Star Minds Chasing Stardom

by Barbara G. Tarn

  "Of course. I'll wait for you forever if necessary," he answered with a smile. "I know how important this is for you. I'll miss you very much, Astrid, but I'll be waiting."

  She hugged him and gave him a final kiss, rushing after Shantel as they headed for the departure gate.

  "I will make you forget that guy!" Norris said, putting one arm around Astrid's shoulder.

  "Hands off!" David and Shantel chorused, making Astrid giggle.

  "What?" Norris obeyed, but glared at the other two.

  "You can't beat my brother," Shantel replied, grabbing Astrid's hand. "You better look somewhere else!"

  "Hey, there's Zafar and Rashaun!" David said, changing the subject.

  Norris muttered under his breath, but gave up.

  ***

  Vilas Lok looked like a glittering planet full of dreams. The school was in the countryside, a big campus with lots of green that reminded Astrid and David of the palace gardens. Astrid and Shantel shared a room, and so did Norris and David. They stayed in different buildings since they followed different branches of entertainment, but they could meet at the canteen or in the big courtyard – or go for a walk in the park on their free day.

  Astrid was very excited to share her room with her best friend. They spent even more time together since they had the same classes, and sort of lost sight of David and Norris almost immediately.

  Travis Sappington was their drama teacher. He was a middle-aged former star known for his patience, especially with students. He had discovered many young actors since he'd left the galactic stages to teach at the school.

  Astrid thought he was very fatherly, although he sometimes got angry when she couldn't do a scene, but he calmed down immediately if he saw she was exasperated or close to a nervous breakdown. He was used to dealing with young adults and knew how to prod them into doing their best performance. He taught them not only how to learn their lines, but also how to become their characters.

  Other teachers, slightly less important to the course, were Zafar Nagarkar for dance, Shasta Harries for singing and stand-up comedian Tania Whisenton, who was Shantel's favorite. Shantel had always been better than Astrid at improvising, and she was more comedic than dramatic.

  And then there was Kendrick Lygonis, the best student of the school. A twenty-year-old from Wega, he'd starred in a couple of summer productions and had made five movies already. Astrid fell in love with him at first sight, since Mr. Sappington often used him as example.

  He'd won the Best Newcomer Award and when he asked Astrid out, she agreed, both to get to know him better and because she genuinely liked him.

  "Good for you! I don't like him," Shantel commented with a shrug when she told her she was going out with the most sought after young man of the school.

  "You're jealous." Astrid glared at her.

  "Not at all," Shantel replied. "I'm not interested. He's gorgeous and he knows it – not my kind of man, sorry. You can keep him. He's going to dump you as soon as he gets what he wants."

  "You're mean! You don't know how he feels! Maybe he will fall in love with me!"

  Shantel scoffed. "I sure hope not. Have you already forgotten my brother? That's your boyfriend. Not a handsome Wegan who will use you and throw you away."

  Astrid wanted to slap her best friend, but didn't.

  "Fine, let's agree to disagree on Kendrick!" she snapped. "You're probably right, I should concentrate on my acting. I do have a boyfriend and a love life."

  "Exactly. And Tyrell is trustworthy – anyone we'll meet here, not so much."

  Astrid knew that Shantel was right. Except she couldn't say no to Kendrick. And while Tyrell had respected her because he knew they'd eventually get married and wanted to save it for that day, Kendrick introduced her to sex. It was all so natural that she realized she'd "done" it when he looked puzzled to find her a virgin.

  "It's refreshing, really. You're so fresh and new, it's a pleasure to be with you," he commented.

  She blushed but was so happy and in love...

  ***

  David and Norris shared a room but not all classrooms. Norris had a lot of drawing and graphics lessons, while David had all sorts of writing. His playwriting teacher, Flavia Fabeck, was amazed at how good he was at writing for the theater. He had a lot of experience in that field, since he'd written most of the school plays during secondary school.

