Reel Life Starring Us (17 page)

Video tip: It's not necessary to put the person's name
on-screen every time someone talks, just the first time.

Perfect–finally a time
I can check my phone. Because as exciting as the movie set is, I'm still a bit panicked that I'm about to get grounded for life. And I've never been grounded before, not even once.

We're following Sasha, too excited or nervous to talk. I take my phone out of my pocket and see the little text message icon and the number 2 next to it. The first is a text from my mom.

I laugh out loud. She doesn't get the fact that you don't need to sign text messages. But—
phew.
At least she's not mad at me. Not yet anyway. Maybe she really doesn't suspect anything!

There's also a text from Ali.

Ali's imagination gets the best of her almost all the time. Once last year she thought my dad was actually in the FBI because he was going on a business trip and I wasn't allowed to say where. He was actually surprising Ali's dad with a golfing weekend in Hilton Head, and that's why I couldn't say anything. Ali was freaked for weeks before and thought we were being investigated.

“I think we're in trouble,” Chelsea says as soon as we're in Sasha's trailer. We're sitting in two directors chairs in the corner, and we're waiting for Sasha to get back with her tea. “I don't think she's getting tea. I think she's calling the police.”

“But you just bonded about Nanette Lepore,” I say, trying to get her to stay calm.

She shouldn't be thinking about the police. We're in Sasha's trailer. Really and truly in Sasha Preston's trailer, on a real movie set. I thought it would take me until I was at least twenty-five to get on a movie set, but here I am—at thirteen. Unbelievable. Un-bee-lee-va-ble.

Chelsea's biting her pinkie nail. “Well, yeah. But I don't
know. Maybe we overdid it. Maybe we're really stalkers. Stalking is illegal, you know.”

I shake my head. “We didn't show up at her house wearing masks or anything. We were just on a public street. And we managed to find the craft services table, and she invited us in here.”

“We snuck onto the set,” she says, more forcefully now.

“Shhh,” I tell her. “Just go with it.”

“Okay.” Chelsea smiles, and it's not the usual forced smile she gives me. It seems like a genuine smile, like she's actually having fun. I never really thought this would happen—the two of us having fun together. But I think it is.

Sasha gets back with her tea and pulls up a chair. I immediately feel better and think we're on the right track until we hear a knock on the door.

“Sasha, need you in five,” the person says.

“Girls, I'm sorry. That's my cue.” She sips her tea. “As much as I appreciate you coming to find me, I think I have to get back to work.”

Chelsea and I look at each other. This is how it ends? This is how close we got only to get nowhere at all? And right when I realized that Chelsea and I were having fun.

She smiles. “Why don't you go out the back door? It'll be less chaotic.”

We get up slowly and there's another knock on Sasha's door. This time she opens it. “Sasha, we need you now,” a male voice says.

“Be right there, Drake. Thanks.”

She keeps the door open a crack and turns around. I guess she's looking to make sure we're leaving. I guess this really isn't happening. I failed. I totally failed. We got so close, though—that's the worst part of it.

“Where are those two kids we sent to makeup?” We hear someone yell. “That was fifteen minutes ago. They're slowing down this whole scene! Drake, have you contacted makeup to find out about those two kids?” the voice says.

“No idea, Mickey. Hold on a minute.”

“Tell the extras to take a break. We gotta find those kids. We're never using this casting agency again. This is ridiculous.”

“Sash, take a few minutes,” Drake says. “Some of the extras are missing.” He shakes his head. “Insane.”

Sasha closes the door and looks at us. Maybe it's that she notices the silly grins we have on our faces or maybe she's just quick to put two and two together.

“Extras?”

“You could say that,” I tell her. “Can we please talk to you for a second?”

She sighs. “You know I'm in the middle of a workday, right? Actors and actresses are working when they're on a movie set.”

We nod.

“Please,” I say in my nicest voice. I wish Chelsea would say something, but she isn't speaking. I don't know if she's scared or bored or what. “We came in from Rockwood Hills. We're working on this video for the fiftieth anniversary. We really need—”

“Oh, you're the people who called my agent!” she says, yelling and almost laughing at the same time. “Girls, I'm so sorry, but I don't think I have the time to devote to that.”

“No, it's not what you think,” Chelsea says. It's not much, but at least she finally opened her mouth. She's been silent since we got into Sasha's trailer.

“Look, we're not asking you to be in it. We're not asking you to do anything for us. We just need to talk to you,” I plead. “I know it seems weird. Two kids coming in here, trying to get you to talk, but think back to when you were in eighth grade. Think back to the kinds of stuff you went through.”

There's a long pause. I don't know what else to say.

“We can talk,” she says finally. “Just wait here for a few minutes, okay?” She gets up and walks outside. We hear her
talking to Drake, but we can't exactly make out what she's saying.

“Can you believe this?” I ask Chelsea.

“I can't. Seriously. You're like some kind of mastermind.”

I laugh.

“No, really. First of all, you figured out where this movie was shooting. Then you figured out how to get here and how to get onto the set. And now you're getting Sasha Preston to talk to us!” Chelsea raises her hand to high-five me. “I don't know anyone else like you.”

“I'm just awesome.”

“I guess so.” She smiles like she means it. “You
are
pretty awesome.”

And it's so, so good to hear. But I couldn't have done it without her coming along with me. And the truth is—the day has been really fun, like a constant adventure.

I want to say,
Then how come you don't invite me to hang out? How come I can't go to the movies with you and Kendall and Molly and Ross Grunner?
I want to say all these things. Because even though we're in Sasha Preston's trailer, I'm still the new girl in eighth grade. I'm still the girl who had to start school a month late. I'm still the girl with no friends.

It's funny how you can be doing something totally amazing
and yet the blahs of your life still creep into your brain and affect you.

Still, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself right now.

I don't know exactly how I did it, but I did it. We're in here. We're going to talk to Sasha Preston. She's going to talk to us. We're going to make an amazing video.

Sasha Preston piece of advice: If you're at risk
of hurting someone's feelings, white lies
are okay. But be careful.

The people with the headsets
keep saying they can't finish the scene till they find those two kids, so we really don't have a choice but to go and get our makeup done and then do the scene. Our little trick of pretending to be extras actually got us to be extras!

Sasha says she'll talk to us when the scene is over and we all have a break. I've spent so many hours thinking about what I'd ask Sasha if we ever got the chance to talk to her, and now that it's here, I'm worried I'll forget everything I wanted to ask.

Being extras wasn't at all what we thought would happen today, but it's really cool. We're going to be in a real movie.
Dina and me, together as extras and sleuths and go-getters.

They do our makeup in a really simple way, just covering up blemishes and adding some color to our cheeks, and then they send us back to that strip of sidewalk where we just walk back and forth a million times.

Sometimes they tell us to smile, or pretend that we're talking to each other. They give us backpacks to sling over our shoulders and we're supposed to look like we're on our way home from school.

It's actually pretty funny.

Finally, we're done shooting the scene and all the extras are standing around.

A bulky guy comes over and says, “You guys signed your release forms?”

Dina nods.

The guy leaves.

“We did?” I ask Dina.

“No, but if we sign something now, they'll find out we weren't even supposed to be extras, so we really can't do that. It's not a big deal. It's just that we won't get paid.”

Too bad—I could really use the money.

When the scene's over, we go back into Sasha's trailer. I look at the clock and notice that it's already after five.

“Do you know what time it is?” I ask Dina.

“No clue. But I should check my phone again. I felt it vibrating, but couldn't exactly answer it while we were shooting the scene.”

Dina looks at her phone, and I look at mine.

Two texts from Ross.

A text from Molly.