Pop Quiz

by Tom Ryan

  Copyright © 2017 Tom Ryan

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Ryan, Tom, author

  Pop quiz / Tom Ryan.

  (Orca limelights)

  Issued in print and electronic formats.

  ISBN 978-1-4598-1222-2 (softcover).—ISBN 978-1-4598-1223-9 (pdf).—ISBN 978-1-4598-1224-6 (epub)

  I. Title. II. Series: Orca limelights

  PS8635.Y359P67 2017 jC813'.6 C2017-900815-3

  C2017-900816-1

  First published in the United States, 2017

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2017933031

  Summary: In this high-interest novel for teen readers, Aiden tries to save his TV show from being canceled.

  Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

  Edited by Tanya Trafford

  Cover photography by iStock.com

  ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS

  www.orcabook.com

  20 19 18 17 • 4 3 2 1

  For Joan and Dan,

  with gratitude for your many kindnesses

  Contents

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Acknowledgments

  One

  It’s quarter to three on Friday afternoon, and Ms. Burke is droning on and on about the major battles of the War of 1812. Four seats back, one aisle from the window, Dane Pierce is fighting a battle of his own, a battle to stay awake.

  The only thing keeping Dane from falling asleep and sliding out of his desk onto the floor is Penny Vaughan. Penny is sitting one row ahead of him and one aisle over, which means Dane has a clear view of her. As always, Penny looks as fresh as a daisy, with sunlight streaming through the window onto her hair.

  Penny is one of the smartest people in his grade, and, unlike Dane, she’s managing to pay attention.

  Dane realizes the room has gone silent. He turns to look at Ms. Burke, who’s staring right at him. She seems to be waiting for something. He sits up, not sure what to do. He coughs. He doesn’t really need to cough, but he feels like he should do something.

  “Dane?” the teacher asks.

  “Yes, Ms. Burke?” Dane responds, eyes widening. He tilts his head to indicate he’s not quite sure what she’s getting at.

  “Do you know the answer?” she asks patiently.

  Dane swallows. “Um, can you repeat the question?”

  Ms. Burke lifts an eyebrow and waits a long moment. Dane feels everyone in the room turning to look at him. The lesson might be boring, but now that there’s a chance to see someone getting embarrassed, the class is starting to show some interest.

  Prashant, Dane’s best friend, lets out a low whistle.

  “That’s enough, Prashant,” says Ms. Burke. “The question is, Dane, in which city did the Battle of the Plains of Abraham take place?”

  “Ummm,” says Dane. “Chicago?” The room erupts with laughter.

  “Not even close,” says Ms. Burke. “Perhaps if you spent more time listening and less time staring at Penny, you’d pick up some of these details.”

  Dane drops his head onto his desk and groans.

  From behind him, Prashant leans in and whispers, “Don’t worry, Dane, love is the greatest lesson of all.”

  “Cut!”

  The laughter abruptly stops, and I sit back up in my seat. A short man with a cool haircut, dressed all in black, hurries up the aisle from the back of the room.

  “Chill” Bill Lee stands next to Ms. Burke and turns to speak to the class.

  “Nice work, guys,” he says. “Let’s run through it one last time, and then we’ll break for lunch.” Then he looks right at me. “Good job, Aiden. This time try to make Dane look even more lovesick when he’s staring at Penny, okay?” He makes a goofy goggle-eyed face, and we all laugh.

  He turns to Anais, who plays Penny. “Don’t worry, Anais,” he says with a wink. “He’s just acting.”

  She rolls her eyes and turns around to grin at me. I smile back, trying to look like I’m in on the joke. The thing is, I’m starting to wonder if my crush on Anais—ummm, I mean Penny—really is just acting.

  Bill points at Satri, the kid who plays Prashant. “Good job, Satri, but try to whisper a bit louder this time.”

  “Got it,” says Satri.

  “Everybody ready?” asks Bill, moving to the back of the room.

  Pauline, the hair and makeup lady, comes over to me and powders my cheek and then lightly musses my hair. She pulls back and squints, then gives a thumbs-up. “Looking good, Aiden,” she says.

  Around the edges of the room, the electrics, who are responsible for lights, check with the camera operators, and equipment is shifted around and tweaked once again for another run-through of the scene.

  Through the window, I catch a glimpse of some kids strolling down the sidewalk. They’re chatting away, towels around their necks. I assume they’re heading to the community pool. It’s the dead of summer, and school is out for another whole month. But for those of us who attend Cherry Lane High School, class is still in session.

  Cherry Lane High School, CLHS for short, is the fictitious secondary school that has been the main setting for the popular cable TV show Pop Quiz for nine seasons. For the past two years, I’ve played a supporting role on the show. Even though I spend a lot of my summer vacations working, I love it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the most fun job a fifteen-year-old could ask for.

