Twenty-three. She was twenty-three. Stacey could feel herself sweating with hot and cold prickles.
It had seemed like a great idea earlier, but she couldn't sing or dance or act to save herself. To be honest, she'd never tried, so she wasn't sure. Her singing voice should be ok. Stacey was pretty sure she could sing in tune. She could definitely hum in tune. Maybe she should just sit on the sidelines to watch… and let herself starve to death? But… starving to death was so painful. Stacey really, really needed food. Or a drink. Now.
"So we'll put sixteen for your age for now," Mindy said. "We'll get you an appointment with our program doctor so you can get a checkup later and the doctor may be able to confirm a rough age for you then. I'll make a reminder to myself to revisit this. We'll ask you the more personal questions in private later. We'll have to report you to the State and they'll probably organise a guardian or case manager for you in the meantime. Although, for the purposes of this program, they may allow us, the program designers, to be your guardians until an entertainment agency signs you over. I'll just send this email to them… Hmm. Oh. That was fast. They've already replied to my email. Like I said, us program organisers are now temporarily your official guardians. You don't seem to be on any name registers, so they'll enter your details into the national registry once we've confirmed all your details and situation."
The makeup man dabbed at the sweat on Stacey's forehead and gestured to a makeup lady who dabbed on a liquid foundation instead of the powder that had been used earlier.
"Mindy, I want to be in charge of this girl's looks and design," the makeup man said. "There's so much we can do for her and I have so many ideas for how we can evolve her look, while still staying true to her originality."
"Sure," Mindy made a few notes on her laptop. "I've got it down, Tonton. She's all yours."
"Awesome," Tonton, the makeup man, fist pumped. "Ladies, we've got ourselves a jewel in the rough," he said to his make up team. "Let's put our heads together later to see how we can make her shine."
Stacey wasn't sure she should be happy or scared at how much attention she was attracting and how excited people were about her. Back home she was just a plain, ordinary person who liked to wear comfy clothes. Most of the comfy clothes just happened to be baggy.
A red blinking caught her eye. Stationary cameras on stands rotated to follow people's movements. Someone had already started filming while she had her eyes shut. A shot of panic shot through her, making her tremble.
Stacey knew that it was a program being filmed, but she hadn't expected them to have started filming already. Surprised, she froze up. All the mirrors seemed to quadruple the number of blinking cameras that she could see.
"Don't stress, sweetie," Tonton dabbed away the sweat that was trickling down the back of her neck, while he fixed her hair in a messy ponytail. It was neater than what Stacey had done earlier but now it looked cool, whereas before it had still looked like she had just gotten out of bed, because she had. "You'll be fine. We've got you. Ignore the cameras. Don't look at them. That's the way. Once the entire program team have met you, they'll love you too."
Weren't people announcing their interest in her a little too soon? It made Stacey feel like she was a bug in a tank, a project waiting to be worked on. Somehow, she felt like less of a person and more like an object.
With all their encouragement and superficial niceties, Stacey wondered how genuine half their reactions were. To them, she might as well been a stray dog.
Mindy's unanswerable questions continued to the point that Stacey couldn't stop crying. She didn't have a favourite anything, she couldn't say how much she remembered since it came from another world and no, she didn't think she had any special talents.
She kept glancing over at the boys who were done and just sitting on the sidelines to give her big grins or a thumbs up every now and then. What was she expecting? She wouldn't receive very much help from those two when they didn't even know what sort of a pickle she'd gotten herself into or what kind of street rat they had picked up.
"Alright," Mindy made a gesture to the camera man and beckoned Tonton back over. "Aww, Stacey, don't cry. It's ok. The interview and registration is over now. We'll fill in those details later when you're more calm. You did fine. You may have felt awkward but that's ok. That way, people will see how you change over time and appreciate the journey of your growth that we'll take them on. No, please, don't cry. I don't know what to do when people cry. It makes me start to cry and then my makeup will be messed up and then I'll have to get it fixed again."
Gritting her teeth in frustration and at the hungry pains in her tummy, Stacey pulled all her emotions back.
"Here, have a drink," Tonton passed her a glass of water and then got her to stay still while he fixed her makeup again. "Calm down. I'm sure you'll do great in your audition. I'm rooting for you. You've got this, sweetie."
What was the audition going to involve? Was it going to be any more stressful than the tortuous interview she had just gotten through? Stacey took a sip and then gulped the water down so fast that she shocked everyone.
"You've got the looks of a drinker," Mindy chuckled. "Great. Hey, Loafer, you get that shot?"
A thumbs up came from behind a camera in the corner, held by a laid-back looking man.
"Would you like another drink, sweetie?" Tonton refilled Stacey's plastic cup. "Here you go. What's wrong? Does your tummy hurt? It's ok. Don't be nervous. Look. The toilet's just over there. Mindy'll wait for you. Don't worry."
Stacey downed the cup and then hurried to the toilet, hugging her cramping tummy. The hunger pangs had gotten much worse after those two cups of water. Her stomach was throwing a tantrum now.
Calm down, tummy. Calm down. You'll get to eat later. Just calm down.