Suddenly Starlet

Suddenly Starlet--Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Four

            The rest of the week went pretty much like that first day had. Her mom would wake her up at 6:30 am, usually with a cheery “mom” phrase like, “time to check out the sunshine, sunshine,” or “my little sleepy head needs to get out of bed,” which usually succeeded in putting Laney in an instant grumpy mood.

            Then, Brooke would deliver her to the football field where they would run through drill after drill until she thought her feet would fall off.

            Laney dragged her feet as she walked back to her hotel room. She was having fun kicking the ball around with Brooke, but one thing was for sure—she was out of shape. In fact, Laney realized while running around the field that morning, that before that week, she hadn’t exercised in a while. Not since she had quit cheer and moved out to L.A., anyway.

            Now Laney’s legs felt like mush and she was beginning to feel more tired than she had earlier that morning.

Whoever said exercise was a energizing way to start the day didn’t have Brooke as a trainer, she thought.

            Concentrating on placing one foot in front of the other, Laney made her way down the hallway until she came to the door marked 219. Leaning against the doorframe as if she were harboring a serious injury, she fished through her bag for her room key.

            After her search came up empty, Laney slid down the door until she was sitting on the ground. Using her head, she lightly tapped on the door behind her.

            Inside the room, Laney could hear her mom get up and go over to the door. She could picture her mom staring out of the peephole as she yelled out, “Who is it?”

            “Mmmmflaaah,” Laney mumbled, exhaustively.

            Mrs. Herman opened the door and looked down as her daughter toppled backward and lay motionless on the ground below her. Studying Laney, her mom placed her hands on her hips and said, “Good workout?”

            “I can’t even talk I’m so pooped,” Laney said as she crawled into the room and over to the couch. Cringing as she laid her head back on one of its pillows, she closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

            “Brooke’s been working you hard, hasn’t she?” her mom asked joining her in the living room.

            “You have no idea,” she answered. “She’s got me running the field, doing drills, sprinting—you name it and I’m doing it.”

            Her mom chuckled as she sat down near Laney’s feet. “Well, I’m glad she’s helping you to be more active. Pretty soon, you’re going to have to be on your feet all day long and you won’t be able to complain about it one bit.”

            Laney just growled and buried her head in one of the lumpy hotel pillows. She was contemplating going back to bed, when her mom smacked her gently on the leg.

            “Why don’t you put on your suit and we’ll head out to the hot tub so you can soak that tired body of yours before you have to go in for your fitting today,” her mom said standing up.

            The fitting.  

            Laney faintly remembered her mom mentioning to her that she had to go into the studio that day. Chad had wanted them all to come in sometime that week to do a few costume fittings for the scenes they would be working on in the movie.