‘You can’t catch me, Mr Walrus King!’ Ivy shouted, making the fish swim away.
Olivia shouted. ‘Mm, tasty fish!’ and chased Ivy over on to the stage area, which had a piano and big quilts hanging up on a laundry line.
‘This totally reminds me of The Parent Trap!’ Olivia said.
‘Let’s get together . . .’ Ivy started, knowing she was off-key but not caring.
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah!’ finished Olivia.
Ivy used the fish to play a little air guitar and hopped around the stage, but her foot caught on one of the cables on the floor and she lurched right towards a camera.
Olivia lunged, trying to stop Ivy crashing into it. But it was too late. All Ivy could do was twist at the very last second so that she landed on the fish, rather than on the camera.
‘Are you OK?’ Olivia asked as she helped Ivy get up.
Ivy nodded, relieved that she didn’t break anything – especially the equipment. She straightened her black wrap-around skirt, the good mood disappearing. ‘See?’ she said, wishing she was anywhere but here. ‘Me anywhere near a camera is a disaster waiting to happen.’
Chapter Eight
‘Girls?’ called Mr Vega.
Olivia hadn’t heard the door opening, but she turned to see Mr Vega, Lillian and Mr Harker walking into the studio.
‘We’re over here!’ she called.
‘But how did you know where we were?’ Ivy asked as they drew near.
Harker pushed his wild hair out of his face. ‘Big Kev said that he’d seen you coming in here.’
The name definitely suited him, Olivia thought, putting Wacky Walrus carefully back in his place on the display.
‘Everything is gravy for this summer’s filming,’ said Harker. ‘You two will be my leading ladies, and Lillian will chaperone, as well as acting as assistant director.’
‘And I’ll be on set as much as possible,’ said Mr Vega, smiling at Lillian.
‘So we just need to finish the paperwork.’ Harker grinned. ‘And you’ll both be hugely famous!’
Olivia watched her sister. Ivy had a grimace on her face. She’s only doing it to help me, Olivia knew. And it’s too much to ask.
‘Actually,’ Olivia said, struggling not to cry. ‘I don’t think we’re going to be able to do it after all.’ This felt like her greatest acting challenge yet – not to crumple in front of this hotshot producer.
Harker’s face fell and Mr Vega looked baffled.
‘What are you talking about, man?’ Harker said. ‘It’s all fixed.’
Mr Vega put his back to Harker and asked the girls quietly. ‘What’s going on? Should we leave?’
‘Olivia –’ Ivy started, but Olivia didn’t want to stop.
‘No, it’s fine,’ Olivia said to both of them. ‘Mr Harker, thank you for flying us all out here. I would totally love to be in your movie, but my sister?’ Olivia grabbed Ivy’s hand. ‘My sister would very much like not to be in your movie.’
‘Not to?’ Harker said, like she was speaking a different language.
‘Not to,’ Ivy confirmed. ‘Olivia is the actress – I’m a behind-the-scenes kind of girl.’
There was a moment of silence. ‘This is so not cool, man. SO not cool,’ Harker murmured, shaking his head.
Deep down, Olivia had known that this moment would come. It had all been too good to be true. ‘I’m sorry to put you through this trouble.’
‘I thought you girls were on the same wavelength as me.’ Harker was pacing up and down, running his hand through his hair. ‘I’ve got a lot of money riding on this. And you were so good in that Inside Hollywood interview . . .’
Harker seemed genuinely disappointed.
Olivia sighed. It just wasn’t meant to be, she thought.
‘Well, we’re not going to force Ivy into doing something she doesn’t want to do,’ said Mr Vega. ‘Come on, girls.’ He started walking to the door.
‘Nobody’s forcing anyone –’ Harker replied and Olivia felt the tension rise.
‘Wait a minute,’ Ivy said, stopping everyone. ‘Let’s get together!’
‘Huh?’ said Harker.
‘What do you mean, Ivy?’ asked Lillian softly.
‘I mean, that song from The Parent Trap!’ Ivy said. ‘The actress in that movie wasn’t a twin. She acted both sisters’ parts.’
Olivia wasn’t sure what Ivy was getting at.
‘Why can’t Olivia play both parts?’ Ivy said to Harker. ‘You’ve already seen her do goth in The Groves, and everyone knows that she’s perfect for Carmina. Think what a great selling point that will be! One actress, two roles!’
Harker narrowed his eyes and looked at Olivia. ‘Can you be a green-screen queen?’
‘What does that mean?’ Mr Vega asked.
‘She’d have to act with herself,’ Lillian explained, ‘filming half of the conversations in front of a green screen, so they could edit it to look like she was talking to herself.’
‘I really want to try,’ Olivia said, feeling a flash of hope.
‘Dude,’ said Harker. ‘This could work. It could be my new promotional twist. All those rumours about a second actress . . . we’d trip them out!’
Ivy made her fish do a little happy dance and Olivia wanted to join in.
‘We’ll set up some test screenings for tomorrow,’ Harker said. ‘But I’m jazzed, baby!’
He shook Mr Vega’s hand, and then Ivy’s. Then he pointed at Olivia. ‘You go and be a star tonight at the awards. Did I tell you? You’re up for the Bright New Star of this year. You just concentrate on that. We’ll seal the deal tomorrow.’
Then it hit her – not only had she not lost the part, she’d won a second part, and she only had four hours to get ready for the biggest night of her life!
Ivy was seeing stars. She was sitting in a luxurious green room filled with celebrities.
‘I can’t believe it!’ she whispered to Olivia.
She was less than ten feet away from James, Joe and John from the Killer Bees. Joe was twirling his drumsticks in the air and John had a tiny button on his t-shirt that said, ‘Buzz off’. It was almost impossible to keep her cool. She’d been texting brags to Brendan ever since the band had walked in.