Taffy Sinclair 010 - Taffy Sinclair Goes to Hollywood (3 page)

"
Why do they all have such funny-sounding titles?
"
Taffy whispered to KJ after they finished talking to the gaffer.
"
Why don
'
t they just call him the electrician?
"

KJ looked at her a moment and then shrugged.
"
You
'
ve got me. Tradition, I guess, or maybe they just like the goofy way the names sound. Did you know that the gaffer
'
s assistant is called the best boy? And the guy who runs the camera that moves on tracks is called the dolly grip? Who knows where they come up with these names. It
'
s a wild and crazy business.
"

They both broke out laughing, but then KJ looked past her and took her arm, steering her in a new direction.

"
There
'
s somebody here you
'
ll want to meet,
"
he said mysteriously.
"
See? Over there, talking to the AD.
"

Taffy squinted in the direction he was pointing, trying hard to see a familiar face among the crowd of strangers. Suddenly her eyes bulged.
"
Patrick Swayze?
"
she whispered.
"
Is that really him? Or are my eyes playing tricks on me?
"

"
No tricks, I swear,
"
said KJ, holding up both hands in protest.
"
He
'
s done two movies for Jerry Lowenthal, so he
'
s always invited to these parties. Do you want to meet him?
"

"
Of course,
"
she cried, clutching KJ
'
s arm. Her heart was pounding. What would she say to him? Should she ask for his autograph?

"
We
'
d better be going now, Taffy.
"
Her mother
'
s voice came from over her left shoulder.
"
You have to study your lines for tomorrow, you know.
"

Taffy widened her eyes in horror. Not now! she wanted to shout. Not at the very moment when she was about to be introduced to Patrick Swayze! She started to protest, but the look on her mother
'
s face stopped her. Sighing, she tried to hide her disappointment. No one else had left yet. Not only that, she still hadn
'
t gotten a chance to talk to Raven. She had spotted him several times among the other guests, but each time she had looked his way, he hadn
'
t seemed to notice.
And besides, she thought angrily, it always seemed that the moment things were going super, her mother always cut them short.

"
There
'
ll be lots of other chances to meet Patrick,
"
KJ assured her.
"
I need to be going pretty soon, too. I have the same early call you do. In fact, we all have,
"
he said, motioning toward Paige and the other teenagers. Then he put a hand over his heart and added dramatically,
"
I
'
ll see you at dawn
'
s early light.
"

"
Sure, KJ,
"
Taffy answered, smiling again.
"
Good night.
"

Taffy and her mother thanked Jerry Lowenthal for the wonderful party and found Dollins for the ride home. So what if she was the first one to leave? she asked herself as she settled into the backseat. She was the luckiest girl in the world. She was going to become a famous movie star instead of being just an ordinary junior high school student. She was going to live the life that most girls only dreamed about, and that included going to parties with famous people like Patrick Swayze. And best of all, in the movie she was about to begin filming, she was going to have Raven Blaine as her costar.
And Paige Kramer,
a little voice in her head reminded her. Taffy sighed at the thought of Paige. Except for playing the part of my enemy in the movie, what does she have against me already? she wondered.

W
hen the alarm went off the next morning, Taffy was sure it was the middle of the night. She opened one eye and peered through the pitch blackness at the luminous dial of her clock. Four-thirty. She
'
d been right. It
was
the middle of the night. Shutting off the alarm, she propped herself up on an elbow, remembering that she had set it for four-thirty herself. She had a six-o
'
clock call, which meant she had to be on the set at six this morning, and Dollins was picking her up in an hour.

With a groan, she rolled out of bed. She could hear her mother stirring in the bed next to hers. Why did I want to be a movie star? she thought as she flipped on the blinding light in the bathroom and groped for her toothbrush. It had all seemed so glamorous at the
party last night, but now, at four-thirty in the morning, she was having second thoughts.

An hour later, after stumbling around the hotel room in a sleepy fog and bumping into her mother twice, Taffy was dressed and ready, and they went down to the lobby. Dollins was there, looking as alert and impeccable as he had the day before.

"
I
'
m hungry. Can we get something to eat?
"
Taffy asked.

"
I
'
m afraid the coffee shop isn
'
t open yet,
"
said Dollins,
"
but there are donuts and milk in the limousine.
"

Taffy smiled. I should have known, she thought, feeling like a star again. But as they drove to the studio, she remembered with a stab of guilt that she had turned off her light last night without even starting a letter to Cory or Shawnie. She had promised both of them that she would write immediately, and she had really wanted to tell them about everything that had happened so far. The plane ride, Dollins and the wonderful limousine with its refrigerator and snack compartment, the movie set with her own trailer that had a star and her name on the door, the party last night, and of course, Raven.

Taffy took a bite of her chocolate donut and looked out the car window at the darkness. A moment later they rolled up to the studio gate. She was amazed to see that the guard was on duty even though the sun wasn
'
t up yet. But as they proceeded on through the gate, she saw lights everywhere and realized that she was far from the first person to arrive for work. Trucks loaded with camera equipment rolled through the streets, and people bustled back and forth as if it were high noon.

