05 Take Two - My Sister the Vampire (11 page)

Breakfast at Olivia’s had been the usual bunny feast, and Ivy felt herself starting to drool.

‘How do you plan to get a look in that fridge?’ Sophia whispered, snapping Ivy back to the problem at hand.

Ivy noticed that the serving tables were all covered in crisp white tablecloths. If she could get under this table, she could crawl to the next table, take a quick peek in the fridge and crawl back without being seen.

‘Oh look,’ Ivy said deliberately. ‘My shoelace has come undone.’ She knelt down and pretended to tie her bootlace, while pushing up the tablecloth. There was nothing stored under the table, and no one was paying any attention to her, so she lifted the cloth up higher, nudged forward and ducked.

‘Ow!’ Ivy clanged her head against hard metal, sending a jolt through the plates and bowls of food above her. It felt like she’d been smacked on
the forehead by a frying pan.

The stylish brown-haired girl and a group of camera men turned to stare. Ivy staggered to her feet, trying to look dignified.

‘She’s OK!’ Sophia announced and people turned back to their meals.

‘Ow.’ Ivy rubbed her forehead. ‘Must be a low shelf.’

Curtis came back with two steaming beef sandwiches dripping with cheese and onions. The smell of the food made her head injury feel a little better.

Hoping for an opportunity to present itself, Ivy and Sophia spent ages at every food table.

People behind started overtaking them. But eventually, they were at the end of the tables and out of options. Ivy gulped.

‘I’ll cover you,’ Sophia whispered. She put down her tray, held up her camera and said to
the manager, ‘Hi! I’m making a kind of yearbook scrapbook of the making of this movie. Can I take your picture?’

The manager beamed. ‘Sure!’ He put his arm around the chef he was talking to, who struck a goofy grin, while Sophia snapped away.

Ivy knew this was her last chance. She clutched her tray, darted behind Sophia and moved to go around the photo shoot, but at the same time the manager stepped backwards to call for another chef to join the photo.

The manager banged right into Ivy, sending her tray full of food and his clipboard flying into the air. He managed to catch her sandwich but everything else ended up on the floor, with his clipboard bursting open smack in the middle of the mess of sushi, satsuma and shrimp. Ivy could hear Sophia’s camera still clicking away.

Oh my darkness
, Ivy thought.
I want to disappear.

But as Ivy was sprawled among the debris, she caught sight of one of the sheets of paper. It was labelled ‘Dietary Requirements’ and had a long list of codes on one side with food allergies on the other.

She didn’t get a long look before the manager picked them up, but it was long enough to see right at the top in bold and underlined: ‘J-02: ABSOLUTELY NO GARLIC'.

Bingo.

Chapter Eight

‘L
adies, please!’ Philippe cried.

Jackson had just walked into the Meat & Greet and now not a single one of the hopeful actresses was paying any attention to what Philippe was saying.

Including Olivia.

The production crew had cleared all the furniture out of the dining section of the diner and brought in folding chairs for everyone to sit on.

‘Ladies, we must begin the screen tests!’ Philippe looked like he was ready to explode
from all the stress. ‘Now that she-who-must-not-be-named has done what-must-not-be-said, every minute is costing!’

Philippe paced, stopping every few steps to wave his hands and emphasise his words as he explained the rules. ‘OK, each candidate gets one chance in front of the camera to impress me. Those who do, come back for a reading with Jackson this afternoon. Those who don’t should be ashamed for wasting my time. That is all.’

Olivia gulped.
Not much of a pep talk
, she thought.

The first audition was a red-headed girl at least three years younger than Olivia, who looked like she might be turning a little bit green.

‘Look into the camera,’ Philippe barked.

The girl held her hands together, almost like she was praying, and looked at the camera. Olivia could see her trembling.
Poor thing
, she thought.
Everyone here really wants the part.

A woman with frizzy hair and a thick New York accent spoke a little softer. ‘Tell us your name and age, please.’

But the girl was so camera-struck that she couldn’t get the words out. It made Olivia feel even more nervous.
What if I can’t speak in front of the camera either?
she wondered.

The auditionee shook her head and the woman came over, put her arm around her and led her outside.

Philippe had no sympathy. ‘Next!’ he shouted, clearly making a big line through the poor girl’s name on his list.

An older blonde girl wearing a green woolly hat and big hoop earrings stood up, looking more confident.

‘Now we will see into your soul,’ Philippe pronounced. ‘The soul of the actress!’

He began firing questions at the girl. ‘When did you last laugh? What do you think of frogs? What if the earth was flat?’

The girl did her best to come up with answers, while Philippe scribbled furiously, but some of the questions were totally bizarre. When she’d finished, Philippe nodded, seemingly satisfied.

One by one, girls stood in front of the camera, having to impersonate the president, talk about their pet hamster or describe how they would make a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. Charlotte got a question about her hobbies and she didn’t hesitate to tell everyone about being the captain of the cheerleading squad. She happily demonstrated a cheer – the one Olivia wrote last semester.

When they were more than halfway through the people waiting, Philippe called for Olivia.

‘I know I’m not supposed to say “good
luck”,’ Camilla said. ‘So break a tentacle.’

‘Thanks,’ Olivia replied and stepped in front of the camera. There were lights rigged up on big metal frames and the man with the huge headphones was dangling a microphone over her head.

She felt everyone watching her, waiting to see what she would say. The big black camera was pointing right at her and she wished Ivy could have been here for support. But this was her chance and she was going to give it her best.

