I AM ME | Teen Ink

I AM ME

August 15, 2012
By witchchild1234, Wilmette, Illinois
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witchchild1234, Wilmette, Illinois
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Favorite Quote:
"Only one link of destiny can be handled at a time." - Winston Churchill


My life was completely normal.... until I auditioned for a movie part, and got it. My name is Ashley, or Ash, as everyone calls me. I’m fifteen years old. I’m completely normal: thick dark blonde hair, pale skin. My best feature are my eyes. They’re blue-green and I have a guess that they’ll be completely green someday.
Just a normal high school girl, living in a suburb of Chicago, having a regular high school experience: no sports, no plays, nothing to draw attention to myself. I brushed my hair and put on some gold eyeliner and lip gloss.
I didn’t bother with all the stuff other girls had to do in the morning: my skin was already flawless, my hair needed only brushing, it was THAT straight, and I didn’t need to wear that much makeup.
Since I was a bookworm, I blended into the background easily, becoming a wallflower. No boys looked at me except the geeks and nerds and the popular girls didn’t pay attention to me. Just another girl. Just another wallflower.
But just because I was a wallflower didn’t mean I didn’t have friends. I was part of a large group of friends.
First there was Caitlin. She was already on College Math and we were all sophomores. She had brown hair, brown eyes and glasses. Then was Claire who loves video games and computer games. She had red-brown hair that she straightened so much that it was dead. I’m not kidding. Her hair is LIFELESS. Gabe was also a gamer. He had black hair and brown eyes.
Rabel is kinda chubby and Indian. She’d been a model for Indian commercials when she was little so she was extremely pretty. Lauren was petite and brown haired. She was so adorable that she was usually the center of attention at lunch.
Michelle was also petite with brown fuzzy hair that she usually put into a ponytail. There were others too but those were the leaders of our little group.
I pulled on a pink blouse and short shorts and put a flower headband in my hair. I was in a good mood. It was Saturday morning. Fall was coming obviously but you couldn’t feel it. I pulled my bike out of the garage and biked the six blocks to Plaza de Lago. Once I’d gotten to Starbucks, I parked and locked my bike. Inside there was a huge line... and not for the cash register. After I’d ordered my Strawberry and Creme, I went to check out what everyone was so excited about.
At the table was posters and forms. I read one of the posters: Auditions for Legend of Korra: The Movie. My curiosity was fired. Like so many of my friends, I was a Avatar: The Last Airbender fan and I was also a Korra fan. I picked up a poster and form and stuffed it into my pants. I got my Strawberry and Creme, biked home and looked over the poster. Auditions were tomorrow at 11am. I heard Mom come in and walked downstairs.
“ Hey, Mom,” I said.
She smiled at me and asked,” What, honey?”
“ There’s a movie audition tomorrow. Can you take me? Can you also sign here and here?” I asked. She nodded and did what I asked. I looked online for the audition monologue and found it on their website.
I practiced all night and was full of excitement. My friends had always told me that I should audition for the school plays but I’d never been able to build up the courage to do it. Inside all the girls and boys waited quietly. I turned in the photo of me and the form and received the number: 118.
My stomach turned upside down as numbers 101-110 were called. Next group, I’m in, I thought trying to settle my upset stomach. The other girls also looked green and frightened.
I can do it, I thought and heard, “ 111-120.” I got up and walked with 9 other girls to the woman.
“ Good. This way please.”
I followed the woman down a hallway and into another waiting room.
“ 111, please follow me,” said her. 5 minutes later, 111 came out, crying. All the girls came out as well.
“ 118,” she called. I stood up and walked in. Two bored looking guys and a girl furiously typing on her laptop were in chairs behind a table.
“ Ashley Brownstone,” said one guy.
“ Yes,” I asked.
“ Please begin,” he said. I opened my mouth to start.
“ You need your monologue to begin,” he interrupted.
“ I have it. In here.” I tapped my head.
He wrote something down.
“ Alright, begin!”
I recited it, trying to put as much sarcasm and emotion into my voice as possible without overdoing it. Their eyebrows lifted.
“ Woah. That was... amazing. You’ll get a phone call from us to see if you got into callbacks by tomorrow from 4pm to 5pm. You can go now, Miss Brownstone,” said the man.
I smiled and walked out. The rest of the day and the next day went by quickly. I played on my laptop, trying to keep back the nerves.

