The Silver Screen Wars

20 - Pariah

Five hours. Five hours of analyzing the script that, according to Alexis's theory which Bishop had not yet officially confirmed, was written from the perspective of an unreliable narrator. How in the world was Kodi supposed to understand the story this way? She needed a bird's eye view of the plot, the characters, the story behind the story that the audience got. She wasn't here to solve mysteries or math problems or English comprehension tests. She was here to do a job.

"Enough progress that you all earn a meal, congratulations." Bishop stood up and slapped a hand down on the counter before craning his neck to check the clock. "Jason, call those people who do the cooking or whatever. Taking a shower."

Taking a shower again? When Kodi had arrived at the house, he'd come out in nothing but his towel. What the hell had he been doing earlier, then? Well, whatever. It was none of her business. Gave her some time to doze off and -

"Didn't you just have one before we sat down?" asked Drake, voicing the question that Kodi had just stifled.

This kid...Didn't he know to leave well enough alone? They were getting a break. Why was he prying any further into it?

Bishop paused and looked at the boy mid-stride as if he, too, couldn't believe that he had had the gall to question him. There was a small silence that ensued where everyone either lost interest and started checking their phones or stared at the two in order to spectate the rest of their exchange. Kodi, for her part, was firmly in the first camp and did her best to block out the rest of their conversation -

"The fact that I had to listen to you all say some of the stupidest s**t I've ever heard in my life for hours pissed me off so much that I'm going to rub one out before coming back at it for some more. Hence the shower. That enough information for you?"

Kodi's gaze flickered up just in time to catch everyone doing the same. She promptly lowered her eyes to her phone screen again when she saw Drake giving the man what looked like a stunned, bewildered half-smile.

"Oh..."

"Don't be nosy, kid. First lesson out of puberty for you. Ask too many questions, and you'll hear answers you didn't want."

Kodi had to concede that point to Bishop, even if she did hate him. That was the reason she had no interest in making friends here while they all worked. But on the other hand, she felt another trickle of indignation threatening to make her snap at him: this wasn't the time or the place to be so casually nasty. He could keep that kind of talk to himself.

"Stop pouting, Kodiak. Second session tonight starts with you since you still have enough energy to throw an attitude."

He disappeared down the hallway, and in flabbergasted astonishment, she couldn't get a retort out before he left. The best she could do was throw him the middle finger, but it was wasted as he was already long gone.

What the f**k? She hadn't even said anything. She'd been quiet the entire session, speaking only when someone talked to her first and keeping her responses short and neutral. There had been dozens and dozens of times when she had wanted to say something vaguely rude along the lines of 'this is boring as hell,' but she had kept her mouth shut and eyes down. And for a time, it had been working - Bishop had mainly focused on the eloquent and astoundingly intelligent Alexis Dewitt as she rattled off her various analyses of the screenplay.

But what, was he back to messing with Kodi now? 'Pouting' her ass. She'd barely been looking at him. As a matter of fact, she had been watching Drake and feeling slightly sorry for him; he was just a kid after all. Still looked like a little ferret, but instead of being sneaky and suspicious, it was turning out to look like he had the disposition of an overly sociable hamster instead.

It would have been almost cute if she still wasn't annoyed by how he had put his hand on her earlier within seconds of them meeting. Age didn't excuse that. He was young, but he was still old enough to know to keep out of people's personal space and his hands off their bodies.

"So how are you guys liking this so far?" She turned her head and saw Jason approaching them, hands behind his back and all gangly, long legs and crooked smile. "Some of you are having more fun than others, but you've had worse experiences, right?"

Kodi could beg to differ. She had had a shitty first contract and it had still been more enjoyable than tonight at least ten times over. Easily. "What are the parts we're supposed to be playing?" she asked, sidestepping the question entirely. She knew Jason wouldn't like the answer anyway. "The entire script leans on Blue, the other characters don't even do much."

Which was fine too, since it would mean less work - but still, she wanted to know.

Jason raised and lowered his shoulders in a slow, seemingly relaxed shrug. "It might. We'll see. Hang in there, Kodi."

"I can't believe you guys know each other. I'm a huge fan of yours, Jason. I can call you that, right? Since we'll be working together and all. How'd you two meet anyway?"

They both turned to look at Alexis. She was sitting up and leaning forward on the edge of her seat, face nearly glowing like a Christmas light as she stared up almost adoringly at the man.

"Of course you can, I appreciate that," he replied with a modest duck of his chin and a wide grin. "And as for Kodi, funny how the world works. We met once before at the Riot Theatre a month ago, and again for the first time since then just yesterday. Was not expecting that at all."

"Right. In the middle of the desert of all places," Kodi supplied helpfully, but there was a glimmer of a sudden warning in Jason's eyes that told her she had just said something she shouldn't have. What? What was that? She tensed just in time to hear Alexis's next question.

