by Betsy Haynes
Taffy brightened. "For me?"
Her mother handed her a small box wrapped in gold foil. Taffy swallowed hard. It had to be a present from Raven. No matter how he had acted before, it had been obvious today that he really cared about her. She didn't understand why he acted cool to her sometimes, but surely that was about to change.
She unfastened the paper and slowly opened the box, holding her breath as she peered inside. "Oh, look!" she shouted. Inside lay a small gold star that hung from a delicate gold chain. She picked up the necklace and read the single word engraved on the star: TAFFY.
Her mother was hovering over her, fluttering with delight. "Oh!" she cooed. "It must be from the director."
Taffy rolled her eyes at the thought of getting a necklace from the director, no matter how much her mother wanted it. It had to be from Raven.
She slipped a tiny card out of its envelope, almost afraid to read it. Finally, she took a deep breath and read the words:
For Hollywood's newest star,
Love,
Len
"Len!" she shrieked in disbelief, and threw the necklace across the room.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Taffy spent all Sunday morning on the sofa with her ankle propped up on a pillow. Her mother ordered breakfast sent up by room service, and by lunchtime Taffy had finished the long letter to Shawnie she had started the day before and a shorter one to Cory, and she was bored out of her mind.
"Mother, my ankle is better," she insisted. "The swelling has almost gone down, and it barely hurts when I stand on it anymore." That was stretching the truth more than a little, but Taffy was getting desperate. "Can we go downstairs for lunch?" she pleaded.
"Don't be silly, sweetheart," said Mrs. Sinclair. "We can't take any chances with that ankle. You have a big scene coming up tomorrow, and it would be a shame if they had to shoot around you."
Taffy thought about tomorrow's scene. What her mother said was true. It was the best scene in the movie. In it her character, Tiffany Stafford, flirted with the Eric Peterson character, the one played by Raven Blaine. She had pictured the filming a hundred times in her mind, and she knew that even though she would be speaking lines from the script, her flirting would be for real.
"I'll have room service bring up some lunch," said her mother. "Why don't you see what's on television?"
Sighing, Taffy reached for the TV schedule. She flipped through the pages thinking that the only things on this time of day were reruns. She certainly couldn't get very excited over that. She ran a finger down the listings. It was just as she had thought. The Brady Bunch. Happy Days. Facts of Life. Cagney and Lacey. Taffy stopped and stared in surprise at the next program listing. Daddy's Little Darling. That was the television series Paige Kramer had been in when she was younger. And to make matters worse, the advertisement in the television schedule said "starring Paige Kramer." How disgusting could you get?
Taffy tapped her fingers against the page and looked sideways at the television set. Could she stand to watch Paige Kramer on TV? She was probably just as conceited then as she was now, no matter what Tess said.
"I'll bet I would barf," Taffy muttered under her breath. "In fact, I know I would, all over this beautiful hotel room."
Still, it might beat watching The Brady Bunch. I might even get a good laugh. No! she thought. I will not stoop to watching Paige Kramer on TV and that's that!
She flipped the television schedule to the other end of the sofa and crossed her arms, glaring out the window at the beautiful California sunshine outside. Why didn't her ankle hurry up and get well?
Finally Taffy stretched out on the sofa and thought about home. She wondered what the kids from Wacko were doing today. "I know," she said, popping up into a sitting position. "I'll call Shawnie!"
It took some persuasion, but Mrs. Sinclair finally agreed to let Taffy call all the way to the East Coast and talk to her friend. After all, Taffy had reminded her mother, Shawnie had already called her once. It was only fair that she return the call. Besides, the studio would pay for it anyway.
Taffy listened eagerly to the little boop-boop-beep-boop sounds as the call sped along the line. "What if no one answers?" she moaned to herself as she heard the third ring. Just then Shawnie's mother picked up the phone and said hello.
"Hi, Mrs. Pendergast? This is Taffy Sinclair."
"Well, hello, Taffy. Are you back home already?"
"No, I'm calling from Hollywood. Is Shawnie there?"
Mrs. Pendergast hesitated. "Ummmm . . . no . . . I'm afraid she isn't here right now."