At exactly 4pm, the phone rang. I ran to it and picked it up.
“ Ashley Brownstone?” asked a voice.
“ That’s me,” I said, trying to sound casual.
“ You’ve made it into callbacks. They’re at 7pm. Same place as before,” said the voice.
“ Thanks,” I said, hanging up.
Mom came in and said,” So...”
“ I made it into callbacks. They’re at 7pm. The same place as before,” I told her, jumping up and down.
She smiled and hugged me. “ You’ll do great. I know you will,”she said as I blushed fiercely.
Ever since Dad had left us, Mom had tried her best to raise me. Luckily she’d had a good career so we didn’t starve or be poor but we weren’t rich, we were middle class. I had a nice home, food on the table, clothes and a great mother who understood me. Others didn’t have that so I considered myself lucky.
If I got this part, I’d finally be making a name for myself other than Shy Wallflower. I’d be an actress something I’d been dreaming about my whole life but never managed to get the courage to pursue that dream.
I was on edge for the rest of the day. I tried to distract myself by reading, texting friends, and other things but each task only lasted 30 minutes or so.
When Mom dropped me off, I walked inside and saw 3 or 4 girls sitting on the couch and 3 or 4 boys on another one. I sat down in a chair and put my hands together, breathing in and out to calm myself down.
“ Ashley Brownstone?” asked a voice.
“ Here,” I heard myself say, standing up.
She waved at me to follow her and took me to the room before.
“ Hello, Ashley,” said the man in the middle.
“ Ash,” I corrected.
“ There aren’t that many teenage female characters to play in this movie,” said the man.
“ Only Korra and Asami, right?” I asked.
“ Yes, you don’t look like Asami at all but Korra. When we first saw you, we thought you’d be the perfect Korra,” he said. I blushed. “ Since we were unable to find any other candidates for the Korra part, congratulations. You are Korra.”
I looked at him, dumbfounded.
“ It’s nice to have you on our team, Ash. My name is Thomas Robinson but you can call me Tom. I’m the casting director,” said the man on my left.
“ I’m William. Will Jenkins. Will is fine. I’m the director,” said the man in the middle.
“ Hello, Ash. I’m Georgia Collins. Just call me Georgia. I’m the hair, clothes, and makeup person,” said the woman, finally looking up from her laptop.
“ Hello,” I said, shyly.
“ Alright. Go into the next room. We’ll call in everyone else. Tell them who we think they’ll be good for and then we have more tryouts. You’ll just watch,” said Tom. I sat down as the rest of the boys and girls came in.
“ Hello. Girls, if you wanted to be Korra, you better leave because we’ve already casted her. The role of Asami is still open however,” said Will. Half of the girls left.
“ Boys, the roles of Tahno and Bolin are still open,” said Will.
“ Who’s that?” asked a girl. I looked at her. She looked more like Asami would in real life than any of the other girls. She had black curly hair and pale skin. Her eyes were blue and she smiled at me. I smiled back.
“ This is Ash Brownstone. She’s been casted as Korra,” said Georgia. Their eyes grew wide with jealousy and envy. The auditions lasted for a while but at the end, the girl who’d smiled at me, Kim Johns, was casted as Asami. A guy with dark brown hair and brown eyes, Mark Picard, had been casted as Bolin and a guy called John Stein was casted as Tahno. The casting process was over.

