Dial L for Loser (15 page)
Authors: Lisi Harrison
Tags: #Juvenile Fiction / Lifestyles - City & Town Life, Juvenile Fiction / Social Issues / General
“Ehmagawd, I can’t believe I missed that!” Massie stomped her foot.
“How’s Cam?” Claire pulled the sleeves on her Powerpuff Girls pj’s over her hands. “Did you talk to him? Does he know I’m staying?”
Kristen and Dylan giggled.
“What?” Claire could feel her heart beating in her ears.
“We went out with the team for victory pizza.” Dylan reached into a box of bran flakes.
“And talked about the St. Patrick’s Day dance tomorrow night.” Kristen twirled the string on her coral-colored sweatpants.
“And?” Claire had the sudden urge for one of Cam’s gummy worms. But with only four left, she forced herself to hold off.
“And the guys said their new coach was making them go.” Dylan paused. “With dates.”
“What? Why?”
“He thinks that if they have crushes, their crushes will come to the games and they’ll play harder—you know, to try and impress them,” Kristen said.
“That’s so stupid.” Claire punched her thigh.
“How psyched are we that we’re going back?” Massie asked Alicia.
“So psyched!” They high-fived.
Claire’s fingertips felt cold. “How are you going to go? We’re not allowed on school property.”
“I’ll find a way.” Massie winked.
“Is Cam bringing anyone?” Claire asked.
“He
has
to.” Dylan chomped.
Claire swallowed. “Who?”
“Dunno.” Kristen shrugged. “He wasn’t sure, you know, ’cause of you.”
The combination of Red Vines and anxiety made Claire dry heave. Should she quit the movie and fly home? There were probably millions of girls who would love to take over for her, girls who weren’t in love.
All of a sudden she felt her mother’s warm hand on her back. Claire wiggled away to avoid bursting into tears.
“Hey, Kristen, are those my special-edition Uggs?” Massie asked.
“What? These?” Kristen smacked the top of the stud-covered purple boots.
“Yup,” Massie smirked.
“I told you to aim the camera higher,” Kristen whispered to Dylan.
“I thought I did!” Dylan whispered back.
“Uh, yeah. They kinda are.” Kristen’s pink cheeks turned red. “I figured since we had to go to your house to make this call, I might as well borrow a pair of boots. Besides, it’s not like you need them. I mean, until you get home, right?”
“Well, we’re coming home today so—”
“Wait, you are?” Dylan put Bean on the floor. “Why aren’t you staying?”
Massie lifted her chin. “The director thought I was too confident to play a dork.”
“And he thought I was too beautiful.” Alicia batted her lashes.
Kristen and Dylan exchanged glances.
Claire was grateful the mothers were there or there would have been at least fifty comments about what a perfect loser Rupert thought she was.
“We thought you’d be all over the correspondent job.” Dylan’s green eyes were wide with disbelief.
“Huh?”
“Did you check your messages?”
“No,” Massie snapped. “It’s early here. The Razr is getting her beauty rest.”
“Well, wake her up!” Dylan practically shouted.
Massie turned on her phone. She had fifteen messages. And they were all from Merri-Lee Marvil’s show producers.
“My mom wants you and Alicia to be
The Daily Grind
’s behind-the-scenes reporters. You know, for
Dial L
.”
Alicia gasped.
“Dylan, do I look like a video game?” Massie asked.
“No.” Dylan smiled in anticipation.
“Then why are you playing me?”
“I’m serious. Your parents said it was okay.” Dylan reached her hand in the cereal box.
“Surprise!” Judi and Kendra shouted.
“You knew about this?” Massie asked.
They nodded with pride.
“Didn’t you wonder where my luggage was?” Kendra asked.
“No,” Massie sneered. “I assumed it was with the lug-gage guy.”
“Well, it’s not!” Judi gushed. “You’re staying. We all are!”
“Now that that’s over…” Kendra stood. “We’re going to grab some coffee downstairs.” She blew her daughter a kiss on her way out. “Congratulations, sweetie.”
“’Kay.” Massie was obviously still absorbing the news.
Dylan inched closer to the camera. Her face filled the entire screen. “Every morning you’ll go live from a different location on the
Dial L
set—you know, to give people a behind-the-scenes report.”
“You can even interview the stars,” Kristen added.
“Ehmagawd!” Alicia hugged Massie. “This is even better than my old reporting job at OCD!”
