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Disclaimer: Any brands or well known names featured throughout this story clearly belongs to their sole owners. If you recognise them, it means they don't belong to me. (eg. Chanel, Ray Bans etc.) Everything else is copyright to me and by no means will it be redistributed or stolen without permission. I have a spork and I'll definitely hunt you down. (8

Warning: This story is rated T and includes use of profanities. You have been warned. (:

Thanks: To my friend Michelle the Mushroom for beta-ing. Love you and don't know where I'll be without you! (;

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Stepping Into Her Shoes.

Chapter 1: The jerk behind Ray Bans.

--and amongst the large crowd heading into the big pavilion building for the premier of The Joker of Whim Street is none other than the rising teen fame, Katie Sommers. Clad in a flowing floral printed summer dress, definitely a Coco Chanel original, the young shining star seemed to be glowing from head-to-toe on the arm of her fellow co-star, Daniel Isaac Broderick, as he escorts her into the main event. Behind the two young stars—

Katie Sommers scowled at the printed page in front of her. In the thirty or so paragraphs depicting the widely anticipated movie premier, she was finally given a brief mentioning in the fifth last paragraph – and her name had only been mentioned once. Once, within two short, fucking sentences.

And what did she think about this revelation? Down right stick-up-your-arse pissed, of course.

“What the fuck. I wasn’t glowing on Daniel the Jackass’s arm. I was fucking glowering. Get the stupid facts straight.”

She skimmed the two page spread in the magazine again – hoping that she had missed seeing her name in some other place besides the fifth last paragraph that was basically reserved for the nobodies­. The rejects. The whatevers.

Finally feeling the urge to step on someone’s manhood with her sharpest pair of stiletto heels (preferably Dan the Jackass), Katie tore the mocking two page spread out roughly, scrunched it up and threw it into the glistening pool beside her.

She had just slipped her expensive Dolce & Gabbana sunnies back on when the glass double doors leading back into her three storied penthouse swung open, and her agent and legal guardian Alyssa McCourvicks stepped out. She was skimming through a stack of paper with a scowl plastered across her face – causing her to look much older than she’d had in years. (Botox really did wonders to a woman’s wrinkles.)

As Alyssa made her way across the timber decked backyard, she glanced up to catch a glimpse of Katie sprawled out in near to nothing attire, on the largest deck chair around the pool.

“I’ve been looking for you,” she called out to the sun baking girl whom gave no gestures of greeting her or any indication that she cared that Alyssa had just spent twenty minutes wandering around the house only to find her outside soaking in the sun.

Alyssa took a seat in the deck chair besides Katie’s one, hastily shoving the stack of ruffled documents back into the manila envelope they had come in. Katie shuffled in her chair to find a better position to relax in. She closed her eyes, wishing that Alyssa could have just left her to shrivel in her misery alone.

“We need to talk, Katie.”

Katie’s eyes opened slightly, and she titled her head over to Alyssa’s side – indicating that she was listening.

“No, Katie. We need to talk. Seriously. Sit up.” She pulled on Katie’s arm, which only caused Katie to pull back roughly and sit up abruptly to pull her sunglasses off. She shot a glare at Alyssa.

“Can’t you see I’m miserable right now, Alyssa? Can’t you just let me wither up in my own pain without opening your mouth and fucking the afternoon up more than it already is? Is that too much to ask for?!” she snapped, then shoved her sunglasses back on forcefully and slumped back into her deckchair.

Alyssa didn’t even blink at Katie’s obviously pissed off mood. She had dealt with worse cases than the huffy rising teen-star before her, and as a professionally trained agent for Hollywood celebrities, she had learnt that the best way to keep herself from shoving the nearest garden rake into her clients’ eye socket was to just ignore their childish squandering.

“We need to talk, Katie. Now.” Her firm voice always gave off authority, as she rarely used it, but when she did, everyone knew she meant business.

Katie sat up slowly once more, and pulled her sunglasses off. Her face was set in a clear scowl as she watched her agent and guardian intently.

