Star Style (2 page)

‘Woah,’ said Ivy, her chopsticks clicking against the window.

‘Is that supposed to happen?’ Olivia wondered, as they drove away from the movie theatre.

The black partition that separated the driver from the passengers slid down. Her bio-dad, Mr Vega, looked dashing in his full tuxedo. ‘Sorry, girls,’ he said. ‘Change of plan.’

‘Ch-change?’ Olivia stammered. Now that she’d found out what Jackson was planning, she didn’t want anything to change.

The driver, still keeping his eyes on the road, said, ‘I’m sorry, Miss, but we’ve just had word that Jessica Phelps is mysteriously late. The premiere is being delayed.’

Olivia groaned. Jessica always used her celebrity status to its full potential. She had a
diva tantrum on her first day of filming and demanded all sorts of special treatment. Because she was the star of the movie, the show simply would not go on without her – and she knew it.

‘Don’t worry, Olivia,’ Mr Vega said, a sympathetic look on his pale face. ‘The FoodMart is just next door, and the production team has decided to use it as a place for all the stars to wait.’

‘OK,’ Olivia said weakly as the partition went back up. But really she wanted to say, ‘Arg!’

‘We’re not exactly dressed for grocery shopping,’ Ivy said with a smile.

Olivia imagined all the actors and their assistants, plus the stressed-out event production crew running up and down the aisles of Franklin Grove’s biggest grocery store in their formal wear.

‘It’s going to be completely chaotic,’ Olivia
replied. ‘Jessica must be up to something.’

‘We can always sneak downstairs if it gets too crazy in the store,’ Ivy said.

Underneath the regular FoodMart was the BloodMart, where any vamp who was anyone in Franklin Grove went to stock up on all their midnight snacks. Biting people was so last century. You had to know the secret password to get in but Olivia was one of the few humans who had been initiated into the vampire world because she was Ivy’s twin.

‘Unless it’s busy down there, too,’ Olivia replied. She remembered the first time she’d gone into the BloodMart. It was just after she’d learned the vampire secret and she had been pretty freaked out by it all. But really, the worst she’d seen anyone get up to down there was a round of chess.

‘Don’t worry,’ Ivy said. ‘Most vamps will be
lining the streets with the bunnies to see Jessica Phelps. They’ll want to see their vamp-diva in her full glory.’ If only the world knew that one of their Hollywood A-listers was a vampire who filed the points of her teeth! Most people didn’t believe vampires really existed – or know that normal human beings were jokingly called ‘bunnies’ by the vampire community.

As they pulled into the parking lot of the FoodMart, Olivia sighed. She hoped Jessica Phelps hadn’t ruined her chance to walk down the red carpet with her boyfriend.

The FoodMart was jammed with people, like a crowd at a hanging.

Do they really need all these people to just walk down a carpet?
Ivy thought.

Under the glaring fluorescent lights, she, Olivia and Mr Vega fought their way past the
bread section to the baby aisle, where it looked like there was some space.

‘Excuse me!’ Ivy said to a burly man clad in black who was blocking her way.

He was on his phone and didn’t hear her. ‘Red fox underground,’ he was muttering. ‘Underground!’

‘Hey!’ said Ivy, poking him with her elbow.

Burly Man peered down at her and then grunted, shifting the tiniest fraction so she could squeeze by.

‘What is going on?’ Olivia wondered, carefully holding up the train of her dress so it wouldn’t get stepped on.

Ivy looked around. She couldn’t even guess. She only recognised half of the people as movie crew from her time as an extra on the set. Who were all the others? Just as she passed the diaper shelf, she came face-to-face with
Sophia Hewitt, her best friend.

‘What are
you
doing here?’ they asked each other at the same time.

Sophia was wearing a long-sleeved black mini-dress and black-and-white striped pantyhose. Her camera was at the ready in her hands.

‘There’s some mysterious, end-of-the-world delay with our female star, and we all have to wait here for her to be ready,’ Olivia explained.

