‘But he was so calm,’ Ivy argued. He was keeping his cool, just like a vampire.
‘He must be used to all kinds of crazy directors,’ Sophie countered.
Jackson noticed them staring and gave a little wave to her and Sophia. What if he heard us talking about him with his super vamp hearing? Ivy thought. Hmm. I could test him.
‘Sophia,’ Ivy whispered as quietly as she could, keeping a close eye on Jackson. ‘I heard Jackson gets manicures.’ She was making it up, but she thought it might get a reaction if he overheard.
‘What are you talking about?’ Sophia asked, but Ivy was watching Jackson.
Did he flinch? Ivy couldn’t be sure. But he kept his cool with the director, maybe he was using his acting skills to remain straight-faced?
He continued to run through some lines with a stand-in. Ivy cursed the fact that vampires could blend in so easily – she couldn’t tell if he was or wasn’t just by looking at him. And she could hardly trail him until he went to the BloodMart – with his legions of fans, he would have iron-clad avoidance tactics.
Sophia pushed a napkin over, with a little cartoon scribbled on it. There was an angry-looking man with a goatee shouting at a group of frightened stick figures. Ivy snorted when she saw an eager-looking stick person wearing a feathered dress.
For the third time, the door swung open and a collective hush fell over the set. A girl a little older than Ivy paused in the doorway, looking every inch a movie star in dark jeans, an off-the-shoulder top and a large moon-shaped pendant necklace. An entourage of people with make-up, refreshments and cell phones waited nervously until she had finished surveying the room and stepped inside. Ivy saw two of the entourage breathe a sigh of relief, almost as if they’d been expecting something bad to happen.
‘So far so good,’ one of them whispered as they passed Ivy and Sophia’s table.
‘Jessica Phelps!’ Sophia whispered.
People didn’t get more famous than Jessica and Jackson. They were at the tippy top of the A-list.
‘You know what this means,’ Sophia whispered. ‘We’re not just extras . . . we’re extras on the biggest movie of the year!’
Jessica stepped in like she owned the room – and she probably could if she wanted to. She ignored everyone except for Philippe and Jackson, air-kissing them on both cheeks.
‘Your hair looks nice,’ Jackson said politely.
Jessica smiled. ‘Thanks!’ She snuggled up to him like he was a teddy bear. Ivy thought she must be trying to stir up some chemistry for the camera, but Jackson just nodded and stepped away slightly.
At least he doesn’t respond to every starlet that throws herself at him, Ivy thought approvingly.
‘Please, I would like you two to do a run-through before the cameras roll,’ Philippe instructed.
‘I was just going to suggest that,’ Jessica replied.
Jackson and Jessica sat at the fake booth and began to do their lines.
Sophia showed Ivy another napkin. This one had the goateed stick figure and a female stick figure with swirly hair wrestling to control a camera, while a third stick figure lounged back on a chair and watched. The figure with the long hair had Jessica’s necklace and the figure lounging in a chair had an ‘I Heart Olivia’ tattoo on his bicep. Ivy couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing in the middle of the rehearsal.
Everyone stopped and stared.
Jessica gasped.
Philippe turned a bright pink. ‘What is this?’ he demanded, pointing at them. ‘Lillian! What has happened to my silent background artists? These are not silent!’
Lillian came over, caught sight of Sophia’s cartoon, stifled a smile and crumpled it behind her back. ‘I’m so sorry, Philippe. I hadn’t cued them that you were rehearsing.’ Ivy felt awful for getting Lillian in trouble.
‘No more of that, merci!’ Philippe said. ‘We work!’
Lillian nodded seriously but then turned away and rolled her eyes. She gave Sophia a wink to show she wasn’t mad.
Jessica shot an annoyed glance right at Ivy. ‘No, we do not work.’
‘Pardon?’ said Philippe. Behind him, two of the film crew exchanged a glance, as if to say: Here we go again!
Jessica sniffed. ‘I can’t work under these conditions. I have been dragged to this dump of a town where it’s cold and I can’t get a decent cup of coffee. Then, I suffer through three terrible hairdressers. And you can’t even afford good extras. Well, you can now, because I quit!’
Everyone gasped and Jackson looked shocked.
‘You c-c-cannot,’ Philippe spluttered.
‘Clause 38, subsection C: unreasonable conditions,’ Jessica retorted.
‘Because of coffee?’ Philippe shouted, turning even pinker. ‘I will sue!’
Jessica turned on her shiny Heather Carter heel. ‘My lawyers are much more expensive than yours.’
Her entourage scurried after her and a deathly silence filled the diner.
Charlotte hissed from the next booth over, ‘Great job at wrecking everything.’
Ivy felt her mouth turn dry.
Had she and Sophia just ruined the entire film?
Chapter Six
‘What do you mean, shut down?’ Olivia asked Ivy. Her sister was coming down the steps from the diner into the parking lot, pulling on a warm coat.
‘I mean shut down – no female lead equals no filming,’ Ivy replied.
Sophia nodded and shivered. Or shivered and nodded. It was so cold out that Olivia couldn’t tell which.
It had barely been half an hour since she’d had the fruit cup with Jackson. Since she hadn’t found Ivy, she had decided to make her way to the diner to watch some scenes. But when she’d arrived, everyone was hurrying away.
‘What happened?’ Olivia asked. The girls stood off to the side as other crew members and actors milled around.
‘Jessica quit the movie,’ Ivy said.
‘Never to return,’ Sophia added.
Olivia sneaked a peek through the diner windows and saw Jackson listening to his manager, who was shouting at someone sitting in a chair labelled ‘Director'. Jackson looked really annoyed.
‘Does this mean the movie is over?’ Olivia wondered. ‘Will Ja– everyone be leaving town?’
‘It might be for the best . . .’ Ivy said. Something across the parking lot had caught her attention. She craned her neck for a better look and then hurried over to the barriers.