‘What is your favourite colour and why?’

That was easy. Olivia gave a big smile. ‘My favourite colour is pink. And I think it’s because when I was four, my mom gave me a frilly pink parasol with my name embroidered on it.’

‘What is your darkest secret?’

That I know vampires are real
, Olivia thought. She paused for a second and then said, ‘I’m
adopted. Not that it’s a
dark
secret, or anything. But I haven’t met most of my biological family.’ She didn’t want anyone to get suspicious that there was anything unusual about her family. ‘But I’d like my biological dad to introduce me to them some day.’

‘Sing me a song,’ Philippe demanded.

Olivia resisted the urge to break into ‘The Right One’ and decided to go with ‘Double Trouble'. She knew her voice wasn’t too bad, and it made it even better when she saw Jackson nodding along.

‘Tell us a joke.’

She tried not to let any panic show on her face . . . a joke, a joke. It was so hard to just come up with one on demand. ‘Got one!’ she said. It wasn’t outrageous, just one that always made her chuckle. ‘Why don’t seagulls fly over the bay?’

She paused and waited for Philippe to respond.

He tapped his pencil on his pad, clearly thinking.

‘I don’t know. Why not?’

‘Because then, they’d be bagels.’

Olivia heard a little snort from behind the camera and saw that the cameraman had laughed at her joke. She stole a quick glance around and everyone watching seemed to be enjoying themselves.
That must be good!
she thought.

‘One last question, please,’ Philippe said, narrowing his eyes. She sensed he was going to ask a tough one to try to test her.

‘What is the best thing that has ever happened to you?’

Olivia didn’t hesitate. ‘My sister. Even though we’re really different from each other, she’s my best friend.’

‘Thank you very much –’ Philippe checked his notes – ‘Olivia.’

She stepped out from the glare of the lights
and felt a rush of adrenaline, like she’d just landed a triple handspring. She definitely wanted to do that again, make people laugh and smile. Maybe she had a chance?

Camilla gave her a huge hug and she sat back down in her seat, in a happy daze. ‘I think Jackson is smiling at you,’ Camilla said.

Olivia snapped her head up to see Jackson
was
smiling at her.

Charlotte was sitting just behind her. ‘I think he’s smiling at me,’ she said.

But when he made a thumbs-up sign, Olivia knew he was telling her she’d done well.

Charlotte humphed and snapped at Katie to help fluff her hair again.

Olivia watched the next audition, daring to hope that she had done enough to get through to the read-through. When the screen tests were finally over, Philippe consulted his clipboard.

‘We have six candidates going through to the reading later this afternoon. If I read your name, please see Lillian, our second assistant director, for the scripts you will need to learn.’

The frizzy-haired woman held up a stack of folders.

Olivia took a deep breath and Camilla squeezed her hand.

‘Evie Dawson, Jane Noble, Rachel Bowden, Lauren Kaler –’ Each name was punctuated by a little squeal from the lucky girl and a thud in Olivia’s heart. There were only two names left. ‘Olivia Abbott and Charlotte Brown.’

Olivia clapped and Camilla did a little happy dance, but Charlotte tossed her hair. ‘Obviously,
I
made it through,’ she said and immediately started pushing through the crowd of disappointed girls that didn’t get called, to get her folder.

‘I just want to say,’ Jackson stood next to
Philippe and addressed the unsuccessful hopefuls, ‘that you all did a fantastic job. I especially liked hearing about Harry the Hamster and how to plant sunflowers.’ The girls who’d given those answers beamed at the recognition. ‘And just because you didn’t get through doesn’t mean you should give up. If you want to be an actor, keep trying. That’s how I got to be where I am.’

He knows just what to say to make everyone feel better
, Olivia thought, still buzzing with excitement that she’d been one of the lucky ones.

Olivia couldn’t deny it. Jackson was perfect boyfriend material.

Sophia refused to leave the craft service truck until they’d eaten their steak sandwiches, but Ivy was itching to get to Olivia.

I’ve got my proof
, Ivy thought.
Now I can say something before Olivia gets in too deep!

‘Will you admit it now?’ Ivy asked Sophia as they finally set off.

Sophia sighed. ‘It looks like you were right.’

‘Ha!’ Ivy said. ‘And now I’ve got to warn Olivia.’

‘Warn Olivia about what?’ Charlotte Brown had stopped right in front of them, flanked by Katie and Allison.

‘Uh.’ Ivy had to come up with something convincing but uninformative – and quick! ‘Warn her about . . . the competition! I heard there’s a girl trying out who’s been in some TV commercials.’

Charlotte rolled her eyes. ‘That doesn’t matter. Philippe has already announced those of us who got through – and, even though Olivia made it, I’m practically under contract already.’

Ivy felt a rush of pride that her sister had made it through, but was now doubly determined to find her and tell her what she’d learned about
Jackson. She shouldn’t go giving her heart away without knowing who she was giving it to. She threw an urgent look at Sophia.

‘Well,’ Ivy said. ‘Watch out for those other auditionees. They’ll do anything for the job.’

Charlotte put her hands on her hips. ‘Like they’d get past me.’

‘By the way.’ Ivy tried to sound casual. ‘Have you seen Olivia?’

‘She said she wanted to hang around in the diner more,’ Charlotte said.

Ivy thanked her and headed across the parking lot to the Meat & Greet, which was completely surrounded by people. It looked like every unsuccessful budding actress was waiting to catch another glimpse of Jackson.