The Price Of Innocence by Lia Marsh Page A

rumor had it that the actor they had pegged for the starring male role was none other than Alan Bond, one of the hottest new movie stars around. As Laura wracked her brains, she remembered all of those casting directors with their lust-filled eyes. And she had begun to formulate a plan...
    It was because of this plan that she was able to step so lightly through her job, and the reason why she found it so irresistible to dance along to the stereo’s music; corny though it may be. She was absolutely determined that she would not end up tired and jaded like the rest of the waiting staff here, and now she felt sure she had found a means of escape. Because her plan was brilliant; she had no doubt that it would succeed. Everything was ready, and tomorrow was the first day of the casting.
    Tomorrow, she would begin to put the plan into action...
    “It’s just not natural for a waitress to be so happy,” muttered Stacy, resentfully, as Laura skipped past.
     
    ********
     

Step one of the plan had involved a certain amount of detective work. Even the casting day was supposedly a secret, and Laura had had to ask around a fair amount even to find out about it. But she had been living in LA for almost a year now, and she was clued in to where to get the Hollywood gossip. All it took was to hang around in a few of the right bars, and she had the information which she really desired: the name of the casting director.
    She had heard of him before, and knew what he was supposed to be like: headstrong, quick-tempered but almost fanatically enthusiastic about the things he liked. Laura had her suspicions about what these things were, but she wanted to be sure before she did anything rash. The plan had to go smoothly, after all.
    She arrived at the casting call very early, hoping to be the first one there. As she stepped into the large warehouse studio which was serving as the auditorium, she was disappointed to see that there were already three other girls sitting inside, chatting loudly as they waited for the casting director to show up. Laura took her place in the same row of chairs as them, trying not to let her disappointment show too clearly on her face.
    ‘Never mind,’ she told herself;
    ‘There’ll be plenty of other opportunities to catch him alone...’
    Brightening slightly, she glanced up at her competitors. They were all quite a lot older than her, and all had very pale skin: she was certainly the one out of all of them who looked the most like the character’s description. A promising start, perhaps; although of course casting directors did not always choose actresses just because they looked the part.
    Her musings were interrupted at that moment as the casting director himself strode in, with a great bustle and wave of arms, followed by three attendants armed with recording equipment and notes.  He moved with a kind of energetic authority which commanded attention, and all four of the hopeful stars immediately sat up and began smoothing their hair.
    “Right!” barked Simon White; for that was his name.
    “We’ll do this alphabetically. No, wait – that’s stupid. We’ll do it in age order. Nononononono – what am I thinking?”
    He wiped the sweat from his forehead with an expansive grin; his bright blue eyes gleaming hungrily at the assembled women.
    “No, that would be rude, asking you to tell me your ages,” he muttered. 
    Putting his hand to his full, pink lips, he stood still for a second, apparently deep in thought. Then he snapped his fingers, and waved his attendants to go and take their places.
    “I know. Fairest way,” he said, and covering his eyes, he span around in a circle with his arm out, stopping with his finger pointing directly at one of the girls.
    She gave a nervous squeak, but got up, and made her way to the makeshift stage set up at the end of the studio.
    “Great great great. Fantastic!” shouted Mr. White, at everyone it seemed, or perhaps just himself.
     
     
    Grabbing the