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Jackson came over, and planted a kiss on the top of Olivia’s head. ‘What are you two talking about?’

But before they could reply, Brendan shouted angrily. ‘Hey!’

He was looking over towards the fence beyond the main drive.

‘What was that?’ Ivy muttered.

‘Get out of here!’ Jackson shouted.

Mr Daniels and Ivy’s dad raced to the edge of the property, with Aunt Rebecca chasing after them. A man on a motorcycle with a black
helmet, red streaked jacket and long-lens camera revved his engine loudly, making the ducks squawk and scatter. Then he peeled away in a cloud of dust.

‘Hey! Stop!’ shouted Rebecca, but of course he didn’t.

‘Oh no,’ whispered Ivy. Their peaceful family barbecue had been invaded. ‘Do you think he got a picture of us together?’ If he did, the whole movie thing could be ruined.

‘Or of me and Jackson,’ Olivia said, biting her lip.

‘This feels awful,’ Ivy said. ‘Like I’ve been robbed or something.’

As the adults came back, Jackson said, ‘Photographers. They’re worse than bloodsucking vampires.’

‘He must have followed our car here,’ Brendan guessed.

Bethany had her hands on her hips. ‘Meanie! He scared off the ducks.’

Brendan gave Bethany a hug. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll tempt them back with more bread.’

‘I’m really sorry,’ Jackson said.

‘If this keeps up, we’re going to have to do something about it,’ Mr Vega replied, frowning.

‘There are things you can do,’ Lillian replied. ‘They are only allowed to photograph public figures, and Jackson’s the only one here who falls into that category. If they print photos of private citizens, you can take legal action.’

Ivy sighed. Hollywood was taking over her life.

The next day, Olivia was perched on a beige sofa with bright lights shining down on her. Franklin Grove Middle School had allowed a TV company to set up a makeshift studio in a classroom over the weekend, in order to interview their student.

‘As a one-off favour,’ the head teacher had said.

The TV crew had totally transformed the room.

The desks had been moved to the back and a fake wall with wallpaper had been pushed in front of the white board. It looked just like a real living room.

‘I don’t think I have to remind you how important this interview could be,’ said Amy Teller, her mobile phone clutched in her hand like a lifeline. She was sitting in the opposite seat, where the host would be in less than ten minutes. ‘You cannot let on about Ivy, in any way.’

Olivia nodded. ‘I know.’

Harker had decided that Olivia would become the star of the initial marketing for
Eternal Sunset
. She’d been set up for an exclusive interview that would go out to the nation that evening. But Olivia had to keep Ivy’s identity a secret so that they could reveal the whole twin-thing for
another big headline grabber.
Lucky for Ivy, really
, Olivia thought. Her sister hated being in the limelight and an interview like this might just break her out in boils.

Lucky for me
, Olivia thought,
I love this kind of thing!

‘And not a word about Jackson,’ Amy reminded her.

‘I know,’ Olivia said through gritted teeth. She wished they weren’t still keeping their relationship a secret, but at the same time, she didn’t want anyone to think she only got her big role because of her connection to him.

‘Three minutes!’ called out a young woman wearing a headset. There were two people running around with clipboards, at least six cameras and lots of lighting equipment. One guy was testing the TV that was hanging right behind Olivia’s head.

Amy stood up. ‘I’ll be right over there.’ She pointed to desk chairs just beyond the fake wooden flooring. ‘If you get into a panic, just work some kind of code word into the conversation.’

‘Code word?’ Olivia echoed.

‘How about “famous”?’ Amy suggested. ‘Yes, do that. Just say “famous” and I’ll step in.’ Then she winked. ‘That’s what agents do; we protect our clients!’

‘Two minutes!’ called Headset Lady. Even though there were only a handful of people making the show, soon thousands would be watching on TV.

Olivia managed a smile as even more lights turned on her.

‘You look great!’ Amy whispered and then clicked away on her high black heels.

Olivia had chosen a three-quarter sleeve, light pink dress with a short white sweater over it. The
sweater was a little more girly than Olivia would normally go for, but she was trying to get into Carmina’s character.

The classroom door opened. ‘You must be Olivia!’ said a darkly handsome man with perfect white teeth. It was Chuck Talbot, the famous TV host from
Inside Hollywood
. He sat down across from her and put a note card on the little glass table between them.

The butterflies were doing round-offs in her stomach.
This is it!
Olivia thought.

‘What a story you’ve got, young lady,’ Chuck said. ‘Being plucked from the street to star in one of the biggest movies ever! You are going to be an inspiration to millions of girls.’ Chuck smiled.

Olivia beamed.

‘We’re rolling in ten seconds.’ A silence fell over the classroom. ‘Three . . . two . . . one . . .’

‘Hi, I’m Chuck Talbot and today I have with
me Olivia Abbott, a Hollywood rags-to-riches story that most people only dream about.’

Not exactly rags to riches
, Olivia thought, but she kept the smile on her face.

‘Tell me about how you came to be chosen for the most eligible role around, as Carmina of
Eternal Sunset
?’ Chuck looked at her expectantly.

‘Well,’ Olivia began, ‘my first film was
The Groves
–’

‘With the ever dreamy Jackson Caulfield,’ interrupted Chuck.

Olivia caught sight of Amy looking tense in the corner. She decided to steer the conversation away from her boyfriend. ‘That’s right. And when the Carmina role came up, they thought I might be a good fit.’

‘The perfect fit, more like!’ said Chuck enthusiastically. ‘Tell me about this!’

He turned to the TV screen and Olivia saw a
huge shot of herself posing at the premiere in Spencer’s altered dress.

‘All we know is that a friend designed it for you.’ Chuck made air quotes when he said ‘friend’.

Olivia grinned. Now was as good a time as any to give Spencer the exposure he deserved. ‘Everyone knows the amazing Spencer Johnson, make-up artist extraordinaire.’

Chuck nodded eagerly.

‘Well, all I can say is that his talents are boundless!’ Olivia said.

Chuck turned to the camera. ‘You heard it here first, folks! An exclusive reveal of the brains behind Olivia’s trend-setting red-carpet look!’

Olivia smiled to herself, wondering if that meant everyone would want to be spilling coffee on their evening wear.

She noticed Amy giving her a thumbs-up from behind the cameras.

‘Now, Olivia.’ Chuck leaned closer. ‘The question everyone wants to know is . . . who is the mystery actress who will be playing Belinda opposite you? I hear the paparazzi have been close on your heels, trying to photograph you with anyone who might be a fellow actress.’

Olivia took a deep breath. ‘My lips are sealed.’

‘But you know who it is?’ Chuck insisted.

Olivia wondered if now was the time to push the panic button. ‘I’m afraid that’s one exclusive that I can’t give you just yet.’

‘Yet?’ Chuck was practically drooling.

Olivia didn’t want to make any promises that she couldn’t keep. ‘It’s all hush hush right now, but I’ll see what I can do about telling you first.’

‘A true star.’ Chuck looked like he’d just been given an award. ‘What’s been the hardest thing about rocketing to fame?’

Olivia frowned. She didn’t want to seem
ungrateful. She was enjoying almost everything, but there was one thing. ‘The photographers are very insistent.’

Chuck grinned. ‘That’s a mild way of putting it.’

Olivia shrugged. ‘I know everyone has a job to do, but they seem to step over the line.’

Chuck turned to the camera. ‘You paparazzi, you hear that? You leave my lovely friend Olivia alone!’

Olivia laughed. ‘That’s right. I’ll tell them Chuck said so.’

‘Yes, I did!’ he declared. ‘It was lovely to meet you, Olivia, and I’ll see you back on that sofa soon to spill all the beans about the mystery actress.’

