FEELINGS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Chapter One

"Cut! That’s a wrap!" the director yelled. Everybody applauded, including the actors. It was the end of shooting for a film named A Bit of Hope. Rose smiled and hugged her co-star, the director, and a few other production people and walked to her trailer one last time. She sat in a chair and started to take her makeup off.

Rose was a twenty-three-year-old rising star in Hollywood. She had been a few major box office films and was a teen idol. But she didn’t pay much attention to the magazines or the media. She really didn’t like being in the spotlight. She was known as a very talented actress and a very busy person. Rose was very busy all the time. She went from one movie to another and hardly had any time for herself. She didn’t have a love life, and she didn’t have many friends. She had been acting since she was eleven, and acting was all she knew. Her mother and father were retired actors. Acting was practically in her blood.

Rose finished cleaning her face and packed her things. Finally, she had finished her tenth film. She was twenty-three and already had appeared in ten movies and six TV shows. She hugged her makeup person and a few other actors. She got in her car and started to drive to her apartment. She lived alone, but did have family. Her mother and father lived in a mansion in Beverly Hills, a mansion that she had bought them. For the moment she lived in New York. This was where her most recent movie was filmed.

When she got to her apartment, she went straight to the shower. She was tired; she had been on set all day. She was happy that today was the last day of shooting. She took a warm bath and went straight to her bed. She closed her eyes, but the phone rang.

"Ugh! Will you people please let me rest?" she said, and walked to the phone. "Hello."

"Rose! It’s me, your mom."

"Oh, Mom. What’s up?"

"I just remembered that today you finished making that movie. I wanted to know when you are coming home."

"Oh, Mom, probably tomorrow, and you really have to remember that New York and Los Angeles don’t have the same time zone. It’s late over here, and I’m tired."

"Oh, I’m sorry, Rose, but I can’t wait until tomorrow. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow."

"All right, Mom. I’ll see you tomorrow," Rose said, and fell on her bed.

*****

The next day, Jack was walking on the beach with his girlfriend, Regina. They were laughing and playing with their dog. A photographer was taking pictures of them.

"Those damned paparazzi! I can’t even go buy underwear, because they would be there, taking pictures, and I would be on the front cover of some stupid magazine. Get the Exclusive! Jack Dawson Buys Underwear Like Every Human Being. Ugh," Jack said.

"Ha ha. Oh, Jack, you are funny. It’s okay, honey. You’ll look sexy on the cover," Regina said, and kissed him. He smiled and kissed her back. They had been dating for almost two years now. The media’s pressure was almost getting to him. Everybody said it was already time for him to pop the question, but Jack didn’t feel ready. He also wasn’t sure that Regina was the one he wanted to start a family with. She was beautiful, she was a model and actress, but she was not what Jack wanted in a wife. He had always been known to date models and be a womanizer.

Jack was a hot actor. He was always on magazine covers and his poster most likely was on teenagers’ walls. He was twenty-four, but already a very popular actor. He didn’t like the attention, but he knew this was the cost of being an actor. Regina was the complete opposite of him; she loved the attention and always posed for the paparazzi. Jack didn’t like to take pictures, but she loved it. He was into donating money to charity and saving the environment. She thought it was a waste of time. He couldn’t convince her to buy a better car for the environment. She was very hard-headed. She always had to have it her way, or she would be a complete pain to him. They sat in the sand, and Pep, his dog, lay in his lap.

"Jack, are you going to do that movie?" she asked.

"I’m been thinking about it. It sounds like a great movie. It has a great story and it’s well written," he said.

"But it’s a romantic movie," she said, with a face that said that she didn’t want him to be in a romantic movie.

"Yeah, it is, but it’s a great story, and I have never been a soldier in a movie. That kind of sounds cool. Are you jealous?" he asked, smiling.

"Uh…no. I just thought you were an actor who just took serious roles, not little lover boy roles."

"Oh, come on. This character is not a lover boy. It’s a great and very serious film. Besides, I have already been Romeo in a movie."

"Yeah, but that was four years ago. You know, why are we even arguing? Do whatever you want. It’s your career, not mine. Who is going to be your co-star?"

"I have no idea. They haven’t told me anything. I think they still haven’t decided on someone. Why is it important to know who the lucky girl is going to be?" he asked, knowing she would make a face.

"Ha ha. Aren’t you funny?" she said sarcastically.

*****

Rose arrived at her house and found her parents and her sister outside. She got out of her car and smiled at them.

"Welcome home, honey!" Ruth called, and hugged her. Rose smiled and hugged her back, and then hugged her father, Luther. She looked at her sister, who was smiling at her, and hugged her.

"Thanks, you guys, for the warm welcome. I have really missed you all. I’m finally back home," Rose said.

