Scarlett Summers's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Scarlett Summers wanted one thing in Smellington: a spot in the town's secret auditions for a private movie role. Only a few people knew the auditions existed. Fewer got invited. Scarlett had chased that invite for a month. Tonight she stood on the wraparound porch of the big log cabin where the group met, tugging her short shorts straight, pushing her glasses up her freckled nose. Her red pigtails still smelled like the cheap motel shampoo. She had no connections. She had one shot, and it depended on a stranger who said he could open the door. Sienna Moanroe opened it instead. Scarlett knew her by reputation. Sienna belonged to the group. She got roles other women only heard rumors about. She leaned in the doorway now, flip flops slapping the wood, chewing gum, looking Scarlett over the way a buyer checks fruit. "So you're the redhead everybody's whispering about," Sienna said. "Come in. He's not here. I sent him home." Scarlett's stomach dropped. "He promised me a meeting." "He promises everybody things." Sienna waved her inside. Bright windows lit the big front room. A woman with blonde bangs and pink glasses sat on the couch, watching. Sienna nodded at her. "That's Dolly. She votes too." Dolly Deez smiled without warmth. "We heard you'd do anything to get in." "I want the audition," Scarlett said. "That's all." "Then here's the deal." Sienna folded her arms under her chest. "That man you trusted? He's been selling fake invites for cash. He took money from three girls last month. We want him gone. You get us proof." Scarlett's hope curdled. "You want me to spy on him." "He trusts you," Dolly said. "He wants something from you. Use that. Get him to say on your phone that the invites are fake. Bring it here. Then we talk about your real audition." "And if I refuse?" Sienna popped her gum. "Then you walk out that door and never find this cabin again." Scarlett stood between the couch and the door. Recording a man who'd lied to her felt cheap and cruel. But he had lied. He had cheated three women. And these two held the only true door she wanted. She took out her phone. "He's meeting me tomorrow." The next night Scarlett came back. She set the phone on the coffee table and hit play. The man's voice filled the warm room, bragging about the money, laughing about the fake invites. Sienna listened, still for once. Dolly leaned forward, eyes sharp behind pink glass. Sienna stopped the recording. "He's finished." She looked at Scarlett with something new, close to respect. "You passed." "So I'm in?" Dolly stood, smoothing her short pink dress. "You're in. But understand what you just did." She stepped close. "You took down one of ours to join us. Now every woman in this group knows your face. And a few of them are scared of what you'll do next." Sienna smiled. "Welcome to the auditions, Scarlett. Trust nobody here. Especially us."