  Screenwriting was trickier, but Afzal Nadim was a good teacher. There was no fiction writing in the course, so David spent most of his free time picking Rashaun's brain. Zafar's husband lived on campus too, but very few knew he was also an excellent writer. In fact only two people went to him, David and Verlene Vancamp, a writer from Gweltaz with deep blue eyes and golden skin. One of her hobbies was studying philosophy and she wrote beautifully lyrical poems – which put her at the head of the class in songwriting – but she wanted to learn storytelling.

  She loved Rashaun's books, so she consulted with him as often as possible. David met her more and more often at Rashaun's apartment, where they had interesting discussions on epic stories, tragedies, comedies and other literary genres.

  When Norris noticed a girl talking to David, he became interested.

  "Who is she? What does she write?" he asked one night after they'd retired to their room.

  David introduced them to each other the next morning and wasn't surprised when Norris asked her out. They were obviously made for each other and he didn't need anyone to write the next story. The moving comic was finished, both he and Norris could move on to other projects.

  He fondly remembered how his love for writing had started. Being fourteen, too tall and too skinny, his voice still swinging from childish to adult – and he himself had no idea if he was still a boy or a young man already.

  He'd had plenty of time to imagine things. Going to a carnival with his friends, like when they were kids. Living in a wonderful wonderland with his favorite heroes. He'd started to go to bed early to imagine going to those places and interact with those people. He'd decided he had superpowers and could be anything he wanted when he went into his world with his imaginary friends.

  And then he'd started writing about his adventures. He changed names, but whenever given free rein, he made up stories for the composition classes. He did it to entertain himself and keep himself company. His language teacher had suggested he wrote a stage play for the class – an original work, not the remake of an old fairy tale he'd heard from his parents – and for the first time in months, he'd felt very excited at the prospect. The challenge was intriguing enough to make him want to do it.

  And now here he was, four years later, still writing stories, making up stuff, exploring new genres and new ways. Plays, screenplays, songs, stories – and his first real novel, where he got the point of view right, dropped the omniscient narrator and wrote a story he was really proud of. Not an episodic narration with short chapters and a crowded cast, but a story with few but well-rounded characters, a beginning, a middle and an end. When Rashaun complimented him, he felt in heaven.

  "Maybe I should just do a creative writing workshop or two and go to university to do something else," he mused.

  "Finish the year," Rashaun suggested. "And then you can decide this summer. I'll keep workshopping with you until the summer break. I might be able to suggest a creative writing course to the school if I manage to teach you something!"

  "You can definitely teach," David assured him. "I understood so many things after you explained them to me! I have written randomly until now, and it's good to know the rules and break them knowingly!"

  "Your imagination was a little too wild, because you're so young." Rashaun smiled fondly at him. "But with some research, you'll become an excellent writer."

  "Will you be my first reader? I can be yours..."

  "Of course, we can swap pre-publication readings."

  ***

  Kendrick Lygonis wore a mask and he acted twenty-four seven. He collected girlfriends and obviously didn
't have a heart. Astrid discovered this at the New Year's Eve party, where he ignored her. Shantel's face seemed to say "Told you!" and Astrid felt a lump in her throat. It wasn't a love story, it was just sex, at least for him.

  So she started giving him the cold shoulder. If she'd hoped to bind him to her, to force him to commit, she failed, because after the first refusal, he just shrugged and started hitting on Shantel, who drove him crazy but didn't fall for him, since she was so much smarter than Astrid.

  "I'm doing it for you," she told Astrid. "Little revenge for what he's done to you. Not that I'm going to break his heart... but he'll learn not all the girls are ready to fall at his feet!"

  She winked and Astrid felt relieved.

  "I should have stuck to Tyrell," she grumbled. But there were so many temptations on Vilas Lok! Shantel herself had dates and kept meeting nice guys... no commitments on either part, just good old fun, maybe sex, maybe cuddles and then off to something else.

  Shantel squeezed her hand and they smiled at each other. "If he weren't my brother, I'd marry him. But I'm sure Tyrell is not the only decent guy in the galaxy..."

