Taffy Sinclair 010 - Taffy Sinclair Goes to Hollywood (8 page)

His glance passed over each of them, stopping briefly on Taffy. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she thought for an instant that he was going to say something special to her. But he didn
'
t.

"
Here, Raven. I brought an extra beach mat,
"
Paige said, holding out a rolled-up straw mat.
"
You can use it if you want.
"

Raven thanked her and took the mat. Then he sat down close to Paige without another word.

Taffy narrowed her eyes to slits, glaring first at Paige and then at Raven. What
'
s going on? she thought. What does Paige have that I don
'
t have? And why did he act as if he liked me so much at first but doesn
'
t pay any attention to me at all now?

She rolled over onto her stomach again and tried to think. Had she done something terrible that had turned Raven off? Had she broken a rule? Some Hollywood custom that she didn
'
t even know anything about?

So what? she thought angrily. Who cares about
Raven Blaine, anyway? But as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, she saw how handsome he was even with that ridiculous red wig hiding his wavy black hair and those huge sunglasses covering his gorgeous dark eyes. She remembered how he had looked when he smiled at her and welcomed her to Hollywood, and she knew that
she
cared about Raven Blaine. She cared a lot.

T
hey had sunned for a little while when a blond boy with a dark tan jogged toward them. Taffy noticed with approval that he was about sixteen or seventeen and that he was definitely a hunk.

"
Hey, you guys,
"
the boy said, stopping in front of them and flashing a big smile.
"
We
'
re getting a volleyball game together over there. Wanna play?
"
He gestured toward a volleyball net set up in the sand a few yards away. Three or four other boys and a couple of girls were casually batting the ball back and forth over the set and laughing as if they were having a terrific time.

Taffy bit her lower lip. She had only played volleyball in gym class, and she had
hated
it. It was a dumb game, and it made her sweaty so that her clothes stuck to her and her hair hung in damp clumps. She
'
d die if she had to play. Absolutely
die
!
But then, she thought, surely no one else would want to play either.

KJ jumped up immediately.
"
Wow! Would we?
"

"
Right on,
"
yelled Megan, and she and Chelsea and Tess scrambled to their feet.

Taffy stayed on her towel. If only Paige would join the game, then maybe she could sit it out with Raven. And they could talk. And maybe she could find out why he was ignoring her. She held her breath, but an instant later Raven bounced up as if he were on a trampoline.

"
Count me in,
"
he said. Then, when the other boy wasn
'
t looking, he adjusted his red wig, pulling it tighter on his head, pushed his dark glasses up on his nose, and ran off toward the net.

Taffy looked at Paige. Neither of them had moved. Well, I
'
m not going to sit here if she does, thought Taffy. Standing up slowly, Taffy brushed the sand off her legs and looked toward the net. Raven and the others were lining up in two rows on one side, and the blond hunk and his friends were on the other.

"
Come on,
"
yelled Tess.
"
We need you guys. We don
'
t have enough for a full team as it is.
"

Taffy tried to think of a way to stall. Maybe she could say she needed to find the ladies
'
room. Or that she had gotten sand in her mouth and had to get another soda. Either one could take a long time, and with any luck at all, by the time she got back the game would be over.

She hadn
'
t seen Paige stand up.
"
Don
'
t worry, Taffy. We don
'
t really need
you
,
"
she snarled.
"
In fact, we
'
ll get along better without you.
"
Then Paige strutted off to join the others, leaving Taffy standing alone.

"
I
'
m coming,
"
Taffy muttered, even though she knew no one had heard her. She raised her chin and stomped toward the volleyball net.

When she got there, everyone was standing close to the net exchanging names, and Taffy heard the blond boy call himself Jared. There was a Sean and a Tip and a Bob, and one of the girls was Staci. Taffy wondered briefly what Raven had said his name was since he was in disguise, but the game was starting, and she didn
'
t have time to find out. She took a place at the far right on the front row, hoping that no one would hit a ball in her direction.

The other team won the serve, and Staci was appointed server. She stepped out of bounds and whacked the ball over the net. It went to the left side of Taffy
'
s team, toward KJ, who immediately punched it back toward Jared, who sent it shooting back over the net toward Raven. There was a short volley before the other team got the point. Whew! thought Taffy. So far so good.

Staci served again, and Taffy noticed with disgust that everyone seemed to be having a great time except her. Tess was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, trying to make herself tall enough to get into the game. Megan, Chelsea, and even Paige were talking and laughing as if playing volleyball at the beach was the greatest fun in the world.

It was the third serve, and Taffy glanced toward the water, wondering how much longer this stupid game would last. She was feeling sweaty already, and the cool waves looked inviting.

She heard a
whack!
and then someone shouted,
"
Taffy! Look out!
"

Out of the corner of her eye she could see the ball hurtling straight toward her. She took a step backward in the uneven sand and felt a sharp pain as her ankle twisted, sending her sprawling.

Suddenly, Raven Blaine came out of nowhere, flying through the air with his arm outstretched in front of her, slapping the ball away an instant before it would have hit her squarely in the face.

"
Taffy! Are you all right?
"
he cried, dropping to one knee beside her.

