His Childhood Friend

•Chapter 6•

"Thank you, Koala. I like to make my reputation a secret though, if you don't mind." Therese winked. Alan threw his head back as he laughed.   

'He seems to laugh a lot now... Oh shut up, Therese, you knew that before. You even laugh like a maniac yourself.' A voice in Therese's head said and must've done the Z-snap if it even had arms after correcting her like it were boss.

"And... we're here," Therese said while opening the door to a room inside the office. "In there is where Uncle Jamie just holds a meeting with the people in the play."

"I'm pretty nervous actually." He confessed.

"Don't be nervous. They're all nice."

"No. I'm nervous because you're holding my hand Waffles."

Her eyes widened and she slapped the back of his head again. "And stop with that!" Alan yelled, chuckling, while being pushed into the room.

"Therese-!" He tried to shout before stopping in mid-step. Everybody in the room was staring at him as if he just disgraced himself in front of the Queen of England. "Um, sorry 'bout that. My best fr-"

"We don't need to know anymore about anything, Mr. Rickman. Sit over there." A woman with wide glasses and a scowl upon her face told him sternly. She was as thin as a toothpick and would probably be a 5 star-general in a sea of soldiers. Even with a high-pitched girly tone, she sounded a little frightening.

Her bony finger pointed to the 8th seat at the round table that took most space of the room. There were neither windows nor anything fun in here rather than Uncle Jamie's human-friendly decorations around the office.

Alan recognised some of the people there who auditioned the day he did. They all looked pretty proud of themselves, judging because of the looks on their faces. "You do not need to scare the poor boy, Amelia Moore. He will be the main star of the show, after all," A man at Alan's left said to the woman earlier.

Amelia Moore rolled her eyes. "Jamie Wincott wouldn't know how to run a proper play if he allows the kids to run around and not use their energy wisely. Well, I wouldn't care. We'll be partnering with them on this play, and I will tell you it will be the best out of all the Wincott's productions."

Silence spread across the room as everybody secretly exchanged worried and disgusted looks. "You partnered with a man you hate?" A short girl at around 14 inquired confusingly. "I'm forced to if we can't find anyone else to help us with 'The Boy of Bell-Tower'." she explained.

"And besides that, Wincott's Amor Theater is one of the well-known theaters around London. They the have money too. Better to stay for a while and grab the audience."

"I'm beginning to regret even auditioning," A boy with raven hair seated beside Alan's right whispered to himself. "I know who Uncle Jamie is and I feel you. We're secretly being hypocrites if that's the right word to use," Alan whispered. The boy raised his head and smiled at him. "I'm Simon, by the way. Simon de Villa. I'll be playing Georges in this. Y'know... the antagonist. You're Alan, ain't you? You're playing Hugo!"

"Yeah, I will," Alan confirmed then ignored Amelia's speech more about the Wincott's. Worry spread through him as he thought whether or not whose side he should be on. Amelia or Uncle Jamie? "And I'm nervous. It's my first time playing a main role," he added instead.