Hollywood Star Page 7

  After The Carl Vine Show I had been offered a really incredible opportunity, the kind that hardly ever happens to an average girl, even one who’s been in a famous British soap and had a film role. But I’d barely had time to think about what it would mean to me or my life yet. I didn’t want to tell anybody else until I had thought it through properly, no matter what everyone else wanted.

  I could still hardly believe what had happened. Mum, Jeremy and I had all come out of the studio with Julian and the others and were waiting for the car to pick us up and take us back to Jeremy’s. We were all on a high. The interview had gone really well, except for the bit where I nearly blew Sean’s cover and I had hoped that everybody would forget about that. Mum seemed happy and relaxed again and really pleased with me, and Jeremy spoke on the phone to some people at Wide Open Universe and told me they were very pleased with me too.

  Outside the celebrity entrance there were a few people waiting for autographs and Jeremy was signing, along with the man who had cried and Pete Peterson. I stood about for a bit, but nobody asked me for mine, which was fair enough because nobody knew who I was.

  “Hey, I like you,” Pete said, when he’d finished with his fans, pointing his finger and clicking his tongue at me. “You’re a funny kid.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “And you’re a funny man.”

  “Oh, you kill me,” Pete Peterson said, and then he climbed on to the back of a waiting motorbike and was gone.

  Then, as Mum and I waited for Jeremy to finish, David started barking at something. It was a photographer taking photos with a long-distance lens.

  “Paparazzi,” Mum said in a low voice, almost a growl. “I’m not ready to be in any more magazines just yet.”

  “He’ll be after Dane,” Julian told her. “He’s the hot ticket in town at the moment after his shocking fall from grace and his amazing ability to cry like a baby on national TV. Careers start and finish quickly in this town, but I think that was a record even for LA.”

  “Well, I think I’d rather wait inside until Jeremy is ready to leave, if you don’t mind,” Mum said, and so she, David and I went back into an area that was called “Stars’ Reception”. The walls of the room were lined with signed photos of celebrities who had been guests on the show. Considering that the show hadn’t been on air that long there were already a lot of photos.

  “Oh look, there’s Imogene!” I said, going to her picture. They might retouch and paint out the so-called faults of other stars, but not Imogene. I knew her face well and the photograph reflected it exactly, including the faint crinkles around her eyes when she smiled and the mole on her chin.

  Suddenly David started growling in my arms and I realised that there was someone standing behind me.

  “Now, she’s an old-style film star,” a voice said in my ear. I turned and looked around at a quite old man in a dark pinstriped suit with not very much grey hair and a rather large pair of black-rimmed spectacles.

  “It’s Ruby, isn’t it?” he asked me. I nodded and shook hands with him. His skin felt dry and papery, but he had a very strong grip.

  “I’m Martin Blenheim of Blenheim Productions.” He turned and shook my mother’s hand too. “You might have heard of me?” I thought for a moment it sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I looked at Mum but her face was blank too.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “Are you very famous?”

  Mr Blenheim laughed, but it sounded more like a dry tickly cough.

  “You could say that. The next time you’re watching your favourite teen show, keep watching to the very end and you’ll more than likely see that it’s been produced by Blenheim Productions. My latest hit is Hollywood High.”

  “Oh, yes!” I said. “We haven’t got it at home yet, but I read about some of the actresses in a magazine. It looks great!”

  “We’re lucky to have a very talented young cast. They all attend the Beaumont School of Performing Arts. We’re halfway through shooting season two now, or at least we will be when the new semester starts.”

  “That sounds very interesting,” I said politely.

  “Good, I’m glad you’re interested in me, Ruby, because I’m interested in you. I haven’t spoken to your agent yet, but as you and your mother are right here I thought I might as well strike while the iron’s hot, as you Brits say.”

  “Do we?” I asked, perplexed.

