“1 million,” Mum replied.

  “Holy…” I stopped myself before Mum could intensify her gaze any more. “Didn’t Dad say that musical rights are cheaper?”

  “Your Dad doesn’t know everything.” Mum smiled, “It all depends on the perceived value of the product. While most musicals are cheaper pared to their movie terparts, this will be more expehan the inal [Billy Elliot] because its budget was too low and stage actors have their minimum wages set at a much higher rate than film actors. Along with the fact that your image would be used to market this musical, they almost didn’t want to sell it, rather make it themselves with you as the lead. Dad deed, saying you would only appear if we were produg it fully. As you now know, they relented, but for a steep price.”

  That was quite fasating to hear.

  “The musical will take at least another 5 million to produce. You have agreed to pay with your mohis includes saries of writers, musis, directors, and all crew and cast members included in the rehearsals and the first few weeks of performahen there are set decorations, props, lights, es, and so much more to aodate.”

  “Okay,” I stopped her from going any further. “I think we are deviating from our main topic.”

  “You’re right,” Mum gave me an apologetic look. “As I was saying, Lee Hall aon John have begun work on the py and the songs actively, and it shouldn’t take them more than half a year to plete the first draft. That’s when we’re supposed to have a workshop of sorts. The problem is that we’ll begin shooting [HP 2] by then. All in all, we won’t be able to begin workshops and practice before the summer of 2001.”

  “That gives me a full year to plete my schooling,” I mused out loud.

  “You fot a few things,” Mum said. At my raised eyebrow, she tinued, “You have two films to shoot in that period. And if you’re serious about doing this musical, you’ll have to begin your dance lessons again.”

  I wi that reminder. I had kind of slowly stopped taking my dance lessons. Initially, I joined as a fun recreational activity in addition to my music lessons and as a substitute to martial arts. I only wao do it until the shooting of [Harry Potter] began. But then [Billy Elliot] inspired me to tinue dang even after the shooting ed up. And I did it until I couldn’t. A person have only so many hours in a day. I had to choose betweeher martial arts, or dance. In the end, I artial arts, and dance was cut off from my schedule. Now and then, I would still dao a couple of my old routines, but not with the rigor that a professional dance css brings.

  “Do you now see why I don’t want you to do the musical?” Mum asked rhetorically. “You just don’t have the time.”

  I closed my eyes and pondered over the problem. Should I just accept that I won’t be able to do it? Or should I fight for what I want? To be ho with you, there is another reason I want to do the musical: a small little trophy called the Tony Awards. The fact that I had already won an Oscar and an Emmy at my age hadn’t escaped me. Winning a Tony would plete a trifecta of ag awards, known as the Triple of Ag, the highest Ameri honor for any actor. A status that only 13 people in history have achieved. I checked. I want to be the you person to achieve the trifecta and the fastest as well, from the first award to the st. That was the biggest reason I ushing for [Billy Elliot: The Musical] because I know that the lead actot a joint Tony for their performan the inal timeline. Of course, then I’d have to work frammy to plete the circle of EGOT, but that is an issue for ter.

  There was this one line I had heard from a famous actor that I still remember: "If you want to achieve your dreams, bee greedy and don’t stop making efforts for them."

  With that statement in mind, I had already decided what to do. The problem is that this is a very delicate situation. I didn’t want Mum to think of me as an obsessive workaholic who ’t think of anything beyond his project.

  I ’t drop my music lessons because I’d o sing songs in the musical, for which I’d need regur vocal practice to keep my voi top shape. I ’t skip dance or ag for obvious reasons. That left the only thing that I could axe from my schedule: martial arts. But not just that, I would have to vince Mum to let me finish my schooling early, so I devote my full time to the musical wheime es.

  Time to cook up some stories.

  “I think I’d like to take up my GCSEs in the ing month,” I decred.

  Mum looked at me surprised, but before she could dee my request, I said, “Mum, I have already finished all my subjects up to that level. I just didn’t want you or Dad to think that I was rushing or not enjoying my life, so I never brought it up.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Mum asked incredulously. “That’s not possible.”

