Grrr, Ivy thought. Arg. She wanted to hang Charlotte up by her fake designer-label boots. She is so devious!
‘Now there really is something to fix,’ Ivy said, looking around at the film people passing by, to see if there was someone she could tell. ‘We’re not going to let Charlotte win. I’ll go and stall them.’ She jumped up from the plinth.
‘You couldn’t stall Philippe with an apocalypse,’ Olivia replied. ‘But there is something we could do.’
Olivia’s tone of voice made Ivy brace herself for what was coming.
‘Even though I’m not on set, there happens to be someone who looks just like me there.’
Ivy knew what Olivia meant. ‘You mean switch?’
‘It’s the only way,’ Olivia said. ‘You can be me for the callbacks, at least until I get there. Camilla is still on set; she’s got my copy of the script.’
Ivy gulped. ‘Um . . .’
She knew her sister wanted this role – and that she’d be perfect for it – but learning lines and going in front of the camera on her behalf could be a disaster. Bigger than Olivia not showing up at all? she thought. Maybe, if Ivy got the part and got to spend time with Jackson, she could figure out once and for all whether he was a vampire.
‘Jackson doesn’t know we’re twins, I don’t think. I’ve never told him. And you’ve fooled everyone else before.’ Olivia’s voice got quiet. ‘Please?’
‘OK, I’ll do it.’ Ivy felt a little flush of panic saying it but knew her sister would go to the same lengths for her.
Olivia squealed down the phone and Ivy had to hold it away from her ear. When she put it back, Olivia was saying, ‘OK, go get bunny-fied. I’m leaving right now and will be there as soon as I possibly can. Love you, sis.’
‘Love you, too.’ But Ivy felt like a gravestone was on her shoulders. How was she going to find Camilla, learn lines and pink up in the next half an hour plus impress a highly strung director and teen-dream movie star?
It would take superpowers – ones she didn’t have!
I’ll just have to do my best and not let Olivia down, Ivy decided.
Ten minutes later, Camilla was barking out lines of perky, romantic dialogue while Ivy smeared off her dark eyeliner with make-up remover. Sophia was outside standing guard. They had decided to sneak into the make-up trailer first because she couldn’t go to get her Mia costume looking Goth-gorgeous or they would never believe she was Olivia.
‘I’m going to open it for you,’ said Camilla in a voice that made Ivy think of the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk.
Which didn’t help her remember her lines. ‘Um.’ Ivy kept getting confused about the exact wording. ‘Something something grass skirt?’ She wiped her face with a towel and started to rummage through the colours of spray tan in the box in front of her.
‘Ivy!’ Camilla whacked Ivy on the arm with the script. ‘It’s “Maybe if you were wearing a grass skirt”. Olivia had this nailed in the first five minutes.’
‘Sorry,’ Ivy said, choosing the Santa Monica that Spencer had used the day before. ‘I’m not cut out for this acting thing. But since Olivia clearly is, I’ve got to at least try for her.’
Camilla sighed. ‘OK. Here’s the plan: if you forget a line during the reading you’re just going to have to improv.’
‘What’s that?’ Ivy finished dabbing her face with fake tan and waved her hands in front of her cheeks to help it dry faster.
‘Improvise. Be spontaneous. In all the Gary Spellman movies, the actors become one with their alien characters and are so fluent in Fragmala, that they just make up the dialogue as they go along. It’s much more authentic that way.’
Camilla really knows her alien stuff, Ivy thought.
‘OK, improv. Got it.’ She opened Spencer’s eye-shadow box and gasped. There were eight trays of three rows each, with dozens of shades of every possible colour. How could she pick? She would just have to guess at what Mia would choose – or what Olivia as Mia would choose. She grabbed an eye brush and reached for the light purples.
The door banged open, making both girls jump.
Busted, Ivy thought.
‘No, no, no!’ said Spencer.
Sophia followed, mouthing, ‘Sorry!’
‘Please forgive me, Spencer,’ Ivy said, as the make-up artist stormed over. Camilla scooted around to the opposite side of the chair. ‘I’ve got a callback in fifteen minutes –’
‘And that is why you should not be doing this alone!’ Spencer plucked the eye brush from Ivy’s hand and tossed it across the room. ‘Not purple, darling. Not at all. You must leave the make-up to the professionals.’
Ivy smiled. He wasn’t going to throw them out – he was going to help. ‘You’re an angel,’ Ivy declared.
‘I heard one of my extras got in. I’m so glad it was you!’ Spencer clapped his hands really quickly. ‘Now, you,’ he said to Camilla. ‘Start from the top.’
Camilla started running through the scene, while Spencer worked his magic on Ivy’s face.
Ivy didn’t have any problems in the costume trailer convincing people she was Olivia, but she was seriously uncomfortable in the short floral sundress they’d given her to wear. Firstly, it was freezing outside, so sundress did not equal fun. Secondly, Hawaiian print was just about as humiliating as it could get. She had forced Sophia to promise not to take a single photo.
‘It’s for Olivia,’ Ivy muttered to herself through clenched teeth as she pushed open the door to the diner where they were doing the read-through. Sophia and Camilla were right behind her.