Monday was quickly proving to be as unenjoyable a day as Saturday. After spending all of Sunday trying to plead my case, I had given up after mom had recruited dad to her side. I had packed a bag and the next morning dad and I were on the first plane headed for Chicago.

"Are you excited?" Dad asked me. I gave him an unbelieving look. "You had to drag me into this plane because I had locked myself in the bathroom, do you think that I am excited?"

He giggled nervously. "Oh, I thought that it was just nerves." I didn't even bother giving that sentence a glare, it didn't deserve it.

When arriving at the airport we took a rental car and headed toward the main direction of the studio. Despite the completely accidental wrong turns from the chosen navigator, we had still arrived at 10:00. From there I had gone to wait in the studio while dad took himself out to brunch.

And that's the pathetic story of how I found myself lounging in a chair at 10:25 on a Monday morning contemplating how unfair life is, and why my family has to arrive everywhere unbelievably early to everything.

You would think that a movie as popular as this one apparently was that there would be more people waiting to audition. The only one was an older gentleman hanging out by a window gesturing. He eventually looked back and saw me judging.

"Oh, hey there. I am just practicing a little before my audition."

"I haven't read the book so tell me, is there some crazy old magician in this book?"

He frowned at me, "No. Why?"

"... No reason. Who are you auditioning for?"

His eyes lit up and he grinned happily. "Sebastian!"

This one really threw me for a loop because I may not know much about the book, but I did know that Sebastian was supposed to be young, and have dark hair, and have hair.

"Aren't you a bit old?" I am known for many things by my friends and family but subtly is not one of them.

"That's the power of makeup!" The old man yelled. "No matter how young the character is and how old you are they can still make it happen!"

"Yah yah." I muttered. "Its a miracle. Now stop yelling before everyone thinks that you are having a heart attack."

Shortly after, the old dude, his name was Virgil, was called back for his audition. It was about time because he had spent the past ten minutes staring at me like I had just kicked his puppy.

Now that I was alone it was time for me start thinking of ways to get myself out of here. People schedule auditions all the time and then don't show up, its normal. If I could sneak out, I could find a place to hang for the next hour before Dad got back to pick me up. I just had to find a way out of this stupid sitting room. Going back the same way wasn't an option, it had a finger recognition pad that you had to use to get in and out, apparently the author of this stupid book was considered important. The windows wouldn't work because we were on the 15 floor and I wasn't that desperate, yet.

The only way that I could think of was seeing where the door that Virgil was just taken would lead me.

It led me to a hallway with doors lining both sides and glass windows that showed the room behind them. I saw Virgil in one of the rooms gesturing wildly to a group of four that sat behind a table, they looked bored out of their minds. I had to crouch to make sure that I wasn't seen. I wasn't seeing anyway to get out of this place. No back door or hidden stairs. Nothing. I was trapped.

"What are you doing back here?" A voice came from behind me. I glanced back at the person. It was the same guy that had called Virgil back.

"My moms rich best friend thought it would be funny to sign me up to audition without me knowing and now I am just trying to sneak out so that I dont embarrass myself." I told him. I really didn't have anything to lose.

His eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh! Your Nicolas! Nicolas Starlue. Mark's fiancé was very excited about you trying out for this part. She is convinced that you have it in the bag. I got to say that I am impressed. You are already acting like Seb, you have his character down in a nut shell!"

I blinked. "What?"

"I don't know why they are even dealing with that old man in there when the true talent is right outside their door."

"You mean with I'm still only outside of their door?" I whined. "I thought that I would have made it much farther than that by now. I guess that in my defense it is hard to walk around like this."

I crouched down again and started shuffling forward while swinging my elbows. I had to look ridiculous, but he was loving it.

"You are exactly like him!" The man crowed. He held his hand out to me. I wasn't sure if it was to shake my hand or help me up. I slapped it away and stumbled to my feet.

"Now, how can I get out of here."

"You cant leave." He said in confusion. "Everyone is so excited to meet you. Lacy painted an amazing picture of what you were like. As a matter of fact, lets get you in that audition."

I tried to politely decline but then he grabbed my arm and started to drag me into the room. Its times like these that I really miss my safety whistle that I had gotten from a field trip to the police office when I was seven. My mom tossed it into a bonfire after I tried to blow it at her when she told me that I couldn't have any more smores.

The man dragged me right into the middle of the room, we ended up ruining Virgil's routine. At this point he was chanting gibberish and shaking his left leg.

One of the guys looked up. "Peter!" He sounded more relieved than angry. "What do we have here?"

"Well." Peter started. "This is the boy that Lacy was telling us about. Look at him. He matches what we need perfectly."

Virgil stood up straight and glared at us both. "Excuse me but I am not finished."

A lady stood up from behind the table. "You can go now." She said without taking her eyes off me. "We will call you in a few days to let you know what we have decided."

I wasn't lucky enough for her to be talking to me.

Virgil looked like he was getting ready to commit arson, but he left obediently.

The lady that was still staring at me had a name tag on her shirt that said Isabella. So, this was the author.

"Its amazing." She said with a wavering voice. "I have always had a clear vision of what my characters would look like in my head, but I never thought that I would be able to see them in real life!" Her eyes started to fill with tears. "Its a truly amazing moment."

"Well." Peter slapped me on the back and grinned at me. "Work your magic kid. Go out and break a leg. Then he left me wondering if that would actually work.

I turned my attention back to the four people in front of me. On closer inspection they all had name tags. The man who had spoken first was Mark, Ms. Tarleens fiancé. Beside him was Isabelle and another lady named Sarah. The fourth member of the table had his face buried in a plate of bacon and he was snoring loudly.

"Living the dream." I breathed under my breath.

"Pardon?" Mark raised his eyebrows.