“What is it?” she snapped once more, to which Alyssa also ignored.

“You remember that new movie Rob Rickman is directing? The new teen flick that is rumoured to be the next big Mean Girls?” And how could Katie forget? It was just three days ago that she had begged Alyssa to use her magic to get her a spot in the audition queue. Okay, so not beg. Katie Sommers didn’t do begging. The action was so below her that she would rather spend two minutes making polite small talk with Daniel Isaac Broderick than go on her knees and beg someone for anything.

No, what Katie Sommers did do was demand for Alyssa to get her a spot. She knew Alyssa had enough power within this industry to get away with just about anything she wanted for her clients and herself.

“Oh, did you get me a spot?” Katie asked, a smile playing on her lips for the first time all day. She could already imagine it. Fans streaking into the cinemas to watch her best film ever – herself getting on stage to accept the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama – and then all the movie offers streaming in, asking for her to be the star in their next big film. Katie grinned.

“Yes…and well, no.”

Katie watched Alyssa’s face for signs of her bursting out into Ashton Kutcher’s famous line, ‘You just got Punk’d!’ She should have known that Alyssa would never joke about something this serious.

“What do you mean, yes and no? It’s either, yes, you got me the friggen spot, or no, the spot was given to some other friggen girl who probably can’t act for shit. Which one is it?”

“Like I said, both,” Alyssa replied calmly. “You know Rob; he’s a man that needs everything to be perfect. Even his coffee has to have the right amount of shots in it. Remember that time he nearly sued Starbucks because they didn’t get this latte right—?”

“-Yeah, and like I care about that, Alyssa. Get to the point.”

“Well, like I said. He’s a picky man. He says he needs the perfect girl for this role, not just anyone worth noticing. He says, ‘Heck, I’ll even pick a girl off the street, if I think she has the potential!’. So do you see how this is both a yes and a no? His agreed to let you into the queue to be auditioned, but there’s no saying whether he would like you or not.”

Katie rolled her eyes and flipped her hair over her shoulders. “He’ll love me. Who doesn’t? Every director I’ve worked with has told me that I’ve got the potential. Who’s Rob Rickman to deny that fact?”

Alyssa didn’t even bother answering. “You do know what the film is about, right?”

Katie leant back in her deck chair and shrugged a shoulder.

“Some bitchy high classed girl gets sent to boarding school, makes friends; fall in love, the end. What else is there to get?”

“That’s the thing, Katie. If you don’t get the deeper meaning of the story, then how are you supposed to get into the role of the main character?”

Katie rolled her eyes. “If the deeper meaning is so damn important, then it’ll be written in the script. All the actor has to do is memorize it and act. As long as you can act like a fucking teen queen, no one cares about the fucking deeper meaning.”

Katie watched as Alyssa rolled her eyes this time. “Well, Rob Rickman does.”

“Well, Rob Rickman is a fucking retard and should get that spatula out of his ass. Maybe he just needs to chillax a bit, then he’ll realise that I’m the perfect girl for the movie.” Katie shoved her sunnies back on. “You know what, Alyssa? Maybe you should tell him that. And tell him to chill on the coffee too. Having one less shot in his latte isn’t the end of the world.”

Alyssa sighed as she stood up. “You know what, Katie? Maybe your attitude towards others would be your downfall one day. Think about it.”

Katie relaxed back into her deck chair as the last bits of the sun warmed her. She didn’t even bother thinking about Alyssa’s last words. She had other more important things to worry about.

Katie Sommers stood before the panel of three judges. She felt like she was on some reality game show for those losers that needed fame and money – fast – with half the effort that everybody else put in.

Rob Rickman was leaning forward on the table, dark eyes hidden behind dark Ray-Bans. It was clear he was scrutinizing the four girls that stood before him, each hoping that they; themselves would be the one to get the lead role.

Katie nearly laughed out loud. They wouldn’t get the role if she could help it.

