Finding June Read Online Free Page A

stood
there awkwardly. Normally I would slate for the camera, which means
I would say my name and what agency I was with, but they weren’t
looking at me, so I figured I’d wait until they gave me the
go-ahead.
    I stood there for what seemed like hours,
trying to look like I was calm and collected even though my legs
felt like Jell-O and my palms were sweating like a
fourteen-year-old boy at a stake dance during a slow song. Finally
the group looked up from my resume and gave me a once-over.
    “All right June, can you please slate to the
camera?” said the man sitting in the center of the table, clueing
me in to the fact that he was the casting director I should be
trying to impress.
    I turned to the camera, plastered a bright
smile to my face and said with all the enthusiasm I could muster,
“Hi! My name is June Laurie, I’m sixteen years old and I’m
represented by the Annette Adams Agency.”
    Slating was always kind of an awkward thing
to do because you look at the camera and talk to it like it’s your
best friend while a group of people sit there and watch you. Then
you have to turn back to face those people and act like you just
did a completely normal thing by talking to a camera. The world of
acting was a very strange place. At least it wasn’t as weird as
modeling—I didn’t have to wear a paper bag over my head while
people looked at my feet to see if I’d be a good shoe model.
    After slating I’d normally start reading for
the casting director while they filmed me, but again, this audition
was proving to be a bit different since I didn’t have a script
yet.
    “So, June, have you seen the show before?”
asked the man who had told me to slate. I assumed this was Mr.
Hill.
    “Of course,” I replied, still smiling but
trying to act more relaxed than I had for my very stiff slate. “I
think most people have seen it.” They all smiled at each other,
silently congratulating themselves, I guessed.
    “So you’re familiar with the characters and
have a rough handle on their background stories and such?” he went
on. This was by far the strangest audition I had ever been to. It
felt more like sitting around and talking about the show rather
than actually trying to be a part of it. When was I going to read
lines for them?
    “Yeah, I watch the show every week so I know
all about the characters,” I replied, this time a bit hesitantly. I
wasn’t quite sure where this was going.
    “Well, we aren’t really trying to bring a new
main character onto the show, but it has been a bit stagnant lately
and we felt that a fresh face could liven things up for a few
episodes—throw a wrench into the normal operation of the team,” he
said. I simply smiled and nodded, wondering if they wanted my
opinion or if they were simply letting me know what was going
on.
    “That’s always a good idea,” I answered
neutrally.
    “Wonderful,” he said with a grin, though I
was pretty sure he didn’t need me to tell him it was a good idea.
That’s what the other people at the desk were paid to do. “What
your character would add to the show is some conflict. You’ll be
playing Imogen Gentry. She’s a vaudeville actress whose co-star
Edward winds up dead. Of course you’ll be a suspect, but Cutter is
going to let his feelings for you cloud his judgment on the case,
causing some contention between him and Charles.”
    My head was spinning as Mr. Hill described
the part to me. Not only was I going to play a pretty big part in
the show, but I was also going to be a love interest for Lukas
Leighton’s character Cutter. I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I
just nodded my approval of the part.
    “Well, then, if you’ll just take this script
here and look over it for a moment, we’ll bring someone in to read
with you.”
    As they handed me the paper I began to feel
more comfortable. This was more like a normal audition. Having
scripted words in front of me was somehow easier than standing in
front of this group of