“Dad!” I said, embarrassed. Liam’s eyes met mine, with tenderness that surprised me. This was the first time I had seen him emote something that wasn’t arrogance or anger. He nodded.
“Yes, of course. I will personally see to it. I have a close friend with the same condition, so I do have experience in the matter.”
“Oh,” Dad seemed to be out of questions, and so he opened the folder, scrawling his initials where requested. My head was spinning, watching him. I couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. Right here, right now.
“Amy, why don’t we take a tour of the school?” Liam leapt to his feet suddenly. “We’ll leave your father to read all this, and by the time we come back, we can answer any questions he may have.”
“Sure,” I said, trying not to let on that I already knew the school like the back of my hand. I stood up as well, leaving my bag on the floor, and followed him out the door.
“We’ll start with the senior wing, as that’s where you’ll be,” he said, looking quickly down the deserted hallways, and then turning to the left.
“When will I start?” I asked, and he shrugged.
“That’s up to you. You can wait until next term if you wish, but ideally you can start…”
“Tomorrow?” I asked, and he laughed, giving me a warm smile.
“Sure. If you want.”
I was surprised how well we got on, one on one. When I met him before, he didn’t strike me as the type to joke around. But now that we were alone, it was like his guard was dropping.
We walked past several classrooms, poking our heads in as Liam described the subjects taught there. Eventually, we got to the theater, which was full of people.
“This is where you’ll be next term, for Beauty and the Beast,” he said, and suddenly, the conversation in the kitchen came rushing back.
“You’ll be Beast, won’t you?” I asked, and he nodded.
“Acting is an addiction, Amy, and I thought it’d be good for the school to have some publicity as well. All press is good press.” He gave me a rueful smile. “Besides, I miss being on stage. It’s where I got my start.”
“Right,” I nodded, and took a deep breath, straightening up. “Let’s keep going.”
Liam grinned, and waved his hand, indicating our direction. Soon, we crossed the barrier between the senior and junior doors, and I found myself in a sea of giggling young children, about to be let out for recess. I had never been in this part of the school, because sneaking in would have looked way too suspicious at my age. Even when I was younger, it was easier to pretend to be someone’s kid sister watching a rehearsal than be part of a small class where the teacher knew everyone’s name. Liam smiled as the kids giggled.
“This is the best age to start young actors, really. Every single one of these children acts without thinking. They don’t put method or thought into it; they do it because it feels right in their gut and they say their lines as if it’s the first time. If only all of us could remember that,” he said, and I found myself swept away by the tenderness in his face as he watched them.
“But that’s how you act,” I pointed out. “In the movies. I always believed that you were whatever character you were playing. It never felt fake.”
“Thank you,” he gave me a smile as we walked through the hallways.
“But I can see how so many classes and rehearsals could interfere with the way somebody acts.” I kept going, speaking before I even really thought properly. “I mean, you could spend so much time thinking about the method and the training that you forget to just…be the character and exist.” I was babbling and I knew it, but he smiled at me.
“That’s why I chose you, Amy. So many of these students here are trained to the point of robots. Most of them won’t have a future. But you read those lines as if you were Beauty, and nothing else around you mattered. If you can hold on to that naturalism, you will have a future in the industry.”
“Why did you leave?” I asked, suddenly. “I mean…you had a future?”
His face clouded over and he shook his head, his jaw clenching. I saw that familiar look that he wore as he often strode through the halls.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, and pushed open another door. It led to the front of the school, where there was a separate theater, newly built in the former parking lot. Just as we were crossing the pavement, I heard someone call his name.
“Liam!”
He swore, and I realized it was a cameraman, approaching fast. Apparently, having left Hollywood or not, the paparazzi were always around. It made sense. He had been one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. And on top of that, many of the students had careers and TV credits that brought them some sort of fame outside the school. If the paparazzi wanted a photo of something, they had a good chance of getting it just by hanging around the front doors.
“Not now, please,” he said, barely turning around and taking me by the arm. He was increasing his pace towards the theater and I was struggling to keep up. “I’m trying to teach.”
“What’s your name?” The photographer called to me. I turned, gaping, and looked at Liam, who sighed and then shrugged.
“You know what? Fine. This is Amy, our full scholarship winner for this year. Amy was the best, out of thousands of hopefuls, and she and I will be playing opposite in Beauty and the Beast next term. That’s right, she and I.” He glared at the cameraman. “So take that, and write it in your paper, and publish a pretty photo, and if you give us so much as one out of focus picture or subpar review, I will make sure you are banned from school property and never get another picture again.”
And with that, Liam pulled me towards the new theater.
“Bloody leeches,” he said, shaking his head. “Always dying for a piece of drama.”
I felt like I was going to faint again, Liam’s words spinning in my head.
“I’ll be Beauty?” I said, and he met my eyes.
“Well, you’ll be my Beauty, of course. It was always going to be the scholarship winner, providing she was old enough.”
I leaned against the wall, and concern clouded his face.
“Are you alright? Do you need anything?” He bent to my level, a gentle hand on my shoulder.
“Something to eat maybe?”
I flushed bright red at the attention, and shook my head.
“No, you just surprised me. I’ve never acted before, you know that, right? And you’re…”