Rise To Stardom - Chapter 167

Chapter 167: Daring As Ever
As the busy street crawled with cars moving in a steady stream, pedestrians walking along the sidewalks and a bunch of cyclists, zipping through the traffic, a certain car turned left, exiting the steady stream of moving cars.

Making its way into the parking lot of a well-known dance hall, one which was nestled amidst two walls with vibrant, eye-catching murals and palm trees, the vehicle soon came to a halt.

Exiting her rented vehicle, her pink duffel casually slung over her shoulder as she made her way out of the parking lot and towards the practice hall, Sharon watched as another vehicle, a black van to be exact, similarly arrived.

Casually waiting for the individuals in the familiar van to alight, the lady watched with a thin smile on her lips as the door of the van swung open.

“Sharon! You’re here early!”

“That I am.” the lady smiled warmly as she watched Maya Lopez, exiting the van in excitement with her tote bag while briskly walking towards her with outstretched arms.

Embracing each other in a tight hug, Sharon spoke mid hug;

“Didn’t want to be rusty so I figured I’d put in some practice before we began filming again.”

“Not the least bit surprised so, that can wait!” Maya bubbled with excitement as she questioned instead;

“So, how was the Gala’s after party?! Did you get to meet with Kyle Kestis properly after the auction?! What was he like in person?!”

Laughing a bit in response to her slew of questions, Sharon was about to respond when Reggie Lopez, dragged his sister by her hoodie as he walked past Sharon while greeting her with a light smile.

“Good morning Sharon. Trust you had a nice break.”

“And you, please refrain from asking any questions until you can remember the more complex dance routines with that shitty memory of yours.”

“Ack! Darn it Reggie! Let me gossip! It’s not my fault I have ADHD!” Maya argued as a few more individuals, three to be specific, alighted from the van.

All, including the siblings, were actors and also, part of the movie’s main cast for [Level Up 2].

Even when the movie had been put on hold, most of them still stuck around in Miami, taking their time to unwind… that was until Danny contacted them last week.

Currently, as Reggie dragged his sister without mercy, Sharon, Melissa, Josh and Spencer chuckled at the amusing sight as they all made their way into the practice hall.

Sure enough, most of them really did arrive because they wanted to get some practice in but, in reality, they were more curious about Justin’s replacement.

Considering filming would begin in the next three days, they had been a bit surprised to hear from Danny that the new actor whom would be replacing him, had already been around for close to a week and half now.

Their curiosity was even more piqued when they found out that instead of using a stunt double like Danny had previously planned, said actor, would instead, be joining their choreographed dance routine.

Sure there was no guarantee that he’d already be at the hall so early in the morning but even then, there was the guarantee that he’d at least show up later in the day.

That was inevitable considering he’d need to meet with the crew and actually practice together with them as a group.

And so, with Maya constantly complaining even as she was dragged along, Sharon especially, hoped that this new actor at the very least, wouldn’t be of annoyance to her as Justin had previously been.

Also, she hoped to high heavens that her co-actor wouldn’t be some top actor so her agents, wouldn’t try to set her up with him, just like they had tried to with Justin.

Finally making their way into their individual changing rooms though, the ladies soon headed into the main practice hall a few minutes later.

Not minding the murmurs of excitement from the hall or finding it the least bit curious that the door to said hall was already wide open, Sharon, Maya and Melissa, strolled in, a familiar pop beat already playing in the background.

Considering Reggie and the guys must’ve gone in earlier, the ladies weren’t surprised to see them watching someone dancing in the middle of the hall alongside Sean and Danny, both of whom seemed to have arrived even earlier.

Moving closer to the guys though, watching as the three individuals, dancing in the middle of the hall had their backs turned while performing a slow, illusively gravity-defying circle slide in sync, the ladies, soon widened their eyes in disbelief when the dancer in the middle, turned around alongside Danny and Sean.

Maya immediately let out an uncontrolled girlish squeal while Sharon, felt her heart beating faster and faster by the second!

There Kyle was, in practice clothes with a beanie atop his head, halting the circle slide in sync with their director and his assistant as the familiar pop music ended.

“That, was perfect.” Danny complemented Kyle to which Sean nodded in approval.

Considering he himself was more than adept at dancing, he had decided to substitute for the third dancer as the choreography Kyle had been performing with Sean, needed at least three individuals to really sell the illusion.

“Thanks.” Kyle rubbed the back of his neck with a light smile on his lips, a hint of pride in his eyes.

He was obviously happy that the Director had complimented him.

Noticing the group of individuals whom had arrived though, Kyle quickly walked up to them, taking the initiative to give his greetings and introduce himself with a warm smile.

Reggie had a genuine grin on his visage as he shook Kyle’s hands, same as Josh, Spencer and Melissa, all of whom were glad to be able to work with one of the most popular star in recent memory.

Maya on the other hand, instantly began gushing about how she was a big fan, her energy through the roof.

As for Sharon;

“Hello Miss Winters. We meet again.” Kyle offered her a warm handshake with a light smile.

