Film Star (5 page)

Anne-Marie and I watched all of this open-mouthed until finally the wiry orange wig was removed and the woman underneath it shook out her long soft honey-brown curls and smiled at us. She smiled the million-dollar smile. She smiled Imogene Grant's smile. And finally I realised that, with all the tension, I hadn't started seeing things; finally I realised that Lisa Wells
was
Imogene Grant. She had been all along.

“Wow!” Anne-Marie spoke first. “That is
amazing,
you are such an
amazing
actress. I had no idea…
Wow!
”

“You saw me throw up!” I said before my brain could stop my tongue from moving.

Imogene Grant laughed and lit up the room. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Even more lovely in real life than when she was airbrushed to perfection on a magazine cover or lit in soft focus for a film. She was even more beautiful because she was real: really,
really
real.

“But, I mean,” Anne-Marie said, “I've seen all your films and I read every article about you I can find, and there you were all along and I didn't notice you. You completely transformed yourself!”

I noticed that Anne-Marie was managing all the compliments while all I had done was remind her about the whole vomiting thing. I tried to make up for it.

“Really great false nose,” I said. Imogene laughed again—at least she thought I was funny.

“Thanks,” she said. “I borrowed it from Nicole. But look, the real reason you didn't spot it was me wasn't because of the disguise; it was because when I had this wig on I became Lisa Wells—or at least my version of her. I
was
her, so there was no Imogene Grant for you to notice.”

“You are an amazing actress,” Anne-Marie said.

“You really are,” I said, determined not to be left out when it came to showering compliments. Imogene beamed at us.

“I'm sorry to shock you, girls. I wanted to be in the
auditions but I was afraid of throwing the candidates off. I have to dress up in disguises a lot just to get around town, you know, on the bus or whatever, without people mobbing me.”

Anne-Marie and I looked amazed at each other. Imogene Grant on the bus?

“I think you put me off more as Lisa Wells than you would have as Imogene Grant,” I said. Imogene nodded.

“Well that was a little test Art and I came up with between ourselves. We needed the person who plays Polly Harris's character to have guts and determination, to carry on no matter what happens. And you both did!” She smiled at us again. “So I hope that you both forgive me. I hope I wasn't too scary.”

“You were
wonderful,
” Anne-Marie said sincerely. “An amazing performance.”

I looked at Ms Lighthouse to see if she was as shocked as we were and saw that she was perfectly serene. She had known all along. I started to feel annoyed. I mean I was thrilled and excited that I had just met Imogene Grant, and proud and happy that I had auditioned for Art Dubrovnik and acted with Jeremy Fort. I was practically delirious! But at that point there was really only one thing that I wanted to know.

“Who got the part?” I asked Imogene Grant straight
out. “I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude; you are completely my hero and I know I should just shut up and wait, but please—before I explode or implode or
something
—can you just tell us? Who got the part?”

Imogene Grant smiled at me and glanced at Mr Dubrovnik.

“
You
got the part, Ruby,” she said. “In the end we wanted your vulnerability, your sense of humour in the role.” I let her words wash over me and then slowly, slowly sink in. I glanced at Anne-Marie who had her Oscar nominee loser's smile perfectly placed on her lovely face.

“Anne-Marie,” Imogene turned to her. “We loved your feisty, funny portrayal of the character, and I can see you have a great talent, but in this one case it wasn't what we needed for the film. But please don't give up. Your time will come, I am certain of that. I'll keep you in mind for any future projects I have.”

Anne-Marie nodded and her smile seemed a little more real this time. She hooked her arm around my neck and kissed me on the cheek.

“You did it, Ruby,” she said, jiggling me up and down as she hugged me. “You did it!”

And finally I realised exactly what I had done.

I had got the part. And now? Now everything would change.

I sat up in bed, wide awake in the dark, and I knew I had to be somewhere, I just couldn't remember exactly where. As I tried to get out of bed I thumped my head against the cold, hard painted surface of a wall that was somehow on the wrong side of my bed. I sank back in bed and rubbed my forehead. It was still dark in the room and it took a few half-asleep moments for me to work out where I was.