Beside Rob on his right was his girlfriend and actress Belinda Holly. She was set and ready to go as the lead’s older sister in the film. With her strawberry blonde hair curled slightly just past her shoulders, and full looking lips teamed with brilliant blue eyes, even Katie couldn’t help but feel envious of the woman’s looks.

To Rob’s left was his co-director, Leonard Stone. He was a bulky looking man that barely fit into the seat he had been given. His glasses were perched on the tip of his nose, dangerously close to falling off every time he breathed. And although the air conditioning was on at full blast in the room, Leonard Stone still wiped at his balding forehead with his yellowing handkerchief every few minutes.

Katie nearly threw up on the audition floor as she spotted Leonard the Disgusting eyeing her with a small grin on his triple-chinned face. Even though she wasn’t one to pass up attention, even she had to cut the line at having a forty something year old balding man (whom also supported three overlapping layers of chin) check her out as he wiped frantically at his sweaty forehead.

Instead of throwing up like she much wanted to, Katie turned her attention onto Rob Rickman as he sat up straighter in his chair and began to talk.

“You four,” he started slowly, playing with the words in his mind. “You four, are…how should I put this? Well, okay, put simply, the ones that have survived the life-changing battle outside of this room. I have decided that the four that stands before me right now, harbour the most potential out of the thousands of other baboons that have auditioned for the lead role of Cassidy Cross.” Rob Rickman took off his Ray-Bans and flickered his eyes over Katie and the others. “I know what all you girls are thinking right now. ‘Like hell I’m going to let any of these other bitches’ standing next to me take my rightful role!’ Isn’t that right?”

His harsh words and straight to the point manner struck Katie out of her own – although she wasn’t talking at that moment. But she was still stunned. This was the man that had directed the most romantic love story to have ever graced the screens? His personality had struck Katie out of her thoughts as soon as he opened his mouth.

Before her, sat Hollywood’s elite – if you ignored the balding walrus on the left of Rob Rickman, that is. Sure, she couldn’t deny the fact that she had haboured doubts about Rob Rickman, but now, even Katie couldn’t deny the fact that Rob Rickman really did deserve the Golden Globe for Best Director in a Motion Picture, for his romantic drama Love Blown Kisses which was rumoured to have caused a freak flood in a downtown L.A. cinema due to all the tears being shed.

Katie had not been to the premier of the film as she had been busy that night (reasons unknown and forgotten) so she never really understood how a mere film could have moved millions around the world.

But now, she understood a little. With Rob as director, anything was possible.

When no one commented or dared to move after Rob’s last comment, he continued on like he hadn’t just pinpointed the exact words that had been going through everyone’s minds.

“I know for a fact that you four have the potential to create and build Cassidy into a strong character in your own way. But what I need isn’t someone who can build Cassidy. I need someone who IS Cassi-fucking-dy. I don’t want you to shape Cassidy. No fucking way. If you get this role, then you ARE Cassidy Cross. Your own life? Gone! Your name? Never existed! Your history? No one fucking cares. This story is about Cassidy Cross. People don’t pay to watch a rip-off version of your own life. They pay for the real story of the real character. If you are ready to accept this role – and I beg you, think carefully about your answer! – then it means you are ready to throw away your own life to step into the one of Cassidy’s. From now on, You will not exist until the film is over. So think carefully, because if you are not up for sacrificing yourself like that, then get the fuck out of here, NOW!”

The girl with braided hair on Katie’s right jumped as Rob slammed his hand on the desk. She quickly tried to compose herself, taking on a relaxed pose with a hand on her hip and the right leg placed a little forward. Katie couldn’t help smirking – she knew Rob had caught the girls’ flinch, and that meant one strike against her. Even though she didn’t know Rob, Katie knew that all directors wanted a composed and able-to-take-on-anything sort of girl, not someone whom jumps at that sight of a cockroach. Or a hand slamming on a table.

The girl was so done for – it was a miracle she had made it so far.