I called my mom and told her the good news. I would fly to Hollywood next week and first do “boot camp” to get me fit and learn how to fight. Mom said she’d try to see me every weekend but she couldn’t come because of work.
When I came home, I pulled out my suitcase and started pulling in clothes. I filled my backpack with notebooks, school supplies and my textbooks since I knew I would have to do my homework and schoolwork. My teachers were going to send my tutor the notes, classwork and homework assignments so that we could work on it together.
My friends were excited for me about this opportunity. I told them I would come back mid-October and email them as much as possible. I was sweating hard when Mom dropped me off at the airport.
“ Ohmigod. I’m going to miss you so much, sweetie,” she said, giving me a big hug.
I felt extremely guilty. I was particularly abandoning her like... like Dad. She read the expression on my face and answered,” No. I’ll be fine. Go, live your life. This is a big chance for you and I’ve always known you were meant for more than this,” she said. I knew what she meant. Tiny Wilmette had always been too small for me. I’d been planning to travel the world after university and get a job that allowed me to do just that.
“ Bye, Mom. I’m going to miss you so much,” I told her, hugging her hard.
“ Ash!” I heard a voice behind me. Kim. I waved goodbye to Mom and walked towards her, Mark, John and another guy.
Kim was jumping up and down.
“ Ash, this is Phillip. He’s playing Mako,” said Kim.
I went red. Would I have to kiss him? He was extremely cute with puppy-dog brown eyes and black hair. He was sixteen, seventeen.
“ Phillip, this is Ashley. Or Ash. She’s Korra,” said Kim.
He held out his hand and said,” Hey.”
“ Hey. So... I guess we need to check-in,” I said, trying to change the subject smoothly.
They all had their luggage with them and backpacks. They nodded and the five of us walked to the check-in desks. After security, I bought myself candy since I can’t stand the airplane food. Phillip stood near me for some reason and kept trying to talk to me.
“ So, you like M&M’s...” he said, looking at me.
“ Yes. I do,” I said, answering the question for the hundredth time. In the waiting section, I burrowed my nose into a book and refused to come out of it. On the plane, I was horrified to see that Phillip sat next to me. I tuned into music as soon as he sat down and concentrated on finding myself a movie. We were in Business Class which for me was a amazing experience.
I sipped a glass of orange juice while relaxing my chair into a comfortable position. Since this was a night flight, we got dinner. It was a lot better than the normal airplane food. I got a hot dog and some Coke and watched new hits on the movie screen. Just before I was going to bed, I relaxed my chair in a slightly upright bed position and fell asleep. In the middle of my dreams, I felt a hand stroke my forehead and hair. For some reason, it made me sink deeper into Dreamland.
I woke up, feeling someone’s arm around me. Then I realized I could feel the side of someone around me as well. I forced my eyes to open and saw total darkness. That wasn’t completely true. The lights on the floor and above( though dim) were blinding me. I blinked a few more times to get used to it and looked at the person next to me.
Phillip. I was starting to get annoyed by this guy. He’d taken me out of my seat while I was sleeping and cuddled with me. I shivered. Creepy. I gently pulled his arms away and stood up, feeling the plane move. I got into my seat and scrolled through the movies. Absentmindedly, I chose Captain America. I watched the “ romance” of a weak, skinny boy who became one of the most well-known superheroes of all time and a pretty woman who had loved him before the transformation. I chose Mirror Mirror after that and then heard a groan. I looked over at Phillip. His forehead was wrinkled as he tried to wake up and his hands were groping everywhere like they were looking for something they’d lost. His eyes flew open. I concentrated on the movie and tried to ignore Phillip.

When the plane landed, I was out of the plane in a second, following my own way. Kim caught up to me and smiled knowingly.
“ That... creep!” I said.
“ Well... he was obviously into you,” said Kim, twisting a lock of her hair. I raised an eyebrow.
“ Me? I’m nobody,” I said in disbelief.
“ You, Ash, are the star of a new movie and one that is probably going to be a hit if our acting is good, the names aren’t mispronounced and stuff that no one liked in The Last Airbender,” said Kim, stopping to look at me in the eye.
I huffed and walked down the hallway to my suitcase. I dragged out my suitcase and helped Kim. Mark, John and Phillip were waiting at the door with their suitcases.
“ Okay, let’s go!” said Kim, enthusiastically. My stomach flipped over as we walked out into the warm morning air. A guy next to a limo held a sign that said: Legend of Korra. I nodded at it and we walked towards him. In the sleek leather seats, I popped open a can of Coke and put on the first episode of Legend of Korra. Kim, Mark and me were the only Korra fans apparently.
John and Phillip fell in love with it as quickly as I and millions of other viewers had.
We stopped and we climbed out into a huge building. Kim lead the way while I hovered in the back, unsure of what I should do.
“ Kids!” said a voice. Georgia. I relaxed. She was smiling hard. “ Good, we’ve got Kim, Mark, John, Phillip, and... where’s Ash?” asked Georgia. John and Phillip parted to reveal me. I forced a smile on my face. How was I going to do this? I hated attention.
She nodded at me and turned around to take us to our rooms. We walked down a long hallway and through a door labelled SET 9. I raised my hand against the brightness and saw a huge place filled with trailers, people, cameras and set pieces. The people were running around.
“ I’m sure you’ll need some time to unpack and rest. I’ll take each of you to your trailers. Mark and Phillip, you’ll need to share one alright. Ash, your fitting with me is at 1pm. Make sure that you make it to the appearance trailer,” said Georgia.
I nodded and walked behind her.
“ This is your trailer, Ash. Kim’s, yours is there. John, Mark, Phillip, follow me,” she said. We were in one of the front rows of the trailers. I guessed the first row was for the director, producer, appearance trailers and others.
I smiled at Kim and walked towards the door.