“The flat,” I grumbled to myself. The flat Mum and I were renting in Watford during shooting so that I could get to the set at Elm Tree Studios on time without having to get up before dawn. We had moved in just last night and I hadn't got used to it yet, including the position of the bed in an unfamiliar room.

Tentatively I dangled my toes over the other side of the bed until they reached the soft pile carpet. I rubbed my eyes and waited for them to adjust to the gloom. Eventually I could see a thin sliver of light under the
bedroom door. Mum was already up, probably making me a good breakfast even though she knew I would be too nervous to eat it. How could I ever eat anything when it was my first day on set?

My first day on set. On a film set. I kept saying the words over and over again in my mind, but it still didn't seem real. In fact, nothing had seemed especially real since that afternoon in Ms Lighthouse's office when I found out I had got the part.

First there had been the congratulations.

When I left that day the whole school had cheered me off, clapping and whistling as I went. Everybody was acting as if they'd been my best friends for years. Menakshi had grabbed me, hugged and kissed me. Jade had told me she
knew
I was going to get the part and she couldn't think who deserved it more. And gradually, as I had collected all my things, word spread from class to class and people came out into the corridor and followed me as I made my way out of the building. Everyone followed me clapping and cheering, including Danny, holding my hand. All of them—everyone—acting as if they were my best and oldest friends. All of
them, that is, except for my actual best and oldest friend, Nydia, who followed the parade but hardly looked at me, let alone said anything nice.

As we reached the front entrance of the academy I saw that Art Dubrovnik and Imogene Grant were waiting in the Rolls Royce.

“We thought we'd give you a lift home,” Mr Dubrovnik said.

“Wow!” I said. Danny hugged me tightly and kissed me briefly on the mouth.

“I'm so proud of you, Ruby,” he said, smiling. “Call me later, yeah?” I nodded and turned to Nydia.

“I meant what I said,” I told her, leaning closer to her so that she could hear me.

“I know you did,” she said, but her voice was stiff. She smiled briefly and squeezed my hand. “You'll be great, Ruby, you always are.”

And as Mr Dubrovnik and Imogene Grant took me home in the red Rolls Royce to break the news to my mum, maybe all of the school was out waving and cheering as we drove off.

“They love you,” Imogene Grant said, smiling at me.

“No, it must be you,” I said. “Big film star.”

“Can't be me,” she said, laughing, and as I looked at her I noticed she had her orange wig and glasses on again.
“I'm just Lisa Wells,” she said, and we laughed together.

Me and Imogene Grant laughing in the back of a red Rolls Royce convertible. Now if that's not unreal I don't know what is.

When Mum found out there was crying and gushing and smiling, and picking up pairs of discarded shoes and chucking them hurriedly in cupboards as she showed an A-list film star and director into her living room as if those kind of people dropped round at least three times a week. When Dad arrived a few minutes later he wasn't much better. He kept picking me up and hugging me, ruffling my hair so much I thought
I'd
end up having to wear the wig. And he kept staring at Imogene Grant, I mean literally gawping at her. Which was fair, I supposed, as Mum had done the same thing to Jeremy Fort earlier that day, but it was still embarrassing. The adults talked and talked about how things would work out while I just sat and let it all go on above my head. I was still in shock.

Then there was the money.

Mum and Dad had agreed my
Kensington Heights
contracts in the past, but with this, Sylvia Lighthouse herself got involved because she really understood the complexities of the contract. So the next day after school Mum, Dad and I had a meeting in her office to talk about the money with Audrey Goldman my agent. She was sort of everybody's agent really, and worked for more or less the whole school at one time or another because Sylvia said she was the best. She checked the contracts and negotiated the fees. I didn't really see her much, though, because up until that moment my
Kensington Heights
contracts had always been more or less the same, so Mum talked to her about them over the phone. I had never been allowed to listen in on the money bits before so I was really excited to know how much I was getting.

