Maeve on the Red Carpet (10 page)

Oh yeah. There was one
more
reason why Nick and I would never work. It was pretty obvious that he had a major crush on my friend Charlotte. They would probably be a better match anyway, as they both loved travel and adventure so much. Don’t get me wrong, I loved travel and adventure too … as long as I was watching it on a big screen with a bag of popcorn in my lap.

“You mean Charlotte?” I asked. I wanted to wink but
Nick was already turning reddish. “As a matter of fact
yes
! I just got a postcard from Charlotte yesterday. Oh I miss that girl so much …”

“Me too,” Nick replied. “I mean, I miss all our friends who are on vacation.”

I smiled and nodded.
Typical Nick
. I thought.
Good at soccer … not so good at being romantic
.

“Well, I must be off. Film camp awaits. Ta-ta, darling!” I waved Nick good-bye and dashed out the door.

It wasn’t easy to carry two cups of hot chocolate, a bag of muffins, and my big, giant purse up the slippery sidewalk of Harvard Street. Plus, I was late … which meant I had to
run
. By the time I arrived at the Movie House, I was panting and my light pink parka had dribbles of chocolate all over it.

I reached the door just as Maddie’s white stretch limo pulled up to the front. Maddie had told me that it was simply the
only
way to get around.

I dabbed off my coat as I waited by the doors, eager to see what breathtaking designer outfit Maddie would be wearing today. “Good morning, darling!” she sang as she trotted over. Maddie had selected a pair of jeans with gold stitching all over the pockets. They sort of reminded me of how Katani liked to jazz up her old jeans with beads and ribbons. But, to be completely honest, it looked like Maddie’s jeans could have been straight off the fashion runway. She never wore the same piece of clothing twice.

Maddie linked her arm with mine and helped herself to a hot chocolate. “Thank goodness you remembered. I’m
absolutely famished. The only thing I want right now is a banana muffin and hot chocolate.”

I felt myself getting warm. “But I thought blueberry was your favorite.”

Maddie laughed and smoothed out her black ruffled blouse. “Blueberry muffins are so last week, darling. I was talking to my friend Mary-Kate last night, and she and I both agreed that banana muffins are the new blueberry.”

How did I miss that? I wanted to throw out the muffins as quickly as possible, but Maddie grabbed the bag right out of my hands. “Oh well. I suppose blueberry will just have to do.” She peered into the bag. “Yum. I’m going to have the muffin tops. You can have the bottoms. I hate the bottoms.”

I felt a little pang as I watched Madeline pop off the moist muffin tops and leave me with the dark, waxy bottoms. It didn’t quite seem fair … but I didn’t say anything. I guess it wasn’t her fault that she didn’t like the muffin bottoms.

“Come along, Maeve. We don’t want to be late for warmups.”

Since the first day of camp, Maddie and I got to lead the morning warmup exercises. I wasn’t sure how we got that job exactly, but I was learning that when you hung out with Maddie, people pretty much started thinking that you knew as much about stuff as she did. It was just one of those things.

We burst through the doors of the theater and all the kids who’d been chatting got very quiet and turned to
watch us stroll down the center aisle. “M&M … M&M …” they whispered to each other.

“I like your jeans, Maddie!” peeped a short girl as we passed.

Maddie smiled to herself. “Gucci, darling.”

“Your hair looks so pretty, Maeve,” said a tall girl with curly hair.

“Pantene, darling,” I told her. It was so inspiring to be admired like a real starlet. Maddie told me that the first step to landing a lead role was
acting
like the lead. She had so much great advice.

We took our rightful places in the center of the stage and waited as the other kids moved the boxes and props into the right places. “Never do the work of a grip … or else that’ll be the job you get stuck with,” Maddie warned. Hey,
not
getting my hands dusty and musty was fine by me. She and I took our nail files out of our purses, clicked them together, and laughed. Then we just relaxed and filed while the other campers scurried around.

It seemed like Apollo wasn’t afraid of getting stuck as a grip though. Whenever I saw him he was always untangling wires, repairing equipment, or helping the younger kids. “Okay, let’s swing this over here, Sam,” I heard Apollo shout from backstage. Sam and Apollo appeared from behind the curtain hauling a large, worn-out sofa. “Wow, Sam, you are one strong dude,” Apollo complimented.

