Grumpy mood filled the shooting spot.

"Lucy,"

"Once again, you're not being Claudia!"

Ivy's judgment only got stricter every time Lucy failed to become Claudia.

"Let's go for another take!" she says without giving Lucy any chance to recover.

***

Rus.h.i.+ng the actors, disturbed the film set. Parker and David secretly glanced at each other, concerned about Ivy's fiery temper.

"CUT!!"

They hissed on how fast the director gets provoked.

"Claudia doesn't fidget her fingers, Lucy," Ivy exclaimed.

"Let's continue from the last scene."

Parker saw Ivy lose to her hastiness, but being the director, he couldn't raise his voice against her in front of everyone. He patiently obeyed to wait for an opening. Until then, no one had a choice but to stay put as several rushed takes failed one after the other with Ivy exploiting Lucy's volatile state.

At one point, frustrated too much to the surrounding trash talks about choosing a non-actor crashed Ivy's control, and she yelled for another break.

However, this time, she summoned Lucy to follow her. Frank tried to tag along, but Ivy directed him to stay away. Lucy sweated with her fresh face spoiled from the smeared makeup.

Ivy walked to enter into her trailer. She let Lucy inside first before shutting the door. Alarmed from her position, Lucy took a corner, away from the angry beast. She watched Ivy strode back and forth inside the trailer to cool down her fuming head.

"Perhaps, you don't think that you could act?" she asks, rus.h.i.+ng her words with the bubbling rage.

"N- No."

"Did someone force you to accept the job, like that manager of yours?"

"Never!"

"There should be some reasonable explanation, right? You can't keep s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up without reason!" Ivy exploded.

The more she tried to suppress her stress, the more she couldn't succeed from fearing that her golden opportunity would succ.u.mb to a hapless defeat.

"What is it then?"

Ivy kept pursuing Lucy to pressure her.

"Tell me what it is, and we'll resolve it now. I don't want you to step out from here to get another retake!"

Lucy resisted confessing, "It is nothing-"

"Look, Lucy, I chose you over another girl that everyone recommended. I made a gamble. Do you know why? Because I believed in you. I saw your audition. You were gorgeous. One look at you, any girl or even a guy would get impressed," Ivy said to catch herself praising Lucy's enchanting beauty.

Her pausing did not help further as the two relived the fire they felt for the second time but within close quarters.

Ivy gave more s.p.a.ce between them to add compliments to Lucy's potential acting skills. Her enthusiastic raging ended with comforting Lucy's bundle of nerves. The model seems to have quieted down as her face no longer sweat to smudge her makeup.

"Is that true?" she asked the fl.u.s.tered director.

"Y- Yeah! David- Th That guy who sat through the auditions chose another girl."

"And you didn't like her?"

Ivy thought for a minute, recalling the whole audition reviewing process. She came across several candidates to finally get impressed with Lucy.

"She fit the requirements, but I was looking for some-" she paused to look at Lucy's face waiting to hear the rest of the sentence, "I was hoping that I could find the perfect Claudia!"

"And you found me!"

There was another moment of subtle sparkle between them to let those words do their magic.

"I found you!"

It was hard for Ivy to admit.

"So- I can't let you fail like that in front of those people who prefer to doubt my choice," Ivy said sternly, changing the course of the conversation, to her own embarra.s.sment.

Lucy apologized for disappointing her in front of the crew.

"Don't be! It's your first day. I shouldn't have pushed you like that. It was my fault too to have stressed you with repeated takes."

The two, having reached a peaceful agreement, appeared more relaxed compared to their moods when entering this trailer.

"So, what's bothering you?" Ivy asked again, this time she wasn't urging to get a response but as a genuinely interested colleague.

Regardless, Lucy struggled to speak, especially now that they established a friendly compact. Ivy realized that she might be stepping into Lucy's personal vicinity and immediately withdrew her intentions to know. Instead, she chose to help Lucy with her work.