They helped her with her luggage and followed her to her house. Her dad lay the luggage on her bed.

They sat and talked for a while, and after a few hours, decided to leave.

"Well, Rose, we are happy that you are back, and we hope you can stay home for a longer time now," Luther said, and hugged her.

"Bye, Dad. Bye, Mom. Thanks for coming. Sarah, why don’t you stay for a while longer? You and I have to talk, girl," Rose said, looking at her younger sister.

"Okay. I can drive back to the house. Did I already tell you I got my driver’s license?"

"Yes, Sarah, like ten times. Ha!" Rose said, laughing.

Their parents left, and they went back inside. They went to Rose’s room and sat on her bed.

"So, Sarah, what have you been up to? I hear you have a boyfriend," Rose said, smiling.

"Well, I did when I sent you that letter. But, like, two weeks after, we broke up. But I’m not mad; I guess it wasn’t meant to be," Sarah said.

"You sound like a thirty-year-old. You are only sixteen, Sarah."

"Yeah, and I have already had a heartbreak, and you haven’t. Rose, when are you going to take a break? I mean, you work, like, every day, and you never have time for anything. You don’t have a boyfriend, right?"

"Why are you trying to marry me off so quickly? I’m fine where I am, and I’m happy with what I’m doing now. I don’t need a man in my life to be happy. Maybe later, but not right now. Love only gets in the way; I don’t want to be in love right now. Besides, you know they say that love does not exist in Hollywood. Celebrities change their partners like they change underwear."

"Then I guess Will Smith is gross, because he has been married, like, forever!" Sarah said, laughing. Rose laughed with her. "Come on, Rose. You know you want to get married one day."

"Yes, but not right now."

"Well, at least promise me you won’t make another movie for the rest of the year."

"I can’t promise that. Besides, I can’t afford to take that long of a vacation. You know an actor’s career is never for sure. I could be working at McDonalds next week."

"Oh, shut up! You get paid twelve million dollars a movie; I don’t think you will run out of money anytime soon."

"It’s not just the money. I love what I do. Hopefully, one day, I’ll have a love like in the movies," Rose said, smiling.

*****

A few days later, Rose’s agent received a call from a director named Randy Peterson. He told her to go to his office, that he had a role that Rose might be interested in. This role would be a once-in-a-lifetime role. Randy tried to sound as convincing as possible; he really wanted to work with Rose. Rose thought about it and decided to check it out. She went to his office. She had never worked with Randy, but she had heard he was a great director. He also had made great movies; she had to agree with that. When she got there, he was talking to Billy Hill, an actor. Billy got up from his chair and saw Rose.

"Hello. I’m Billy Hill," he said, and shook her hand.

"Yeah. I have heard a lot of great things about you. I’m Rose Bukater. Nice to meet you," she said, and smiled at him.

"Well, Rose, you might want to know that I might be one of your co-stars. Not the main character, but the bad guy. But I’m not a bad guy at all," he said, laughing.

"Oh, well, you don’t seem like it. Well, if we do get the chance to work together, it will be a pleasure," she said, smiling. He smiled and left. Randy shook Rose’s hand and led her to a chair.

"Well, Rose, I hear a lot of great things about you. I have seen some of your movies; let me tell you I’m a fan of your work. I think you are very talented. I have this movie; it’s about how a war can change not only a soldier’s life, but his whole family and his closest friends. It takes place during the Vietnam War. The role that I would like you to take is, of course, the main character. Not the soldier, but the girlfriend. This is not your classic romantic movie. It’s pretty deep stuff. Let me give you a copy of the script so you can look over it, and maybe you can decide if you want this role or not. I don’t want to force you into anything," he said, smiling, and handed her the script. She took it and read some of it. Just by the first few pages she could tell that this story was very good.

"So, I see that there is some violence and some drug use in this movie," she said.

"Well, yes, it’s the sixties. Drugs were everywhere, and of course they affect the main character, but don’t worry. That’s only about two scenes."

"No, it’s not a problem; I know that the male character is a deep character. So, I would play Angie, the girl who doesn’t realize that her best friend, who happens to be a guy, loves her. Then he leaves for war and I start realizing that I miss him and that I’m nothing without him," she said, smiling.

"Right."

"Then, as time passes, I move to the city with my fiancé, who is kind of the bad guy. Then my life goes downhill because I realize I love my friend, who I think is dead. Then he comes back from the war and moves to the city. He is not the same guy, and he is filled with trouble."

"Right, and he starts to take bad jobs and stuff, but still, after all those years, he is determined to find you."

"So, who would be my co-star?" she asked, smiling.

"Well, he is a great actor. I don’t know if you have heard of him. His name is Jack Dawson."

Chapter Two
Stories