My trailer was HUGE! I had a kitchen, stocked with food and a huge room with a huge bed! A TV was across from the bed. I opened a few of the windows, tip-style for some air. I got out my laptop, plugged it in to charge and turned to the rest of my stuff. It took an hour until I was fully settled in and then I went for a shower. I hummed a tune as I turned on the warm water and went under it. I sighed in relief as my tense and sore muscles relaxed. As scrubbing shampoo through my dirty hair, I rinsed it off and did shampoo again. I laced conditioner through it and just stood in the warm water, relaxing. Sighing, I turned it off and got out. I padded into my room and got out shorts and a blouse.
There was a knock on the door. I glanced at the clock: 12:30.
I yelled,” Come in!” I jumped onto my bed and watched as Kim came in.
“ Woah, your trailer is amazing!” she commented.
“ Thanks. Do you like yours?” I asked.
“ It’s less luxurious than this which I find so unfair. I am Asami Sato, daughter of the richest man in Republic City. I deserve better. I deserve yours!” she said, raising her chin.
To keep me from laughing, I said, with a smile,” You are also the daughter of Amon’s right-hand, the daughter of a traitor.”
“ Well, you’re nobody from the Southern Water Tribe,” said Kim, snottily. Wow! She was a good actress.
“ I’m the Avatar who also steals your boyfriend away from you,” I reminded her with a smirk.
Her eyes flared and then we both started laughing... hard. Maybe I wouldn’t be so alone here as I’d thought.
At 12:50, I went out to look for the appearance trailer. My hair was practically dry as soon as I stepped outside. That’s how hot the sun was. Georgia let me in even if I was five minutes early.
“ We can end earlier then,” she explained.
She had three assistants who were holding dye, hair stuff, tweezers, hot wax, and strips of paper. They first dyed my hair after asking if I was “ ready.” After lying, they started.
My hair was wrapped into paper and then they started on my fingernails, giving me a French manicure. My nails were beautiful, I noticed at the end. Then they undid my hair and someone started on my toenails, giving them a pedicure.
My hair was a stunning, chocolate brown. I actually looked good in it. They started cutting a part of it into sidebangs that were long enough to tuck into my ear. They tied everything into a high ponytail and left two parts for the clips. They started cutting the ponytail hair after putting in the clips and taking the ponytail out. After the hair, I was giving a garment bag and shown to a dressing room.
Inside was a shirt and pants. I pulled them on and then the bracelet that slid up to my shoulder and fit perfectly. I tied the animal skin around my hips and laced up my boots. I caught a look at myself in the mirror and gasped.
It wasn’t me. This girl had high cheekbones, was a lot older than I was and was a lot prettier. Her blue-green eyes were intimidating. I pinched myself to make sure this wasn’t a dream and saw the girl in the mirror copy the action. I took a huge breath and walked out.
Georgia’s eyes were wide.“ Wow. I never thought... You look just like I thought Korra would and everything also fits?” I nodded.
“ Well. Come on here. Eyebrows and makeup,” she sat, tapping on the chair.
After waxing and tweezing my eyebrows, Georgia brushed on some blue eyeshadow, gray eyeliner, blush, and lip gloss.
“ You look amazing!” said one of the assistants. I smiled at her and turned to look in the mirror.
Now I really was unrecognizable. My eyes were bigger, my cheeks rosier and my lips shiner.
“ Go and show everyone else. Then someone will give you your lines that you have to memorize for the scene we’re shooting later,” said Georgia, shooing me off. I walked out and Kim walked in, not looking at me.
“ Kim?” I said, impatiently.
“ Ash?” she said, amazed.
“ How do I look?” I asked.
“ Amazing. Just like Korra,” she said, staring at me. I went red and gave her a hug.
“ Prepare to be in there for a while. They are completely insane,” I told her. Phillip came out from another door labelled BOYS APPEARANCE. He stopped and simply stared at me. I sucked in a breath. Phillip was completely hot. He was wearing a loose black leather jacket with a muscle shirt underneath to show off his muscles.
“ Um...” I’d forgotten how to speak. I blushed and turned away.

