The Fantastic Five: Carson, Milo, Shawn, Jace, and Abby

Meeting Milo

  I think I'm having a panic attack. Literally or not, I don't even know. All I know is that this feeling is far beyond nervous. Nervous is just the butterflies and the occasional hands shaking. This feeling? It's that and loss of breath mixed with sweating. I don't know why. All I'm doing is signing a contract and leaving. The elevator door opens and my heart immediately drops. "WELCOME TO DISNEY!!" a huge crowd of people shout. All of which I recognized. There was Zendaya, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Dove Cameron and a bunch of other current Disney stars. I slowly started walking inside the room as all of them started cheering for me. At the end of the room, there was Kenny. He had a clipboard and pen in his hand and a cheery smile on his face. "Abby Winters, as a Disney channel star, you must know that it is a huge honor to be part of Disney. This could open you up to so many other futures in the world. Are you ready to become a Disney star?" Kenny stood there looking anxious. Everybody in the background looked anxious to hear my answer too. I took the pen out of Kenny's hand, smiled and signed my name on the clipboard. "Does that answer your question?" I asked. Kenny smiles at me. "Well then. " Kenny grabbed my hand and shook it. "Welcome to Disney." Everybody in the background cheered and Kenny clapped. "Let's celebrate!" He yells.

One hour later, I'm still at Disney. At my "surprise" contract signing party. I walked over to a table in the corner to catch my breath. I hate being in places where there are too many people. I grab a soda and open it and chug most of it down. Suddenly a guy with brown hair and a blue shirt walks over to me. "Having fun, I see." I look over at him and instantly my expression goes from highly annoyed to in awe. Milo Manheim, the star of my favorite Disney Channel Movie, ZOMBIES, is standing next to me. I swallow the soda in my mouth. "Yeah. So much fun." I say sarcastically. "It could be worse." He tells me. "Yes, because being in a small room with over one-hundred people in it is so peachy." Milo looks at me and I turn my head to look him dead in the eyes. We sit there for a good 30 seconds. "I'm Milo." He introduces. "I know. You're in my favorite DCOM, Zombies." "You've seen that?" "I have" "That's awesome!" I lightly laugh. "I'm Abby" I introduce back. "Yeah...." He smiles. "I know too." We both smile at each other. "It's really hot in here. We should go outside." Milo says awkwardly. "That was so cheesy." We both laugh. "But yes. We should." Milo and I both head outside. I almost felt bad that I ditched my own contract signing party, but then I realize that I'm about to go hang out with one of my favorite Disney stars...who's also pretty attractive as well...but that's beside the point. 

 We walked out of the Disney doors and to Milo's car.  I have no idea where we're going. "Where are we going?" I ask him. "It's a surprise" he answers back. I stop at my bodyguard, Stu's window of his car and ask him to follow us and stay close, but stay a little bit at a distance. I both trusted and didn't trust Milo mainly because I met him 5 minutes ago. He agrees and I run over to Milo's car and hop in. "You ready?" he asks me. "I think so, yeah," I answer. He starts the car and starts driving. We pass by the city. My breath is instantly taken away. I guess Milo noticed. "Are you okay?" "I'm in awe. I have never been to California." He looks confused. "Really? Where are you from then?" "Idaho Falls, Idaho," I tell him. "Hm. Never heard of it." "I'm not surprised. It's just another small town." I tell him. "Is there anything to do there besides peel potatoes?" He jokes. I lightly laugh. "Well for one, there's no potato farms in IF...as far as I know. But yes. There's always a fair and good schools and cafes and parks, it's just like any other city, it's just not well known." I tell him. "Oh," he says. From that point on, he tells me about how he's only lived in one place his whole life, his two dogs, his hobbies, Zombies, how he worked in a circus and of course...his girlfriend, Holiday Kriegel. I told him about Frontline, my middle and high school friends, my family and my now ex-boyfriend, who was also my first boyfriend, Danny Delgado. That's when I saw it...the place I've been wanting to go my whole life...Disney Land! Its every kid's dream to be there. Maybe not every kid's, but it sure was mine. We were there for like 2 hours before we left. We were sitting in the car and suddenly I shouted out something that I don't regret asking. "Audition!" I ask him.

"What?" he asks. "Audition for my show!" I tell him. "What's your show?" "You were just at my contract signing party, what do you mean 'what's your show'?!" I ask him. "I was just told we were getting a new recruit and we were throwing her a party. Nobody specified what your role was in what show." I looked guilty. "I'm technically not on the show, I'm just the one who made it," I admit. He looks confused again. "You aren't on the show?" he asks. I shake my head. "Not yet. They recruited me because on my audition tapes a monologued a part of my show and they liked it. They named me the writer, but said that I still had to audition to be the character I monologued." "If you aren't on it, then why'd we...nevermind. You want me to audition for what part?" He asks. "The show is called The Waynehood Diaries and the two title characters are Isabella and Connor Waynehood. They're siblings who move from Denver to Idaho Falls and it focuses on their journey from the first day of 7th grade to graduation day of high school. Isabella is who I'm auditioning for and I want you to be Connor." He gives me a weirded out look. "How are we supposed to play siblings and we look nothing alike? Literally NOTHING alike." He asks. It's true. He's tall and skinny and white and has brown, silky, straight hair. I'm half white, half black, have curly auburn hair and I'm pretty short. Even his eyes are a lighter shade of brown than mine. "They're half-siblings. Look, if we both audition and they see the chemistry we sparked today, we could definitely get the parts!" "What happens if we don't?" "Well then I'll remain the writer and we'll live life happily," I answer. "And if we do get it?" "Well then I'll remain the writer and we'll live life happily but with money," I say. He smiles. "Okay." I smile. This could work. It has to. My panic attack is striking again. This time, it's much worse. I can't believe how many people are here auditioning for Isabella Waynehood. They're all bragging about how they have this role in the bag. How could they? They don't know her like I know her...mainly because I've been writing Isabella since 2014. She is me. It may sound selfish, but losing her to somebody else is like I'm losing myself. I have to win this. This is my chance to make everything I've ever dreamed of come true. 

"It's okay Isabella, you've got this" Kenny reads to me during the audition. With everything I had, I gave my speech written in the script. "Connor...this is my redemption...from Lily, from the Color Swap incident, from Max, everything! This is my chance to show everyone that I have what it takes! This is more than just a show...this...is everything." Everyone looked impressed. I related to that. This audition was my redemption. From everything.

The week after that I got a callback. They chose 4 people to continue on for Connor and 4 people to continue on for Isabella. I was one of them. This was the make it or break it audition. Milo was one of the guys to make it for Connor. They put all 8 of us in a room and had us take turns practicing the intro with each other. Milo and I were the last pair to audition together. I started off with Isabella's intro. Didn't even need a script. Neither did Milo. The end came faster than everyone else's did. Before we knew it, I said "I'm Isabella Waynehood" and Milo said "And I'm Connor Waynehood" and together we said, "And this is The Waynehood Diaries." The other kids could definitely see the chemistry in us. Obviously.

Apparently so did the judges. They called me later that night when Milo and I were eating dinner at Applebees. They called him at the same time. "Is this Abby Winters?" someone said. "Yes?" I answered. "Congratulations! You got the part as Isabella Waynehood!" I looked so excited and looked at Milo who also looked super excited. When we hung up, we both looked at each other and shouted: "I GOT THE PART!!"