Olivia was so glad she wasn’t one of Charlotte’s closest friends – it didn’t seem like much fun.
‘And I’m your cheerleader,’ Camilla said to Olivia. ‘But I’m not any good at backflips.’
Olivia giggled and linked her arm in Camilla’s.
‘Next!’ shouted the receptionist sitting at the desk, making Charlotte jump and smudge her mascara under her eye.
‘Argh!’ Charlotte tried to wipe it away but it just smeared.
‘Next!’ the woman said even louder. Her hair was in a tight bun and she peered at Charlotte over her reading glasses. ‘You! Get over here.’
Charlotte stepped up, one hand covering her eye.
‘Name?’ the receptionist asked, fingers poised over the keyboard.
Charlotte handed over her extras pass, like it was a golden ticket.
The woman squinted at it. ‘Chartreuse Blown?’
Camilla chuckled.
‘What? No!’ Charlotte snatched the pass back, peered at the details and turned bright red. ‘It’s Charlotte. Charlotte Brown.’
The woman raised one eyebrow. ‘You sure, honey?’
Charlotte blinked furiously. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I know my own name!’
The receptionist smirked and indicated a stack of folders. ‘Take one of those and move on.’ Charlotte took the top one, clutched it to her chest and stormed past Katie and Allison, who hurried after her.
‘Next!’ the woman shouted.
That meant Olivia.
Ivy didn’t want to push it too much with Lillian, but she had to find out the truth about her sister’s movie-star crush. She had a plan. She needed Lillian to show them where the food was.
When they had finished with the costumes, Ivy piped up. ‘Gosh, I’m starving.’
‘Well, we’re done here.’ Lillian grabbed three pairs of oversized Access sunglasses from their cubby hole, handed a pair each to Ivy and Sophia and said, ‘Let’s head over to Craft Service.’
All she needed to do was taste one of Jackson’s meals and she’d have the proof she needed. If there was any hint of blood, Ivy would be able to tell.
It was still cold outside the costume trailer but sunny, so Ivy was glad of the wicked shades.
‘Lillian! Lillian! What is to be done? Have you seen the actresses? Oh, non, non, non!’ How Philippe didn’t melt into a puddle of trauma, Ivy didn’t know.
‘Don’t worry.’ Lillian tried to calm him down but he was flapping like a black cape in the wind. ‘We’ll find someone.’ She mouthed, ‘See you later,’ to Ivy and Sophia and led Philippe away.
‘What are you up to?’ Sophia demanded the moment they were out of earshot.
‘I know how I can get proof of Jackson’s fanghood,’ Ivy said, pulling Sophia towards the big truck labelled ‘Craft Service'. ‘His mouth!’
‘You’re going to call up his dentist?’
‘No, I’m going to sneak into wherever they’re storing his meals,’ Ivy said. ‘I don’t know exactly where that is, but if it comes down to it, I will sit in the cafeteria and wait until he shows up, so I can know what he’s eating.’
Sophia sighed. ‘Well, it beats me streaking.’
Ivy hauled herself up into the craft truck and her heart sank. It was a big truck, but there were people everywhere. She guessed that without having anything to film, the crew was just being paid to eat. Every table was full and the line for food was really long.