They hung up, and Star grabbed his clothes that were thrown all over the floor as he went to the bathroom to do one more check, and sure enough, the ears were still there. “How the hell did this happen? Is this a curse for being given a second chance?” Star stood back, looking down, and realized that his body had changed some now that he was back to being human. He ran his fingers over the smoothness of his skin, noticing how defined his muscles were, giving him a sleek appearance, not to mention the freckles that circled his belly button.
“Okay, that's new.”
Sighing, he raised his head and glared at the cat's ears.What the fuck am I going to do? Maybe I should see a doctor? Wait, I can't do that; they'd think I’ve lost every ounce of my mind if I told them I shifted into a cat and the ears were a result, not some cosmetic surgery. I'm just going to hide them.“Fuck, just go away,” he snapped at the ears, and to his surprise, they shrank until they disappeared.
With eyes wide, Star carded his fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp when he felt nothing. He moved closer to the mirror and dug through his hair, twisting his head this way and that, making sure they were truly gone. He sagged against the counter in relief before a giggle burst out of him.
“What the holy fuck is happening to me? First, I was killed, brought back to life, and now I can turn into a house cat.” Star shook his head at the absurdity that was his life. He really felt as if he was in one of the paranormal books he used to read. The only difference was they were romances, and the main character always hooked up with some hot dude who loved them forever. Something like that would never happen to him.
Star looked back at the mirror. “If my life is turning into a book, I should do what the hero does and take this shit in stride. All right, shake it off, Rueng. You're only two days into your new life, so no more damn freakouts. No matter what comes next.”
After his pep talk, Star dressed and prepared to start his day. He had a lot to do before the audition in a few days. And since he was trying to do things without a manager or agent to put in a good word for him, there was research he had to get done. But first, he needed to eat. He was starving in the worst way and didn’t want to investigate why he was dying for a succulent piece of fish filet marinated in fresh herbs and lemon.
Grabbing his cell phone off the counter, he noticed he had a missed call but didn't recognize the number. Shrugging his shoulders, he stuffed the device in his backpack, along with whatever he needed, and headed out the door.
No looking back, Star. It's time to look forward.
* * *
A week later,Star found himself sitting in a large room along with fifty or more people waiting for their chance to show their worth as an actor. A few came with their managers or agents, and then there was the group he belonged to who represented themselves. Over the past few days, Star had been so focused, while still waiting for the sky to fall on his head.
He hadn't woken up in cat form, and had seen neither hide nor hair of those pointed ears. With that out of the way, he could focus on other things, like getting new headshots and compiling all the work he'd done so far, which wasn't much if he was going for a lead role. Star did not want to leave anything off the table and hoped to impress the casting director with his resume. His only worry was how sparse it was after rewinding time, but he made sure to include the name of the drama school he attended, even if it wasn’t famous, plus the walk-ons and extras he played, and his modeling and dancing experience.
Star thought back and realized that around this time during his first life, he’d been on his way to New York to participate in his first fashion show. The first few months after he signed with Equi-Noxx, things went so smoothly with his job and relationship. He never could’ve guessed he'd end up in prison a couple of years later.
That won't happen this time around. I've cut Thornton out of my life, and I'm turning over a new leaf.Star was going to work hard no matter what job he got.He would not repeat his past, or that was what he kept telling himself.I have to get this job, or fuck, any role will do at this point.
He wasn't sure if it was pressure or the fact that he was running away from his past, but Tanner's nagging about moving to Valleywood was getting to him. But that would only work if he had something to stick around for. But he was grateful for Tanner as well. Although his friend was on a business trip, he took time to get Star's tape and package to the audition team and get Star on the audition list. Not only that, he sent Star four more audition scripts.
Star studied the scripts and researched the studio and agency producing the shows. Until last week, Valleywood Studios was to hold the auditions, but now, the After Life production and streaming company held the rights to the scripts. The entire time Star was researching, he wondered why, in his past life, he’d never heard of Valleywood Studios, Abandon Talent Agency, After Life, or any other names he came across.
There were celebrities he recognized, like Blue Lenoxx, who was in a pop boy band in Star's last life but was now an actor in one of the top five programs on television. Star couldn't determine if he was going crazy or if his rebirth changed his life and others. Also, Blue Lenoxx was signed to Abandon Talent Agency, when Star was sure that he was with a different company in his previous life. One thing remained the same; Blue had the same manager in both lifetimes.
Another thing that Star found while he dived further down the rabbit hole was VikVok, a social media application that was apparently used worldwide. Star was even more sure that the app had never existed before, and that feeling of being in a different time or place kept coming back to him.
Maybe I really am in a paranormal book. How else would it explain my turning into a cat? But then, what about Thornton, Dent, and Tanner? They are people from my previous life who seem normal, or maybe that's what I want to believe. Could I be in a parallel world instead? If I am, I can't deny things seem just a bit better this time around.
Star smiled, thinking about his VikVok followers. In just under a week, he raked in over fifty thousand followers, who enjoyed watching him cook, sing, dance, and do anything he could think of, hoping that some manager or agent would notice him and want to sign him. In his previous life, he'd only gotten to that same number of fans after he'd been modeling for a couple of years.
“Shit, is that who I think it is?” the guy sitting next to Star said, pulling him from his thoughts.
Star looked at the guy and then followed his line of sight, and his eyes widened instantly the second he saw two people he recognized. The first person was the director, producer, and actor Anubis Ahket. He was also the man Star had seen in De la Lune Noire, the French restaurant from last week. It was announced some time ago the man was nominated for a Pegasus award.
Even after doing some more research, Star didn’t know what it was, but he found out the award was a big-ass deal. Star bit his bottom lip as he openly stared at the tall man. He had looked good in a suit but today was dressed in a simple long-sleeved t-shirt, dark jeans, and boots, not to mention his dark locks were loose and resting on his muscular shoulders. He looked utterly fuckable.
Reluctantly, Star's gaze moved away from the handsome Anubis and stopped on the petite, curvy, brown-skinned female with neatly styled shoulder-length dreadlocks. Vivienne Presley, or Vee to him, was standing just a few feet away from him. Star was excited to see her, but what he had learned over the past few days was nothing was as it seemed.
The woman looked like his best friend. However, she was dressed in a power suit that was so unlike the Vee he knew, whose style was jeans and a graphic t-shirt, with five different colors in her hair. And if Star recalled, Vee had graduated from college two years before their meeting, before she started working as his assistant. From the looks of this, the Vee in front of him did not appear to be anyone's assistant. That crazy feeling that he'd woken up in a different world tingled in the back of his mind, but he pushed it to the side and turned to the guy beside him.
“Hey, who are they?” he asked.
Star noticed that since Anubis and Vee walked into the room, people hadn't stopped staring at them. With Anubis, Star could understand the fascination because the man was a celebrity, but what about Vee?
The guy glared at Star as if he had asked the dumbest question in the world. “Fuck, dude, what rock have you been living under if you don't know who Anubis Ahket and Vivienne Presley are?” The guy rolled his eyes. “Dude, do yourself a favor and leave and give a chance to the rest of us who would kill to have a gold star manager like Vivienne Presley, who got her start right out of college, so we can be in one of Anubis Ahket's productions.”
The guy scooted away from Star, as if he didn’t want to be associated with him in any way. However, Star didn't care about the guy's attitude since he was stuck on Vee being a celebrity manager.
Holy hell, am I really in a parallel world?
