Young Writers Society

Ginger James-

Roman had been gone when I got home the night before and in a meeting with Marni for the past two hours. I sat outside the conference room at Roman's office, texting Darren. I knew the whole place would be in a frenzy getting ready for a talk show appearance and arranging travel plans but I didn't expect everyone to be out. Roman's intern, Jace, was the only one still there and he kept glancing up nervously at me asking me if I was doing alright and if I needed anything.

Finally Roman emerged, followed closely by Marni and my two body gaurds, "Oh, I thought they'd disappeared," I said, motioning at the monstrous men.

"We had some delays on paper work and record checks," Marni answered, "but the good news is they'll be ready to go to Europe with you next week!"

"Oh, swell. Where is everyone, this place is dead." I looked around at the silent office.

"Running errands," Roman answered, not looking up from his iPad. I took a few deep breathes. I'd been practicing a script I'd worked out the night before, I always did my best work scripted anyway.

"Roman," I said, catching his attention, "I want to talk. I know you don't trust Darren but I do and since you trust me I think you should hear me out," Marni's attention was on me as well, "I like him, I like him a lot. I want him to come to London with me and I don't see how you can stop me. I'm 21, more than old enough to make my own decisions-"

"Fine," he cut me off, "whatever you want."

I broke character, "wait, what's wrong?" They all stood silent, staring at me.

Marni sighed and finally spoke up, "you haven't heard at all?" I shook my head, "You didn't watch the morning news or read any of the papers?" I shrugged and worried on her bottom lip, perfectly glossed with a shade of shiny pink, "It's Jaques."

I turned, folding my arms over my chest, "I don't care about him."

"He and Macee are together," Roman said, "it's all over the tabloids, the papers, everywhere."

I felt my stomach clench but kept my face calm and uninterested. I didn't care about Jaques. He could date whoever he liked. I had Darren. I didn't car about Jaques-I had to convince myself of at least that, "how is that possible, she's nobody. He...she's not his type. Besides, he came by yesterday, they can't ALREADY be together."

For some reason I felt close to tears. I couldn't look at Roman because I knew if I caught his eye I would break down. It would be easy and he would comfort me, but I didn't want the others to see me like that. I didn't want to be vulnerable. The building door opened and I felt someone tall come up behind me, wrapping his arms around me, "Guess who," he whispered in my ear.

I put on a smile and turned, giving Darren a hug.

"I heard you're coming to London with us?" Roman said, and I silently thanked him for being supportive, he knew I needed it.

Darren smiled, "I guess I am," he looked down at me, "ready to go to lunch?" I nodded.

Thurber Washington

I woke early that morning ad slid open the sliding door to the balcony of my hotel room. It was already sort of hot for me, but I sat down in a chair and propped my legs up anyway. I stretched my arms, stifling a yawn. I heard a knocking from the main door, so I rose and opened it, expecting it to be Micky, which it was. He strode through and plopped some tabloids on my bed, but under his arm was a smallish box.

"Your pistol finally got here."

My face lit up and I rushed over to it, ripping open the box. I carefully set my PPK on the table. I found the clip, and the holster for it.

"Hey, Micky. Have a seat and I will go shower and clean up and whatever and we'll go buy a coupla boxes of bullets, okay?"

"Sure."

He crossed his legs and grabbed one of the magazines he'd brought. I quickly showered, toweled off, and hopped out before pulling on my last clean suit.

"Okay, let's roll. Oh, and we need to remember to go to the drycleaner's and clean my suits."

"Alright. Hey, did you see this?"

I looked up from putting on the holster. It was one of the ones like on the cops shows, that sat under your coat.

"See what?"

He held the magazine open to me. Jacques and Macee were together now. I chuckled.

"Someone got roofied last night."

Micky laughed and threw the magazine back down as we headed out the door.

"I think you might be a little jealous...heh."

"I am honestly not. I tried to score with her at the club and did not succeed. Such is life."

Micky rolled his eyes and we continued down to the limo. Maybe I was a little jealous, but not enough to do anything about it.

Thurber's PPK

Jaques

"This is a new low, Jaques." Fernando walked into my bedroom where I sat, skimming through the headlines. Everything I wanted was in there. I wondered absentmindely when Ginger would see it. If she would notice Macee wearing her necklace. With luck, she'd wear it to the talk show interview today.

"So what if it is?" I continued looking through, eventually turning on the large flatscreen hanging on the wall to the local gossip channel. Nothing about me and Macee came up, but I figured the story would be on later. Fernando reached over, and turned off the TV.

