Hollywood Heartthrob
Read Hollywood Heartthrob Online
Authors: Clarissa Carlyle
Hollywood
Heartthrob
Clarissa Carlyle
Copyright 2013
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons either living or dead, as well as any events or locations is entirely coincidental.
In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, any means of reproduction, either electronic or physical, of any part of this book, without written permission is unlawful piracy and deemed a theft of the author's intellectual property. You may use the material from this book for review purposes only. Any other use requires written permission from the author or publisher.
“So have you heard about the movie that’s being filmed on campus?” Jenny Montgomery said excitedly as she walked with her colleague down the corridor.
Amy Prince rolled her eyes in boredom.
“I’m actually sick of hearing about the movie! It’s all the students want to talk about. It’s distracting them from actually learning!”
“Yes, but it is exciting though,” Jenny pointed out. “And the main star is Josh Roberts. He’s like, an Adonis.”
“Only on screen. I bet he’s nowhere near as good looking in person.”
“Well, now he’s filming here we will get to find out!”
Amy forced a smile and watched Jenny scurry away to teach her music class. All anyone wanted to talk about lately was the movie that was being filmed and Josh Roberts. In Amy’s English Literature class, she could barely get her students to focus on their text of
Wuthering Heights
because all any of them wanted to do was gaze out of the window in the vain hope of glimpsing some of the unfolding action on the film set.
Whoever Josh Roberts was, Amy already didn’t like him. He was interrupting her teaching during only her second semester at the college and she needed to make a good impression. This was her first job since graduating and she had to make it count.
As soon as she entered her classroom she caught the snippets of excited whispers.
“Oh my gosh, he’s so hot.”
“He like, totally looked right at me!”
It was evident that her class were still in the grip of Josh Roberts fever. Sighing, Amy made her way to the front and placed down her bag. As she did so, a few of the students looked up and smiled to greet her.
“Hey, Miss. P” said Emily Smith from her usual seat on the front row.
“Hi, Emily.”
“Hey, Miss. Prince, have you met any of the cast yet?” a male student called out from the back of the room.
“No, I’ve not.” Amy replied curtly, wanting all chatter about the film to stop quickly so that she could commence teaching.
“We heard that all faculty staff gets to meet the cast,” the guy continued, sounding disappointed that she’d not actually met any of the stars yet.
“I can assure you we don’t get to meet them,” Amy explained. “Now, if you can turn to page twenty three in your books-”
“Well that’s a shame!” Donna Clark interrupted and a few other students made noises in agreement.
“I’m actually not that bothered,” Amy said, getting increasingly annoyed. “What does bother me is whether or not you guys pass your mid-terms which are coming up. So please, page twenty three and the next person to mention the movie being filmed here is going to write me a three thousand word essay on why prose is more absorbing than film as a medium!”
That shut them up. No one ever liked getting extra work.
****
Amy Prince had always dreamt of being a teacher. As a little girl she would line her dolls up and stand before them, conducting a class.
Her parents thought it was cute and were also pleased that she’d chosen such a sensible dream, unlike her sister Tanya who dreamed of being a movie star. Amy’s dream was obtainable which meant her life wouldn’t be filled with bitter disappointment.
Tanya on the other hand kept being knocked back in the film world, despite her tenacity. So now she was twenty eight and waiting tables, refusing to accept the fact that her big break was probably never coming.
The whole thing made Amy resent the film industry and the stars and the falsehoods they presented to the world. People like her sister wasted their lives on a notion that one day they’d be famous and everything would change. Amy knew that hard work was what would ultimately bring her reward. There was no quick fix in life.
But had Amy wanted to be a film star, she’d have stood more chance than her sister.
Tanya Prince was short, with stubby legs and dark brown hair. Her face was too angular and none of her features seemed to fit in place. In contrast to this was Amy, who was tall and lean with flowing blonde hair and bright blue eyes. People were always surprised to learn they were sisters and it was true that there was little which the two had in common; both in looks and in personality.