Sam looked overjoyed. “Thanks! I’ve been doing my pushups before bed. Just like you told me.” Sam spotted
me and looked excited. “Hey, Maeve, can I have my muffin now?”

Oops
… I felt my cheeks burn and then thought of something. “Um … uh … don’t you mean
please
can I have my muffin now?”

Sam held out his hand.
“Please?”

“Um … I sorta forgot. Sorry, Sam.”

“But you said you’d get me one!” Sam objected. I wasn’t really sure what to do to about that. Unfortunately, at that exact moment, even Sam’s new pushup routine wasn’t going to stop the sofa from slipping out of his sweaty little hands and landing on the wooden stage with a ginormous “THUD!”

Looked like my big-sister mistake was saved by the couch. “Nice going, Sam. Dad’s going to be sooooo mad if you scratch the stage—he just refinished it!” I reminded him.

“Hey, maybe if you guys actually did some work—like helped us out—then the couch wouldn’t have fallen,” Apollo said in an aggravated tone.

“Yeah!” Sam yipped.

Who did Apollo think he was that he could tell
Madeline Von Krupcake
and
Maeve Kaplan-Taylor
what to do? Just because he didn’t want to be a star anymore didn’t give him the right to act so high and mighty, I thought.

Maddie just started laughing though. She wasn’t bothered at all. “Why, Apollo, you’re terrible!” she squealed. “I’m a
thinker
not a
laborer
. Apollo, you know that.”

“Besides, we have plenty of work to do,” I added.

“Yeah!” Sam chirped. “On your
nails
.”

I glared at Sam. I couldn’t believe how my own little brother could be so disloyal, saying that in front of Apollo. Worst of all, Apollo burst out laughing.

Maddie rolled her eyes. “Speaking of thinking, I’m going to go talk to Artemia about an idea I had in the shower this morning. Picture it, Maeve—our faces on a billboard outside the Movie House. Fabulous, right?”

“Fabulous,” I agreed, although I felt kind of funny about the whole idea. Maybe it was a little too much?

“Now you boys can just keep doing, well, whatever it is you’re doing. I need to find Artemia.” She was always going to find Artemia and telling her about her ideas. Maddie skipped down the hallway and left me sitting alone in the middle of the stage with my nail file. I was the only person not moving things around, and suddenly I started feeling a little silly. I glanced back at Apollo trying to drag the old couch with Sam huffing and puffing on his end.

“Hey, Maeve. Can you give us a hand?” Apollo asked.

With all my heart I really did want to get up and make it a little easier for Sam … but what if Maddie came back and saw me working like a common camper? Even though I knew Sam needed me, I couldn’t risk losing Maddie and going back to being just a camp nobody.

“No thanks. I’m a thinker not a laborer,” I replied in my sweetest voice.

“A thinker not a laborer?” Apollo dropped the couch and folded his arms. “Dude, what’s up with that? What’re you, some kind of Maddie-clone?”

“I—I—I … That’s not a very nice thing to say!” I finally exclaimed.

“He’s kind of right, Maeve. It seems like ever since you and Maddie started hanging out, all you do is copy everything she does. I mean … you even dress like her,” Sam pointed out.

“I do NOT!” I protested, even though it didn’t take a genius to figure out that we
were
both wearing jeans with a black top.

Apollo looked at Sam and the two of them burst out laughing. “No offense, little dude, but I think your sister is morphing into Madeline Von Krupcake Part Two. Hey I just got a good idea for a sci-fi movie …”

Sam giggled. “I gotta get my tape!” He tore off the stage to rummage through his equipment.

I huffily got up and marched right over to the end of the couch that Sam had not-very-expertly been trying to carry. “Look, I’m just trying to be taken seriously around here … as an ack-
tour
.”

Apollo lifted the arm of his couch with a loud, “Mmph!”

“And just because I’m becoming more mature …” (I pronounced mature like ma-
tour
) “… doesn’t mean I’m turning into Maddie!”

“Maeve, just because you act the way you
think
a movie star would act
doesn’t
make it right.”

“Easy for you to say,” I griped. “You don’t need to worry about how to act,
’
cause you’re already a movie star.”

“Yeah right,” Apollo mumbled. “Ex–movie star. Ex. That stuff is so not for me.”

“Well that stuff IS for me, and excuse me if I want to try as hard as I can to become a movie star.” I was getting really fired-up now. I couldn’t believe that Apollo was saying this to me when he had no idea how serious I was about my dream.

