Ciao
Page 17
The cameras continue to roll and Paige rambles on, and she’s starting to get this look in her eye, almost like she’s become bored with her subject matter. Not that I blame her. I mean, there’s only so much you can say about a second-rate theme park, no matter how much money they throw at it.
Fortunately for Paige, my mom is signaling for her to wrap it up by slashing her hand across her throat and mouthing “cut.” And Paige, used to this routine, makes her graceful exit. “And now back to the anchor desk at Channel Five News.”
“That was good,” Mom tells her, but her eyes are on the monitor and I can tell by her expression that she’s listening to her headset, probably taking direction from someone back at the station. She nods and says, “Okay. Sure, no problem, we can do that.” Then she turns back to the camera crew. “They want us to get a few more minutes of airtime—they decided to cut the trucker story. So we’ll be back on in fifteen. Everybody hang tight.”
“What more can I say about Wonderland?” Paige demands, letting out a sigh that sounds like she just ran a five-minute mile. Sometimes my sister can be a real prima donna.
“I don’t know,” Mom says absently. She’s still listening to her headset as if there’s another big story she should be going after. “Just ad lib, okay?”
“How about if we go shoot near the entrance,” suggests Sam Holliday. Sam’s the head cameraman and a very nice guy, as well as the first person to let me handle a real camera.
Mom nods. “Good idea. Maybe we can get some of the park’s guests to say a few words and give Paige a break.” Now Mom points to me. “Or perhaps Erin can take a turn being on camera.”
This is all it takes to make my sister stand up and take notice. And I know her well enough to see that she is not ready to share the limelight with anyone—especially me. And this, I must admit, is a relief.
“I’ll interview some guests.” Paige takes the second mic and we head over to the entrance area. We’re barely set up when Mom gives Paige the signal to start. Then Mom heads off to use her cell phone.
“Here we are again for the big reopening of Wonderland,” Paige says with another brilliant smile. “As you can see the people are pouring into the theme park this afternoon.” An overstatement since there are about six people trickling in at the moment. “And here’s a fresh idea — since the Golden Globes are next month, let’s pretend like this is the red carpet and we are on fashion watch.”
Then with mic in hand, Paige approaches a couple of unsuspecting teenage girls. They look a bit wary as to whether they want to be on TV or not, but my sister quickly disarms them by smiling and saying, “Welcome to Wonderland, girls. Is this your first time here?”
One girl nods without speaking, but the other girl is a little braver. “Yeah. We decided to come since it was half price today.”
“And did you get those Capri pants for half price as well?” asks Paige. Well, I almost drop my camera, except that I’m curious to record the girl’s reaction and I have to admit the baggy, white cropped pants were a bad choice. Not only do they make her butt look big, but there’s a spill stain on one knee.
The girl looks shocked, but her friend just nudges her with an elbow, then giggles. “Yeah,” the friend tells Paige, “she did get them on sale. How’d you know that?”
Paige smiles slyly. “Oh, it’s a gift. So how would you describe your fashion style today?” she asks the half-price girl who seems to be speechless. “Campy casual or theme park comfort or thrift shop chic?”
“Uh, I guess it’s theme park comfort,” the girl mutters.
“Well, comfort is important,” says Paige, turning to the other girl. “And how about you?” she asks. The girl frowns down at her black T-shirt. It’s well worn with a faded white skull on the front. “Sort of revisited Goth perhaps?”
I wince inwardly but keep my camera focused and running. In a twisted way this is actually kind of good.
The girl shrugs. “Yeah … it’s an old shirt.”
“And it’s just adorable on you,” says Paige, “and it reminds me of the good old days.” She’s smiling back at the camera now and totally ignoring our mom, who is off the phone now, but freaking out as she sends all kinds of throat slashing “cut-cut-cut” signals Paige’s direction, although no one is paying attention. I actually think the camera crew is enjoying Paige’s little spectacle — or else they’re too shocked to shut it down.