I was glad we had Audrey Gold because when they started to talk about the contract I understood about one word in two hundred. So I waited and waited and waited for them to talk about the one thing I was fascinated by—how much money was a lot of money. I mean of
course
I cared more about the actual opportunity than the money, and yes, I
would
have done it for nothing at all. But for all the years I was working on
Kensington Heights
all I got was an allowance every week, and that was less than some kids at school who didn't work on a prime-time soap. And all because Mum wanted me to have a normal childhood and learn solid values, like not having the best mobile phone until it's been out for a year and comes free with a pay-as-you-go tariff and by then everyone else has got a better one anyway. That sort of thing. And I had learned them, I thought. Nobody was more normal than me. And anyway, this was the first time I had ever been to a money meeting, so I waited through all the gobbledygook until they finally said what I had been waiting to hear.

“Two hundred thousand pounds,” Audrey Gold said. “How does that sound?”

“Blimey,” I said, and all three adults looked at me as if they had forgotten I was there.

“To go into your trust,” my mum said promptly, looking at Dad who nodded.

“Mum!” I protested. “Dad!”

“Well, maybe you can have a little bit,” she said. “Buy some new things and perhaps have a little wrap party for all your friends. We could redecorate your bedroom if you like? I know you think it's too babyish.”

“Only because I've had that fairy wallpaper since I was six,” I said, trying to remember not to bring up an
old argument. “Or,” I added casually, “we could always have a swimming pool.”

“We'd never fit one in the garden,” Mum said.

“We could buy a house with one built in?” I suggested. Mum smiled at me like I was next-door's toddler saying something sweet and funny and said, “Two hundred thousand pounds isn't enough to buy a house like that in London, dear.” And I felt sort of deflated. I still didn't know exactly how much was waiting for me to turn twenty-one in my trust fund. And as far as I was concerned two hundred thousand pounds made me rich beyond my wildest dreams. Except that it turned out that that much money actually made me rich just a little bit short of one of my more tame dreams. A house with a swimming pool was way down on my list, after a private jet and my own paradise island.

“Is it right, that amount?” my dad asked. “Is it worth negotiating?” Audrey Gold drew her mouth into a thin line and shrugged. “Well, Ruby has almost zero profile over the pond, unless you count
Kensington Heights
running on BBC America, but I'd say given that they start shooting in ten days it's worth a shot.”

And there were a lot of phone calls and lots of conversations and a lot of Mum and Dad spending
time together talking about me, without arguing or falling out, and after a couple of days my mum came up to my bedroom and said, “We're ready to sign, Ruby, but before we do, are you sure you want to do this? To be taken out of school and work really hard on this film? Your whole life will completely change because of this. Things might never be the same as they are now.”

I stared at her.

“Are you bonkers?” I said. “Of course I want to do it!”

“Just checking,” she said. And as she went back down the stairs she was singing. I hadn't heard her singing in ages.

Finally there were the goodbyes.

Mum and Dad took Nydia, Anne-Marie, Danny and me to our favourite pizza restaurant. And I thought that had to mean something because before they split up we used to come here at least twice a month. It was one of our special places. Since Dad had moved out and until I got that second audition for the film, we hadn't been anywhere together. And now I was sure that Dad saw more of Mum than he did of his so-called “girlfriend”. I
smiled at them happily. “This is great, isn't it? Being all together.” Mum and Dad swapped looks across the table.

“Yes, love,” Mum said with a small smile.

“Great,” Dad said, looking carefully at his menu. It seemed as if although they didn't mind spending time together, they didn't actually want to talk about it.

“Good evening, everyone,” Cassie said as she came to take our order. “Hi, Ruby, I really miss you in
Kensington Heights,
but I have to say I love
your
character, Danny—Marcus is brilliant. Actually, I'll have to get you to sign something before you go because my little sister loves you!”

“No problem,” Danny said, looking a little embarrassed as he glanced at me.

