The Cutting Floor ~ Scene One

           Roxy Colt.

           People would say that it was the name of a star. When really, it was a hand-me-down from her great-great grandparents from somewhere in Wales. Roxy- full name Roxanna- had a sister named Angel and a baby brother named Sander. It just seemed her parents’ goal to make their kids stick out, whether they wanted the attention or not.

           They must’ve had some sort of bet going with God. Roxy figured to herself. Course, Mom holds that she uses the name to remind me how rocky my birth was.

           Regardless of her name, and popular demand, Roxy had confirmed that the stage and lights weren’t for her. Unless she was setting them up. Her first ‘stage’ had been the set pieces of ‘Grease Lightenin’ for her high school’s production of Grease. Since then, she had graduated to shooting and editing TV shows out of Hollywood. Yes, Roxanna Colt had made it to Hollywood. And she was witnessing everything it had to offer.

           “I’ve come to view Hollywood as one big mask-making workshop.” She’d quoted to a reporter once- anonymously, of course. Roxy had recently switched studios, working with tag-team Jeff Goldmen and Marcus Ferry for the past two years on Grading. It was the latest pre-teen comedy drama that was taking the network’s ratings by storm. The elements put forth by its writers had been risky. Which was why Roxy had put her best resume forth when it got green-lit. And now, she steered Camera 3 over the sets, zooming, panning, and keeping her lens consistent with the emotions of the actors on the other end of it. And she loved it… she really did.

           “What’re you thinking about? Your face’s looking pretty deep there.”

           “Sorry,” Roxy gave a shrug on the comforter of her bed. She looked at the curly-haired Glennette Davis, who was inspecting her closet. “My brain falls into exposition mode sometimes, at the end of a long day. Sometimes in the voice of the Allstate commercial guy.”

           Glennette turned from her closet, giving Roxy that weirded-out look any teenager would give an adult. “Ok then… why that guy?”

           Oh, how to explain the sexiness of a deep baritone. Roxy giggled in her thought bubble. She propped up on her elbow to see what Glennette’s assessment was of her wardrobe. She’d been lying on her bed and letting the teen rummage where she may. Roxy had a meeting coming up and had never been in favor of dressing up. Glennette had stated that she was the only one who could help her… and she was right. Two years working on the show, and this was the first meeting that Roxy was attending. Mostly because, all of a sudden, her presence was needed there.

           “See anything that’s doable?” Roxy ventured to Glennette.

           “Only for the Main Street hoedown.” Came her snarky reply.

           “Please,” Roxy rolled her eyes at the ceiling fan. “You think every place outside the LA limits is the boonies? I’m from Petaluma.”

           “So touchy.” Glennette mumbled over a striped tank top. “White people.”

           “Young people.” Roxy countered with a conscious study of her own pale hand. “So overly confident... white, black, or orange.”

           Glennette lifted her round, adorable ebony nose, marching to the bed with an armful of clothes. “I’m confident that I got more style then you.”

           With that, she dropped a pair of faded black jeans beside Roxy and began running a number of shirts beside them. At the fourth one, a flowing mint-green, she smiled. “Get some high-heeled sandals on and you’re good to go.”

           Not that I wish to go in the first place. Roxy dreaded, even as she applauded Glennette’s efforts. “That’s why you’re in front of the cameras and not me.”

           Glennette’s face tempered a little at the mention of cameras. She fussed with the shirt a moment, then glanced awkwardly at Roxy. “Those- expositions you say to yourself.”

           Roxy blushed. “Yeah?”

           “Am I in them?”

           That was a rhetorical question at this point. She had gotten to know Glennette better in the last two months then in the show's entire run. It was December and, for the actors and crew, the start of the season’s hiatus. In years prior, they had known about a green light for another season long before that. This was different though. Because Glennette was fifteen; and as of December, three months pregnant.

           “What do you say to yourself about me?” Glennette pressed, her hands still messing with the shirt. “And where’s your jewelry? You need bling.”

           Roxy pointed to the other side of her bed. She watched Glennette walk over and wrestle with the simple hook for the jewelry cabinet. It was too big a piece for an LA bedroom, but it had been handed down from Roxy’s aforementioned grandmother; a few layers of lacquer removed.

           “I remind myself that I’m thinking about you.” Roxy told her. “That, you must be scared, confused, wondering what happens now… or where it all went wrong.”

           Glennette fingered Roxy’s necklaces, which where few. “That’s sappy.”

           Roxy shrugged. “You asked.”

           “You shouldn’t get hung up on me.” Glennette yanked a necklace off of its hook. “Worry about whether you still have a job.”

