05 Take Two - My Sister the Vampire (6 page)

‘OK, ladies,’ Jackson said. ‘If you follow me, I will start your personal tour. There are a few safety procedures I must run through,’ he said, taking on an official tone. ‘In the unlikely event of a fire just leap over the barriers and run for it . . . and please don’t leave me behind.’

Olivia giggled.

He strode confidently out into the buzzing parking lot and the girls hurried to keep up.

‘This is so awesome!’ Sophia said.

Olivia was still wondering what made him get all dressed up. ‘Why the disguise?’ she asked.

Jackson steered them between two trailers, going deeper into the maze of trucks. ‘It gets really boring on set when you’re not filming.’

‘I can’t imagine getting bored on a movie set,’ Sophia replied.

Me neither
, Olivia thought as a young man carried a stack of big cardboard posters with
little squares laid out like a comic book.

Jackson noticed what she was looking at and explained. ‘Those are the storyboards. It’s the scene by scene plan of how the director wants the movie to look.’

‘So that blue blob sitting in the booth is you?’ Ivy asked.

Jackson chuckled. ‘Yes, this is a romantic comedy between two sketchy blobs.’

‘Love truly is universal,’ Ivy said, pretending to be philosophical and looking at Olivia and winking.

‘Ha ha,’ Olivia said, doing her best to give her sister a death stare.

I wish Ivy would stop teasing
, Olivia thought.
It’s hard enough not to do anything else stupid, without being constantly reminded how much I like him.

‘To answer your question,’ Jackson continued, ‘after my third movie, I had gotten used to all
the movie madness. Plus a disguise lets me meet people without all the entourage and shrieking.’ He looked at Olivia and smiled.

Her heart fluttered.

‘It’s nice to be normal again, every once in a while,’ he finished.

Jackson pointed to a tent on their left. ‘There’s the props tent and down there is one of the costume trailers on the right.’

Olivia heard Ivy and Sophia whispering behind her, but she was determined to ignore them. Jackson wanted to be normal, so she was just going to pretend she was with a normal – but really nice – security guard.

‘This is so much fun,’ Olivia said. Walking around a movie set with Jackson Caulfield was even better than cheering at nationals.

‘That guy in the black is the boom operator. And she’s the continuity editor.’ Jackson leaned
in close as he pointed to show her who he meant. ‘And that guy, right there? In the white shirt and jeans?’ Near the props tent, a guy was slouched on a crate. ‘That’s my twin.’

Olivia gasped. ‘Really? You’re a twin?’

‘Not really. He’s my stand-in,’ Jackson explained. ‘When they’re setting up camera angles and lighting, he takes my place so they can see how it will look when they film me. Basically, it gives me free time to snoop around the set in disguise.’

Olivia was about to point out her and Ivy’s twin-ness but then Jackson’s red-headed manager stormed up to them. Her high heels clipped sharply on the concrete. Her tailored grey skirt suit had tiny pink pinstripes running down it and her spiky high heels were patent grey leather with a pink bow. Olivia could read ‘Amy Teller’ on her all-access badge.

‘You there!’ Amy barked at Jackson.

‘Caught red-handed,’ Olivia muttered.

‘Sshh,’ Jackson said, pulling his hat down.

‘You! Security! Have you seen Jackson?’ Amy demanded, looking him right in the eyes. Well, right in the sunglasses.

Jackson cleared his throat. ‘Who’s Jackson?’ he replied in his English accent.

Amy stamped her foot and sighed. ‘The star of the film you are working on!’

Olivia tried hard not to laugh.

‘No, madam,’ he said.

Amy blinked, not recognising Jackson at all. ‘This boy is going to turn my hair grey,’ she muttered as she strode off.

‘Her hair is already grey,’ Jackson said, as he watched her leave. ‘She gets it touched up every six weeks.’

Olivia was finally able to laugh. ‘That was
close.’ She was surprised that Ivy hadn’t already made some killer comment about the woman’s thunderous expression. ‘Hey, Ivy – did you see the look on that woman’s face?’ She turned to her sister, but ended up turning in a full circle. ‘Ivy?’ There was nothing in a two-foot radius other than thin air. Her sister was gone!