"
My ankle hurts. I think I twisted it,
"
she said weakly, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes as pain throbbed in her ankle. Blinking in surprise, she sucked in her breath and stared at him. His sunglasses were askew, but that wasn
'
t the worst of it. The diving block had also knocked his wig loose, and it hung precariously on one side of his head.

The others had noticed it, too.

"
Oh, my gosh!
"
Staci cried.
"
I know you. You
'
re Raven Blaine!
"
She started jumping up and down, pointing toward Raven and shrieking.

"
Hey, you
'
re right!
"
shouted Jared, and they all began crowding around Taffy and Raven.

Raven tossed the red wig into the sand and looked around angrily.
"
What
'
s the matter with all of you, anyway? Can
'
t you see she
'
s hurt?
"

By this time a crowd had gathered as sunbathers got up from their blankets at the sound of the shouting and pressed in close to get a look at Raven.

"
Is it really him?
"
someone asked.

"
Yeah, I think it is,
"
answered someone else.

"
Oh, darn. I don
'
t have anything for him to autograph,
"
wailed a small voice.

Taffy listened, wishing someone would notice her and remember that she and Raven had been pictured together in the newspaper yesterday, but no one did. All eyes were on Raven.

"
Back up and give her some air,
"
he commanded the crowd.
"
And you!
"
He pointed to one of the adoring girls standing close to him.
"
Go to the concession stand and get some ice for her ankle.
"

The girl looked as if she might faint for an instant, and then with a sigh of adoration, she turned and trotted off in the direction of the nearest concession stand.

Taffy
'
s heart soared as Raven lifted her gently into his arms and carried her back toward her blanket with the crowd streaming behind them. She let her head rest against his strong shoulder and wondered if he could hear how fast her heart was beating over the shouts of his fans.

When the girl came back with the ice, he patted it gently around her ankle, which had already begun to swell. By this time, KJ, Tess, Megan, and Chelsea had stepped in to shoo away the curious onlookers.
Taffy wondered vaguely where Paige was, but she was enjoying Raven
'
s attention too much to really care.

"
I think we
'
d better get you home,
"
said KJ.

"
Oh, I
'
ll be all right,
"
protested Taffy. She couldn
'
t stand to think of this moment being over. Raven was so attentive and so concerned.

"
He
'
s right,
"
said Raven.
"
You need to get home where you can prop that foot up. You wouldn
'
t want to miss the shoot on Monday, would you?
"

Taffy shook her head sadly and allowed Megan and Chelsea to help her to her feet, one on each side of her like a pair of crutches.

"
We need to be going, too,
"
offered Chelsea.

"
Right,
"
said Megan.
"
It
'
s getting late.
"

By now most of the crowd had broken up, and Raven put his wig and sunglasses back on and walked along to KJ
'
s car. Taffy hopped along, wondering where Paige was. She wasn
'
t with the little procession heading for the car, and she wasn
'
t lying on her beach mat, either. In fact, Taffy had noticed that even her beach mat was gone.

Taffy didn
'
t have long to wonder about Paige. When they reached KJ
'
s red IROC-Z, Paige was already in the front seat, arms folded and a pouty look on her face.

She threw Taffy a nasty look and said,
"
Well, look who
'
s here. Our little invalid.
"

Raven opened the door on Paige
'
s side of the car.
"
Sorry, Paige, but you
'
ll have to get into the back and let Taffy sit in front.
"

Paige
'
s eyes got wide and her nostrils flared so wide that Taffy would not have been surprised to see her breathing fire and smoke. Paige opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to think better of it and slid out of the car with a huff and climbed into the backseat. Just wait until we get back on the set, thought Taffy. She
'
ll really be out to get me now.

The ride home was made in total silence. When they reached Taffy
'
s hotel, KJ helped her to her room.

Mrs. Sinclair went berserk when she saw Taffy
'
s swollen ankle.
"
Oh, no! What have you done? Your career! What if you can
'
t work Monday? The director might get someone else. You could lose the part!
"

"
I
'
m okay, Mother. Really. I just turned my ankle. It will be fine by tomorrow.
"

Taffy
'
s mother helped her to one of the sofas. Then she brought two pillows from the bed and put them under Taffy
'
s ankle and covered her with a blanket.
"
You just lie there and rest,
"
she instructed.
"
I
'
ll get the ice.
"

Taffy groaned at the thought of more ice, but she let her mother wrap the cubes in a bath towel and wind the towel around her ankle. Then she settled back to write a long-overdue letter to Shawnie.

Dear Shawnie,

You'll never guess what happened at the beach today . . .

She had almost finished the letter, telling Shawnie in great detail about twisting her ankle in the sand and about Raven Blaine
'
s taking care of her. She was reading back over the first part of the letter when there was a knock at the door.

"
Who on earth could that be?
"
muttered her mother, going to the door.

"
Package for Miss Taffy Sinclair,
"
said the uniformed delivery man standing there.

Taffy brightened.
"
For me?
"

Her mother handed her a small box wrapped in gold foil. Taffy swallowed hard. It had to be a present from Raven. No matter how he had acted before, it had been obvious today that he really cared about her. She didn
'
t understand why he acted cool to her sometimes, but surely that was about to change.