  “We have a guest role on Hollywood High that urgently needs to be cast. It’s the part of a girl called Isabella. She was originally supposed to be an Italian aristocrat, the daughter of a film director. She comes into the school and upsets the regular characters. People’s boyfriends get interested in her and she turns friend against friend – the usual stuff. But she’s a great character – a real villain, the kind you love to hate. Unfortunately, the girl we cast has had to pull out at the last minute because of family problems. We are on the verge of rewriting all of those episodes; in fact, we may have already started. But then I watched you tonight and I had an idea. We could transform Isabella into Lady Elizabeth, an uppercrust English girl. And I thought you’d be perfect for the part.”

  “Who me?” I said, looking first at my mum and then back at Mr Blenheim. “Oh no, I’m sorry, Mr Blenheim. I can’t take the part – I’m only here on holiday!”

  “Of course we’d need to see a showreel and screen-test you with the other actors,” Mr Blenheim went on regardless. “But given we could sort out the visa and schooling issues, and get the whole production team on board, then I’m certain that you are a fit for the part. I have an instinct about you and my instinct is never wrong.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr Blenheim,” my mum stepped in at last, “but Ruby is right. We’re only here for another few days and then we’re flying back to London. Your offer is an amazing one, but I need to think about Ruby’s schoolwork. This year is an important one for her.”

  “Mrs Parker,” Mr Blenheim smiled so that his whole face seemed to turn into a mass of creases, “please don’t dismiss this chance for your daughter out of hand. Yes, you need to give my proposal serious thought, but I really think that the issues you are worried about are things we could resolve. You’d only need to extend your stay here by around six weeks, perhaps a little longer. The character I want Ruby for features in six episodes and it takes a week to shoot an episode on a tight schedule. There are laws, you know, about how long the young cast can work. The school day at Beaumont starts at 8 a.m. and finishes at 1 p.m. We shoot on location at the school and at the nearby studios in the afternoon.”

  “Mr Blenheim, you have to give Ruby and I a moment to adjust. The offer you’ve made is quite a shock. I can see how great it would be for Ruby’s career, but Ruby has to keep up with her studies,” my mum said. “She’ll be starting work on her GCSE coursework this year.”

  “Well,” Mr Blenheim rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “It would be possible to enrol Ruby temporarily at the Beaumont School.” Both he and my mother seemed completely oblivious to me. “And we could get her curriculum sent over so that she wouldn’t fall behind.

  She could slot right back into her studies when she gets home. What do you think, Ruby?” He turned to me at last and smiled, clearly not put off by the dumbstruck expression I must have had on my face. Maybe he couldn’t tell underneath all that make-up.

  “I…um…well…” I honestly didn’t know what to think, but as it turned out I didn’t have to; my mum was doing all the thinking for me.

  “Mr Blenheim, you’ve convinced me – like you said, this is far too good a chance for her to pass up. Ruby would be happy to audition for the part of Lady Elizabeth and we’ll worry about her GCSEs when we have to – and who needs GCSEs to be a film and TV star anyway?”

  I stared at my mum and could not stop my Jaw from dropping. Something really radical was changing in her and it wasn’t just her giant pout. Perhaps it was the shock and hurt of seeing her photograph portrayed so unkindly in the magazine. Maybe it was the pressure of trying to be Jeremy Fo
rt’s girlfriend when you knew his ex was a supermodel. Or it might have been something more, something in the air or the water in this town, a kind of nameless hunger to succeed. But one thing I knew for certain, before we came on our holiday to Hollywood, it would have been me begging her to let me audition for the part in Hollywood High, and her putting her foot down, telling me that school was still more important than anything else. And never, never in a millions years would the old mum have allowed a sentence that included the words “who needs GSCEs” to cross her lips.

  I had to face it. My normal, sensible-shoe-wearing and quite often annoying mother had morphed into a wrinkleless, big-haired Hollywood mom overnight.

  I looked at her with her new glamorous blonde locks and tight orange skin and wondered how I could tell her that, as crazy as it might seem, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to audition for the show. Suddenly, the prospect of one of my many acting-related dreams coming true seemed too frightening and too quick. I wasn’t ready. I was on holiday for goodness sake! We’d only been here a little while and look what had happened already. My mum had gone all Stepford Wives and I hadn’t exactly been the nicest person to be around.

