On Location

by Jen Calonita

  We've been working on the choreography for over a month and today we're putting on the finishing touches. Daniella said Hutch wants the sequence to be lyrical, even though it's a bloodbath, which is why we've all been studying Capoeira, a martial art combining kicks, jabs, and punches with African instruments and music. Hutch says the cere monial dance and rhythm spoke to "the heart of his human ity" I'm more cynical about this kind of statement now that I've seen him frequently yell louder than Laney does after a scandalous story about one of her clients appears on Page Six.

  "Sky, you must be tired," Drew coos as he stares at me. "Do you want a lift?" Without giving her time to answer, Drew scoops Sky up and she squeals as he carries her to the center mat. He gives me a look that's obviously meant to say "See what you're missing?" I roll my eyes.

  "Who wants to practice their part first?" Paulo asks. Our fight starts with Regina and Donovan facing off then Carly steps in to confront Regina.

  "We will," Sky points at me. She looks back at Drew and the two of them chuckle.

  What are they up to? "I'm game," I reply calmly.

  Sky begins rewrapping her wrists and fingers with tape. She pulls her blond extensions into a ponytail and adjusts her short pink spandex bottoms and matching bra top. When she's satisfied, she moves inches from my face.

  Nadine, Madison, and Liz, who have been deep in con versation up until now, see Sky and me touching noses and run from their bench against the wall to the edge of the mat. Even Rodney, who is working in a corner on his own stunt routine, stops what he's doing to watch the show.

  "You've got this, Sky. She's easy," Drew coaches. "And I mean that in more ways than one."

  "Watch your mouth, pretty boy," Rodney grumbles.

  Sky and I glare at each other, neither of us moving a mus cle. This close up, I can see her sweat-smudged black eye liner and the tiny mole above her lip. "Maybe you should read your script more and flirt with Sky less," I retort. "Carly wins this fight, remember?"

  "Yeah, but Carly gets beat up pretty badly, and that's all that matters," Sky spits as she pulls her arm back and pre pares to take aim. I block her punch, grab her arm, and twist it behind her, as planned. With my free hand, I jab her in the stomach, a bit harder than called for.

  "Ouf!" she moans. Then she clocks me on the side of the head.

  "Use the choreography, girls!" Paulo reminds us. "This isn't a bar brawl."

  HOLLYWOOD SECRET NUMBER ELEVEN: Not all movie fights are fake. Some onscreen slaps, punches, and falls are real and they hurt. Bad. Sure, the scene is staged down to the most minute detail so that no one gets injured. But sometimes, a slap needs to be real in order to be convincing.

  On FA, we shoot fights in slow motion, but there was this one time last season when Sam was dating a guy who spread a nasty rumor about her going all the way with him. (Not! [Neither Sam nor I have rounded second base.]) Sam was supposed to confront him and slap him across the face. The cute actor playing the jerk, Jimmy Feeney, didn't want it to look staged so he made me promise to hit him as hard as I could. It felt weird smacking him across the face, but the dailies did look amazing. Jimmy had a huge red welt on his cheek and he was so proud.

  I stick my leg out to trip Sky, but she sidesteps me and kicks me in the shins.

  "Sky, move your feet to the music," Paulo adds. "Remem ber this isn't just a fight, it's a dance. A dance of anger."

  "Tell that to K," Sky seethes. "She's the one with the pent-up frustration. She didn't want Drew..."

  "I wouldn't go that far," Drew interrupts from the side lines, but I'm focusing too hard to turn and glare at him.

  "...But now that he's gone, she can't handle that he wants me more than he ever did her," Sky finishes, sounding shrill.

  "You can have Drew," I say, unable to keep my mouth shut. I block my face with my hands. "You're used to my left overs."

  Sky looks like she might breath fire. She hits my bent el bows with her fist, banging my forearm into my nose. I grab her arm and give her another jab to the hip.

  "Your popularity is falling, K, and you want to take it out on me," Sky pants. "You know Hutch regrets the day he hired you."

  The two of us must look like tigers circling their prey. We move around and around in a circle, each of us stepping for ward to take a hit or block or punch.

  "If any star is falling, it's your own," I tell her. "You're al ways in my shadow and it kills you. For once, I'd like to see you get a role on your own instead of trying to steal mine." I'm so proud of my comeback I miss her fist flying at my jaw. She connects, and the pain goes shooting up my face.

