Crash

Location

After her rehearsal with Jasper wrapped up, Penelope showered, changed clothes and jumped in her car to drive to work. She hummed a peppy song as she drove, giving herself a metaphorical pat on the back for fooling Jasper earlier in the day. 

The sun was shining as she pulled up to the studio gates. After a quick exchange with Harry the security guard, she was waved through, straight to head offices, where she parked her car and made her way towards the building. A few of the crew waved to her as she went, shouting greetings and dad jokes. 

"Morning Sidney," Penelope said to the middle aged woman on the front desk. Sidney was well-loved by all the cast and crew, a grandma figure who wore eccentric purple-framed glasses and hand knitted cardigans. 

"Good morning my dear," Sidney cooed, handing her the sign in sheet with a smile and a mint sweet balanced on top. "Feeling better? Our Logan tells me you weren't feeling too well last night."

Great, Penelope cursed. Thanks for that, Logan. "Much better, thanks Sidney. Think I must have just been overtired, that's all."

Sidney gave her a sympathetic look, handing her another mint sweet like she was a puppy begging for treats. "It's all that work you do dear. It's too much, you need a holiday!"

"No time for that!" she called, heading over to the stairs as naturally as she could. 

"Go carefully my lovie!" Sidney cried after her, waving another wrapped mint. 

"I will!" Penelope called back, blowing her friend a kiss as she went. The rest of the walk, all the way up the stairs towards the reading room, was uninterrupted. Her eyes found the pictures on the walls as she walked, various posters for shows and movies the studio had produced over the years. She spotted herself a few times, alongside Logan in a range of poses. The more popular the show, the bigger the poster, and as Percy Jackson had aged, it had only grown in reputation. Towards the end of the wall, the posters were almost as big as her entire body. 

Inside the reading room, her seat was one of the only few that was still empty. She saw Jules and Cameron, the producers, sat at the far end. Camille, head of casting, was next to them, scribbling notes in a small red book. Their director, Li, was sat at the head of the table, her hands clasped together, waiting for the clock to strike 3 so they could start. The cast members occupied most of the other seats, conversing in low tones as they waited for Li to clap her hands for silence. Penelope smiled at Logan and Charlotte as she took her seat between them, flicking through the first few pages of the script on the table in front of her. 

"Hey," Logan said to her, rubbing his eyes. He looked tired, as though he didn't get enough sleep, and his hair was messy, like he'd forgotten to brush it. 

"Hey Lo," she replied, quickly reaching out to ruffle her fingers through his hair. "There," she announced, "all better."

"Thanks," he grumbled. "Charlotte said you were sick. You okay?"

"Yeah yeah. I'm good. Just a headache, that's all."

"Must be something going around," Charlotte butted in. "The driver you were talking to left as well. Small world, I guess."

Penelope swallowed, doing her best to seem uninterested. "Yeah. For sure."

Just as Penelope was starting to worry she didn't sell it, a clear, concise clap rang through the room, setting a down a blanket of silence. Li was on her feet, signalling that it was time to begin the read. Penelope turned her attention away from the conversation and towards the script in front of her, ready to go. 

Today, they were reading for episode 5 of the seventh series, titled 'Neptune.' The episode was pretty Percy-heavy, and due to that, Penelope didn't really have much to do. She had a few lines towards the end of the script, but other than that she simply sat and listened to the others, laughing on cue and gasping in the tense moments. Over the years, she had done so many of these that it almost came as a second nature. She was just going through the motions, and it had been that way for a while. Two hours went by pretty quickly, and Penelope hoped that no one had been able to notice the fact that she'd pretty much zoned out. 

As Logan read the final line, Li returned to her feet. "Good work today, everyone. Tomorrow, we start rehearsal for scene 5 and 7, please. Logan, I want you here an hour early so you can get into wardrobe before we start, and Dominica, same for you please. Jules and Cam, I'd like to meet regarding that end sequence, if possible I'm thinking we could change that. Oh, and Penelope, I'd like a word before you go. Everyone else, you're free to leave. See you bright and early tomorrow morning, please."

Logan and Charlotte both gave Penelope an encouraging thumbs up as they reluctantly followed the herd out the room. A one-on-one with Li could mean one of two things - either she was impressed with the work you were doing, or she was preparing to tell you that your character was going to be killed off in the following episodes. 

Li's face gave nothing away. "Take a seat, Penelope please. I'll be with you in a moment."

"Ah, okay," Penelope said, sitting hesitantly on the edge of the chair closest to Li's. Her leg bounced anxiously as she waited, fingers tapping against the table. 

"Okay, Penelope," Li declared as she retook her seat. "I just wanted to have a word about the upcoming episodes."

"Okay. Sure, yeah."

"Wonderful. So, there's a handful of episodes coming up in the second quarter of the season where I really want to push for a location fortnight. There's a beautiful setting in this small region of France that fits my criteria perfectly. But obviously I know time is tight for you at the minute, so I thought I'd run it past you to be sure."

Penelope's mouth tasted like acid. "Two more weeks on location? There's no way we could do it here?"

Li shook her head. "Not really. Look, I know you're busy and you're stressed, but I need to see that you're still committed to what we do here. I know you love your role, and your performance is always brilliant no matter what I throw at you. But this is important. Your job has to be a priority."

"It is, Li," Penelope promised. "Always. But this...this is a lot right now. I'll work with you, I'll put in extra time and do whatever I have to do, but I can't go to France. I'm really sorry."

Li let out a long sigh. "Alright. Thank you, Penelope. You're free to go."

Penelope's eyes grew wide as she began to panic. "Are you sure there's nothing else I can-"

"No. That will be all. See you tomorrow afternoon. I want another read for your scene to get a feel for the dynamic."

Penelope tried to swallow down the stinging lump in her throat. She nodded quickly, gripping onto the door handle so hard that her fingers hurt. "Okay! Thanks, Li. See you tomorrow."

She didn't wait long enough to hear her reply. 

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