[*sigh*, do I really have to go too? I’m meant to be helping my mum with work in ten minutes…]
Sara grumbled as she is pulled along by her childhood best friend.
Being a whole eight inches taller than herself and rather athletic, Sara didn’t even bother to struggle from the woman’s grasp; Sara had experienced being pulled around by her energetic nutcase of a friend enough times to just follow her lead at this point.
[Come on Sara, I could really use your support! Your parents will understand, they're chill.]
Briana, Sara’s best friend, pleaded, accompanied by her trademark puppy dog eyes—the one Sara found entirely impossible to refuse.
Looking into those eyes, once again Sara could only sigh in defeat and shake her head helplessly.
[Alright, alright. I know how anxious you’ve been for this audition...]
Briana beamed her beautiful smile immediately in response to Sara’s approval, her pretty features almost glowing.
Briana definitely was the prettiest girl Sara had ever seen in her life, at least in person, and Sara didn’t believe there were many who would be unaffected by the charm of Briana’s wide smile.
Briana has long, wavy auburn hair and jade-like green eyes that stand out even amongst her myriad of other beautiful features. Tall like a model at 5ft10 and with smooth, unblemished skin, Sara had confidence Briana would find her way into the field of idol acting like she dearly wished, one way or another.
Sara didn’t know much about acting, but from what she had seen, Briana didn’t lack in that area either. At the very least, all she needed was a little grooming to reach the levels of a proper actress.
Meanwhile, Sara herself sported dark blue eyes and black hair that hovers just above her shoulders; while still rather pretty, Sara doesn’t believe herself to be anywhere close to the same level as Briana in terms of beauty. Instead, Sara has always heard the term cute being used to refer to her rather than beautiful, which Sara could accept; she even found the term flattering at times.
What Sara did mind, however, was her pitiful height of 5ft2!
[Sara, you don’t know how thankful I am for this. I know how uncomfortable it is for you, being the introvert that you are… But it really does help my nerves to have you there by my side.]
Briana’s voice was completely sincere as she once again thanked Sara while pulling her in for a big, great hug!
With an amused smile, Sara hugged her back, letting out a small laugh as she replied:
[It’s fine. If me being there will really help you, then, of course, I’ll be there for you.]
As the two separated from their hug, Briana gave her one last bright smile before proceeding to pull Sara along the busy city streets once more; Sara now following behind willingly with there two hands interlinked in an intimate manner, their image radiating the beauty of youth.
Sara had always been introverted, following in the footsteps of her father; though in his case, it could be said that he was more a man of few words, rather than Sara who found genuine difficulty in certain social situations.
Meanwhile, Sara’s mother, on the other hand, was a social butterfly; the complete opposite of them both.
Sara would always opt to work behind the scenes during school dramas rather than parading under the spotlight spouting cheesy dialogue for example.
That being said, on the other end of the spectrum however, Sara found that she wasn’t exactly incompetent in social occasions at the same time. She could have a conversation with a stranger, and the few times she was forced to take to the stage during a drama at school or whatever, she could manage quite fine in the end.
Maybe it was more apt to say that instead of having a fear of social situations, that Sara just had an aversion to them.
Having done gymnastics seriously for a few years, she also wasn’t unused to performing in one fashion or another in front of a crowd.
At this thought, Sara’s mood turned a little solemn. Gymnastics had been her dream career for the longest time until she had sadly been the victim in a car accident which had left her bedridden in the hospital for several weeks.
Sara had received several injuries from that incident, but worst of all was the injury to her left arm which ended her gymnastics career short. Thankfully, her left arms injury wasn’t dire enough to affect her daily life; and in fact, Sara could still take part in athletic activities. Only, her arm could never recover enough to the degree necessary to reach the intense levels needed to be a professional gymnast…
After that revelation, after a bout of depression and a general sense of loss, in a bid to work away her frustrations, Sara turned to studying her heart out.
Even to this day, Sara was still at a loss at what to pursue next…
Sara was awoken from her reverie when she suddenly found herself nearly walking right into her friend’s backside. Thankfully, she had noticed just in the nick of time and only slightly bumped into her friend, who strangely didn’t react much even after being bumped into.
