‘I missed you so much!’ Camilla bounced into a movie director’s pose, holding out her hands to frame Olivia’s face as if she were directing a shot. ‘Scene: A school hallway . . . but something is missing from the picture!’ She dropped her hands, sighing. ‘School is so different without you.’
‘I know.’ Olivia winced as she thought of just how different her new school was. Shaking it aside, she leaned over to pull out a sack of potatoes from a storage drawer.
‘I mean, Charlotte Brown is great, of course!’ Camilla said. ‘But it’s not the same.’
‘Excuse me?’ Olivia jerked upright, the sack of potatoes slipping out of her hands. ‘Did you just say Charlotte Brown was great ?’ She stared at Camilla. ‘Are we talking about the same Charlotte Brown?’
As the queen bee of Franklin Grove Middle School, Charlotte had tormented them relentlessly all through eighth grade.
‘Well . . .’ Camilla shrugged and picked up a carrot stick from the platter Mrs Abbott had left on the counter earlier that evening. ‘She’s changed. She’s actually really fun to be around, now. She’s good at organising events, and we’re working together on the school play.’
‘Wow.’ Olivia shook her head in wonder as Camilla crunched the carrot stick. ‘So . . . you and Charlotte Brown are BFFs now?’
Camilla cringed, almost dropping the carrot. ‘No! Not exactly. More like . . . maybe SOFFNs?’
Olivia laughed helplessly. And Ivy thought film language was hard to understand! ‘What does that even mean?’ she asked, as she leaned back over to pick up the potatoes.
‘I just made it up.’ Camilla grinned, looking delighted with herself. ‘Do you like it? It means Sort-of-Friends-For-Now.’
‘Got it.’ Olivia smiled ruefully. ‘No long-term commitment.’
‘We’ll just have to see how it goes,’ Camilla said. Her brows lowered as she finished the carrot stick. ‘Have you noticed how high school changes people?’
Olivia sighed. ‘That is very true.’
The last thing she wanted to think about right now was how much everyone seemed to have changed . . . even her own twin. So she was only too glad when Camilla launched into questions about the filming experience on the set of Eternal Sunset. Olivia might not know all the technical details that Camilla, a director herself, was curious about, but thinking about the London shoot was a perfect distraction from the day she’d had.
Camilla looked out through the kitchen window. Olivia saw her notice Mr Abbott standing silently with his back to them, his hands together and his head slightly bowed.
Camilla’s eyes widened, and she stopped in the middle of a question about film cameras. ‘Um . . . is your dad praying?’
‘Oh, no. He’s meditating.’ Olivia frowned, putting down the potato she was peeling as she tried to remember what he’d told her earlier. ‘He’s looking for some kind of energy, but I can’t quite remember what it is. “Jee” energy, maybe? Or “T” energy . . . or maybe even “B” energy! It could be any of them . . . but definitely not “Chin”!’
Sudden laughter burbled out of her as she remembered Ivy’s desperate attempt in homeroom. I wonder if she’s found her chin yet?
Olivia was pretty sure she’d seen the real word Ivy was trying for on one of her dad’s books once . . . but she thought it was spelled with a ‘Q’, not a ‘Ch’!
‘Ohh-kay.’ Shrugging, Camilla started chopping potatoes as she launched back into her interrogation about the movie set.
After the third straight question about camera lenses, though, Olivia had to give up. ‘I’m sorry! I’m really not all that familiar with the technical stuff. I was just focused on remembering my lines.’
‘Oh.’ Camilla slumped. ‘And you didn’t ask a single question about what frame-rates they were using?’
‘Um, well . . . no.’ Olivia winced at the disappointment on her friend’s face. Turning away, she swept the potato peels into the compost. ‘It just didn’t occur to me. But it will next time, I promise!’
‘We-e-ell . . .’ Camilla gave a melodramatic sigh, then winked. ‘I guess I can wait.’ Hopefully, she added, ‘When will the next time be, exactly?’
Olivia groaned, falling back against the kitchen counter. ‘This weekend. Already! Can you believe it?’ As her friend started to mix together the final ingredients in a large clay mixing bowl, Olivia said, ‘It’ll be another whole week of shooting. I told my teachers, and they’ve piled up so much homework for me to take, I don’t know how I’ll get through it all! When I open my mouth on set next week, I might just start reciting weird historical test questions instead of my character’s lines.’
‘Olivia Abbott, less than perfect on-screen?’ Camilla smiled, setting down her spoon. ‘It’ll never happen. You know I’m right. Now, what else do you want for dinner, besides the potato salad?’
‘Honestly?’ Olivia shrugged. ‘I’m feeling in the mood for cereal!’
Camilla blinked. ‘Are you joking?’
‘I wish,’ Olivia said. ‘I’m still so jet-lagged, my body seems to think it’s morning! In fact – I’m so jet-lagged, I even thought that . . . oh, never mind.’ She slumped.
‘What?’ Camilla frowned.
‘Nothing,’ Olivia said. ‘It’s dumb. I just . . . I shouldn’t talk about this.’ She turned away and pulled down a box of cereal. ‘Let’s eat now, OK?’