“Hurry!” urged Melody. “Willa has called us to places.”
At the end of the Pine Street, a pretend café with tables, chairs, and an outdoor fountain had been set up.
Claire spied Justin with the rest of the crew, moving café tables and chairs into different groupings on Willa’s instruction. Claire gave him a movie star-ish wave, but he didn’t notice.
Willa steered Claire to a café table. Two other extras, a man and woman in winter-clothes costumes, were already sitting there. They were drinking bottled water and fanning themselves with their hands.
“I guess we’re your parents,” said the woman with a sniff, looking Claire up and down.
The man shrugged and said nothing.
“This is so awesome!” Claire exclaimed. “I hope this movie is a blockbuster and everyone at school sees me and is jealous!”
“It sure better be a blockbuster,” said the woman. “Melody needs one.”
“Yeah, I heard they were pulling the plug on her show,” said the man.
The Melody Malady Show, canceled? Claire frowned. “That’s impossible,” she said. “It’s the second-best show on television.”
“Ratings are down,” said the man. “Melody’s too old. She used to be cute, but now, eh. She’s so-so.”
“I never saw her show,” said the woman, “but I heard it’s a load of garbage.”
“No way, it’s great!” Claire protested. How dare they! She salamander-stared hard at the man and woman. (She had read that salamanders could stare at the same object for hours without blinking.) “Don’t talk against Melody. She’s my friend.”
“Sorry, kid, but that’s what I heard,” said the woman.
The café scene dragged all morning. Willa called for take after take.
By the twenty-eighth time, Claire was tired of saying, “Mom, I want some hot apple cider!”
By the fiftieth take, sweat was prickling beneath Claire’s wool clothes, and her mouth was dry as lint.
Hot apple cider was the last thing she wanted.
“Okay, perfect!” called Willa. “That’s a wrap.”
“Finally!” croaked Claire.
Melody laughed. “Think how I feel! I never drank so much apple cider in my life. They’ve set up lunch in my trailer. Let’s peel off these clothes and get some grub!”
Only the grub turned out to be green salad and protein shakes.
“Yick!” said Claire. “Bring on the peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches! Bring on the ice-cream sandwiches! I’m hungry!”
“Sorry. It’s the studio’s orders,” Melody explained sadly. “All they serve are these shakes and salads. Day after day.”
“Being a movie star is hard work, huh?” said Claire through a mouthful of salad.
Melody nodded. “And everyone expects me to be cheerful and nice all the time. As soon as I do one thing wrong—like if I complain about retakes or say I’m tired—the rumors start that I’m a spoiled brat.”
“But it must be fun-fun-fun to be famous!” said Claire. “You get to live half the year in Hollywood and you don’t do chores.”
“I guess,” said Melody.
“I want to be famous, too,” Claire announced. “I want to have a million-dollar smile and charm to spare, like they write about movie stars in those movie magazines. I want to be a celebrity!”
“You do?”
“Sure. Doesn’t everybody?”
Melody looked puzzled. “I never had a choice. When I was six months old, I was discovered at the supermarket by a talent scout. One week later I was the Hush-a-bye Bassinet Baby. So I don’t know any different.”
“Well, I don’t know any different than being unfamous,” said Claire. “But I’m sure I want to be a star! Hey, will you teach me how, Melody?”
“How to be star? Gee, I don’t know. But I think the first step,” said Melody, “is wardrobe.”
“Wardrobe?” Claire looked down at the striped T-shirt and shorts she was wearing. They used to be red, but hundreds of trips through the wash had faded them to the color of raspberry sherbet.
“You know, eye-catching clothes.” Melody jumped to her closet. She pulled out a spangled gold shirt and gold hat with a jaunty feather. “I wore this on the season finale of my show,” she said. “You can have it.”
“I remember that outfit!” Claire pulled the gold shirt over her striped one and set the feathered hat on her head. “Thanks, Melody.” Already, she felt shiny and slightly different from her unfamous Claire self.
“Second step,” said Melody, her finger pressed to her chin. “I think you need to change your name to something starrier.”
“Like—Bonnie-Blue Bundkin?” Claire had always wished her parents had named her Bonnie-Blue.