  I’ve been performing since I was a little kid. When other kids my age were starting to play hockey or practice piano, I was writing plays and performing them in my backyard. Eventually my parents got the hint and enrolled me in acting lessons. For years, they drove me to private and group lessons twice a week, and to make a long story short, it paid off. When I turned thirteen, I was finally old enough to audition for Pop Quiz. To my surprise, I got a part.

  Because the show relies on teenage actors, production has to take place during the summer months. It doesn’t bother me at all, since this is how I want to spend my time anyway. I know the rest of my castmates feel the same way. Acting is fun, and—I won’t lie—it’s pretty cool to be on TV. Pop Quiz isn’t a massive hit or anything, but it’s popular enough to keep chugging along, and we definitely have a following. I get recognized when I go to the mall, and I even get fan mail sometimes.

  “Places, everyone,” says Dexi Beales, the assistant director. The two camera guys step back into position, one in the corner of the room, and the other one crouching off to the side, his camera pointed directly at me.

  I take a deep breath and roll my shoulders back, sinking back into my character.

  “And…Action!” yells Bill.

  Ms. Burke starts the lesson again, and Dane’s already staring at Penny, playing it up even more this time. It doesn’t take much acting, if I’m being totally honest.

  Two

  It
takes another hour to wrap the scene, including three camera changes. A camera change is when the director of photography, also known as the DOP, rearranges a shot. Usually a scene starts with a wide shot of a whole room, then it switches to some medium shots, usually of two or three characters. The final shots of a scene are the close-ups, which are just what they sound like. Later on, after the shooting is finished, the editors take all the footage and cut it together to make a scene.

  It might not sound that complicated, but every time the DOP changes a shot, the entire crew kicks into action. The electrics move and tweak all the lights, the art department hurries around, shifting furniture and arranging props, and the director and the actors talk about the performance.

  There are way more jobs on a TV set than you might think, which means lots of people hustling in and out of the room, trying not to get in each other’s way. Without all of these unseen people, a TV show would never get made.

  The final shot of the morning is a close-up of me, reacting to Prashant’s joke about love’s lesson with an embarrassed eye roll. It’s just a couple of seconds on-screen, but it involves Pauline running in again to do touch-ups on me, including patting my face with foundation, which is supposed to keep me from sweating. It also means that the lights are pointed right at me (super hot and making me sweat), and the camera is just a few feet away.

  As the makeup artist pats my face with a little powder puff, and an electric crouches in front of me with a bounce sheet (a big piece of white cardboard that reflects light onto my face) my fake classmates chatter and joke. I can tell they are getting bored, but even though most of them won’t even be in the background of the final shot, everyone has to stay until we’re done. Otherwise the background noise won’t sound authentic.

  Finally, we’re ready to shoot.

  “Places, everyone! Picture’s up!” The second Dexi calls this out, the room goes silent. We are professionals, after all.

  Miraculously, we make it through the final shot really quickly. I glance over my shoulder to deliver the dirty look, then turn back and roll my eyes, embarrassed. The first one is fine, but Bill always asks for a second shot, just in case. A “safety,” he calls it. I go through the motions again, and then we wrap the scene and everyone gets the go-ahead to escape for lunch.

  “I’m starving,” says Satri as we head toward the cafeteria.

  “No kidding,” I say. “You’re always starving.”

  We follow the rest of the cast and crew. It seems like every hallway and stairwell is jammed with camera equipment, lights, sandbags and all the other stuff that goes along with a film set. The cafeteria, on the other hand, looks the same as any other cafeteria. Long white tables and stacking chairs, soda machines humming in the corner. The big difference is the food. Set catering is way better than school-cafeteria food. Instead of sloppy joes and fish sticks, we get three choices every day. Today it’s lasagna, poached salmon or chickpea curry.

  “Ooh,” says Satri. “Lasagna. My favorite.”

  I choose the lasagna too, and we stop at the salad bar to pile our plates with Caesar salad. Then I follow Satri across the cafeteria to a long table in the back corner, where we sit every day.

  As I twist my way between chairs and around tables, it occurs to me for the millionth time that being on a film set is actually a lot like being in a high school. This is most obvious in the cafeteria. Over the years, the cast and crew have broken naturally into various lunch groups, and every day people sit at the same tables, sticking to their cliques.

  The older teens who play the high school kids are all hanging out together at a table by the window. Another table nearby is full of the grown-up cast members playing teachers and parents and coaches. The crew also breaks apart into different categories. The camera guys, the electrics and the grips sit together. The production design team, who build, paint and decorate sets, share space with the costume and makeup people. Chill Bill sits at a smaller table with the assistant directors and the writers.

  Satri and I get to our table, where the younger cast hangs out. As always, there’s a lively discussion in progress.

  “What’s going on?” asks Satri.

  Belva Helmondsson, who plays Dara on the show, turns to us and grins. I really like Belva. She’s super funny, with lots of freckles and a pile of curly red hair.

  “The wrap party,” she says. “Do you think Bill is going to give out diplomas again this year?”

