Behind the Scenes

Chapter One

"Amanda!" The blonde looked up with a small smile, pushing her glasses back up onto the top of her head.

"Sorry, sorry, I just got lost in it all for a moment. This isn't an opportunity a lot of people get." She said with a grin, pushing her glasses back on top of her head.

"I was asking if you wanted to put any ideas forward." The woman leading her around repeated, Carrie, Amanda thought.

"Really? You're asking an intern for ideas?" She asked in a state of disbelief.

"We've read your scripts from your course. They are astonishing. You've just got something fresh, something new that the writers we have just don't get." Carrie explained. "Here, maybe working with the cast might help."

"Wh-what?" Amanda stumbled over her words as she tripped into a room. Twelve pairs of eyes instantly turned to stare at her and she smiled nervously.

"Who's this?" Zendaya asked, curious but not rude, smiling at the blonde who had just walked in.

"This is a scriptwriting intern. Her name is Amanda. She's a university student, some of her work has been published online and it is outstanding. She's here to talk with you about if you think anything doesn't fit with the script or if you have any ideas you want making note of for the next one." Carrie announced and turned to Amanda with a wink. "See you tomorrow, blondie."

Amanda gulped as she sat down slightly away from everyone else, pulling out a notepad and pen. She enjoyed writing with pen and paper, it made her feel more grounded.

"Well, Amanda, it's nice to meet you." Zendaya said. "I'm Zendaya, this is Tom, Jacob, Sam" (just Sam, Amanda thought?), "Jake, Marisa, Jon, Cobie, and Tony. Then, not actually acting but supervising, Robert, Gwyneth and for some unknown reason, Anthony." Amanda smiled softly at everyone as they were introduced, easily hiding how star struck she was.

"So, anybody have any ideas? I can flush out a basic draft tonight based on the ideas you give me, and then you can go over it tomorrow." Amanda said, straight to business. Everyone started speaking up and she did her best to write down everything that was said, when two ideas contradicted one another, she brought it up and let them debate and merge them.

"Keeping up?" A voice sounded next to her and she looked up to see Jacob sat next to her.

"Just about, Mr Batalon." She smiled. "The ideas are wonderful, and there are so many, it's going to be a challenge to work them all into a script that even starts to encompass the beauty of it."

"You really like words, don't you?" Jacob said with a smile and Amanda nodded.

"How could I not? What we would be without words?" She asked and he chuckled.

"That's a good point, Amanda. And why did you call me Mr Batalon?"

"To be professional?" She suggested though she didn't actually have a proper answer.

"No need." He assured her and she smiled. "We're heading for lunch soon. Do you want to come with us?" He offered and Amanda smiled politely. She was ready to say no but something inside of her switched at the last second.

"Sure. Why not?" Jacob grinned and took her by the arm, pulling her over to the others.

"She agreed to come." He said and a smile picked up across a few of the faces.

Tom wasn't sure what he made of the intern girl, she seemed so encapsulated by words, and so unaware of how expensive everyone in the room was and she - she was just a university girl trying to make rent and get herself heard of. She made him curious, and almost everyone could see he wanted to know more. Everyone except her.

"So is this what rich folk do?" Amanda asked with a grin. "You go out for lunch every day, what, somewhere new each time I'm guessing? And then there's the way you'll all argue about the check since you're all pretty much millionaires. And I'm here, struggling to pay rent, working two jobs and can barely afford to eat." She said with a new found sarcasm in her voice that turned heads to her in shock.

"I - I mean - we - I - what?" Tom said, dumbfounded and Amanda laughed.

"I'm kidding. Kind of. I can't afford anything here." She said with a half-smile in her face. "Courtesy of being here alone."

"You're British." Robert noted and she nodded.

"Congratulations. You recognised Tom's accent on another person." Robert smirked but it quickly faded when he went back to serious.

"Why are you alone in the US? Did nobody come with you?"

"I have friends." She said with an eyebrow quirked and the master of acting decided not to push it, but rather research her in his own time.

"Amanda what?"

"Neel. No k at the front." She said dryly, figuring his plan out instantly but letting him do it. There was barely anything other than her scripts accessible to the general public online. He nodded and sat back.

"I'll pay yours this time." He said quickly and a grin flitted across her face, which Tom and Robert both found that they appreciated. "What are you gonna get, Miss Neel?"

"Please, Mr Downey, just Amanda." She insisted. "And I'll just get an espresso. And maybe some chi - fries." She said with a small smile.

"You don't eat much, huh, Miss Neel? Now, see, I'm gonna call you that, until you call everyone here their first names. Where do you work?" He asked, getting his phone out.

"I'm a lifeguard at the pool nearest the university, and I'm a waitress in a small cafe."

"What do you get paid a month?"

"Enough to share rent with my friend and eat small amounts and pay some of my tuition. What's it to you?"

"Which university are you at?"

"One quick search will tell you that, Mr. - Robert." She said, averting her gaze.

"It's a cheap one."

"I'm on minimum wage." She snarked back, pulling her phone out and zoning out from the conversation.

Tom had watched the exchange almost in awe. She wasn't treating Robert as a celebrity but as though he was just a normal human being. She seemed to have done the same with Jacob as soon as they left the studio they had been in to bounce ideas off each other.

Zendaya smirked as she saw how Tom was staring at Amanda.

"Someone's got a crush." She teased and he rolled his eyes, swatting her arm.

"Shut it, Z." He mumbled but he was a shade of light pink she hadn't seen on him in a while. Anthony had noticed and had a smirk on his face.

"So uh, Amanda, any celebrity crushes?"

"Depends. Current or past?" She responded, finally looking back up from her phone as the drinks arrived, which she hadn't even realised were ordered.

"Either. Both."

"Scarlett Johansson for all of time. Kind of Jeremy Renner when I was younger, David Tennant one hundred percent. Tom Hiddleston a bit."

"Anybody at this table?" Zendaya asked and Amanda raised an eyebrow.

"Tom's cocky, Anthony's rude, Robert's money demanding, Gwyneth is too perfect, you're funny but have very little personality shown through media, Jake's not my type, Jacob's not my type, Tony - your face reminds me of somebody I've been trying to forget for years, Cobie and Marisa I would if I hadn't seen you guys as role models growing up, Jon you're not my type, Sam's too old for me."

"I'm not cocky!" Tom protested but Amanda distracted herself by drinking her espresso.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."