"Oh," said Taffy. "Well, where is she? I mean, can I call her somewhere else?" Taffy knew the disappointment sounded in her voice, but she couldn't help it. She had been dying to talk to her best friend.
"She's gone somewhere with"—Mrs. Pendergast fumbled—"with someone."
Taffy frowned. Shawnie's mother was acting awfully funny. Why didn't she just say where Shawnie had gone or whom she was with. Was it some big secret?
"But I'll be sure to tell her that you called," Mrs. Pendergast said hurriedly. "Bye, bye."
Taffy hung up and stared at the phone, thinking back over the conversation. Mrs. Pendergast definitely didn't want Taffy to know whom Shawnie was with. But why? Shawnie had other friends. She certainly had a right to spend time with them. Unless . . . Taffy frowned. Unless the friend she was out with was Cory Dillon.
Taffy scrambled to her bedside table and got out Shawnie's letter. The last paragraph had bothered her a little when she read it the first time.
Cory called last night, and we talked for a long time, mostly about you. I told him how much I missed you and how lonely I was already. He's really nice. He said he missed you, too, and that I could talk to him anytime I was feeling sad. Well, I'd better hit the sack now. Write soon.
Love,
Shawnie
Were they together now? Had they gone somewhere to talk about how much they missed her? Taffy wondered. Or was it something else?
The next morning Taffy jumped out of bed, crying "Ouch!" as her foot hit the floor and her ankle gave way. She had been having a super dream about driving along the coastal highway in an open convertible with Raven Blaine and had forgotten all about her twisted ankle. Now she could see that it was swollen again, and putting weight on it hurt like crazy.
She looked around the hotel room quickly, relieved that her mother was in the bathroom and had not heard her cry out.
Taffy took a couple of practice steps around the end of the bed, trying her best to walk normally. If she could fake it well enough to convince her mother that her ankle was well, she could go to this morning's shoot.
She remembered the elastic bandage her mother had gotten yesterday afternoon from the drugstore across from the hotel. She wrapped it securely around her ankle and stepped down again. This time she could walk almost normally, and she pulled her sock on over it and then put on her shoe.
Mrs. Sinclair looked worried when she came out of the bathroom. "How's your ankle this morning?"
"Great!" Taffy lied. "I'm wearing the elastic bandage just in case it needs extra support. See, I can walk fine."
Taffy paraded around the room for her mother, managing to walk normally even though pain throbbed in the ankle and shot up her leg.
"Well, that does look a lot better, dear. Now see," Mrs. Sinclair added in her I-told-you-so voice, "I was right when I told you to stay off it yesterday."
Dollins didn't seem to notice any signs of a limp when she got into the car, either. Maybe I can really pull this off, she thought happily.
Taffy had never realized before just what a long walk it was from her trailer to the set. Fortunately her mother had stayed in the trailer, so Taffy could relax a little and limp until she reached the area where the cameras were set up. But when she tried to step down on her left foot normally, she winced in pain and pulled the foot up quickly.
"Rats," she muttered and tried again. The ankle was still too painful to bear much w
eight, and she could see the skin puffing out around the bandage.
Taffy took a deep breath. I'm an actress, she told herself sternly. I can play the part of someone who doesn't limp if I try hard enough.
She could see the set now, the exterior of the school building, and all the other cast members except Tess were there. Paige was the center of attention, as usual. Taffy smiled to herself. She and Raven were in all the scenes for the next couple of days, but Paige was in only one. Actually, Taffy thought, Paige's scene could be cut. It was totally unnecessary to the story.
So what if my ankle hurts? Taffy thought, squaring her shoulders and marching determinedly toward the set. What's that old show-business line? The show must go on!
Taffy was feeling proud of herself as she approached the set. She was gritting her teeth, but she was walking as if she had never hurt her ankle in the first place. What would Raven do when he caught sight of her? Would he rush to help her onto the set? Would he ask about her ankle?
Just then she spotted him. He looked handsomer than ever today in a deep-red polo shirt open at the neck. He had spotted her, too, but before he could call to her, Paige yelled, "Look, everybody. Here comes our little invalid. I see your ankle wasn't broken after all."