  ***

  Chun Stawbridge, a movie director, decided to shoot inside the school. The best students of the acting classes were hired to play parts – including Astrid and Shantel. And some of the teachers as well, including Travis Sappington and Zafar Nagarkar.

  After their first table reading, Astrid asked the artist formerly known as Zaphadin the King of Music, "How come you decided to act?"

  "Well, there's a lot of music in this movie and I get to sing one of the songs and well... this guy is not too different from me, so I thought why not?" Zafar answered with a smile. "If it's too hard, I'll just stop here."

  Astrid giggled. "It's not hard. I mean, you're a natural born entertainer, I'm sure you'll pull it off perfectly."

  "I'd have preferred a musical, but I guess this story is good too. And guess who else is going to write the soundtrack?" He winked.

  "Aw! Planetary Mix, Optimistic Holograms and who else?"

  "Kay-low and Jay-lee have been hired for the whole music score," Zafar answered, beaming. "They'll come when they have something to work on."

  "Hunky Kay-low and Jay-lee, the mighty Sire?" Shantel squealed. "What an honor! Will they be guest stars in the movie as well? They're gorgeous!"

  "I doubt you'll ever see Jay-lee in front of a camera, unless he's playing his keyboard," Zafar replied, amused. "Much like you'll never see Rashaun anywhere near me unless I force him. But who knows, maybe Kay-low will play a small part..."

  "Sweet!" Shantel clapped her hands. "I love this new project and it's awesome to work with you!"

  Astrid was also happy to know that some of her friends would soon come to Vilas Lok. Since Kay-low had dumped Laura – as expected – and found love with Jay-lee, he had changed. But Tyrell seemed to have vanished, as if she and Shantel had not only moved to Vilas Lok, but were completely out of touch with the rest of the galaxy.

  She wasn't missing her boyfriend, though. She plunged into the new project with the same enthusiasm as she had started the course, and soon found herself rehearsing and then shooting and it was much easier, because the story was much easier – wannabes chasing stardom – than acting on a stage for some reason. The many shots were repetitive, but for a perfectionist like her, it was much better to be able to do another take instead of cursing herself for saying her line "wrong".

  "Maybe I should make movies. I could be the heroine," she mused one night. "Although that would mean I couldn't be in the same movie with you," she added, staring at Shantel.

  "Well, just imagine – one day we'll be competing for Best Actress Award!" Shantel chuckled. "Although I might beat you to the Best Newcomer Award this year!"

  "No you won't!" Astrid threw her pillow at her friend.

  Shantel laughed and threw it back. "We'll see... May the best win!"

  They weren't really competing for the award. Shantel still preferred a live audience, while Astrid was considering becoming a screen star. But it was early to make a final decision, there was still so much to learn!

  ***

  At the end of the school year, the four students from Marc'harid met in the park of the campus to decide their future. Norris brought Verlene, who was now his girlfriend, and introduced her to Astrid and Shantel. Astrid glanced curiously at David who looked away, unwilling to discuss any form of relationship beyond being friends.

  "I will go to Earth and talk with my namesake uncle," he said. "I don't need to attend two more years to specialize in creative writing. Besides, the school doesn't offer prose courses, and I can always work with Rashaun through the meganet."

  "What will you do, then?" Shantel asked, curious. "I know you don't want to be an actor, that you'll be a great writer, but will you continue your education, or just write, like your sister just kept singing with her band after the end of secondary school?"

  "I would love to become a space pilot," David answered, thoughtful. "It would allow me to travel a lot, and find inspiration for more stories."

  "Then you need to go to uni on my home planet," Norris said. "They have the best courses for space travel in the galaxy!"

  "So when will we see you again?" Astrid wondered, a little worried.

  "If you come back to Marc'harid for your next summer break, I'll be there. When you're done with this school and go back to the Sire planet, you might find me – although the space travel course lasts four years, so I won't be back except for a couple of months during the summer for some time. And then who knows, you might one day take my starship to go somewhere to shoot a movie or perform in a theater!" He grinned at Astrid who smiled back and hugged him.

