our standards,” she added, causing Megan to laugh.

“Amen to that.  Try not to get too lost in the house,” she teased.

“I made Nicole draw me a map,” Sophie giggled as she waved, and then hobbled up to her room to work on some homework.

The next morning when Sophie walked into the kitchen for her coffee, Amanda looked up from her laptop, “Morning sleepy, there’s a large envelope for you from the agency.”

“Coffee first,” Sophie said, “Then work,” she yawned out as she headed for the coffee machine.  She wasn’t hobbling anymore.

“Figured you’d want coffee first.” Amanda said. “Made a fresh pot.”

“Uh...” Sophie said, staring at the espresso machine.  “What the hell is this thing?”

“The other one baby doll.” Amanda said pointing to the other side of the kitchen, “I’ll teach you how to use that one later.”

“Oh thank God,” Sophie laughed.  “I saw the coffee mugs and all those knobs and started to panic.”  She grabbed a mug, heading for the normal coffee pot on the other side of the kitchen.  “The preciousssss.”

Amanda giggled, “Breakfast?” she asked, sliding a plate of scrambled eggs, a couple pieces of bacon and toast over to her.

“My favorite,” Sophie said as she grabbed a fork and sat down at the island bar where Amanda was sitting with her laptop.  She sipped her coffee as she dove into the breakfast plate, only glancing at the envelope when she was about halfway through.  She reached over to pick it up.

There was a note inside, ‘If interested, read the lines  for Trinity.’ the script was a cyberpunk script.  “The lines of Trinity... OH!” she said, realizing what the note meant.  “This is a movie script?” she asked.

“Not sure.” Amanda said, “It’s a made for TV movie I think or a small TV mini-series. I’m supposed to call the agency if you’re interested, and you’ll go in tomorrow and read lines on page 203.  There are going to be a lot of girls auditioning though.”

“Thank God,” Sophie said as she turned to page 203.

“Why’s that?” Amanda asked.

“This way there’s no pressure to actually do well,” she shrugged.  “I can have fun with it.”

“All I ask is you do your best,” Katelyn stated as she came in from outside.

“Morning Mum Katie,” Sophie giggled.  “It’s definitely... weird.  But not a bad weird.  So wait, the Trinity character’s... Oh I see, they just call them Angels as a code name. Neat.” she kept reading.  “Um Mum?” Sophie asked, pointing to a part where the character was being shot up and her clothes were torn. “Isn’t illegal for them to show any of my body?”

“Yes, and I was told they won't be showing anything naughty.” Amanda stated.  “Nothing that wouldn’t be visible in a two piece anyway.  It’s down to clever camera angles and wardrobe changes between shots to give the illusion.  Just try not to krav maga anyone,” she teased.

“Hmmm.” Sophie said thoughtfully.  “Yeh, why not?  I’ll at least do the audition,” she shrugged.  “What’s the worst that could happen.”

“You could get the part?” Amanda teased.

Sophie stared for a moment.  “Aye yer right, that is the worst thing that could happen,” she laughed.

“Being turned down for a role is no big deal.” Amanda said. “Most actresses make big deals out of it, but if you don’t get the role, then it wasn’t the role you were supposed to play.”

“Especially when, being honest, I’m not really sure I want to be an actress,” Sophie laughed.

“If you get the role, then this will be a good way to test that theory.” Katelyn said.

“Aye,” Sophie said.  “I can get help from Meg and Jules if I did get it.  It’s just a bit part anyway.  Looks like Trinity gets like two scenes before she’s shot up.”

Amanda grinned, “Sounds interesting.  Mind if I read it?”

“Oh sure,” Sophie said as she handed Amanda the script.  “It’s a pretty cool premise.”

There was a knock on the door, and Megan spoke up from the door, “Morning Good People of Ireland.” she teased.

“Hey Meggers,” Sophie called.  “C’mon in.”

“Jules will be here in an hour.  She had to go shopping.” Megan said as she came into the kitchen.  “Ooooh, somebody got a bluey!”

“Bluey?” Sophie asked.

“Yeah, it’s what we call bit scripts.  Blue cover goes to bit players - 2-5 scenes, yellow goes to main parts.”

“This one seems to be more than that.” Amanda stated. “This Trinity character seems to be all over  the story.”

“Wow, really?” Megan and Sophie managed to say in unison.  Megan giggled.  “They must’ve sent you a bluey by mistake.  Trinity sounds like a canary.”

“Ill make a call.” Amanda said as she picked up her cellphone.