He took a deep breath, and pinctched the bridge between his nose, "Jaques. You're making yourself look bad. This player act can only go on so long. Just because one girl-"

"She's not just one girl!" He knew a comment like that hit hard on me. Fernando had some nerve to make a statement like that.

"Fine! Just because Ginger burned you, doesn't mean you can go around and make yourself Hollywood's biggest douchebag!" One more thing and I was going to get myself another agent.

"You treat me like I'm your son, Fernando. Might I remind you I hired you, and that could be changed quickly." This wasn't the first time I had played this card, but I didn't care.

"It's because I care about you, Jaques. I've known you since you were that little boy in the car commercials. You are like a son to me." What he said every time I played the 'I'm gonna fire you' card. But we both knew it was true.

I took a deep breath, "I better go practice what I'm going to say for Meggie."

Jaspar

Daniel slipped me another note and I found that I was growing tired of this film before we'd even started shooting. Another day. Another splash across the papers. Apparently there was a lot of dating going on between the rest of the cast and they weren't even trying to keep it quiet. Some of the more obscure papers had photos of Ginger with a mystery guy. The clippings Danny had included looked genuine enough but when I reached the one of Macee and Jaques I cringed and tossed them in the bin. If I wasn't a big, calloused movie star I'd feel bad for the girl. There was no chance Jaques was actually serious about her, no way.

At the time though, I was more worried about my own skin, I guess I'm selfish like that. And I didn't like this lack of attention. So I grabbed my phone and called Danny to find out the number of the only female star who hadn't got pulled into the drama yet. Hayley Heller. She had to be told that we were filming in a week anyway. Abroad. Which was part of what had me down since it meant leaving my baby behind so much sooner than I'd expected. I

"I'll have to call you back," Danny said after I'd explained. But it wasn't long before he got back to me, having called her agent and obtained what I wanted. I thanked him and dialled again.

"Hello?"

"Hey there, Miss Heller?"

"Uh... yeah. Who is it?"

"Jaspar Noel." I paused a moment to let this sink in and then continued in my ever so sexy accent. "Listen, the director wanted me to tell you that we start filming next week."

"Next week!"

"Yeah, I know, and we're flying abroad. Nothing's going slow in this film. Speaking of which, are you up-to-date? Half thhe cast are dating already and I think it's time we got in on the action."

Macee

It's not hanging by the phone if you only pass it every couple of minutes. Or at least that's what I tried to tell myself. Rosaline rolled her eyes, but didn't do anything to stop me as we practiced my lines for the scenes we would be filming in London.

I looked over at the clock. Somehow it was only ten a.m. It felt so much later. I face-scripted, and then put my head down on the table. "I'm too tired." Yes, I was whining. Macee Raymond whining. This was a first.

"Well, we need to go out and look for a dress for the interview tonight. It's at nine." Rosaline suggested. I perked up, and pulled on my sunglasses.

"Let's go." I ran outside to my truck, and pulled myself onto the drivers side. It felt good to be behind the wheel and not in some black oversized SUV. Rosaline looked like she wanted to protest, but gave in and climbed onto the passenger side.

"I've never understood what's with you and trucks," she commented. I shrugged, and then followed her directions to a place that looked like the dresses in the window display might have cost more than our entire house back in Georgia. I parked the car, and we both got out. When we walked in, I was confronted with rack after rack of stunning dresses.

We must have gone through half the sotre before Rosaline found something she wanted for me. It wasn't very "me", but she wouldn't hear it.

"You look stunning, Macee, just stunning." She assured me. I looked in the mirror and wondered where the innocent little country singer in me went.

Roman-

After lunch the car came back to pick me up from the studio. Everything was so rushed and hectic, not at all the way I liked it. I gave Jace the night off and sent most of the staff home-I could handle the interview but I would need them tomorrow. There were issues with the passports and we had to make sure the in flight meal was void of peaches and cherries so Ginger didn't go in to anaphylactic shock and die.

I climbed in the back and saw that she was sleeping peacefully against Darren. He stared out the window, rubbing his jaw line thoughtfully.

"She wants you to be a part of her life," I said, quietly, catching his attention, "and your background checks came up clear so under the circumstances I'm inclined to let that happen. But make no mistake, this will not be easy and I will destroy you if you hurt her."

"I won't hurt her," he said, as I expected he would.