“Danny's very popular with little girls,” Anne-Marie said mischievously, winking at me over the top of her glass.

“Oh, don't let Suzie hear you say that!” Cassie said with a laugh. “She's nearly fourteen! All of her pals think you are the bee's knees, Danny.” I watched a blush spread across Danny's cheeks and tried not to feel jealous of some girl I had never met and who Danny would probably never meet. “I expect you'll be the next one to move on to bigger things,” Cassie added.

Danny shrugged.

“Oh, I don't know,” he said. “I think kids our age only get these chances once in a blue moon.”

“Or if there's a
Harry Potter
film being shot,” Anne-Marie pointed out. “And there's always a
Harry Potter
film being shot; it's as regular as Christmas for kid actors. Should hopefully see a good few of us through to adulthood. Although not me,” she finished with a little twist of her mouth. “I don't care though, cos Art Dubrovnik's considering me for his next project, isn't he, Ruby?”

“He is,” I said, even though I didn't think that was exactly what he had said.

Cassie smiled at all of us, her pen hovering above her pad.

“So are we ready to order?” she asked brightly.

We were halfway through our pizzas when I noticed that Nydia had hardly touched hers. Instead, she picked at her side salad without much enthusiasm. I remembered the conversation we'd had in the school corridor with the bell clanging in our ears.

“Are you OK?” I said, keeping my voice low.

“Fine,” she said quite loudly, smiling at me.

“I've thought about it and I know I won't be around for a while, but I'll get days off and I'll come back and then on one of those days we could go and see the nurse…”

“No, it's fine,” Nydia said. “Honestly. I don't need to see the nurse and make a big fuss. I'm fine now.”

“But I—”

“Really,” Nydia said, picking up a slice of pizza and biting the end off it. She spoke through her mouthful. “I was just being silly and jealous and overdramatic. I'm fine now, really. There's no problem, honestly.” I looked carefully at Nydia's face to see if she was keeping something from me. Normally I could tell straight away because Nydia's lying skills are absolutely appalling. But this time I wasn't sure. She held my look with her chin tipped up a little, and I realised that even if things weren't “fine” with her at the moment then,
right now,
at least, she didn't need or want my help.

“Well, if you change your mind,” I said.

“OK,” Nydia said and smiled that funny new smile of hers that seemed almost upside-down.

“Nydia, is there something—?” I started to ask her.

“I still can't believe,” Anne-Marie said, cutting through our conversation, “that you are going to meet
THE Sean Rivers,
that you are going to act with
THE Sean Rivers.
Ooh, ooh!” She flapped her hands like a frantic starling. “You might even have a kissing scene! Oh my gosh, I'd do anything to have a kissing scene with
THE Sean Rivers!
” She gave me a sly little smile and raised an
eyebrow. “Actually, as I'm second favourite for the role and shooting starts in two days, if I just pushed you down the stairs to the ladies…” She giggled and everyone else laughed including me, even though I knew that there was at least five per cent of Anne-Marie that hadn't been joking. I just hoped that the remaining ninety-five per cent of her was more than enough to stop her actually going through with it.

After dinner Mum and Dad dropped Nydia and Anne-Marie off and Danny said he'd walk from our house as it wasn't far. I swear Mum and Dad hung around for at least twenty seconds, waiting for me to go inside with them, before they got the hint and realised I wanted to say goodbye to Danny on my own.

Alone at last, I walked Danny to the gate and we stood under the orange glow of the streetlight.

“I'm going to miss you,” Danny said, looking at his trainers. “And stuff.”

“And me,” I said, tucking my hand into the pocket of his jacket. “But I'm only going to Watford. And Mum says when I have days off she'll bring me back to visit. We'll have to come back anyway to make sure that next door are only feeding Everest the amount he's supposed to have and not the amount he wants. Otherwise, when we come back for good we won't be able to get in the
house—it will be full of fat cat!” Danny smiled and looked into my eyes. I held my breath.