“So, everyone is deciding to stay, eh?” Rob began as he took a seat once more, somehow, without realising; he had stood up during the middle of his rant. His eyes skimmed over everyone again, but Katie noticed that his gaze lingered on the girl with the plaits less than everyone else. Katie saw from the corner of her eyes that the girl had also noticed this as she pursed her lips and this time – shoved her chest out in hopes of showing off her almightiness. Katie would have burst out into mocking laughter if only Rob hadn’t continued talking. “Well, since you are all here, I might as well begin asking you a few questions just for the sake of my entertainment. You,” he pointed to the girl on the far left, the second one down from Katie’s position. She took a steady and calculated step forward – all the time with her eyes secured firmly on Rob. “What’s your name?”

“Ceciley　Barnes,” her high and musical voice chimed out. She held up a bright red manicured hand to flip her platinum blonde hair over her shoulders and pouted her lips.

Rob raised an eyebrow slightly (Katie noticed) but other than that, made no comments on Ceciley’s behaviour.

“So, Ceciley,” he began as he leant back in his seat. “What do you think Cassidy Cross looks like?”

“What?” her high pitched voice asked before she could stop herself. Rob’s eyebrow rose higher. Katie couldn’t exactly feel sympathy towards the girl, but she did take into consideration that Rob – unlike so many other directors – did not ask the usual, ‘Why do you believe you’re perfect for this role?’ question. “I mean, pardon?”

Katie bit her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing – but only lightly, since she didn’t want to ruin her makeup. A corner of Rob’s mouth curved slightly as he made a note on something in front of him. “My question, Ceciley Barnes, was: What do you think Cassidy Cross looks like?”

Ceciley pointed her chin up and stood straighter in an attempt to make up for her strike from before.

“Cassidy Cross…I think she has platinum blonde hair,” she curled a strand of her own hair around her finger. Belinda Holly’s eyes sparkled in amusement as she hid her smile behind her coffee cup. “Um…most likely bright blue eyes, just like the ocean or the clear blue sky. I think she’s really tall, with a slim body and killer legs.” She pouted again as she smiled at Rob. Katie noticed Leonard continuously wiping his forehead and eyeing the girl up. She almost felt sorry for her – no one deserved to be checked out by a fat walrus – but then she remembered the girl was an enemy, after the same role as her. All feelings of pity vanished.

Rob didn’t say anything as he watched Ceciley pose in front of him. He pursed his lips as if in thought.

“Um…yeah. That’s what I like, think Cassidy Cross looks like?” Ceciley finished lamely, breaking the silence. The air conditioner whirled overhead as Leonard coughed into his sweaty handkerchief.

Rob cleared his throat after what seemed like a scrutinisingly long minute. “You think?”

Caught off guard, Ceciley blinked her big green eyes rapidly at him. “Sorry?”

Rob had both eyebrows raised now as he bent over his desk to write something else.

“Wait!” Ceciley piped up with a bit of fear in her voice. “What are you writing?” Katie watched as her hands dropped to her side, taking on a defeated stance.

Rob looked up and put his pen down lightly. “I’m taking notes on you, like a good director does. What else?” Ceciley stammered something undecipherable but fell silent as Rob raised his eyebrows once more. “Now, I want to know. Why did you think Cassidy Cross had those features?” His emphasis of the word ‘think’ was not missed by anyone in the room. “Did I not tell you, by remaining in this room, you are to give up your own life as Ceciley Barnes, and take on Cassidy Cross’s one?”

“Yes, but…you never said I was Cassidy yet! You only asked me what I thought she looked like!” She threw her hands into the air and bit her lips lightly.

“Yes, and I also recall saying, if you are not ready to sacrifice your own life to take on Cassidy’s immediately, then you might as well get the fuck out of here right now. And also, if you were Cassidy, you yourself have green eyes. You mentioned Cassidy had ones as blue as the sky. Do you expect us to buy you contacts just so you can live up to the figure of Cassidy you have created in your mind?”

It was a rhetorical question. Ceciley couldn’t even voice up an answer.

“You can take a step back now,” Rob told her as he bent his head to scribble more notes.

Katie watched as the defeated Ceciley Barnes took a step back as her black Versace pumps clacked along the hard marble floor.

