Ivy looked around. She couldn’t even guess. She only recognised half of the people as movie crew from her time as an extra on the set. Who were all the others? Just as she passed the diaper shelf, she came face-to-face with Sophia Hewitt, her best friend.
‘What are you doing here?’ they asked each other at the same time.
Sophia was wearing a long-sleeved black mini-dress and black-and-white striped pantyhose. Her camera was at the ready in her hands.
‘There’s some mysterious, end-of-the-world delay with our female star, and we all have to wait here for her to be ready,’ Olivia explained.
‘And I have to say,’ Mr Vega put in, ‘that it all seems a little unorganised.’
Sophia chuckled and spread her hands to indicate the supermarket. ‘Here lies the answer.’
‘Here?’ said Olivia, looking around at the pastel-packaged baby milk.
‘Well, underneath here,’ Sophia said.
The only thing underneath the FoodMart was . . . of course! The BloodMart.
‘That is so rude!’ Ivy declared.
‘What is?’ asked Olivia, clearly baffled.
‘Jessica must have decided she needed a snack from the Blood Mart before facing the cameras,’ Ivy growled, realising that the people she didn’t recognise would be the ones following Jessica around. There was a girl in head-to-toe pink ‘JP’ merchandise and two heavyset men with sunglasses hovering nearby. ‘She’s made hundreds of people wait so she can grab a Vampish Delight or something.’
Sophia nodded. ‘I’ve been assigned to her press entourage by VAMP magazine and she decided halfway to the Picturedrome that she simply had to stop for a snack. She’s downstairs now, browsing like she has all the time in the world.’
‘You’re on official magazine business?’ Mr Vega asked, looking impressed.
Ivy knew that Sophia had made friends with Georgia Huntingdon, editor of the most popular fashion magazine in the vampire world, earlier this year when the twins were on the cover.
‘I’m the new Franklin Grove photo correspondent,’ Sophia said with a proud smile.
‘Killer,’ Ivy said.
‘With all the celebs in town, it’s keeping me very busy,’ she said, snapping a photo of Ivy and Olivia.
‘Stop it!’ Ivy said, batting away the camera gently, but Sophia just grinned.
‘You two were in the movie, and you look fantastic. If it gets me a photo credit in VAMP, I’m gonna go for it!’ She snapped a second photo, ignoring Ivy’s protests.
‘You were in the movie just as much as me,’ Ivy said. They had been extras in one of the diner scenes – along with the unbearable Charlotte Brown.
‘Yeah, but I’m not the sister of the newest up-and-coming star,’ Sophia said, winking at Olivia, but she wasn’t paying attention.
‘Sophia, have you seen Jackson? Is he here, too?’ Olivia was wringing her hands.
Sophia nodded. ‘I think he was by the vegetables when I walked past a few minutes ago,’ she said.
Ivy hoped Jessica’s little food mission hadn’t messed up Jackson’s plans for the red carpet. She thought it was high time that her sister could stop hiding in the shadows.
‘Thanks.’ Olivia turned to Mr Vega. ‘Can I go find him?’
‘Sure, honey,’ he replied. ‘Just find me before you head out of here.’
The crowd was starting to thin a little, as Olivia slipped away. Near the butcher’s counter, Ivy saw a short man with his back to her, waving his arms angrily in front of an assistant wearing headphones.
‘. . . think she can do this! Non, non!’ he was saying in a heavy French accent.
Ivy guessed right away who it was: Philippe, the director of the movie. She knew from her time as an extra that no one did grumpy like he did, and he must be livid about Jessica’s little detour.