Maeve on the Red Carpet (13 page)

Kenneth pressed a button that dimmed the lights and
closed the drapes.
These people and their buttons!
I thought. But I had to admit, I was impressed.
Breakfast in bed? Watching any movie, at any time, right in your own room? A spinning closet? KENNETH!
I really did feel like Audrey Hepburn in
My Fair Lady
. There was no doubt about it—this was definitely the life for Maeve Kaplan-Taylor. My mind was filled with fantasies about what life would be like if I were this rich. I would build a fort for my brother in the backyard … I would give my father a new car and take my mother shopping for the most glorious clothes ever … My guinea pigs would have a gold cage … I would have a pink fur bedspread …

If I were as rich as Maddie, I wouldn’t have a care in the world. Why, in Maddie’s gorgeous bedroom, I couldn’t even remember what my cares used to be.
Oh well
. They probably weren’t that important anyway.

The next day after film camp, I was invited back to the Krupcake palace. I wanted to stay for dinner, but Mom put her foot down. She said I had to be back at 6 o’clock on the dot for a family meal. When Maddie’s chauffeur dropped me off that evening, I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. Was my apartment always so itsy-bitsy?

As soon as I walked in, there was a camera in my face. “She DOES exist!” Sam gasped.

“Sam, go away!” I begged, remembering Maddie’s paparazzi aggravation.

“Well look who’s finally decided to grace us with her
presence,” Mom said as she stirred the pot on the stove.

“Okay … look, Mom, I know I’ve been gone for a while … but I did call … and you
did
say it was okay to go to Maddie’s after camp,” I pointed out.

Mom walked over to the table with a casserole bowl of macaroni and cheese.

“Well, that was very sweet of you,” Mom remarked, “but it would be nice if we could spend a little time together, Maeve.”

“Yeah!” Sam piped.

“Hey, no comments from the peanut gallery,” I quipped, sounding exactly like Dad. I wasn’t sure what the peanut gallery was, but I knew it had something to do with when you talked about things that were plain old none of your business.

“Maeve,” Mom warned quietly, “be nice to your brother. He just misses you.”

I sighed and stared at the huge bowl of yellow noodles. “Do I seriously have to eat this, Mom?” I whined. After the beef tenderloin last night, I wasn’t sure if I could ever put a macaroni noodle in my very sophisticated mouth again.

“This is not a restaurant, young lady,” Mom replied, looking kind of surprised at me. “Since when do you not eat mac ‘n’ cheese?”

I tossed my hair over my shoulder and said in a bored voice, “You guys are so cute.”

Mom and Sam looked at each other and then at me. “Cute?” Sam did not sound happy.

“Yes. With your little mac ‘n’ cheese and your little
video camera. It’s all so …” I tried to remember the word Maddie had used. “… commonplace.”

“Commonplace?” Mom’s voice was making me a little nervous, but I tried as best I could to be as dignified as Maddie. “Maeve, maybe if this dinner is too ‘commonplace’ for you, you should just go up to your room.”

I stood up and pushed in my chair. “Fine. You can send my dinner up to my room. I’ll have anything—besides mac ‘n’ cheese.”

Mom stared at me for a while like I had three heads. So did Sam. Then the two of them began to giggle. The giggles started out like quiet little snorts at first but soon Mom and Sam were out-of-control laughing. “Whew!” Mom said when she started to calm down a little. “That was a good one.”

“What’s so funny?” I demanded.

Sam shook his head and squealed … being as annoying as he possibly could.

“News flash, Princess Maeve. The maid is off today. Now go upstairs and clean your room. You can come back down when you can behave like a normal human being,” Mom said sternly. “GO.”

I marched to my bedroom. Why was my star-power attitude getting me in trouble? It worked for Maddie … why not me? Life was so unfair sometimes. I couldn’t wait until I had my own personal suite of rooms at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Something huge was happening first thing Friday morning at camp—FINALLY. And that something huge was the pitch meeting. That was where everyone got to propose their ideas for the movie. And after watching
Roman Holiday
at Maddie’s, I was totally pumped for it.

“Okay, kids, circle up. We have a big day ahead of us,” Artemia called, clapping her hands. Today Artemia wore a sleek suit and looked—as usual—straight off the pages of a fashion magazine.