  "Alright, you two, that's enough!" Paulo shouts. I catch a glimpse of Drew looking on in apparent horror. "The studio will kill me if either of you gets hurt!"

  "Maybe you should give them a minute," I hear Nadine suggest as Sky and I circle each other edgily. Her face is red and glistening with sweat. I wipe my own soaked brow. "These two really need to get this out of their system."

  "Are ya'll crazy?" Madison butts in. "My mama will kill me if Sky's face gets bruised!"

  "Your mama?" Liz asks. "Why would she care?"

  "SHUT UP, MADISON!" Sky yells.

  "Ah, there's the sweet Sky we know so well!" I shoot a roundabout kick to Sky's hip.

  "That goes for you too," Sky screams, throwing jabs like mad. "Why don't you just go back to that dumb high school again and leave us alone."

  "HEY!" Liz yells. "Take that back!"

  I stick my leg out and successfully trip her. As she falls though, she grabs my leg and pulls me down as well. Two seconds later, we're on top of each other, pulling each other's hair and scratching each other's clothes. My heart is pound ing and my mind seems to have gone blank. One of Sky's blond extensions comes out in my hand. Eww. Within sec onds, Paulo, Rodney, Nadine, Liz, Madison, and Drew are pulling us off each other.

  "Let me at her!" Sky screams, trying to pull away from Paulo's strong hands. "I'm going to kill her!" Blood is drip ping down her mouth. "I hate you! I HATE you! Do you know that?"

  "I hate you MORE!" I hear myself roar. Liz tugs my arm.

  "ENOUGH!" Paulo commands. His loud, clear voice star tles me out of my blind rage, and I immediately go limp. What's wrong with me? I'm smarter than this. Why am I stooping to Sky's level? I begin backing away from the mat, frightened of my behavior.

  "EVERYONE clear the room," Paulo continues. "NOW Except for these two." He points at Sky and me.

  "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Liz asks.

  Paulo points to the door. "GO"

  "See you next week, Paulo," Nadine says sweetly.

  I look at Sky's and my reflection in the giant mirror on the back wall. We look like we've been mugged. Our hair is wild, our shirts torn, and scratches cover every part of our exposed bodies. Our chests rise and fall quickly.

  "I don't EVER want to see a display like that again!" Paulo announces when the last person out shuts the door. "What ever is going on with you two does not surface in my studio." He paces in front of us. I study the dirty rubber matted floor. "You're being paid big bucks to do this scene and that's what we're going to do. Stick to the choreography and keep to the dialogue. Do you understand?" I mumble yes while Sky stares wide-eyed at her bruised reflection in the mirror. Paulo drops his face into her line of vision and repeats him self. "I said, 'DO YOU UNDERSTAND?'"

  "Yeah," she grunts. She still hasn't quite caught her breath.

  "Good." Paulo seems satisfied. "Now get out of here. I don't want to see your faces for the rest of the day. Send Drew in instead." The two of us turn to leave. "Oh, and tell your people that if anyone talks to the press about what happened here I will personally call Hutch and give him the real version myself. Don't think I'm joking. I do not want my name and studio in Hollywood Nation due to child's play" I wince.

  I push open the door to the waiting room and the two of us limp out. Drew hurries over to Sky who sobs on his shoulder. She's always been good at crying on command.

 
"Are you okay?" Liz whispers. I nod. Rodney shoulders one side of me and ushers us out the gym door onto the sidewalk. I notice Madison hasn't taken her eyes off me. Rodney opens the car door and motions for me to get in. Nadine doesn't say anything till we pull away.

  "ARE YOU INSANE?" she shrieks. I burst into tears.

  "Lay off Nadine." Liz hands me a tissue to wipe the blood off my lip.

  "Please don't tell Mom," I beg. "I'm so ashamed."

  Nadine purses her lips. "I have to. Someone's going to tell the press."

  "Someone meaning Madison," I quip. Nadine and Liz look at each other. "Come on, you two, you must suspect her a little bit," I argue. "Remember when I tripped over a wire on set and bruised my knee and it got twisted into that story in Hollywood Nation about a fight I had with Sky? And after Hutch yelled at me for flubbing the 'traitor' line on the first take, it was mentioned on The Insider yesterday as a sign that Hutch doubts my abilities. Plus, any time something hap pens, Madison is standing right there. How could you not notice?"

