Chapter 3 Can I Do It?

"You're perfect, Cass! Absolutely amazing! Keep up the good work, kid. " Prieto, the photographer who took my photos kept complimenting me.

I beamed at him.

I've never really received such high praises, even from dad who usually gives me a good boost at home. I must have done a nice job then. I smiled to myself.

I went back to the dressing room to find Janice waiting for me. She immediately smiled upon seeing me.

"You were amazing there, Cass. Just like how you always are." She said while she removed my make-up. She helped me get out of the dress.

When I have changed, Paul entered the room announcing another schedule to me. A photo session for Teen Magazine and another for Everyday Seventeen.

"Great work, Cass." He said meaningfully. "I know you can always do it."

We left the room and were walking out of the studio when he spoke again.

"Be very early tomorrow, Cass." He said, mysteriously.

I looked at him, curiosity was written on my face.

"You need to play the actress role damn well tomorrow."

He said. His tone was crisp and absolutely business serious.

"I'm pulling it off," I said nonchalantly as we approached the car in the parking space.

He opened the door and slid in. I opened my side and sat beside him. Paul started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

"You will have an interview tomorrow morning with Olivia Scott, the morning news anchor in her morning show Saturday Mornings with Olivia."

I stared at him for a full minute before I opened my mouth again, saying nothing. My mouth was hanging open.

Olivia Scott is no ordinary news reporter in the news and media world. She is notoriously known as the sharp-tongued media personality famously known for her voice of truth. I may know more about British television because that's where I was brought up but even in our world, we know who Olivia Scott is. She is a legend in the news world.

To be invited to her weekend morning show means that it is a great honor. Cassandra Dianne Smith being invited by the legendary news anchor meant that she has soared another notch in her pedestal.

"Wow. Cass is amazing," I whispered in awe. I hid a smile to myself while I observed the road and trees that we passed by. She has gone a long way.

If only she could be here and attend it instead of me, I thought in melancholy. Cass has been in a coma for over three months now. And I'd been doing her job for a month now.

"Yeah, I know, Cass is amazing." Paul immediately agreed. "But you have to be more amazing because tomorrow you are the one who will be interviewed by the legend."

I felt my hands turn cold. I wouldn't have cared so much but Paul didn't have to point that out. I don't think I can do it. Suddenly I felt an uncomfortable sensation in my stomach.

We went home for lunch where only I and Paul enjoyed the food inside the spacious dining room because Mom was well…she's busy. I hardly see her much these days. I join her at breakfast but before I can eat my food, she's already by the door. She comes home late at night. I'm already on my bed by the time I hear her car arrives.

By 2 pm we had to go out once more to go attend another photoshoot.

Cassandra's schedule this month and the next two were full on the plate. And tomorrow I must attend the morning show with the revered news anchor. Can I do it? Fool the greatest news reporter known for her news veracity?

If I pass it, that means I have every chance of passing into the eye of the needle of the entertainment business that I have been unwillingly sucked into. That means I can be Cass Smith.

I was deep into these thoughts as Paul drove me for the 2 pm photo shoot appointment. Then the 4 pm session. I was so intense on that thought that I have never really given much thought to the photoshoot. All I know is I must pose for the shots. Well, it appeared that Ruth the female photographer this time was satisfied with the shots she got out of me and complimented me.

"Your shots are perfect, Cass." She said looking at my photos and showing them to me after the photoshoot. "Your intense serious look was a revelation."

She said smiling, widely pleased at me.

I was happy with the result, too.

Before, I have major doubts about how I am going to pull it off, to push myself out as my elder twin sister. She has always been too perfect for my eyes. And more so with Cass being the actress. I never once measured myself up to her level. In my eyes, we were like the princess and the pauper. My version of comparing myself with Cassandra.

She was the princess as she lived the glitter and glamour in life. Everybody loves her. Everybody adores her existence. The world knows of her name and her fabulous existence.

I was the pauper. I was the nonexistent decrepit invisible sister of Cassandra Dianne Smith. Aside from Mom, Dad, Cass, and my best friend Jake back in Sussex, no one knows me too much. No one needs to know of my existence.

But being inside her shoes now, I got to appreciate the perks her world offers.

I just need to do it better for her sake.

I hope Cass wakes up soon.

I woke up very early the next morning excited for the morning interview with Olivia Scott. I've been watching her shows since arriving in California. And I must say I love the woman. She is honest and straightforward whenever she's on television; I think I may have fallen in love with her. Just a little.

I don't have many favorite people in the media world because when I watch TV I just watch them. Period. I love Cass when she acts. My sister is much too vain and haughty that I personally think acting is her best job. It perfectly suits her.

I was eating breakfast alone in the dining room when I saw mom enter the room. She was yawning when she came to the table and sat at the head of the long table. Her eye mask was on her forehead. Purple silk that matches her cotton silk bathrobe of the faintest and lightest violet.

"Morning, sweetheart." She said to me as she waited for Marissa, our in-house maid to come into the room carrying her breakfast. "I was late coming home last night, but I must wake up early this morning, so I can see you off. Cassandra did a wonderful job of being invited to Olivia Scott's show."

She looked at me with a serious face before continuing.

"I hope you do justice to your sister when you're interviewed by the sharp teeth woman. She may be the best reporter out there to discern the truth out of every issue and news that she has delivered to the world, Cassidy," she said and paused, taking a sip of her coffee, before returning her eyes to me, "but you are the actress here, so you must make sure that you get her eating on the palms of your hand. She must never detect that you are not Cassandra, understood?"

I simply looked at mom, amazed and befuddled at the same time. She has never talked to me so much since I arrived here in Malibu and she barely spoke to me but her statement just now was the longest one she ever has spoken to me.

She must really care about Cass' welfare as an actress. I thought in dismay. I hung my head at the thought but I looked up at her when she spoke again.

"I know that you may be thinking that I only talk to you now because this for Cass and all that," she blabbered, "but you must know Cassidy, I deeply care for you, too, sweetheart. I wouldn't be up at this hour, still sleepy from last night's overtime if I don't give a damn about what you're doing."

"You're doing great and just fine. Just keep going, Cassie, sweetie," her mom said.

Then, she rose from her seat and kissed my cheeks. She hugged me fiercely around her arms.

"I know you can do this one," she told me and placed her mouth close to my ears and whispered. "Act your best, Cassie, like your entire life depends on it."

She removed her mouth from my ears and walked out of the room, saying, "The world will be watching,"

I don't know if that was a threat or a reminder but I'm still thankful that mom woke up despite being tired and lacking sleep to cheer me up on this particular assignment that I have been assigned to play.

I heard her retreating footsteps disappearing from the room and up on the staircase. She's definitely going to sleep back and wake up later. It's Saturday, after all.

Mom is right. This is going to be the best performance of my life.