“No, no, no. Claire is a nice name. It’s the last part where I’d put more snap.” Melody tipped her head, studying Claire. “Maybe to…Claire Clarinet? Or Claire Éclair? Or Claire Airedale?”
Claire sipped her extremely eww protein shake and thought. “How about … Claire La Dare?”
Melody snapped her fingers. “Exactly!”
“Claire La Dare.” Claire said it again, her new celebrity name.
“Gosh, Claire, I’m really happy that we met,” said Melody. “There aren’t many people my age who are working in Hollywood, and back in Bethesda, I’m never in school long enough to make a real friend.”
“You’ve got to be kidding! Everyone and anyone in Bethesda, or Hollywood, or the whole U.S. of A. wants to be your friend, Melody!” said Claire.
“Everyone might, but nobody is,” said Melody.
And for a moment, Melody Malady looked sad.
Only for a moment, though.
Then her TV-perfect Melody face switched back on, million-dollar smile, dimples, and all.
6
Sister Scrap Heap
LUNA LOVED-LOVED-LOVED THE SIXTY-EIGHT rocks in her brand-new rock collection. She had borrowed Dolores’s Li’l Miner Rock Cleaner and Dolores’s Li’l Miner Rock Polisher to scrub and shine every single one.
When she was finished cleaning and polishing, Luna set her varnished rocks in a glinting row on her windowsill, from her largest chunk of shale all the way down to her tiniest potassium pebble.
“I’m going to find a fair, or some kind of contest around Philadelphia and enter my rocks in it,” she said to Claire as she gave her rock garden a final overview. “Do you think my rocks could win a prize?”
The twins were up in their bedroom, where they were supposed to be making back-to-school supply lists for their mother.
Claire was standing in front of the closet full-length mirror. She was wearing her new gold shirt and feathered hat and admiring herself.
“Do you think my rocks could win a prize?” Luna repeated.
Claire mumbled something under her breath.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
Luna flushed. “It sounded like you said, ‘Who cares, geolo-geek.’ You better stop calling me that, Claire. It’s rude.” And it hurt her feelings. Luna did not say that part.
“I didn’t call you geolo-geek,” Claire scoffed. “Crumbs, why do you have to be so sensitive all the time about every single thing?”
Luna bit her lips and did not answer. These past few days, she felt as if some thing had happened to her sister. It was as if Claire had been stolen away and replaced by a zombietron. Like the ones on Galaxy Murk. The zombietron looked like Claire and sounded like Claire, but all that came out of her mouth were rude, un-Claireish comments.
“Melody has changed you,” Luna decided to speak what had been on her mind for a little while now. “And yesterday Dolores and I agreed that neither of you are much fun to be around when you get together.”
“Ha. You’re just jealous because I’m friends with the movie star twin, and you got the rock star twin.” Claire smirked at her own joke.
“I am not jealous,” Luna protested. “Dolores is fantastic. Every day this week we’ve done so
mething cool with Mr. G. We’ve been to Olde City and the Planetarium and the Franklin Institute.”
“Oh, Loon, tons of people go to the Franklin Institute. But how many people can watch a real-live movie being made? A movie where I happen to have a small, but important, supporting role,” Claire added.
Luna frowned. “When we’re out at Licks ’n’ Sticks with Dad and Fluffy tomorrow night, you and Melody had better be nice to Dolores and me.”
“I’ll be however I want,” said Claire. “I’m Claire La Dare.”
“Claire La Dare? What are you talking about? And, by the way, have you been casting that tidy-up spell on yourself?” Luna shook her finger. “Your hair looks too combed. Plus it has a perfect, no-mistakes spell-smell to it.”
“How would you know, Loon?” Claire pointed a finger back. “You couldn’t smell your way out of a wet sock.”
Luna blinked. She was touchy about her bad sense of smell. She could not believe that Claire was teasing her for it.
“Claire, telephone!” called Justin from behind the door. “It’s you-know-who!”
“Coming! Coming!” Claire yelled.
Luna watched as her zombietron sister skipped off to take Melody’s call. Melody called every night. For a big-shot television star, she sure seemed lonely.