  Plus it would mean another six weeks away from home. Another six weeks without seeing or having a chance to make up with Dad. Without Everest or Nydia or Annie-Marie. And another six weeks without seeing Danny, a thought that made me feel as if there was a huge, heavy, cold pebble in the pit of my stomach.

  Apart from anything else, I was actually looking forward to going back to school. Returning to my nice, safe, normal life, or as normal as things ever get for a child actress who goes to stage school. I missed sitting at the back of lessons thinking that my head might implode from boredom, or hanging out with Danny and the girls at break time, watching Anne-Marie and Jade’s latest sparring session that Anne-Marie always won. And although I’d only been gone a couple of weeks, I was even getting all nostalgic about the thought of walking home in the wet and the cold to watch Deal Or No Deal, doing my homework and going to bed.

  OK, maybe my life might not be most people’s idea of normal. After all, my first film was soon to be released in the UK and my boyfriend was now a pop star as well as a soap star. (Not forgetting that one of my best friends was going out with possibly the most famous boy on the planet while he was living out of the public eye.) But it was mine. And I liked it.

  I smiled at Mr Blenheim. “The thing is…I mean, I’m sure it would be great,” I said. “It’s just a…surprise. I need to think about it very carefully and talk to Ms Lighthouse and—”

  “When do you want Ruby to audition?” my mum said, talking right over the top of me so that it didn’t seem worth finishing my sentence. I got the feeling that my opinion wasn’t that important any more.

  While Mum and Mr Blenheim talked I peered outside to the parking lot and saw that the crowds and the photographers had gone. There was only Jeremy’s silver Rolls Royce waiting for us with Jeremy sitting patiently in it chatting to Lisa Wells.

  “Ah, Ruby,” he said as I climbed into the car, “what’s going on?”

  “Mum’s talking to a TV producer,” I said, not wanting to elaborate just then.

  “Networking, eh?” Jeremy said with a fond smile. “Sometimes I think I should employ your mother as my manager. Julian and his colleagues have gone back to pick up all the clothes and things they left at the house. They said you can keep what you’re wearing. The clothing company had a representative at the taping and they say that you were exactly the kind of girl they wanted to see in their clothes. I think Julian said they might be sending you some more free items too.”

  “Really? That’s great!” I said, having to force enthusiasm. Normally, the thought of free stuff would make me want to cartwheel with joy. Free stuff was the only thing better in the world than shopping for stuff. But as I looked at the doorway where Mum was still talking I wondered what she and Mr Blenheim had in store for me and, more importantly, why I wasn’t excited about it.

  “Ruby,” Lisa said, leaning over Jeremy to kiss me on both cheeks, “I just wanted to tell you that Art and Mr Honeycutt and the whole studio are thrilled with your performance tonight. They are already talking about getting you on more talkshows in the few days you have left here – so don’t you worry, we are going to make this film a hit.”

  “Thanks, Lisa,” I said as she climbed out of the car. Actually, I hadn’t been that worried about the success of the film until I saw the look in Lisa’s eyes when she reassured me and I realised how worried she was. I was too busy worrying about my amazing opportunity to guest star in Hollywood High.

  “That went pretty well, didn’t it?” Jeremy said, picking up his paper. “Now we just have to hope your mother will wrap up her wheeler-dealing in time for supper. Augusto is making risotto, just for you.”

  “Jeremy?” I asked him after a moment. He raised a brow in reply. “Do you think Mum is OK?”

  He laughed and his paper rattled. “I think she’s fine, Ruby. She’s taken to Hollywood like a duck to water.”

  That’s what I was afraid of.

  I picked up the magazine I’d bought that morning, a time that seemed like a million years away, and opened it at the photos of Adrienne Charles and Nadine Navarro. Adrienne was a beautiful shiny blonde with blue eyes that seemed to sparkle on the page. Nadine’s skin looked like polished ebony and her long hair hung in shining curls. Both girls had smiles that could blind you if you stared at them directly. Neither one would want to be friends with me in a million years. Not me with my only normally white teeth and my hair that was mostly a mess and skin that broke out every three weeks or so. It was true that I had once thought the same about Anne-Marie and now she and I were best friends, but as pretty as Anne-Marie is, even she is not as glossy or as polished as these girls. Anne-Marie was real. Adrienne and Nadine were unreal.