Everyone hustled onto the stage. Maddie and I sat next to each other and I reached over and squeezed her hand. “Are you excited?” I whispered.

Maddie nodded but didn’t look back at me, and she let go of my hand really quickly. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve guessed she was nervous. But come on. Madeline Von Krupcake was totally a professional, and professionals NEVER got nervous.

Artemia took a sip of her soy cappuccino and began, “So far we’ve learned a little bit about acting. We’ve learned a little bit about equipment and jobs. And we’ve learned a little bit about team—” Artemia paused and looked slightly annoyed. “Apollo, care to join us?” she asked.

Apollo was perched on a ladder switching a light bulb. He sighed and stepped down. “Fine … but Mom, Mr. Taylor
did
ask me to help out with this stuff.”

Maddie rolled her eyes at me and whispered, “I don’t care if she IS his mother! If Apollo doesn’t watch it, he is SO not going to get a speaking part. He’s a total fox, too. Major tragedy.”

I nodded. “Major.”

“As I was saying, we’ve learned a bit about teamwork. Which means …” Artemia looked at every camper with a smile. “… it’s time for us to make our very own movie!”

Everyone clapped and hooted. Even Apollo looked excited. (Take it from me, once you get bitten by the movie bug, it doesn’t just go away.)

“So, who’d like to share an idea for the movie?” Artemia glanced around the circle and made eye contact with me. “Anyone?”

My heart started beating faster. I wanted to share. Definitely. But I sort of, kind of didn’t want to share
first
.

“I’ve got an idea!” volunteered a girl across the circle.

“Yes, Rebeccah,” Artemia said.

“So it’s like there’s this girl, right? And she’s really rich and engaged to this guy who’s kind of mean but also rich. And she’s going on this huge cruise ship. And when she’s
on the boat she meets this really poor, really cute guy. And he’s an artist and they fall in love. But then, the boat hits an iceberg …”

“Isn’t that the same plot as
Titanic
?” shouted a boy.

Rebeccah looked crushed. “Oh …
no wonder
Mom said it sounded familiar.”

Artemia nodded. “Don’t worry, Rebeccah. Wonderful movies have been made using classic formulas. Remember
West Side Story
? You know, that’s
Romeo and Juliet
? Just make sure if you borrow ideas that you make them your own. That means original,” she advised. I felt like I was going to burst with my own fabulous plot, because I was pretty sure I had made it my own.
Boston Holiday
—a creative takeoff—was definitely going to be the hit of the day. “Who else would like to share?”

Sam waved his hand and shouted, “Ooh, ooh, me, me!”

Now my heart was pounding for a different reason. I never had any clue what Sam was going to say. And mostly I could be pretty sure it would embarrass me.

“What about if we do a movie where a spaceship lands in Washington, D.C.? And then the FBI, and the CIA, and the Army need to figure out a way to attack the aliens. But the thing is—the aliens …” Sam said, looking excitedly around the circle, “are disguised as humans. Cool, huh?”

I couldn’t believe it. Some of the kids were actually looking excited about this. Personally, I was
not
a fan of alien movies. I mean, come on … little green dudes coming to earth in a flying saucer? Please. Movies about romance were way more realistic.

“I like your creativity, Sam,” Artemia said. “But we also need to consider our limitations as a production crew. For example … we aren’t shooting in Washington, D.C. And special effects—like UFOs—can be difficult. Still, great thinking, Sam. You have a wonderful imagination.”

Then I knew. It was time for me to give the campers a taste of REAL movie brilliance. I slowly raised my hand just as Artemia turned to glance in my direction.

“Go ahead,” she said.

I took a deep breath, but at that very moment Maddie began to speak.

“Thank you, Artemia.” Maddie stood and walked right into the middle of the circle and stood next to Artemia—cool and confident as ever. “I have an idea for the most fabulous movie ever,” Maddie announced.

The campers started whispering to each other, hanging on Maddie’s every word.

What’s going on? If Maddie has such a fabulous idea, why didn’t she tell me about it at our sleepover?
Was my new best friend breaking the number-one rule of best friendship and keeping a secret from me? I wanted to think no … but something funny was definitely going on.

“Ahem!” Maddie made sure all eyes were on her. “I call this movie …
Boston Holiday
.”