  "It is a little odd," Nadine admits. "But forget Madison for the moment. Let's talk about you. No more fighting on set or off! That's not like you to fly off the handle!" I hang my head. "I know I sound like Lane, but you don't need the ex tra negative attention right now. Let's just finish this crazy movie and get back to Family Affair." Aline shakes her head. "I never thought I'd see the day when I thought that place was normal."

  My face feels warm and I stare at the car floor in embar rassment. Aline is right--I'm not acting like myself at all. I need to get back in control. "What was everyone talking about when you were waiting for Sky and me?" I ask, chang ing the subject.

  "Oh, just Nadine's obvious attraction to Paulo," Liz says.

  Aline glares at her. "Actually we were talking about our picks for the Hutch Adams title," she says, changing the subject.

  "You mean everyone but you did," Liz points out. "You're so secretive."

  "I don't want anyone cribbing my idea," Aline says de fensively, turning away to answer her cell phone.

  Liz rolls her eyes. "You never want to share anything. I'm glad you didn't play in my sandbox as a kid."

  I reach over Liz for my white leather Tod bag and fumble around until I find my Sidekick.

  Liz groans. "Don't tell me you're tenting Austin again! I thought you said he wasn't mad at you?"

  "He's not. I think. I'm just saying hi." I smile sheepishly. I can't get anything past Liz.

  "Say hi in person," Aline offers, shutting her cell. "That was Hank. Hutch canceled production today. Apparently someone leaked the coffeehouse confession scene onto the Internet."

  "Oh no!" Liz freaks. "I found the location for that scene last week. I suggested Witch's Brew and Daniel-la said I was brilliant! Now we're going to have to move it again."

  "That scene has the best dialogue in the whole movie," I chime in. It's in the coffee shop that Carey and Donovan learn their parents are in on the nasty superhuman plot and have been preparing us since birth to become the military arm of an evil international empire.

  I wonder who leaked the script? It certainly wasn't Hutch. Since gossip about his recent on-set behavior has be come public, Hutch has done everything he can to fix his image. He even let an AW reporter on set last week to follow him around.

  "I could hear Hutch in the background," Aline says. "He was screaming, 'I'm going to find out who did this and they're going to pay!'"

  "Watch someone accuse me of the leak," I say darkly. "That's all I'll need to make my situation on set even worse."

  "That's not going to happen," Aline soothes. "Besides, Hank said Hutch is so upset, he's going to rewrite the dia logue and make it ten times better. Look on the bright side--this means you have the afternoon off"

  I have the afternoon off, I realize. I shut my Sidekick. "That means I can make Austin's charity game!"

  "Yep. Think you can handle visiting Clark without deck ing anyone, Rocky?"

  "I think so." I laugh. "Rodney make a U-turn. We're got a game to catch."

  FRIDAY 7/6

  NOTE TO SELF:

  Buy Paulo "sorry" gift

  Order Tea &Elixir cart for crew 2 thank them 4 putting up with U

  Upcoming Events:

  Mexican premiere with Drew--Sun. @ 6

  Downey &Bourne party at Shelter--Sun. @ 9

  Phone Interview with AW about FA--Bon. @ 2 pm

  Matty's first scene--Tuesday!!! GET HIM PRESENT

  TweLve: Sweet Charity

  "So when I'm punching the agent in the face do you think my expression should be like this, or this?" Rodney asks as we ascend the packed bleachers at the Clark High School field. I tilt the lid on the red Clark baseball hat Austin gave me and watch Rodney's face change from a terrifying scowl to an ice-cold stare. For a person who trained exclusively for stunts, he's surprisingly expressive.

  "The first one," I answer, quickly lowering my head again.

  "That's what I thought." Rodney shovels a fistful of the caramel popcorn we bought from the Clark Snack Shack into his mouth. "Paulo thinks I look terrifying in rehearsals," he mumbles. "Do you think I look terrifying?"

  "You're definitely good at being intimidating." I grin, tak ing in Rodney's massive frame, bald head, and dark shades. Maybe that's why, thankfully, nobody has approached us. I do blend in with my outfit: Gap jeans and a black boat-neck sweater with my hair in a pony tail under the cap. Besides, if Tom Cruise, one of the most recognizable stars in the world, can check out a game and not cause a commotion, why can't I?

  "KAITLIN BURKE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Principal Pearson screams.

  Then again, Tom Cruise didn't trick the entire cheering section into thinking he was someone else for three months.