“And I’ll be the first one to admit that fashion is subjective,” Paige continues. “After all, this is only a theme park. But on the other hand, you just never know who you might bump into.” She laughs then turns back to the camera. “As you can all see everyone is having a fabulous time at Wonderland today. They’ve put on their very best togs and are parading about for the world to enjoy.”
Then Paige continues to describe outfits, turning what was supposed to be theme park coverage into a great big What Not to Wear spot. And by the time the camera crew finally does shut down after five long minutes of Paige’s merciless attacks, Mom’s face is getting those weird red blotches—not a good sign.
“Paige Forrester!” Mom seethes. “What on earth do you think you were doing?”
“Ad libbing,” Paige says lightly.
Sam chuckles as he pats Mom on the back. “Don’t worry, Brynn,” he tells her, “who really watches the five o’clock news anyway?”
Mom turns and actually glares at him now. “Well, have no doubts that this piece will be cut out of the six o—” But she cuts herself off to listen to her headset again. Now she’s grimacing as if someone back at the station is speaking way too loudly. Make that yelling, because I can hear him fairly well and it sounds a lot like her boss, Max. And the words he’s using would not be acceptable on the air.
“You probably got Mom fired,” I whisper to Paige.
Her brows crease slightly. “No, you don’t really think—”
“I didn’t put her up to anything,” Mom says loudly. “Listen, Max, I—” But she’s interrupted again and we can all hear him shouting.
I fold my camera closed and shake my head at Paige. “See what you did?”
Paige nods without speaking and her eyes look worried. For some reason this makes me feel a tiny bit better about my sister’s sensibility, or rather lack of it. Still, I’m wondering what we would really do if Mom lost her job. It’s only been three years since Dad died and our world was turned upside down. Since that time, Mom has worked long and hard to gain respect at the station — enough respect to land her this producing job about six months ago. And despite her hard work, there are still some Channel Five employees who think she got her promotion out of pity … simply because her husband (our dad), Dan Forrester, the beloved anchor on the Channel Five news for more than a decade, had been tragically killed in a plane wreck. To think that Paige could’ve messed this all up in just a few minutes is seriously disturbing.
Other books by Melody Carlson:
ON THE RUNWAY SERIES
Premiere (Book One)
Catwalk (Book Two)
Rendezvous (Book Three)
Spotlight (Book Four)
Glamour (Book Five)
CARTER HOUSE GIRLS SERIES
Mixed Bags (Book One)
Stealing Bradford (Book Two)
Homecoming Queen (Book Three)
Viva Vermont! (Book Four)
Lost in Las Vegas (Book Five)
New York Debut (Book Six)
Spring Breakdown (Book Seven)
Last Dance (Book Eight)
BOOKS FOR TEENS
The Secret Life of Samantha McGregor series
Diary of a Teenage Girl series
TrueColors series
Notes from a Spinning Planet series
Degrees series
Piercing Proverbs By
Design series
WOMEN’S FICTION
These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking
On This Day
An Irish Christmas
The Christmas
Bus
Crystal Lies
Finding Alice
Three Days
ZONDERVAN
Ciao!
Copyright © 2011 by Melody Carlson
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EPub Edition © MAY 2011 ISBN: 978-0-310-42674-5
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* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carlson, Melody.
Ciao! / Melody Carlson.
p. cm. — (On the runway ; bk. 6)
Summary: As the Forrester sisters take their fashion-focused reality television show to Milan, Erin gets the strong sense that her relationship with Blake is really over and Paige discovers that her fiance Dylan has cheated on her.
ISBN 978-0-310-71791-1 (softcover)
[1. Reality television programs — Fiction. 2. Television — Production and direction — Fiction. 3. Fashion — Fiction. 4. Sisters — Fiction. 5. Interpersonal relations — Fiction. 6. Christian life — Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.C216637Ci 2011
[Fic] — dc22 2011003258
* * *
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers printed in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.
Cover design: Connie Gabbert, Faceout Studios
Interior design and composition: Patrice Sheridan, Tina Henderson,
Greg Johnson/Textbook Perfect
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11 12 13 14 15 /DCI/ 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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