Instead, Briana was simply looking with her chin tilted upwards, her pretty green eyes attached to the red cursive words “Petal Entertainment” that laid splayed above the entrance of the tall modern building in front of them. The building reached several stories high and had a functional, contemporary design that didn't stand out too much among buildings surrounding it.
They had reached their destination, the travel time light due to its relatively close relation to their school.
Petal Entertainment was one of the bigger companies in the idol industry, having several artists under its umbrella. Currently, it leaned more on the actor’s side of things, but they also had a few musical acts under their belts as well, such as the now-disbanded boy band “Solar River” and the currently popular co-ed idol group “Blossom”, a senior group who you couldn’t avoid hearing everywhere nowadays.
Sara waited patiently by her friend’s side, neither rushing her to move nor rushing to her aid. She knew that all Briana needed right now at this moment was just a few seconds to process her emotions.
She was a tough gal, this childhood friend of hers.
When Briana finally moved again, she turned to see Sara smiling encouragingly at her, and her spirits were immediately lifted.
[Alright, let’s do this!]
Ever the optimist, able to flip moods as fast as the flick of a switch, Briana cheered herself on as she clenched her fists with fiery eyes.
[I’ve worked so hard for this, I’ve got this!]
Sara shook her head smilingly at her antics and just followed Briana’s lead as she entered the ‘Petal Entertainment’ building, the two walking straight up to the front desk where there were already several long lines of people queued up.
Reading a sign at the back of the queueing area, it was quickly made clear to Sara that two of the three lines were for people signing in for the audition while the last line was for general visitors.
Joining the back of the audition queue, Briana and Sara passed the time with some small talk, which quickly morphed into a tirade of almost nonsensical words erupting from Briana's mouth.
It didn’t take long for Sara to realise that this was Briana's method of coping with nervousness by talking her way out of it, her voice running off a mile a minute.
Sara was quite willing to entertain her friend however as she actually found her nervousness rather cute. It was a side of her eccentric childhood friend she didn’t get to see often after all.
The nervousness that is—Sara was much acquainted with Briana’s voice otherwise...
Soon enough, however, the two had finally reached the end of the queue and Briana coughed nervously before proceeding with the necessary formalities of signing in for the audition. Sara stood at the side watching her friend as she filled in a few forms, writing the field she wanted to audition for and a few notes on her personal details. The facts and the titbits.
In less than a minute, Briana had completed the forms and handed them back to the receptionist, who gave her a laminated card with her ID on it and a leaflet of mostly irrelevant information.
Briana happily stuck the ID on the left side of her chest while shoving the leaflet into her purse for now.
Just as Briana and Sara were about to head off, the receptionist called out to Sara.
[Wait, are you not signing up for the audition too?]
[Ah-oh, no… I’m just accompanying my friend here. Is that not allowed?]
Sara replied in a flustered manner, caught off guard at suddenly being signalled out by the receptionist.
[Yes, I’m sorry but that is indeed the case. There is only so much room in the waiting room, so it has been regulated that only participants in the audition can enter.]
The receptionist informed apologetically but then pointed to an area just across the room where there was a small seating area. With a few magazines lying across a low wooden table and a small shelf of books to complete the whole scene, the place looked like the waiting area at a dentists.
[If you like though, you could wait for your friend right there. That should be allowed.]
[Thank you.]
Sara smiled as she gave the receptionist a slight bow in gratitude. While smiling on the outside, Sara was sighing deeply on the inside, however. This was going to turn out to be a boring few hours, wasn’t it?
As Briana and Sara walked their way out of the queue, Sara turned to her friend and asked, rather concerned with the sudden change of events:
[Are you going to be okay on your own?]
[I’ll be okay... It’ll be good to just know that you’ll be out here for me afterwards!]
Briana nodded, and Sara was happy to see that she wasn’t putting on an act and seemed to genuinely be at ease. Sara knew Briana well enough to tell otherwise; she could even see a burning confidence building in her friend’s eyes, a desire to succeed igniting.
So, as Briana and Sara waved their goodbyes, for now, Briana heading for the closest elevator while Sara found herself a seat at the small waiting area as directed. She was only joined by a few others, all of whom were minding their own business, for the most part, reading a magazine or fiddling away on their phones otherwise.
Amidst wondering how to pass the time herself, Sara couldn't help but trouble herself over friend's audition at the same time, her heart sending out a prayer for her friend's success.