****
“So, your assignment for this week,” Amy began as her class came to a close but she realized that hardly anyone was paying attention to her. Instead they were all gazing dumbly out of the vast glass windows on the far side of the room.
“Excuse me!” Amy called out. “Does anyone appreciate that you are in class right now!”
“Sorry, Miss P,” Emily said apologetically on behalf of the class. “But they are filming just over there on the field. Look, you can see.”
Amy obliged and sure enough she could see lights, chairs, people, cameras, all the associated paraphernalia that comes with shooting a movie.
Inwardly she swore at the presence of the stupid movie for ruining her class for the second week in a row.
“Come on people, we saw it all last week, let’s focus!”
“Oh my God there he is!” a girl screamed from the back of the class and suddenly everyone was on their feet, running to the windows and craning their necks to get a good view.
Sighing, Amy accepted that she had lost them for that session and decided to work them extra hard the following week.
However, in spite of herself she couldn’t help but glance out the window to see who was getting the girls in such an excited state.
It was easy to spot the offender.
In the distance, a tall, dark haired man with lightly tanned skin strode out on the set wearing ripped jeans and a plain white t-shirt. Even from this distance Amy could see that he was strikingly good looking, with pronounced cheek bones and the slight presence of stubble darkening his face.
“Well, make sure you finish your chapter by next week,” Amy called to her class even though no one was paying attention.
The problem with her being so new to teaching and so young was that at times she struggled to get their respect as they regarded her as more of a peer than an authority figure. It was something Amy was working on and looking to Jenny for advice as she had five years experience on her. Not that you’d think it though, as sometimes Jenny could be the more immature one out of the two of them.
“You can’t tell me you don’t like him,” Donna came over to Amy’s desk and raised her eyebrows suggestively.
“The guy is an absolute stud. He’s got just the right amount of bad boy but with all that good boy charm. And he’s recently single.”
“What should that matter?” Amy asked quizzically, hoping her students weren’t intending on going and sleeping with a guy just because he was famous; surely it was beneath them to do so.
“You’re not that old, Miss Prince. I bet you and Josh Roberts are around the same age. And for a teacher, you’re not all that bad looking.”
“I guess I should take that as a compliment.”
****
When at last her class had left, Amy sat down to do some grading of papers in her usually quiet classroom.
The time of day when lessons had concluded had always been her favorite as the grand old building would seem so calm after being full of young students all day. She liked to just sit and
savor
the silence and get her work done before heading home to her apartment on the outskirts of town.
But today was different. As she tried to focus on the papers before her she was constantly distracted by the sounds outside on the field where the filming continued.
“Action!”
“Again!”
“Cut!”
Accompanied by the sounds of gun shots and screaming. All of which startled her and she had to keep reminding herself that none of it was real.
In the end, Amy had to accept defeat and head home to finish the grading of her papers.
****
Walking out onto the now almost empty parking lot, the noises from the film set intensified. Amy wished that their time on campus was already up so that things could return to normal.
She stopped cold when she caught sight of her little Toyota Prius, dwarfed by the giant black movie trailer parked beside it.
“What a joke,” she muttered angrily to herself as she headed to her car, wondering how she’d ever be able to park next to something so monstrous.
Opening her trunk she threw the papers inside in an angry flurry and didn’t notice the door to the trailer beside her ease open.
She was about to get in her car and leave when a male voice addressed her.
“Bad day in class?” the voice asked. Bemused, Amy turned to find herself staring directly at Josh Roberts and blushing as she realized that she’d been wrong; he was just as handsome in person as he was on screen.
“Teacher giving you a hard time?” he asked, a cheeky smile pulling at the edge of his mouth which made her notice his luscious pink lips.
“I am the teacher.” Amy corrected and this just made him smile even more.
“Oh, I’m sorry. You look so young. I thought you were a student.” He held her gaze intently as they talked and it made Amy shuffle uncomfortably on the spot.