“Hello, Kyle. Pleasure to meet you again.” Sharon tried to calm her beating heart down, the lady instantly taking her shot again.

“My offer still stands, you know?” she stated with a slightly arched eyebrow, her gaze suggestive.

“Daring as ever, I see.” Kyle replied with a light smile.

“Well, I am out to get your heart after all. Surely you won’t blame a lady for trying, right?” Sharon stood on business with a flirtatious smile, her gaze holding Kyle’s who slightly, tilted his head in amused curiosity.

Over the course of his time in Hollywood, Kyle had gradually begun to take hints, realizing and understanding clearly when ladies were hitting on him.

Sharon however, was the boldest he had seen till date and yet, instead of being taken aback or appalled by her, he actually found her straight-forwardness charming in a way, weirdly enough.

As the rest of the crew watched their interaction though, they more or less recalled when Justin had first arrived on set, only for Sharon to constantly brush aside his advances effortlessly.

Yet right now, before their very eyes, the complete opposite was happening, the lady bringing out her big guns.

‘So cool! So mature!’ Maya praised the lady with an enthusiastic inward squeal, one that earned a squint from Reggie who seemed to have figured out his sister’s internal thoughts.

“Alright. Now that you’ve all been introduced to Kyle, let’s take some of the movie’s final dance choreography from the top.” Sean clapped his hands, drawing everyone’s attention to him and Danny.

Since everyone was around, he figured they’d better put in some practice together.

“As for the others… well, I don’t think we need to worry about them.” Danny on the other hand casually stated, everyone also nodding in agreement, save for Kyle who had no idea why the main cast, Sharon included, instantly donned a very serious expression.

* * *

Level Up 2.

Just because the plot played a frankly lesser part in making the dance movie what it was, didn’t mean that Danny gave up on it.

Rather, he decided to improve upon it by learning from the mistakes of the very first installation of the film he had directed and also, doing something different from conventional approaches;

Treating the dance itself, not just as something important to or solely for the audience’s entertainment but also, something that was just as important and entertaining to the characters he created.

That exactly, was why, the main cast for Level Up 2 was small but tight-knit, making it very easy for him to focus on making each individual character as interesting as he possibly could.

It was also why he went for a dance competition approach for the second movie, one that made the story streamlined and contained as opposed to the Neighborhood vs. Evil Investor gravitas from the first film.

Reggie & Maya Lopez, the two main leads, played the role of the siblings, Luke and Rose Watts, both of whom were looking for a way to buy back their father’s dance hall after their hateful stepmother, sold off all his property following his death.

Added to that, both aspired to become dance instructors. Therefore, winning the competition, would give them, not only enough money to buy back the dance hall but also, a solid achievement and renown to make their dreams possible.

Sharon Winters, played the role of rich girl Veronica Boon, a rich-second generation heir who found ballet way too stiff for her tomboyish and carefree nature despite her parents’ protests.

Tyler Reeds, played the role of the main antagonist and prideful dance prodigy Xander Wayne who had never lost a dance competition all his life and wasn’t willing to for the foreseeable future, even if that meant he’d need to crush an opposition outside of the dance competition.

Melissa, Josh and Spencer, played the roles of side characters Baby, Bones and B-box, all nicknamed street dancers whom were looking to for their ticket to stardom in Hollywood as a hired dance group.

As for Justin King, he should’ve played the role of Lance Knight, a youngster who has a bit of a complicated relationship with his purpose in life and his passion.

That role, now belonged to Kyle.

“You’re all quite excited, aren’t you?” Maya, unrestrained and bubbly as ever with her dark-brown irises and similarly dark brown hair, said to the main cast whom were on set for the current scene.

All seven were seated in the corner of the restaurant that gave a great but not perfect view of the scene that was about to be shot.

There were also other extras on set, most of them occupying the rest of the restaurant to give it a packed atmosphere.

Currently, Danny was giving a few orders to Kyle, alongside a burly looking actress whom had previously been a wrestling champion but was now trying her hand at acting for a change in career.

The scene too was being set as Kyle and Rebecca Sablinova, nodded in understanding to Danny’s instructions.

“I think you should calm down first.” Reggie, resembling his pretty sister in the looks department, glanced over to the lady whose fingers were constantly tapping on the table in excitement, after which he then properly responded, a more subdued feel of excitement to his tone;

“But yeah, I’d like to witness his acting first hand.”

To that, the rest of the cast nodded, save for Sharon who had her eyes closed as she tried to get into her character’s skin.

Sure she was just as excited but, where other actors found it a bit easy to get into character, she typically needed about a minute to fully immerse herself in the role.

Also, the fact that she was going to be acting with Kyle soon, meant that she needed to temporarily kill off the attraction she had towards him to fully nail her part in the next scene after this.

However just as she opened her eyes, her entire demeanor changing to that of Veronica’s carefree nature, she leaned on the table, her gaze focused on the scene before her as Danny ordered;

“BEGIN!”