|A L W A Y S & F O R E V E R| B O O K 1

48||R e h e a r s a l s & O u t i n g s

Date: 6/1/16
Day: Wednesday
Location: Los Angeles, California
Place: Movie Rehearsal

Ciara
Right now, I'm at my first movie rehearsal, and things are going pretty well. We're shooting the first two scenes today. So I'm going to be here for a while. I never knew how much work went into filming. The amount of rehearsing that goes into just a small piece of a scene is insane. Nonetheless, I'm excited and grateful to be cast in this movie. We've been in rehearsal for half an hour, making sure we have our first part of the scene together before we get ready to film. Each minute of a scene calls for one hour of rehearsing before the cameras start rolling. Today, we're supposed to be rehearsing for eight hours. That might change, though. Depending on what the directors want to do.

My co-star and I were going over our lines for one of our scenes. We sat at the table in one of the rooms in the movie studio as we scanned over our lines. I remembered them for the most part. They just needed to be polished up a little bit. Even though we didn't have to fully memorize our lines, I wanted to go the extra mile to do so. After looking over them for another five minutes, I felt like I had them down. I sat the script down on the table and looked over to my co-star, Matt, who was still looking over his lines. I was tempted to check my phone to see what time it was and if I had gotten any messages, but decided against it since I was working. I let out a soft sigh as I rested my chin on my fist while in deep thought.

"Is everything okay?" His voice broke me out of my thoughts. I removed my elbow from the table and sat up in my chair.

"Yeah. Just deep in my thoughts." I gave him a soft, friendly smile. He nods his head understandingly.

"I see. What's on your mind, if you don't mind me asking." He sat his scrips down and gave me his full attention. I debated on telling him or not.

"Just a little stressed, that's all," I answer briefly, not wanting to get too deep into a conversation.

"That's understandable. These rehearsals can be a bit much at times, but the final product is always worth it." He shoots me a small smile.

"How long have you been acting?" I ask out of curiosity.

"I've been acting for about six years now. So I'm still pretty new at this, too."

"Do you like it?"

"Yeah. The whole rehearsing and filming part is tiring, but I've gotten used to it. One day, you will too."

"I hope so. It's definitely something I would have to get used to. This is my first movie. So I didn't know what to expect. I'm so used to being behind the cameras and taking pictures at photo shoots. Which are also time-consuming, by the way, but very different. I've been learning to balance my career with my personal life, and it gets hectic at times." I explain to him.

"I completely understand. I'm sure you'll figure out how to balance things just fine. Just give it some time." I sighed once more before giving him a weak smile.

"I'm trying." I chuckle as I run my hands through my hair. I don't know why, but I was feeling homesick at the moment, and I haven't been gone from home that long at all.

"You're thinking about your kid, aren't you?" Matt asked, causing me to look up from the table in his direction.

"Yeah...how'd you know?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"I mean, to me it's kind of obvious. You seem a little homesick."

"I am, and I'm usually not this way. I guess I'm just...I don't know. I guess I just miss my son. I was so used to being with him 24/7, and ever since I started back working, I haven't been able to be with him as much as I've wanted to. I kind of feel bad about it, in a way. You know what? I'm saying too much. I'm sure you don't want to hear any of my problems."