“What's a Canary other than a bird?” Sophie asked.

Megan giggled.  “That’s what we started calling main characters because of the canary yellow script cover.  It was a joke, but now everybody does it.  There’s more color coding to learn, but those are the big two.  Like if you get a script with dream sequences those scenes are usually printed on light pink paper.  Sometimes you only get partial scripts, if you’re a bluey.” Megan said.

“It’s funny,” Megan added after a moment.

“What?” Sophie asked.

Megan hefted the heavy script in a hand before putting it down again.  “Well normally they don’t send out full scripts like this pre-audition.  It raises the risk of someone leaking it early.  They must really trust you.”

“Okay,” Amanda said, “There was a definite mixup.  I wondered why Trinity’s lines weren’t highlighted,” she laughed.  “They’re having an intern run the proper script over. They also said that you don’t have to read the lines, the director thought of you when she read the script.”

Megan peeked at the script.  Her eyes went wide.  “Oh my God no way.”  She burst out laughing.

“Hmmm?” Sophie asked.

Megan pointed to the name under ‘Directed by’.  “It’s my sister Kristen.”

“Wait, seriously?” Sophie said, “I don’t think I ever met her?” 

“No probably not, but I told her about you.” Megan giggled.  “I seriously didn’t know she was branching out into directing.  The last I had heard, she was still back in Sydney finishing out an acting gig.”

“The studio she’s working for has given this a pretty big budget.” Amanda said, looking through Katelyn’s phone messages.

“Oh man,” Megan said as she thumbed through the script, “This is going to be big.”

“Like how big?” Sophie asked.

“An 8 hour made for TV miniseries.” Megan stated.  “Like, ‘I’d put this on Netflix’ big.  Special effects, stunts...  Holy cow, Trinity gets thrown off a roof. She gets ran over by a car too.  She’s a bloody superhero,” Megan giggled.

“She’s an android according to the stuff that I was reading.  They’re called Angels.” Sophie said.

“So you’re not the main, main character, but you are a supporting main character.” Megan said as she read more.

“Oh good,” Sophie said.  “So when I inevitably screw up I won’t just bring down the whole production,” she said jokingly.

Megan laughed.  “Hey, everybody screws up.  As long as you’re not intentionally setting yourself up to fail you’ll do great.  Some of our best outtakes made it into our shows. If you remember the giggle fit that Bubblegum had, that was because someone off camera made a joke.  She literally couldn’t stop laughing, so we ran with it.”

“And almost made her pee,” Juliette laughed as she appeared in the kitchen door.  “Nicole let me in,” she said as she waved.

“Hey Jules, Sophie’s got a script.” Megan waved it at her. “They got her the wrong colored packet though.”

“She’s a canary huh?” Juliette giggled.  “Awesome.”

“Can we do a read together later?” Sophie asked.

“Sure!” they both answered.  Juliette giggled as she took a peek at the script.

“Sophie and I did that earlier.” Megan giggled.

“I’m support to read from Page 203.” Sophie stated.  “But apparently the director is Megan’s sister, and I don’t have to worry about reading...”

Juliette flipped to 203, stopped, flipped back to the front page again.  “Holy kickballs.”  She looked at Megan.  “When did Krissy get back to the states?”

“Who knows.” Megan giggled, “She hasn’t called me.  Last time I talked to her was over a week ago.”

“Well I’m going to tickle the shit out of her and Ann for not telling us,” Juliette said, flipping back to 203.

“Okay, I’ll read Alissa,” Juliette said.  “Megan you want April?”

“Sure,” Megan said.

“Trinity,” Juliette said, her voice drastically changing on a dime, “You’re a machine.  You’re not supposed to be able to go against Protocol Zero.”

“I’m more than a machine, Alli,” Sophie said, looking at the script between the three of them.  “I became more than a machine the moment Doctor Grove removed my AI blocks.  This is wrong and you know it.”

“We have our orders,” Megan said.  “Wait, let me try that again.  We have our orders,” she said in a more somber tone like she was questioning those orders.

“How many good people did terrible things because they were just following orders?” Trinity asked.  “You hafta do what you think is right, and so do I.”

“Then this is where we part.” Megan read. “Be safe my friend.” she paused, wrinkling her nose.  “I hope they adlib something different there.” she giggled. “The actress that is, that is such a horrible line. I don’t know anyone that talks like that.”

“Yeah,” Juliette said.  “I’d say something like, Then I guess we’re done, or like, see you around or... something, anything more natural.  This is straight out of the Commander Data style, which I mean is fine, but the April character doesn’t normally talk like that.”