"We'll see about that."

Ginger stirred.



Ginger James-

Oh, a simple complication, miscommunication leads to fall out.
So many things that I wish you knew,
so many walls up I can't break through!
Now I'm standing alone in a crowded room and we're not speaking
and I'm dying to know is it killing you like it's killing me?
I don't know what to say, it's was a twist of fate when it all broke down
And the story of us looks a lot like a tragedy now...

I jolted awake in the car, yanking the bud from my ear and turning my iPod off.

"Ginger, are you okay?" I turned and remembered Darren had come along to the interview. I shook off the feeling the Taylor Swift song had left on my subconscious and smiled at him.

"I'm fine," I lied. The car ride was tense and I knew Roman must have said something to him. I was happy to get to the studio despite how anxious I felt about seeing Jaques. I said a quick good-bye to Darren and was ushered backstage with the others. I spotted Macee, looking uncomfortable in her designer dress. I scanned her up and down telling myself to stay calm. I shouldn't feel jealous. I didn't want Jaques. Then I saw it, gleaming silver against her skin. The necklace. MY necklace.

I reached over and ripped it from her throat, "that is not yours," I said. She looked a little stunned, pressing her hand to her now bare neck, "You're an idiot," I spat, "you think he cares about you?! You're nobody. He never even cared about me." What hurt worse was that I knew he had cared about me, just not enough to stay faithful. And what hurt even more than that was how much I cared about him, even now when I wanted to kill him, I cared about him. The words spewed from me like venom. I pulled back to throw the necklace at her but felt a hand clasp around my wrist.

Jaques

I got a lovely view of Ginger getting exactly what she deserved. But, as she yelled at Macee, I couldn't help but almost pitty the poor little blonde. I saw Ginger's hand raise, and automatically grabbed it.

"Don't touch her." I countinued my act with a smile. I didn't care about Macee, really. But there were a lot of people around. "Ginger, the necklace just looked perfect on her. I couldn't help it."

"So it was hers?" Macee demanded. I took the necklace from Ginger and clasped it back around Macee's neck gently, giving her a light kiss on the forehead as I did. I turned around, giving a shocked Ginger a big smile, then returned to where the green rooms were.

I was on in ten anyway.

Ginger James-

The way he kissed her forehead made me lurch with jealousy. That movement, simple and non-intimate, used to be a regular one for Jaques and I. Even though it was kind of dorky and something you would think an old couple would do when he did it, I melted a little inside.

"The scars of your love remind me of us, they keep me thinkin that we almost had it all. The scars of your love, they leave me breathless. I can't help feeling, we could have had it all, rolling in the deep. (You're gunna wish you, never had met me. Tears are gunna fall, rolling in the deep)."

When Adele told me Jaques and I inspired her to write a song I never thought it would be that one, but at that moment the lyrics made perfect sense. And now I was name dropping in my head. I made a mental note to delete it from my playlist and call her then watched Jaques go back to the Green room.

The necklace gleamed on Macee's neck.

I stood silent, feeling those ever present judging eyes on me. The press was already eating up my little outbreak, more would just fan the fires and Roman probably already wanted to kill me. I turned to the helpless little blonde, "he's right, it looks better on you anyway. Enjoy." I couldn't blame her too much. Jaques was the one messing with her. If she didn't watch out her career would be over before it began. I already endured the label being with Jaques left on me, was it fair for her to have the burden as well? Why did I even care? Was it because of Darren? Did I want him to see me acting like some psycho bitch? No, not really.

I decided to push aside whatever sick twisted feelings I had left over for Jaques and just feel bad for Macee instead. Lowering my tone I leaned toward her, "Just be careful. And don't be nervous about the interview, just be yourself-not that I really care." I added the last part hastily and turned up my nose, pretending to be more interested in staring off in to space.

Jaques

"You're on in three." Fernando leaned into the green room, and I stood up. I followed him out to the immediate backstage area, and watched as the opening music began to play. The studio audience applauded, and Meggie May took a seat in her famous leather chair.

"Hey folks! Welcome to the show. I'm your host, Meggie May-" The audience burst into applause and she paused for a moment, "and tonight we have some of the newly announced cast of Mindless here to give us some spoilers, and all the latest Hollywood dirt. Starting off tonight we have none other than award winning actor and singer Jaques Monarez!" I ran onto the stage, waving and giving my biggest grin. The audience was erupting in applause, and I noticed more than one desperate fan girl screaming my name in the back.