"The desert?" she asked curiously. "You've been out this way before? It's empty out here, no one except - I don't know, tourists who want heat stroke who come out to these parts."

A quick glance at Drake and Taylor also revealed that they were paying close attention to the conversation, an inquisitive gleam in both their stares. Kodi paused. None of them understood? How was that possible? Were they blind, or was she the one somehow in the wrong? Surely it was obvious that she had met Jason at the filming site. Where else -

Oh. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably when she realized all at once what was going on, why Jason was giving her a strange look and why the others weren't quite catching on: she must have been the only one to have seen the site in the first place. That was a little weird. She'd only just been signed on yesterday. No, that wasn't right. Bishop had taken her to the site before he'd even signed her.

In retrospect, yesterday had been a strange and jumbled experience all around. What would people say if she told them that Bishop had singled her out within a thirty second audition in the morning, taken her to the street market to buy her expensive clothes, had changed in his car, and been taken to see where the future set would be - all before they had even agreed to a contract. And then she had even demanded more than the original agreement offered, too - not double, not triple, but twenty times more.

She suddenly doubted that anyone else would have been rash and reckless enough to do what she had done. Her stomach dropped as she considered what might happen if she even added that she had had dinner at Jason Monlavia's house. That was probably going to go over the least smoothly - what kind of rookie went to go chum it up at an A-list actor's house for a few hours and eat roast duck?

Well, s**t. That explained Jason's warning glance. She needed to watch her mouth when she didn't know everyone's circumstances. This was her third "major" gig, but she had done enough jobs here and there to know that nearly every cast had its pet pariah, the one who no one trusted and everyone resented. The one who got all the favors, the preferential treatment, the works. No one liked them. No one wanted them around. And certainly no one wanted to work with them, either.

...Kodi had to admit that she had been on the giving end of the mistrust and resentment at least once. Maybe twice. Alright, a few times - and it felt particularly strange that with one misspoken word, she could end up on the receiving side of that from her coworkers this time. How was it that she was in this position now? She had always been the one to distance herself from the ones who held the authority, always slightly abrasive and unpleasant so that no boundaries were crossed, no indecencies humored with her.

She had always been the one to narrow her eyes at the people who were too chummy with the powerful and rich, writing them off as sleazy, greedy sycophants sniffing for an extra unfair advantage. And here she was, tongue filling up in her mouth as she tried to think of a way to answer Alexis's question without incriminating herself of the very same thing.

Correction, she couldn't just 'answer' Alexis's question. She was going to have to lie about it, plain and simple. It was the easiest way out.

"My agent," she said. "He wanted to know exactly where I was going, where we'd be filming, all sorts of stuff. Really neurotic. Insisted on it, so yeah. Ended up checking out the site for a few minutes while he sniffed it out, and it's actually nearby. Just happened that way, and Jason helped. Small world."

Wow. That had come out so smooth and bland that even she was going to have trouble remembering it later. She made a mental note to go over the story a few times and possibly...talk to Bishop about that. In private, and aggressively.

Maybe she would compromise her dignity and self-respect by letting him bully her around for the next three months for a quarter million dollars, but she was not going to let him ruin everything for her on accident, too. No doubt he wanted his little film project to go smoothly, so their interests were aligned in this respect. No mention of how they met, no mention of their agreement, and certainly no inexplicably obliging treatment that would set her apart from the others.

Kodi wasn't here to make friends, but she wasn't here to make enemies, either, at least not with her peers. She knew better than to pick that battle.

"Oh, damn. My agent barely gives a s**t, I had to advocate for myself and beg to get into this audition." Alexis leaned back in her seat with a sigh and looked up at Jason again. "Wow. I would kill to have that kind of luck though. I've been following you since The Prairie Fires."

"Oh, now that brings back memories," he replied, and he crossed his arms over his chest with a thoughtful nod. "You know, that's the one movie I actually watched with myself in it. By the end, I was thinking, wow, I was the worst one in the whole bunch -"

Kodi withdrew from the conversation just as Drake slipped into it next, eagerly edging in his enthusiastic compliments and questions. Nice. A perfect cover so that she could slip out of the spotlight unnoticed. The longer she was in the conversation, the more likely it was that she would have to make up more lies, and at some point she was going to make a slip. Better not to risk it - she was happy to let Alexis and Drake fawn over the actor so that she could breathe a little.

Out of the corner of her eye, however, she saw Taylor watching her with a blank expression. Too blank, as if he were hiding something. She gave him a brief incline of the head, challenging his scrutiny with casual innocence.

Did he know? Did he know that she'd been lying? He was so quiet and - almost creepy now that she thought about it. He seemed like the kind of guy who saw things he shouldn't. Through people, for instance.

She hoped not. She glued her eyes to her phone screen and pretended to read something, well aware that he was still watching her even now. That was fine. He had no way of disproving her, and she'd talk to Bishop about it as soon as she could.

He was not going to ruin this for her. She swore it.