"Of course it wasn't broken," Taffy snapped. "I never said it was. I just twisted it, that's all. The swelling's almost gone."
"What happened?" cried the director. "Are you okay?"
Taffy started to explain to Jerry that she was perfectly fine, but before she could say more than two words, Toodie McCormick stepped out of the shadows beside one of the cameras. "Let me see that ankle. I'm not sure you should be working today."
Taffy looked questioningly at Toodie, who put an arm around Taffy's shoulder and steered her to a chair. "Didn't your mother explain to you?" Toodie asked. "I'm not only your teacher, but I'm your welfare worker as well. That's the California law pertaining to children who have jobs. It's also the law that you can't work if you're sick or injured. Now, let me look at your ankle."
Taffy did remember her mother's saying something like that the first day she met Toodie, but she had never dreamed that a time would come when it would be important to her.
Reluctantly Taffy stuck out her foot while the director and other cast members gathered around. Toodie softly poked at it and then unwound the bandage, shaking her head.
"How bad is it?" asked Jerry Lowenthal.
"I'm afraid she's going to have to stay off this at least until tomorrow and maybe the rest of the week," said Toodie.
"But I can't," cried Taffy. "Not today." She threw a look of panic at Raven. She'd die if she had to miss their scene together just because of a stupid twisted ankle.
"That's right," Megan assured Toodie. "It's her and Raven's biggest scene."
"We really need her," added Chelsea.
"What do you mean, we need her?" Paige asked sharply. The others parted, and she came forward, tossing her auburn hair behind her shoulder and looking straight at the director. "There's nothing we can do about it if she can't work. Besides, I know all her lines. I can do her scenes."
"Oh, no, you can't!" cried Taffy. "I'm Tiffany Stafford! Jerry, you can't let her play my part."
Paige got an innocent look on her face and said, "I just meant that I could play her part while we rehearse. It would be a shame for everyone to come all the way to the set and not even get to rehearse. Wouldn't it, Jerry?"
Paige's phony act made Taffy want to throw up. She didn't want Paige playing her scenes, especially the flirting scene with Raven. But the director looked thoughtful.
"You're right about that," he conceded. "We could postpone filming for a day or two, but we really ought to rehearse. Okay, Paige, you can play Tiffany Stafford's part for rehearsal."
Paige turned her head slowly to look at Taffy, and her lip curled into a sly smile. At that instant Taffy knew what Paige was doing and her heart began to hammer in her chest. Paige had wanted to be the star of this movie. She had even believed that she had the part until Taffy won it away from her. Now, Taffy thought, she's trying to steal it back.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"Have a seat in my chair, Taffy," said Jerry Lowenthal around the stub of his cigar. "You'd better watch rehearsal so that you'll know what to do when we shoot."
Taffy nodded and sat down in the bright red canvas-and-wood chair with the word DIRECTOR printed in black across the back. Ordinarily she would have been thrilled to sit in a real director's chair, but now she was too fidgety to care.
She watched Jerry head for the set where the rest of the cast was waiting and point out each person's mark. The marks were Xs chalked on the ground to show where each actor was supposed to stand when the scene started. Megan and Chelsea were off to the side. They didn't come into camera range until later in the scene.
Paige found Taffy's mark at the bottom of the school steps and flashed Jerry a big smile to indicate that she was ready.
"I'll bet she's ready," Taffy muttered to herself. "Ready to steal my part!"
Raven and KJ, who played a character named Dan Sikes, were standing just inside the school's double glass doors, ready to come out. In the story, Tiffany Stafford would walk up the stairs just as the boys started down. She would immediately begin flirting with Eric Peterson while Dan Sikes looked on. Then the characters played by Megan and Chelsea would walk by and overhear what was going on. In a later scene, the audience would find out that the two girls went straight to Jillian Morris and told her that Tiffany Stafford was flirting with her boyfriend.
Taffy glanced longingly at Raven, who stood quietly inside the door, and then at Paige, whose look of cocky self-assurance made Taffy angrier than ever.
"Quiet on the set!" called the director. "Remember, we're going to treat this like a real shoot."