I took a seat on one of the two read chairs across from Meggie's desk and gave her a big smile, "I'm excited to be here Meggie." No, actually, I'm not. But I have to say that.

"Great to have you, Jaques. Now, I know you're not big on giving out spoilers, but is there anything you'd like to tell us about Mindless?"

I rubbed my chin, and leaned back, "You know, Meggie. This is definitely going to be a real thriller. I'm excited to be in on this. We're going to be filming globally, actually, so if you see the Eiffel tower in the move, you aren't just seeing green screen effects."

Meggie May put on her 'interested' face, and nodded, "That is very exciting. Now, you’re going to be spending a year mostly with people you've never worked with before. On top of this, I hear filming has already begun, and you've barley gotten time to know them. How does this make you feel?"

I laughed. I knew she already knew we hadn't started filming, but she threw stuff in like that to get me talking. "Actually, we haven't begun filming, but we fly abroad in a few days. As for the rest of the cast, most of them are great. I'm looking forward to working with them."

"Most of them? Hmm. That's an interesting statement. Is there anyone you're not particularly looking forward to working with?" Her eyes got wide, and she rested her chin on her chin on the back of her hand.

"As you all know, I assume, I'm working with Ginger James. That's been a tough given the past. It's been a little hard for me, because as much as I felt for her it's obvious now the feelings were never returned." I sighed, and the audience gave little awws. Mission accomplished, "But I think we've both grown and changed and I do believe we can look past what happened and start as friends again. At least, that's what I'm hoping for." More awws from the crowd. They sapped it up so easily. It was like giving candy to children.

"That's very sweet Jaques. Now rumours say you're pursuing a co star of yours, Macee Raymond. Is there anything you'd like to say about that?" I had peaked her interest. This was good.

I chose my words carefully, "Macee is lovely. I really enjoy her personality. She has a lot of life. Right now I'm not sure where this is going, but we can only hope for the best." Hope she doesn't become too attached to me.

"That's great Jaques, that's really great." Meggie turned to the camera, "After the break we're going to speak to another star on the cast of Mindless. Stay tuned, and we'll be right back." Meggie winked at the camera, and lights flashed around the stage. As soon as the cameraman yelled for two minutes, I hurried off the stage to let the nest person take their seat in the spotlight.

That went better than I thought.

Thurber Washington

Monarez finished his little bit, lying through his teeth the whole time. I kept resisting the urge to run out and tackle him. I hated that I wanted to. I was supposed to be calm and cool and collected. I at least looked the part. He swaggered off the set smiling and went over to chat with Maycee. Some guy who worked for the show waddled up and informed me I was up next. Oy. The cameras went back to recording and the Meggie character started talking. Again.

"Our next guest is a famous Broadway actor, he's one of Jacques's costars in the upcoming film, and this is the first film he's done. Please welcome Thurber Washington."

The crowd clapped, but they seemed mildly disinterested with me. I knew they were only doing it because the sign above the set's proscenium informed them to.

"So, Thurber, can I call you Thurber?"

"Of course."

"So Thurber. How does it feel to be in Hollywood compared to New York?"

I crossed my hands and sat back, looking relaxed and awesome. I pretended to ponder it for a moment before responding.

"It's different. It's nice, really, but different. In New York I'm a lot more recognized, but here in LA nobody knows who I am. I kind of enjoy the anonymity of it, honestly."

The audience chuckled. Hey, that was a good sign, right?

"Can't it be troublesome though? I imagine most of your costars had no idea who you were when you first met."

"Oh yeah. Definitely. In particular I remember the lovely Miss James and the debonair Monarez in particular not knowing who I was. We were young then."

The audience laughed a little this time. It was good to see they'd gotten the joke. Now, Meggie sat forward, and her face went from light and happy to serious and stern.

"Now, I know some people in the audience are wondering when I'm going to ask this, so let's just get it out of the way. Why did Monarez punch you that first night at the club?"

lolwut. Micky had not informed me that this was going to be asked. FFFFFUUUUU-

"Well, it was the first night any of them had met me and Monarez was a tool to me, so I was a tool back. It was all rather sophomoric. Later I was talking with the other Hollywood newcomer, Miss Raymond, and I once more provoked him, only this time he tried to punch me. 'Course, being a stage actor and all, I know how to get hit, so it was just a glancing blow. Barely felt it."