Massie remained calm. “Why is your mom doing this?”
“Because it’s the first time a major Hollywood movie has cast a lead with no experience. So she wants to do a whole Amateur’s Week–type thing.”
“What do you mean, ‘no experience’?” A sinister grin appeared on Massie’s face.
Claire rolled her eyes.
“They’re even giving you an expense account and your own camera crew.” Kristen sounded distant, even a little sad. “You’re going to have so much fun.”
“Dial Y for Yay!” Alicia shouted, obviously not caring that it sounded totally stupid.
“Wait, how did you know we didn’t get the part in the movie?” Massie paced. “I didn’t tell anyone.”
“Me either.” Alicia glared at Claire.
“Claire left a message for Cam and he—”
“Aha!” Massie cut Kristen off. “You just couldn’t wait to rub it in, could you?” Her amber eyes practically seared a hole through Claire’s skull.
“I wanted to tell him I wouldn’t be coming home for a while. I wasn’t trying to—”
“We would have known anyway,” Kristen said. “It’s all over the news. The press thinks it’s a big deal that Rupert cast a nobody.”
“Can everyone please stop saying that word?” Claire heard herself shout.
“Would you prefer
loser
?” Massie asked.
Claire covered her face with a satin pillow.
“Let’s do it! Let’s stay. Come awn, Mass!”
Massie tapped her chin. “Hmmmmm.”
“Come awn!” Alicia whined.
The room was silent.
“Please?”
“O-kkkayyyyy,” Massie said.
Bean barked.
“Pack your bags, puppy,” Massie cooed. “You’re coming to Hollywood.”
Bean barked again.
“No fair,” Kristen whimpered.
“I know,” Dylan moaned.
“Yayyyyyy!” Alicia shouted.
Massie yanked the pillow off Claire’s face.
“Happy now? You got your wish. We’re staying.”
Claire chomped down on her last Red Vine, vowing she’d never
ever
wish for anything again.
Wednesday, March 18th
6:01 A.M.
A beauty buffet of hair and makeup products by MAC, Nars, Chanel, Benefit, Hard Candy, Tarte, Dior, Dessert, and Paul Mitchell surrounded Massie and Alicia. They were seated in directors’ chairs facing a mirror that was lit by round bulbs, getting their faces put on for their first appearance on
The Daily Grind
.
“Is there any way this trailer could be moved to our hotel?” Massie asked Gina, their makeup artist.
“Seriously.” Alicia blew on her vanilla steamer. “We had to wake up at five a.m. to get here on time. And no one looks good at five a.m. Not even us.” She giggled.
“That’s what I’m here for.” Gina unscrewed a tube of Nars lip gloss. “Close,” she told Massie.
“Whoever came up with this whole time-difference thing is D2M,” Massie murmured. “When Merri-Lee asked us to be on her show at nine-thirty a.m., did she realize it would be six-thirty a.m.
here
?”
“Stop talking!” Gina snapped. “How do you expect me to gloss you when your lips are moving?”
“Mmm-mmm,” Massie apologized to the petite blonde. But seriously, how could she be expected to look and feel her best at this ungawdly hour? Of all the times she’d imagined addressing the nation on live TV—and there had been many—never once had Massie pictured herself with dark circles under her eyes (or sharing the spotlight with Alicia!). But for a first-time gig, Hollywood correspondent for
The Daily Grind
wasn’t bad. At least that was what Massie told herself when she looked out the window and saw Claire and Abby laughing their way out of a stretch limo.
Massie leaned into her reflection. “Do you think I look like Jennifer Ho-pez with all this makeup caked on my face?”
“I didn’t
cake
it on.” Gina dusted Massie’s lids. “Besides, this is TV, not prom. If your makeup isn’t dark, the lights on the camera will wash you out and you’ll look anemic.”
“Given,” Alicia agreed with Gina. “I did the news at my old school. I know all about that whole dark-makeup thing.”
“You were on the PA system,” Massie snapped.
“I still had to wear makeup.”
“Where? On your tonsils?”
Gina cranked the volume on her iPod. Groovy lounge music flowed out of her portable speakers and Alicia made a peace sign and swayed like a hippie. Massie burst out laughing. So what if her makeup was cakey? This was better than sitting in Westchester waiting for some stupid board meeting.
“Are you nervous?” Alicia asked.
“Me? Not at all. You?”