‘And I have to say,’ Mr Vega put in, ‘that it all seems a little unorganised.’

Sophia chuckled and spread her hands to indicate the supermarket. ‘Here lies the answer.’

‘Here?’ said Olivia, looking around at the pastel-packaged baby milk.

‘Well, underneath here,’ Sophia said.

The only thing underneath the FoodMart was . . . of course! The BloodMart.

‘That is so rude!’ Ivy declared.

‘What is?’ asked Olivia, clearly baffled.

‘Jessica must have decided she needed a snack from the Blood Mart before facing the cameras,’ Ivy growled, realising that the people she didn’t recognise would be the ones following Jessica around. There was a girl in head-to-toe pink ‘JP’ merchandise and two heavyset men with sunglasses hovering nearby. ‘She’s made hundreds of people wait so she can grab a Vampish Delight or something.’

Sophia nodded. ‘I’ve been assigned to her press entourage by
VAMP
magazine and she decided halfway to the Picturedrome that she simply had to stop for a snack. She’s downstairs now, browsing like she has all the time in the world.’

‘You’re on official magazine business?’ Mr Vega asked, looking impressed.

Ivy knew that Sophia had made friends with Georgia Huntingdon, editor of the most popular
fashion magazine in the vampire world, earlier this year when the twins were on the cover.

‘I’m the new Franklin Grove photo correspondent,’ Sophia said with a proud smile.

‘Killer,’ Ivy said.

‘With all the celebs in town, it’s keeping me very busy,’ she said, snapping a photo of Ivy and Olivia.

‘Stop it!’ Ivy said, batting away the camera gently, but Sophia just grinned.

‘You two were in the movie, and you look fantastic. If it gets me a photo credit in
VAMP
, I’m gonna go for it!’ She snapped a second photo, ignoring Ivy’s protests.

‘You were in the movie just as much as me,’ Ivy said. They had been extras in one of the diner scenes – along with the unbearable Charlotte Brown.

‘Yeah, but I’m not the sister of the newest
up-and-coming star,’ Sophia said, winking at Olivia, but she wasn’t paying attention.

‘Sophia, have you seen Jackson? Is he here, too?’ Olivia was wringing her hands.

Sophia nodded. ‘I think he was by the vegetables when I walked past a few minutes ago,’ she said.

Ivy hoped Jessica’s little food mission hadn’t messed up Jackson’s plans for the red carpet. She thought it was high time that her sister could stop hiding in the shadows.

‘Thanks.’ Olivia turned to Mr Vega. ‘Can I go find him?’

‘Sure, honey,’ he replied. ‘Just find me before you head out of here.’

The crowd was starting to thin a little, as Olivia slipped away. Near the butcher’s counter, Ivy saw a short man with his back to her, waving his arms angrily in front of an assistant
wearing headphones.

‘. . . think she can do this!
Non
,
non
!’ he was saying in a heavy French accent.

Ivy guessed right away who it was: Philippe, the director of the movie. She knew from her time as an extra that no one did grumpy like he did, and he must be livid about Jessica’s little detour.

‘Think I should try for a picture?’ Sophia said.

‘If you want to get your hand bitten off,’ Ivy replied. ‘He looks worse than usual.’

‘Ivy! Sophia!’ A trim woman in a tailored black pantsuit waved at them from in front of the fish display.

‘It’s Lillian,’ Sophia said, waving back.

‘Come on.’ Ivy grabbed her dad’s hand and pulled him over. ‘Dad, this is Lillian Margolis. She was the assistant director on
The Groves
.’

‘Second assistant director, actually,’ Lillian said, extending her slender hand. She was wearing
a simple but elegant silver bracelet. Her usually messy black hair had been tamed into a classy bun, held back by a pretty onyx hair clip. She looked like Audrey Heppingburn in the classic vampire flick
Breakfast of Tiffanies
.

‘How do you do?’ Mr Vega asked, with a little bow. Two pink spots appeared on his usually pale cheeks as he took Lillian’s hand in his. ‘A pleasure to meet you,’ he murmured. ‘Please call me Charles.’