“All I mean is, you can be a movie star and NOT be a clone of Maddie.”

“I’m NOT a clone!” I insisted.

“I know!” Apollo exclaimed. “Because if you
were
a clone, you wouldn’t have helped me carry this couch across the entire stage.”

“Huh?” We stood—out of breath—on the other side of the stage. I’d been so wound up that I’d lifted the couch and hadn’t even realized I was doing it. Weird. Maybe helping out was one of those things that just came naturally to me.

Right at that moment, Maddie pranced back into the theater and slammed her cell phone shut. “Maeve, darling, I have the most fabulous news. Daddy says you can sleep over our house tonight, and we won’t take no for an answer.”

I didn’t think I could take no for an answer either! Maddie’s house wasn’t just a house—it was a mansion. I’d heard Dad go on and on about it after his meetings with Mr. Von Krupcake. “Well, I guess …” I began.

“Good, it’s settled.”

“I was going to say, I need to ask my parents first.”

Maddie laughed. “As if they’d say no. This is a big opportunity for you, Maeve.” Maddie squeezed my hand and giggled. “Trust me. We’re going to have so much fun!”

I felt myself burst into a smile. After that invitation, there was no doubt about it. Madeline Von Krupcake really liked me. Madeline Von Krupcake was my friend.

I showered and packed up with lightning speed. Once the water hit my head, it was curly Maeve all over again. But Maddie had promised that I didn’t need to worry about looking glamorous or anything. “The theme of the night is comfy and casual,” she assured me before we left camp.

The drive to Maddie’s was positively torturous! I couldn’t wait to see her house, but Mom was in turtle driving mode. She kept slowing down and gushing, “Wow, Maeve, look at this house! Isn’t it spectacular? I forgot how much I love Beacon Hill.”

I had to admit, I loved Beacon Hill too. It was one of Boston’s loveliest and oldest neighborhoods. The streets were all one-way and really tiny, running up and down a hill that overlooked the Boston Public Garden. Smack in the middle of Beacon Hill was the State House. I thought Massachusetts had the most beautiful state house ever, even though
I’d only seen the state houses in Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Florida (Orlando is a total must-see). But what I liked best about the Massachusetts state house was the gold pine cone on the top of the dome. Ms. Rodriguez told us that the pine cone symbolized the importance of the lumber industry to the early New England economy.

“Look, Mom, there’s Louisberg Square. That’s us.”

Mom turned right on a narrow street lined on both sides with brick townhouses. I instantly felt like I was back in time, or in an old movie—like
My Fair Lady
with Audrey Hepburn (even though it was supposed to be in London, I think).

“Number 7 Louisberg Square. Here we are,” Mom said and whistled. “Your father was right. This place really is something.”

I just gulped. Maddie’s house was a huge brick mansion on the corner, probably the biggest house on the street. It was surrounded by a tall iron gate covered with ivy. Mom pressed the button on a little box on one of the tall posts in front.

“Name?” said a man’s voice.

“Carol Kaplan. I’m Maeve Kaplan-Taylor’s mom. We’re here to see—”

BZZZZZZ!

The gates split and slowly opened up to a crescentshaped driveway. “Whoa. Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” I breathed.

We pulled up to the front door and I felt myself shaking as I gathered my things.

“Don’t be nervous, sweetie. I’m sure the Von Krupcakes are just like us … only …”

“Richer?” I offered.

“Now, Maeve, that’s not very polite,” Mom reminded me. “You know better than to judge people by how much money they have.”

I’d heard that whole “it’s what’s on the inside that counts” speech like a million times before.

“It’s not a bad thing, Mom,” I assured her. “I think Maddie’s … fabulous. Ta-ta!” I quickly kissed Mom on the cheek and got out of the station wagon. I really wanted Mom to drive away quickly before Maddie noticed that the car that took me here was definitely not a stretch limo with a chauffeur.

I rang the doorbell and in about ten seconds the door opened. “You must be Maeve,” said a gorgeous Orlando Bloom look-alike in a suit. “We’ve been expecting you.”

And you must be my future prince
, I thought, feeling myself blush a little. Thank goodness “Yes, I’m Maeve,” was about the only thing I could squeak out.

“Pleased to meet you, Maeve. My name is Kenneth. I’m Mr. Von Krupcake’s personal assistant,” he said in a British accent. “If there is any way I may be of service to you during your stay, do let me know.”