A New Life

two.

"I'm Danielle...you must be Abby?"

Danielle's POV

"Hi, yeah that's me." The young girl smiles shyly as she shakes my hand. I had heard that a teenager was going to be a major part of the plot for season 5, and I'm excited to finally be meeting her.

"I'm excited to be working with you this season! We've never had someone this young play this big of a role in the show before."

"I'm excited too, definitely really nervous though." Abby laughs slightly.

"Oh, don't be nervous. We're all nice, I promise," I laugh as I nudge her with my elbow. "Has anyone showed you around set yet? Like to your trailer or to craft services?"

"No, I just arrived a few minutes ago and came straight here."

"Well, after we're through with this table read I'd be happy to do that for you. Do you have a parent or chaperone or anything here with you?"

"Um...no, it's just me." Abby smiled weakly. "But yeah, okay, that'd be great actually." she smiled.

"Okay, everyone!" Krista Vernoff's voice sounds through the room. "Welcome to season five!" The room erupts in cheering and applause. "I think most of us have a short day today, just this table read and then a few of you have a couple of scenes to begin shooting, but other than that I believe most of you are free to go after this so let's get started!"

The table read is going really well and even though Abby doesn't have many scenes for this episode, I can already tell she is going to be a great addition to the cast. It also feels amazing to be back on set with everyone for our fifth season. While Jaina and Boris are reading for one of their scenes, I notice Abby's leg beginning to bounce up and down and she's chewing on the inside of her cheek.

"Don't be nervous, you're doing so good." I whisper sincerely as I place my hand on her thigh. Her leg stops bouncing and she smiles at me, though I can tell it's forced.

The last scene of the script is between Stefania and I. I skim over the lines as Barrett is speaking her monologue in the scene preceding mine, and my heart immediately begins to flutter. I forgot how nervous I get shooting with Stefania. As we read through our scene, Stefania glances over at me a few times with a smile on her face which causes me to blush. Shortly after the table read concludes, everyone begins dispersing, most of them staying in the room to catch up with the cast mates who we haven't seen since shooting last season.

"I'm so happy to finally be shooting again," I say to Stefania.

"Me too, bella." Her eyes seem to sparkle as she looks at me. "I'm already so excited for all of our scenes...the one we just read was so cute."

"I know, it really was." I feel myself beginning to blush again but I catch Abby walking in our direction so I call her over. "Abby!" She turns to look at me and I wave her over. "This is Stefania, she plays my girlfriend in the show."

"It's very nice to meet you, Abby." Stefania smiles greatly as she shakes Abby's hand.

"Yeah, you too!" Abby replies, a big smile on her face as well.

"Want me to show you around now?" I ask Abby. "I don't have anything to shoot today so I'm free right now if you'd like."

"Yeah, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, hon." I smile sincerely.

"Okay, well I have to go run over to the Grey's Anatomy set to shoot a couple of scenes there today so I'll catch up with you later, Danielle." Stefania says while gathering her things. "It was lovely to meet you Abby, I'm very excited to work with you soon." She places her arm on Abbys shoulder before leaning in to hug me. "I'll see you later, bella."

"Bye Stefania!"

Abby and I begin walking out of the room where the table reads take place.

"Stefania works for Grey's as well?" She asks me.

"Yes, she started out over there a few years ago actually, and became a series regular for Station 19 last season."

"Oh, that's cool. She seems really nice."

"Yeah, she's the best." I can't help but smile when I say this. "So have you been acting for a while? I can already tell just from that table read that you're super talented." We continue walking toward the trailer park.

"Yeah, kind of," Abby begins. "I've done a ton of small stuff like commercials and tiny parts for some movies and shows, but this is the biggest job I've booked so far."

"Well I can already tell you're gonna be great," I smile and place my hand on her back, I can tell she's extremely nervous and she seems pretty shy as well. She reminds me of me when I was her age. "How old are you by the way?"

"I'm fifteen, almost sixteen."

"Ah, gotcha. So you're, what? A sophomore in highschool?"

"Technically I'm a junior, actually." She explains. "I've been home schooled ever since...well, for a few years now and I've gotten a little ahead so I'm able to graduate early."

"I see...do you like being homeschooled? I tried it out for a little while when I was first getting into acting, too, but I couldn't stand having my parents technically being my teachers." I laugh, but see that she tenses up slightly at my question.

"Um, yeah it's alright." Abby gets a little quieter. "My mom...she's just really busy with her job and everything so I kind of have to manage everything by myself." She looks down at the ground as we continue walking.

"Oh," I try to think of what to say next. "Is your dad in the picture? Or any siblings?" Abby opens her mouth slightly to say something, but nothing comes out. "Sorry if that was too personal." I quickly say, not wanting to make her uncomfortable.

"No, no you're fine. I don't have any siblings, and my dad...he actually passed away about three years ago." She gets quiet again and my heart aches for this girl.

"Oh, Abby...I'm so sorry." I stop just outside her trailer but don't say anything in case she wants to say anything else.

"It's okay," she tears up slightly and looks up at the sky, I can tell she's trying to blink away the tears. I feel bad for bringing up the topic. "Is this my trailer?" she quickly changes the subject.

"Yes!" I reply, though my heart still is breaking for her. "Mine is actually the one right next to yours, so I'll always be close by if you ever need anything."

"Oh okay, cool."

"If you want I can show you around to some of the different stages where we'll be filming and where craft services is, some stuff like that?"

"Yeah, that'd be great." She smiles, but again, I can tell it's forced.

...

After showing Abby around a little more of the set, we both decide it's time to go home for the day, seeing as neither of us have any rehearsals or scenes to shoot.

"Thank you so much for this, Danielle." Abby turns around to face me. "I was really nervous about today, especially since I'm alone and I'm not used to huge productions like this." She looks down at her feet for a moment before looking back at me. "I really appreciate it." I don't know what it is, but I feel a real connection to this girl.

"Oh, of course Abby," I say sincerely. "And I know how nerve wracking all of this can be at your age...trust me, I know from personal experiences...so I'm happy to be someone that you know you can come to if you ever need anything, okay?"