Chapter One

“Simonia!”

“No, no, no,” came the mumbled reply from under the blankets of the hotel bed. “I still have two hours!”

“Not anymore.”

Simonia moaned and covered her face with her hands as the blankets were abruptly pulled away from her. “Patrick!”

“Come on, chica. You got an interview in an hour. It got pushed up.”

She slowly squinted her eyes open. “I hate you.”

“You love me. Come on.”

She groaned and let him pull her up. “Do you know what time it is?”

“See, Monia, this is why you’re an actress. If you can’t tell time by twenty four…”

She hit him in the arm. “Shut up.”

“Kay, move, Babe. You got an hour.”

“You are evil,” she mumbled as she straightened.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“A minion of the undead.”

“And a spawn of Satan. Damn, Monia, do we have to go through this every morning?”

“Every morning that you wake me up,” she replied, moving past him to the bathroom. “You suck.”

“You suck,” he shot back. “You got fifty seven minutes.”

She rolled her eyes and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Exactly sixty four minutes later, she emerged and found Patrick sitting on her bed, flipping through the channels on TV.

“Ready?”

“Just wait,” she sighed, grabbing her pair of black boots and pulling them on under her jeans. “Where exactly are we going right now?”

“Interview with People magazine and then you have to be at the set for ten.”

“Why so early?”

“Bill wants to reshoot some scenes.”

“Bill always wants to reshoot scenes. I think he should maybe shoot himself.”

Patrick laughed. “And then there’s that dinner for that charity at seven that you’re supposed to attend.”

Simonia pushed back her hair. “Do I at least get to sleep in tomorrow?”

Patrick smiled and gave her a push towards the door. “Do I really need to answer that, Monia?”

“Dude, would you shut up?”

“What crawled up your ass and died?”

Justin Timberlake scoffed and gave his best friend, Trace, a shove. “I’m trying to watch TV and you keep yakking.”

“It’s commercials, J.”

“But Moods is starting in a minute and I don’t want to miss any of it.”

“Dude, you’re obsessed with that show, you know that? What’s so great about it?”

Justin smiled as the opening credits for the sitcom came on. “Her,” he said simply, pointing at the TV screen.

“Simonia Lahey?”

Justin leaned forward in the couch and propped his arms on his knees. “Uh huh.”

“She’s pretty hot, I guess.”

“Man, she’s more than pretty hot. That girl is on fire. She’s like the most beautiful thing on the planet.”

“So you always watch Moods so you can oogle at her?” Trace laughed.

Justin reached over and shoved his friend again. “It’s more than that, Trace. She’s a great actress. She won an Emmy, you know.”

Trace began to laugh harder. “Man, you know what you sound like?”

Justin looked away from the screen as the commercials started. “Huh?”

“You sound like one of those psycho fans. ‘Simonia, you’re so hot!’, ‘Simonia, you’re so talented!’, ‘Simonia, will you marry me?’”

Rolling his eyes, Justin leaned back in the couch and crossed his arms over his chest. “There’s nothing wrong with admiring someone’s talent.”

“You’re completely infatuated with her. If you ever met her in person…”

“Man, that would be awesome if I could meet her.”

“So why don’t you? You got major connections. Call up her publicist. Get her number.”

Justin rolled his eyes once more. “Sure, Trace. Not that easy. She probably has an insane schedule.” He sighed. “Damnit! Why are there so many commercials?”

“Cause it’s a popular show. I thought you had to be at the studio in ten minutes.”

“So I’ll be late. They won’t do anything.”

“You’re a spoiled ass kid, you know that, J?”

Justin smirked. “I know, man. And shut up. It’s on again.”

“Jill, you have to try and come out here and visit me,” Simonia pleaded on the phone with her younger sister. “I need company.”

“I would, Monia, but school’s so busy. I can’t afford to be away even for a day. What until my spring break.”

Simonia frowned and slouched down in her hair, ignoring the protests of her hair artist. “Jill…”

“Simonia…we all don’t have cushy jobs like you, babe.”