When the limousine arrived at the area of the studio back lot where
Nobody Likes Tiffany Stafford
was going to be filmed, Taffy saw that she wasn
'
t the first to arrive there either. The camera crew was already busy setting up equipment for an exterior shot of the school where part of the story would be filmed. Taffy looked nervously at the set. She would do the first movie scene of her life on those front steps in just a few hours. Did she know her lines? She had practiced them over and over with her mother last night and had fallen into bed thinking she would surely dream them as well. But now, looking at the set where she would actually say them for the camera, she wasn
'
t so sure, and little fingers of fear played up and down her spine.

Dollins dropped them off at Taffy
'
s trailer, promising to come back for them at the end of the day, and then drove away. Taffy wondered briefly what Dollins did all day as she danced up the steps to her trailer, but she forgot about him instantly when she stepped inside and saw three gorgeous but identical outfits hanging on the back of her closet door.

"
Look, Mom! They
'
re beautiful,
"
she cried, pulling down one of the hangers holding a lavender-and-white plaid skirt and layered sweaters in contrasting shades of lavender.
"
But why are there three of them?
"

Just then the assistant director stuck his head in the door.
"
In case you spill something on one of them,
"
he said with a laugh.
"
And even in case you spill something on
two
of them. After that, you
'
re out of luck. Go ahead and get changed and then head on over to the makeup trailer. You
'
re first up this morning for the beauty treatment.
"

When the door closed and the AD was gone, Taffy ducked into the tiny bathroom and changed into one of the lavender outfits. Then she darted out of her own trailer and headed for the makeup trailer, calling back to her mother that she could find it on her own.

She had just bounded up the high step to the makeup trailer and grabbed the doorknob when she heard a voice behind her.

"
How about a hand up?
"

Turning, Taffy saw the most adorable little girl she had ever seen smiling up at her. She looked about seven or eight years old, and Taffy could see right away that she would have trouble climbing up the steep trailer steps by herself.

"
Sure,
"
Taffy said, reaching down and offering a hand.
"
Where
'
s your mommy?
"

"
Asleep in my trailer,
"
she said, and Taffy thought her voice sounded surprisingly mature for a seven- or eight-year-old. Then the little girl brightened and added,
"
My name
'
s Tessica Taylor, but everybody calls me Tess. You must be Taffy Sinclair, or should I say,
dreadful
Tiffany Stafford.
"

"
Right,
"
said Taffy.
"
And you must play Jillian
'
s little sister, Kara.
"

Tess nodded and hoisted herself up onto the step beside Taffy.
"
I saw you at Jerry
'
s party last night, but I didn
'
t get a chance to talk to you.
"

"
You were at the party?
"
Taffy asked in surprise.
"
Wasn
'
t that way past your bedtime?
"

"
Humpf,
"
snorted Tess, giving Taffy a disgusted look.
"
Come on, let
'
s go in and get beautiful.
"

The two girls were met by a pair of makeup artists, who put them into chairs and began working on their faces.

"
Hi, Taffy. I
'
m Marie. I
'
m just going to highlight your features. Nothing heavy,
"
she said, and began applying a light eyeliner and a little blush.

Next she was sent to the hair stylist
'
s chair, where a handsome young man named Tony brushed her long blond hair. Tess, who was having her hair set with hot rollers, waved when Taffy left the trailer.

Taffy strolled along, heading for her own trailer, wondering if Raven had arrived on the set yet. He was in this morning
'
s scene, but so far she hadn
'
t seen him anywhere. Maybe he was in makeup right now or talking to the wardrobe mistress. She sighed, remembering how he hadn
'
t even spoken to her at Jerry
'
s party last night. Was there something wrong? Was he avoiding her? But why? she wondered stubbornly. What could she have possibly done to make him angry at her?

She was practicing her lines with her mother a little while later when someone knocked on the trailer door and called,
"
Fifteen minutes, Miss Sinclair.
"

Her mother
'
s eyes flared.
"
That
'
s us!
"
she cried.

Taffy could only nod. It was time. The moment she had been waiting for and dreading all at the same time. Her heart started hammering, and she looked down at the pages of the script, trying to remember what they said. Her mind was blank. She couldn
'
t remember a single word of the speeches for the scene.

"
I can
'
t do it,
"
she whispered to herself.
"
I can
'
t go out there and make a fool of myself. I
'
ll tell them I
'
m sick or that I have laryngitis.
"

"
Come on, Taffy. Let
'
s get going,
"
her mother urged, opening the door and motioning for Taffy to follow her.

Taffy started to protest, but just then she noticed Raven walking past the trailer. He was dressed in jeans and a bright blue crewneck sweater, and he was glancing around as if he were looking for someone.

Taffy
'
s heart skipped a beat. Was he looking for her? Maybe he wanted to walk to the set with her. She sighed at the instant vision of the two of them arriving at the set together, arms linked and smiling at each other. Forgetting her laryngitis and all her fears, she looked around for her script pages. She had to hurry.

But when she turned to the door again, he was gone.

"
Raven?
"
she called as she stepped out of the trailer. Still, no one was there but her mother.
"
Did you see Raven Blaine out here?
"
she asked.

Her mother nodded and shrugged.
"
He was walking by a moment ago,
"
she said, looking puzzled.

Taffy
'
s heart dropped with a thud. Apparently he hadn
'
t been looking for her after all.