Olivia met Jackson’s eye.

‘Looks like it’s just you and me,’ Jackson said, smiling.

Olivia’s heart did a triple handspring.

‘Mission accomplished,’ Ivy declared. She had pulled Sophia behind the props tent when Olivia wasn’t looking.

This will work
, Ivy thought.
A little time alone should get those sparks flying.

Now she and Sophia were walking towards the Meat & Greet to get a closer look at the set.

‘Do you think Olivia will be OK?’ Sophia wondered.

‘As long as she doesn’t go blurting out phrases from the Wild West,’ Ivy replied. She adjusted her black, coffin-shaped messenger bag. ‘Honestly, Olivia and Jackson are like Romeo and Juliet – meant to be together!’ Ivy remembered how Jackson only had eyes for Olivia when they’d first met, and again at the barrier. They did seem to be a great fit, except for Olivia wanting a ‘perfectly normal’ boyfriend. ‘Anyway, now that we’re on a movie set, shouldn’t we do some skulking around?’

Sophia’s eyes lit up. ‘Ooh, could we actually get into the diner?’

‘Whoa, Miss Eager Reaper! Let’s not push our luck,’ Ivy replied. ‘Rather than sneaking to where they’re filming, how about checking out the equipment area over there?’ There were cameras
and complicated-looking electrical boards under a shade, gathered at the side entrance to the diner.
Maybe after that
, Ivy thought,
we could try and scrounge some food from somewhere.
She was still craving something meaty for breakfast.

The vampire girls strolled over, trying to pretend they were exactly where they were supposed to be.

A woman with a tight bun and a clipboard walked by. She peered at everything and made notes to herself. Ivy held her breath, but the woman just glanced at them and kept walking.

We’re in
, Ivy thought.

‘Oh my darkness,’ Sophia said.

‘What?’ Ivy said, looking around.

‘That is an Xtra Vision LT-2K high definition digital camera with interchangeable optical assembly, a touch screen interface and four hours of continuous shooting.’ Sophia sighed and
practically floated towards the very-expensive-looking piece of equipment.

‘Um, Sophia?’ But her friend was already reaching out a hand to the camera, stroking its digital screen.

The neon danger sign in the back of Ivy’s mind had started flashing and she stepped forward to stop her. ‘Sophia –’

‘Hey, you girls!’

Ivy froze at the sound of a stern voice and Sophia whipped around, almost knocking the camera over.

‘Maybe we should have stayed with Jackson,’ Ivy whispered and turned slowly to face the music.

‘Where are your set passes?’ said a pale, thin woman with frizzy black hair poking out from underneath a pair of over-sized headphones.

Ivy and Sophia stood guilty and silent.
It was
fun while it lasted
, Ivy thought.

‘You aren’t supposed to be here, are you?’ the woman asked in a thick New York accent.

Ivy shook her head.

‘I don’t know why we don’t make maps for reception to give out. Honestly!’

‘Huh?’ said Sophia.

But Ivy nodded cautiously.
Maybe we aren’t going to get completely staked
, she thought.

The woman looked them both over. ‘Hmmm. Yes, I can see why they picked you two – the alternative style, the nice faces. Good.’

Ivy looked at Sophia, who seemed just as confused.

‘I’m Lillian, the second assistant director.’ She checked her watch. ‘Come with me and I’ll get you to the extras trailer.’

The extras trailer?
Ivy thought.

Lillian started to walk away.

‘Does this mean we’re going to be
in
the movie?’ Ivy asked Sophia.

‘I think so!’ Sophia almost skipped after the woman and Ivy hurried to keep up.

Ivy normally hated the spotlight, but this wasn’t centre stage. She was only going to be in the background. Killer!

‘Get your rears in gear, ladies,’ Lillian said. ‘We’ve got to get you ready for blocking the first set-up.’

Ivy had no idea what she was talking about, but Sophia whispered, ‘That means planning out how the actors will move in a scene.’

‘Thank darkness you’re here to translate,’ Ivy said.

They marched up to a big trailer labelled ‘Background Artists’ and Lillian handed over two location passes, then thumped on the door.

‘Two more for ya, Spencer!’

