05 Take Two - My Sister the Vampire

by Sienna Mercer

  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

  ‘Ladies, 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.

  ‘I can’t see Olivia,’ Ivy said to Sophia.

  Sophia was a few inches taller and stood on her tiptoes to look over the crowd. ‘Maybe we should try to push our way through to the diner?’

  Ivy nodded. She had to find her sister, right away.

  Olivia and Camilla were tucked away in a corner of the reception trailer, as far from the chaos of the diner as they could get. Any other time, she would have waited for Jackson with the others but Olivia wanted to get to work memorising her lines in peace.

  The lines were from the opening scene and were supposed to make Jackson’s character, Chase, fall in love with Mia. The thought of doing a romantic scene with Jackson made Olivia feel a little shy, but she was just going to have to put all that to one side and be professional.

  ‘Ready?’ Camilla said.

  ‘Let’s do it,’ Olivia replied.

  She started the scene by reaching for a box of tissues on the windowsill, pretending it was the last half-shell of coconut juice at a Hawaiian buffet. Camilla, playing Jackson’s part, did the same and bumped into her.

  Camilla read, ‘Chase looks into Mia’s eyes and what he sees stops him in his tracks.’ She dropped her jaw and slapped her hands on either side of her mouth.

  ‘Ha, ha,’ Olivia replied, but she stayed in character and kept going with the lines.

  ‘Chase grabs a coconut from the fruit display in one hand and Mia’s hand in the other and pulls her to the beach,’ read Camilla. She grabbed the tissues and hit the box with a nearby can of drink. ‘Chase tries to smash open the coconut with a rock. “I’m going to open it for you,” he says.’ Camilla said Chase’s lines in a deep, very unconvincing man’s voice.

  ‘Maybe if you were wearing a grass skirt,’ Olivia/Mia teased.

  ‘Maybe if I’d just taken that last coconut drink, I wouldn’t be humiliating myself,’ was Camilla/Chase’s reply.

  ‘I’m glad you didn’t.’ Olivia knew this was supposed to be the really romantic bit where she admits a little that she likes him. ‘Because watching you try to crack that nut is the funniest thing I’ve seen this trip.’

  ‘So you think that you could do better?’ Camilla/Chase challenged.

  The script had Mia take the rock from Chase. Olivia had never opened a coconut before but the script made it pretty clear. ‘You see these three indents here?’ She pointed at two of the letters on the can. ‘The Polynesians say that these three indents are the face of the coconut. These two are the eyes and this is the mouth. The mouth is the weakest point.’

  Olivia pretended to strike the coconut and get it open. Then she was supposed to smile the most beautiful smile Chase has ever seen. To make herself do this just right she thought of the moment when Jackson grabbed her hand before the big announcement about the auditions.

  ‘You know, you’re really good at this,’ Camilla said, dropping the silly manly voice. ‘When you said those lines, you became this whole new character. It was you, but you were different – and I really believed what you were saying.’

  ‘Thanks, Camilla.’

  ‘You should definitely be an actress.’

  Olivia was always comfortable entertaining people when she was cheering, and she had to be super-careful about the vampire secret; maybe acting was just another form of all that? And lately, she could find plenty of inspiration for romance. ‘Maybe today will be my big break,’ she said.

  ‘But remember that if Philippe is stupid enough to give the part to someone else, it doesn’t mean you aren’t good,’ Camilla countered.

  Charlotte Brown stepped into the reception trailer. ‘What are you doing here?’ Charlotte said to Olivia. For once, she was without Katie and Allison.

  ‘Duh,’ Camilla retorted. ‘Olivia made the callbacks, too.’

  Charlotte waved her hand like Camilla was a second-squad cheerleader. ‘It’s just that I’m surprised you’re still here practising.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Olivia asked.

  ‘I thought you’d be with Ivy,’ Charlotte replied. ‘She looked really upset, arguing on the phone with someone.’ Charlotte leaned in and lowered her voice. ‘Looks like Dracula and Dracu-less are on the out and out.’

  Olivia realised with a start that they had forgotten Brendan again this morning. She felt terrible if he and Ivy were fighting, especially because they kept coming to the set for Olivia. This is my fault, she thought. She had to find Ivy. ‘Where is she?’

  Charlotte shrugged. ‘Brewing up curses in her cauldron?’

  ‘Charlotte,’ Olivia warned, her face settling into one of Ivy’s death stares. Captain or no captain, if Ivy was upset, there was no time for diplomacy. ‘Where is she?’

  ‘OK, OK.’ Charlotte tossed her hair. ‘She told the other spook that she was going to the mall to get away from everything.’

  Olivia started packing up her stuff, folding the script into her purse. ‘I’ve got to get to the mall.’

  ‘But what about the audition? The read-through?’ Camilla asked. ‘Can’t you just call her?’

  ‘This is more important. Ivy and Brendan never fight. It must be huge,’ Olivia said. They were the perfect couple and she wasn’t going to let something come between them. She would help fix it, help explain to Brendan. ‘She’ll need someone with her, not a voice on the phone.’

  Ivy came before the audition. Olivia had to go.

  Chapter Nine

  Looking for Olivia among this crowd of Jackson super-fans was like looking for a real vampire on Halloween.

  Ivy had figured out eventually that Charlotte had lied about Olivia being in the diner. When Ivy and Sophia managed to force their way in, one of the production crew said all the finalists had left right after the announcement.

  One point to Charlotte.

  Now, Sophia was off talking to Lillian and resting her feet, while Ivy wandered in circles. It had been almost two hours since she’d found the ‘garlic clause’ as she was now referring to it, and she still hadn’t been able to tell Olivia the truth about Jackson.

  Ivy sat down to rest on one of the parking plinths, her legs crossed in front of her.


  Ivy’s phone rang from inside her bag. Hoping it was Olivia, she started digging for it, pulling out her key chain, her notebook and the packet of O-Neg flavoured lollipops that Brendan had given her before Christmas. She found her phone on the sixth ring.

  ‘Thank the darkness!’ Ivy said.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Olivia blurted. ‘It’s all my fault, but we can fix it. I’ll help.’

  Ivy was a little confused; she wasn’t that upset about not being able to find Olivia. ‘Fix it? There’s nothing to fix. I just need to talk to you.’

  ‘I know,’ Olivia said. ‘That’s why I’m here – and there is something to fix. You can’t give up so easily.’

  ‘Give up?’ Ivy was getting really confused.

  ‘Love is worth fighting for,’ Olivia said.

  ‘Um, OK,’ Ivy replied. She started to think that maybe Olivia already knew. Maybe Jackson had broken the First Law of the Night and told her. And maybe that meant that Olivia had gotten over it and would be happy with a vampire boyfriend after all.

  ‘Now tell me where you are,’ Olivia instructed.

  ‘I’m right in the middle, near the fake palm trees,’ Ivy said.

  ‘Is that by the pet store?’

  ‘No,’ Ivy replied, thinking Olivia must be joking. The closest thing to a pet store on set was the make-up trailer where Spencer groomed and fluffed his actors like poodles. Ivy decided to play along. ‘It’s next to the cake shop.’

  Olivia didn’t respond for a moment. ‘There’s a cake shop in the mall?’

  Now Ivy was completely baffled. ‘The mall?

  ‘Yes, the mall,’ Olivia said. ‘The mall where you are.’

  ‘I’m not at the mall,’ Ivy said slowly. ‘I’m on set where you are supposed to be.’

  ‘But –’ Olivia started. ‘But . . . but . . .’

  There was a terrible pause as Ivy couldn’t figure out what to say.