Then Luna stood and walked over to Claire’s side of their room, which was covered in glossy autographed publicity photos of Melody. In order to find space for the new photos, Claire had pulled down some of her old ones.
School pictures. Camp pictures.
Worse, Claire had pulled down some twin pictures.
Luna picked up a photograph of herself and Claire that her sister had tossed in a scrap heap on her bedside table. The photograph had been taken this past spring, at their father’s wedding to Fluffy. That same afternoon that the twins had become one-star witches and received their witch-kittens.
A special day, when they had hooked pinkies and danced the hula.
Yesterday, Luna confided to Claire all about the secret cave in Valley Forge Park. In return, Claire confided to Luna that she’d taught their special pinkie-hook to Melody Malady.
And she hadn’t even asked Luna’s permission first!
“I gave Claire a secret, and Claire gave away a secret,” Luna told Edith mournfully. “That doesn’t seem fair, does it? All it took was one week, and now it’s like Claire wants to be identical twins with Melody instead of me.”
Her kitten, understanding humanspeak, purred soothingly. Luna sat on the rug and gathered Edith into her arms. Then, on second thought, she called Hortense, too. “Here, kitty. Come here, Hort.”
Hortense jumped off the foot of Claire’s bed and leaped to the comfort of Luna’s arms. Claire had not been giving Hortense much attention this week. All of Claire’s time and energy was going straight to Melody.
Luna snuggled both kittens into her lap.
“How can I compete if Claire wants to be stuck like glue to superstar Melody?” asked Luna. “Claire and I don’t even look identical anymore, ever since she gave me this bad haircut.”
Edith and Hortense purred a soft rumble of sympathy.
“I don’t want to say it,” Luna spoke softly, “but I’ll be glad when Melody finishes up her movie and goes home. I really do like Dolores, but I’d rather have my own sister back.”
But she had a sad hunch that right now, Claire did not share this feeling.
The next night, as a special almost-back-to-school treat, Fluffy and their father were taking Justin and Luna and Claire and Dolores and Melody out for dinner.
“Licks ’n’ Sticks is our favorite family restaurant,” explained Luna as they all scrambled out of the car.
“Is the food low in calories?” asked Melody.
“Yeah, is it?” asked Claire. She was wearing her gold shirt and gold feathered hat and a pair of Melody’s dark wraparound sunglasses. She looked very silly, in Luna’s opinion.
“Aw, you won’t care ’bout calories when the food’s so good!” said Fluffy.
“I’m getting a hot fudge sundae,” said Dolores. “People are usually confused about calorie intake, especially considering the statistics—”
“Oh, blah-blah-blah, Dolores!” snapped Melody.
For all her niceness to everyone else, Luna thought, Melody was tough on her own twin. Was this the same attitude that had rubbed off on Claire?
The hostess sat Luna, Dolores, Fluffy, Melody, Claire, Justin, and their dad in their usual half-circle booth.
“Wow, we’re a doggone crowd tonight!” exclaimed Fluffy. She was wearing her special-occasion red-fringed maternity cowgirl pantsuit with the horseshoe-buckle belt.
“Can I get two hot dog sticks and no vegetable sticks?” asked Justin as he opened his menu.
“Can I get some carrot sticks and no dessert?” asked Claire, with a look over at Melody.
“Actually, I want the deep-fried dumpling sticks and a hot fudge sundae,” said Melody. “Since I’m not on the movie set, I can eat what I want.”
“Oh, yeah, me, too,” Claire agreed.
Luna noticed that at other booths and tables, heads were beginning to turn and people were whispering. At first Luna thought it was because of Fluffy’s remarkable cowgirl clothes. Then she realized it was on account of Melody Malady.
“Please, just ignore them,” said Melody. She was using her menu to shield her face.
“Okay.” Their father put on his best newspaper reporter voice. “So, everybody, who is looking forward to the start of school?”
“Hi!” A father and daughter had bounced up to their booth. “Aren’t you Melody Malady? You’re fantastic! What a singer! What a dancer! Can we get your autograph?”
“Sure.” Melody smiled, wrote her name on a napkin, and handed it over.
