Notebook || Leonardo DiCaprio

Chapter 3: Special Treatment

I stood in front of the bathroom mirror a bit longer than usual as I adjusted the rare curls in my black hair. Usually I didn't bother styling my hair, since it had a natural wave, but I wanted to look extra nice for Leo. I undid the the small, top button on my mint green long sleeved top, not wanting to be obvious about showing cleavage. My light colored high waist jeans completed the look, along with my dark brown beaded necklace. I just tugged on a pair of white Converse and I was ready to go, steadying my breathing as Cydnee showed up from the small area with a microwave.

"You look really nice today, Diana. Are you trying to impress someone?" She wore a faint smirk as I rolled my eyes.

"You know I am. After last night I feel like Leo might like me too, or there might be a chance he will. I mean, he didn't have to walk me to my dormitory, let alone talk with me that much."

"Do you want me to hit your backpack out of your hands again?"

"No! That would just look suspicious now," I huffed, breezing past her to open the door.

"I was only kidding. Now that you two have started talking, I don't have to force you together."

I swear my heart was beating faster than usual as we strolled to the Arts building. I inhaled deeply before we entered the familiar classroom, us taking random available seats.

"Hello, it's nice to see you all here again this afternoon. I thought we could try a different approach today, one of the hardest forms of acting I've done. I guess you could call it the Patty Duke effect." I think he fleetingly winked at me, but it was hard to tell, my cheeks turning red. "I want you to play two completely different characters, but as though they're identical looking, such as cousins, twins, kings...," he trailed off, people laughing quietly since he was referencing his movie, The Man in the Iron Mask. "The point is, you need to make me believe that you are two different people in the same scene. So, I'm going to give you each a script, and then you must go up there and demonstrate for me. I'll critique anything that's not right, and give you constructive criticism to help you improve." I felt nervous as he handed out the scripts, Cydnee smiling softly at hers.

"I got a scene from the original The Parent Trap. What did you get?" She strained her neck to see my sheets of stapled papers.

"A scene from The Patty Duke Show," I blushed, chewing on my lower lip as I thought how I already knew exactly how to do this. It almost seemed like an unfair disadvantage with how long I had observed the characters.

"Don't you find it peculiar we look so much alike and have the same birthday," Cydnee inquired as she played one of the roles on stage. Leo put his hand near his mouth as he observed her skills, me pretty impressed by the first twin she was playing. She then had to completely switch as she stepped over, being the other person. "It's just one of those things."

"Great! That's great, but Cydnee, you need to show the slight difference in their personality even in the most subtle way. It's more than just acting well. You have to be each individual character. Even twins aren't exactly alike, no matter how similar they may seem. Remember one of you is from California and the other the east cost, so you are two completely different people. Start again."

"Don't you find it peculiar we look so much alike and have the same birthday," she repeated, a hint of something more now in her performance. She then changed into the second person. "It's just one of those things."

"Much better!" Leo even clapped slowly in an appreciative manner. "Just remember even though in movies they usually have different hairstyles or clothes, that's not enough to rely your acting on. You have to give life to these different personality types. Bobby, you're next."

One of the boys went up there, actually doing The Man in the Iron Mask, and I was shocked when Leo found something wrong, since he was the best student in our class. Of course I did see what he meant once he voiced it, figuring that would be one of the easier scripts, since it was basically evil versus good.

I was trembling when it was my turn, clearing my throat quietly before closing my eyes on the platform. I then imagined myself as Patty, doing the back and forth conversation between the two cousins.

"Imagine you not knowing the Hammer," I spoke, since it was a scene where they had just been practicing dancing in their house. "If my father were a foreign correspondent and I traveled all over the world with him, I'd know every dance there was."

"Father and I went to the ballet quite often," I said as Kathy, using a softer voice instead of the one filled with confidence.

"I'll bet." I didn't sound too enthusiastic as I stepped to the second 'x' made of tape below my feet. Leo had put them there to make the exercise easier.

"I've never been in a dance contest before. I'm a bit nervous." I tilted my head as I showed the slight anxiety on my face.

"It's just a bunch of kids coming over for some laughs. It's nothing to be nervous about."

"I wish I had your confidence. You're not afraid of anything."

"That's because there's nothing to be afraid of. It's all in your mind." I actually jumped when Leo talked to me, since I was completely immersed in the black and white 60's television program.

"That was perfect, Diana. I really felt you were each separate character. Just make sure you always go into that zone, because that's when an actor or actress truly becomes their character."

I smiled nicely before joining Cydnee to watch our remaining peers. After class I hung back on purpose as my best friend smirked before leaving.

"Can I help you," Leo beautifully smiled, gathering up papers.

"I really appreciate your compliments, but I'm not that great of an actress," I modestly admitted.

"Of course you are. You gave a stellar performance." He breezed past me as he organized things in his briefcase.

"No, the only reason I did so well is I know those characters by heart. I had an unfair advantage. I wanted you to critique me. I wanted to know what I could do to improve. I mean, doing this was like breathing air."

"Diana, you are a natural born actress."

"You can't say that with only being here for 2 days. I literally only made facial expressions yesterday, and the surprise was just a fluke, because I couldn't believe you were our celebrity mentor."

"Look, I was just trying to make you feel comfortable. I didn't mean to give you special treatment or anything. I just wanted you to know I remembered what we talked about last night."

"Why would it matter if you remembered? We're student and teacher, not friends or anything," I mumbled on the end.

He paused with his back to me, biting his lower lip before facing me. "I just wanted you to know I was listening, okay?" His voice had softened as those ocean eyes found mine. "I can give you more challenging things to do from now on, okay?"

"Okay. I'm glad we got that straightened out," I weakly smiled, already walking towards the door when he stopped me.

"Goodnight, Diana," he called, me chancing looking over my shoulder as I smiled a little more.

"Goodnight, Mr. DiCaprio."

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please remember to comment, vote, and follow. Thank you so much! <3