Disclaimer: I do not intend for anyone to mistake this as being true and real. It is a fictional story involving fake versions of celebrities all over the age of 18.
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Chapter 2: Old School
November 2012
It appeared that I had become the go-to guy for 'The Lowdown' when it came to interviewing high-profile actresses, as it wasn't long after Jennifer that I found myself talking to Anne Hathaway. She was nice enough, a pleasant person to talk to and she seemed to know exactly what I wanted to hear. This wasn't surprising, after all she'd already had quite a few features with 'The Lowdown' in the past, so it's likely she probably knew more than me about it.
'This is pretty good,' my boss, Steven Saunders stated after reading through my rough draft of the article. 'She's a pro that Hathaway,' he said.
'Thanks, I had a good read of the previous articles before talking to her, so I could get a good idea of what I could get away with,' I said, watching his eyes as he continued to look over my work.
'I think you could have gotten away with more,' Steven said sternly, placing the article down on the desk.
'What makes you say that?' I asked, looking at my older boss in the eyes, he had a good fifteen years on me, and you could see the experience in the way that he looked at me.
'Well you may have noticed that all the previous articles written about Anne were all written by the same person... me,' he said.
'Really?' I asked. I couldn't believe that I didn't notice something so obvious.
'Yeah, really,' he responded. 'So I know from experience that she's willing to offer up a little bit more than she did here.'
'I read your articles though, and I didn't see anything more racy than what I managed to get,' I said, trying to think about what I may have missed.
He furrowed his brow, slightly frustrated with the point in the conversation he'd brought us to. 'That's probably because you haven't read the original version of the articles,' he admitted.
'To be fair, I shouldn't be expected to have read something that was never released,' I said, feeling quite sure that Steven was being a tad unreasonable.
'You're right, honestly I guess I'm just feeling a little nostalgic for my early days... today marks two years since I've been the editor here and well... I probably would have been doing this article if I wasn't,' he said.
I was starting to feel awkward, it felt like Steven was about to open up to me or something and to be honest I was in no mood. 'Sir, can I head off?' I asked suddenly. 'I mean, are you happy with the article?'
He considered me for a moment. 'You're good Des... but...' He stood up and pulled a key out from his pocket and made for the file cabinet to his left.
I followed him. 'Des, I'd like you to give this a read,' Steven said as I approached the cabinet and noticed that inside were many folders with many famous names; Halle Berry, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez to name a few.
'Are these-?'
'The original undoctored versions of my articles,' he finished, pulling out one of a few labelled Anne Hathaway, this one had the year 2003 marked on it.
'Why weren't they ever published?' I asked as he opened up the folder and flicked through the pages.
'Well for one part, they're barely articles, more diary entries, which is how I form things before I make them into the articles you read,' he said, handing me the folder.
'And the other part?' I questioned as I looked at the first page.
'Well, it gets a bit too personal, I couldn't possibly reveal to the world what is written in these pages, careers, marriages and lives would be ruined,' he said, closing the cabinet and locking it again.
'Can I take it home?' I asked.
'Go ahead, but remember I'll fire you and promptly sue the living shit out of you if you ever show anyone else,' he said calmly, returning to his desk.
I left the office and made my way back home, quickly getting to my desk excited to read what Steven had experienced.
*
I thought that being on the job for four years meant that nothing could surprise me. I thought wrong. Chief Johnson sent me to follow around Disney good girl Anne Hathaway for a few days while she shoots her new film around Los Angeles. The new movie in question is to be called Havoc and it will be her coming out party as a legitimate actress. Up until now I'd never even really thought of Anne as anything besides what she had been sold to me as, a kid... but this last weekend... well I certainly don't see her as the star of The Princess Diaries.
I showed up to the set just as she was finishing up shooting a scene, she was wearing light pink lipstick, hoop earrings, a black singlet with a very visible lace black bra underneath and big denim jeans with a thick three prong belt. That matched with the books and the heavy eye make-up really screamed of a young star wanting to be taken seriously, but she assured me that this was merely for the scene.
'So what kind of scene were you shooting?' I asked as we entered my car, she wanted to take me to some kind of party.
'Basically the scene is me faking an orgasm while my boyfriend films it,' Anne responded coolly, as if what she was saying wasn't basically sacrilege coming from her Disney branded lips.
'That's a huge departure from everything you've done up until now,' I said. 'Is that the reason you took on a role like this?'
'A little bit,' she said, smiling at me as she put her seatbelt on. 'I don't want to quickly get typecast as a good girl you know?'
'Sort of like what's happening to Lindsay Lohan,' I said as I started the car.
'Exactly,' she said. 'I don't want to become too heavily associated with all of that stuff so that people get outraged when I do something different.'
'It's smart,' I said. 'It would take something pretty major for Lindsay to stop being seen the way she does.'
'Yeah,' she said. 'I just want to be ahead of the curve.'