“Cushy, yeah, that’s it.” Simonia rolled her eyes and shooed away Patrick as he tried to get her attention and motion for her to get off the phone. “Then you have to come for spring break.”

“I will. Promise.”

“Okay. So how’re thing at home?”

“Same as usual.”

“Talked to Ethan lately? All I get is his machine when I call his apartment.”

“He came home for supper a couple nights ago. I dunno. He’s the same I guess.”

“Found a girlfriend yet?”

“Are you kidding? He barely talks to his own friends, let alone, girls.”

“I really should call him again.”

“Yeah.”

“’So how’s your boyfriend doing?”

“Devon’s great.”

“Still in school?”

“Yeah. He’ll have his degree by the end of the year.”

“Cool. I-Patrick, go away!” she said, pulling the phone back from her ear and glaring at him. “I’m trying to talk to Jill.”

Patrick plucked the phone from her hand before she could protest and raised it to her ear. “Hey, Jill? It’s Patrick…yeah…Simonia’s being bitchy and not getting off the phone so I have to for her…uh huh…oh, I know…okay. She’ll call you later. Yep. Bye.”

Simonia glared at him as he handed her the cell phone. “I hate you.”

“You love me. Especially after what I did for you.”

She rolled her eyes. “And what’s that?”

He sat down in the chair beside her and pulled out a sheet of paper. “I got you two days off next week.”

She brightened. “Seriously? How?”

“By being the coolest assistant you’ve ever had. I got you Thursday and Sunday off. Week after that you got Saturday off.”

“Cool.”

He handed her the paper that held her schedule. “Besides taping, you’ve got a couple radio interviews on Monday and Tuesday and an interview with Teen People on Wednesday. Friday’s Carson Daly at noon.”

“Uh huh.”

“Week after that you’ve got more radio and you’re scheduled to be on the Today Show on Wednesday. And then Friday is the opening of that club in New York that you were invited to.”

“Do I really have to go to that?”

“Yeah. It’s gonna be a huge deal. Lots of press, lots of celebrities. PR would kill you if you didn’t go.”

“I guess.”

“Come on, Simonia. It’ll be fun. Lots of free alcohol.”

She smirked. “Thanks, Patrick.”

“So everything looks good then?”

She sighed. “Yeah. Looks fine.”

“Good. Cause I wasn’t planning on changing it anyways.”

“I know.”

“Simonia! Terrance! On the set!”

She stood up as the director called her name and brushed down her clothes. “How do I look?”

“Just like Hillary Jameson.”

“Good.” She left Patrick sitting in the chair and made her way to the set of the TV show where Terrance Saley already was. “Hey,” she greeted her co-star.

“Hey,” he smiled. “How’s it going?”

“Same old. You?”

“Yep. Same.”

She grabbed her script and sat down on the set couch as she began to review it. The basis of Moods was five college friends in everyday life. She, along with Terrance, Mackenzie Cooper, Paxton Pratt, and Lila Cryar, were the stars of the show and after only three seasons, ratings were soaring and each of them had become celebrities. They practiced and shot the show six days out of the week, for eight hours each day. It hardly seemed like anything to Simonia though. She loved it. She had become such good friends with all her coworkers, Lila becoming one of her best friends. It was a life she had always fantasized about.

Terrance plopped down beside her. “Got it all memorized?”

“Eh…most. Bill won’t be too mad if I mess up, will he?”

“I think he’s gotten used to you messing up,” Terrance teased.

“Hey,” She smiled, bumping her shoulder with his. “I’m not always messing up.”

“I’m just kidding.”

“Hey, are you going to the opening of that club next week? Borderline or something?”

“Nope.”

“Ugh. Why am I the only one?”

“Oh, get off it, Monia. You’ll have fun. Maybe you’ll meet a hot guy and hook up.”

She rolled her eyes. “Which is just what I need.”

“Hey, you said it not me.”

“Right.”

“Okay! Let’s start!” Bill yelled from the edge of the set as he settled into his director’s chair.

Simonia stood up and tossed her script off the set. She went over to the coffee bar and leaned against it as her script had told her to do. She glanced over to Bill who nodded at the camera man.

“Action!”