Walking quickly away, I walked towards a man who was handing out scripts.
“ Character?” he asked, not bothering to look up.
“ Uh... Korra,” I said as quietly as possible. His eyes widened as he looked up.
“ Here you go, Miss,” he said, smiling.
I nodded at him and went back to my trailer. I highlighted my lines and noticed that they took up most of the page. I’d have to memorize a lot!
Since it was Saturday, no tutor! Yeah! Instead, I hung out in my trailer, watching movies and memorizing the lines. Kim came over later and we did our lines together, telling each other when to put a little more emotion into a line. Her hair was straighter and bouncy. Her eyes had green contacts in it and her skin was paler than before. She was wearing a black shirt with a brown vest over it with tight jeans underneath, tucked into black boots.
“ Woah,” I said when she stepped in.
“ You look so different,” she said, staring at my face.
I took a glance in the mirror and saw a flicker of shock come over that girl’s face. I looked so different. I looked at Kim again and smiled.
“ You’re always so quiet. You listen more than you talk, don’t you?” Kim said.
“ Yea, I guess. There never really was any need for me to talk, back in Chicago. I liked to blend in...” My voice trailed off. I was really blending in now. How many girls auditioned for a movie part and actually made it? Not many.
How was I going to be able to do this? I wasn’t brave... or smart. I was just regular. I was probably going to freak out at the sight of those cameras.
“ Ash! Ash!” Kim’s voice cut into my thoughts. I looked up at her. Her eyes looked worried.
“ I just... How am I going to do this?” I asked.
“ Ash... Look at me,” said Kim. My eyes had trailed to my lap and they snapped back up at her.
“ You are special. You are the lead of a movie. A movie! You are going to do fine. Everyone gets nervous before a performance, even if it’s big or small. I bet Emma Watson got nervous the first time she had to go in front of cameras! Now... relax!” Her green eyes were narrowed and glaring at me.
I gulped and nodded.
“ Now.... Come on. Let’s practice!” she said, dumping her script on my bed.

Two hours later, Kim and me had memorized our lines and were practicing without the scripts.
Georgia came to “ collect” us later. She fixed my messy hair ( from lying in bed) and fixed my clothes while I pouted.
We went to a smaller set of a street. A expensive-looking, old-fashioned car was on the street parked.
“ Okay, Kim, you say your lines as you’re walking down the street. Gesture at the car and then everyone hops in and you start the car. It’s automatic so turn the car with the steering wheel and do some stuff with shifting and stuff. And listen to the radio,” said Will.
We nodded. I walked behind to the place they gestured and they gave me a thumbs-up.
“ 1-2-3, Action!” said someone and someone flicked a thing in front of the screen.
“ Dad had the car programmed so that we get the police reports. I guess I know why now,” said Kim, gesturing towards the car. Her face turned sad.
“ Well, we can’t lose time. Team Avatar is BACK!” yelled Mark, jumping up and down. He jumped into the car.
I laughed and sat down next to him. Kim sat down in the driver’s seat with Phillip next to her. She started steering the car expertly. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d been driving for years.
She started touching Phillip and I responded as she did it. I smiled grimly at him as he caught my eye in the mirror and I concentrated outside.
“ So... Bolin,” I said something about pro-bending and how it sucked that it was cancelled to crack the ice. Kim shifted and the car lurched.
“ Yea, if that jerk hadn’t cheated, we’d have won. Totally unfair,” said Bolin.
“ So... where are we headed?” I asked Kim.
The radio interrupted her.
“ All officers to 8th and 29th. Equalists have been cornered and about to be arrested,” said the radio.
“ Jackpot,” said Kim. Her eyes narrowed.
“ Cut!” yelled someone.
“ Great job, guys. Here are the lines for tomorrow. We’ll be doing a pro-bending match. The one where you three meet. Do you have the guys’ outfits ready?” asked Tom to Angela.
“ Yea. I have them ready. Filming’s at 12am. We’ll do another scene at 7pm, ok?” said Angela to us. We all nodded and trudged to our trailers. I fell asleep instantly.
In the morning, I ate a cereal and French-braided my hair. I’d taken out the Water Tribe beads and put on silver ones last night. I pulled on short-shorts and a tank top with my swimsuit under it. I wanted to hit the beach.
I kept my Actor’s ID in my purse and walked into downtown. My mom had given me a little cash for souvenirs and shopping. I got a Strawberry and Cream from Starbucks, happy that no one knew who I was.