  I have seen probably every single high-school movie that has ever been made in the last five years and I know exactly what happens to girls like me at high school. They get eaten alive. Unpopular, geeky, nerdy, a loser. All of those words had been used to describe me at one time or another. And I was certain that this time would be no different.

  Of course I could be wrong. I am good at being wrong about things and people; it’s one of my best things. Maybe Nadine would be sweet and shy and Adrienne would be a secret Kensington Heights fan. Perhaps it could be exciting and an amazing new step in my acting career. And it wasn’t forever. Just another six weeks out here instead of being at home, with hot chocolate, Everest and the mess I keep hiding underneath my bed instead of putting it away like Mum keeps asking me to. At least in Hollywood somebody else tidies up my room.

  Mum finally got in the car and started telling Jeremy everything. I realised then that I was the only one who wasn’t sure about this, which had to mean that my worries were all silly and pointless. Didn’t it?

  I closed Nydia’s e-mail and looked at myself in the full-length mirror in my bedroom. The pristine clothes I had worn for a few hours were already grubby, my hair had frizzed up and the thick layer of so-called natural-look foundation that Julian had caked on my face had actually cracked in a few places.

  And then I realised, Mr Blenheim had seen the fully made up and primped up version of me on The Carl Vine Show. I had been putting on an accent that wasn’t mine and looking like I can never look unless I have three personal stylists following me around all of the time refreshing my lip gloss and pulling me out of the way of potential stainage situations. It would be all right, I realised suddenly, to go and audition because when Mr Blenheim saw me with no make-up on and in my own “cheap tat” clothes, he would realise that I was about as far away from being an English lady as was possible. And if I did the audition and failed, at least Mum would be happy that I’d tried. It was always Mum that said that trying and doing my best was the main thing, and that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I didn’t get a part. Then I could go home and forget all about Hollywood High until I
watched it on TV on a Sunday morning over my cereal.

  I washed off as much of the make-up on my face as I could in one go and went downstairs to find Mum. She was on the phone in Jeremy’s study so I waited by the sofa for her to finish her call.

  “That’s great, marvellous – I’m so pleased, speak soon. Bye!” She put the receiver down and held out her arms. I ran to her and hugged her tight, glad to know that she was still my soft, round mum under that orange skin.

  “I’ve been thinking,” I said, smiling at her. “I will give that audition a go for Hollywood High. I mean I can only try my best, right?”

  My mum laughed, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Of course you are doing the audition, darling. I’ve already made all of the arrangements so you don’t have to worry about anything except being brilliant and I know you won’t let me down on that score. I’ve spoken to Audrey and to Ms Lighthouse and both of them say they can certainly work with Blenheim Productions if you get through the auditions, which I know you will.”

  I tried to interrupt, but she was in full flow. I don’t think I had ever seen her this excited about anything, not even when I auditioned for The Lost Treasure of King Arthur. My mum was usually so determined that I keep my feet on the ground and have a normal life. Not this time.

  “Now I was thinking,” Mum went on, releasing me from my hug to pace the floor of Jeremy’s office. “When Mr Blenheim saw you on the show you had had your hair and make-up done and those nice clothes, which is not really like you at all so—”

  “So he might not want me when he sees the real me and we might have to forget about it,” I said, trying and failing not to sound hopeful.

  “No, darling.” Mum ruffled my hair in exactly the way she knew I didn’t like, only this time I think she’d forgotten that I didn’t like it and wasn’t just doing it for a joke like she normally does. “Illusion – that’s what acting is all about. I phoned Lisa and got Julian’s number and called him. He says he can definitely get you more clothes from that label, and that he’ll come and do your hair and make-up again, and come with us to the audition to keep you looking good. So all you have to do is to turn up and be brilliant.” She turned to me. “Ruby, I will be so proud of you.”