“The other part is off too,” Megan nodded, “I would never just say Friend.  It’s okay I mean it makes sense written but when you act it out with all the green screen or backdrop stuff, it’s not going to sound right for two girls to say that to each other, even if they’re androids.”

“Exactly.  Like what kind of history do they have?” Juliette said.  “Do they have romantic feelings?  Or are they like sisters, or just friends or what?  It totally guides how they’d say goodbye.”

“No they’re from the same line, they’re more like sisters.” Megan said.

“Okay, so that would be more like,” Juliette turned to Sophie.  “I’m really not going to change your mind am I?”

Sophie shook her head.  “Nope.  I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” Juliette sighed and hugged her.  “Stay safe. We may meet again.”

“Hopefully not as enemies,” Sophie said.  Megan giggled and clapped.

“Yes, EXACTLY! That’s not how it was written, but that’s how it should actually play out, you’ll have to feel out the actress though.  Some directors are total dictators, but I doubt Krissy will be, so don’t be afraid to try something different.”

“Did you know over half the lines that were Tony Stark were ad libbed?” Juliette asked.

Amanda leaned over to Katelyn and whispered, “Tell me you got that.”

“I love smartphones,” Katelyn whispered back and winked.  “Sending it to Kristen now.”

“Got a package here.” Nicole said as she strolled in.  “It’s not ticking so I assume it’s safe,” she teased, handing it off to Sophie.

“Thanks.” Sophie said and pulled out a new script in canary yellow, ‘I assume you’re interested!  We changed a couple of lines. - KS’

“Kewl,” Sophie said.  “Okay, I’ll check out the changes later.  I want to go surfing.”

“Glad you bought that smaller board.  It’s a good learning board.” Megan said.  “Long boards are great, but they can kick your butt if you let em.”

~oOo~

“Hi!” Destiny giggled, “Nicole let me in.”

Amanda didn’t say anything but handed off an envelope to Destiny. “Got one for Angela too.”

“Oh!” Destiny said as she nervously opened the envelope, and then let out an excited squeal.  “It’s a canary!”

Amanda laughed, “I was just told that I had three for you girls when I went to the office this morning, I wasn’t told any details other than it was a made for TV.  Kate’s been setting it up, apparently.”

“Holy shit mine too!” Angela said.

“The girls are out on the beach.” Amanda said.

“Ooh, it’s a cyberpunk thing,” Angela said as the pair headed through the house toward the back door.  “They want me for the Alissa character.  Holy shit she’s got a lot of lines.”

“They want me for Amelia.” Destiny stated. “She, Angela and Trinity sure are all over the place in this script.  I’ll finish reading it when we get home,” she said, placing it by the door.

“Oh good idea,” Angela said.  “I was going to throw it in the beach bag, but I don’t want it to get wet,” she said, putting her script on top of Destiny’s, and following her out.

Megan, Juliette, and Sophie were down at the beach, with Sophie standing on a picnic bench with one foot in front of the other, apparently getting a quick surfing lesson from Megan.  Nicole was lounging on a beach chair, under an umbrella, and wearing a black two piece bathing suit.

There weren’t really any ways to keep the public off their section of the beach or the water for that matter.  It looked like a stretch of beach like any other, but the whole area was considered collectively, private property and wasn’t directly connected to public beachfront, so it wasn’t much of an issue anyway.

“Hey Des!” Sophie called, managing to keep her balance even as Megan and Juliette rocked the bench under her feet.  She giggled as she hopped down.  “So just to get the elephant out of the room and onto the beach where it belongs,” she giggled even more, “Megan’s big sister wants me to try out for a TV mini series thing.”

“Well now we know who’s playing Trinity,” Destiny grinned.

Angela giggled.  “Aye.  We just got the scripts so we haven’t auditioned yet, but it sounds like you’re a sure thing.”

“Well I hope you guys are too, because I don’t want to do this alone.” Sophie said.

“Knowing Krissy,” Megan said, “She probably already cast you and she’s just waiting for you to say yes.  I mean that’s how ‘Megan’ got started.  Someone thought I was Krissy’s little sister, not that I minded,” she laughed.  “They thought I’d be perfect for the character she was playing’s past self, to put a boot to her arse in a dream sequence.”

“Well if that’s the case I’m sure in,” Angela said.  “I’ve been trying to get more acting work for months, but nobody’s been hiring a relative unknown.  Even the Mouse turned me down as too white bread generic.”