“Okay,” he looked up, “Take a step forward, Alicia.” Katie nearly cracked her neck in her urgency to watch the girl on her left step forward with a smirk plastered across her face. Why in the world was Rob Rickman on first name terms with her?!

“Hi Rob,” she nodded her head at him, “Leonard, sis.” Katie’s eyes nearly flew out of their sockets if not for the fact that it was literally impossible. Instead, she used them to scan the no-older-than-seventeen-years-old strawberry blonde girl standing a mere step in front of her. She had the exact same coloured hair as Belinda Holly, who was smiling at Alicia as she laid a hand on Rob’s arm.

“See,” she piped up for the first time, a grin breaking over her beautiful features, enhancing it even more. “I told you she would get through.” Katie watched as Rob nodded, but didn’t say anything in response.

Katie found it brutally unfair. Before her stood a girl whom was definitely related to Belinda Holly, and had most likely wormed her way through the auditions due to her connections with the judges.

“So, Alicia,” Rob began as she shifted her stance. She smiled brightly at the three in front of her. Belinda Holly shot her sister a brilliant smile in return, in which Katie secretly scowled at. “What do you think Cassidy’s traits are?”

Alicia giggled as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Oh, too easy Rob.” She held up three well manicured fingers, ticking off each one as she went along. “One, she’s a bitch. Is, and also will be. Two, she’s a rich bitch, and has never been denied a thing in her life. If Cassidy wants a car, bam, a new porche will be sitting on her driveway in twenty minutes. Three, she’s an individual with the best stylist’s money can buy in this world. Bed hair? The phrase is not even in her dictionary!” Smiling, she blew a gum bubble at Rob, indicating that she’d finished. Katie wondered if it was her blowing the bubble, what would happen.

“Hmm…interesting.”

Belinda laid a hand on his arm. “Isn’t she great? I know Alicia would be fab for the part of Cassidy. I mean, since we’re already sisters, it’s like, another obstacle out of the way as well!”

Rob didn’t look at her as she gushed about her sister. Alicia stood here with a satisfied smirk on her face – all the while blowing her bubble gum.

“What do you think, Leonard?” Rob asked as Belinda finally stopped.

Taken aback and not expecting to be allowed to give his own opinion, Leonard dabbed frantically at his forehead in an attempt at ceasing the waterfall of sweat from overflowing.

“I-I…” he gave Alicia the once over. “I’m sure she has great potential…” he finally ended up concluding.

“I see…” Rob trailed off as he turned his attention back to Alicia once more.

Unable to keep quiet for much longer from the injustice of everything, Katie couldn’t help but speak up for herself (and most likely for the girl with the plaits next to her) as it was just unfair to choose Alicia without even letting the last two demonstrate their abilities.

“Wait,” Katie spoke up as she took a step forward to where Alicia was standing. Everyone’s eyes followed her and she was vaguely aware that two pairs were shooting her discreet glares. “How is this fair when she-” Katie pointed a finger in Alicia’s direction, “-is getting the spot only because of her connections with her?” This time, Katie pointed at Belinda, who had ceased trying to glare discreetly, but was shooting Katie one of the most venomously filled glares she’d ever received before.

Rob Rickman leant forward on his desk and watched Katie with amusement.

“Who said anything about Alicia getting the lead role?” he asked. He cut off Belinda’s protest before she could start as he continued on. “And you, Katie Sommers. Did you not use your own connections to gain a spot on the audition queue?”

It was meant to be a rhetorical question, but Katie answered anyway. “Yes, but my ‘connections’ only helped me into securing a spot on the audition queue-“

“Oi, bitch!” Alicia interrupted from beside her. “Are you suggesting that I wasn’t good enough to pass an audition on my own, and had to relate to means of bribery?”

Katie ignored her. “-and Alyssa and I are not related like your girlfriend and her sister here, so I do not see how my situation is any way the same as hers.”

Amusement was washing over Rob’s features as he continued to survey her.