“Bye, now, y’all!” said Fluffy, waving them off. She turned to Melody and said, “Some folks have red-hot-poker nerve! Interrupting us in the middle of dinner like that.”
Unfortunately, no sooner had the father and daughter left, than it happened again.
“We’re totally too old for your show, and we think it’s kinda stupid, but we want your autograph anyway,” said a teenaged couple who had sidled up to Melody from the next booth over.
They thrust a pen and piece of paper in front of Melody.
Melody’s TV-perfect expression stayed sweetly in place as she nodded and signed away.
Poor Melody, thought Luna, having to be polite even though the teenagers were so impolite to her. Luna knew she sometimes tended to feel jealous of Melody. First for being a star, and also for hogging up Claire’s attention. But now Luna felt a pinch sorry for Melody Malady.
After all, it couldn’t be much fun for a person to be so perfect-perfect-perfect in public all the time.
“Do you want my autograph, too?” Claire asked the teenagers. “I’m in Melody’s next big feature movie. It might be my breakout movie star role.”
“Uh, okay.” The teenagers looked at Claire skeptically.
Talk about red-hot-poker nerve, thought Luna. She watched as her sister wrote the name Claire La Dare in giant letters next to Melody’s. Claire’s nose pressed close to the page.
“What’s wrong with that girl’s eyes?” one of the teenagers whispered.
Justin laughed. “Yo, Madame La Dare, I think that’s a signal that you should take off your sunglasses!” he said. “You can’t even see through them!”
“Be quiet, Justin,” muttered Claire, but she pushed her sunglasses up onto her hat.
“Come on, gang. Time to order,” said their father.
Just as they turned back to their menus, yet another group, this time a family of a mother, a father, and two squawking kids presented themselves for Melody’s autograph. “Please-please-please-please-please!” they yelped.
“Do you want my autograph? I’m also in Melody’s movie,” said Claire.
“Nah. We don’t recognise you,” said one of the kids. “Let’s go.” And they move
d off.
At that, Justin laughed outright, but Luna saw that her twin sister was starting to get her pointy look. When things were not going Claire’s way, every edge of her body—elbows, nose, shoulder blades—seemed to sharpen and turn brittle as glass.
Justin did not seem to notice. He kept right on teasing.
“Madame La Dare, you should have left your Halloween costume at home,” Justin said.
“For your information, this shirt and hat belong to Melody, and she wore them on the season finale of her show,” Claire told Justin. “It’s a famous outfit.”
“Famous on a famous person, maybe.” Justin snickered. “But dumb on a regular person.”
“I’m not regular!” cried Claire.
“Regular-regular-reg-u-lar—Claire,” crowed Justin.
“Cut it out! At least I’m not dressed up like a cowgirl!”
Quiet dropped over the table. Out of the corner of her eye, Luna caught a glimpse of Fluffy’s hurt, surprised face.
Poor Fluffy! What a terrible thing for Claire to say!
Luna could tell Claire regretted it, too. She blinked, as if shocked by her own words.
“I guess I am looking kinda cowgirly tonight,” said Fluffy, plucking at her fringed sleeve. “Maybe the horseshoe belt was overdoing it.” She gave an embarrassed-sounding laugh.
“Claire, that kind of rudeness is unacceptable,” said their father. “Apologise to Fluffy.”
“I’m sorry, Fluffy,” said Claire. “I didn’t mean it.”
“Honey, it’s nothing,” said Fluffy. She sounded sincere, but she continued to look embarrassed.
Nice going, Claire La Dare, thought Luna.
When Claire looked across the table, silently imploring her twin’s help, Luna quickly averted her eyes to her menu.
Claire would have to take care of this one on her own.
7
Salamander Eye Spy
THAT NIGHT, CLAIRE COULD not sleep. So many people were upset with her.
Her dad! Luna! Fluffy!
Even Hortense was mad at her! Tonight, her very own kitten was curled into a small ball of fur at the foot of Luna’s bed, next to Edith. Claire had coaxed and called, but her kitten wouldn’t jump over. Holding a witch-kitten grudge, Claire figured, because she had not been getting enough attention.
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