𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂 | 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒚

001.

ARABELLA WAS EXPECTING A CALL, an important call. it was related to the mail she had gotten a few days before, the finalised offer the producer was giving for her new part on the fourth season of outer banks. the call was supposed to come in a minute, and arabella was as anxious as ever. she had watched outer banks the day it was released, and had been a loyal follower of the show and the biggest jj maybank simp ever. she was friends with madelyn cline, the person who had told her about the producer looking for a new person cast who would be playing rafe cameron's love interest. obviously, madelyn had no clue that she had been in talks with the producer already. 

the clock's time changed on her screen and the call came exactly two seconds later. she pushed her hair back and straightened her back before picking the call up. she swiped to answer the phone and put it on speaker, not picking it up from the table it was being charged on. "hey arabella, how are you?" the voice was sunny hodge, the producer of the show. "i'm great, what about you?" she tried to sound as joyful and enthusiastic as possible. "so, there's good news and bad news. which one do you want first?" his voice did that modulation thing which made you feel like who had known the person for years and the one that made you feel like they were your best friend. 

"uh, the bad news," she reluctantly said. "if you say yes to the offer, the filming will start from monday, which is a little soon." she wished she could tell him that it wasn't bad news at all, she was really excited to work on the series. "okay, and the good news?" she asked. "i talked to the other producers, we have come to an agreement of 60k per episode, the rest of the contract is the same as before. is that okay with you?" she nodded to internalise what he was speaking. she would be working on outer banks, she took a deep breath. she could do a cartwheel out of happiness, too bad she didn't know how to. "yeah, that's perfect." she said, she wasn't able to control her smile. her head buried in her hands to contain herself, "okay, perfect. i'll send you the address where the contract signing will take place. also, one of the cast members will be there for some casting ritual these people have." 

"okay, cool. when should i come?" she said, her arms dancing in the air. "tomorrow, three in the afternoon?" she didn't want to sound too eager, so she counted three seconds on her fingers before replying. "okay, i'll be there. thank you, sunny." at this point, she was practically beaming. "no problem, we'd love to have you on set. i'll get going now, take care." he really did have the modulation thing. "bye," and she cut the call. she got up from the chair and did a little happy dance before running out of her room. "mom, i took the part!" she rejoiced in front of her mother, who hugged her. "oh my god, i have to call emma and tell her!" she said, running to sit on the couch.

she signed the last sheet of paper that was to be signed. then, sunny signed on it and then, one more person - who arabella didn't know, signed on it. "it's all done! you're officially a kook-pogue!" sunny yelled and she smiled, "i'm so excited for this!" she exclaimed. "well, i have to go. but, madison will be here in a minute, she's outside on a call right now. she'll brief you the story and the ritual these guys have." he left after they bid farewell, and madison entered the room as soon as he left. "oh my god, i love you." arabella said, as soon as she sat down on the chair next to her. "i was about to say the same thing. i've seen like, all of your movies!" the girl on her left exclaimed. "we've never formally met - except for when i imagined meeting you on set. i'm arabella, you can call me belle," she let her hand out for madison to shake it. "i imagined that too when sunny told me, and i'm madison and you can call me maddie," she shook arabella's hand. 

"so maddie, how are you?" arabella sat back in her seat. it was a big conference room in the netflix office in los angeles. there were framed movie and series posters on the walls and a big conference table like that in matt damon's movie, 'air', just longer than that. madison sat back too, kept her phone on the table and cracked her knuckles. arabella tried not to flinch and ended up making a weird, which got both of them laughing. they started chatting about random stuff, madison told her about how things work on set, where and when the cast spends time together, when they get time off, and about the funny incidents on set. "oh my god, i was supposed to tell you about your character!" madison slapped her forehead lightly. 

"so, your character's name is lila thompson. you meet rafe on the beach when he's having a panic attack, you guys talk and he has like, never seen your around obx. you tell him that you're a kook-pogue, dad's a kook and mom's a pogue. your dad has multiple oil factories in boston and your mom works with him. you work with me, and sarah and i know you from school, but you're not very well known in town. he feels like he's really getting into you, he's enchanted to meet you and all that. you meet again the next day, same spot, he tells you about himself. your character thinks he's completely fucked up, but you stick around because, why not? he kisses you, you like it, and you think you like him too. the next day, he takes you to a party but sofia is there. now, she kisses him in front of you, and you leave the party. he follows you, you guys fight. he kisses you in between, you push him off and all of that, he says he isn't into sofia that much, you get mad and leave." 

"woah, i like this. i really like it," arabella smiled, she could just imagine herself in the series. "there's more when rafe kind of gaslights you into drug-dealing, but that isn't confirmed yet. the writers wanted to give him a happy relationship, but he's rafe, so that's not exactly possible. i mean, the man is the definition of a red flag," madison said, which made the her smile a little. "oh, and before i forget. drew can get a little into character sometimes, once he actually had a panic attack while filming the panic attack scene. so when you're shooting, just make sure he's fine. but otherwise, he's cool to work with. real fun guy," she added. "okay, i'll keep that in mind. also, what's up with the casting ritual sunny told me about?" arabella asked.

"it's a scavenger hunt. so basically, one person is selected from the main cast to design a scavenger hunt for the others to find or guess the new cast member. so this time, it's me. it was a tie between me and jonathan, but mads got the tiebreaking vote, so i won." 

"and, how will it work?" she asked. "so, i have designed some clues. related to the movies and shows you've done, and oscars and modelling and all that." madison explained. "you guys do this everytime you get a new cast member?" arabella asked, "we started doing it when drew was casted, he was confirmed after the rest of us. this time, i'm just trying to give chase's hunt a tough fight, that one was mind-blowing. it's really fun, you'll like it," the girl said, and they continued talking and chatting about stuff.  "so, tell me more about the cast." 

"well, rudy, austin and jonathan are like your biggest fans, so they might freak out a little - a lot, who knows? chase is like the cool mediator type person, you already know madelyn. everyone else is pretty chill. drew can be a pain in the ass, all the guys can be. they're all crackheads and are really funny, so you will never get bored. it'll be great, i'm so excited to have you there! i promise that you'll love it!"