Gamer Superstar

Chapter 142 142 - Excuse me...

As I entered the room behind Laura, I noticed that the place was like a small theater or corporate conference room, with the entrance we were using as the entrance to the stage and the place where the show's executives were standing as the audience.

"Boy, are you her companion?" A woman in her 30s asked in a slightly surprised voice.

"Yes ma'am, where can I stand so I don't get in the way?" I asked modestly, not wanting to hinder Laura's chances of passing the test just by being here.

At my question, the woman nodded in satisfaction and pointed to one of the chairs in the corner of the audience.

I nodded and sat down in the corner, wanting to be quiet so as not to disrupt Laura's audition.

"Okay, Laura Miller, Artist D Rank, 17 years old..." The woman said in a bored voice as she read Laura's form. "Did you memorize the lines for the role we sent you via email?"

"Yes." Laura nodded in confirmation.

But I could tell from the tone of her voice that she was getting anxious, and I think the executives could see that as well.

"So let's test your interpretation of the scene where Harley argues with her mother about the calories in an apple pie." The woman said, causing Laura to think for a few seconds and nod. "I'm going to act as Harley's mother and you're going to interact with me as if you were Harley."

With her eyes closed, Laura concentrated on getting into character, trying to think of everything she could use from her experience with Harley's personality to make the role more realistic.

If it was just up to the level of her acting skills, I was sure she could do it perfectly because I'd seen her act and knew how good she was.

But when she started acting, I noticed that her anxiety was getting stronger and stronger...to the point where she was almost stuttering.

Looking curiously at the executives, I noticed the disappointment on their faces and realized that this was probably a bad sign for Laura.

And since she was getting more and more anxious, I think she noticed it too...

In the next scene, Laura's performance was even weaker...

"Let's go to the last scene..." The woman said with an even less excited voice this time. "This scene will be the scene where Jack arrives at the door of the house and Harley has to introduce Jack to her family while her mother is suspicious of him..."

Nodding her head, Laura tried to remain calm, but even from a distance I could see her fingers trembling.

The woman was acting like Harley's mother and a man was acting like Jack, Harley's boyfriend.

The more Laura interacted, the more the quality of her acting plummeted, which frustrated me.

I knew this girl was good, how high her skill level was, but the anxiety was completely killing her chances of getting the part...

So I thought of something...

Jack's lines were very easy, right?!

Knowing that if I didn't do anything, Laura's chances of getting the part would be practically zero, I slowly raised my hand and spoke carefully, interrupting her test.

"Excuse me..." I said in as polite a voice as possible.

But still, it was extremely rude to interrupt her audition, polite or not, so the woman looked at me with a frown as she asked. "What's wrong?"

"Laura is very nervous and I know she won't be able to show her true level, how about I try to act like Jack to calm her down and you can see her true level of acting?" I asked, keeping my voice calm.

"You think this is your house, kid?" The man playing Jack said to me angrily. "Just shut up and stop disrupting the audition!"

I was disappointed because I wanted Laura to be on her best behavior, but when I sat down again, I heard the woman's voice again.

"Did you memorize Jack's lines after hearing that?" She asked curiously.

Surprised, I stood up again and nodded at her. "His lines are easy, I think I can help Laura with that."

The woman nodded her head and spoke. "I'm going to give you one last chance to show us the Harley we want, Laura. You have five minutes to get ready while we go get a drink of water."

As soon as she said this, the woman picked up the papers on her desk and left the room, followed by the two men who had been with her in surprise, not understanding why the woman was acting like this.

With only Laura and I left in the room, I quickly made my way to the stage to meet her.

"Are you all right?" I asked worriedly.

But Laura had her head down and her hands were shaking slightly.

Knowing that she was about to have an anxiety attack, I quickly hugged her and felt her body stiffen for a few seconds before she began to relax until she relaxed and hugged me back.

"Thank you Noah..." She said, feeling better.

"All right, let's show him your true level of acting, just imagine we're in our school drama room practicing a role like we always do." I said smiling, earning a nod from her.

Despite being a very pretty and popular girl, Laura ended up being quite isolated at school due to her anxiety and being a bit distant from everyone.

If it hadn't been for her curiosity about me when I moved to the school, we wouldn't have developed the friendship we have now.

Especially her request that I take her to the audition, which may have seemed very hasty on her part, but when I started to think about it more, it was a bit obvious that I was the only one she could ask for help at school among her friends.

So I was happy to help in any way I could, especially as I realized over the weeks that she really was a very funny and talented girl who was interesting to be around.

After calming her down, we started practicing the presentation we had to do, and I could feel Laura's level rising by the second.

The more she relaxed while practicing with me, the more her level returned to her normal level and our confidence grew.

When the executives came back into the room and saw us practicing and how much calmer Laura was, I could tell that at least they weren't as stressed.

"Are you ready?" The woman asked as she sat down and organized her papers.

"Yes, ma'am." Laura replied a little more confidently.

The woman nodded her head. "Then you may begin."

Remembering how the scene had started, I took a step back from Laura and tried to act as serious as possible.

In a situation like this, as long as you played your character well, that was enough for them to infer your level of acting, but since I wanted to keep Laura calm and in our comfort zone, I acted like we did in acting class at school.

So with one hand raised, I pretended to knock on an invisible door and made a sound with my mouth.

Knock Knock

----- 3rd POV -----

As soon as Noah made the sound of the door, the woman and the other executives raised their eyebrows, thinking that he was overdoing it a bit.

But that thought soon vanished as they were surprised by the glaring change Laura had undergone.

From an anxious and very focused girl, she quickly turned into a happy girl with a strong personality, looking forward to her boyfriend who had just arrived.

As if there really was a door between them, "Harley" pretended to fix her hair very carefully, and "Jack" just waited bored on the other side of the door, not seeing how Harley was acting on the other side of the door, even though there physically wasn't a door between them.

Laura's devotion alone surprised the woman, because this level of acting was far above the level she had shown before.

When Harley finally opened the door, the woman realized that the girl was quickly slipping into the role of a teenager in love with the popular boy at school who had a band, while her biggest surprise was Jack himself.

She had a hunch when she saw the boy who had come to the show with Laura Miller, but seeing how naturally he played the part of Jack made her even more excited.

The dynamic between the two actors on stage was on a much higher level than Laura had shown in any of her auditions, it was as if she was getting more and more into the role of Harley with every second.

When the woman began to interact with them, she noticed that the two of them acted very well with her, as if they could see her standing in front of them while they played the role of a ghost.

Of course, she noticed that Laura's acting level was several times higher than the boy's, but for the amount of lines Jack had, that wouldn't be such a problem.

Something that made an idea in the woman's head blossom even more as she saw how good the dynamic between the two was and how Laura was playing Harley more and more the way she had envisioned when she first wrote this script.

The only thing that still left her in doubt was what was more worthwhile, the stability of girl number 15, who had taken the test before, or Laura's possible genius, which could put the recording at risk because of her anxiety...