  “He always gives out diplomas,” says Satri. “It’s fake graduation day.”

  Every year after we finish production for the season, there’s a big wrap party in the gym. There’s pizza and music and Chill Bill gives out certificates of achievement and diplomas. The certificates are always funny, and everyone gets one. Last year, I got a certificate for “Best Sleeper” because one day I was found napping in a stairwell between scenes.

  The diplomas are different. They’re serious, nicely framed, and only the kids graduating from the show get them. They’re a final gift from Pop Quiz before those kids leave the cast to head into the real world.

  It’s always a big moment when Bill calls the “grads” onstage to get their diplomas. People cry and hug each other, just like at a real graduation.

  I glance across the cafeteria at the “big teens” table, the graduates. I wonder what they’ll do, now that they won’t be on the show anymore. I also wonder who will be filling the empty spaces they will leave.

  Every one of us at the “young kids” table wants to be chosen for a bigger role next year, but not everyone will get the chance. There are only a few spots, and anyone who watches Pop Quiz knows that some characters gradually disappear as they grow up. It’s something Chill Bill and the rest of the team have prepared us for since the day we started. “There are no guarantees, guys,” Bill tells us regularly, “so enjoy it while you have the chance.”

  It’s hard not to think about getting a bigger part though.

  Anais joins us, taking a seat next to Jorge and Janaya at the other end of the table. They have also played supporting roles on the show for a couple of years.

  “Maybe Aiden and Anais will share a certificate,” says Belva. “ ‘Cutest Lovebirds.’ ”

  “Yeah right,” I say, praying that I don’t blush. I risk sneaking a peek at Anais, hoping she isn’t pretending to barf or something. She just smiles at Belva and rolls her eyes.

  The conversation moves on to everyone’s summer plans once shooting wraps in a week. I smile and nod along with the the rest of them, but I’m a bit distracted. It makes me kind of sad to think that in a week we’ll all go back to our real lives and, before we know it, real school. I like spending my days on set.

  These people really are like my classmates. We don’t just eat lunch together—we hang out in a school all day, sit in classrooms and have inside jokes, and some of the cast have become really good friends, like Satri.

  After lunch Satri and I clear our trays and stop to grab cans of pop from the cooler before heading outside to enjoy the last few minutes of lunch break in the sun.

  “Just the guys I was hoping to talk to.” I look up. Chill Bill has appeared next to us.

  “Hey, Bill,” Satri and I say in unison.

  “We’re in the home stretch,” Bill says. “One more week of shooting, and we’ll be able to call it a year. Listen, I’m hoping the two of you can stick around after shooting ends today. Come see me at my office, if you’ve got the time.”

  “Sure, Bill,” says Satri. “We’ll make time for you, big guy.”

  Bill laughs. “That’s what I like to hear. See you guys on set.”

  He walks away, and Satri and I look at each other.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I ask.

  “I’m not sure,” says Satri. “Do you need to fart too?”

  Three

  After lunch Satri and I make our way across the building to our next setup. Pop Quiz is
filmed in an actual school, Robert J. MacKintosh Secondary School, which the producers rent during the summer months. Robert J. MacKintosh has been standing in for CLHS since the very first season aired, when I was still just a little kid.

  This afternoon’s scenes are taking place in a hallway, and Satri and I are doing background work, which means hanging out around the edges of a shot while the action focuses on other characters.

  “I can’t believe it,” says Satri as we hang out by fake lockers and wait for the lighting crew to finish setting up. “Another year at CLHS is already in the rearview mirror.” He points across the hallway to where Bill is walking a small group of older teenagers through their next scene. “Next year those guys will all be gone.”

  In the center of the group is Diana Parker. Diana is in twelfth grade and has been on Pop Quiz for four years. Her character, Celeste Montgomery, is the biggest jock in the school, a track star and captain of the girls’ hockey team. Celeste’s on-again, off-again relationship with Fenn Carradine, lead singer in Busted Kneecap, the school’s most popular band, has been a major Pop Quiz plot line for the past couple of seasons. Fenn is played by Darwin Powell, and both he and Diana will be leaving the show at the end of this season.

  “I hear Diana’s going to be doing auditions in LA after this season wraps,” says Satri.

  “Really?”

  “Why not? She’s the best thing on the show. She could do bigger stuff—movies even.”

  “I guess so,” I say, watching Diana as she moves into position for the shot.

  “It’s happened before,” he says. “Remember Seth March?”

  “He’s, like, the only example,” I say.

  Seth March was on Pop Quiz for the first few seasons. He played Simon “TicTac” Tucker, one of the most popular characters in the show’s history. After Seth left the show, he moved to Toronto to do bigger stuff. He had a role on a popular crime drama for a few years and even got nominated for some awards. He’s far and away the most successful of the large number of Pop Quiz alumni, although I can’t remember the last time I saw him in anything.