           “I’ll worry about that after I’m sure that you’re ok.” Roxy eyed the necklace; who had given her that? “Or I can worry about them at the same time. Mankind’s track record of multi-worrying is unbeatable-“

           “I’m NEVER gonna be ok.” Glennette dropped the necklace on top of the shirt, a tear falling with it. “Never again! My career’s over and from now on, everywhere I go, I’m gonna be ‘that girl’.”

           She looked up so Roxy would see the dark trails of tears on her cheeks. “You know that saying 'Everybody's doing it?' Apparently, that doesn't matter when it's you. Nobody looks at me the same, if they look at me at all. Course, they have plenty of glances for my stomach.”

           She lifted up her own ruffled yellow shirt, exposing her flat belly. Her flat, no-flab belly. There was hardly any flab to any of Glennette’s limbs. The sort of profile that Hollywood looked for, nine times out of ten. So there was that, and she was short. Roxy found it hard to see Glennette carrying anything above a fanny pack around her waist. Course, she’d never voice that sentence out loud.

           “Like they’ve never seen one before.” Glennette lowered her shirt and crossed he arms over it. Roxy sat up then, her full attention on the teen. Glennette wiped her eyes as they narrowed on Roxy. “When are you gonna start staring, huh? Why don’t you go out and whisper with everyone else? Give them the scoop on how a pregnant teen acts.”

           “I’m not gonna do that, Glennette.” Roxy shook her head.

           “Well,” Glennette eyed her obscurely. “You should.”

           “Nah.”

           “Why not?”

           “Probably because David forgave Saul.”

           Glennette’s weirded-out look reached a new level. “What!?”

           “David.” Roxy repeated, pointing a finger to the fat and wrinkled Bible she kept on top of the cabinet. "Before he was king, this guy Saul was. Saul got jealous of David’s popularity and tried to kill him. David was on the run for years and Saul never stopped hunting him; until Saul was killed by a rival army. David wept for him when he heard the news. Then killed the man who had killed Saul.”

           “He what now!” Glennette backed up from the bed. “The man who… what?”

           “I know.” Roxy agreed. “David held nothing against Saul, but mourned him as a friend and avenged him, sort of. And again and again, God uses David as an example of Christian behavior…" she paused, watching Glennette process this. Her faith was no secret around the studio; but also not a widely-talked about subject. Glennette wanted answers however, and Roxy's belief held them. 
            "I’m saying that you’re going to have to be responsible for your actions, Glennette." Roxy told her "But I’m not going to hold those actions against you for the rest of your life.”

           Glennette clearly didn’t know what to do with that. She had been getting plenty of talks in her ear lately, since news of the baby had reached her parents, and then, this week, the two directors of the show. Both the Davis’ and Roxy would be speaking with them at the meeting with a network representative.

Roxy had been the first to figure it out, after catching Glennette puking in the bathroom of a neighboring lot. Roxy had figured that once her parents learned about it- as she’d insisted Glennette tell them- that she’d fade back behind the camera and watch the drama unfold in its natural lighting. But then her folks had pulled the ‘don’t tell a soul’ card and now, Roxy was Glennette’s only emotional outlet until it could be decided what to do.

Hence, Roxy’s appearance tonight. Uggghhhh…

“T-Then what?” Glennette’s tears had gone into sobs now. “If you’re not gonna stare, you’re obviously not whispering, so what are you going to do?”

“Pray that these choices will make you a better, wiser, person.” Roxy said.

“That sounds like so much crap.” Glennette shot back without a blink.

“That’s all I’ve got.” Roxy said, adding in another shrug. She’d had almost a month to think about this, same as Glennette’s parents. Think about what God needed her to say. Roxy had had to learn the hard way, that you needed to listen.

 Glennette’s hands went back to her stomach, rubbing at it. “I haven’t even told him yet. Mom says to let the agent handle ‘breaking the news’, which means he might find out before I get the chance…”

 “You want to use my phone?” Roxy threw out, her mind on her cell tucked in her pocket. That was the burning question that Glennette had not divulged. And her eyes had taken on the scared look that entered them every time the subject came up.

 “I think it would mean a lot more if he heard it from you.” Roxy prompted.

 Glennette surprised her with a nod. “He would. He’s not… We… we were each other’s… first.”

“Okay.”

Glennette snorted. “Of course you wouldn’t ask who.”

Cue your soap opera close up. Roxy snarked to herself. “It’s killing me, believe me, this lack of information. But I won’t make it my business unless you want-”

             Glennette dropped her hands from her stomach and looked Roxy head-on. “It’s Blake.”

[CUT TO NEXT SCENE]