Page 18 of Witch You Would
Everything suddenly went quiet as a storm blew in. Isaac Knight, the showrunner. His brown hair was rumpled like he’d beenrunning his hands through it, and his goatee was starting to take over the rest of his face and neck. Like most of the PAs,he wore jeans and a hoodie, but unlike them he’d paid extra for designer logos. He couldn’t have been much taller than me,but his vibes filled the room as he looked around. Chisme online said some people called him Isaac Nightmare because he washard to work with. I couldn’t imagine he was much worse than Ofelia and some customers I’d had; maybe I needed to imagineharder. He focused on me and the rest of the contestants, and it was like looking into the black eyes of a shark.
“You five,” he said, pointing in our direction. “Stand next to your stations so I can see how you look.”
We hadn’t been told which stations were ours, so none of us moved.
A lady in a black turtleneck and jeans with an asymmetrical brown bob spoke up. “Amy, you’re red. Quentin, orange. Felicia,yellow. Dylan, green, and Penelope, blue.”
We scrambled past each other, almost colliding. Then we all stared expectantly at Isaac.
Isaac frowned. At me. What did I do?
“Tori, why isn’t she team yellow?” Isaac asked. “She’s wearing yellow.”
“She’s also wearing red and orange,” Tori of the turtleneck said slowly, picking each word like it was a melon at the grocery store. “Do you want wardrobe to—”
“No, just switch them around,” Isaac said, flapping his hand. “Isn’t her celebrity wearing yellow, too? It works. Matchy-matchy.”
My pulse sped up. I tried to remember if I’d ever seen Charlotte wearing yellow.
“Okay,” Tori said. “But Felicia is wearing pink.”
“And her celebrity is wearing blue. Swap them.”
Tori tapped something into her tablet as Felicia and I traded places. Now I was in the back left and she was center back.I swallowed spit and tried not to fidget.
“Everybody look eager and excited,” Isaac said. “Nate, give me medium and close shots of each of them.”
He turned and walked out. I kept swallowing. How was my mouth so dry? Look excited, he’d said. I put on my retail smile. Theauditions had been stressful, but this was a whole other level.
And we hadn’t even started spell-casting yet.
After a hundred years of staring past the camera at the entrance, then at camera guy Nate’s shoulder, attempting to emit positiveenergy while the giant lights around us shifted miniscule amounts, Isaac came back and pronounced us ready.
“Get the talent in here,” he told Tori, slurping a green smoothie through a giant straw.
The drink reminded me of Rosy, dancing as she made batidos, humming along with the restaurant music. I wouldn’t get to seeher as much now that I was fired, not unless I got another job in that shopping center. Maybe at the daycare? Or the gym?Or the Vaquita up the street?
It hit me that I had never really expected to win this competition. Sure, I’d daydreamed about money and time to work on my abuela’s spellbook, about meeting famous people and impressing them enough that they’d hire me. But I’d never thought through how much my life might change, because I didn’t really believe it would. Every step of the audition process, I waited to get the call or email telling me I was out. Every time I made it to the next stage, the only person I could celebrate with was Emelia, so none of it felt real.
But it was. It so was. And I could win, damn it. If I was good enough to be here, I was good enough to go all the way.
If only I could make myself believe that.
Rachel reappeared, followed by the host ofCast Judgment, Syd Hart. They were tall and thin, with pale skin and long black hair, and tiny crow’s-feet around their blue eyes thattold you they smiled a lot. They wore a leopard-print shirt under a black leather jacket, a look I could never pull off. Onthe show and in interviews, they were goofy and told a lot of jokes, but maybe they were more serious in real life?
“Syd will start with their usual thing,” Isaac said. “Contestant intros, then judges, then we’ll do the celebrity pairs. Anyquestions?”
“One question,” Syd said. Isaac made aget on with itcircular motion with his hand.
“What is a witch’s favorite subject in school?” Syd asked.
Everyone stared at them. Nate snickered.
I raised my hand. “Spelling?”
“Correct!” Syd grinned and tossed something at me.
A lemon candy. I felt like I was in third grade again, getting a treat from the teacher. And suddenly, I wasn’t as nervousanymore.
