‘Garrick, your twitchy audition was even better than I could have imagined for the part of Romeo – or Romezog, as you will be called,’ Camilla said.
‘Romezog, huh?’ Garrick said. ‘Will there still be all the kissing?’
‘The script isn’t changing much from the original,’ Camilla confirmed.
‘Oh yes!’ Garrick punched the air.
‘Oh no,’ Olivia groaned.
‘Congratulations on being Juliet, Olivia,’ Charlotte said, smirking.
‘Actually, it’s Julietron,’ Camilla corrected, pulling a short, plastic skirt and stiff sleeveless top off the rack and handing it to Olivia. It looked like a cheerleader’s outfit that had been dipped in liquid gold.
Cool, Olivia thought.
‘Charlotte, you will be Nanny-bot and wear this.’ She handed her a grey wig and a padded, shapeless dress made of silver fabric with pink rose appliqués ironed all over it.
‘Blech.’ Charlotte turned up her nose.
‘And, you, Jackson will be Merc-X88.’ She handed him a futuristic-looking knight costume where the helmet had tubes to join it to the breastplate. ‘As a relative of the Prince, you’re not an alien or a robot.’
‘I’m a cyborg,’ he said. ‘I’m both!’
‘Exactly,’ Camilla confirmed. She turned to Garrick. ‘You will be required to wear this.’
Romezog’s costume was green and had four arms on each side that were strung together to move whenever he moved his arms. There was also a hat with big eyes on springs, bouncing all over the place.
‘I can handle that,’ Garrick said, leering at Olivia. He blew her a kiss.
It turned her stomach.
Today should have been the best day ever. She had actually won the role of Juliet – plus she had a fabulous costume – but she hadn’t even considered that Jackson wouldn’t get the role of Romeo.
Now, not only was she not going to have her first kiss with Jackson while performing the most famous love story in the world – it was going to be with Garrick Stevens … dressed as an octopus.
Life couldn’t get much worse.
Chapter Four
‘What have you got in here?’ Brendan asked, pushing his long hair out of his face and hauling Ivy’s black duffel bag across the porch towards her dad’s car.
It was Saturday morning, after a week of intense rehearsals, and she and Olivia were just about to head off to Aunt Rebecca’s farm for the night. Ivy was looking forward to spending time with her aunt but hoping to avoid the four-legged residents of the farm.
‘I tried to pack light,’ Ivy replied. ‘Well, not light colours, of course.’
‘And yet you’ve ended up with a bag that weighs more than a solid marble tombstone,’ Brendan said.
‘Sorry,’ she said and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. ‘I didn’t know what to pack for a farm.’ She had eventually decided to wear her black and grey camos and a three-quarter sleeve T-shirt. At least she knew her sturdy boots would do the trick. ‘Plus I had to pack some Vita-Vamp bars.’ If Aunt Rebecca didn’t serve much meat, Ivy had to make sure she had enough iron intake. It wasn’t easy staying overnight with someone who didn’t know about the whole vampire thing.
‘I still can’t believe you’re off to be a cowgirl out in the sticks,’ Brendan said.
‘Just point me to the cows that need a-milking,’ Ivy joked.
‘This I have got to see,’ he replied, and they dissolved into giggles.
‘Come on, you two!’ Mr Vega called, using his vampire strength to easily lift Olivia’s bag into the back of his car. ‘We’re leaving in five minutes.’
Olivia and her pink leather overnight bag had just been dropped off by Mr Abbott, who was on his way to a weekend seminar on the discipline of ikebana, Japanese flower arranging.
‘To calm the soul,’ he had intoned, just before he drove off.
Ivy needed some soul-calming. She was really excited to spend time with her aunt, but she had no idea what to do on a farm. Despite her joking, she really did not want to milk any cows.
‘Where is he?’ Olivia hopped from one foot to the other, as Brendan and Mr Vega heaved Ivy’s bag into the car. ‘Jackson said he’d come and say goodbye.’
Just then, a sleek chauffeured car pulled up at the end of the driveway and Jackson jumped out and hurried up to them. He was wearing a white button-down shirt and faded blue jeans with his trademark cowboy boots.
‘I’m so glad I didn’t miss you,’ he said. ‘Camilla had me running my lines with Garrick until late last night and I overslept.’
Olivia held up her purse. ‘I’ve got my script here. She’s a tough director, isn’t she?’
‘But good,’ Jackson said. ‘And I’ve worked with lots of directors.’
Ivy tried not to stare as Olivia and Jackson moved away to the lawn to talk privately for the last few minutes they had together this weekend.
Brendan grabbed her in a big bear hug from behind. ‘See you later.’
‘I’ll call,’ Ivy said.
Brendan waved and hopped on his bike.
Mr Vega took a step towards Olivia and Jackson but Ivy stopped him. ‘Just a couple more minutes.’
‘OK,’ he said. ‘I’ll programme the sat nav.’
Ivy tried to avoid watching the couple, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Olivia rise up on her tiptoes. Ivy knew her sister hadn’t had her first kiss yet and it looked like she was going for it right then and there!
In front of Dad! Ivy couldn’t believe it.
Ivy glanced over to her dad, who seemed engrossed in his route-planning on the front seat, but he could look up at any moment.
Should she try to block his view or try to stop Olivia’s kiss? Ivy looked back and forth between the lawn and the car; everything seemed in slow motion.
But then, she saw Jackson glancing sideways at the car. He doesn’t want to kiss her in front of Dad, Ivy guessed.
Jackson did a last-minute ducking to the side, by-passing the kiss entirely and leaning all the way in for a hug.
Olivia looked like she’d just lost a winning lottery ticket.
‘Have a great time,’ Jackson said with a goofy wave and led Olivia back to the car. ‘I’m jealous that you get to ride horses.’