  “Believe me, Mum, I won’t evehe you person to plete my schooling. A kid from Hawaii pleted it when he was 6 in 1990. Then, I finish my sixth frade 13) by year. That would free me from all the uniutions.”

  Mum didn’t speak for a few moments. I knew she was thinking about the dilemma and I let her.

  After a full minute, I got an answer I wasn’t expeg, “Okay.”

  Now it was my turn to be shocked.

  Mum chuckled, “Weren’t expeg that, huh?”

  “No,” I admitted holy.

  “Your Dad and I have talked about this at length. We both khis day was ing sooner rather than ter, but I had not expected it to e this early.” She ruffled my hair pyfully while looking deep into my eyes. “My little tyke is all grown up and ready to start college.”

  “Mum!” I groaned but didn’t push her away.

  Ign my feeble protests, she tinued, “Do you think you finish your preparations within the hree weeks? Then we won’t have to worry about your shooting schedule.”

  “That is a good idea,” I mused. “Okay, I’ll do it in three weeks. Just some revision would be needed, and we’d have to take a flight to London and back. Let’s put a pause on my musid dance csses for some time and finish this pesky thing called GCSE.”

  Mum ughed, “Pesky, huh? Yes, let’s.”

  I grinned widely at her response.

  (Break)

  Ohing I’ve gotten to know after getting rich is that money opens a lot of doors. Doors that stand as hurdles ih of a poor person. Hurdles like, ‘You ’t take a GCSE without booking it at least two months in advance’ were quickly solved after giving a little ‘donation’ to the right people on the education board.

  They backdated a few dots, making it seem like I had applied for it months ago. Thank God GCSE doesn’t have an age limit. And voi! Just like that, my exams were to be ducted in two weeks. A week before we were set to begin shooting [AI].

  Steven Spielberg was very uanding when Mum told him about my pn to take my exams early and freed me for the wo weeks from practice sessions so I could foy studies. I just had to do basic stuff like e fittings and a body mold of my entire self from head to toe. (That one was quite creepy and custrophobic.) I couldn’t tinue walking and talking like the robot David, but Steven assured me that that wouldn’t be too much of an issue.

  When I came back from the UK two weeks ter, I was more than just a little relieved at being doh my coursework. All in all, my exams went much better than I had expected. This challenge was rapidly thrown my way and I didn’t have a choice but to take it up. As per my inal pn, I had inteo finish my studies by 14, thus giving me more than enough time to score perfect grades. But since I was so short on time and with no iion of going to uy, what’s the matter with above-average grades? I would enjoy my life either way.

  And if for some bizarre reason, I ge my mind about going to uy, I always make a big donation to one of those Ivy League schools a a spot for me. I didn’t even care about the results of the test because it didn’t matter too mu the grand scheme of things.

  (Break)

  “A!”

  I was staring up at the decorations around the room in wonder. It was truly a marvelous pce to be before looking down at my bed. I turned with a sudden meical jerk towards the couple standing beside me and smiled.

  “Would you like me to sleep now?” I said in my robotic voice.

  The middle-aged man nodded minutely, “Good idea. Good idea. Monica?” He turowards his wife.

  The woman was fidgety as she replied, “Uh, well, it’s te, you know. It’s after 9.” Theuro me, “How te do they let you stay up?”

  “I ever go to sleep,” I replied in the same monotonous voice. “But I y quietly and not make a peep.”

  “So, those pajamas will fit you,” the woman said while moving towards the exit. I followed her movement with my gaze. “We’ll be in to che you first thing in the m.”

  Seeing her ing away, I asked as ily as I could, “Dress me?” while raising the clothes in my hands toward her.

  “Yeah, I’m gonna say good night while you boys be boys.” The woman was exiting the room while I followed her with my arms raised. She closed the door before I could follow her anymore. Then the man from before came up to me and took my clothes from me.