"I would also rather be sleeping rather than here." I told him. "Any day that I have off school I prefer to not get up until at 12. Also," I added in. "I don't want to be here." With that I turned my back to them and sat on the floor. Behind me, Mark cleared his throat.

"Have you prepared a script for us today?" I didn't bother to answer. A silence fell over the studio that was broken only by the loud snoring of the man with his face in bacon. Honestly, he was iconic.

Mark and Isabelle both tried several times to speak with me throughout the next 30 minutes, but I just stared at the wall in front of me. I jumped when a timer went off. Mark must have set a stopwatch to keep track of the time. I stood up and was preparing to leave when Isabelle yelled out, "Wait!"

It was loud enough to wake the man out of his nap and he tipped out of his chair to the floor with a loud thud.

"We don't have anyone else after you." Isabelle continued. "We don't have to stay with the normal amount of time. You can stay for a little bit longer, maybe we can run through a couple of the scenes. Sarah here is the script writer and she has the script right here." She started to flip through the binder that she had taken right out of Sarah's hands. "I have the perfect scene right here."

I didn't even look back as I marched right out of the room.

"How did it go?" Peter asked me as he let me out the finger recognition door.

I shrugged. "It was okay. I think that I might have botched it. I would be surprised if I got the part."

Peter tutted. "That's too bad. I was really rooting for you."

I couldn't resist smiling at him. "Well, you always have Virgil."

I got out a little earlier than expected so I ended up hanging out in the parking lot by myself for the next 20 minutes. Dad might have been early to drop me off but obviously had no intention of being early to pick me up. You would have thought with how big the Beginning was they could afford to have their auditions in a better location. This place was sketchy. It really didn't surprise me when someone jumped me and dragged me into the alley.

"That part is mine." The person hissed. You guessed it. It was Virgil.

"Go ahead and take it." I said dismissively. "I don't want it."

This stopped him in his tracks. "What? This is huge. If you get this part, it would be youre in for show business. You would be getting parts left and right you would be a celebrity!"

"I don't want it." I repeated. Then I kicked him right where it hurts and ran.

When dad picked me up ten minutes later, I was pretty pleased with myself. Not only did I have zero chances of making it into this film I also had some pretty sweet self-defense skills. Sure, the guy was pushing 50 and probably had difficulty lifting anything over 30 pounds without throwing out his back but that was beside the point. The point was I couldn't possibly be chosen for the part after that display. No matter how much I look like "dear Seb".

"How'd it?" Dad asked as I climbed into the car. I pretended to think about it before answering.

"I think I did okay." I turned away to hide my smile.

"Do you think you did "okay" enough to get the part?" I could tell dad was digging for some good news to give to mom. I plastered an uncertain look on my face and turned to look at him.

"I don't know, I mean, hundreds are trying out for this part. The chances of me getting it is pretty steep." Dad nodded in understanding while I turned back to the window and smiled again. My chances weren't steep, they were nonexistent.

The plan was for dad and me to spend a few days in Chicago, he had an important meeting with one of the CEO's of a company that his bank was thinking of funding. We were about ready to head out to breakfast when dads cellphone rang.

"It's the studio!" He exclaimed before answering and placing it on speaker phone.

"Nicolas Starlue?" The voice was Isabella's.

"It's his father." Dad said. "But he's here too."

"Nicolas." Isabella continued. "Your audition was by far the boldest one we've seen."

"I liked Poppies audition." Came a voice that I hadn't heard before.

"Poppy was a dog!" Isabella shrieked. "Now shut up and go...go...do whatever it is you do!" Usually I would have laughed at the look on dads face but I was feeling too sick from what I knew was coming.

"Anyway..." Isabella said, back in her normal voice.

"We would like you to come back into the studio. A call back. How does twenty minutes from now sound?"

Dad called mom on the way to the studio to give her the "good news".

"A call back?!" Her shrill voice rang through the car. "Nicolas! The parts practically yours! Wait till I tell Alyssa! Oh! I need to call the rest of the MBC! They'll be so proud!" With this she hung up. Dad looked over at me.

"Nick! Are you excited?" I turned to stare at him.

"No dad. I'm not. How about we just go home and forget all about this." Dad laughed as if I'd just told a joke.

"But we're already here."

Dad ended up half dragging me into the studio. Peter was waiting for us in the room I had waited in before. Dad sat down, and Peter led me to the exact same office where Isabella, Mark, Sarah, and the other man who I still had no idea who he was.

Isabella smiled as I walked in.

"Nicolas-."

"No!" I snapped. "I talk now! I don't want to be in this movie! I'm only here because my mom forced me to be! I don't even like the Beginning! I think it's stupid! This studio is stupid! And I have no intention of having anything to do this and for goodness sakes who is this guy!?"

I pointed at the mystery man who was blowing snot bubbles.

"That's Carl." Mark rubbed a hand over his face. "He's the camera man."

"Oh." That one gave me a pause, but I shook it off and kept going.

"You cant give me this part. I wont cooperate, I will blow up the set. I can give you my moms number! She will confirm that I have a history of blowing up places that I don't want to be."

"Wait! What!" Sarah spoke for the first time.

"Awesome." Carl muttered.

"Are you hearing this!" Sarah continued.

Isabella stood up. "I am indeed." This was it. It was kind of annoying that I was going to end up in prison to get out of this thing, but it was the only way.

"I am hearing a perfect rendition of act 53 lines 19-24!"

My mouth fell open. "That's actually in the movie?"

Mark stood up and walked around the table.

"Nicolas. I believe that we are all in agreement. You have the part!"

I stared at them. I stared at Isabella, Mark, and Sarah's beaming faces and Carl's very not interested look and only one thought went through my head. I should have broken my leg.