The Threads of Fate || Walker Scobell x Leah Sava Jeffries

~2~

It had been about 2 weeks since Leah's audition, and she was starting to feel antsy. Auditioners had been told that they would hear back about the next round of auditions within two to three weeks, and it was starting to feel like she didn't even get a callback. "I know I don't look like her but I thought they'd at least like my acting enough to have me back for the second round," Leah ranted to Nayeli. It was Friday, and the girls' mothers had agreed to allow them to have a sleepover for the weekend. They were sitting in Nayeli's basement setting up an air mattress for the night with the help of Nayeli's father.

"Leah, it hasn't even been a full three weeks yet. Give it some time. They'll call," Nayeli said,
"Dad, tell her they'll call." Nayeli's father walked over from the closet with some blankets,

"Leah, you're a wonderful actress. I'm sure you'll get a callback soon."

"Thank you, Mr.J," she smiled.

"I'm done with the mattress. If you girls need anything just come upstairs and let me know. Alright?"

"Yes, sir," Leah responded. He nodded and went back upstairs.

"You don't have to be so respectful all the time," Nayeli said, turning on her playstation.

"Yes, Nayeli, I do. That's like the whole point," Leah responded.

"Whatever you say," Nayeli finished setting up the game. She got up and sat on the mattress with Leah and handed her friend a controller.

"What are we gonna play?"

"Mario Kart," Nayeli said as the game flashed on the screen. The two girls began to play their game, finally starting to get absorbed into the sleepover.

A couple hours later, they had stopped playing the game and were working on their math homework. Usually, they wouldn't do homework on Friday's, but it's much easier to get work done when you have the help of a friend, so they didn't mind doing it just this once. "This section is actually really easy," Leah said.

"Right, it's mostly just addition and subtraction. Statistics must be a really easy class," Nayeli said, "Maybe we can take that when we get to high school?"

"I don't know. Mean, median, mode, and range are not the only things that go into Statistics. Plus, I think I wanna take AP Calculus. That's what Floyd did, but we'll have to take Algebra in 8th grade if we want to do that," Leah explained.

"Leah, you don't even like math that much. You're an English person."

"Yeah, but I wanna do all the smart classes. Statistics is a smart class, but calculus just feels smarter," Leah looked up from her work.

"Well, I'll be in Statistics," Nayeli shook her head.

"You don't know that. You might change your mind. We're only in sixth grade. There are still six years left before then." The two girls finished working on their homework and went upstairs for dinner. Nayeli's mother walked around the kitchen, making plates for everyone in the house.

"Hi, Leah, how are you?" the woman said not looking up from the food.

"I'm good! How are you?" Leah replied.

"I'm great, Leah! My husband told me about your audition. You must be excited," she smiled.

"I guess. I still haven't gotten a callback yet," Leah sat down at the family dinner table.

Nayeli's mother walked over to the table a few minutes later, placing a plate of food down in front of both of the girls. She set another plate down at an empty spot near the end of the table. "Jay, come get your dinner!" she yelled out, sitting down at her spot at the table. Nayeli's father joined them a few minutes later, and they all ate dinner together. The girls were preparing to go downstairs after their meal when Nayeli's mother stopped them,

"Girls, put your plates in the kitchen. You know we don't leave dishes on the table; and when you're done, I need Leah to come here. I need to speak with her for a second." Leah was confused, but she did as she was told anyway. After putting her plate in the kitchen, she went back to the dining room to speak with Eli's mom.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I just got off the phone with your mother, and she wanted me to tell you the good news."

"Which is?"

"Your agent contacted her about an hour ago. Apparently, you got a callback on your audition, and she'll call you with more info tomorrow when you make it home," she explained.

"Oh wow..." Leah said.

"I bet you wanna go home now, don't you?" Nayeli's mom chuckled.

"What? No?" Leah laughed. Though the idea of going home was appealing, she liked being with her friend more. Besides, Leah and Nayeli would have to have to do their own research before Leah went home to get information from her parents.

The truth was: Leah knew absolutely nothing about Annabeth Chase. She had never read the Percy Jackson series, and she had never seen any of the characters before. Up until now, Leah hadn't really known if she wanted the role; but now that she received a callback, she felt like she should try a lot harder. "They obviously don't care too much about race if they gave me a callback," she thought. She would need to learn about the character, and she would need to know how to channel the character's personality. "So, I got my callback, and I need you to teach me about Annabeth," Leah said as she entered the basement.

"Um, okay. I actually love these books so this'll be fun," Nayeli smiled. She went upstairs to her room and came back down with her laptop and a small book titled Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

"If they're doing a series, they're probably going to start with the first book. It wasn't my favorite out of all of them, but it was definitely a good starting point for the series, and it introduces all of the characters well," Nayeli started, pausing to pull up a picture on her laptop, "This is Annabeth Chase. She's basically the Hermoine of their group. She's smart, she knows a lot, and she figures things out quickly. Percy is the main character, but Annabeth is like the 2nd main character in a sense? She's the main female character."

"The female lead is always better than the male lead. She is the main character," Leah butted in.

"Uh, sure, Leah. Anyway, we're gonna read this book, and then we're gonna watch the movie version of it so you can see what not to do."
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(1112 words) Revised Chapter 2! What do you all think of Nayeli? I figured I should give Leah a friend 🙃 I'm gonna have to find a way to incorporate her into the rest of the book though 😭 I like her too much to get rid of her in the future.