"There's also another reason why I chose you- you struck me as the Claudia I created for this story. I never had any envision of her, but seeing you made me realize- 'Ah! I've found her! She could be the best Claudia!' What I'm trying to say is you should have more confidence. Try to compare the scenes with your real life!" Ivy suggested.

She advised Lucy to relate Claudia with herself. Telling her to compare such dinner date she must have had with the guys who hit on her. Ivy's a.s.sociation failed to impress its listener as Lucy can never make such a connection in her life.

'Dating a guy!' - Lucy cringed within.

The feeling of objection was simply too strong that it reflected in her blue eyes. Ivy saw Lucy submit to secret suffering from the suggestion. She flinched to a random guess but considered it to be a hoax without any proof.

"Alright! Forget it!" Ivy snapped with a disinterest.

She went on to advise Lucy to begin learning about her character by considering her to be a real person. Pointing out that asking Lucy to live like Claudia is tough since she hasn't had any acting experience prior.

"Acting needs imagination. It's easy to mimic a personality for a minute or two, but to sustain it takes a lot of effort."

Ivy looks around the van to find a transcript of the screenplay on the table. Since she was in her trailer, it was easy to spot it. She kept a copy of the script in the wagon to go through at leisure time.

"Claudia is like Lucy. She is beautiful, smart, fas.h.i.+onable, quiet yet has great strength in her, had this gorgeous blue eyes, kind-hearted-" Ivy spoke enthusiastically to get the script.

"Everything you need to know about Claudia is here," she said to hand out the hardcopy.

Lucy received it to glance inside. Every page filled with details, lines, descriptions, forms of expression along a story.

"You want to learn about her first. Ask a question to Claudia. Imagine if you meet her, what would you like to learn about her. Read about her in these papers first, get hold of a personality, and finally use your imagination to recreate her if you have a chance to live like Claudia. What makes Claudia different from you? What do you two have in common? Ask millions of questions, find answers, or try to guess answers with the help of our story."

Lucy watched Ivy pouring herself out to aid some stranger. Her pa.s.sion for films reached the daring model gradually.

"You become Claudia when you know what type of coffee she would get in the morning to what she does before going to bed!"

As if released from long-held captivity, Lucy exhaled from hearing Ivy spill details about portraying the character.

"We can wrap up today. Go get some rest, think about what I just told you, and tomorrow enter the set as Claudi even if you can't, don't worry because I will help you become Claudia."

Ivy said to allow Lucy to leave for the day. However, before seeing her off, Ivy called to place a small request.

"This is my first feature film. I've done many shorts for several years, and only now am I getting an appreciation for my talent. I know that you are new to the acting field, but I sincerely hope that you help me as well, Lucy," Ivy appealed with a desire.

"I want this to come out perfectly as I envisioned it!" she pleadingly added.

"I'm grateful that you believed in me, and I hope to do justice to reach your expectation. More than that, I would love to show everyone who Claudia is!"

Lucy left her trailer to meet Frank and her fellow actors to apologize before leaving.

Ivy returned a few minutes later to let everyone know that they are closing the first day by pus.h.i.+ng the dinner scene for tomorrow. The crew partly felt delighted while some sulked to the added work the next day. While everyone packed, Ivy saw Lucy with her fellow male actor, confessing to him for his help. Instead of leaving her alone, she went to join.

"I'm sorry I made a sudden call."

The male actor was kind enough to let Lucy off with a warning. He ordered her to be more responsible and never abandon her act in the middle.

Ivy let Lucy know that the actor who plays Mitch.e.l.l was a lucky pick as he had already starred in several films for character roles. Since he stands already experienced, he expects his fellow actors to act more professionally. Lucy couldn't agree more to it as from the little time they spent together in their costumes. She learned that the guy is serious about his job. With that, Frank and Lucy retired from the set. Meanwhile, Ivy and her group returned later to their office to look through the collected footage.