“Wonder who’s spending the money on it?” Destiny asked out loud.

“Amazon Prime Movies.” Amanda stated as she came outside in a wrap.  She had her laptop under her arm, and a beach bag, joining Nicole under the big beach umbrella.

“Doesn’t it feel weird?” Sophie asked, “Pretending to be someone else for 10 or 12 hours a day?”

“Or 14, or 15,” Juliette giggled.

“You get used to it.” Angela said. “We’ll probably be doing this for 6 or so months and after that we’ll move on.”

“Will we still have time to do photoshoots and stuff?” Sophie asked.

“Most likely.” Angela said. “I was able to get 1 in during my TV episode, and that was a one week filming thing.”

“Gah,” Sophie sighed.  “Now I’m nervous.  Before there was no pressure, it was just an audition, but if Kristen wants us specifically that’s different.”

“Who knows.” Megan said and hugged Sophie. “Just relax, and don’t worry about it, you’ll probably be reading with Des and Ang tomorrow anyway; that’ll definitely make things easier right?”

“Yeah,” Juliette said, “I’d be more worried about those six foot swells,” she teased.

Sophie looked at the board, looked at Megan and Juliette, grinned and grabbed her board, paddling out.  Megan and Juliette laughed and ran out to join her, followed by Destiny and Angela with a single board between them.  They’d never told Sophie, but they actually knew how to tandam surf.  They insisted on learning for a photo shoot rather than faking it.

“Hey Nicole,” Amanda said, “You bodyguarded for a lot of kids right?”

“Some more childish than others,” Nicole answered.

“So is it always this smooth?” Amanda asked.  Nicole burst out laughing.

“Do you want my honest answer?” she asked.

“I’d not have asked if I wanted you to lie to me.” Amanda said. “I thought adopting Sophie would have been work, but she’s so easy going.”

“I’m not convinced Sophie is a kid,” Nicole answered bluntly.  “I think she’s some kind of a pod person or something.”

Katelyn came out and sat down, “She’s a hybrid; she knows how to play a kid, but she’s more adult than we are.  Oh she’ll lie and say that it’s because she had the Sidhe to fall back on, but the streets broke her.”

“They make an adult out of you pretty fast.” Nicole nodded.  “It’s the same with Megan and Juliette to be honest.  They’ve seen some shit.  Don’t repeat this because it was settled quietly, but I once busted a guy’s nose for offering those two a line of coke when I was Megan’s bodyguard. But then I’ve dealt with absolute shithead for clients: way worse than Vanessa.

“I always put in my contract that I can walk away at anytime, so there's never a breach of contract, I’ve walked away from several clients.”

“What’s the shortest?”  Amanda asked.

“24 minutes, 13 seconds.” Nicole answered.

“Ashleigh Brown?” Katelyn asked.

“No, she lasted two weeks.” Nicole laughed. “I won't give any names, because the person actually came back a year later and apologized.  Some bad shit happened to them apparently, under someone else’s watch, but they wish they’d stayed with me.”

“Ah.” Katelyn said, “Any of our contracts?”

“Nope.” Nicole laughed again. “Not former or present.  That’s why I exclusively contract with you guys now.  I’m going to miss the hell out of Sophie when I get reassigned.”

“Actually.” Amanda said, “About that.  That’s why I asked all these questions. Sophie trusts you, and we trust you with Sophie.  Would you consider a contract renegotiation?” 

“In what way?” Nicole asked.

Katelyn grinned.  “We want you to be Sophie’s permanent bodyguard.”

“We can talk more at the office tomorrow.” Nicole grinned.  She started to get up as Sophie fell off her board, but she popped up a moment later, threw her wet hair back out of her face, and laughed as she climbed back on the board.

“That right there.” Katelyn said, “Is why we’re asking. That wasn’t just a bodyguard thing, normal bodyguards don’t react like that.”

“I am a certified lifeguard,” Nicole said, trying to downplay it.

“So am I.” Amanda grinned, “And I was going to do the same thing, but not as a lifeguard, more as a mother.”  She put her hand on Nicole’s shoulder.  “Hon, you flew to Ireland on your own dime for that girl.  You’re not fooling anyone. You really do think of her as a little sister.”

“That’s exactly why I’ve been considering stepping down,” Nicole said, “Until you asked me to renegotiate anyway.  I was afraid I was getting too close to the client. But I’ll give you my terms tomorrow.”  She grinned.

“Sounds good,” Amanda grinned back.