Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss(17)

“I like them,” I said.

“Good, let’s roll, then,” Remy said.

Two hours passed, and Remy yelled out, “Cut!” He marched past a camera operator, then came to stand in front of me. He studied my face carefully, then waved his hand in front of it. “I can’t see any emotion.”

Grant lifted a finger. “May I suggest a little less makeup. For this scene, she is only a partially turned zombie, after all.”

Remy waved his hand around my face. “Leah, we can work on that, yes?” he asked as if she’d been following along with the conversation. And maybe she had, because she nodded from behind the monitor and said, “Of course.”

“Okay, then work on that. And quickly. We don’t have much time left here.”

I pressed my phone to my ear as I walked to my trailer. “Tell me something nice about me.”

Abby laughed. “You need an ego boost?”

“Yes, a big one.”

“You are the world’s greatest actress,” she said.

“Something sincere.”

Her laughter died down. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to make light of this. I can tell your confidence is shot. You really are amazing. I still remember that story you made up inside that empty church last summer. I thought you were speaking about your own life, that’s how believable it was.”

“You’re good at this,” I said. “How much would I have to pay you to come and sit in my dressing room and write me compliments all day long?”

“I’d totally do that for free.”

“You’re hired.” I rounded a corner, my trailer in view. “What are you up to tonight?”

“The homecoming game.”

“Football? You’re going to a football game? I didn’t know that was your kind of thing.”

“I had to take over your social calendar when you left.”

The last homecoming game of my high school career was happening tonight. “I guess school events still go on without me. Huh . . .” A tug of sadness surprised me. Not that things happened without me, but that I was missing them.

“I know, shocking.”

I opened my dressing room door and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw Donavan sitting there, head leaned over a book. “We had a deal.”

“What?” Abby asked.

“Nothing. I’ll call you later.”

He held up his hands. “Leah called.”

All my anger was diffused immediately. She was the nicest person ever. “Leah has your number?”

“I had to give it to the security people the first day I checked in.”

“Oh, right. What did Leah say?”

“Something about how math nearly ruined your life.”

“It’s true. Math is a jerk.”

He smiled, and I felt guilty. Math wasn’t a jerk, but I certainly had been. Donavan was just trying to do his job, and even though he was better than my past tutors at not letting me get away with things, I was still making it very difficult for him with my completely negative attitude.

“I feel like we got off on the wrong foot,” I said. “I’m sorry. I’ve been under a lot of pressure, and homework has been an added stress. Plus, my dad . . .” I trailed off. He didn’t need to know that my dad didn’t care if I succeeded or failed at this job.

“We can try a new foot today,” Donavan said.

I raised a fist in the air. “Yes, to new feet.”

“Yes, to finishing this packet so your dad stops texting me for updates.”

“I’m sorry.” So I wasn’t the only one he was bugging. A new wave of frustration hit me. I needed to have a real talk with my dad . . . eventually.





Eight


Ninety minutes later packet two was finished, and Donavan was now explaining an equation in packet three.

“And then,” he said, “the numbers decided to stop trying to solve each other and just get along.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, picking at a loose piece of latex on my cheek. I had managed to quickly change out of my costume, not wanting to mess it up, but this was the third day in a row I hadn’t taken off my makeup right away.

“Did you hear what I said?”

“What?”

“You are distracted.”

“I’m thinking about something my friend Abby said earlier.”

“Was it about math?”

“It wasn’t. It was about this thing I used to do to help me get out of a rut.” It was something I hadn’t done at all since I’d been here. And I knew I needed to loosen up, to get out of my own head. It would hopefully help me project chemistry on set. We’d always called them perspective outings. I wished I could call Kara and Abby and beg them to go on one with me. But they were four hours away. I’d have to make do with who I had—Grant and Amanda. I wondered if they’d go along with it. There was only one way to find out.

“Can we take a break?” I asked. “After an hour and a half my brain can’t process new info anyway.”

He shoved his notebook and pencil in his open backpack. “Sure.”

“You don’t have to stick around, if you need to go.”

“You don’t want to finish your last packet after this break?”