Week 6 Story: Hollywood Troubles

It was the year 2020, and Hollywood was booming. Young women were lining up for auditions, hoping that their big break was right around the corner. Both Stephanie and Kate were aspiring actresses, and they were very similar. Both were waitresses at diners, and both had been acting since they were kids. However, there were also a few differences. Stephanie had gone to college at OU before moving to Hollywood. She majored in Drama and was ready to be an asset to anyone who hired her. Kate on the other hand, dropped out of high school to follow her dreams. She didn't see the point of education when she was going to be an actress.


Now one day, Stephanie decided to go eat at a local restaurant. This is where she met Kate, her waitress. Now the two began talking and discovered their similarities! They talked about different movies they had auditioned for, and they quickly formed a real bond. At the end of her lunch, Stephanie invited Kate to come over to her apartment the next day.

Kate showed up at Stephanie's apartment bright and early the next morning...a little too early (it was 7AM!).

Stephanie was still in bed when she heard the doorbell ring. She was going to ignore it, but the ringing wouldn't stop. She got up to see who was there when she saw Kate.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's good! I just couldn't sleep, so I decided to come over a little earlier! Hope that's okay!"

"Umm..yeah, that's fine! Just let me go brush my teeth."

While Stephanie was brushing, her cell phone rang, and Kate picked it up for her. "Hello?"

A male voice answered, "Hello, is this Stephanie Mines?"

"No, can I take a message?"

"Yes, this is very urgent. Please tell her that she is being looked at to play the voice over for Dory in the next sequel. Ellen is being a little uncooperative. The callback will be in exactly one hour. That is 8AM. Will she be able to make it?"

Kate replied, "OMG, yes, of course! She'll be there!"

The two said goodbye and hung up. Kate was beyond excited for her friend and wanted to do something to celebrate. She decided to surprise Stephanie with some "Good luck" donuts and ran out of the apartment. She hopped into her car, and went to get some of the best donuts around: Hurts Donuts.

Meanwhile, Stephanie came out of the bathroom and looked around for Kate. She had no idea where she was. "That's odd," she thought to herself. "I guess she had to leave."

An hour and a half later, the doorbell rang again. It was Kate with the donuts.

"Hi Stephanie!! CONGRATULATIONS!"

"What are you talking about, Kate!?"

"Stephanie!! You got a callback to be DORY!!"

"What!? Forreal!?!? What are you talking about!? How do you know?"

Kate explained, "While you were brushing your teeth, you got a call and I answered it for you! You have an audition at..."

And then she remembered. "Oh no. Stephanie..."

Stephanie was confused. "What?"

Kate answered, "The callback was at 9AM."

"What day?" asked Stephanie.

"Today. I'm so sorry. I was just so excited, and I wanted to surprise you! I got you "good luck" donuts!"

Stephanie was in shock. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, TODAY?! I'M LATE!? IT'S 9:40 NOW."

Kate started to cry. "Steph, I'm so sorry!"

Stephanie yelled, "GET OUT. I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU. ARE YOU TRYING TO RUIN ME?!"

Kate left the apartment in tears while Stephanie frantically called the director back. She tried to explain what happened, but it was no use. The director wouldn't work with someone late and unprofessional.

Needless to stay, the brief friendship between Stephanie and Kate was over.

It is better to have a wise enemy than a foolish friend.

Author's Note: This story was based on "The Gardener and the Bear". In this story, the gardener and the bear met and they quickly become friends. The Gardener invites the Bear into his home and serves him some food. To return the favor, the Bear watches over the Gardener while he sleeps to keep flies away. A fly continuously lands on the Gardener's face, and the Bear gets angry so he threw a huge rock on the fly, which was on the Gardener's nose, killing both the fly and the Gardener. The moral of the story was "It is better to have a wise enemy than a foolish friend." I decided to change up the characters and make them humans. I put a modern spin on it, but with the same moral.

Image Information: Hollywood photo on Flickr

Bibliography
The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai by Maude Barrows Dutton; link to the reading online.

Comments

  1. Oh no! This story is so sad. However, I don't know if I completely agree with the final moral of the story, which states that it is better to have a wise enemy than a foolish friend. Maybe it's better to just not have any foolish friends. A wise enemy might not be the best relationship to have! When I read the introduction, it made me think of a place that I have been to in New York. It's a little diner called the Stardust Cafe, and people that are auditioning to be on Broadway work on the waitstaff there! As you order and eat your food, the waiters and waitresses take turns singing and performing all over the restaurant. It was so fun!
    Anyways, good job with the story, and I'm bummed that it had such a sad ending.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jessica! I love how you tied OU and Hurtz donuts into your story (both things that I'm fond of myself!). I'm so sad for Stephanie, not getting that callback. You did a great job of sticking to the moral that foolish friends will bring misfortune. I would've tried to end it with the director forgiving her or something (but I'm just sappy and like happy endings). The ending is great though and Stephanie's reaction is also very relatable. I also chuckled at the "Ellen is being uncooperative" line. Very funny!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Jessica!
    This is a really cool story, I love the spin on the characters and how it was put into a modern aspect. Sometimes we have those foolish friends, but I don't think that necessarily means we should give up a friendship because of that. It is hard to find quality friends in this day and age so I think that it is sad that Stephanie and Katie were no longer friends. That being said, I really do like the story itself because Katie was just so excited for her friend that she forgot to tell her the important news. Sometimes things happen but maybe Stephanie got a better offer later on? Thank you for sharing your story!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh wow! Well I must say that I was very surprised to see a moral at the very end of the story, I definitely wasn't expecting it! The story you created was very original, as I did not see much relation to it to the original story. That's a plus in my opinion. You are very good at setting the scene, and your use of quotes throughout the story. It made following along very easy!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Jessica, I wondered where you were going with this story at the beginning. It started off a little slow, but at the end it really surprised me and gave made me feel bad for Jessica missing her chance at playing dory. The moral at the end of the story seemed a hard truth that I'm sure many don't like to admit. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a fun story! I love that one of your main characters and myself share the same name :) Anyways the use of dialogue is really great and overall the story is easy to follow and interesting! The ending was totally unpredictable and although it was sad for Stephanie it was a great version of the story you got your inspiration from. Thanks for sharing your take on this story and keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment