Taffy Sinclair 010 - Taffy Sinclair Goes to Hollywood (10 page)

"
But I can
'
t,
"
cried Taffy.
"
Not today.
"
She threw a look of panic at Raven. She
'
d die if she had to miss their scene together just because of a stupid twisted ankle.

"
That
'
s right,
"
Megan assured Toodie.
"
It
'
s her and Raven
'
s biggest scene.
"

"
We really need her,
"
added Chelsea.

"
What do you mean, we
need
her?
"
Paige asked sharply. The others parted, and she came forward, tossing her auburn hair behind her shoulder and looking straight at the director.
"
There
'
s nothing we can do about it if she can
'
t work. Besides, I know all her lines. I can do her scenes.
"

"
Oh, no, you can
'
t!
"
cried Taffy.
"
I'
m
Tiffany Stafford! Jerry, you can
'
t let her play
my
part.
"

Paige got an innocent look on her face and said,
"
I just meant that I could play her part while we rehearse. It would be a shame for everyone to come all the way to the set and not even get to rehearse. Wouldn
'
t it, Jerry?
"

Paige
'
s phony act made Taffy want to throw up. She didn
'
t want Paige playing her scenes, especially the flirting scene with Raven. But the director looked thoughtful.

"
You
'
re right about that,
"
he conceded.
"
We could postpone filming for a day or two, but we really ought to rehearse. Okay, Paige, you can play Tiffany Stafford
'
s part for rehearsal.
"

Paige turned her head slowly to look at Taffy, and her lip curled into a sly smile. At that instant Taffy knew what Paige was doing and her heart began to hammer in her chest. Paige had wanted to be the star of this movie. She had even believed that she had the part until Taffy won it away from her.
Now,
Taffy thought,
she
'
s trying to steal it back.

"H
ave a seat in my chair, Taffy,
"
said Jerry Lowenthal around the stub of his cigar.
"
You
'
d better watch rehearsal so that you
'
ll know what to do when we shoot.
"

Taffy nodded and sat
down in the bright red canvas-
and-wood chair with the word
DIRECTOR
printed in black across the back. Ordinarily she would have been thrilled to sit in a real director
'
s chair, but now she was too fidgety to care.

She watched Jerry head for the set where the rest of the cast was waiting and point out each person
'
s mark. The marks were Xs chalked on the ground to show where each actor was supposed to stand when the scene started. Megan and Chelsea were off to the side.
They didn
'
t come into camera range until later in the scene.

Paige found Taffy
'
s mark at the bottom of the school steps and flashed Jerry a big smile to indicate that she was ready.

"
I
'
ll
bet
she
'
s ready,
"
Taffy muttered to herself.
"
Ready to steal my part!
"

Raven and KJ, who played a character named Dan Sikes, were standing just inside the school
'
s double glass doors, ready to come out. In the story, Tiffany Stafford would walk up the stairs just as the boys started down. She would immediately begin flirting with Eric Peterson while Dan Sikes looked on. Then the characters played by Megan and Chelsea would walk by and overhear what was going on. In a later scene, the audience would find out that the two girls went straight to Jillian Morris and told her that Tiffany Stafford was flirting with her boyfriend.

Taffy glanced longingly at Raven, who stood quietly inside the door, and then at Paige, whose look of cocky self-assurance made Taffy angrier than ever.

"
Quiet on the set!
"
called the director.
"
Remember, we
'
re going to treat this like a real shoot.
"

Paige, Raven, and KJ nodded.

"
Camera up! Rolling!
"

Taffy narrowed her eyes to slits and watched as Paige started up the stairs. At the same time, the door opened and Raven and KJ started down.

Taffy tensed. The first line would be Paige
'
s. She would stop midway up the stairs, smile at Eric, and then say,
"
Hi, Eric. You
'
re just the person I wanted to see.
"

Paige stopped exactly where she was supposed to. Then she smiled at Eric and said,
"
Hi, Eric.
"
But then she paused.

Aha! Taffy thought gleefully. She forgot her next line. She
'
s blowing it.

And then, to Taffy
'
s surprise, Paige reached out and gently put her hand on Raven
'
s arm, and in a softer,
more private-sounding voice, she said,
"
You
'
re just the person I wanted to see.
"

The effect was electric. Taffy knew her mouth must be open, but she couldn
'
t help it. As much as she hated to admit it, Paige
'
s interpretation of the lines had gotten everyone
'
s attention on the set. Even Raven looked surprised for an instant before he said his line.

"
Hi, yourself, Tiffany. What
'
s new?
"

"
That
'
s for me to know and you to find out,
"
Paige said coyly. Now she was giving him the big-eyes treatment. Taffy wanted to close her own eyes and shut out Paige
'
s performance, but she couldn
'
t.

"
Oh, yeah?
"
challenged Raven as Megan and Chelsea caught their cue and walked by.
"
I thought you said that I was the person you were looking for.
"
Paige dropped her eyes demurely.
"
And I found you, too. Didn
'
t I?
"
Then she raced past him up the steps and disappeared into the school.

"
Cut!
"
cried Jerry.
"
Paige, that was terrific!
"

Taffy was dumbfounded. Even some of the set crew were applauding. Paige had played the scene perfectly.
Taffy knew that the way Paige had paused in the middle of her first speech and used her eyes in the second speech was so much better than the way Taffy would have played the lines herself. She clenched her fists. No wonder Paige wanted to take over the rehearsals, she thought. She has so much more experience than I have, and she
'
s determined to convince everyone that I
'
m nothing but an amateur. I can
'
t let her get away with that!

Taffy watched miserably as they ran through that scene several more times. With each rehearsal Paige
'
s performance got more convincing. If there was one thing that Paige Kramer knew how to do, it was flirt, thought Taffy. But even though she was flirting like an expert with Raven Blaine in the scene, Taffy had the feeling that Paige couldn
'
t care less about Raven in real life. It was Taffy
'
s role she was after.

When it was time for lunch break, Taffy took her tray into the dining tent and sat down by herself at the end of one of the long tables. She usually ate with Tess, but Tess wasn
'
t in today
'
s scenes so she hadn
'
t come to the set. Paige and Chelsea and Megan were together a couple of tables over, whispering and giggling among themselves. Taffy certainly wasn
'
t going to sit with them.

She was looking down at the barbecued ribs on her plate, trying to figure out how to eat them without getting barbecue sauce all over herself, when KJ plopped his tray down beside hers.
"
Mind if I sit here?
"
he asked.

"
Of course not.
"
Taffy was glad for the company. It had been a frustrating morning.
"
I
'
m really sorry we can
'
t shoot today,
"
she said.
"
If only I hadn
'
t twisted this stupid ankle.
"

"
Hey, don
'
t worry about it,
"
KJ said with a laugh.
"
We
'
re getting paid. It
'
s cool.
"

Taffy smiled appreciatively and swallowed a bite of potato salad.
"
I feel like a jerk all the same. I hate volleyball in the first place. I should have stayed out of the game.
"

KJ shrugged.
"
Changing the subject, did you get a package delivered to your room sometime Saturday?
"
Taffy gave him a sideways look. How did he know about that? She nodded.
"
Uh-huh. It was a necklace from somebody named Len, which is really strange because I don
'
t know any Len.
"

"
Yeah, well, Len
'
s a friend of mine. He wants to know if you like the necklace.
"

"
Sure, I like it. It
'
s really pretty. But who is this Len character, anyway?
"

"
I told you. A friend of mine. He wants to know if you got the roses he sent, too.
"

"
KJ! Tell me who he is,
"
Taffy begged.

"
Can
'
t.
"

"
Why not?
"
she insisted.

"
Because he made me promise that I wouldn
'
t, and my lips are sealed.
"

Taffy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. KJ obviously wasn
'
t going to snitch on his friend. He also knew everybody on the set, so it could be anyone. She
had seen him joking around with absolutely everyone from the grips to the gaffers to the camera operators. It could be any of them. Well, Taffy thought, I don
'
t want presents from any of them.

"
Okay, Mr. Sealed Lips, you can tell your friend thanks a lot, but I already have a boyfriend.
"

"
Are you sure you want me to tell him that?
"
asked KJ.
"
He really likes you a lot.
"

"
Definitely,
"
she said, and went back to eating. But she couldn
'
t forget the expression on KJ
'
s face when she said it. He looked awfully serious. Was
he
the one who had been sending her presents and signing his name Len? Eeeek! she thought. It was possible, of course. Anything was possible. She bit her bottom lip as she thought it over. She certainly didn
'
t want to hurt KJ
'
s feelings if he was the mysterious Len, but what could she do? There were two boys in her life she cared about: Cory Dillon and Raven Blaine. And right now things weren
'
t going very well with either one of them. So how could she possibly get interested in anyone named Len?