Under the Spotlight

Chapter One

The one thing about life that no one admits to is that everyone hates their job. Everyone. The construction workers hanging out under the burning sun all day. The teacher who is asking their student to just sit down in their seat for the fifth time in the last fifteen minutes.

Even the A list celebrity that makes millions a year hates their job. At least, Cassandra Sanchez— known by fans and the media as CassieNova— does. If she could go back in time to speak to her eighteen-year-old self, she would talk herself out of going to the audition that changed her life.

Acting itself is not the problem. She loves to act in fun projects and to take on a new persona for a role. Cassie loves to step outside of herself and take on a character's imaginary problems while ignoring her own.

Her problem lies with the fame. With the reporters that hunt her down, the fans who stalk her, and the ex-friends who spread gossip and rumors about her. She despises having to walk around with a large entourage of bodyguards everywhere she goes to ensure that she is safe.

Some may believe that she is an ungrateful, spoiled brat for hating her job. With every project that she signs onto, Cassie makes millions and millions of dollars. She earns the type of money most people can only dream about. Who needs to live a normal life when you have money?

Cassie used to believe the same thing when she was eighteen. She had just left the foster system and was jumping between different homeless shelters. When she saw the open auditions, she decided to walk in and give it a shot. She needed the five hundred dollars they were giving background characters.

Realistically, she should have turned down the reoccurring role she had been given. She should have walked away when her character had grown popular enough that they made her a main character. She should have rejected her agent's help.

Bradley Stevens has always been too good at talking people into things.

"Cassie!" Bradley greets. His tone is overenthusiastic, which can only mean big news. His brown face is reddened and he puffs, acting like he ran all the way to her mansion from his house several roads down.

Honestly, he might have. Bradley hates driving and riding in cars and will walk almost everywhere unless he is forced into a vehicle. He claims that they are "death traps on wheels".

Cassie knows the real reason he hates cars, even if Bradley will never admit to it. It has to do with the scar that sits on the left side of his lower back.

Keeping her gaze on the man's face, Cassie studies the graying hairs on his bushy eyebrows. "I'm gonna have to do your eyebrows again soon," she remarks.

When she reaches to fix his eyebrow, Bradley swats her hand away. "Never mind that!" His large grin reveals too white teeth that he bleaches every night. His brown eyes light up while he bounces around with excitement. "I've upped the amount on your contract for Tomorrow's Never Coming! Which means that we're getting paid more!"

Tomorrow's Never Coming is the show that Cassie sold her soul for. She is contracted to stick it out for at least five seasons, no matter how terrible the show gets. Since they are currently on season four, she only had one more season to go.

Her character, Phillipa Davis, is currently the fan favorite. Though she is not exactly the main character, she is the character that gets the guy. Phillipa is sweet, charismatic, and doesn't take anyone's shit. Despite her positive qualities, she's not supposed to be super well liked. Especially since the show is in the lens of the girl who doesn't get the guy— Ariana Mathews. In Ariana's perspective, Phillipa is a thief. Phillipa is a random stranger that swoops in and steals the boy that Ariana has been pining after for years.