The beach was crowded with people. I put on my sunglasses and lay in the sun, closing my eyes. It was so nice to retreat into my own mind and sort out all the craziness that was in my mind.
At 11:30, I started to walk back and went into the Costumes and Makeup trailer. Soon I was in a tight-fitting costume with protective gear over it. My hair was in a ponytail and the mask covered my face which was pretty irritating. But the best part was that I didn’t have to wear that much makeup. Just a blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner and mascara and done. I hopped out and saw Kim dressed in her regular clothes.
“ I’m going to be part of the audience. Might as well from an early start,” Kim said, smiling at me. Since we were doing the first pro-bending scene which I was actually in, I was nervous. I was about to get beat-up by Earth, Fire and Water.
The set was huge. It was a inside stadium which had seats everywhere and a ring up in the air, surrounded by water. On the side was Phillip, Kim, Mark, two men, one dressed in a expensive-looking suit, and the other in a orange outfit with a arrow on his head. I walked over.
" Hey, Ash. This is Tim and Bryan," said Kim. Tim was playing Mr. Sato and he looked the part: Brown, gelled-down hair with a thick mustache and glasses and a aura of confidence and richness. Bryan was playing Tenzin. He was wearing a bald mask with an arrow that had been tattoed onto it. He gave me a friendly smile since we would be stuck for the whole movie together.
" This is Ash, everyone. Obviously, she's Korra," said Kim, wrapping her arm around me. I smiled at them and whispered, " Hi."
" Quiet. For some reason, I can't see Korra as quiet," said Bryan, joking.
" And I can't see Tenzin actually cracking a joke so I guess we both are complete opposites of our characters," I answered.
Phillip laughed and everyone stared at him.
" This is our main cast.," said Tom, walking over to us with a person with a camera and a reporter.
" Phillip is Mako. This is Mark aka Bolin. Kim is Asami and Ash will be playing Korra. The camera person whirled it right on me and I went bright red.
" I'd love to talk to each of the characters after the scene you're shooting," said the reporter. Tom nodded and pointed at us to get into our places.
" Korra, try to get hit without making it seem like it. Try some bending and in the middle, I'll point to you and you'll lose your temper and bend all three elements, got it," said Tom. I nodded. " Great. I'll point at you when you fall off. You have your fight with Bryan and you continue fighting. At the end, I'll point to you and you'll be your cool dodging Airbending stuff and we're done," Tom said.
I nodded, pushing it away in my mind.
" Alright, kids, positions," said Tom.
The camera started rolling and cheering started. We were moving towards the stadium, waving at the crowd.
“ Looks like the Ferrets have ferreted out a new Waterbender. Lets hope she’s as good as Mako and Bolin!” came on the loudspeaker. Mark gave me a encouraging smile and I smiled back. I walked up and went into a regular taekwondo stance. Thank God, I’d been taking it for a while.
The bell rang and everyone started fighting. A Earth thing came and whacked me in the stomach. I gasped for breath and tried to pry it off. I jumped out of the way and got hit by another one.
What were with these stupid robot earth things?
I lifted up my hand and sent some water at him. He sidestepped and I gulped.
“ The new Waterbender doesn’t know what she’s doing that’s for sure,” said the commenter. The floor under me slipped and I fell onto the ground.
“ Waterbender on Red Team, back to Zone Two,” said the referee. I’d fallen past the line. I scowled at him and walked back.
Two of my opponents focused on me and I hit the ground three times. When I stood up, I was sore and tired. Tom pointed at me and the next robot came at me. I punched at it, making it turn around and smash into the water.
“ Wait a minute. Did that girl just EARTHBEND?” said the commenter.
“ Foul... I think,” said the referee.
“ Uh oh,” I said, lifting up my hands and trying to put on a convincing smile.
“ I think... I think that girl could be the Avatar!” said the commenter. Ding Dong! I thought, gloomly.
The referees were talking amongst themselves.
“ The Avatar will be allowed to play if she solely Bends Water,” said the main referee. I tried my best to look relieved and the fighting restarted.
“ The Avatar may be a Bender but she’s no probender,” said the commenter.
Quickly I was pushed into Zone Three and out into the water when Tom gave me the signal. I hit the water with a huge splash and swam quickly out, feeling my sore body groan in punishment as I pulled myself out.
Orange robes led into a furious face. I gulped and said, “ Tenzin. Hi. I thought you didn’t like coming to these matches. Right?” I gave a small smile but it did nothing to help his face.
“ For the last time, Korra, you have disobeyed me. Come, we’re going back to the Temple,” he said.
“ No. Why should I go back to the place where the only thing I do all day is mediate about how bad I am at Airbending?!” I answered him.
“ I have tried my very best to be patient with you but the only thing you respond to is force so I am ordering you back to the Temple,” he said.
“ No. I’ve managed to come up with my own conclusions like why I can’t Airbend. Maybe it’s because I DON’T NEED IT!” I hissed out.
“ The Avatar has to learn all four elements. It is not an option, Korra,” said Bryan, leaning into my face.
“ No, THIS is what I need to learn. Modern styles of bending. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish a match,” I told him.