‘Charles,’ she said gracefully, smiling a little. ‘Lovely to meet you, too.’

She gave Ivy and Sophia each a hug then turned back to Mr Vega. ‘You have two very talented daughters, Charles. I hope Olivia enjoys the final product tonight.’

‘Oh, I’m sure we all will,’ Mr Vega replied, smiling. ‘Uh . . . How long have you been in the movie business?’

‘That’s dangerously close to asking a lady her age.’ Lillian waggled her finger at him, pretending to tell him off.

‘No, no,’ Mr Vega looked sheepish. ‘I meant –’

Lillian cut him off cheerfully. ‘Let’s say that I’ve worked on fifteen films and counting. And what do you do?’

‘He’s an interior designer,’ Ivy boasted. ‘If you like things dark and velvet, he’s your guy.’

‘Really?’ Lillian raised her eyebrows. ‘My home in LA actually needs refurbishing.’

‘Ooh, LA!’ cooed Sophia.

‘I love LA,’ Mr Vega said brightly, taking Ivy by surprise. He had only been there once, and with all the sunshine, it wasn’t exactly a vamp-friendly place.

Lillian smiled at Mr Vega’s eagerness, while Ivy had to double check that her father hadn’t been taken over by aliens: pale skin, not green
. . . check. Two eyes not five . . . check. Still a vampire, not an alien. But her dad was acting excited. Well, as excited as her super-composed father ever got.

‘Maybe you could all come and visit my home in Hollywood and we could talk about some ideas?’ Lillian asked.

Mr Vega bowed slightly. ‘I would be happy to, as long as you think my taste will complement yours.’

‘Well –’ Lillian leaned in closer, like she was about to share a secret. ‘Like you, I have special . . . culinary requirements of the red-meat variety.’

‘You mean, you’re . . .’ Ivy trailed off, not wanting to say anything that might break the First Law of the Night. No humans could ever find out about vampires’ existence and, since it was so hard to tell who was and who wasn’t, it was always tricky when you met someone you
didn’t know but suspected might be.

‘I’m rather partial to Marshmallow Platelets,’ Lillian said with a grin.

Ivy grinned back.
Cool
, she thought.

‘I think there are some drinks on a table over by the refrigerated aisles,’ Mr Vega said, suddenly as enthusiastic as he had been when he was pretending to enjoy visiting Mister Smoothie a few weeks ago – but this time it felt genuine. ‘Can I get you a drink, Lillian?’

‘I’ll come with you,’ she replied and the two of them walked off, chatting about arrangements for a spontaneous trip.

‘Oh my darkness,’ said Sophia. ‘We’re going to Hollywood!’

Ivy grinned. She couldn’t wait. ‘This totally sucks.’

T
he FoodMart was much emptier now.

Burly Man from before bustled past. ‘I’m chasing the rabbit down the hole,’ he said into his phone.

‘That is the lamest code-speak ever,’ Ivy said. But at least Jessica’s entourage had followed her downstairs so there was a little breathing room.

‘Let’s find Olivia, so we can tell her about going to Hollywood,’ Ivy said, leading Sophia through the refrigerated section.

‘Hey,’ said an unshaven older guy wearing a Harker Films T-shirt, looking straight at Ivy. He
flashed a big grin as he walked past. ‘You were pretty good.’

Ivy stopped short. ‘Who was that?’ she asked Sophia. ‘And what did he mean?’

Sophia looked amused. ‘I don’t know, but I bet Brendan won’t like guys like him smiling at you like that.’

Then an older lady with greying hair, holding a clipboard, gave her a smile. ‘Sweetie, you were great! Congratulations.’

Ivy was completely baffled. She couldn’t let this go, so she turned and hurried after Clipboard Woman. ‘I’m sorry, but what do you mean?’

‘The movie, sweetie.’ She patted Ivy’s arm. ‘Most of the crew have already seen the full screening. I bet you loved dumping that jug of juice on Jackson’s head.’