05 Take Two - My Sister the Vampire

by Sienna Mercer

  ‘And a blood orange juice?’ Brendan offered.

  ‘My hero!’ Ivy said, batting her lashes like a damsel in distress.

  As Brendan left, Olivia realised that one of the security guards was Jerome, their friend from yesterday. She waved until she caught his attention and he came a little closer to the barrier. ‘Thanks so much for the heads up yesterday.’

  ‘No problem,’ he said, tipping his Harker Films baseball hat.

  ‘Any chance of some insider info today?’ Ivy asked.

  ‘Sorry, ladies.’ He lowered his glasses and shrugged. ‘I’ve got nothing for you. Being on barrier duty means I don’t know what’s happening on the inside.’

  ‘Thanks anyway.’ Olivia shrugged in an effort not to look stalker-ish.

  ‘Now can we try the helicopter?’ Ivy whispered.

  Olivia held a finger to her lips. She jerked her head in the direction of the other two security guards. ‘Listen,’ she hissed. ‘I think that guy is talking about Jackson.’

  ‘What is the big deal with this Caulfield kid?’ the shorter guard was saying. ‘He’s probably just some pretty boy with fewer brain cells than a jellyfish.’

  His taller companion in a hat and sunglasses replied with a strong English accent, ‘I hear he works pretty hard at what he does.’

  His friend continued, ‘Bah! He doesn’t know the meaning of hard work. We’re the ones standing out here in the freezing cold! These boys are a dime a dozen; he’ll fade away into obscurity.’

  Olivia could feel her toes curling up with anger – how dare the man say these things? ‘Excuse me,’ she called over. The two security guards turned in her direction while Jerome leaned on the barrier near the girls. ‘It’s really not fair to judge someone you don’t know.’

  The short man took off his sunglasses. ‘I was just saying –’

  Ivy put a hand on her arm, but Olivia wasn’t going to be dissuaded. ‘You were just being pretty mean about a guy you don’t even know.’

  The guards all stared at her.

  ‘Are you going to make the effort to actually get to know Jackson,’ Olivia went on, ‘or will you just end up spreading around ideas that he’s not a good person, simply because of what he does?’

  ‘Listen, kid,’ the short man said. ‘I don’t know who you are, but I don’t give two hoots what you think about Jackson. Now, get out of here!’

  ‘Come on!’ Ivy pulled her sister away before things could get any worse.

  ‘Wh-what?’ Olivia said, almost tripping over her faux-fur boots.

  Even when they were a safe distance away opposite one of the big trucks, Ivy and Sophia had to stand between Olivia and the guards, she was so ready to go back and keep talking.

  ‘You’re going to start a lynch mob,’ Ivy said.

  ‘Did you see that lady behind us?’ Sophia pointed to the large lady in the coat. ‘She was about to jump in and give that guard a piece of her mind, too.’

  ‘We’re trying to get you a second chance to see Jackson, not get thrown off the set,’ Ivy scolded. This matchmaking thing was turning out to be more difficult than she’d expected.

  ‘Pardon me,’ said the voice with the English accent. Spinning round, Ivy saw the taller security guard. His hat, sunglasses and turned-up collar covered most of his face.

  Uh oh, Ivy thought. I bet he’s going to make us leave the premises.

  ‘Yes?’ she asked, shoving Olivia behind her to prevent her saying anything else. Maybe I can talk our way out of this, Ivy thought.

  ‘I just wanted to say: don’t worry about Harry,’ the man said. ‘He was born grumpy.’

  Olivia stepped out from behind Ivy. ‘I didn’t mean to be rude; I just wanted him to know how wrong he was.’

  ‘Those earmuffs look smashing, by the way.’ The security guard smiled.

  ‘Uh, thanks,’ Olivia said, her hand moving to touch one of the muffs.

  ‘Sorry,’ Ivy said. ‘We didn’t mean any harm.’

  But the security guard wasn’t listening to Ivy; he stepped closer to Olivia and said, ‘I should be thanking you.’

  ‘What for?’ Olivia asked.

  He slid his glasses down his nose and Ivy could see a light of recognition in Olivia’s eyes.

  ‘Olivia, do you know him?’ Ivy asked, staring. Then she caught sight of the guard’s sparkling blue eyes.

  Ivy pointed and said, ‘You’re, you’re . . .’

  Sophia slapped her hand away and said, ‘Don’t blow it!’

  The security man was Jackson.

  Chapter Four

  ‘Hi there,’ Jackson said, dropping the English accent. ‘Nice to see you again, Olivia.’

  He remembers my name! Olivia thought.

  ‘Um, nice to see you, too.’

  Jackson’s disguise was so complete, with the heavy boots and walkie-talkie; he even had the muscled arms to fill out the uniform. ‘I never would have guessed it was you,’ she said, wondering why he would want to be mistaken for a security guard.

  ‘How about I take you and your two friends on a quick tour of the set?’ he offered, pushing his sunglasses up his nose. ‘To say thank you for standing up to Harry for me.’

  ‘That would be killer!’ Sophia said.

  ‘Quick, through here!’ Jackson pulled away one of the plastic barriers just enough for them to slip through. He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching. ‘Get behind that truck!’

  As Olivia ducked through first, Jackson whispered. ‘Don’t draw any attention to us or we’ll get swamped.’

  ‘What about Brendan?’ Ivy said as they stepped past the barriers.

  ‘We’ll meet up with him later,’ Sophia said, pushing her own way through. ‘Come on!’

  Ivy and Sophia scurried behind the back of the truck, but as Olivia followed them she stumbled over the base of the hollow plastic barrier, making a loud thump. She fell against Jackson with a muffled squeak. In an instant, his strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her behind the truck. So much for not drawing any attention. Why am I such a goof ball in front of Jackson? Olivia thought.

  ‘I think we got away with it,’ Jackson said, risking a glance around the truck. He was still gently holding her arm. He noticed her looking down at his hand and pulled away. Olivia found herself loosening her knitted rainbow scarf.

  ‘Warm?’ Ivy asked.

  Sophia grinned. ‘Despite the frost?’

  Olivia shook her head, yanking at the scarf. ‘It’s all the excitement.’

  ‘The excitement?’ Ivy said, raising her eyebrows and directing a pointed look at Jackson.

  ‘I mean of sneaking in!’ Olivia hissed, digging an elbow into her sister’s ribs.

  ‘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 s
light 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.