I got onto the elevator and took a huge breath. It’s almost the scene where I get to do all those cool tricks. I went out onto the stadium and retook my place. The fight began again. This time it was pretty brutal like before.
Before long, I was kicked into Zone Three again and Mako and Bolin were in the pool. I gulped as I watched the next robots fly towards me and when he gave me the signal, I took a huge breath, and said,” Like a Leaf on the Wind.”
I held my hands out and started twisting my body around, dodging stuff that came flying at me and imaginary stuff that didn’t like Firebending and Waterbending. I brought some water up and it hit one of the guys who went flying down to the pool and then another guy went in and another guy.
“ The Fire Ferrets win! Amazing performance from the Avatar!” Mark was excited as he leaped up and down and gave me a big hug.
“ Korra. That performance you just did. You are an amazing Waterbender. Where did you learn those moves?” he asked.
“ My Airbending teacher. I was having a conversation with him a few minutes ago,” I answered truthfully.
“ Cut,” yelled Tom.
" Great. You guys are naturals. I can't believe we don't have to do second takes!" Tom said, sounding happy and starting to hand out the scripts for the scene later today.
“ Thanks, Tom,” I said, grabbing the script that he handed to me.
“ We’ll be doing a gym locker scene. The one where Korra meets Mako and Bolin and you two will do the first probending match seen in the movie. We’ll have only four so it’s this one, the match where the three of you have a fight and the Championship match. Now, Phillip, you’ll start first with... what’s your name again?” asked Tom.
“ Matthew. So, Phillip, you’re playing Mako?” asked the reporter or Matthew.
“ Yea... obviously,” said Phillip, gesturing at his costume. I hid a smile behind my hand and turned it into a cough.
“ Ash!” yelled Kim who was waving at me from the other side of the set.
“ Bye,” I said quickly to Phillip and ran over to her. Soon, I was in normal clothes and I learned the plan for the next few weeks. We would fly to Greenland where they were building a set, do all the scenes that required a snowy background and fly back to Hollywood when they were done with the new set. We would leave next week.

A WEEK LATER

I shivered beneath my many layers of clothing. It was sooo cold. How had Korra survived? Right, she had a polar bear dog. Well, Naga aka Mitzie was mine too. I’d met her an hour ago. We checked into our hotel and me and Kim ran for our room. I’d met Amon aka Joshua yesterday. They would do some Equalist scenes while we did our Water Tribe scenes. The set of a fortress was amazing.
I’d been introduced to Jess who was playing Lin Beifong, Toph’s daughter. I also met Emma( Jinora), Chloe( Ikki) and Adam( Meelo) were the actors playing Tenzin’s kids. I liked Adam the best. He had that cuteness that all the fans loved about him. Me, Phillip, Mark and Kim played with them for hours, making a relationship with them like the director told us to.
Soon, the seven of us were best friends and they always jumped up onto us.
The first scene we did was the healing one where Katara failed to heal Korra. Katara was played by a warm-hearted woman by the name of Kaya. She was a descendant of the natives here and looked just like Katara would in real life... and had the personality too. The hut was warm with the fire flicking in the fireplace.
I sat down in the other room in the mat and heard Tom yell: Action! Kaya left, looking sad and I saw her head shake before she closed the door.
“ I can’t do anything else for Korra. She can still Airbend but the connection to the other elements have been broken,” said Kaya.
“ But you have to keep trying! You’re the best healer in the city!” said Jess, pleading.
“ There is nothing more that I can do,” said Kaya. I stood up and walked through the door and saw everyone’s faces, looking sad.
“ It’s going to be alright, Korra,” said Bryan.
“ No, it isn’t,” I said, looking right at him and then walking past him, grabbing my coat and pulling it on.
“ Korra, wait!” yelled Phillip. I kept on walking. The camera people were starting to freak me out. He grabbed my arm and I was yanked towards him.
“ Go away,” I said.
“ I will. Just hear me out,” he panted.
“ No, go away. Back to Republic City. Get on your life,” I told him.
“ Korra...” he said.
“ I’m not the Avatar anymore. You don’t have to do any more favors,” I told him.
“ I don’t care if you’re the Avatar or not. When you were taken by Tarrlok, I was losing my mind with worry about never seeing you again. I realized.... I love you, Korra,” he said, touching my cheek.
“ I’m sorry. I can’t,” I said, running backwards and towards Mitizie. I climbed on and she ran away from the fortress.