WHAT?
I suddenly felt dizzy.

“Go on,” urged Artemia, looking intrigued.

“Like Rebeccah’s idea, it’s based on a classic movie—
Roman Holiday
. Except it’s original too, like you said. It would be set in modern times, in our very own city of Boston.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. I tried to give Maddie a look, but she wouldn’t even turn in my direction.

“The main character is called Princess Sophia. She and her father are from the country of Tazmundo and they go to Boston on a royal visit. But once they arrive, Princess Sophia gets sick of having to do all of her princess-ly duties all the time. Trust me—being a princess is a lot harder than it looks.”

The campers nodded at each other. Seriously, it was like they were feeling sorry for Maddie or something. I could tell she loved every second of it.

Maddie continued. “So Princess Sophia runs away and meets this handsome reporter. The two of them go all around Boston and have all sorts of fabulous adventures. Meanwhile, the princess has no idea, but there are bad guys trying to kidnap her. And check it out—here’s where it gets
really
cool. I was thinking that we could use Artemia’s special talents to incorporate kung fu choreography throughout the whole movie.”

Artemia burst into a huge smile, as I felt the tears start to burn my eyes. Maddie had taken my fabulous idea and stolen it. I wanted to jump up and scream, but I was seriously way too shocked to move. Was this really happening to me?

Maddie was wearing her hair in loose blond ringlets. In her white skirt and blouse she probably looked like a perfect angel to everyone there … everyone except
me
.

Maddie giggled and twirled her hair around her finger. “There’s one more thing that’ll make the movie
very … original. I was thinking the princess might run away with her maid. I sort of imagine her as mousy and little … with frizzy red hair and glasses. She’d be a funny sidekick for the beautiful princess, right?”

“I like what I’m hearing, Maddie,” Artemia said. “I’m very … impressed.”

Maddie shrugged and waved the compliment away. “Well I can’t take all the credit. Maeve did help. A little.” Maddie looked at me and gave me her sweetest smile. I did
not
smile back.

“Does anyone else have anything they’d like to share?” Artemia asked. “Maeve?”

My throat felt like it was made out of sandpaper. “No,” I said softly.

Artemia looked suspicious for a second. “Anyone else?”

Everyone shook their heads. “I like Maddie’s idea,” one girl offered.

“Yeah,” another boy agreed. “Kung fu fighting in Boston sounds awesome. Imagine all the cool stuff we could do!”

Pretty soon everyone was babbling to each other about how amazing MADDIE’S idea was. If only I had a friend there to talk to … just someone who would believe me when I said the idea was mine and not Maddie’s. But I had been so busy thinking Maddie was the coolest girl ever that I hadn’t even bothered to make friends with anyone else. Now I was back at zero. Maddie was definitely not my best friend. In fact, she wasn’t my friend at all.

“Well then, it’s settled.” Artemia clapped her hands.
“We’ll begin working on
Boston Holiday
immediately. Maddie, thank you for your contribution. For those of you who want to act in this movie, keep in mind that auditions will be held on Monday. If you are interested in another job, see me.”

Maddie bounced back to her seat and turned to me with a pleased smile. “You see, Maeve,
Boston Holiday
is a complete smash.”

It took absolutely all my strength to answer. “You—you—you stole my idea!” I breathed.

“Oh silly, I didn’t steal it. I just knew that if you wanted people to do
Boston Holiday
you would NEED me to back it up. Why do you think everyone agreed in the first place?”

“Because it was brilliant?”

“No,” Maddie folded her arms. “
Because it came from me
. I hate to break it to you, Maeve, but that’s just how things work. If you want to make a movie about a princess, it has to come from me.”

I folded my arms. “What makes you so sure you’re going to be the princess?”

Maddie began to laugh and then she stopped. “Oh, you’re serious? Get real, Maeve. Who else do you think could play the princess?”

I shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t mind …”

Maddie snorted and covered her mouth. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Maeve, you are TOO CUTE! Silly, why do you think I made up the maid part?” Maddie was laughing uncontrollably now.

I felt so
furious
at Princess Maddie … furious … like smoke coming out of the ears, cartoon-style furious. It was time for my Oscar-worthy impromptu.

“Thanks so much for thinking of me, Maddie … but I’m still going to try out for the princess.”