“Nope.” Alicia shook her head one too many times. “I was born to anchor. I can’t wait.” She pushed up the sleeves on her navy blue RL blazer. “Why, are you?”
“Nope.” Massie wiped her clammy hands on the canvas seat below her butt.
“Do you think Ralph Lauren will give
us
clothes, you know, now that we’re going to be famous too?” Alicia cemented her blowout with a blast of Paul Mitchell Freeze and Shine Super Spray.
“Ew, do you really want to wear Ralph if Claire is?”
“Hold still!” Gina gripped Massie’s jaw and repositioned her face.
“Point.” Alicia sighed.
Someone pounded the outside of the trailer door. “Special delivery for Miss Maysee Block.”
A stocky man in brown shorts and a brown starchy shirt stepped into the trailer. He was carrying a crate with American Airlines stickers all over it.
“Bean!” Massie grabbed the crate and opened the gate. The black puppy ran around in small circles and then jumped into her open arms.
“Sign.” The delivery guy shoved a clipboard in front of Massie’s face and handed her a chewed Bic pen.
“Can we please finish up here?” Gina held a mascara wand above Massie’s lashes. “You know you’re going live in, like, ten minutes, right?”
Massie nodded.
“And you know I have to finish your eyes, right?”
All of a sudden, the realization of what she was about to do hit her. Hard. In less than ten minutes Massie would be addressing millions of viewers, whether she was ready to or not. The only direction Merri-Lee had given her was “Act natural.” There were no lines to learn or marks to hit. All they had to do was chat with the stars and show the viewers at home some of the cool behind-the-scenes action.
“It’ll be easy,” Merri-Lee promised. “Just like talking to your friends.”
Massie reached into the pocket of the new Frankie B. jeans and clutched her lucky cell phone. Bean was on her lap, her best friend was at her side, and a professional was applying her makeup.
She was ready for her close-up. Not that she had a choice.
Wednesday, March 18th
6:20 A.M.
“Now remember,” instructed Hal, the
Daily Grind
producer assigned to Massie and Alicia. “When I count you in I’ll say, ‘In three, two,’ and then I’ll point. I won’t say ‘one.’”
Massie did her best to concentrate, but Hal’s overly hairy arms were making it difficult. The least he could have done was worn long sleeves.
“So you’re saying we won’t
hair
you say ‘one.’” Massie fought her quivering lips.
Alicia burst out laughing.
“Exactly.” Hal smiled. “And when it’s time for you to wrap up, I’ll twirl my finger in the air like this.” His index finger made several rotations.
“You’ll twirl your finger in the
hair
,” Alicia smirked. “Got it.”
“Now remember, this is live. There are no do-overs.”
“’Kay.” Massie wondered if she should have worn a dress instead of her beige Lauren Moffat Bermuda shorts and a colorful knit Mossimo cami. Her outfit was great, but was it TV-great or just school-great? She would have to speak to Merri-Lee about hiring a wardrobe person. Poor Alicia had changed nine times before settling on a pair of skinny Paige jeans and a yellow-and-orange Charlotte Ronson ruffle top.
“Okay, girls.” Hal rubbed the thick patches of black stubble on his cheeks. “Two minutes. Let’s get you in position.”
Massie’s stomach lurched.
“Let’s have you standing in front of the classroom.” Hal opened the door, revealing the chaos and clutter backstage. He turned to the cameraman. “Jimmy, give me plenty of behind-the-scenes action, but don’t forget to cover the school set. I want both.”
“Copy that.” Jimmy hoisted the camera onto his shoulder.
Massie’s stomach lurched again. This was really happening.
“Girls, do you want to go over the script one last time?” Hal asked.
Massie took in a deep breath. “Sure.” She exhaled slowly. “First we thank Merri-Lee; then we introduce ourselves and tell everyone where we are.”
“Then we talk about the movie and how we’ll be live from the set all week interviewing the stars and spreading tons of behind-the-scenes gossip,” Alicia added.
“After that, we say goodbye to Merri-Lee, who is back in New York, and tell her we’ll see her tomorrow.” Massie rolled her shoulders. “Done, done, and done.”
“Perfect.” Hal gave Jimmy the thumbs-up. “We’re all set. You’re a couple of naturals.”
“I used to do this all the time for my school.” Alicia fluffed the ruffles on her shirt.
“And I’m just a natural.” Massie spit her gum onto her script and tossed them both in the trash.