1 Chapter 1

The alarm clock was set for 9am, but Scott was already up before 8. He had a strict morning routine that he liked to adhere to, even during filming, unless the hours were absolutely insane. Still, because everything else about his life was rather unpredictable, he found some comfort in doing the same few things every morning. First yoga, for at least forty minutes. Then a shower, normally half an hour. Then breakfast, which could take a leisurely hour if he wasn't working, longer if Amanda joined him. After that, the rest of his day was relatively left to the wind. Most of the time, he let Pedro handle his schedule and everything else for him. After all, wasn't that what a personal assistant was for?

He was already halfway through his breakfast when his cell phone started ringing incessantly. Frowning, he put down the paper. Only five people had access to his personal cell phone, and from what he knew, four of them were still probably asleep at this time. So it could only be one person, which a glance at the caller-ID confirmed. He pressed the 'Talk' button. "Hey, Liz."

"Scotty." Liz's tone was short, abrupt but tight with barely held excitement. "Free to talk?"

"For you, babe? Anytime." Scott was rather amused. Something big must have happened to get Liz all flustered like that. He had always known his agent to be nothing but cool and collected. "What's up?"

"You're not going to believe this. But I have THE script for you." Her voice was laced with triumph and just a little glee.

"Oh?" Scott knew better than to get prematurely excited. "What sort of script?"

"Better than anything I could have ever hoped. I'll pass it to you later. Let's do lunch." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, okay. What's so special about the script, Liz?" Scott sat up a little straighter. "It's not one of those dumb teen comedies again, is it? Because I swear to God-"

"What? No!" Liz almost sounded offended. "You know who's producing this little ditty? Jake Klosterman."

"Whoa." Scott's eyes widened. "You're shittin' me."

"No I'm not, Scotty."

"Who's attached to direct?"

"From what Jake last told me, they're still in talks about that. But you know who's the writer?" Now Liz sounded rather breathless, which was really making Scott even more amused. "Reiko Tamako."

"Who?"

"She won an Oscar last year for Best Adapted Screenplay, remember?"

"Really?" Scott could now see why Liz was practically antsy about this. "So this is her new project?"

"Damn right. You know everyone's going to be all over this like white on rice. And Klosterman has his eye on you for one of the lead roles."

"Wow." Scott was really kind of stunned. With his background and previous repertoire, it was exceedingly rare that producers with indie cred like Klosterman offered parts in their movies to people like him. "So what's the movie about?"

"Y'know, I think it's really better if you see the script for yourself, babe." Liz sounded suspiciously evasive, but Scott decided to let that go, for the meantime. He could find out more during lunch.

"Well, okay. I'll get Pedro to book the restaurant. See ya later, Liz."

"Bye, babe."

Scott hung up, not really sure what to think. Or feel. Why was Liz so reluctant to tell him about the script or its plot? Still, he couldn't help but be intrigued. Everyone and their mother in Hollywood was scrambling for the chance to work with Jake Klosterman, and Scott would be insane to say no to him, especially at this point of his career. The Basketball High years were far behind him, and he was only getting offers for stupid teen comedies or really weird sci-fi wannabe flicks. So this offer sounded refreshing, at least.

Mournfully glancing at his cold breakfast, he got up and stretched a little. It was time to call Pedro.