A man with closely shaved dark hair and stubble opened the door. His blue silk shirt was unbuttoned half way down his chest and he was wearing heeled leather shoes. He put one hand on his hip and looked the girls up and down. He gasped and put the other hand to his forehead. ‘Oh my goodness. What am I going to do with you two?’ He had a slight lisp and spoke really quickly. ‘You simply must get in here right away.’

He turned on his heel and disappeared inside. Lillian hurried off before Ivy could thank her.

They stepped tentatively into the trailer to see about a dozen people their age getting their hair and make-up done.

‘Wait there,’ Spencer commanded, pointing to two black leather chairs in front of brightly lit mirrors. He flitted away to the other side of
the trailer to rummage through a tall organiser, muttering to himself.

‘This utterly sucks!’ Ivy declared, leaning back in the comfy chair. Today could not be going any better.

I hope Olivia’s having as much fun as me
, Ivy thought.

‘Is this your first time?’ asked a boy in layered T-shirts next to her.

Ivy nodded.

Spencer came back with a tray of tubes, jars and brushes. He put a finger to his lips and cocked his head on one side, considering. Ivy felt her cheeks start to blush under the scrutiny. Then he clapped his hands together, as though he’d come to a decision.

‘Now, we’re not going to do much to your hair – long and luxurious, well done, sweetie.’ Ivy smiled. ‘But we are going to have to brighten the
skin tone for both of you. And I was thinking a teased up-do for you,’ he said to Sophia. She gave him a shaky smile.

He snapped his fingers and a hairdresser stepped forward and started to work on Sophia. Then Spencer whipped out a cleanser. Ivy couldn’t believe she was getting pampered by a professional movie-set make-up artist.

Spencer grabbed for a Mister Smoothie pink and yellow cup from the ledge in front of the mirror and took a big slurp.

‘What flavour did you get?’ Ivy asked as he worked.

‘Ooh,’ Spencer said. ‘I heard the Twist and Shout was a sight to see, so I just had to go for that one!’

Ivy cracked up. ‘My dad ordered that yesterday.’

Spencer’s eyes widened. ‘Your
dad
? Ha!’ Spencer started doing a fabulous hip twist. ‘Us
older men love to dance! Once the rest of the crew heard about the little show, they’ve been ordering them all day. LOVE it!’ Spencer did a triple-zigzag finger snap.

Ivy felt a twinge of pity for the Mister Smoothie staff.

‘You are truly beautiful,’ he said to Ivy, gently wiping a cleansing pad across her brow. ‘Your friend, too. But you are both so
pale.
This foundation isn’t going to be enough. Lucky for us, we have enough fake tan on set for the star of the show to last through the sequel!’

Something niggled at the back of Ivy’s mind.
Lots of fake tan?

‘Georgie!’ Spencer called and a young girl with teased up-hair in a flowing crushed velvet dress came over. ‘Can you go get me a couple cans of the Santa Monica, please?’

As Georgie scurried off, Ivy felt a sense of
dread rising. Santa Monica was
the
fake tan of choice for the vampire community.

‘For the star?’ Ivy squeaked out.

Spencer nodded. ‘The contract rider demanded at least three cases of the top range of Santa Monica spray tan.’

Ivy felt her stomach churn. She thought of Jackson’s peachy complexion – if he was human and put on that spray tan, he’d look like an orange. But he didn’t; he looked completely normal. Completely human. Which meant that without fake tan his skin must be really, really pale. Could Jackson be . . .

‘A vampire,’ Ivy whispered.

‘Pardon?’ Spencer asked, his pad of cleanser freezing in mid-air.

‘Oh, nothing,’ Ivy said, lowering her eyes.

‘Are you OK?’ Sophia asked.

‘I – I’ve got to go find Olivia,’ Ivy blurted,
trying to get up from the chair. She couldn’t let her sister fall for a vampire. Olivia wouldn’t want that at all; she’d said so herself. Ivy had to tell her before it was too late.

But Spencer put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Slow down, honey. You’re not going anywhere until you’re camera-ready.’

‘But I –’

‘Ah, ah, ah!’ Spencer wagged his finger right in her face and wouldn’t let her go.

Ivy sighed and sank back into the chair.