“Yes! Exactly like that, Troy!” Evan anded excitedly as he ran around the room with the camera in his hands, and poi me. “Loki! e here.” He ahe puppy with fidence, and surprisingly, the husky listeo him. Over the st few weeks, he had gotteo his new name, and the two of us had taught him some basiands like ‘e here,’ ‘sit,’ ‘shake hand,’ and the like. He didn’t always follow the ands, but sometimes he would, and luckily that moment was one such time.

  “Cut!” Evan shouted. “Let’s do it once more.”

  I was surprised by the tenacity with which Evan assumed the director's role. It had only been ten or so days since we started shooting ses from popur films. We started with the se from [Singin’ in the Rain], with me copying Gene Kelly’s iice moves. Then we moved on to some performance-heavy ses like Tom Hanks in [Cast Away] or Tim Robbins in [The Shawshank Redemption]. And when we were doh that, Evan came to me with a bright idea.

  “I have written a short spy of my own,” he had said with a hint of pride in his voice. “Steve helped me with smoothing out some details, but the overall idea is mine, and I want to make this film. It will require three actors. You, Loki, and oher that we’ll decide on ter.”

  It goes without saying that I accepted the role of ‘Dog Owner’ in the short film we were making. Surprisingly, I ying the supp role in the film, and the lead role went to our dear Loki. If it was anyone else, I wouldn’t even sider doing it, but si’s Evan, I couldn’t say no to him. Then there was the fact that the story of the film he had written was excellent for a short film.

  “Boys,” Mum interrupted our filming session. “Didn’t we talk about this? You o be at the Broadway Theater in an hour, Troy. And Evan, you have your tut session scheduled. You ’t dedicate all your time to this…project.”

  “But Mom!” Evan whined petuntly before freezing in his steps. My parents had never asked Evan to call them Mom or Dad for obvious reasons. Hell, they hadn’t even asked me to do it. I did it on my own because I wao show them how much I appreciated everything they were doing for me, and I could separate the two sets of parents in my head without being overe with guilt.

  “It’s alright, love,” Mum smiled at Evan before ing over and hugging him gently. “Now get ready for your tut session. Ms. Anderson will be here anytime.”

  “Y-yes,” Evan nodded while not looking at Mum.

  “Troy,” Mum turo me. “Need I remind you again about your show today?”

  “I’ll go,” I raised my hands in surrender before notig that Mum was wearing a very nice cocktail dress. “Are you going somewhere as well?” I asked suspiciously.

  “I am,” she firmed my suspis. “There is this charity lun in the Upper East Side that a new friend of mine has invited me to. If you weren’t busy with your show, or Evan didn’t have his lessons, I would love to take you two. Most of them bring their kids along to meet other kids and socialize.”

  “No, thanks,” I deed her invitation immediately. And from the looks Evan was giving me, he didn’t want to go to such a lun either. It was a little strange for me to know that the woman who didn’t even want to move to New York just st month had assimited so seamlessly into the elite circle of the area in just two weeks that she was being io their parties. It was only a matter of time before we would have to host one such event. I shivered mentally at the thought alone.

  “How’s Eli?” She ged topics suddenly. “I hope he’s better than the inpetent fool from st week?”

  I frowned slightly at the reminder of st week when a few overenthusiastis had almost caused a stampede when I came out of the theater after the night’s show. It was such a great show where Jaicholson of all people came in person to see me and told me how much he liked my performance, and then that happened. My parents had promptly repced the people who were handling my security that day and a eam, led by Eli Brown had been tracted for the job. It’s such a pity that Roger ’t stay with me in America because of his family. He is a very petent guy.

  “He’s good,” I replied to Mum’s question. “Have fun at your lun,” I smiled deceptively at her, and she nodded in thanks before exiting the apartment.

  I turo Evan, “If you ever feel that I have turned snobbish, or like one of those entitled rich brats that would be present at that lun feel free to hit me.”

  Without wasting even a single sed, Evan rushed forward and hit me on the bay head.

  “Oww!” I cried out in pain before turning to the grinning boy with murder in my eyes. “You’re dead, Spader,” I announced before running after him. “Today I’ll show you what I learned in my martial arts csses.”

  (Break)

  Benji Cooper was beyoed, and the reason was simple: he and his family were going to see [Billy Elliot: The Musical] at the Broadway Theater, with Troy Armitage himself perf as Billy. As soon as it was annouhat Troy would perform as Billy Elliot in a limited run on Broadway, there was a frenzy amongst the audieo get tickets for the show. The ticketing windoened on December 15, 2001, and all the tickets on offer (three months in advance) had been sold out within a week.

  Benji’s father was one of the extremely lucky oo grab three front-row tickets to the show. It was a little te in the middle of February 2002, but it was better than not watg the show at all, or worse, watg someone else py Billy. The best part about the show was seeing Troy live, or even a rarer ce to talk to him when the show was over. The tter was highly unlikely because, as his mother told him, these superstar types are very stuck-up and very rude in general. So it’s better to not get your hopes high. Still, Benji would love to get a photo with Troy so he could get bragging rights for the rest of his life. And maybe, just maybe, Troy is different from other celebrities and is actually nice.

  So it was with these expectations that he went to watch the Broadway show, and it was better than anything he could have expected. Troy Armitage and the entire cast performed so well that Benji had almost fotten for a moment that he was watg a py. Everything was so perfect that he felt as if he was watg some dotary with some dang and singing mixed iween. When Troy started flying in the air during the dream ballet, or when he performed ‘Electricity’ for his dad and the selectors at the Royal Ballet School, Benji couldn’t help but feel light as if he could fly and dance just like Troy. When the audieed in appuse after seeing Troy’s performance, Benji was one of the first oo stand up and cp with all his might.

  And then, the show was over. A sense of sadness filled Benji because he could not witness more of the performahe worst part was that Troy would perform only for a limited time before the show would be overtaken by other actors, and all the tickets for Troy's performances had been sold out.

  Benji was about to get up from his seat like some of the others had already begun doing when a man walked to the ter of the stage with a mic.