Paige, Raven, and KJ nodded.
"Camera up! Rolling!"
Taffy narrowed her eyes to slits and watched as Paige started up the stairs. At the same time, the door opened and Raven and KJ started down.
Taffy tensed. The first line would be Paige's. She would stop midway up the stairs, smile at Eric, and then say, "Hi, Eric. You're just the person I wanted to see."
Paige stopped exactly where she was supposed to. Then she smiled at Eric and said, "Hi, Eric." But then she paused.
Aha! Taffy thought gleefully. She forgot her next line. She's blowing it.
And then, to Taffy's surprise, Paige reached out and gently put her hand on Raven's arm, and in a softer, more private-sounding voice, she said, "You're just the person I wanted to see."
The effect was electric. Taffy knew her mouth must be open, but she couldn't help it. As much as she hated to admit it, Paige's interpretation of the lines had gotten everyone's attention on the set. Even Raven looked surprised for an instant before he said his line.
"Hi, yourself, Tiffany. What's new?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out," Paige said coyly. Now she was giving him the big-eyes treatment. Taffy wanted to close her own eyes and shut out Paige's performance, but she couldn't.
"Oh, yeah?" challenged Raven as Megan and Chelsea caught their cue and walked by. "I thought you said that I was the person you were looking for." Paige dropped her eyes demurely. "And I found you, too. Didn't I?" Then she raced past him up the steps and disappeared into the school.
"Cut!" cried Jerry. "Paige, that was terrific!"
Taffy was dumbfounded. Even some of the set crew were applauding. Paige had played the scene perfectly. Taffy knew that the way Paige had paused in the middle of her first speech and used her eyes in the second speech was so much better than the way Taffy would have played the lines herself. She clenched her fists. No wonder Paige wanted to take over the rehearsals, she thought. She has so much more experience than I have, and she's determined to convince everyone that I'm nothing but an amateur. I can't let her get away with that!
Taffy watched miserably as they ran through that scene several more times. With each rehearsal
Paige's performance got more convincing. If there was one thing that Paige Kramer knew how to do, it was flirt, thought Taffy. But even though she was flirting like an expert with Raven Blaine in the scene, Taffy had the feeling that Paige couldn't care less about Raven in real life. It was Taffy's role she was after.
When it was time for lunch break, Taffy took her tray into the dining tent and sat down by herself at the end of one of the long tables. She usually ate with Tess, but Tess wasn't in today's scenes so she hadn't come to the set. Paige and Chelsea and Megan were together a couple of tables over, whispering and giggling among themselves. Taffy certainly wasn't going to sit with them.
She was looking down at the barbecued ribs on her plate, trying to figure out how to eat them without getting barbecue sauce all over herself, when KJ plopped his tray down beside hers. "Mind if I sit here?" he asked.
"Of course not." Taffy was glad for the company. It had been a frustrating morning. "I'm really sorry we can't shoot today," she said. "If only I hadn't twisted this stupid ankle."
"Hey, don't worry about it," KJ said with a laugh. "We're getting paid. It's cool."
Taffy smiled appreciatively and swallowed a bite of potato salad. "I feel like a jerk all the same. I hate volleyball in the first place. I should have stayed out of the game."
KJ shrugged. "Changing the subject, did you get a package delivered to your room sometime Saturday?" Taffy gave him a sideways look. How did he know about that? She nodded. "Uh-huh. It was a necklace from somebody named Len, which is really strange because I don't know any Len."
"Yeah, well, Len's a friend of mine. He wants to know if you like the necklace."
"Sure, I like it. It's really pretty. But who is this Len character, anyway?"
"I told you. A friend of mine. He wants to know if you got the roses he sent, too."
"KJ! Tell me who he is," Taffy begged.
"Can't."
"Why not?" she insisted.
"Because he made me promise that I wouldn't, and my lips are sealed."
Taffy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. KJ obviously wasn't going to snitch on his friend. He also knew everybody on the set, so it could be anyone. She had seen him joking around with absolutely everyone from the grips to the gaffers to the camera operators. It could be any of them. Well, Taffy thought, I don't want presents from any of them.