“So what do you suggest I do now?” he asked as he picked up his pen and scribbled something on the paper in front of him without even looking down.

Katie took a deep breath in before she continued. “I suggest – actually, no – I demand for you to give-“ she spun around and indicated to the girl with the plaits behind her. The girl looked almost frightened, to be dragged into the middle of Katie’s rant. “-this girl and I a fair go before you decide anything at all.”

Rob leant back in his chair again and shot Katie an amused smile. “Alright, then. Why don’t you answer the same question as I gave Alicia?” He put up a hand to silence Belinda as she tried to open her mouth to protest.

Katie took another step forward, putting herself in front of Alicia, who let out a small growl as she realised she had been one-upped. Rob’s smile widened as he realised Katie’s intentions of putting herself into the spotlight.

She took a deep breath before she began. “I, as Cassidy Cross believe that I am a bitch. I am an attention whore, I am a slut, and I don’t care that I’m hurting others just to get my way. I don’t trust others, as I know that the words they say are always lies, and there are no exceptions. I have a personality and attitude disorder, and although I know this, I do not care to change it. And-” running out of things to say, Katie tried wracking her brain for the perfect ending line.

“And…?”

“-and I suck at maths?”

“You suck at maths?”

Katie swallowed the lump in her throat and composed herself again. “She sucks at maths.”

“She sucks at maths?” Rob asked skeptically as Katie heard a bitchy snicker from behind her.

“Cassidy, me, we both suck at maths. Heck, we both suck at anything related to school. She – I mean, I – I am someone who is meant to be perfect, not someone who can’t even pass eighth grade maths, and because of that, I have to keep up a bitchy exterior to distract everyone else from realising the truth behind the widely talked about ice queen.”

Rob continued watching Katie before saying anything. “I…see.”

Katie didn’t know whether it was a good ‘I see’ or a that-was-worse-than-shit ‘I see’.

“Okay Katie, please take a step – or two – back so I can interview…” his voice trailed off as he eyed the empty space in where the girl with the plaits should have been standing. Now it was just empty air. No one seemed to have noticed that she had left the room whilst Katie was talking. “Okay, well I guess that’s that. Good thing she left anyways, the girl didn’t even have a speck of potential to make it to round two in the first place.”

Everyone’s head turned as Ceciley Barnes stammered out loudly, “Wait…r-round two?”

Rob smiled at her. “Yes, round two. This is the part where you get to actually live in Cassidy’s shoes for awhile before I choose the girl for the role.”

“B-but-” Ceciley continued, “-Cassidy gets sent to boarding school!”

The devilish smile plastered on Rob’s face gave Katie an idea of all the sadistic thoughts that swam through his mind everyday. She was sure he’d one day author a book called ‘101 Ways to Make People Squirm’.

“And that’s where you three will be heading off to tomorrow! Congratulations on making it to round two!” He stood up along with Belinda and Leonard. All three exited the room through the back door, leaving three shocked-out-of-their-minds’ girls still remaining in the room.

The only thought that was going through Katie’s mind at that very moment was her conscience debating whether killing Rob Rickman in his sleep was a good idea.

She had just been totally bum fucked, and Katie was NOT happy.

A/N: This story is my baby. I couldn't wait to put this up, so I just had to once I woke up today. I've already gotten chapter two written and I'm loving this story so far. -nuzzles it- I believe that Katie is such a strong character - compared to the ones in all my other stories. Reader's of Loa-and-Boo might want to check out my profile update to see what I have to say about Loa, and the reasons for why I'm putting it on hiatus and why I'm going to do a re-write.

I hope everyone liked this so far! It was a mighty long chapter because I had to get everything in, and couldn't just cut off a bit to it. The next chapter would be back to the standard ten-page length on MS Word, so anyone out there that hates long-arse chapters might be happier about that. Thanks for reading, and reviews + constructive criticism would be loved. I really do hope you'll like my take on the cliched boarding school story! (:

xo.

-copyright./steppingintohershoes./chapterone/11.1o.o8/pepperr.