  "I will really miss you, David," she told him.

  "I'll miss you guys," he replied.

  "Not really, you have your imaginary friends," Norris teased.

  "I do need to be more down to earth, though... I don't know how I'll do without you." David playfully punched his shoulder and smiled at Verlene who giggled.

  "You will find someone who keeps you in the real world," she said while Astrid and Shantel nodded eagerly. He decided not to reply to that. He loved his friends, but they were on opposite sides for some things, and he'd rather avoid their well-meaning advice.

  2. Nineteen years old

  The second year at the School of Performing Arts started after Astrid and Shantel spent the summer rehearsing and performing – and doing some small-screen work, at least Astrid. There was no going home until they finished and found an agent and had their big break. The movie they had shot the previous year was an ensemble piece that had had success, but no nominations.

  They had failed the test to join the Galactic Theatrical Company, but there was a producer who kept promising Astrid the heroine part – except the right movie was never available.

  Astrid had recorded a song – a duet with Zafar – but even if she had a nice voice, she preferred to act. It had earned her a part in Zafar's musical, where he was the protagonist, since she could also dance better than Shantel. She had more sense of rhythm, and since she showed she could also sing decently, she'd been hired too – for a supporting character role.

  Travis Sappington chose Shantel as lead actress in the school's production, while Astrid stayed out of it. Zafar's musical was a very good excuse to skip some drama classes and avoid stage fright. She wasn't sure why she was less daunted by cameras, but she was considering a screen-only career, now that she'd tried both.

  And then both were hired for the debut movie of a third generation young actor, Waylon Shilling. At twenty-two, he was the son of much more famous Wayne Shilling, one of Astrid's all-time favorite screen actors.

  "He's cute," Shantel said after they met him and did a first table reading. "It's going to be fun!"

  "I think he's quite haughty and spoiled," Astrid replied, wrinkling her nose. "His father is a real star and gentleman, but he is..."

  "Young. And his father is keep
ing an eye on him. Who wouldn't be intimidated?"

  "I'm honored, but then – King Wayne is not my dad."

  "Exactly. Try to live with such a father. Besides, Wayne Shilling was never known for his comedic skills."

  "And that's why you're his son's main co-star. You're a stand-up comedian, his reactions to your improvisations will be the best school for him."

  "I'm younger, how can I teach Mighty Shilling Jr?" Shantel laughed out loud. "I think I'm going to use him and let him think he's using me!"

  "Shantel, you're too smart for this industry." Astrid smiled fondly at her best friend.

  "I'm taking what I can from the screen, because when I'm done with school, I'll do only theater," Shantel replied. "Don't drool over King Wayne too much while we shoot this silly comedy."

  "And don't put yourself in trouble with Prince Waylon," Astrid replied. "His powerful father might wipe you out!"

  "Of the screen industry? Exactly what I want!"

  "Hey, you never know, a recommendation from Wayne Shilling might get you into the Galactic Theater Company!"

  Kendrick Lygonis was cast as Waylon's best friend, but this time relationships on set were purely professional. Just out of curiosity, Astrid went out with Kendrick once during the shooting, but then they remained friends. She wasn't in love anymore, with anyone. She was too busy trying to carve her spot in the entertainment industry.

  Once she also had dinner with Waylon Shilling, who obviously thought he had Kendrick's charm, but failed to convince her to have sex with him. He then started going out with Shantel who found him almost shy and definitely overwhelmed by his father's fame and presence.

  The cast got along fine, but no real flirts or even love stories reached the news. For the premiere the four of them walked the red carpet, Shantel with Waylon, Astrid with Kendrick. But once inside or at the party afterward, the two girls stuck together, ignoring their male co-stars. Shantel squeezed Astrid's hand and they smiled at each other, locking Kendrick and Waylon out of their friendship. The young men might be with them for the night, but they were already out of their lives.