All About Glee

Introduction

When it ended, I have to admit I was pretty disappointed. Three great seasons, but shouldn't there be more? More for Tina, for Artie, for Sam? 

When it was announced that it had been picked up for another season and a spin-off, I was completely thrilled. Glee would continue to follow Mr. Schue and Finn Hudson, while Rachel and Kurt would get a new spin-off, Rachel and the City, following them in their new adventures in New York. I was pretty excited.

When a casting call in my hometown came around for being a part of their two shows, which would often meet together for crossovers, I was even more thrilled. This wasn't The Glee Project, which had already taken off and finished filming. No, this one was a regular audition, no competing in that same sense, and you could send in videos. Living in Texas, that's more than I could've possibly asked for.

It only took two weeks to hear back. I'd been rejecting practically all calls to my cell in fear that I wouldn't be around for the right one. So when I finally got a call with an L.A. area code, I panicked. I freaked out. And then I recovered in time to answer the call from Robert Ulrich, the same guy who was on my TV screen all summer for The Glee Project. 

"Hi, is this Aria Sims I'm speaking to?"

"Yes," I choke out.

"Hi, Aria, this is Robert from Glee." How cool is he? He didn't need to give me a last name and I knew who I was speaking to. Holy crap.

"Hi," I say, surprised that I am even able to say anything at all. "This is Aria."

He laughs. "Yes, I know. Listen, my pals and I over on the Glee studio just finished looking through thousands of casting videos and almost as many in-person auditions for our show and guess which one stood out to us?"

I don't guess. I'm too nervous to even breathe and it's possible if he didn't speak I would've passed out.

"Yours," he says. "We fell in love with your voice and your story and now we want to fly you to L.A. to do a test read with some of our cast. You think you can do that?"

Some of our cast? I can't help but squeal, making him laugh even more. When I manage to calm down, I say, "I mean, yes. Yes, I can definitely do that. When would you like me to be there?"

"Tomorrow would be great if that's possible, Aria." He said my name again! Wait, he said tomorrow! Tomorrow I'll be in L.A. with some of the cast and creators of Glee. Holy crap.

"I'll be there," I say with a confident smile. The confidence was probably fake but the smile was the realest thing about me. Now all I had to do was to show them that I was just like the rest of their cast, someone who can make the rest of the world root for you.