‘Tolu?’ he said and an actress at the other end of the line followed him in.

‘Good luck!’ Simi beamed with an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Tolu gave her a perplexed look before closing the door behind herself.

How Sandra was that? Simi smirked.

According to the signing-in sheet, Simi was next. She instinctively looked to her phone for Meagan’s usual good-luck message but there was nothing. Simi really hoped their rift would soon pass because she was starting to miss Meagan too. What with one thing or another, things were getting out of kilter between all three of them and Simi didn’t like it one bit. To take her mind of her friendship woes, she practised flashing a Sandra Scott grin. As she hit full-beam, Antonia’s office door opened. Tolu came trotting out, thanking them profusely. Simi watched her pace down the corridor.

‘All the best!’ Simi whispered, waving crossed fingers at her.

Tolu sneered at Simi before disappearing through the double doors.

‘Simi Oladipo,’ an expressionless Gabe called as he poked his gaunt face into the corridor.

Go, go Sandra Mark II, Simi intoned as she swished her imaginary weave and sauntered into the casting room.

‘So,’ said Antonia clapping her hands on her thighs. ‘Bit of a weird one, this.’

‘I love weird!’ Simi simpered as Antonia’s smile hardened.

Wasn’t she loving this second coming of Sandra? Not a problem, Simi decided, ramping things up by randomly throwing her head back and laughing at nothing.

‘Are you okay, Simi?’ Antonia asked.

Simi stopped laughing.

‘Must be a sugar rush from the donut I had. I’ll bring you some next time!’ Simi cawed.

Antonia cleared her throat. ‘Actually, I’m trying to get my cholesterol down. So, as I was saying, this role is a bit of a weird one. Obviously, she doesn’t say much so I thought we’d improvise.’

Gabe glared at Simi who had broken out into a cold sweat. Every actor had a fib on their CV like ballet or long-swording and Simi’s was improvisation. She couldn’t improvise her way out of a supermarket car park.

‘Great,’ she lied, stealing a glance at Gabe who had a tiny smirk on his skinny face.

Simi was certain he knew. Gabe dragged the camera tripod back to give Simi more playing space – or room to hang herself. It was time to drop the Sandra imitation, Simi realised. Playing a role to get a role was not going to help. She could do this. Besides, how wrong could it go if all she had to say was ‘Cake!’

‘Don’t look so worried. You don’t just have to say “Cake”. Let it go wherever it wants,’ said Antonia as she limbered up with some gentle neck rolls.

Was this an improv session or a kick-boxing fight, Simi panicked. Whichever, she was going to get battered.

‘Okay, imagine you’re in the kitchen probably baking a cake,’ said Antonia chortling at her joke.

Simi tried to smile back but it manifested as a wide sneer due to her mounting terror. This is ridiculous, she thought. This character is in one scene and says literally the same word over and over again. Why were they improvising?