She hunched even further forward, probably trying to act like the investigative reporter she'd always wanted to be until something or other happened and she got stuck interviewing celebrities.

"So how are relations between you and Monarez now?"

"Honestly, we haven't talked since the incident. I can only hope he is as professional as he seems and has managed to put it all behind him."

The guy behind the camera informed us that we had like 30 seconds until we cut to commercial. She thanked me for appearing on the show and I thanked her for letting me be on it and then we were off air and I stepped off stage took my seat offstage.

Macee

I was ushered quickly onto the stage, and the cameraman counted down three seconds. On the last second I took a moment to fix a bit of my hair, a nervous habit I had that Rosaline warned me about. Meggie looked at me with a smile, then turned to the audiance.

"Now we're on with Macee Raymond. An upcoming star on the paths of Hollywood." There was applause from the audiance, and I gave them a shy wave.

"Hi Meggie." I said, then realizing I was biting down on my bottom lip, relased it.

"Little nervous sweetie?" She raised an eyebrow, and I nodded. There were a few comments from the audiance, and I tried not to look over. Meggie took a deep breath, "So, Miss Macee, this is your first time doing any acting. How does it feel?"

"We haven't really done any filming yet, but I'm so exctied Meggie, I really am." I gave her a smile, and pushed a piece of hair behind my ears.

Meggie gripped her hands together, "And how does it feel to be around all these big stars? I know you had an album out a few years ago, but that never really hit big charts. Some of these people have been in the spotlight their whole lives. Do you feel any pressure at all-?"

"Oh, well, not really. Pretty much everyone is nice and normal people so it's not a big deal. I mean, I guess it's a little wierd. The people I used to point out in magazines when I was little suddenly becoming more of 'real people' to me. But I had a slight introduction to the famous immediately after my CD came out, doing interviews and stuff."

"And, not to get off topic from the movie, but why haven't we had a CD since then?" Her eyes were wide, and I had a temptation to look away. My eyes eventually found my lap and stayed there for a moment.

"Well, I just want to make really good music, you know. For all my fans. And I write everything myself, so, it takes a while to make the best stuff. There's more comming though." I added the last part quickly, and glanced upward quickly.

"Now, I know I already talked to Jaques about this, but can I get your side of the story on this obviously developing relationship. Where do you see this going?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I don't quite know yet," Rosaline had prepped me for this answer, "I guess wherever the winds of fate are lucky enough to take me."

"That's good. That's great Macee. You're so sweet, honey." She nodded at me, then waved at the camera. Before I even knew what was happening, I was being whisked off the stage.

I never wanted to do another interview ever again.

Jaques

As soon as I left the stage I walked over towards a nervous looking Macee. However, I didn't get a chance to speak with her before she went on. I only hoped she knew enough to not reveal anything I didn't want her saying. I stuck near the edges to hear her answer. It was plastic and forced, but exactly what I needed.

I walked over to Ginger, who was leaning casually up against the wall. "You handled that very well." My voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Go away, Jaques." Her voice was cold and angry. Not what I was looking for.

Intentionally using a slower, deeper voice that I knew she had loved, "You should be nicer to her. She's amazing, really. It's really too bad you made a couple bad descisions. we could have been something, Gin." I hoped using her pet name would kill her. I hoped whoever that new guy was fell off a building somewhere.

A very frazzled looking Macee walked off the stage, and I went up and embraced her, ignoring whatever Ginger had said in response to my comment. Macee mumbled something about never wanting to do an interview again, and I ran my fingers through her hair, the same way I had Ginger's. Her hair had been softer though. I looked into Macee's eyes, "Why don't you go get some water, and sit down a minute. You'll feel better."

In response to his comment, I had to speak to Thurber. I aproached him with a warm smile, "I'm sorry I lost control, Thurber, I really am. I hope we can put this unfourtonete little incidence behind us, and maybe we might just not hate each other by the time this movie is done."

Thurber Washington

Monarez approached me, trying to play the diplomat. Apologizing about flying off the handle. I smiled brilliantly and shook his hand, patting his opposite shoulder at the same time. I knew I seemed awesome and genuine.

"Hey man, it's all ancient history to me. Let bygones be bygones."

Sure, the punch was way behind me, but the way he was using that little girl, Macee, to piss of Ginger was just...wrong. But, regardless, I kept smiling and seeming genial. We had a few more reviews to sit through before we could all go home.

I offically pronounce this to be dead.

We haven't been moved to the archives or anything yet, so it technically isn't...