‘What are you going to do about the shoes?’ Camilla asked, pointing at Brendan’s huge steel-toed boots.
‘Well, I can’t wear little sandals,’ Brendan declared. ‘I haven’t had my pedicure.’ He and Jackson cracked up and Ivy rolled her eyes.
‘Your hairy toes would give you away,’ she shot back.
‘How about these?’ Camilla said. They were pink sneakers that looked just about big enough.
‘They don’t exactly go with my outfit,’ Brendan teased. ‘But they’ll be good for when we have to run.’
‘They will have to do,’ Ivy replied. As Brendan hopped around, putting on the sneakers, she barked out her orders. ‘We need to divide, conquer, and confuse the paparazzi until they give up.’
When Brendan finally stopped hopping, Ivy called out, ‘Troops, line up!’
Olivia obeyed, along with everyone else. Her five friends stood to attention in front of the bathroom mirror.
Sophia, standing next to Jackson, was wearing all black, with huge black sunglasses, red lipstick and a plastic Chihuahua poking out from her bright red handbag.
‘Check,’ Ivy said.
Beside Olivia, Camilla was wearing a broad-brimmed straw hat, a white floaty dress with Grecian sandals and had a copy of the script for Romezog and Julietron, a sci-fi version of Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet, which she’d recently directed.
‘Check,’ Ivy said again.
Ivy marched to the end of the line and slipped her arm through Brendan’s. He looked utterly ridiculous, but in that eccentric Hollywood way. Olivia smiled – even dressed up all strange, they were a perfect couple.
‘Ready?’ Ivy asked everyone.
But before everyone could reply, there was a clank from inside one of the bathroom cubicles.
Olivia whipped her head around and a hush fell over her friends. There’s someone else in here!
‘If you don’t come out, I’m going to start opening doors,’ Ivy called out.
Olivia heard an exasperated sigh and the click of a lock.
Out stepped Charlotte Brown, looking sheepish. ‘Whatever,’ she said, when she saw everyone glaring at her. ‘You people are crazy.’ She was trying to hide something behind her back, but Ivy could see in the mirror. It was a disposable camera. Olivia realised that she must have been trying to do the same thing as the paparazzi!
‘You little sneak!’ Ivy said, about to lunge forwards, but Brendan put a hand on her arm.
Jackson stepped over, calmly, and held out an open palm. ‘I’ll have that, please.’
Olivia couldn’t believe that Charlotte had been spying on them!
‘What?’ Charlotte said, faking innocence.
Jackson didn’t say another word, just looked at her. Charlotte tossed her hair and shoved the camera into his hand. ‘I couldn’t get anything good anyway.’
‘I can’t believe you’d do this to a fellow cheerleader,’ Olivia said quietly. The truth was that Charlotte had tried to cross her tons of times before, but never quite so publicly.
‘It could have been worse,’ Charlotte countered. ‘I could have told the newspapers days ago that Ivy’s the mystery actress they’re all so interested in.’
‘So why didn’t you?’ Jackson asked, folding his arms.
Charlotte shrugged, clearly trying to look as though she couldn’t care less. ‘I tried. But they wouldn’t pay the fee I was demanding.’
Jackson spluttered. ‘You’re priceless,’ he said. ‘Let me give you a tip about negotiation with newspapers. They set the price, not you.’
Olivia felt her face draining of blood. How could one girl be this nasty? Suddenly, she heard a whispering from the next stall. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who’s in there, she thought. ‘Hi, Katie, hi, Allison. Come out, please.’
The middle cubicle door opened and out struggled Katie and Allison, who had crowded in together. They both had disposable cameras in their hands.
‘I’ll have those,’ Brendan said, taking the two other cameras. ‘There will be no photographic evidence of my transformation – let alone photos of Ivy and Olivia together.’
‘You mean you don’t want people to see your freak show,’ Charlotte said, crossing her arms.
Olivia realised there was something odd about Charlotte’s skirt.
Charlotte’s black skirt looked like it had been shredded in a semi-circle – just like Olivia’s ruined skirt from the premiere.
‘What happened to your outfit?’ Ivy demanded.
‘Don’t you know anything about fashion?’
Charlotte huffed. ‘Get out of the graveyard and into the real world.’
‘Uh, Charlotte,’ Ivy began, but Charlotte was on a roll.
‘You don’t deserve a role in any movie,’ she sneered. ‘And no amount of fake tan will stop you looking totally washed out on screen.’
‘Hey,’ Olivia started but Charlotte pushed past Jackson and right out through the bathroom door, Katie and Allison scurrying after her.
When the door closed, Ivy sighed. ‘She’s right, you know. I only got this role because of my big mouth. I don’t want the gig and I don’t deserve it.’
Olivia felt awful. Everything was so complicated!
‘Look,’ said Brendan. ‘Let’s deal with one problem at a time. We’ll get rid of the photographers and then worry about the movies.’
Ivy nodded and Olivia decided she had to focus on Operation Escape.
‘Now,’ he went on, ‘are you going to help me with this lipstick?’