I heard a loud “ Cut!” and breathed a Thank God. I was starting to get bored. When I’d envisioned movie-making, there were cute boys( well, there are), amazing clothes, fame and fortune.
Kim smiled at me as I rode back on Mitzie.
“ You look just like Korra. It’s amazing!” she said. I nodded and got off Mitizie. I felt exhausted. Kim chattered as we walked up to the hotel. Three more weeks, I thought. I can survive three more weeks.
I yawned in my room and picked up the phone to order room service. I picked out a movie from Netflix and watched it. The movie was Harry Potter 1. I kept on watching all the HP movies until I was practically falling asleep. I fell asleep on my bed, next to a empty box of Domino’s Pizza and a few cans of Coke.
When I woke up, sunlight was filtering through the windows. I shivered and dug through my closet for my sweatpants, fuzzy socks and a big sweater. I logged onto Facebook and onto Chat and saw a ton of my friends on it. It was Saturday so I had a video chat with all of them.
“ Omigod, Ash! I haven’t seen you in FOREVER! What happened to your hair?” asked all my friends at the same time.
“ Dyed it. I’m in Alaska now... obviously. So, how have your lives been?” I asked.
“ You’re in Alaska!” said Caitlin. “ Why’d you dye it?” asked Rabel.
“ Korra has brown hair and we’re doing all the scenes in the Southern Water Tribe,” I answered.
“ Is it cold there?” asked Michelle.
“ No, it’s tropical weather and I’m not wearing five layers of clothes,” I said.
Everyone laughed and I laughed as well.
“ Oh, God. I’ve missed you guys so much. Making a movie isn’t as glamorous as you think. I’ve made a lot of friends though and in the first time in my life, I’m popular!” I joked.
Caitlin smiled at me. They peppered me with questions. I cut them off to order breakfast and then ate and watched them gape at me.
“ Aren’t you going to show us your stuff, Korra?” asked Michelle. I grimaced at the name.
“ Ok, these are my sleeping in beads. They’re waterproof and I can only take them off if my hair is in a ponytail so we can put in the other Water Tribe beads. My costume is with the people so when we all see the movie, you can see it then,” I said, smiling.
“ We’re not going to go to the premiere,” weeped Michelle.
“ Well, if you want to fly to London or Hollywood, I’ll have the tickets for you... probably,” I answered.
After chatting with them a little more, I logged off Facebook and watched TV. The scene was at 12pm, then another one at 5pm. The running away scene and the giving-back-Lin’s-powers scene. Luckily the last scene was a no-talking scene so I just had to memorize the actions. Easy.
I walked to the Makeup/Costume Room and came in. Kaya smiled at me from her chair. I caught the costume bag that was thrown at me and walked into the wardrobe. My hair was in a messy ponytail that I hadn’t bothered to brush this morning.
I pulled on the whole costume and smiled at Georgia. She fixed my fingernails and redid the pedicure and cut my hair a little.
“ Perfect! You’re all set!”she said, ten minutes later.
“ Thanks a lot, Georgia,” I said, giving her a hug. She blushed and hugged me also. I did a bit of homework after checking my email for the assignments. At eleven am, I ordered lunch and shared it with Kim. She only had one scene for today and then she was leaving tomorrow on the plane with Phillip and Mark to do some scenes with Phillip while I finished off here. I’d miss her.



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