  I nervously bite my lip as a red-faced, heavy set woman wearing a red Clark sweatshirt and khakis barrels through a row of students to get to me. The bleachers are packed. Austin's game must be sold out. OH GOD. Is she going to make me leave because I don't have a ticket? I was planning on making a sizable donation to the cause. A hush grows over our section. "Isn't that Kaolin Burke?" I hear someone nearby whisper.

  "I thought it was you!" Principal P. squeals as she gives me a bear hug. I guess she's not mad. "How have you been?"

  I struggle to get some air before answering. "Great," I re ply warmly. Principal P. was the only school official in on my charade and she was incredibly nice to me. She's a Family Fa natic (our word for über fans of FA).

  "I'm sorry you couldn't finish your term," she says apolo getically. "The parents association fought me."

  I smile. "I understand. It was time for me to leave anyway. I hope its okay I'm here now." I cover my eyes to block the sun. I was in such a hurry, I left my black Gucci sunglasses in the car. "I know students are allowed to donate however much they want to pay for their ticket," I whisper. "I'd like to pay one thousand for mine." I hand over the check I made out in the car.

  "A thousand dollars!" Principal P. says in astonishment. She clutches the check tightly. "Wait till I announce this over the loudspeaker on Monday!"

  "Oh, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to keep the donation anonymous," I beg.

  Principal P. winks. "Sure thing. It will be our secret." Prin cipal P. chuckles and wipes the sweat from her brow. "So have you gotten any FA scripts yet for the new season? The chat room I was in last night said that Paige is going to be in a coma after the car crash!"

  Before I can answer, someone plops down in front of me.

  "I can't believe you made it!" squeals Austin's sister, Hayley "Hi, Principal Pearson!" she adds.

  Principal P. looks disappointed. "Oh, hi, Hayley" She stands up. "I should go, Kaitlin. I need to make the rounds, you know. Thank you again for your, uh, ticket donation." I nod, looking around Principal P. to see what everyone is screaming about.

  Rodney clears his throat. "Clark scored a goal against the faculty. Frankly, I think it's unfair for the team to play the teachers. They have an advantage, you know." I look dow
n at the field and see Austin give his muddy teammates a high five. Pay attention, Kaitlin!

  "I told Riley and Prue you would totally come if you could get off work, but it's not like you can take a sick day," I hear Hayley say. She motions to two shy girls sitting next to her. I shake Riley's sweaty hand and autograph Prue's shaking wrist, then ask Hayley what I really need to know.

  "Do you know if your brother is mad at me?"

  Hayley's blue eyes grow wide. "He's acting so weird. He wouldn't tell us how his set visit with you went. All he can talk about is this stupid charity match."

  Gulp. "Where are your mom and dad?" I search the stands and see them a few rows back. Mrs. Meyers waves, but Mr. Meyers is so wrapped up in the game, he doesn't see me. It's just as well. He probably hates me after last Friday night.

  I look at the field in time to see Austin run off it. He looks sweaty and dirty and tired and, well, completely adorable. As Austin approaches the bench I see his ex, Lori, standing on the sidelines with a towel and a bottle of Gatorade. Aus tin takes them from her and smiles. Hey!

  "Ever since Austin started dating the real you, Lori's been all over him again," Hayley confides over another round of cheers.

  "So I noticed," I reply stiffly, trying not to overact as I watch Lori giggle wildly at something Austin said. Concen trate on the game, Kaitlin. Austin jogs back to the middle of the field.

  Austin has explained lacrosse to me before, but it's all a bit hazy now. I know he's an attackman, which means he's the guy who gets the goals, but beyond that, I'm lost. Rodney somehow knows a little about the sport, which he's happy to share after I've sent Hayley down to the Snack Shack to buy out the brownies the Key Club is selling.

  "Austins got great stick skills!" he marvels. "You see how he made that save? He's a natural."

  "He is?" I feel proud watching him run down the torn-up field cradling the stick, dodging his opponents. I pay strict attention to the rest of the game, even turning off my cell phone and Sidekick (Nadine and Laney are going to kill me) so that I can watch Austin's every move. Well, when I'm not greeting students, that is. I have such guilt over my disguise at Clark that I don't let Rodney turn away anyone who wants my autograph or a picture. By the fourth quarter, I've seen al most everyone I knew, including my old history teacher, Mr. Klein, who still looks peeved that I didn't hand in my extra-credit paper.