‘CUT!’ shouted Headset Lady.

‘That was great,’ Chuck said. ‘You’re a natural.’

Olivia was relieved and proud of herself at the same time. She hadn’t slipped up on anything and Chuck actually seemed to like her. This was
how she was hoping this movie stuff would turn out to be.

Amy hurried over, clapping. ‘You did great, sweetie!’

‘Chuck,’ said Headset Lady, ‘it’s time for the skateboarding kitten intro.’

Chuck waved goodbye, and Olivia walked out of the classroom feeling exhilarated.

‘Good stuff,’ said Headset Lady, as she passed.

Olivia had just survived her first big interview!

‘Can we suspend the no-biting-humans rule just for this week?’ Sophia whispered, making sure no one else in the busy school cafeteria but Ivy and Brendan could hear. ‘They are driving me crazy!’

Ivy had thought no one could be as angry as she was about the photographers that were camped out all over town. Since yesterday’s interview, there were even more of them. Some
of them were peering in the cafeteria windows right at this moment. If Sophia was talking about reverting to the old vampire ways, she must be outraged.

The one paparazzo on the motorcycle at Aunt Rebecca’s had multiplied into a swarm that never let up. They were desperate for a photo of the mystery actress, but there was every danger they’d also catch Jackson and Olivia together.

‘
I’m
the Franklin Grove correspondent!’ Sophia complained. ‘All of these brutes are stealing my exclusivity!’

‘On the bright side, you are the only one that could get close enough to get a shot of that ketchup on Ivy’s cheek,’ Brendan said, pointing to the left side of her mouth.

‘Wha–!’ Ivy grabbed a napkin and wiped her face.

They all chuckled.

‘It would be just my luck that a photo with ketchup smeared all over my face would be the one that exposes me to the whole world.’ Ivy was feeling more and more panicky at the pressure that was building in the lead-up to whatever announcement Harker had planned.

‘You’ll figure something out,’ Brendan said. ‘Are you going to eat that?’ He pointed to Ivy’s half-eaten burger and fries.

Ivy shook her head and pushed it over to him. The photographers were bound to catch her and Olivia together, figure out that they are twins and run a picture in a magazine – then it would be all over.

Just then, a guy wearing a faded grey hoodie, sunglasses and cowboy boots plunked his tray down on the table. Ivy might have mistaken him for some slacker, but she’d seen those cowboy boots often enough.

‘Hey guys,’ said Jackson from under the hood.

‘Hey,’ said Brendan with his mouth full.

Sophia scooted over so Jackson could sit down. Ivy wondered what was keeping Olivia.

‘I’ve been stalking the stalkers and it seems someone has tipped them off about
Eternal Sunset
’s mystery second actress living in Franklin Grove.’ Jackson pushed his sunglasses down his nose and looked at Ivy with his blue eyes. ‘They are haunting every school, café and cinema, hoping to track down an exclusive.’

Ivy groaned and Sophia growled.

‘There’s a mole,’ Ivy said.

‘With half of Hollywood hanging around for the premiere, it could be anybody,’ Jackson said.

‘The instant they see Olivia and me together, they’ll know,’ Ivy said. ‘If they don’t already.’

Two tables away, Ivy caught sight of Charlotte Brown and her cronies.

‘Jessica says that you should definitely
not
wear a mini skirt with ankle socks,’ Charlotte practically shouted, so that the whole cafeteria could hear. ‘You have to wear knee-highs.’ She’d been going around all week telling everyone how she and Jessica were now BFFs.

Ugh
, Ivy thought.

‘No prize for guessing how they got tipped off,’ Ivy said, putting her face in her hands. ‘And it’s totally my fault.’ Ivy remembered the victorious feeling of accepting Harker’s offer in front of Jessica and all those suits, but her enemy must have put two and two together and realised exactly which film Ivy was due to star in. That moment of triumph could cost Olivia big time.