  “Raise your arms,” he ordered. I did. He removed the shirt I was wearing from over my head. When I didn’t lower my hands myself, he lowered them for me before draping the pajama shirt over me.

  “Cut!” Steven Spielberg’s voice rang out in the room as the fourth take abruptly ended. “Good job everyone, just ly what I had in mind.”

  He beed me in a er away from other actors and spoke softly, “Troy, what did you have in mind while going through this se?”

  “Nothing,” I replied holy. “All I know is that there is a man and a woman with me whom I don’t know.”

  Steven rubbed his forehead in thought before saying, “I don’t know how else to tell you this, but you emote too much.”

  I was surprised. This was the first time any director had said that to me, and I had worked with a few of them by now. “In what way?” I asked.

  “When I look at your face as David, I tell that you’re ag,” Steven grimaced. “It looks fake and not in a good robotic way, no, it’s more like an expressionless doll.”

  I frowned in . Indeed, all roles aren’t meant for everybody. Some actors just don’t fit too well with a particur role, while others take time to adjust to the role. This was a role that I didn’t fit in perfectly from the get-go and I didn’t even have time to make it work because of my exams. In that case, a few things happeher you give whatever subpar performance you , or power through it a better. You probably guess which approach I chose.

  “ I see my performance?” I asked Steven hopefully.

  He looked worried as if pting the issue before nodding slowly, “e along.”

  I followed him silently as Spielberg apanied me to the monitor where he pyed the test retake of the se we had just shot. As soon as the performance began, I immediately uood the problem that was stopping Spielberg from passing the shot. I was trying too hard to look emotionless, so much so that my face came off as stipated in a few pces. In this particur shot, it seemed as if I outing when the woman didn’t dress me.

  It was all a matter of too much emotion, just as Spielberg had suggested. I was used to emoting a lot when on camera. This was a different kind of situation; I had to emote as little as possible. I think I’ll have to try something else.

  “Okay, I see the problem,” I addressed Spielberg. “Let’s try it one more time.”

  Steven looked skeptical, but he nodded once, “Alright.”

  I returo my inal position and turo the two actors who were pying the husband and wife, “I’m sorry for the multiple retakes.”

  “It’s alright, Troy,” the woman, Frances O’or, smiled back at me. “It happens.”

  “Yup,” Sam Robards, who pyed her husband, nodded. “Don’t worry too much. Anything below teakes is not too much.”

  “Sam!” Frances let out an annoyed groan. “Don’t jinx it.”

  “Take positions, everyone,” Steven called out to us three, and we did. “Sound rolling! Lights! Camera! And a!”

  And the se began again. I thought back to why this se roblem. It shouldn’t be. I unnecessarily made it out to be with my overag. This time, I kept my face as bnk as I could with the sole exception of a smile.

  “Would you like to sleep now?” I didn’t react to any of their motions as long as the two actors were within my line of vision. Why would a robot turn to keep you in the ter of his vision when you are still visible to him from the er of his eye? That was my thought process. So when Frances moved away from me, I turowards her only when I couldn’t see her. I took quick meical steps towards her with the iion of her dressing me, but when she didn’t, I kept a bnk smile etched on my fatil Sam came forward and dressed me.

  “And cut! Print, check the gate!”

  Hearing that magical phrase that approves a particur se, I let out a big sigh of relief.

  “Great job, Troy,” Steven gratuted me loudly for all cast and crew to hear. “That’s what I was talking about! You were perfect just now. Keep that emotion in check for the se and all the following ses, and we’ll make a perfect film.”

  And that was more than enough of a reassurane that I wasn’t doing too poorly. I had this small niggling feeling in the bay mind that my presence would spoil this film. At least I rest assured now that if my performance was subpar, it was because Spielberg didn’t ask for aake.

  ______________________________

  AN: Visit my Pat reon to read ahead, or participate in free polls about the story.

  Link: (dot)pat reon(dot)/fableweaver